#on a fucking weekly basis. i think it's really good for fans to be wrong about small unremarkable predictions all the time

[ladyluscinia]

I'm trying to coherently express a bunch of connected fandom observations and the first draft is not working. Trying again.

People are not wrong when they observe that broadly individuals in fandom (especially newer fans) are getting increasingly prone to emotional prioritization (ex: feeling personally attacked when people criticize a character they identify with, or feeling personally betrayed by creators they've parasocialized when reality differs from their view) and also a general lack of boundaries with cast and crew (thanks twitter), and it's leading to bad outcomes - both from a "stifling healthy analytical engagement with the narrative" perspective and a "leading to bad behavior toward creators / other fans" perspective.

I also think that emotionally driven analysis attitudes like "I liked this therefore it was objectively good" are contributing to idolization-cancellation cycles, which is known, but also the resulting polarization (ex: "Since it's objectively good, the only explanation for the people who dislike it is they must wrongly think it's bad and probably harmful") + awareness of the first point might actually be creating the assumption of backlash that isn't there? Like - personal anecdote - despite being in the center of the canon-critical discussions post-OFMD S2 and historically having seen twitter receipts about the fandom's bad behavior, I have yet to see any post, screenshot, or even direct telling of an incident actually @-ing the creators other than circulating posts with effusive praise for the season (which sometimes have an attitude of trying to "drown out" the supposed harassment?). And yet people in both camps re: S2 are seemingly convinced creator harassment is a serious problem that is undoubtedly going on because fans are posting criticism in fandom spaces (some of which does accuse the show of ableism or homophobia due to everything being moralized nowdays - too many people think something needs to be problematic before they can criticize it - but again doesn't actually @ anybody).

And on top of that, both of these views of what is going on when someone posts angry criticism of X - either the concern for the health of their emotional investment in a story that's not being written specifically for them OR the assumption that there's an inherent malice and moral weight in disliking something where critics think the creators must be punished and the show canceled - ignore a pretty big elephant in the room that sometimes people are just venting. Sometimes the salty post about how maybe the main character should have been killed off is literally just sarcasm and bad feelings entirely proportional to watching a tv show and not actually a concerning lack of media literacy. Occasionally the op (myself included) probably is being kind of a dick because they are irritated but tbh it's not any bigger of a deal than that because lots of people are dicks sometimes.

There's a real, complex person behind all those posts, and - especially on tumblr - the fandom engagement / online persona that you see is not actually all of them? A post on their 95% fandom posting blog about eating a showrunner's heart in the marketplace doesn't actually prove that the most serious concerns of their day to day life are showrunner crimes or that they approve of the death penalty for bad writing.

Like in the midst of being concerned about troubling trends we should also maybe remember to watch out for various ways to assume the absolute worst of anyone who disagrees with us, because that in itself is a troubling trend that can easily make fandom worse?

#i'm also still blaming a lot of the 'i liked it therefore it was objectively good' troubling bullshit #on streaming services killing the fandom dialogue with an ongoing series in favor of near-permanent hiatus #it's so much harder for people to build up and maintain that kind of self-justification of flawlessness if they get new canon pushback #on a fucking weekly basis. i think it's really good for fans to be wrong about small unremarkable predictions all the time #vs 18 months of absolutely no reality checks on any idea you've ever had #fandom culture #my meta #ladyluscinia

[the-kipsabian]

18, 22, 26, 30, 32, 39? Wrestling asks for u, pls ramble for me

bless you babe 💜

wrestling asks

under a read more cause OH BOY this got long sorry not sorry

18: Best feud i dont know if i have one solid answer for this, but lemme just ramble a few that come to mind when i think stuff ive enjoyed.. few of the first ones i ever witnessed years ago, eddie guerrero vs rey mysterio. this is like my introduction to wrestling, the first time i got familiar with the context of heels and faces, etc. this was ultimately really stupid (the whole eddie was dominics dad, you know the one lol), but its the one im extremely nostalgic for and i will always remember it fondly despite that lol

then i dont remember a lot of it tbh, but at the time matt hardy vs edge (when he came back innnnnn 2007?? was that the year lmao), it introduced me to the terrible world of wrestling love triangles and also i do believe this was the first time i saw a bloody cage match. also the tension in this from that era will live with me forever my god

just a bonus mention to randy orton (or technically the ortons i guess) vs the undertaker. that shit went HARD in my tiny teen brain jfc

for more current stuff.. i mean i was always a fan of the whole kip sabian/miro vs best friends stuff. it had so much potential on all ends, im just very upset it got cut when it did cause kip was injured. also that is to date my favorite wrestling wedding honestly. only really rivaled by the indy/dexter one but anyways lol

also very much a fan of whatever the fuck jay white and kazuchika okada have going on at all times. i dont think i have to explain how much i enjoy the (sexual) tension and taking any times i can get to yell at jay and look at okada buT ANYWAYS

and a special mention to the one i know nobody else ever liked, but the whole thing seth and murphy had going on with the mysterios during the pandemic. it was the one thing that kept me really interested in wrestling on a weekly basis, i personally found it incredible until the end after they completely shafted murphy before releasing him etc., but prior to that everything in that was absolutely my shit. everything from the monday night messiah to the goddamn disciple run. i could base my entire personality around that whole storyline and im not kidding lol

ALSO ALSO literally anything eddie kingston has going on. him fighting anyone, right now especially garcia and claudio tho, is just fucking lit at all times. this man knows whats up

22: Worst entrance theme im trying to think whats a bad theme but not associated to someone that i dont care for.. and unfortunately i have to say clark connors. ever since salty pointed out they are just robot farts i cant fucking unhear it and everythings gone to hell since LOL

like i love clark but my god

26: One unpopular opinion of yours oh im sure i have many lol. lemme just keep this very tame and say i dont think aew in its current state is very good. and this isnt just my "give me kip sabian back" bias, i just really dont care for the product, or any of them tbh, as a whole right now. i want the early days back when they showcased smaller talents more and actually had storylines i could care about and not just teams and factions like this is new japan all over again woo

30: You get to make your own stable. Who would it consist of? What is their name? ..is it a cop out to say i dont wanna make one, i just want to join in the united empire? im gonna say that anyways cause yes. please. ive made my case for ue before, but its like. they are a group of misfit assholes around the world, which hey i fit the bill too, trying to prove themselves cause everyone sees them as foreigners wherever they go and whatever they do so they never fit in geographically, but keep on fighting to prove everyone wrong in that way. and i want that too you know ..also i just really like united empire i dont fucking care (also its half nine in the morning im on my first cup of coffee i cant think sorry)

32: Who would you like to be in a mixed tag team with? so this comes from two places. but its cause ive been very infatuated with him recently, and ive kinda realized that if i ever were a wrestler (i wont be cause lmao what is being in shape or starting a physical career at the ripe age of 30) i would definitely lean towards being a technical wrestler out of the given options.. so yeah zack sabre jr cause im a biased bitch lol. also the smol and toll dynamic with two loudmouth bitches just yelling accented insults? yeah who am i to say no to that lol

39: What is your best wrestling related memory? okay im sure the best one is yet to come (JERSEY IN A MONTH +1 DAY I GET TO MEET SO MANY BABES), but theres two. 1. my first (and only) live show in 2019. sure we had kinda shit seats now thinking about it, but getting to chant live that sami zayn sucks alongside my brothers and like two other random kids in the audience will live with me forever tbh. and 2. when we got into watching old (we're talking about like 2016) nxt with @ss-trashboat to get her back into watching wrestling after a few years and yeah. it literally started with her saying she had never seen tyler breeze and here we are now, like two years later, watching (at least my first) g1 together <3 wrestling brings people together, as its also the thing that brought us together like eleven years ago as friends to begin with, so. yeah im very fond of stuff like this <33

#wrestling musing #you wanted me to ramble here i ramble #thank you babe <33 #coughedfeathers #thank you for asking! <3

[kingexpl0sionmurder]

Body Electric - Kaminari Denki - Smut

Author: @kingexpl0sionmurder Pairing: Kaminari Denki/F!Reader Rating: 18+ (contains smut) Words: 5,491 Warnings: Sex work (Cam boy/girl), Quirkless AU, Aged-up Adult characters (someone is in grad school! wow!), mentions of masturbation (both male and female), mentions of casual ShinKami, established KiriBaku, Idk they are all just really sexually liberated and don’t care about watching each other cum. Is that voyeurism? I’m bad at tagging things. Title taken from a Lana Del Rey song. AN: Another BNHarem collab piece! The theme was sex work, and I have wanted to do a camboy Denki for a long time so here we go. This was really smutty in my head but Denki makes me soft and it turned out really cute in the end, I’m sorry? He’s such a dork I feel like any sexual encounter with him would just turn out like this in some way, idk.  Thanks to @unbreakablekiribaku​ and @sailorsero​ as usual for being supportive of me. Happy birthday to @lady-bakuhoe and @burnedbyshoto​ 🎂🎂 There is no one else I would rather be birthday triplets with!

Please check out the Collab Masterlist: HERE Look 👀 at My Masterlist: HERE Buy me a Kofi if you’re scared of clowns too: HERE

---

Sighing, you sat up on your elbows, squinting at the chat on the screen, willing your heart to stop pounding and your breath to even out. The donations were pouring in, the chat moving so fast you couldn’t even read it. “Alright, lovelies, I hope you enjoyed that. Be right back and we’ll chat a little bit, okay?”

Donations popped up, the chat slowing a little as the clients who only came to jerk off to you left, leaving those who considered themselves true fans. You stood and made your way to the bathroom to pee, rinsing your toy off in the sink and washing your hands. You went back to your room, pulling on a hoodie and settling in front of the screen again.

“Alright, I’m back! I have some time for a few questions and then I have to go for the night. Let me see what we got!” You scanned the chat, ignoring the normal inappropriate questions. Mindfucker:  Do you know who Chargebolt is? Cause I heard he watches your stream.

Your heart, which had finally slowed to a normal rhythm, picked up again. You most definitely knew who Chargebolt was. You gave him a good amount of money from your donations when you watched his cam shows yourself. “I do actually, he’s pretty popular on here, isn’t he?” You sat back a little, furrowing your brows. “How do you know he watches me?”

RedDaddy: He did a Q&A and mentioned your channel! Told everyone to check you out.

You recognized the names of the viewers and knew they were also regulars on Chargebolt’s streams as well, so you believed them. Chargebolt was gorgeous and funny, just your type. The knowledge that he was interested in you enough to watch you get off on camera was flattering. You hoped your blush wasn’t showing on your face. 

“I’m surprised he knows who I am!” You had missed the last Q&A he’d done, since it hadn’t been on his normal streaming day, and you’d been stuck at work late. Leaning forward again, you bit your lip, looking into the camera from under your lashes. “Can I tell you guys a secret? I watch him, too. Why do you think I never do shows on Thursdays? That’s Chargebolt day.” With a wink you sat back, trying to will the blush from your cheeks. Mindfucker: I knew it! I bet he’s watching right now. You smiled, shrugging. “I hope he enjoyed the show, then!” You tried to hold it together, suppressing the urge to burst into a fit of giggles at the thought, answering a few more silly questions from your regulars, before signing off for the night, promising to be back again the following week.

You let out a breath you didn’t even know you were holding, leaning your head back and groaning. It was wild that the guy whose cam shows you watched on the regular, the one who had inspired you to start your own, who you thought of half the time when you were filming yourself getting off on camera for strangers, knew who you were and was one of your viewers. 

It brought you down a whole rabbit hole for a second, wondering if he got off on you getting off. Why else would he watch? Did he ever donate? You assumed he had a secondary account so you wouldn’t know it was him even if you tried to look at your past viewers, just like you had a secret account so you could watch him as well. 

Cracking your eyes open, you clicked to view the donation tallies for the evening. You’d made enough to pay the rent on your apartment for the month in just one night. Sometimes you wondered how you ever managed to survive before you started doing this. It was meant to be a temporary side job, but you’d been running this cam channel under the screen name Neko for over six months, and you had clawed your way out of debt in such a short time, it didn’t make sense for you to stop.

You viewed a few more visitor stats with interest, before logging off the computer and shutting the laptop. You had to get to sleep for your real job in the morning, so you figured it was time for bed, pushing thoughts of Chargebolt to the back of your mind for now.

It wasn’t until later when you were lying down to sleep, that you thought of him again. Your eyes closed as you ran through a scenario in your head, wondering if he would mention you on Thursday, and what would come of all this? You had noticed your viewer numbers had spiked that day, so it was definitely beneficial that you’d caught his eye. You just weren’t sure what would happen next.

--

Denki was grinning into the camera, wiping the cum off of his abs with the towel he kept beside him, his chest and cheeks flushed pink. He adjusted in his chair, tugging the toy out of his hole and chucking it to the side, pulling his boxers back up over his softening cock. “I hope it was as good for you as it was for me, babes.” 

He chuckled at the comments flooding the chat as he reached for his water and took a sip. 

Tapeman: As always, you never disappoint me, Chargebolt.

“Hey thanks, Tapeman! I appreciate you always coming to hang out...get it? Coming?”

Mindfucker: Ridiculous.

“Aw, you love me, Mindfucker.” He winked at the camera. “So, did you guys enjoy my Q&A the other day?”

The chat filled with praise, making him grin. He loved to talk to his fans, and sometimes they had some great questions for him. He knew a lot of people just watched him as a way to get off, but he liked to give a little piece of himself to them because he knew that most of the people who watched were probably lonely, and he wanted to help with that in some way. He kept things laid back, joking and laughing with his viewers before and after the show, taking requests and doing his best to remember some of the regulars. Some of the few who had been with him from the beginning he’d made into moderators to help with keeping things somewhat orderly in the chat. Some of them he actually knew in real life, like his roommate Hitoshi, who used the alias Mindfucker.

Mindfucker: So are we going to talk about Neko? Denki’s eyebrows rose. “Oh, you mean the stream the other day? It was…” He made the appropriate motion as he said it. “Chef’s kiss, immaculate. She’s so beautiful…” Trailing off, he let himself think back to the way your chest heaved and the face you made when you came. “I would do anything for her, man.”

RedDaddy: Dude, I agree! She’s also super sweet, like, the total package.

Sighing, he leaned his elbow on the desk, his cheek resting on his palm. “I am a simp, my guy.” He sat up, squinting at the chat. “She said she watches, right? Is she here right now?” He scanned the names of the viewers, frowning. “She probably has a second account. Well, if you’re here, Neko, you should hit me up. I read all of my DM’s okay?” He grinned, winking again. “Alright, I have to go feed the cats so I’m outie 5000, thanks for hanging out and I’ll see you guys next week!”

He said his goodbyes, ending the stream and sighing. He wiped off his toy with the towel and clicked through his stats for the day, smiling at some of the comments that came with the donations. Hitoshi came into his room a few minutes later, holding one of the cats, an orange tabby named Miso, in his arms. “I fed them, you don’t have to.”

Was it weird that his roommate watched him fuck himself on toys and jerk off on the internet on a weekly basis? Nope. Denki had forgone all sense of modesty when it came to sex a long time ago, and Hitoshi was the same. It helped that they fucked around on occasion, best friends who got lonely and lived together sometimes did that, he guessed. Or maybe they were weird. It was whatever, he didn’t like to think about it too much. 

“What would I do without you, Toshi?”

“Kill the cats, probably.” He deadpanned, leaning in the doorway. “Burn all the toast you try to make, buy the wrong peanut butter, eat Cheese-Itz for breakfast every day, forget to pay the cable bill.” He raised his eyebrows. “I can keep going.”

“Fuck off, I got the all-natural peanut butter once, it was an accident!” Denki threw his soiled towel into the laundry basket by the closet and picked up the toy he’d used, waving it around a bit. “Did you enjoy the stream?”

Hitoshi snorted, eyeing the dildo warily. “I didn’t really watch, I had my eye on the chat. I was looking for Neko.”

“Man, I can’t believe she’s a fan!” He waved the dildo some more, watching as it jiggled. “I would let her do unspeakable things to me.”

“Look out, your sub is showing, Denki.” Hitoshi teased. “But I agree, she’s pretty great. I wonder if she’ll ever do private shows.” Pausing to scritch Miso behind the ears, he continued. “I’m sure they’d be in high demand.”

Denki stood, pointing at Hitoshi with the dildo. He really needed to put it down somewhere and stop brandishing it around like a sword. “Don’t even, I’d spend all my money on that girl.” 

“I know you would.” He chuckled. “I did try to go through the usernames and see if I could find out who she could be, but I didn’t have any luck.”

“It’s okay! I’m leaving it up to fate now, man. If the universe wants us to know each other, we will.” He stuck his thumb towards the ensuite. “I’m going to wash my ass and then we can play Among Us if you want.”

Hitoshi, completely unphased as usual, nodded. “I’ll get a team together. Check the discord when you get out.”

Humming, Denki made his way to the bathroom, picking up his phone on the way. It buzzed as he closed the door, and he glanced down to see he had a message from his other moderator and friend, Eijirou, aka RedDaddy. Tossing the dildo in the sink, he looked down at the screen and opened the message.

Eiji: No luck on finding Neko on the stream, but she said she never misses a Thursday, so I bet she was there.

Denki: Thanks for keeping an eye out, man. I appreciate you. Among us in 30?

Eiji: Bet. I’ll ask Kats to play too.

--

Your next stream day had you feeling nervous. Chargebolt had talked directly at you on his last stream, asking you to slide into his DMs, and you had yet to take him up on it. You didn’t know what you were so scared of, Chargebolt was a nice guy. You chalked it up to the fear of the unknown. If you sent him a message, what would you even say? ‘Hey dude, nice cock?’ It was bound to be a disaster.

Pushing your nerves back down, you made sure you were ready for your stream, excited for the news you were about to drop on your viewers. You were needing a little extra cash due to some unfortunate car trouble, and you’d figured out a way to make up what you needed in record time.

“Hey everyone, welcome!” You smiled at the camera, waving your fingers. “Thanks for coming! I see a lot of familiar names here tonight. Hi Mindfucker, Dynamight, RedDaddy, Tapeman, LightningMcQueen!”

LightningMcQueen: Hey, beautiful! I’ve been looking forward to this all week.

Dynamight: Chill out, McQueen, you look desperate.

RedDaddy: Be nice, Dynamight. Hi, Neko!

Dynamight: Fuck off, Shittyhair.

Mindfucker: How’s your cat, Neko?

“Be good, Dynamight. You’re lucky I know you don’t mean that!” You giggled at the antics of your regulars, smiling at the question about your cat. “Ichigo is doing good, Mindfucker, thanks for asking! I’ll bring her on camera after the show if you want to say hi!”

