#sorry gang but I had to say this

[deliciouskeys]

Preface: I’m a card carrying member of the Homelander Is So Cute UwU club, and a lot of the fic I consume is various ways to get a redemption wish fulfillment.

And even with this level of HL bs tolerance, I periodically come across a sentiment in this fandom that, frankly, gives me bad vibes: “HL is not written as a rapist in the TV show and Becca would have been the one outlier event, so it probably didn’t happen that way.”

Are we watching the same show? The creepy way he talks over Maeve at the race in S1E3, the way he strongarms his way into a fake relationship with Starlight in S3, the threat of harvesting Maeve’s eggs right after assuring he’d never do something as gross as force himself on her…. Are all pretty rapey.

It’s a particular flavor of rapey, and quite different from the one in the Garth Ennis comics, granted. At the risk of being reductive, I’ll reference the Groth rapist subtyping (proven problematic when used to categorize real people but good enough for this):

HL in the comics is presented a sadistic rapist: The type that gets off on their victim’s suffering, that likes to emphasize their victim’s helplessness, and the power differential between them. This goes for Starlight’s initiation, Becca’s rape, and even colors the Soldier Boy herogasm scene which is allegedly consensual but definitely not in the #metoo era.

HL in the show is presented as a power rapist: the type that actually plays down any power differential, and wants to delude themselves into thinking that the victim was willing all along or (perhaps even better!) came around because of the rapist’s sheer sexual prowess. The force used is often soft— words over physicality— and sometimes oblique (I.e. ‘the implication’ in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia). The usual MO of the daterapist.

Homelander being nervous and subby with Madelyn doesn’t negate those scenes— she has a very particular role in his life to have that dynamic with him. The possibility of him being ‘groomed’ by her at an early age doesn’t negate that either. If anything, people who are sexually abused are more likely to become abusers themselves.

All that said, can you hc that he isn’t a rapist? Can you write fic set in a universe where these scenes didn’t happen? Of course.

Am I saying Kripke and team did an impeccable, nuanced job with this subject matter? No.

But I cringe every time I see the “HL could never rape anyone ever, he lasers people but he’s a sub and we all know subs can’t rape anyone, and that’s canon!” discourse on tumblr, and its close cousin on Reddit of “HL is so awesome, why would he need to rape anyone / who would ever refuse him.”

………… and now you can argue with me if you want lol, the floor is yours.

#canon vs fanon #sorry gang but I had to say this #tw rape #tw that tired old rape discourse about HL #homelander #homelander meta #the boys #the boys tv

[yellowheartz]

Not hating on Kuboyasu Aren, like don't get me wrong, that's gang and I love him.

But I think that if he did achieve his dream of being able to marry a lady and have a family, there would be a lot of loopholes in his relationships.

Like, yes, he's a very respectful dude and he'd probs treat the woman