Minfucker just sent a cat emoji and you laughed, shaking your head. “I’m beginning to think that you’re just here for Ichigo and not me.”

The chat went crazy with people denying it, telling you how much they loved watching you every week. You lit up, feeling more excited about your news.

“So I have something I want to discuss before we get started today. I’ve decided I want to try out doing some private shows, so I’m going to be offering up a few spots. I’m going to give some of my longest and most frequent supporters a shot first, and if all goes well, then I’ll open them up to the rest of you! I’ll be adding a signup link at the bottom of my page after tonight’s stream, so if you’re interested you can apply and I’ll pick a few of you and we’ll work out a schedule! How does that sound?”

Dynamight: McQueen already has his credit card ready I bet.

“Aw, you don’t want to play with me, Dynamight?” You teased, giving the camera your best pout.

Dynamight: You couldn’t handle me, Princess.

LightningMcQueen: Hush. You’re a bottom, Dyna.

Dynamight: Die you fucking extra.

LightningMcQueen: Love you too, blasty.

“I was going to let you pick the toy today, Dynamight, but if you can’t behave then I’m just going to have to let someone else have a turn.” You gave the camera a disapproving look, frowning. You’d picked up that these guys were friends, so you knew they were just messing with each other.

A donation popped up from Dynamight with a comment attached. 

Let McQueen choose this time, babe.

“It looks like Dynamight is going to let you choose, McQueen. Which one?” You pulled over the box you kept your toys in and showed it to the camera. “Pick a color.”

LightningMcQueen: Yellow

You pulled the yellow silicone out of the box and showed it to the chat, smirking. “I call this one Chargebolt because it’s the same color as his hair. Are you sure this is the one you want me to use?”

--

When your stream ended, Denki leaned back in his chair, taking a deep breath. The fact that he’d watched you fuck yourself with a dildo that you’d named after him was the hottest thing he could have imagined. He was jealous of that piece of bright yellow silicone more than he should be. He’d still enjoyed it, if the mess across his abs and chest were any indication. 

He cleaned himself up and pulled on a shirt, clicking on the link for the private show signup. It was pretty straightforward, listing the price and how long the show would be, and asking for his username and what he would be interested in doing or seeing and what day would work best.

Staring at the form for a moment, he contemplated his options. He could sign up with his LightningMcQueen account, and he might have a chance. He was the first one out of his friends to find your channel one night when he was bored and horny. Then he’d shown it to Hitoshi and then shared your info with Eijirou, Katsuki, and Hanta. He would be considered one of the longest and loyal viewers like you had said.

However, if you got a request from Chargebolt? What would you do? Would you ignore it? 

“Toshi!” He called out, knowing his roommate would hear him without him having to get up. “I’m having a crisis!”

The door opened, and the purple-haired man stood in the doorway. “I am not prepared to handle your bi panic right now, Denki.”

“Are you going to put in for a private show from Neko?” Denki pushed on, ignoring his friend’s exasperation. 

“I spoke that into existence last week, you know. You’re welcome.”

Flopping back in his chair, Denki closed his eyes. “Should I send in the request with this account or with the Chargebolt one?”

Hitoshi shrugged, watching their cat Sashimi wander into the room. “You’ve wanted to talk to her for ages, man. You could have messaged her forever ago and you wouldn’t be playing this game with her. Sign up with your actual account.”

“I mean, she must think I’m cute, right? Otherwise, she wouldn’t watch.” He sat up, logging out of his secondary account and into his main one. He had a few unread DM’s, so he clicked, his breath catching in his throat. “Dude, look.”

There was a message from you, short but sweet.

Hi, Chargebolt. I don’t know if you saw the stream today, but you should check it out if you haven’t. I left it up for you.”

“She wants you to see her use that dildo she named after you.” Hitoshi patted his shoulder, and then bent down to pick up Sashimi. “I signed up but I told her I just wanted to have a date with her cat. She probably won’t pick me.”

“She will, she loves cats.” Denki clicked on your page and scrolled down to the bottom where the signup was again, letting it populate his main account in the information, and writing ‘any day except Thursday’ in the section for the time that worked for him. “I’m going to get this girl to date me, just you watch.”

Snorting, his roommate closed the door behind him as he left. “I believe in you, Pikachu.”

Once his request was submitted, he went back to his DM’s and sent you a message back.

“I was there, Neko. I never miss a stream. I submitted for a private show, so I hope you’ll pick me. I’ve been one of your viewers since the beginning, you know.”

---

In your head, you tried to plan what you would say once you were face to face (via camera) with the one and only Chargebolt. Everything your brain seemed to come up with fell short. What did you say to this guy, who you’d been simping over for over 9 months, who lit up your screen every Thursday with terrible puns and panty-dropping smiles? You knew exactly what he looked like and sounded like when he came. It was a strange thing to think that you knew that but you’d never actually spoken to him before.

It made you feel a little better when you realized he knew just as much about you. That he watched you fuck yourself on a dildo you’d named after him, and then spent the rest of the stream showing off your fluffy white cat Ichigo. 

It was time to put on your big girl panties. You could do this. 

Chargebolt had been one of the few that you’d chosen to do these shows with. He was also the last one. You’d met with 4 others, the ones who were the most active in your chat, the ones you assumed were actually friends. 

Your first one was with Tapeman, who asked you to call him Sero. He was cute, with the widest, prettiest smile you’d ever seen. He made you laugh, and called you beautiful, and spoke to you in Spanish. You didn’t feel uncomfortable once with him, and the experience gave you hope that the rest would be just as nice.

Mindfucker was next, whose name was Shinsou and lowkey your favorite one. He didn’t want anything sexual at all, which surprised you. You sat with him and drank tea and you got to meet his two fur children, Miso and Sashimi, while he told you about his roommate. You let him admire Ichigo, and talked about music. He was sarcastic, but not in a mean way, and you were pretty sure he was going to be your new best friend.

RedDaddy and Dynamight had asked to do theirs together since they were dating. You wanted to question why they both watched your stream but RedDaddy, who was actually named Kirishima, answered it for you.

“We’re both bi, and we think you’re cute!”

“Yeah, plus McQueen has a thing for you so we like to be in the chat to help him out.” Dynamite, aka Bakugou, added in his gruff voice, folding his arms across his chest.

“Aw, that’s sweet!” You smiled at them. “He didn’t request a private show though, so I guess he doesn’t like me that much.”

Bakugou coughed and Kirishima grinned. “Maybe he was nervous! I’m sure you’ll meet him in one of these someday!”

“Enough about that dumbass.” Bakugou leaned forward, his hand on Kirishima’s knee. “Give us a show and we’ll give you one in return. Use that orange and green one for me, Princess.”

And give you a show they did. You got lost in how they looked at each other while they jerked each other off, and you were pretty sure they forgot you were even there at some point. When it was over, you suggested that they start their own channel.

Bakugou scoffed, but you could tell he was blushing a bit.

“I don’t know, Neko. I don’t think I could share him with anyone else. Except you, you’re the exception.” Kirishima grinned, winking at you.

But now it was Chargebolt’s turn. You made sure you had everything you needed, making sure Ichigo was out of the room, and then signed into your account. 

Chargebolt was online, so you made the private room and sent him the request. You felt like you were shaking, and you checked yourself in the camera to make sure you didn’t look like a wreck.

You barely had time to breathe before he entered the chat, his camera screen coming to life and showing you his smiling face. You melted a bit, biting your lip, gazing at how attractive he was. 

“Hey, Neko!” Chargebolt was as vibrant as ever, tucking his hair behind his ears, the black lightning bolt in his hair dark against the bright yellow of the rest of it.

“It’s nice to see you, Chargebolt.” You tried to relax, rolling your shoulders back. “It’s kind of weird knowing you can see me too.”

He laughed, leaning back in his chair. You tried not to stare at his arms in the tank top he was wearing. Chargebolt had a small frame, but his muscles were defined. You’d seen him plow through an entire bag of chips on stream once, without pausing to breathe, so you assumed he must be one of those people with amazing metabolism that you envied. “You can call me Denki if you want, kitten.”

You choked on air at the nickname, trying to compose yourself. “Kitten?”

“Well, Neko means cat, doesn’t it?” He raised an eyebrow. “I won’t call you that if you don’t like it.”

“No!” You practically shouted. “No, I mean, it’s fine. I like it.”

“Sweet.” He grinned. “Man, I’ve wanted to get you alone like this for so long, and now I’m just feeling really nervous.”

“You’re nervous?” You were surprised. The always cool but super dorky Chargebolt was nervous because of you? “So am I.”

Chargebolt- sorry, Denki, rested his elbow on the desk, propping his head in his hand. “Well, glad to know I’m not the only disaster here. I’ve been trying to get the courage to talk to you for months, and then finally Hitoshi got me to talk about you on stream a few weeks ago, and now here we are.”

“Who’s Hitoshi? One of your regulars?” Knowing that you weren’t the only one who was sweating bullets had you relaxing a bit. 

“Oh yeah, Mindfucker! You know him right? He did a thing with you the other day, didn’t he?”

Eyes wide, you stared at him. “Shinsou?”

“Yeah, that’s my best friend and my roommate. He said he showed you the cats.” He shrugged. “You picked all my friends for your private shows. Sero, Kiri, Bakugou, Shinsou.” He paused, smirking. “I forgot that you don’t know that I’m LightningMcQueen.”

“That’s you? I was wondering why they didn’t send me a request, but it all makes sense now.”

Denki shot you finger guns and winked. “Kachow!”

“Oh god, stop it.” You rolled your eyes.

He chuckled, grinning at you. “So, did Shinsou talk about me?”

You giggled, remembering back. “He told me a story about how his roommate mistook a fuzzball for a spider and spent the afternoon sitting on a table waiting for him to come home and kill it.”

“It looked like one of those freaky poisonous ones from where I was sitting. I was afraid to let it out of my sight in case it got away and then multiplied and killed me in my sleep or something.” He took a deep breath. “Spiders are terrifying.”

This man was amazing. “You are everything I always thought you’d be, you know that?”

“I’m going to take that as a compliment.” He sighed. “You have to have some kind of embarrassing story to tell me so I don’t feel like a fool. You’ve got to make it even.”

“One year my dad hired a clown to come to my birthday party. He walked in the front door and I jetted out the back door and hid in the garden until he left. Clowns are just as terrifying as spiders.”

Chargebolt laughed, and the sound made your stomach do a somersault. It was just as bright and happy as he was. “That is the cutest shit I’ve ever heard!”

“I’m glad my childhood trauma is amusing you.” You deadpanned, trying to keep the smile off your face.

“Aw, don’t be like that kitten! I’m glad we can bond over our irrational fears like this, you know?” He 

You shivered happily. “Okay, okay.” You cleared your throat. “So, you didn’t write anything down here for what you wanted out of our chat today.”

“Oh, okay, down to business then.” He sat up straight. “Well, I wanted to tell you myself instead of submitting it on the form.”

Intrigued, you raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t want to give me a chance to back out?”

Snorting, and shook his head. “Nah, I think you’ll like it, kitten.” He folded his hands behind his head. “I want you to tell me what to do. I’m at your mercy.”

Swallowing thickly, you blinked at him. That was...really hot. “You like being told what to do?”

“I would love nothing more for you to pull my hair and peg me within an inch of my life while calling me your little cock slut.” He stared at you with an eyebrow raised, looking pleased with himself when he saw your expression.

Your thighs clenched together involuntarily. “Fuck.”

“Yeah, right? I mean, I’m a switch, I’d do the same to you if you asked.  But we can save that for next time.” He smirked. “So, you down?”

Next time? This man was going to kill you. “Take off your shirt, Denki.”

“Fuck yes.” He groaned, reaching behind him and tugging the garment over his head. 

His chest and abs came into view, and you let your eyes linger on the barbells through his nipples. “Pants too.”

He pushed his chair away from his desk and shimmied out of his shorts, kicking them to the side. You gazed at him in his blue boxer briefs, eyes lingering on his thin waist, strong thighs, and the outline of his cock. He was a sight to behold, honestly.

You held the fangirling back, leaning forward to get a better look at him. “Do you have any toys, Denki?”

“Of course, Kitten.” He moved out of view for a moment, coming back with a box. 

“Let me see.” He tilted the box towards the camera, your eyes flitting over the different colors and shapes inside. “The pink one.” 

“Okay, hang on, let me-” He cut off, standing up and throwing the pink toy on the bed. He picked up the laptop and moved it, laying down beside it and angling the camera so you could see what he was doing.

“Did you stretch yourself, baby?” 

He made a noise that sounded like a whine in the back of his throat at the pet name, obviously pleased by it. “Yeah, of course I did.” He glanced at the screen. “You should, uh, take your shirt off too.”

“I thought you wanted me to tell you what to do, not the other way around.” Teasing him, you crossed your arms over your chest.

He pouted slightly. “I’ve been good so far though, right?”

“All you’ve done is take off two items of clothing and move to the bed. You’re gonna have to work harder than that!”

Huffing, he lifted his ass off the bed and tugged his underwear down his legs, kicking them off, his hand already moving to wrap around his already hard cock.

“Did I say you could touch yourself, Denki?” It was getting hard to keep up the stern act you were putting on, but you knew it was what he wanted. You wanted to watch him touch himself, watch the way his eyes fluttered closed when his thumb brushed over the leaking head of his cock, and the way he would bite his lip when he moved his wrist a certain way.

You could be patient though, so you continued.

“If I was there right now, what would you want me to do first?”

He stilled, blinking at you a few times. “I would want your mouth first, I think.”

Humming, you sat back, pulling your shirt over your head, letting him admire the lacey purple bra covering your chest. “You’d want my mouth on your cock? Trace my tongue along that vein along the underside and suck on the head a little?”

Denki groaned, closing his eyes, his grip visibly tightening around his shaft. He looked like he was trying not to get worked up too fast. You were amazed at how your words were affecting him, so you pressed on.

“I’d take you all the way down until I was choking on it, and I’d let you hold onto my hair and fuck my face. God, you don’t know how many times I've dreamed about doing that for you. What would you say to that?”

The blush spreading down his neck and chest made him look so pretty. “Ugh, fuck kitten, you’re killing me.” He swallowed hard, opening his eyes to look at you again. “I’d tell you how good you made me feel, but I wouldn’t let you finish me off that way.”

“Oh no? Tell me what else you’d do.” You took the opportunity to move to the bed yourself, pulling off your leggings and panties all at once. 

Eyes glued to you while you unclipped your bra and threw it across the room, he continued. “Fuck, um, I would...god, you’re beautiful.”

Flushing at the compliment, you looked down shyly, breaking character. “I’ve heard you say that before and I still don’t believe it.”

Denki scoffed. “If you need a daily reminder, I’d be happy to be the one to tell you, kitten.” You could hear the sincerity in his voice, and it made your heart do a little flip. “I might seem like a dumbass but I’m using this camboy money to pay off my student loans for my masters in English lit so I can quote you entire sonnets from Shakespeare without hesitation if that will help you believe me.”

Your eyebrows shot up, impressed. Realizing you’d ruined the moment, you sighed, covering your eyes with your hand. “I’m sorry, I’m crap at this. I really just want to watch you cum.”

Chuckling, you heard him shifting on the bed. “Okay, how about this? Forget the toys. Just close your eyes and listen to me.”

“Okay.”

“If you were here with me right now, just like that, I’d spend so much time exploring every inch of you with my tongue. I’d start with your lips, your jaw, your neck. Collarbones, shoulders, your chest, those cute nipples-”

“How are nipples cute?” You interrupted with a snort.

You could hear him trying not to laugh, his voice pitched a bit higher. “Shh, don’t ruin it.”

“I think you just did when you said ‘cute nipples’.” You’d never had this much fun with someone in a situation like this. “If I had a dick, my boner would have just died.”

Denki wheezed, and you opened your eyes to look over at him. He was gazing back at you, his eyes bright as he laughed into his palm. “God, I like you so much, kitten.”

Your grin softened, your heart pounding at his words. “Me too, Denki.” 

#kaminari denki #kaminari denki x reader #kaminari denki smut #denki kaminari #denki kaminari x reader #denki kaminari smut #bnha x reader #mha x reader #bnha smut #mha smut #kingexpl0sionmurder writes #bnharem collab

[hoekaashi]

3 am Talks - hq pt 4

a/n: first and foremost, please don’t attack me for the twins’ accent. i know i didn’t even try but i also don’t have the brain capacity to do it rn. second, i know i did karasuno but i was requested to do asahi after posting it and i wasn’t gonna make a separate post for just him so i slapped his ass onto this one (: pairings: kita x reader, atsumu x reader, osamu x reader, suna x reader, sakusa x reader, asahi x reader warnings: language, some spoilers for post time skip taglist: @babydabi​, @suckersuki​, @bakugoustanaccount​, @animoozies​ part 3

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

⇾ omg this boy is gonna talk about how proud he his of his teammates ⇾ like full on proud dad moment (i imagine him like that one panel from the last chapter, just so proud) ⇾ he’s such a soft man, he would talk about how he wants to start a family with you ⇾ what do you mean the sheep aren’t our kids??? ⇾ so would wear a soft smile listening to you ramble on about something ⇾ he would love to hear whatever was going on inside your mind, would never tell you to stop talking or cut you off. Ever.

You climbed into bed after waking up to pee in the middle of the night. Kita had been up for a while and you were unsure as to why he was still up. Before you fell asleep, the two of you had been watching his old teammates play a match on tv and he had been praising them the entire time. “What are you doing up still?” “I was texting in the group chat after you fell asleep and I just can’t sleep now.” You sat cross legged next to him. “What’s on your mind now?” “How I want to start a family with you in the future.” That came out of the blue. Neither of you really talked about that far in the future. “The twins started arguing again and Aran started yelling at me to get them to stop. I asked him why he was telling me to stop them and everyone replied that it was because I’m the only one they still listen to. And then everyone started talking about how I was like the team dad even after all this time and I started thinking about how I would be if I was a father and if I would still act the same. I looked down at you sleeping and the thought just came to me.” You were speechless. “I mean, not that I have any problems with having kids with you, but I wouldn’t classify the twins as test subjects on your parental qualifications. I don’t think they compare to toddlers because the twins actually listen.” “Well, that’s why we have chicken. And sheep.” Kita gave you a warm smile. “Honey, I love you, but please don’t tell me that you just compared animals to human children. Possibly ours.” “It’s okay. It’s good practice.”

.・゜-: ✧ :-　-: ✧ :-゜・．

⇾ for as much as i shit on him, i do love atsumu (osamu is the superior twin, sorry lei) ⇾ but this poor baby would always be in such a negative head space after losing a match ⇾ literally thinks his entire team hates him, his coach wants to replace him, his brother and ex teammates would look down on him, wondering what was so great about him ⇾ he would just need to get his feelings out without judgement - just hold him while he word vomits but sometimes he does need to hear some motivation to get him out of his funk ⇾ this kind of feeds into the other things he would talk about if he didn’t have a match ⇾ just a lot of talk about his insecurities and how he feels inferior to other people his cocky persona is fake ⇾ just wrap him in a blanket and feed him comfort food as he lets out everything weighing down on his heart

“If I didn’t fuck up five serves, we coulda won.” Atsumu was laying on his stomach with his head on your lap as you ran your fingers through his hair. “You weren’t the only person who messed up today. You can’t blame yourself for losing the game when everyone made a mistake at some point.” “But mine were so easy to prevent.” He wrapped his arms around your waist tighter. “I know when I go into practice next week, coach is gonna bench me. I’m not even mad, I deserve it.” “Tsumu, don’t say that.” “It’s true. Samu even called me out on it after. And I know the entire team wants me out.” At this point, you didn’t know what else to say because no matter what, Atsumu was going to believe that he was the worst player on the team. “I’m just holding everyone back.” Your hand stilled in his hair. “Tsumu, the only other setter who’s managed to pull off that crazy quick with Hinata is Kageyama. Plus you got Bokuto on your team too! Both of those players are so high energy and hard to manage, yet you make it look so easy. So you had an off day, everyone does. Everybody makes mistakes, everybody has those days -” He got up and glared at you before you had a chance to finish what you were saying. “Hannah Montana is not the right person to bring into this motivational speech.” “But you sing Hoedown Throwdown and True Friend on a weekly basis.” “And you better take that sentence with you to the grave.” You grinned at him. “But imagine how much money I could get for selling those twelve little words to the press.” Yes. He tackled you and made you swear on your life that you wouldn’t tell a soul.

.・゜-: ✧ :-　-: ✧ :-゜・．

⇾ it depends on his mood: either he’s doing all the talking or he’s strictly listening, there’s no in between ⇾ when he’s talking, it could be about a n y t h i n g ⇾ from atsumu to food to you to work to a new show he’s watching to kita to meeting up with friends ⇾ literally anything ⇾ he doesn’t necessarily need to know you for a long time, but he does need to feel close to you if he ever talks about how he feels about you ⇾ he’s not the type to be soft of the regular, so when he is being soft, he’ll be even quieter, maybe even hide his face in your neck or your stomach depending on the position the two of you are cuddling in ⇾ when you’re the one doing the talking, his hands are always busy doing something - most of the time playing with your hair, but it could also be playing with your hands, massaging your hips, etc

“- so Kita blocked our numbers.” “I mean, you did cuss out Atsumu while his phone was on speaker and he was with his grandmother.” “How was I supposed to know that?” he asked quietly into your neck. You laughed. “Let him talk next time. You and your brother you are adults now, so stop arguing like children.” “I can’t help it, he pisses me off sometimes.” You hummed. “Give Kita a fruit basket or take him out to lunch and apologize.” He rubbed his thumb over your knuckles before pulling you closer into his chest. “Yeah I’ll do that.” “Ooo! What if you have him test out that new recipe you were telling -” “No. I always have you test new dishes and that won’t change,” he mumbled. “Samu?” He nuzzled his face further, his breath warm on your neck. His hand moved to your hip and alternated from massaging you to rubbing his hand up and down. “You’ve gotten me this far and everything worked fine. I don’t wanna change anything.” You reached back and lightly scratched the nape of his neck. You turned over and found his face closer to yours that you expected. His arm went back to resting on your hips with his hand on your butt, pulling you closer. He gave you a light kiss on the tip of your nose. “Are you saying I’m your good luck charm?” you asked teasingly. “Nothing’s gone wrong since you’ve come into my life. I’m gonna fucking marry you one day.” You smiled. “Yeah, you also said that when you got your wisdom teeth removed. I’m still waiting on the ring.” He pulled you into a hug, your head in his chest, his lips placing another kiss on your forehead. “Don’t rush me or your not getting anything.”

.・゜-: ✧ :-　-: ✧ :-゜・．

⇾ he wouldn’t talk at 3 am ⇾ would literally tell you to shut up and go to sleep ⇾ and if you didn’t stop talking, he would get up and either go to someone else’s place or tell you to leave ⇾ this man does not care about what you’re thinking or what you have to say when he’s trying to sleep ⇾ so don’t expect him to be all soft and listen to you - better yet, talk

“So I was thinking -” Suna grumbled. “Yeah? You better stop thinking.” “But I’ll forget in the morning.” “Then it wasn’t necessary to talk about.” “I’m gonna say it.” “You’re gonna shut the fuck up if you wanna sleep here tonight.”

.・゜-: ✧ :-　-: ✧ :-゜・．

⇾ a listener ⇾ would literally tell you to shut up and go to bed jk, not really ⇾ if he’s up at 3 am with you, he’s listening to music ⇾ for sure he won’t be talking and doesn’t really want to have to pay attention to whatever you’re saying ⇾ not in a rude way but like, it’s late and he doesn’t feel like using brain cells at the time ⇾ if you are talking and he loves you, he won’t tell you to shut up or stop, but don’t expect a reply from him ⇾ depending on his mood, he’ll choose to listen or not, and when he’s listening, he’ll make sure you know that he is

“Did you make this lofi playlist?” You were scrolling through your shared Spotify account on your phone, trying to find something to listen to since neither of you could sleep. “Yes.” You played it, both of you enjoying the soothing music that filled the quiet of the room. “Do you have a fanclub?” Sakusa hummed. “Is that a yes or a no?” It took him a minute, but he replied. “Not sure. Why?” “I don’t know how I feel about a group of girls drooling over you.” Were you proud? Jealous? Indifferent? You couldn’t figure it out. But the fact that he asked made you happy that he cared enough to bother listening to you. “Why should you care?” You looked over at him. “Well, what if they’re the crazy type of fans who try to break in here. Or don’t like that we’re dating and try to kill me?” He laid there in silence with his eyes closed as you spoke about all the extreme types of fans that you had heard about. Once you finished, he remained quiet. You felt bad, thinking that you bored him to sleep. “Love, I think you’ve been listening to too many true crime podcasts.” “But still, those types of people exist.” Sakusa shifted with his eyes closed, pulling you so you were resting on his chest. “Stop thinking about that. It’s stupid. Now go to sleep.” “But -” “Go to sleep.” “I can’t.” He shushed you. “Sleep. We can talk in the morning.”

.・゜-: ✧ :-　-: ✧ :-゜・．

⇾ jesus would talk about his insecurities ⇾ would catch you up with his friends aka the other third years ⇾ but also i feel like his anxiety traveled with him into adulthood so like, lots of stress talks about releasing new designs on time and not wanting to let people down/be a failure ⇾ he would talk about his travels too, the different things he enjoyed from each country he visited with noya ⇾ would make plans to go somewhere with you when both of you had the time to drop off the face of the earth for a little bit

“So where else did you want to visit?” you asked. “Maybe Switzerland?” You nodded. “That’s a good choice. Want to do anything specific?” “Not really. When I was with Noya, we kind of just winged everything. It was more exciting and memorable that way.” “I do remember you being more free.” Whenever he called you or sent you pictures and videos, he seemed more happy. “Really?” “Uh huh.” “I do remember feeling less stressed. I have a deadline coming up soon and the pressure is intense.” “Does it feel like volleyball stress?” He gave you a little shrug. “A bit? I have a team - a different type of team - and I don’t want to let them down, but in this case, I’m the captain without anyone to rely on. Everyone else needs me to have everything together, so I don’t have the time to freak out or be stressed.” “Yet, you’re still a ball of anxiety.” “Am I?” He grimaced. You nodded. “I’m trying to get better. It’s really hard when there’s a voice in the back of your mind telling you that if you mess up, everyone will be let down and disappointed in you. On top of that, the media and public are so harsh with everything. There’s just a lot of pressure.” “But you’ve done so well. Sure things were a little shaky when you first started, but you’re well known now and well loved.” “You have a point. I’ll do better for you.” You smiled. “I’m already proud of you, don’t worry about that.”

#kita shinsuke #kita x reader #miya atsumu #atsumu x reader #miya osamu #osamu x reader #suna rintarou #suna x reader #sakusa kiyoomi #sakusa x reader #azumane asahi #asahi x reader #hq #haikyuu #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu x reader

[bigskydreaming]

You're asked to choose one and only one or DC's future stops existing immediately. your choices:

1. Jason Todd the anti-hero who seldom works with only a couple of the bats he doesn't hate, for example Dick and Cass VS. Jason Todd who came back with healed body but broken spirit, folded back into the Gotham gang and learns to be part of the society again.

2. Tim Drake who makes all of his mistakes as canon but realizes he's been wrong and apologizes to people VS. Tim Drake back in his first iteration, a cute little brother character who is a reader insert and a fun teenager.

3. JayKyle VS DickKyle.

4. Jason Todd with a sword VS. Damian Wayne with a sword.

5. Chris Kent VS. Jon kent.

Okay but which DC future? Its omniversal future? Its hypertime future? Its multiversal future? Its Elseworlds future? Its dark multiverse future? Mwahahaha your threat is useless because the sheer wtf of DC's continuities, timelines and conflicting declarations of what to even call their multiomnihyperverse makes it impossible to target simply A future! DC's overly unnecessarily complicated nature renders it functionally immortal and impossible to ever truly destroy, take that Darkseid.

I mean. But anyway. Whatevs:

1) I honestly do prefer the idea of Jason someday fully reuniting/reintigrating into the Batfam as a whole, because fuck it, the found family I'm here for is the one where they actually act like a family....I just think it takes actual work to get to that point and I get irey when people are like we're here! We found it! And its like meanwhile, abusive dynamics still abound. Mmm. No thank you. But even though I've been on a huge Jason and Dick and Cass kick for like, forever, I do still aim for him having a dynamic of his own with the rest of the family.

Like the thing is, I hate playing the favorites card in families, and I think the emphasis on so and so being Bruce's favorite child or so and so being this kid's favorite sibling, etc, like it really does feel like to the detriment of the whole family, because once you start validating the idea of favorites, ESPECIALLY in a found family that is CONTINUOUSLY growing....I think you're kinda shooting yourself in the foot because you're kinda creating a situation where either no future new additions to the family can EVER be Bruce or one of the kids' 'favorite' or else you're innately positing that said fave status is conditional and even a current fave of Bruce or a sibling can be bumped down the ladder by the addition of a later arrival....

Which is LITERALLY the entire essence of the eternal conflict between Dick and Damian and Tim fans. Its not even that Damian is Dick's favorite, allegedly, its that prior to Damian's very EXISTENCE, fans felt comfortable declaring Tim unilaterally to be Dick's 'favorite'.....and then all it took was the addition of a single family member who had specific NEEDS in regards to Dick's attention and focus, largely because of his age and needing a legal guardian while Tim was old enough to literally jet set around the world on his own.....and like, everything went up in flames in large corners of fandom.

So I'm just like, death to the fave family member myth, its just incredibly counter productive to the idea of found family as a whole especially when it usually only exists to prop up a preferred character as better than others via the proof of see, these other characters say he's their fave or whatever...but also like, its not even necessary?

Because the thing is, you can have Jason reintegrated into the whole family overall, and still prioritize your personal narrative FOCUS on characters you like more than others, like say Dick and Cass.....because of course its natural for even people in the same family to have entirely different DYNAMICS with different family members....and these dynamics don't have to come with a ranking system in order to prioritize which ones you just focus on more in a story. Because its not necessarily that Dick has to be Jason's fave brother, y'know, just for Jason to prefer spending time with Dick simply because he's more comfortable with him due to knowing him longer or being more secure in the idea that Dick doesn't judge him based on their greater shared history.

This doesn't mean that Jason doesn't care for his other siblings, that he can't have strong dynamics with them as well, its just about finding a reason for why these two specifically might be in a story without the others that doesn't demand putting a definitive ranking on which one Jason considers his FAVE. Just like Damian doesn't have to be Dick's FAVE just for them to have the super close canon relationship they have, even relative to the other siblings, because there's everything needed in canon already to establish that the mere fact of Dick essentially RAISING Damian for a year, and being the first one in the family to really take a chance on Damian, like, this lends itself naturally to them maybe more naturally gravitating towards each other than other siblings due to comfort level and familiarity, etc, but it doesn't have to be like....oh but yeah, I just like Damian more than you, Tim, y'know?

So my answer on this one is a total cop out of both, both is good. Jason totally reintegrated back into the family, but with dynamics that still lend themselves fairly easily towards story lineups where its just him running missions with Dick or Duke or any other one or two specific family members even if for no other reason than they gel together best in the field, y'know?

2) Hmm. I honestly really do love and miss 90s Tim Drake and just....don't see him in a lot of what I read these days. I'm like no, why did he have to go, he was doing so well! BUT I'm also on a big accountability kick, and like, I'm so steeped in fics where Dick GROVELS for forgiveness for every little slight he's ever done real or imagined, with every character but Tim in particular, so its like.....I'm not gonna lie, I really have a preference these days for seeing stuff where its literally anyone actually owning up to shit they've done to Dick and apologizing or groveling or making it to HIM, like, completely unconditionally. In the same manner we usually see Dick apologizing, glossing over any reasons he might have had for doing what he did or feeling the way he did, and saying oh it doesn't matter, putting the entirety of his focus on what HE did and why it was wrong no matter what and he's sorry.....that's what I would kill to see from more fics, just in reverse.

Because so often even in the all too rare fics where we DO see other characters apologizing to Dick for shit, its watered down with Dick volunteering that oh he messed up too, it was a two way street, and its like no! This is Pettiness Hours! I want the unconditional apologies! Give me the groveling! From anyone, I don't care at this point, lol, just show me characters actually PUTTING IN THE WORK to make it up to Dick for harm they've caused him, even if completely unintentionally or via neglecting his feelings or considering the repercussions their actions or words would have on him. Aaaaaaand, frankly, Tim's a good place to start there, because of how one sided all the takes on their conflicts have been for so many years. I mean, if people need a place to start, Batman and Robin Eternal gets enough praise it can't be pretended that people in fandom don't know that story exists, so how about some stories where Tim says he's fucking sorry for punching Dick in issue #4 or #5 of that one, and it was uncalled for and he was clearly just looking for an excuse to unleash some more of his resentment and upset for the Spyral/Forever Evil stuff, and family deciding that its totally okay to punch Dick whenever they're mad at him and need to work off some aggression so they can then finally forgive him (for now) is a trend that needs to die in a fire post-haste? I mean just as an example.

But the thing that kills me about fanfic trends is like....the sameness of so much of it. There's SO much room for variety and diverse takes, and like....I don't actually hate Tim! I'm just cranky because of the imbalanced nature of most content out there for literal years at this point. Push the pendulum BACK in the other direction, create some balance by showing the flip side of things.....and that leaves a lot more room for me and others of like minds to then be more amenable to - and even interested in - other stories that don't scratch this particular itch, but don't need to, because other stories are doing the scratching by then, y'know?

And THEN like, at that point, I would be ALL FOR more stories that are just callbacks to classic 90s Tim who I adore, with his skateboarding and his EARNESTNESS and his go-get-em spirit and also the gumption. All the gumption. I like that Tim. I do miss that Tim. But like, for the moment, like, I want accountable Tim because I am tiiiiiiiired of groveling Dick and tbh at this point its not enough for me to just see people move past putting Dick in that position and just have mutually respective and doting brothers Dick and Tim having adventures together......nah, first I want some reciprocation. Ngl. Gimme the apologies for actual mistakes actually made.

3) DickKyle. Easy question, c'mon, you gotta know that. LOL. ;)

But yeah, I've been shipping these two off their like, two shared pages from way back in the Obsidian Age story years before Jason even returned, let alone was in Countdown together with Kyle, so like, its no contest. I don't mind JayKyle, I certainly prefer it to JayRoy tbh, but there's not a ton of appeal in it for me, particularly in how its usually depicted, because like....the entire basis of JayKyle is that they DO have stories together and spent a whole year worth of weekly issues traveling the multiverse together in Countdown.....but there's like, practically no trace of their actual dynamics from that series or any specifics of literally any issue from that entire comic in most fics I’ve read, so its like.....idk, it tends to come across as more generic, not in the sense that it cant still be interesting, but more in the sense that it feels like just someone paired with Jason just because history between them EXISTS without any interest in exploring what that history actually IS....and at that point, its like, well there's no reason TO prioritize that ship over DickKyle for me personally, when like, I have a shit ton of headcanon reasons for why those two in a pairing specifically. *Shrugs* My logic. Its not for everyone, but it works for me.

4) Jason with a sword or Damian with a sword? I don't understand the question. Both. Both is good. All the characters should have swords. Swords are awesome.

5) Chris Kent vs Jon Kent - oof. I adore Jon, I really do. I love his dynamic with Damian, I love a lot of their specific stories, the parallels between them as friends and Bruce and Clark as friends....its all very bien. But I gotta give this one to Chris, because I'm always gonna have a soft spot for him because I'm a sucker for all abused kid heroes, and I just miss that funky little dude so much. There's so many stories we didn't get with him and were just ripe for the picking, but nooooo, DC's like lol you can't have nice things, here we just rebooted the entire multiverse and now Clark and Lois never adopted the son of Clark's worst Kryptonian rival and raised him with tender love and care awww does that make you sad, were you invested in him, WELL TOO BAD, HE'S GONE NOW AND BASICALLY NEVER EXISTED, NOW GIVE US YOUR MONEY ANYWAY MWAHAHAHAHAH.

Yeah. I'm still not over that. Probably will never be tbh, so I with great grudge-bearing do affirm that I'm gonna go with Chris on this one and like, he is a Priority for me and I'm still very keen on the idea of him and Duke being besties for random reasons that might not make sense to anyone but me, but eh, whatever.

[ihatetaxes99]

A Brief Retrospective Look At MVA (In The Anime)

Well. Here we are. Every end of the time is another begun. After what has felt like years of anticipation (mostly because it actually has been years), My Villain Academia has been fully animated. Well, "fully" may be the wrong word here, but that's something I'll get into later.

To honour the end of the arc, I decided to do two things: One, I re-read the entirety of the arc in the manga all in one sitting; Two, I rewatched all five episodes of the anime's adaptation back to back once again. My life is pain and I know not of sleep. Anyway, the reason I did this is because of a little project I proposed to myself back just before the first episode aired; Once MVA was done and dusted, I would go back and give my own retrospective on the whole thing. Because why the hell not, sounds like fun. This will also hopefully be less emotional than my thoughts I shared as the episodes were still airing, but who knows?

So, let's begin. And I wish to start by stating that My Villain Academia is my absolute favourite arc in the manga. It did a lot of things right. It focused entirely on my favourite faction, the villains. It offers a glimpse into their lives and goes a long way in humanising them, particularly Spinner and Shigaraki. It sets up key points for others too, such as Mr. Compress' habit of thinking more about the bigger picture than the others, which would factor into his major reveal during the Paranormal Liberation War and of course the formation of the Front itself. It introduced us to Rikiya Yotsubashi, one of my favourite characters in the manga, even if he honestly peaked in this arc and was never as good again. And it gave us a large-scale, grueling fight for supremacy in which I found myself actively rooting for the League. It is, in my mind, the very best of BNHA, the only arc I would want them to do well in the anime. They could screw up literally everything else and I would be happy if MVA was even just as good as the manga, it didn't even need to be better. I would have been delighted to have an excuse to experience the arc all over again, seeing my favourite moments with the sublime soundtrack and voice acting.

Yeah… 

But before I get to that, let us take a little trip of sorts down memory lane to see the road to MVA, what led to it. So, 2021 rolls around. What a fun year. It's just 2020 without the excitement of everything being so uncertain, and frankly it's been really fucking boring as a year. However, BNHA Season Five was announced. In February, we get the first trailer for the upcoming season. It's... It's fine. Obviously, it focuses heavily on the Joint Training Arc (in fact, that is all it shows) and although I despise that arc with a passion, it's not too bad. I had not watched the anime since Overhaul ended, so my plan was I just wouldn't watch JTA and would wait until the big attraction, MVA. And so, Joint Training starts. And it goes on. And on. And on. I checked back almost two months later to discover it still wasn't over yet. Now I found this odd. Joint Training Arc was horrible for many reasons, but the big one was that it dragged on for so long as a result of Horikoshi's health complications, which is by no means his fault. But, surely the anime, which would consistently release on a weekly basis, wouldn't have the issues associated with this. Episodes of BNHA have always encompassed around three to five chapters, and Joint Training's were shorter than usual, so why was it taking more than ten episodes to adapt it? 

Very strange, but I didn't question it much. Then, the key visuals released, confirming that MVA was at the very least happening. Great, wonderful. I love it. We've got the whole gang there, seeming like they're in Deika, looks pretty good.

Wait, did I say whole gang? Yeah, my bad, there was someone missing. Spinner. Now, I am not the biggest Spinner fan so I wasn't prepared to riot over his exclusion like I would have been if Compress wasn't in it. But this was starting to get strange. Spinner was the main narrator of MVA. Even if his importance was not on the level of Shigaraki, Twice and Toga, it was certainly more than Dabi and Compress, who did both appear in the art. Why was he excluded? Obviously, I bet you're all having a good old chuckle to yourselves right now because in retrospect, this makes perfect sense now.

Alright, then. I heard from a friend around June time that Joint Training was finally over. Awesome, great, time for the good stuff- why is there a Christmas episode here?

Yes, this was probably what really started to get the alarm bells in my mind going. The Christmas episode- in June. Very, very strange. Also, absolutely no mention of Rikiya, which even if they were reshuffling things, I would have expected him to appear in the episode of Bakugo and Todoroki getting their licenses, since it directly ties in. Concern levels rising, I shrugged it off and waited for next week.

Bam. Major reshuffling. Now, Endeavour Agency comes first, fuck you if you want context for who the hell the PLF are or the significance of Destro's memoirs. This was really starting to worry me now. I told myself that the key visual meant that MVA had to be happening, but it was starting to seem like the villains were being shafted. A fact not helped by the new OP.

Look, I'm sorry. I don't mean to complain or whine, but season five's second OP is just bad. The music is fine, I have no problem there. But the visuals are just awful. Not only is there an extended focus on that stupid bloody trio of Midoriya, Bakugo and Todoroki, not only is there more screentime given to characters who don't appear in MVA or EA than the main cast of the former, but the animation itself is just so stiff and lacking. It had potential, but the visuals are the worst out of any recent anime opening I've seen in a good few years and this was what got me really panicking.

Boom, a beach episode smack in the middle of Endeavour Agency to promote the upcoming movie. Boom, adapting two chapters per episode during EA. Boom, the Shirakumo episode, which I always thought was part of the War Arc and not EA. But finally, mercifully, the title leaks came and it was revealed that episode 20 of season five would be the start of MVA.

20. Out of 25. And it was pretty obvious that they weren't going to end the season with MVA, so really, up to 24. Ohhh no…

But hey, I'm an optimist sometimes. I was excited to just finally be clear of all this nonsense and get to the real good stuff. Hell, in preparation, I watched the entirety of the season up to that point. I finally realised why JTA took so long and it's one of the most depressing things I've ever learned, in a bad way. Were all those flashbacks really necessary? EA was okay, as someone who as a manga reader, already had the necessary context for the PLF stuff. The beach episode, I watched half of, got too bored and skipped the rest of. And you know what, I liked the Shirakumo chapters. They weren't as good in the anime, but it was nice to see.

And then, finally, in comes episode one of My Villain Academia, on a cold, dark August morning. I even bought Crunchyroll Premium to watch it as soon as possible, I was excited. All the messing around, all the crap, it was finally over and the time had come to enjoy what this season was really all about.

I can now safely say why Bones kept pushing back MVA, because if I was them, I would be embarrassed to show this.

No, that's not fair. I promised I wouldn't get too snarky, so let's reek things back in. As a whole, MVA has been… fine. Just fine. Not good enough to justify the bullshit, but not horrendous (mostly.) In fact, right now, I'll give a ranking of the episodes, my worst to best:

5) Episode One 

4) Episode Two

3) Episode Three

2) Episode Five

1) Episode Four

Yeah. So, there's a clear pattern here, that things more or less got better as time went on. From just straight up bad, to still not great, to alright, to the final two episodes being what I would comfortably call good. This is not a good look. I'm sorry, but Episode One, an episode that I just called bad, is still one of the season's best in spite of that. That spells out awful things for this season as a whole. But what exactly made this such a disaster?

Well, cut content is the big thing. MVA in the anime cuts out:

The League's battle with the CRC

Their struggle with poverty

The sushi joke setup

All of Spinner's character

All of Rikiya's character, including most mentions of Detnerat and Miyashita

Fairly integral pieces of Skeptic's character

Most of Giran's integrity and bravery

This doesn't look too bad at first. It could be far worse. We got basically everything else from the arc, so what? Well, I would already be annoyed about all of these cuts, but the issue is that they cause a knock on effect. Without the establishment of the League's poverty, the payoff of Toga's duffle coat now makes no sense. Without the setup of Spinner's characterisation, his battle with Hanabata now feels hollow. Rikiya's surrender to the League now makes even less sense, as his love of human life and desire to cause no more death is completely non-existent. The first time Rikiya being a CEO is mentioned is in the closing minutes of the arc. The sushi scene is hamfisted into a two second flashback just so that the payoff makes some sort of sense, but again, it is hollow without it being at the start (this is also the first mention of the League's poverty and it literally happens just as they are freed from it.) Can you see how these little seemingly unimportant cuts spiral into bigger problems? I would have been pissed even if they hadn't caused some tremendous cascades, but the fact that they did just makes this from a subjective issue to an objective one.

Yes. They did some things well. Toga's backstory is mostly intact, SMP is just as satisfying as the manga, Tenko's backstory is one of the best things the anime has ever done, the awakening is very well done, I adore the PLF formation as much as I did in the manga. Everything important is intact, but as I keep saying, you cannot just keep the bare minimum and expect it to work. How about in the next arc, they decide to cut everything involving Bakugo out, and only keep him jumping in front of Midoriya because it's the only absolutely necessary thing he does in the arc? People would be pissed, and it's the same thing that's happening here. It's a problem, it's not just a bad adaptation, it leads to bad storytelling in general.

The animation. Now, I do not believe this is a be all, end all. BNHA's anime is never going to look as gorgeous as Horikoshi's art, that is a fact and I do not begrudge them for that. They have a week to draw hundreds upon hundreds of frames, it's not a process that lends itself well to good looks and the animators and artists do their best with what they have. This does not change the fact that it is extremely hit or miss. Some things, Tenko's backstory in particular, look fantastic. Other things, mostly every action scene, make me laugh at how bad they can look and some things, particularly Twice and Re-Destro's hideous designs in the anime, make me cringe. The lighting is also an issue. Garaki's lab looked fantastic, but every other scene is just boring mid-afternoon with dull, basic lighting. I don't expect huge detail, but sometimes, it fails to achieve competency and as an extremely popular show, I don't think that's okay. I don't blame the animators, I blame the higher ups. And while I wouldn't mind the poor animation and art in an MVA that at least has all the story content, this does not have that and so I am even harsher than I would have been.

MVA was rushed. That's not up for debate. It took forever to get to it and once it came, things moved so quickly that they gave me whiplash, with no time to think or lament. Now, this could be attributed to the story structure of the arc, which is essentially a series of big fights, and it just isn't as bad in the manga because I can stop at any time to catch my breath. But I think it's worth noting that the anime at least highlights these issues. Curious dies in the same episode where she first appears, really driving home how pointless she was in the end. Episode Two alone tries to cover everything from the journey to Deika up until Jin finding Toga's body. That's a lot of content to fit in one twenty minute period and it was bound to feel messy in the end. I will say that, much like everything aside from the animation, this did get better as time went on, with episodes three, four and five adapting more reasonable amounts of content, compared to one giving us almost nothing and two giving us too much.

At the end of the day, that was it. The show's over. MVA has been closed in the anime. It will never be given a chance to improve, to go from just fine to anything even close to the manga. Why did this happen? I don't think we'll ever truly know. Some blame the new movie, others the studio's lack of faith in the villains, and there are those who say that it's just how fate turned out. I personally think it's a combination of all of these things. Without the movie, that beach episode wouldn't exist, giving more time to MVA, without the studio's hesitation, we'd perhaps get stuff like an actual good OP and perhaps some more general hype for it (I mean, MVA didn't even get a trailer.) Whatever the reason is, we got what we got. My verdict is something that's very overplayed as of late, but seriously, just read the manga with the fantastic soundtrack playing in the background. The anime's adaptation of MVA is not worth the time investment, when you could read the manga in roughly the same length of time and get more content, a more coherent plot and beautiful artwork.

So, what may come next for Season Six? I don't know. Season Five has definitely been one of the most unpopular seasons in the anime, with a lot of people speaking out against it, but this mostly seems to come from the Western fanbase, so it's up in the air if Bones will learn from their mistakes. Since they'll have a full season to do presumably the War and Rouge Deku arcs, then I feel like they'll put on a better show. But we just don't know. Spinner had his spotlight stolen this time around, will Compress suffer the same fate in Season Six? Dabi and Toga will probably be handled well, since they have inexplicably high amounts of popularity, but with his own lack of recognition rivalling Spinner's, I can see Sako ending up much the same way. Time will tell, I suppose.

#my villain academia #mva #league of villains #Meta Liberation Army #studio bones #bnha season 5

[qwertyfingers]

Hi, I'm curious, could you elaborate on what things people in SPN fandom produce that you wouldn't have been able to filter out as a teen? I'm not really sure what you're referring to. Problematic porn? Bad takes? Wanky fan activity?

okay uh CSA, incest, and suicide trigger warnings for my answer here lol

first off i dont. really think you actually need me to explain this to you and the way this is worded really feels like either an attempt to minimise some truly atrocious shit or like, imply that i think highly of myself which is not true? i'm full of bad takes bro. i don’t care what people are posting as long as it’s not harmful. but there’s a few layers to the issues i was referring to yesterday

1) while it’s gotten a LOT better over the years, the defense of john’s parenting still happens fairly frequently, and as a kid who related extremely deeply to dean’s specific brand of Menhol Eelness that kind of defense of abuse would have really messed with my headspace! it’s messed up in and off itself to defend people who harm their kids - even unintentionally! - but the way that it specifically affects children who are still being abused is the worst of it. every kid with CPTSD who’s ever had to see someone defend behaviours they recognise from their own abusive family as done out of or as excusable because they had a good reason remembers that shit for the rest of their LIFE

there are echoes of what happened to me in dean, both in the abuse and trauma itself and the way it affects him in the aftermath. to see those things minimised by fans can be really re-traumatising for people. i’m very glad that my exposure to it comes at the end of several long stints in hospital and several years of intensive therapy. i don’t know that 18yo me who attempted suicide on a near weekly basis and hallucinated my abusive step father in my house all the time could have coped with takes like ‘its okay because john was drunk and alcoholism isn’t his fault’ or ‘john wasn’t abusiv he was just grieiving’ or ‘john didn’t abuse dean, everything he did was reasonable for their lifestyle’ without becoming deeply unwell. 

2) we also all already know how much deeply fucked up incest content gets made and shared in spn circles. like, okay,  have made peace with the existence of incest shipping. i blacklist that shit and i move on. most of it is avoidable and i can kind of forget about it if i’m being careful. but some of spn fandom is on another level. people write and draw some shit that is like, actively triggering on the ‘call my therapist and beg to be sectioned’ level. i had to renew my lorazepam prescription for the first time since lockdown started lmao.  one of the fandom darling artists literally posted graphic dean/jack porn on their blog next to their really popular castiel art like. i’m not kidding when i say that would have made me hurt myself when i was younger

3) there are a LOT of really weird interactions btwn minors and adults in this fandom and while thats noit something that the corner of tumblr/discord i move through has any real problems with, i still see shit go down in other circles / servers, and the things i saw on the  periphery when i was younger tell me it used to be wayyyyyyyyyyyy worse. adults actively encouraging like 13yos to read/write porn, children being pressured into incest content, 30yo+ people having intensely sexual interactions with minors like. 

as someone who is generally of the belief that ‘minors n adults shouldnt interact online’ is the dumbest shit i’ve ever heard, supernatural fandom does sometimes make me think im wrong and wish i could set everyone under the age of 18 in a safe enclosure away from some of the insane people that go here like. 

in general i think that teens having adult friends in fandom is good becuase it allows an avenue for discussing legitimate issues you have and they can be really helpful to help rpotect young people! I literally owe my adult fandom friends from my own childhood for giving me the lagnuage to talk about the abuse i faced and they were the first people who ever made me feel like i had a way out of my situation. without older online friends i might never have found out that the reason i had no interest in sex was because of trauma, or figured out that the reason reading fic about women or trans men upset me so much was because i was projecting my trauma onto them, and with cis mens bodies i didnt have that issue. i owe all of those things to adults who in the modern day might be chastised for being friends with me because i was young, but i needed them! 

all this is to say that i think the breadth of inappropriate adult/minor interactions over the years have led to an environment where a generation of 20-somethings are now terrified of interacting with teenagers (for fear of becoming the adults who traumatised them), and a generation of teenagers who are largely terrified of talking to adults (for fear of being traumatised) and miss out on guiding hands that some of them really need. if the adults in your physical life harm you, and you cannot turn  to adults on the internet, what do you do? 

4) i’m so tired of people writing underage porn, bro. there are enough adults in this show, grow the fuck up

[pebblysand]

[writing rant - on the monetisation of fanfiction]

a couple of months ago, when i updated my long fic, one of the people on the comments wrote to me the nicest possible review (one of the ones that you keep in your feel-good 'saved' emails - you know the ones), which, amongst other things also said: 'If I could pay you for this...believe me, I would.'

in the moment, i kind of smiled and laughed, and thanked the person for their kind words before moving on with my life. yet, since then, i have to admit that this sentence has kind of been living rent-free in my head. i think it is also because since diving back into fandom a few months ago, i've noticed something that kind of shocked me at first: more and more fanfiction writers seem to be monetising (or attempting to monetise) their craft.

now, back when i started writing fanfic, we wrote fanfic on ffnet and livejournal. it was accepted that thou shalt never (ever) charge money for your writing or else the author and their mean, angry lawyers will come after you for damages and you will die a slow and painful death. we wrote disclaimers at the start of all of our posts and thanked the gods every day when we did not get sued.

i have seen this change gradually over the years. first, in the mid 2010s, the disclaimers went. then, i noticed that people were getting 'tipped' for fanart, sometimes even charging commission. from what i understand (though, don't quote me on this, i'm not an ip lawyer and this post is not intended as legal advice), this is because the way the concept of fair use is framed under us law makes it easier to monetise fanart than it does fanfiction. maybe this is why visual artists came first on this trend. later still (and more recently) i've noticed fanfic writers, doing the same thing.

to be fully honest, the first thought i had when i saw this trend, considering the fear of god (and his lawyers) that was instilled in me in the past, was: how on earth is this even possible? (i'll come back to that in a bit). the second, though, was: fuck, i wish i had the guts to do that, lol.

because, yeah, i will admit, the idea of getting paid for writing what i love to write does appeal, to a certain extent. i won't lie. dear fanfiction writers who've tried to do that recently: i one hundred per cent get it.

looking back at the last fifteen years, i would say that for me, writing fanfiction has been (in terms of time commitment and energy consumed) the equivalent of having an on-and-off part time job. a job that i have held for one or two years at a time, then quit for a while, before coming back to it when i needed (wanted) it again. i obviously can't realistically give you a number re:the actual total of hours i have spent at this since i started out, but i can give you an idea. recently, i started clocking my hours out of interest and calculated that a chapter of my current long fic takes roughly between one hundred to two hundred hours to produce (and they're around 10,000 words). at that rate, i'm probably working 20 hours a week-ish? sometimes more, sometimes less? something as small as a three-sentence fic (like this for instance), takes roughly two/three hours. i'll be honest, i have cancelled plans to write fic. when i'm working on a long project, i do tend to organise my life to give myself the time to write, so i opt for socialising after work during the week rather than on weekends, as i've found this is when i write best. i won't lie: it is - for me (i know some people write quicker, bless them) - a huge time suck.

so, yeah, i understand, in the capitalist society we live in, wanting to make that time count. our world has unfortunately, repeatedly taught us that time is money and getting more does seem like a nice bonus (as long as you have an audience for your art that's willing to pay, obviously). after all, year after year, i've seen a lot of my friends try and monetise their passions as side hustles, with varying success. at first, glance, i look at the time i spend on writing fanfiction and think: man, i wish i could get a bit back from that too. i couldn't even draw a stick figure to save my life but i assume that the time commitment and energy put into that kind of work is roughly similar for visual fanartists as well. i thus very much understand the sentiment, both with fanart and fanfiction.

additionally, though i appreciate this is a bit tangential, the fact that fanfiction is free, i would argue, hinders its potential to be as representative as it could be. it's a bit sad because on the one hand, the fact that it is free makes it completely accessible to the masses but on the other, it makes fanfiction quite exclusive to rich, privileged people who can afford to spend the time and energy putting content out for free. if i spend this much time writing fanfiction, just because i like it and it makes me happy, it's because my full time job pays me enough to cover my bills. if it didn't, i probably would have to forgo writing and get a proper side gig. if you look at my periods of inactivity on ao3, those also kind of coincide with the times in my life when i had to have more things going on to put food on the table.

so, now, assuming that monetisation is a thing that, as a fic writer, one might want to look at, the next question is: how do you go about monetising it? obviously, the law hasn't changed since the days where we were all terrified of getting sued (although enforcement has been quite lax over the years) so it's more about finding workarounds around the law as it is, rather than actively seeking payment for fanart.

from what i've seen: two main solutions seem to exist.

first, there's the tipping/buy-me-coffee technique. as i understand it, this involves either setting up a page on one of the dedicated websites or just putting up your paypal account link on your tumblr posts. with these links, people can then send you however much money they want (however much money they can afford/think you deserve?) on a one-off basis. they're not actually paying for fanfic because there is no actual exchange of services, it's basically like them giving money to charity, except that charity is a fanfic writer/ fan artist whose work they enjoy.

there are two main issues i see with this: one, legally, i'm not sure how much ground this actually holds. assuming you're quite prolific/successful, if every time you're producing new content, you receive dozens of tips, although you're not actively charging for your fanart, making the argument that your content isn't what these people are actively paying for seems hard. imo, the fact that this method sort of holds is that realistically, you're going to make very little out of this. even if you're really good, you might make what? a couple hundred dollars. now, sure, that's a lot of money for a lot of people but in the grand scheme of things, no one sues anyone for such a low amount. as long as you're not making 'proper' money from it, it is highly unlikely that anyone would come after you.

this being said, the second issue, from my perspective, is that this is not in any way, shape or form, a reliable income. it also does not represent, at all, the cost of the time and investment actually put into said fanfiction (or fanart, i assume). for example: if you're going to tip someone who's worked on something for, say, fifty hours, ten dollars, that's very good of you, but that isn't going to be 'worth' their time. it is only worth their time if tipping is done at as scale, which imo is quite unlikely considering you're putting your content out for free anyway. there are kind souls who will tip you, but not that many, meaning that ultimately, you're not working for free anymore, but you're still working at a huge loss.

additionally, because this income is not even reliable on a monthly/weekly basis, it isn't something that anyone can actually rely on, even if only to fund their coffee habit. it's nice to have, don't get me wrong, but from my perspective, is the legal risk outlined above worth the trouble for the $20/30 tips i'd get every once in a while - not really. such low amounts also don't help diminish the class issue that i talked about earlier. again, if you're going to spend fifty hours on something, you might as well work a minimum wage job - even that will pay you more and will be dependable.

second, there's patreon (and patreon-like sites). here, the income is monthly, people pledge on a subscription basis, which does solve the last point above. it might not be much, but at least it's regular.

the main issue i see with patreon is that it is contingent on the author providing more services on top of what they already provide. in most cases, the author will keep putting their usual content out for free + provide their patreons (depending on tiers) with more content, specifically for them. this, to me, makes this scheme even less appealing than the previous one because a) if i can't provide fanfic to potential patreons (again, you can't sell fanfic), i'm not sure what on earth i could give them (original content? that's not really the same market) and b) that's even more work on my plate. honestly, considering the amount of time i already spend writing fanfic, i have neither the energy nor the willpower to provide extra content for an amount that, regardless, will probably pay me less than a part-time job would. again, you'd have to scale this (i.e. have enough patreons) to make it all worth your while, and even in very big fandoms, even for someone waaaaay more successful than me, i doubt it would be likely.

lastly, as a side note, both of these "methods" are solely accepted if they occur on tumblr/writer's own website, rather than on the writer's ao3 page/fic. there was a post going around explaining why that is (nutshell: it endangers ao3's status as a non-profit archive) but as with all things, i seem to have lost it. [if you do have the link to that post/know what i'm talking about, hit me up and i'll rectify this]. this, regardless, supposes driving traffic from wherever you post your fics towards tumblr/your own website which, again, decreases your chances of scaling this.

so, in the end, where does that leave us?

i think, at this point, we've kind of reached a crossroad. ultimately, i see two ways to look at this:

option one: if you believe that fanfiction writers should be paid for their art, you also probably agree that the methods outlined above, while they do offer some sort of solution, are less than ideal. the ideal solution (for this option) would obviously be to allow fanfiction authors to be properly paid for the publication of their work through 'normal' publishing/self-publishing deals, without the need for a licence from the author (bar - perhaps - the payment of royalties). that would create a proper 'market' for fanfiction, treating it as any other form of writing/art form. it would mean a complete overhaul of the laws currently in place, but why not? ultimately, in a democracy, laws are meant to be changeable.

this being said, though, while my personal knee jerk reaction would be to shout 'hurray!' at this solution, i do not actually think i want this. or, maybe, only part of me does. the part of me who has been writing fanfiction for free for fifteen years is like 'hey, yay, maybe i could get paid!'. but then, there is another part of me that would like, maybe, one day, to write more original fiction (i already do a bit, but not much). that part of me is feels frankly a bit icky about giving up her ip rights.

would i be comfortable with people writing fanfiction of my original work? hell yes. that would be the dream. imagine having your own ao3 fandom, omg. however, would i be comfortable with people profiting from writing fanfiction of my work? honestly, i'm not sure. to me, the answer to that is: it depends (how much time investment was put in? how original the concept is? etc.) which, in fact, kind of brings us back to the current concept of licensing. and yes, maybe the current frame imposed by copyright law has also shaped the way i view the concept of property, and maybe i should be more of a communist, free-for-all kind of person, but unfortunately, i'm not that revolutionary.

also, and slightly tangentially, i find it interesting how profiting from fanficition/fanart is seen as more acceptable i certain fandoms rather than in others. taking the hp fandom for instance, even prior to jkr expressing her views on transgender rights, i often read things like: 'ah, she's so rich anyway, she doesn't need the money.' now, that argument has not only gained traction but is also reinforced by: 'ah, she's the devil and i don't want to fund her. it'd rather give my money to fanfic authors/buy things on etsy.'

while i completely understand the sentiment and do not, in any way, shape or form, support jkr's views, i do find that argument quite problematic. if you set the precedent that because someone is too rich, or because they've expressed views you disagree with, you don't believe that they should be entitled to their own intellectual property rights, i do wonder: where does this stop? this being justified for jkr could lead to all sorts of small artists seeing other people stealing/profiting from their original work without authorisation. 'i don't pay you 'cause i disagree with you,' would then act as a justification, with i find highly unfair. the fact of the matter is: jkr created hp. knowing that, the choice of buying hp products, regardless of her opinions is completely and entirely yours, but buying the same stuff unlicensed, from people who are infringing on her copyrights seems, to me, very problematic as this could potentially be scaled to all artists. either we overhaul the entire copyright system or we don't, but making special cases is dangerous, in my humble opinion.

option two: we choose to preserve copyright law as it is, for the reasons outlined above. this means that most people will not get paid for the content they put out and that the few that do will operate on a very tight, legal rope, and work for tips that are a 'nice bonus' but not a proper pay. this sort of perpetuates the idea that fanfiction is 'less than' other art forms, because in our capitalist society, things that don't generate money (things often made by women, may i add) are not seen as being as valuable as things that do.

for me, personally, while getting paid to write fanfiction sounds lovely (and makes my bank account purr) in theory, i think i side to preserve the current system. as an artist, i think that intellectual property protects us and our concepts from being ripped off by others, including by big companies who might find it handy to steal a design, a quote, anything, without proper remuneration. this is even more important for smaller artists who wouldn't necessarily have the means to defend their craft otherwise.

this being said, i do appreciate that it depends on why you're writing fanfiction. i think that topic probably deserves a whole different post in its own right but ultimately, most people write fanfic because it's fun. we know it's for fun, and not for profit. and if that's the case, then we're okay to receive compliments, reblogs and sometimes, for some people a little bit of an awkward tip for our work. for me, fanfic has been a space to make friends, to get feedback, to learn and to experiment without the pressure of money being involved. that's why i don't particularly mind doing it for free, and wouldn't even bother setting up a patreon or tip-me jar. i love being able to do it just for the enjoyment of myself and my five followers (lol), without worrying about scaling it, or making it profitable. not every part of our lives, not every passion has to be profitable. as we say in ireland, you do it 'for the craic' and nothing else.

this, though, as i already said, also depends on your means and level of privilege. to me, writing for free is fantastic and a bloody relief - it means being able to do exactly what i want. original fiction writing is full of rules, and editors, and publishers. in fanfic, i can write whatever i feel like, and i'm willing to forgo a salary in exchange of that freedom. again, i have a full time job that covers my bills. this does mean, though, that i don't have as much time to dedicate to writing as i would like to.

and also, the thing is: i'm a small author. i happily write in my own little niche. bar that one comment, it is highly unlikely that anyone would actually want to pay me (or even tip me) for my content. but when you look at very successful people, like the author of all the young dudes, i could see how they'd want to get paid for their art, and why they'd feel differently.

bottom line for me is: the flaws of the current systems of remuneration combined with my strong belief in copyright law as a means to protect small, original creators, means that i don't really think it would be right for me to get paid for fanfic, even if i was the kind of person who had the market for it. whilst it would be nice, this very long rant has, hopefully, explained why.

#fanfiction #writing #archive of our own #monetisation of fanfiction #fanfiction theory #this post is waaaay too long and the author regrets everything #pebblysand rants

[thecoleopterawithana]

The next night Elliot [Mintz] took us out with a friend of his, Sal Mineo, and we all went to a gay cabaret/discotheque. John was oblivious to the gay ambience. He was curious about everyone's sexuality and liked to gossip about who was sleeping with whom, whether they were gay or straight. John made no judgements about homosexuality but was really curious about who was and who wasn't gay.   He knew that his appearance at a gay club might start rumors about his own sexuality, and it made him laugh. He told me that there had been rumors about him and his first manager, Brian Epstein, and that he usually didn't deny them. He liked the fact that people could be titillated by having suspicions about his masculinity. Then I was the one who was laughing. "How could anyone believe a man who likes women as much as you do is gay?" I told him.   After the show we went back to Mineo's apartment. I was thirsty, and Mineo told me to look in the refrigerator. There was nothing in it but one big bottle of amyl nitrite.   Mineo told John that he knew Ava Gardner. "I'm a real fan of hers. I love Ava," John replied excitedly.   Mineo went to the phone, called London, woke Gardner up, and told her that John wanted to speak to her. John took the phone. "Ava, is that you? Ava, I think you're beautiful. I've seen all your movies. Christ, is it really you?" They spoke for five minutes, then a thrilled John handed the phone back to Mineo.

In May Pang’s Loving John (1983).

-

[Once again, a million thanks to @eppysboys for sending over passages of interest.]

-

Elliot Mintz (born February 16, 1945) is an American consultant. In the 1960s and early 1970s Mintz was an underground radio DJ and host. In the 1970s he became a spokesperson for John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and took on other musicians and actors as clients as a publicist, including Bob Dylan. [...] 

Though not in a professional capacity, since the death of Lennon, Mintz has acted as a spokesperson for the Lennon estate. In addition, while sifting through Lennon's belongings, he discovered hundreds of unreleased tape recordings including half-finished new songs, early versions of famous hits, and idle thoughts. Beginning in 1988, he hosted a weekly syndicated radio series based upon these recordings called The Lost Lennon Tapes, which was broadcast for about four years. After the show came to an end, Mintz began hosting the spinoff radio program The Beatle Years. Mintz has appeared in feature documentaries about Lennon and Yoko Ono, including The U.S. vs. John Lennon, Imagine: John Lennon and The Real Yoko Ono. In 1985 he was a technical advisor on the television film John and Yoko: A Love Story. He also authored an essay about his relationship with them published in 2005 in a book entitled Memories of John Lennon. [Source]

-

Salvatore Mineo Jr. (January 10, 1939 – February 12, 1976) was an American actor, singer and director. Mineo is best known for his Academy Award-nominated performance as John "Plato" Crawford opposite James Dean in the film Rebel Without a Cause (1955). Mineo also received a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for his supporting role in Exodus (1960). A 1950s teen idol, Mineo's acting career declined in his adult years. He was murdered in 1976. [...]

By the early 1960s, Mineo was becoming too old to play the type of role that had made him famous, and his rumoured homosexuality led to his being considered inappropriate for leading roles. [...] In 1969, Mineo returned to the stage to direct a Los Angeles production of the LGBT-themed play Fortune and Men's Eyes (1967), featuring then-unknown Don Johnson as Smitty and himself as Rocky. The production received positive reviews, although its expanded prison rape scene was criticized as excessive and gratuitous. [...] By 1976, Mineo's career had begun to turn around. While playing the role of a bisexual burglar in a series of stage performances of the comedy P.S. Your Cat Is Dead in San Francisco, Mineo received substantial publicity from many positive reviews; he moved to Los Angeles along with the play.

Mineo met English-born actress Jill Haworth on the set of the film Exodus in 1960, in which they portrayed young lovers. Mineo and Haworth were together on-and-off for many years. They were engaged to be married at one point. According to Mineo biographer Michael Gregg Michaud, Haworth cancelled the engagement after she caught Mineo engaging in sexual relations with another man. The two did remain very close friends until Mineo's death. [...] While some have described Haworth as being nothing but a close friend and a "beard" to Mineo to conceal his same-sex partners, Michaud casts doubt upon this claim; he asserts that Mineo and Haworth's relationship was genuine, that Mineo fell in love with Haworth, and that Mineo regarded her as one of the important people in his life. [Source]

“Portrait of a Marriage really disturbed [John]. The book was an account of the fifty-year marriage of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicholson, both of whom were bisexual and continually unfaithful to each other, yet were able to evolve a relationship of great depth and longevity despite the incompleteness of their marriage. John was very distressed by the theme of sexual incompatibility in the midst of great emotional attraction and the fact that no matter how hard one tries, a marriage may always remain incomplete.”

In a 1972 interview with Boze Hadleigh, Mineo discussed his bisexuality. At the time of his death, he was in a six-year relationship with male actor Courtney Burr III. [Source]

BH: Who are those two girls you mentioned, for a double date?

SM: (Laughs.) Are you kidding? I got a girl in every port- and a couple of guys in every port, too.

BH: Do you think rumors about being bi have hurt you in your career?

SM: Maybe. . . Nah, I doubt it. Everyone's got those rumors following him around, whether it's true or not. Everyone's supposed to be bi, starting way back with Gary Cooper and on through Brando and Clift and Dean and Newman and . . . you want me to stop?

BH: Did you resent the rumors?

SM: Well, no. Because what's wrong with being bi? Maybe most people are, deep down.

BH: Shirley MacLaine has publicly said that.

SM: I think she's right- got a good noodle, Shirl does. But anyhow, the rumor about me, from what I hear, was usually that I'm gay. Where, like, with Monty Clift or Brando, the rumor was that they're bi. [Brando later publicly admitted to bisexuality.]

— Boze Hadleigh’s interview with Sal Mineo (1972).

-

“John and I had a big talk about it, saying, basically, all of us must be bisexual. And we were sort of in a situation of thinking that we’re not [bisexual] because of society. So we are hiding the other side of ourselves, which is less acceptable. But I don’t have a strong sexual desire towards another woman.”

Have you ever? “Not really, not sexually.”

One online satire imagined an affair between Ono and Hillary Clinton.

“It’s great,” Ono laughs. “I mean, both John and I thought it was good that people think we were bisexual, or homosexual.” She laughs again.

What about that old rumor that Lennon had sex with Beatles manager Brian Epstein (which was also the subject of the 1991 film, The Hours and The Times)?

Lennon himself said: “Well, it was almost a love affair, but not quite. It was never consummated. But it was a pretty intense relationship.” Later, Lennon’s friend Pete Shotton said Lennon had told him that he had allowed Epstein to “toss [wank] him off.”

“Uh, well, the story I was told was a very explicit story, and from that I think they didn’t have it [sex],” Ono tells me. 

— in Yoko Ono: I Still Fear John’s Killer by Tim Teeman for the Daily Beast (13 October 2015).

-

Q. Have you ever fucked a guy?

A. Not yet, I thought I’d save it til I was 40, life begins at 40 you know, tho I never noticed it.

Q. It is trendy to be bisexual and you’re usually ‘keeping up with the Jones’, haven’t you ever… there was talk about you and PAUL…

A. Oh, I thought it was about me and Brian Epstein… anyway, I’m saving all the juice for my own version of THE REAL FAB FOUR BEATLES STORY etc.. etc..

Q. It seems like you’re saving quite a lot for when you’re 40…

A. Yes, there might be nothing better to do, tho I don’t believe it.

— John Lennon, interview conducted by/on John Lennon, and/or Dr Winston O’boogie, for Andy Warhol’s Interview Magazine (November 1974).

-

John: [...] I was trying to put it 'round that I was gay, you know– I thought that would throw them off… dancing at all the gay clubs in Los Angeles, flirting with the boys… but it never got off the ground.

Q: I think I’ve only heard that lately about Paul.

John: Oh, I’ve had him, he’s no good. [Laughter]

— John Lennon, interviewed by Lisa Robinson for Hit Parader: A conversation with John Lennon (December 1975).

-

Like other alkyl nitrites, amyl nitrite is bioactive in mammals, being a vasodilator, which is the basis of its use as a prescription medicine. As an inhalant, it also has a psychoactive effect, which has led to its recreational use with its smell being described as that of old socks or dirty feet. It is also referred to as banapple gas. [Source]

Popper is a slang term given broadly to drugs of the chemical class called alkyl nitrites that are inhaled. [...] Popper use has a relaxation effect on involuntary smooth muscles, such as those in the throat and anus. It is used for practical purposes to facilitate anal sex by increasing blood flow and relaxing sphincter muscles, initially within the gay community.

"If you trace the bottle of amyl (a type of alkyl nitrite) through late 20th century history, you trace the legacies of gay culture on popular culture in the 20th century”

The drug is also used or for recreational drug purposes, typically for the "high" or "rush" that the drug can create.

Poppers were part of club culture from the mid-1970s disco scene and returned to popularity in the 1980s and 1990s rave scene. [Source]

“A cable had arrived for him that very morning stating the obvious: ‘Come too quickly. Stop. Try again. Stop. Am waiting in Paris. Stop me if you’ve heard it. Stop. Stuff yourself with artichokes and live. Stop. Don’t stop. Stop.’ He knew it was from Amie L'Nitrate.”

— in John Lennon’s unfinished story about a sudden rendezvous in Paris. Published in “Skywriting By Word Of Mouth”.

-

Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress and singer. [...] Gardner appeared in several high-profile films from the 1940s to 1970s [...] She is listed 25th among the American Film Institute's 25 Greatest Female Stars of Classic Hollywood Cinema.

-

Answered asks about:

John’s sexuality

Yoko and his sister Julia’s public statements about John’s sexuality

John "trying to put it ‘round that” he was gay

The Bob Wooler Episode

The Tony Manero Story

[Disclaimer: The answer to these asks represent my personal opinion at the time, which is liable to have evolved since then.]

#John Lennon #May Pang #Elliot Mintz #Sal Mineo #Brian Epstein #Ava Gardner #i'm not a homosexual or we could have had a homosexual relationship #it's only love and that is all #He could be a real soft sweetie #the lost weekend #johnny #1974 #quote #compilation #my stuff #(I added the links to other asks about his sexuality because it apparently is a topic of great interest) #(As exemplified by the number of asks I received about it) #(Ft. notions about sexuality being tied to masculinity and May not considering the option of bisexuality) #(And an emphasis put on John's curiosity about who was and wasn't gay)

[gunnerpalace]

And I’m 💯 sure that you’re blocked and you can eat it.

But I would like to talk about this idea a little, actually. So, here are a couple of points:

The thing that a lot of modern-day “Bleach fans” don’t get is that as far as Japan is concerned, the only thing that really sells Bleach to the mass-market general audience is Ichigo and Rukia interacting. The hard truth those “Bleach fans” refuse to accept is that most of fights sucked, most of the mysteries sucked, and other than the two of them (and maybe Toushirou and Byakuya) most of the characters aren’t interesting to the average person. If you liked Bleach for any of those three reasons (or any other minor reasons), then you are in the absolute minority of nerds.

The cold, iron truth of economics is that you sell media properties in one of two ways: either by drilling down to a highly dedicated fanbase (e.g., moe-blob anime with extremely jacked-up Blu-ray prices) or by appealing to as wide and shallow an audience as possible (e.g., the Marvel Cinematic Universe). The interesting thing with Bleach is that those two audiences, by the numbers, are actually interested in the same thing: Ichigo and Rukia, and more particularly, IchiRuki.

Bold claim, I know. But you don’t have to look hard to see it. This is why the musicals were focused on them. This is why the LA movie was focused on them. And this is why both of those deemphasized other ancillary characters, especially Ichigo’s human friends like Chad—or Orihime: because they are essentially irrelevant to that largely singular fixture of the series and are forgettable other than to some hardcore nerd. (The only other thing that comes remotely close to being as iconic are the Soul Society fights, especially Ichigo vs. Byakuya.)

This is also why every time the property has been reinvented for a new market (again, e.g., the musical and the LA movie) the focus has always been on early Bleach: because it most showcases their interactions and establishes their foundational emotional connection. This is in large part why arcs that more and more deemphasized their interactions suffered increasingly worse sales, to the point that Bleach was consistently ranked 20th out of 20 in Weekly Shounen Jump’s ratings on a week-to-week basis. Less Ichigo and Rukia, and especially less Ichigo and Rukia together, means less sales. This is why TYBW and WDKALY sold abysmally, and I’m willing to bet that CFYOW’s numbers aren’t too great either considering it features neither of them at all.

This is furthermore why Studio Pierrot gave them so many moments, like the ice-skating and fireworks date that they used to send off the anime: because IchiRuki sells. And not much else does.

So, having established that, let’s talk about your idea.

Ichika and Kazui don’t make sense, because their existence in TYBW isn’t established. They simply appear, like the rest of the ending, with no buildup or explanation. In other words, there is no reason to invest in them as characters; they are simply designs walking and talking on a page. (And surprise, the only people who cared “about” them at all were people like you who were pleased as punch that it was evidence that Ichigo and Orihime, and Rukia and Renji, fucked. And even you lot don’t care about them, because there is nothing about them to possibly care about. You care about them as symbols and nothing more.)

However, what would make even less sense is to introduce them without having TYBW at all. For the anime to jump from Ichigo and Rukia having an ice rink not-date to having Ichika and Kazui running around in their places would be a bit like jumping from Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, to Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens in 1983, instead of having Return of the Jedi. It really isn’t possible to overstate how much that big of a leap would lose an audience, whose reactions would be, “What the fuck is this? What happened?”

As I have previously calculated, animating TYBW would take about 4–5 seasons and about 3–4 years of production. So, unless you wanted to pull one of the strangest continuations ever in media history, you’d be waiting for that to wrap first, and presuming its financial success (which is dubious, for the above outlined reasons, and its relative historical print failure which got the manga cancelled).

Setting all that aside, Ichika and Kazui are not photocopies of Rukia and Ichigo; they are genderflipped photocopies of Renji and Orihime. There is a reason why, despite the best efforts of IH here on Tumblr Dot Com, the IR community has never warmed up to them: why would you take a cheap clone knockoff that can’t even trace the original properly when you could just have the original? This will likewise hold true for a general audience. If a random-ass person in Japan knows anything at all about Bleach, it’ll be Ichigo and Rukia. Going, “This isn’t them, but here’s the same great taste but less filling!” is going to get you a response of, “No thanks.”

Setting that aside, what exactly would be the premise? The Espada were retconned in from the aether and people were fine with them, since they were basically just the inverse and mirror of the Shinigami. But people didn’t much care when Xcution were retconned in from the aether. And they didn’t like it when Yhwach and the Sternritter were retconned in from the aether. And they really don’t care now that Tokinada, Hikone, and Aura were retconned in from the aether. Are you really going to have a fifth group of baddies we never even vaguely heard of before showing up? Or are you going to just recycle a set? “Oh, no, Aizen has escaped Muken and has made the Super Fullbringer Espada…” Please. The concept is tapped out: it either has to keep inventing new bullshit and pretending it was always around, or it has to recycle the same ideas but in a less exciting way. Or it has to be rebooted.

It is clear that something or other is happening with regard to Bleach for this “anniversary” event, but the evidence, in my eyes, doesn’t match what you would see for TYBW being animated, let alone for some kind of Boruto-style series.

The event has been marketed in a rather low-key fashion, which is weird considering the 2020 Olympics are a once-in-a-generation event which provide the perfect hype vehicle (and which Shueisha has been using to push other WSJ properties). If you were working on a large or risky project, you’d want a lot of hype—either to prepare the audience, or to maximize your initial buy-in and returns if it’s going to flop (e.g., Anthem). Being cautious indicates both the scale and risk are small.

The emphasis on the voice actors who are appearing at the event are all for classic and popular characters: Ichigo, Byakuya, and now Rukia. You know what fans don’t like? Having a bait-and-switch pulled on them where their classic faves are affiliated with something, only for them to be radically deemphasized in the actual final product. (Just look at the three recent Star Wars movies for some proof of that one.) It is far more likely to be something focused around them.

MegaHouse is making new Bleach figurines this year. But the designs they’ve chosen so far are… Fake Karakura battle Armored Yoruichi (who I’m excited for), and Hueco Mundo style unreleased Grimmjow. If you were going to make merchandise for TYBW or a next-generation show, it’d make a lot more sense for that merch to be… actually related to those events, rather than “classic” designs, now wouldn’t it? To go to the Star Wars well again, they weren’t trying to sell Qui-Gon Jinn or Lando Calrissian toys with The Last Jedi.

To me, all the evidence indicates that whatever it is will be some sort of “Greatest Hits” OVA or something like that, with a focus on the Aizen era of the series. Maybe a lot of the “best” battles redone in really high quality. Maybe a video game. Maybe a reboot of the series from the start. Hard to say. But it doesn’t look an awful lot like TYBW, let alone a next-generation effort.

Now, I’m not saying that either of those things are impossible. I’ve been wrong before in this life (for example, I didn’t think Putin would invade Crimea), and I will be wrong again. I could be wrong about this too. I can only speak in probabilities.

But what I will say with confidence is that committing to TYBW would be fairly dumb as a business decision given everything that is evident about what makes Bleach sell.

And committing to a next-generation series at this stage before doing TYBW would be even dumber.

And doing a next-generation series without doing TYBW would be even dumber still.

Now, stupid people are in ascendancy worldwide in all kinds of endeavors, so it’s not outside the realm of possibility that someone greenlit something so dumb. But if they did, I don’t think it’s going to do so hot.

So, good luck, I guess.

#Asks

[noinkling]

The Best Quizmaster in town - or “How I learnt to be a better human by asking questions”

For 3,5 years I’ve been the quizmaster at a weekly local pub trivia competition. I’ve gotten quite good at it. Supposedly. The local newspaper seems to think so. Of course I’m bound to agree. But enough cruising on SS Ego Boost and over to the real insights.

It started almost 4 years ago when a couple of friends of mine opened their own restaurant/bar and asked me to host pub trivia once a week. Weeelll it wasn’t really them asking me. It was more me telling them that I will be hosting pubquizes at their premises whether they agreed to or not. Eventually I got an offer to host at another place. And there I remain almost 3,5 years later. It was a moment of great pride when we were named best quiz in town (on wednesdays) earlier this year. But it had me thinking, what makes a good quiz? What makes a good quizmaster? Let me share a couple of insights. Yes, I realise not all of you, my dear readers, have as your highest ambition to become quiz masters, but tag along anyway I think it might be interesting nonetheless. No guarantees though.

1. Get your ego out of it Not every piece of trivia makes for a good question. A good trivia question connects to the participant. There’s no point in asking a question that people have never heard of or aren’t interested in learning about. That’s why it’s ok to have hard questions, as long as they engage with the participant. It’s not about you proving to them that you’re smarter than them. Because remember, when you’re researching the questions upfront, you have the entire internet to draw from. If you have to look it up, be wary of using it as the basis of a question. Note that I say ‘be wary’ and not ‘don’t use it’, because if you only ask about things that you know from the top of your head, you’ll run out of questions a couple of weeks in.   Example of bad question: “Who was the 18th president of the United States?” Example of the bad question made better: “Who was the president of the United States between 1869 and 1877, and also lead the Union Army in the civil war?” Why is one better than the other? Because one is just a fact, either you know it by heart or you don’t, and the other is put into context, something that you discuss about with your team mates. One will likely be forgotten. The other might not be remembered, but at least it will trigger the reaction ‘oh was what the name of that guy, he lead the armies’. 2. When you get your ego out of it. Put it back in there. You run the show. What you say goes. But do it with humility. Your job is not to put people in their places. Your job is to make sure they enjoy themselves. (and make sure they come back... and buy beer and food) This requires a great amount of listening. That’s why I always walk around peeking at peoples answers maybe ask them what their reasoning is. Maybe if a team is struggling, put them on the right track by dropping a subtle (or not subtle at all) clue. If a team likes to banter, engage in the banter. If a team is self conscious about them not knowing, don’t berate them. It’s not your place to make them feel bad about themselves.  3. If you want precise answers, the question needs to be precise. This is actually more true if you put it in reverse. If you ask a question that’s maybe a bit fuzzy on the edges, be prepared to accept a little fuzziness in the answers.  Example of a fuzzy question: Where can you find the Islets of Langerhans? The correct answer is ‘In the pancreas’. But as a quizmaster you have to take a stance on what to do with answers such as ‘In the body’ or ‘In the gut’. You could change the question to ‘Where _in the body_ can you find the Islets of Langerhans?’, ie making it more precise. But then you lose the slight humour of the question that it’s not a geographical place. I made the decision to keep the original question as is, but to award half a point for ‘anywhere in the belly region’. You can compromise! Your quiz! Your rules!

4. You can’t please everyone. But you should try to make everyone at least considered. You don’t know who’s going to attend your quiz nights upfront. So you have to put people into categories. Maybe you write some questions for the sports interested people in their twenties, maybe you write another for older sports fans. Maybe you write one question for the nerdy crowd, maybe you write another for the elderly crowd. The difficulty of the questions for the different categories can be weighted against how well you feel that that certain category have fared in the quiz in general. So if you look at your 25 questions and realize ‘Jeez, this quiz is no fun for anyone under the age of 28′ maybe the question that’s aimed towards a younger crowd can be a narrow question about Harry Potter or so. So that they can feel ‘Hey, I’m sure that we’re the only ones who will get this right’. It’s a matter of fine tuning. You won’t find a magic formula. (or at least not one I’ve found. See humility!). Sometimes you will get it wrong. Don’t ignore those times. Own it. And apologise. If you want to be able to take credit for the successes, also own the failures. And now, for the better human bit. I was recently diagnosed with ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorder. I realise that one of these might come as more of a shock to you, my dear friends, than the other. But this is what I have learnt along the way. 1. Get your ego out of it You’re the most important person in your life all of the time... only if you think the story is only about you. If you believe, as I’ve come to do, that your life is a collab between all the people you meet along the way, then your story will be made better by inviting the supporting cast in. And my friends are the fucking west wing of casts.  2. When you get your ego out of it. Put it back in there. You’re an important person in your life. Some of the time you will need to be the _most_ important one. For your safety, for your mental health and for your friends. Allow yourself to put yourself first from time to time. Endulge yourself. Take time-outs. Noone can be Spiderman all the time. Spiderman needs to be Peter Parker every now and then. Sometimes you’re not Spiderman. Sometimes your friends are. 3. If you want a precise answer, the question needs to be precise In life you can ask the vague questions ‘How are you?’ ‘How’s it going?’ ‘What’s up?’ and they are perfectly fine and pleasant. And we will get vague answers. Or we can ask precise questions ‘How did it go with your dog?’, ‘Have you found a new flat yet? Last time we spoke I remember you saying you were looking’ or ‘Are you still worried about your health?’. I stay in touch with many of my friends through internet, and there it’s easy to scroll up and check what you talked about last time. Since I got my diagnosises I decided to put my supposedly phenomenal memory to good use in real life conversations too. I know that I sometimes don’t always pick up on social queues, so I’ll use my memory as a crutch, remembering what we talked about last time. Because that’s my shortcut. People like to talk about what matters to them. About what they’re worried about. About what their hopes and ambitions are. It sometimes feels like that’s cheating at the game of conversation, or the game of caring, but then I remind myself, that’s what others do too. And isn’t remembering what people are afraid of and what they long for... caring? Should you fail to recall from time to time, remember, you’re the quizmaster, you can always ask a question. 4. You can’t please everyone. But you should try to make everyone at least considered. When people come to visit my quizes and maybe feel that they’re not doing too well, I need to remind myself, that exposing ones lack of knowledge is a fairly vulnerable position. Some joke about it. Some feel bad about themselves. I try to remember that self deprecation on the part of the joker in such a situation can come from a place of shame. It’s never your place to pile onto that shame. If you can give a good clue so that they can find out the answer to a question that they thought impossible, that can sometimes make a world of difference to them. Because when we feel we’re not part of the in-crowd being told to hang out with them might not be very fullfilling. But when we earn our spot in the in-crowd, albeit maybe with a bit of help from a friendly questioner, then that’s a really good feeling.  Turns out there’s more to being a quizmaster than to have all the right answers, turns out the same goes for being human.

[nobodies-png]

modern!au is a CONCEPT. bless y'all. could u do some hcs for modern! roxas, ventus, vanitas, xion, and sora + having a disney marathon w/ their s/o? like what movies they pick, do they sing along, r there snuggles, what snacks are brought, etc. (pls feel free to add any other details u want. i love lil details.) (this might've sent once already, my page refreshed. if so, sorry!) hugs & kisses!

o this is such a wholesome prompt, thanks for sending it !

Sora : 

You’re looking at the Disney King himself. He knows a shit ton of movies and almost every song in existence so you bet your ass he’s gonna sing. And you’ll probably tag along too, his enthusiasm is just so contagious - hell, it doesn’t matter if you don’t know the lyrics, just sing whatever you want to the rhythm of the song with him ! 

He’ll b e g you to watch Big Hero Six and the Lion King movies with him. After that, you can choose anything you want but just p l e a s e let him watch those, they’re his absolute favorites. Also, remember to keep some napkins around cause Sora will cry no matter the movie, the messages just hit d e e p and he’s just a softie. Just snuggle with him for a bit and pat his back while he just stutters about how cool the movies were, he’ll eventually stop with the waterworks. 

You know what ? Sora probably has a lot of Disney merch. If you guys are having a disney marathon, you’re gonna do it properly. He won’t hesitate to prepare his entire house just for this movie night - building a pillow fort in the living room so you two can chill comfortably, hoarding a lot of snacks and like a thousand popcorn bags, wearing his Stitch onesie (and probably lending you his Winnie the Pooh onesie if you’re up for it !) 

Like the whole concept could feel childish, but not to Sora ! He grew up with Disney and he holds those movies very dear to his heart, so he’d be so happy to know that you’re willing to pull an all-nighter with him ! You’re never too old to enjoy these things.

You know Sora would suggest inviting absolutely everyone, but he won’t complain if you wish for a more intimate date. That’s fine with him too ! The two of you would have such a fun time and then pass out in the pillow fort at like 4 am. 

Vanitas : 

You know those people who are like “Pffft, Disney is overrated” ? That’s Vanitas right there. The guy looks like he’s fueled by kicking puppies and being a generally mean jerk - but you know better than that. Vanitas has zero knowledge about Disney cause he was never interested in cartoons as a kid so he simply assumes it’s bad. It’s up to you to show him the real deal.

At first he’d be against the idea of having a marathon. The guy can barely pay attention to class or hold a normal conversation and you want him to just sit there and watch movies ? U n b e l i e v a b l e. Are you singing ? Please stop, no singing allowed in this house, no he doesn't want to be part of your world, plEASE SPARE HIM - Accepts in the end just to avoid doing homework. He’d let you pick whatever movie you want, but if he were to choose, he’d probably go with the Lady and the Tramp, Treasure Planet or any Pirates of the Caribbean movie. 

No one will be able to wipe off that shit eating grin off your face after seeing Vanitas go from constantly talking over the movie, critizicing everything, teasing you for being so childish to just being dead silent, completely absorbed in whatever movie you two decide to watch. Feel free to catch him off guard with a smooch here, he’ll probably have a hard time processing what the fuck you just did cause holy shit did you see Hercules beat Hades' ass?

If you introduce Vanitas to the whole conspiracy theory about all Disney movies being related, you better be ready for 3 hours of him just rambling about the posibilities. Now THAT’s something that interests him. The movies would just be background noise as you two just talk away into the night, probably in the kitchen while preparing some weird food combination cause you two ran out of snacks. 

If you expect Vanitas to admit that he was wrong and that Disney was, in fact, something pretty cool then you better sit down, honey. The closest thing you’ll get is him just stubbornly saying that “he wouldn’t mind spending more time with you, watching movies for kids.” 

Ventus : 

Ventus is a casual fan. The type that just knows the old 2D princess classics because he grew up with them, but just slowly lost track of what the hell Disney was doing. Like he probably didn't even get to see the Princess and the Frog - But's all good cause he's eager to see your favorite Disney movies !

If you make him choose a movie to watch, he'd go with the safe choices. Stuff that he knows like Snow White, the Little Mermaid and Cinderella. I can see him loving Pocahontas, Moana and the Three Musketeers, though.

If you want to pull an all nighter to watch as many classics as you can, he won't stop you and he'll try to stay awake with you (and pass out a little after midnight, lmao) - but he'd insist on taking breaks cause looking at a screen for over 6 hours straight can't be h e a l t h y.

Ventus would gladly cuddle and snuggle with you - and he'd also love to sing along, but the poor dude doesn't really know any of the lyrics. Solution ? Just put on those good subtitles and there you go ! He'd love to sing Aladdin's A Whole New World with you or just any duet. You two would get so into it that your neighbours would propably have to knock on the walls a few times so you'll lower your volume.

If you ever mention your favorite (s) disney character(s), you can totally expect Ventus to show up one day unnanounced with a plushie of them, just for you. Consider this his way of saying thanks ! And also apologize for passing out so early - he'll make up for that inviting you to yet another movie night with him.

Roxas :

Another casual fan, but the complete opposite of Ventus. Roxas never got into 2D Disney as a kid and he's more into the 3D additions like Brave, Coco or Frankenweenie. He's also that type of controversial fan who actually enjoyed the liveaction remakes of the old classics.

But don't get him wrong, he's still a r u t h l e s s critic. Roxas gets bored pretty quickly with movies that have such obvious and bland plots and twists that he can see them coming from a mile away. I see him being more of a Pixar fan, just quoting Shrek in his usual deadpan voice on a daily basis. Roxas' brain in a 1000 heartless fight : "and they don't stop coming and they don't stop coming and they-"

If you want to watch movies with him, prepare to discover Roxas' more sassy side - the guy just can't hold back all these funny remarks and jabs at Disney Fairy Tale Logic™. "Oh good for you Gaston, trying to send your crush's father to a psychiatric ward just so she can pay attention to you is SUCH a powermove. You should've dated Lefou instead -" "Do you think Ariel's daughter was born with a mermaid tail or legs? Imagine the monstrosity -".

In the end you two wouldn't even pay attention to the actual movies, since you'd be too busy mocking and impersonating every character and just rolling on the floor laughing your asses off. Your snapchat and instagram stories would be filled with videos of each other doing dumb stuff, calling out all the tiny mistakes as if you two were CinemaSins.

In the end, this Disney Marathon would just turn into a weekly movie night where you two just watch everything and anything. Sometimes it's fun and goofy, and sometimes you two actually get into the plot and discuss all the h i d d e n lore. Roxas would feel super special to have this little new tradition with you.

Xion :

Xion is the definition of a Disney Princess. She absolutely loves every princess movie and you bet your ass she screamed when all of them appeared in full 3D during Ralph breaks the Internet. Like she's a natural romantic and a dreamer at heart, so all the fairy tales just get to her, always tearing up during the climax of the movies.

Ironically, most of her favorite Disney movies aren't princess related : Aristocats, Peter Pan, Tangled and Brother Bear. Xion is that type of person who just points out all the similarities between her friends and the characters. Like Kenai and Kods's bond remind her of her and Roxas' friendship with Axel, Saix reminds her of Randall from Monsters Inc, Kairi is totally Lilo and Aqua is Nani - You get the idea !

Even if you suggested the idea of a Disney Marathon, Xion would just plan the best course of action and take the lead almost immediately. She's just so excited to be able to spend this night with you that she wants to make the most of it ! Snacks ? Check. Netflix and other sites to see movies ? Check. A shit ton of blankets and hot cocoa ? Check. The perfect partner ? Check.

Xion would do her best to not break out into fullblown singing - mostly out of respect for her roommates and neighbours, but you'll definitely hear her hum along and mutter the lyrics under her breath. And if the song is catchy enough, she'd love to pull you in for a dance !

At the end of the night, you two would be exhausted but content. Probably giving up on seeing all the movies, just listening to a disney playlist on Youtube while you two do stupid and silly Buzzfeed quizzes like "What Disney villain are you based on your aesthetics" and such. Xion has trouble sleeping, so you'll most likely end up falling asleep on her first. She'll stay awake till sunrise, taking a few sneaky selfies with you peacefully sleeping by her side.

#kh headcanons #sora #vanitas #ventus #roxas #xion #anonymous

[belldreams]

Tell me true: is there anything, anything, dorkier in this Galaxy than a) watching the YouTube series “Clone Wars Conversations” (in which James Arnold Taylor, Obi-Wan’s voice actor in TCW, interviews other series VAs) and then b) transcribing it.

I’m feeling hard-pressed to imagine anything Less Cool than this, BUT FUCK ALL Y’ALL, I’M LIVING MY BEST LIFE :D

Some stray observations first: THESE GUYS ARE SUCH VOICE ACTING NERDS. NEEEERDS. :D!!!! *admires nerds* (You should see JAT and Satine’s VA Anne Graves geek out over Shop Talk ❤) 

Also, HOLY FUCKING CHRIST, IS IT MANDATORY TO ALSO BE BEAUTIFUL TO DO VOICE ACTING. THAT’S SO UNFAIR. THEIR FACES ARE AN AFFRONT TO ME. HOW DARE THEY. 

Anyway!!! Let’s get started on some transcriptions :D!

Clone Wars Conversations, Episode 8 - Matt Lanter (Anakin Skywalker):

LANTER: When I went to the Ranch to talk to George [Lucas], he gave me a couple of specific notes and, I don’t know if I’ve said them before or not, but I’ll keep those notes to myself. But, yeah, it was very much on purpose, to not do what we have traditionally known as Anakin. It was obviously George’s vision, and Dave´s vision, to shape the character a little differently in The Clone Wars and give Anakin a little more depth than what we just got to see on the four hours of the movies. 

TAYLOR: And also, dare I say, a little more heart. And that is not knocking the film version, but we needed to, because on a regular weekly basis he was going to be coming into our living rooms and we need to see those sides of him. LANTER: Storytelling at its core is you have to connect with the characters that you are going to be living with. We have four hours to connect with Anakin, and it’s hard, because, first of all, he goes in this downwards spiral from Good to Worst Villain in the Galaxy in the course of two hours. Prior to that, I’ve heard people say that he’s whiny, so it just wasn’t enough time to take a guy from Teenage Angst into Worst Villain. We needed more. George and Dave understood that we gotta connect with the character, especially if we were gonna sit with him for six seasons.

I really appreciate this insight/background information about how the creators themselves approached shaping Anakin’s character in TCW! I’ve gone on about this before (see: I’M A GIANT DORK :D) but I’ve been mystified at how Anakin went from the Teenage Murdering Mess that he is in Episode II to the Confident General Dude in The Clone Wars. 

It’s neat to see that this was always the intention. My sense from this transcript (including the segments I’ll post later) is that Anakin in TCW is damage-control from the way his image, um.... took a beating with the Prequels. That Lucas saw the fan reaction to this character he’d been working on all these decades and said to himself-- hey, they have it wrong, he’s more than a Whiny Guy Turned Villain (he had a lot of bravado in between!!!). TCW is giving the extra material to show what we’d missed. And this is, I must confess repeatedly, dorky of me, but I do appreciate that they took the time & resources to do so. 

Don’t get me wrong, I still think it’s a huuuuge leap between Episode II and TCW Movie, but it’s nice to have the confirmation that the different approach was intentional.

Finally: what were the notes Lucas shared with Lanter. Why won’t he tell us. D:

#TCW #Clone Wars #Matt Lanter #james arnold taylor #JAT #bell post #I am the dorkiest dork this side of dorktown #Anakin Skywalk #Star Wars #I am Star Wars trash

[your-friendly-neighborhood-sc00t]

Mighty Magiswords, A Show Horribly Mistreated by Cartoon Network

So recently, it's come to my attention that Cartoon Network is cancelling Mighty Magiswords after only two seasons.

And you may ask, well, why?

Well, to be blunt, if your show isn't Teen Titans Go, then CN doesn't give a shit about it.

And I suppose we really should've seen this coming, considering CN has been blatantly mistreating this show for quite some time, let's look into that, shall we?

1: Long, unnecessary hiatuses, and Piss-Poor Scheduling

So in the above images I have some air dates listed, more specifically, the various hiatuses this show has suffered over it's 2-season run.

So the first hiatus starts with Grup Jam, we're not even halfway through the first season and we already have a hiatus, this'll be fun...

After this episode aired, we don't another new one for over 4 months, and if your show is already getting hiatuses during it's initial season, that's a huge problem.

The second hiatus is the absolute worst, we consistently get new episodes for 3 weeks, and then we get literally nothing for about 8 and a half months, this is pretty much twice the amount of time we waited last time, and despite premiering in 2016, for some fucking reason, CN decided to drag this shit out allllll the way into 2018.

The last hiatus, (which still hasn't ended, lmfao...) Takes place a fucking month, after the show just got back from this shit.

And also, no fucking reruns have been aired at all during this (so far, 3-month) hiatus.

Then CN decides to just dump all the remaining episodes on the app and website, almost like they're fully aware of how fucked up this whole situation is, but don't actually care enough to fix it.

Instead, they just wanna shut us up and pat themselves on the back, and be like:

"Yeah, we'll uh, get around to airing those... At some point...?"

And it's so easy for them to just dump it on the app and site because they think that'll satisfy us, and so they can say "HEY WE GAVE Y'ALL THE REST OF SEASON 2 NOW FUCK OFF". And hey, gotta make sure Teen Titans Go always makes up the majority of the schedule, right? Can't be having any other show have any sort of screentime at all, right? Nooo, that'd just be inhumane not to let fans get their daily fucking dosage of Toddler Titans Go.

The last one isn't much of a hiatus, but I just thought I'd point out how that small group of episodes aired in an extremely awkward fashion, kind of like on a bi-weekly basis, which was also bad.

And from what I heard, reruns that did air were around the 6am timeslot, and who the fuck is awake at that time, let's he honest.

2: Non-existent Advertising

The show was never fucking advertised, plain and simple, literally no publicity for this show, at any point in time.

Y'know how you see a commercial for an upcoming show, or new episodes for that show, and that's what initially grabs your attention and gets you to watch the show?

Yeah, that didn't happen for me, and probably not for you either.

I'm literally just flipping through On Demand's CN section, and I randomly stumbled upon Mighty Magiswords, literally never even hearing about it until that moment. And that's how I was introduced to the show.

Also, I'm not even sure if this show has had any proper marathons, at all? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm not asking for the show to take up 99% of the fucking schedule, all week, but a few short marathons would've been much appreciated, and would have given the show some much needed publicity.

3: Lackluster Merchandise

CN didn't even bother making much merch at all, literally all I could find was 3 books, a few generic t-shirts (and I literally mean 3 or 4) on the CN store, and I think I heard that the Pumpkin Magisword was made into a toy? Not entirely sure.

And please, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that they have yet to release any of the episodes/first season on DVD, which is fucking obsurd.

Considering TTG already has all 4 of it's fully aired seasons on DVD already.

So there's just a lack of any merchandise at all, which is incredibly disheartening, because some of us fans would actually like some plushies, or comics, or proper DVDs to show our support for the show, but nope.

CN's too busy excessively pumping out TTG toys, books, water bottles, watches, shirts, hoodies, phone cases, Funko pops, DVDs, buttons, etc.

Truly sickening.

4: Cancellation

Unfortunately, this show died as soon as it started.

It was doomed to fail, due to airing on a network that only gives a shit about excessively jerking off their single cash cow.

Had it been picked up by Disney or Nickelodeon, it likely would've had a much better shot.

Fingers crossed that Neflix picks it up and continues the show, but the chances of that happening are about as likely as pigs gaining the ability to fly, unfortunately.

CN is legitimately hurting me at this point, I used to absolutely adore this network, but it's just fallen off so fucking much in recent years.

So, I'd like to give a personal fuck you to Cartoon Network, for completely neglecting one of their legitimately good, original shows, and just blatantly disrespecting the living hell out of Kyle Carrozza, and everyone who ever even worked on the show.

This has me incredibly concerned for any future shows to air on this network, as long as TTG is around.

Infinity Train is one show coming up that I'm absolutely hype for in 2019, but I am viciously afraid of how CN is going to handle this show, they'll probably just slap it into the 6am - 7am timeslot when most people are sleeping and never even advertise the show.

I'm so horribly disappointed in Cartoon Network, it's truly a dumpster fire, and doesn't care about any of it's other shows.

That being-said, I'd just like to quickly say how much I adored this show,

I loved everything about it, the characters, the voices, the setting, the Magiswords, the pacing (yes, I didn't mind the quickness), it never failed to give me a few good laughs per episode. And, to see something I loved so dearly, be ripped away from me, due to coporate greed and negligence, is absolutely devastating and disgusting.

It was a fun ride while it lasted, but it just ended too soon... :(

R.I.P

Mighty Magiswords

2015 - 2018

#i'm really gonna miss this show #... #mighty magiswords #my thoughts

[baker-mayfield]

Just Keep Breathing - Seth Rollins

A/N: Hi, yes. I was bored. Like totally bored and I figured I should give the imagine writing life a try. So here is my first ever imagine and i hope that it doesn't suck. I honestly wrote this in the middle of the night because Rollins got me all bothered and he's 100% yummy.  I recommend him to everyone. If enough people like it, I'll probably continue it because.... Why not? I'm honestly sorry for any errors and rambles....Oh, and for how fucking long this is....

WORDS: 2.4K

WARNINGS: angst, cheating, and maybe swearing?

I was happy in NXT. Honestly, I could have retired there and I would have been perfectly fine. After two years of seeing my friends come and go, and moving onto bigger and not so bigger things on the main shows- anyone would think that I would be ready to move on.

 To have my time in the spotlight. It seemed like that’s what the fans were waiting for. But somehow, Vince never felt I was ready to be called up. I liked to think that they didn’t know what to do with me. I was a smaller girl. Almost as small as Alexa Bliss. I started out as an announcer backstage, then I moved onto be a valet… Then, they finally gave me a chance to work in the right. Being a WWE wrestler was everything I dreamed of. I wanted to be like Lita but as loved as Trish Stratus. I wanted to make history like Mae Young. Because of my small size, it was hard for them to know what to do with me. That’s why they haven’t moved me to the main roster. I just knew it. They already have Alexa Bliss as the small girl on RAW, they didn’t need another shorty on the main show.

…. Okay, I’m lying. Not about my beginnings, but why I haven’t moved up. They’ve begged me to come to the main show. Even before Alexa Bliss was drafted to Smackdown. Each time, I would tell them, “No. I wasn’t ready” or “No, I really want to fight with the new girl”. Every time they asked, I had a new lie. It wasn’t my fault, it was because of him. He was the man that ran the place, and he was the one man I couldn’t go face to face with. I haven’t seen him in close to five years. Crazy, I know. I stayed in NXT that long because of a guy. I think Hunter knew the reason, but he had always danced around it. To avoid me breaking down as usual. As far as everyone was concerned, I was happy on NXT and I was happy putting over the new talent that came in the busy.

I’ve had Sasha, Charlotte, Becky and even Bailey try to convince me to join them on the main roster. I’ve been there for years, they’ll say. There was nothing left to accomplish. Well, that was right. But as long as The Man was there, I was never going to the main show full time. The closest I got to the main show was when Seth was gone with his first injury. I made my main show debut just enough to help Sasha Banks when she needed to even the playing field with the Bella Twins. Luckily that only lasted from December until April. As soon as the storyline was done, I begged to go back to NXT. It didn’t matter what Dean or Roman would say- I was ready to go back to where I knew I was safe

Now, you’re probably asking why ‘why do I not like Seth Rollins?’ You’re wrong. I don’t dislike Seth Rollins, I hated him 

I was ready for the ride to the top with him. In a few years, he was going to be WWE World Heavyweight Champion and I would be the Women’s Champion. We had it all planned out. I couldn’t tell you how we started to date. It started with friendly competitions in his hotel room. I would play him in Madden, WWE games, poker. You name it. We even traveled together, and it go to the point where people thought we were dating before we were actually dating. He was my best friend. It was HIS idea to try out a relationship. Everyone was ‘for’ the idea of us being official. The way we followed each other around backstage and joked, we neither to bang or something. Our relationship survived a lot. He was being an NXT champion and I was going from job to job backstage because Hunter was clueless as to where I would be the right fit. It survived when The Shield debut and it survived when Seth turned on Roman and Dean.

No matter where I was, I was always the supportive girlfriend. Not supportive enough at least.

Seth had won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and he had changed. I didn’t notice it, but everyone else did. He was way more self centered. I didn’t notice the change. As caring as Seth was, he was always the cockiest guy ever. When we finally had time to spend time together, it felt like he was miles away. The conversation would feel dry. During my ‘congrats’ dinner for becoming the NXT Women’s Champion, he was way more interested in his phone. I figured it was my fault that he didn’t care. I was still in NXT and he was in the big league. It was like he was out of my league. Which he was. He was fighting in front of thousands on a weekly basis and I was fighting… Well, I was fighting at Full Sail University. He never said anything, so I never suspected anything.

Boy was I wrong. I was so so so SO wrong about us and our situation. I had some time to spend with him. He promised to make it up to me since he was being distant. I thought maybe this was our chance to fix everything that have went wrong. After all, we’ve been dating for close to three years. We debuted in NXT around the same time. We’ve been through thick and thin while we were on the show. It sounded stupid that our relationship could handle a little space just because I was on NXT and he was always on the main event of Raw.

I got my hair done just the way that he liked it. I even made sure to pack the lingerie that he loved. Hell, I packed his favorite perfume. All just for a good time with my boyfriend. I was stupid to think my boyfriend could be main eventing on Raw and wait around for his girlfriend who was on NXT.

We had dinner plans that night. A nice romantic dinner. Seth was in the shower as I was sliding on my dress. His favorite dress, may I add. I have received his attention so many times in this dress. I was sure I could do it again tonight. Then his phone vibrated. He had never told me that I couldn’t look at his phone. There was barely anything to look at. It was just the picture of us kissing. The picture was taken minutes after he had become Mr. Money in the Bank. Then there were his usual boring notifications. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Emails… and when I looked at the most recent notification, it was a text message from an unknown sender. It wasn’t the fact that the person wasn’t saved in his contact that freaked me out… Seth had a habit of waiting until the last moment to add people to his contacts. It was the fact that the only notification was that the person had texted him. There was no text preview. That should’ve been a sign to look away.

Yet, I couldn’t stop looking. He never hid his text previews. Not even from me. Since I heard the water in the shower still running, I typed in his passcode to his phone. I was biting nervously on my lip as I went to his text messages. I clicked on the number and read what the person had to say.

“Am I seeing you tonight? You don’t have to see your girlfriend. We both know that I’m more than enough company for you.”

“Does she know that you don’t love her anymore?”

“I bet you she doesn’t treat you the way that a champion should be treated. She’s so below you, she’s a total waste of your time.”

My heart dropped and I had to call Becky, who was my best friend. When she didn’t answer, I felt my whole world collapse. Maybe I was reading too much into it. Who am I kidding, I was reading exactly what Seth had felt about me.

As I scrolled up, the conversation have been going on a few months after he had won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Just when he sent her why he was sticking with me, the messages scrolled all the way back to the bottom. She had sent him a nude. Just then, I wanted to puke. She was gorgeous. Tall, beautiful, and blonde. I looked down at myself and had to fight back the tears. I didn’t look like her. Seth didn’t love me. All those times, he thought I was beautiful- he was lying.

It felt like years has went by. His phone was hot in my hands and my eyes were both burning and blurry from the tears. I didn’t hear Seth get out of the shower either. He was blasting whatever the band of the day was and he was singing along. I didn’t snap out of it until he called my name. I was frozen. I would’ve been one of those girls that would’ve went through their nights acting like nothing was wrong, but that would’ve hurt. I probably would kill him because the texts and her would be going through my mind all during dinner.

Seth called my name again and I just let the water works go. There was a huge lump in my throat and I couldn’t talk. He stepped closer to me and saw what I was looking at. It was quiet for a moment until he talked.

“Y/N…..” Seth said softly as he grabbed his phone from me. Well, he tried to. I was holding onto it too tightly.

“No, Seth. I get it. I’m just wasting your time when you could be with anyone else in this goddamn world.” I finally let go of his phone and I just looked at him. “I can’t believe you’re mad at me because I’m living my dream in NXT and you’re on RAW. That’s not fair! I wanted to make it there myself, not because I’m sleeping with Seth freakin’ Rollins.” I cried out while wiping a tear. It was scary having this argument with him.

We argued before but it was over stupid things. Stupid things like where to go to dinner, who’s turn is it to pick a movie, who’s turn is it to drive…. It was stuff that can be settled in minutes. This couldn’t be handled in minutes and it couldn’t be handled in hours. It could barely be settled in months. He was cheating, and he couldn’t lie and say that he wasn’t.

“I… I didn’t mean to. I get lonely on the road and-“ he kept going on and on with his excuses. Like an idiot, I nodded my head. I listened to him, hoping to find some truth in there and I couldn’t. I knew that he thought she was hotter than me. I saw it in the texts. I knew that he wasn’t happy with me, once again- I saw it in the texts. There was nothing he could say to exactly ease my mind.

I stood up and left his house. I haven’t looked back since. I only came back when I knew he was gone and that was just to get the things that I held dear to my heart and my clothes. I didn’t want him to have any memory of me or any of my stuff. He broke my heart, and he didn’t deserve to look at my things.

That was almost two years ago. To this day, I wanted nothing to do with the main roster. I avoided all call ups. It was to the point that I was wondering why exactly they begging for me to be called up. Each time, I was going to say no. Seth have tried to call and text me. He even called and texted Becky. Becky was a good friend and told him that I didn’t want to talk to him. If I did want to talk to him, she promised him that I will call him. Have I called him? Nope, never. I had no intent.

It was minutes after Takeover: Brooklyn III.  I had just lost my NXT Women’s Championship and if no one could tell, I was frustrated. Actually, I wanted to cry. But after crying for months because of Seth, I didn’t have enough tears in me anymore. I was over him, but crying for months on end took a lot of work

I had grabbed a towel to dry my face off with… That’s when Hunter approached me and congratulated on a good match. I looked at him weirdly while listening to him compliment my skills. That’s when I knew where this was heading.

“No, I’m not getting moved up to the main roster. Nope. I have to get my title back and I have a rematch clause. You can’t just-” I was speaking at 100 words per minute. But Hunter stopped me.

Triple H sighed and he knew exactly where this was going. But instead of walking away this time, he just stood there. He placed a hand on my shoulder, and patiently tried to put the words together. “You don’t have a choice this time. Vince wants you. It’s either go to the main roster or be fired.” Hunter explained to me and my mouth dropped. Vince was actually willing to fire me just because I didn’t want to go to the main roster? I was hurt. But I nodded my head and I agreed to go. Not that I had much of a choice this time. “Thank you. But I have to tell you… You’re going to RAW.” And with that, I would have rather be fired than work on RAW. I stomped my foot and walked away. I wasn’t crying. I wasn’t going to cry. I insisted as I got back to my locker room.

I’m going to RAW, I thought. It didn’t feel like it was real. I wish I wasn’t. But I had 24 hours to prepare myself for the run in that was going to change my life. I was going to make my debut at Summerslam. Great. Of all damn places. If it wasn’t a mixed show, I wouldn’t have been nervous. Hell, if Seth wasn’t there- I would’ve felt better. But, he was going to be there. There wasn’t enough places in the Barclay Arena to hide from him in. I didn’t plan on this happening. Hell, going to Smackdown would be 100% better. But no. I have to prepare myself all over again.

#wwe imagines #seth rollins fanfic #wwe #let's see how this goes #imagines #seth rollins imagines #seth rollins

[lovewavesxx]

Love Waves - EP 1 - I Tried

Click here to read Love Waves - Introduction

“Since they decay so slowly, Love Waves are the most destructive. They are what most people feel directly.” 08-14-17 1:09PM xx.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/ericajones10/playlist/578xr70RSiNTat98VyNGiy

Apple Music: https://itunes.apple.com/us/playlist/love-waves-ep-1-i-tried/idpl.u-55D6JjVCx9Xkmj

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwEZgDEorNRSaeQLydheC9AIVennrYqme

1. SZA – Supermodel

2. blackbear – idfc (Tarro Remix)

3. A$AP Rocky – L$D

4. Big Sean – Jump Out the Window

5. NJOMZA – poison

6. mansionz – A Million Miles

7. Lil Dicky - Molly (feat. Brendon Urie of Panic at the Disco)

8. MUNA – Winterbreak

9. The 1975 – Somebody Else

10. Colouring – About You

11. Bebe Rexha – I Got Time

12. G-Eazy – Tumblr Girls (feat. Christoph Anderson)

13. Chris Brown – Autumn Leaves (feat. Kendrick Lamar)

14. Logic – Nikki

15. Wiz Khalifa – Promises

16. Lorde – Liability (Reprise)

Please listen to the playlist the first time without the shuffle on. Read my explanation after listening to the playlist at least once.

Click here for my twitter @ericajones1010

Click here to leave a comment or say something idk :)

(Disclaimer: Not every playlist will go as in depth with explanation as this one.)

Next week’s playlist is very light and pretty much no thinking is involved. :)

I Tried says what it means. I tried. This being the first playlist of the Love Waves series I tried to make it effortlessly flow. Surprisingly, this playlist was really easy to make. Some of the playlists coming in the future weeks are proving to be more challenging.

Who knows maybe nobody will even listen to them or read this. That’s alright. This is for me. These playlists are an extension of the being that I am. I really missed doing radio and sharing music constantly, so I’ve decided to curate weekly playlists. From Me. To You, if you’re listening.

I can relate to the theme of I Tired. All of the songs in there are songs I am attached to in some level of depth. There’s a theme of dysfunctional love running through most of this playlist. I have cried to some of these songs. Certain people or memories run around my mind when these songs play.

Supermodel opens up I Tried to paint a picture of wanting someone to love you even when you can’t quite seem to love all of yourself. There are so many lyrics that I can’t just relate to. At the basis of this opening song I feel an insecurity in myself and the others who have rejected me. Rejection is hard in any form, but I think when someone says no to you as a person it feels like something is fundamentally wrong with you even when things just weren’t meant to be. Sometimes things seem to line up, but they actually just don’t in reality. This song feels like a push and pull of “I don’t want you, but I need you to stay,” and I can heavily relate to that feeling. I’m sooo indecisive when it comes to things I really care about. I had a friend this summer who kind of helped with that a little. Like, he would make me pick the place to eat or what to do. Something so small as that really helped me grow to not be as afraid of making decisions when someone else is with me. When I care about someone I just want to do what they want to do. What makes them happy will be more than okay with me. I think that kind of killed it for the last guy I really cared about, or still do care about I guess. When he can’t make up his mind and you can’t make up your mind and you just keep wanting the other to make a decision already, it can cause some frustrations. Anyways, this is a vulnerable song of, “Your wrongs and my wrongs aren’t making anything right.”

Click here to see the music video for Supermodel by SZA (right now it’s only on Apple Music sorry)

idfc the Tarro Remix is just a fantastic remix of a great blackbear song. The song explains its importance to the playlist so easily by essentially saying, “As long as you’re there I don’t fucking care. Good or bad it does not matter.” There’s a toxicity in that type of relationship.

L$D is in my top three favorite music videos of all time. There’s this magical connection between music, and lights, and colors that is absolutely unmatched. Those are three of my favorite things. The emotion in the song comes from the backing music I think. The dainty, yet trippy guitar part sets the song’s mood perfectly. A$AP Rocky’s use of the lyric, “I look for ways to say, “I love you” but I ain’t into makin’ love songs,” to me, is so simple and yet beautiful. To me, it’s this person who may not be great at expressing their emotions really making an effort for let the person they love know how they feel. Almost like it’s this struggle for them to communicate, but at the end of the day it’s just words.

Click here to see the music video for L$D by A$AP Rocky

Jump Out the Window expresses the fact of “we get along, we’re friends, there’s something here, we aren’t working to find out what it could be, you keep giving idiots your time, I’m giving other idiots my time, I’m always here for you, there’s something that you won’t leave alone, and I’m getting tired of this here and there behavior,” really well. Also, the music is pretty dope too.

poison by NJOMZA is a song I have cried listening to. The feeling of going in circles comes from the pianos in the back and is confirmed by the lyrics. This song came out in early April 2017. That was one of the roughest months I have had since I was in highschool my Junior year. Things are better now, but nothing can take back those thoughts and emotions that were dealt with by myself. Ya know, it’s crazy what the absence of someone you care about will do to you when you can see them doing fine without you. (Also, don’t watch 13 Reasons Why. Triggered.)

A Million Miles is my favorite song off of the mansionz album. mansionz has a very special place in my heart. Not to mention the lyrics are ace and the music production is absolutely amazing.

Molly. Lil Dicky does a great job of expressing the small things a person can do for or around you, that you observe even when they don’t know it’s something they’re doing. Like, the goofy little quirks a person has that makes them memorable. I’m replaceable, and I see that. You’re replaceable, and I see that too. It’s just a hard pill to swallow sometimes. I just don’t do well with goodbyes and endings. I never have.

Click here to see the music video for Molly by Lil Dicky feat.  Brendon Urie

Winterbreak by MUNA is a total song about the ups and downs between you and someone you just can’t quite let go of completely. Something about them keeps you around even when you try to stay at a distance. I first heard of MUNA when I saw them perform in NYC at the Gov. Ball Music Festival at the beginning of June 2017. I later saw them again in KC at the end of that same month. Hearing this song, swaying to this song, closing your eyes, and just being in the moment of this song being played live feels infinite until it hits you that it’s over. My mom really likes this song too. We jam in the car to it quite often. I actually got to hang out of a sunroof while blaring this song and my life felt like this detached/external music video that was fairly windy. The beginning of the chorus gets me everytime with the motion of the music and the lyrics.

Click here to see the music video for Winterbreak by MUNA

Somebody Else is written and performed by my favorite band The 1975. I have seen this song performed live at least three or four times. I saw The 1975 perform this song in both May 2017 and then June 2017 (when I went to Madison Square Garden), and each of those times was an emotional dance party of me singing my heart out. :) (Also, the lyrics, “I don’t want your body but I hate to think about you with somebody else. Our love has gone cold. You’re intertwining your soul with somebody else,” I mean come on, holy understandable. No, just me, oh okay. I’m loca I knowwww.)

Click here to see the music video for Somebody Else by The 1975

About You is performed by a group called Colouring. They are going to be huge one day. I’m calling it now. Their ability to make intelligent pop music is going to take them places. I first saw Colouring in May 2017 when they opened up for The 1975. Their stage presence is very welcoming and feels kind of heartwarming. They are just starting. I didn’t realise it until making a playlist with them that I had played one of their December 2016 releases in one of my radio shows. I got hooked on the song About You when I was in Victoria’s Secret one day in June 2017. I had a minor fan girl moment and quietly danced and sang to myself. Welcome to shopping with me..Oh yeah, back to the song. The repeated “I think about you, ‘bout you, ‘bout you” flows like a smooth stream of mellow EDM. That’s how I’d describe it anyways. The other lyrics are great too, just sayin’.

Click here to see a professionally recorded live performance video of About You by Colouring

I Got Time is a song about being selfish. I think we can all relate to that. I care a lot about some people, but even occasionally I feel the need to just do whatever the fuck I want. Bebe does a great job of capturing that with her lyrics and the music is prime driving around, windows down, dancing in my car, music. I be on my bad bitch vibes during this song haha.

Tumblr Girls. If you want to have a real discussion about what my head thinks and feels about this song you just hmu. This was one of the first songs I had ever heard from G-Eazy before I ever knew who he was. It’s in one of my SoundCloud playlists along with Let’s Get Lost. This was before I was really really into his music. Prior to subscribing to Apple Music in March 2016 I still bought CDs and that is expensive and very limiting in music selection. The lyrics are perfect in all of their chaos while describing the situation. The music is perfect and unlike anything I’ve really heard. The whole time it just feels kind of like waves are hitting you. They rise and fall and rise again and fall again. G will always have a corner reserved in my heart.

Click here to see the music video for Tumblr Girls by G-Eazy feat. Christoph Andersson

Autumn Leaves was actually introduced to me only a few days prior to this playlist’s conception. Grace and I had just gotten back from watching Logic perform in KC on August 12th. It was probably ten something at night. Grace has great taste in music. We had just parked the car, after talking about some life/relationship things, and I was preparing mentally for what was going to happen later. Then she said something like, “You’ll like this song.” We just sat there in the night with the headlights beaming on the blue apartment in front of us. She was right. I felt every bit of that song. The aggression in Kendrick’s voice. Then I knew fall was coming soon. I had that song on repeat for the last thirty minutes of my drive home Sunday and while I slept from essentially 5pm that night until 10pm something.

Click here to see the music video for Autumn Leaves by Chris Brown feat. Kendrick Lamar

Nikki is one of the very first Logic songs I was hooked on. If you haven’t noticed by now I get really attached to shit sometimes. The strings in the background mixed with whatever it is the rest of the music is made with is prime feels music. The whole time you think he’s talking about this girl he’s addicted to but at the end you find out it’s nicotine. He romanticised a substance–something that doesn’t actually talk. I can make the connection to somethings I can’t seem to get away from too and don’t truly want to get rid of I guess or else I would.

Click here to see an unofficial music video for Nikki by Logic

Promises comes right after Nikki because when I am driving around late at night this is always the order in which these songs are played. They just compliment each other so well. It’s just an Erica thing I suppose. Wiz’s Blacc Hollywood album has a special place in my heart too. I hadn’t heard it until probably late 2016 even though it was released in 2014. In NYC I was able to experience Wiz singing this song live. Now that, that was a moment with all of the lights, and colors, and smells, and bodies moving. My favorite lyric is, “And I already feel it now. It’s like you’re the only one. Only one who knows just how. How to make the time stand still. We’re caught in the moment. So don’t let me down.” I think there’s a sickeningly beautiful reliance he puts on another person in that song. Kind of like this vulnerability he’s willing to have with them. I know it can really hard for some people to open up or even just take in what another person is sharing with them. I’ve learned that. 

Click here to see the music video for Promises by Wiz Khalifa

Click here to see an unofficial music video for Promises by Wiz Khalifa

Liability (Reprise) is the ending song. On your own, I suggest you go listen to Liability by Lorde to fully understand the whole story. Sometimes, it is so easy for me to feel like a liability to others. When will you finally get sick of me? When will you have had enough? I don’t need your attention to live but I live better when I get it. That’s messed up, right? To place that dependence on another person, or even maybe people, who don’t consistently make an appearance. I’m 21, and I’m free, I should have no worries, I should not be focused on what I do not have, I should not need anyone to love me and be there for me without asking, and yet here we are. I still feel like a burden sometimes because of other’s actions or lack thereof, and I even know it’s not on purpose. I know nobody I’ve surrounded myself with would knowingly sets out to hurt me. If they did purposefully do so then that’s fucked up and on them and not me.  I would fight for them or be by their side through anything, but it never feels like they’d fight for me. My actions seem to go unmatched most times which can be really frustrating. I’m a liability. I’m a liability. I’m a liability. But I’m not. I am someone you want by your side for the simple reason I will not give up on you unless you break me so hard that I cannot come back. I was broken in April. I almost died. But you know, it’s August and I am a better version of myself for going through all of my lows. I got me through that. Granted, I had the understanding of my two closest friends. But I won. I learned to back off of the things I love because a flame can burn so strong, but if you start to smother it, it will eventually fade. I will fight for you as much as you fight for me now. I’ve learned not to love in complete abundance now. I love in pieces until the puzzle is complete, but I’m not going to force anything anymore.

Click here to watch a video of Lorde explain Liability

Click here to read the meaning of Liability (Reprise) by Lorde

Ohhhhkaaayyyy then. I hope you like the playlist! Let me know any or all thoughts you have about it or anything I guess.

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Click here for my twitter @ericajones1010

Click here to leave a comment or say something idk :)

Orrr you can just comment on this or just get a hold of me some other way k bye. <3

Love,

-E xx.

p.s. 

Shoutout Kayla and Adam for giving me their input with the artwork I created and for listening to the playlist when I first completed it. Your constant flow of mostly constructive (because we joke around so much) critiques and support of me seriously means more than anyone will ever understand. You both just get me. I love you both to the ends of the universe and back. <3 <3 

If you actually read all of this I genuinely want to know. Also, you da real MVP. xx. 

#music #music comp #playlist #love waves #love #love -e #xx. #sza #supermodel #blackbear #idfc #tarro remix #A$AP rocky #L$D #asap rocky #big sean #jump out the window #njomza #poison #mansionz #a million miles #lil dicky #molly #MUNA #winterbreak #the 1975 #somebody else #colouring #about you #bebe rexha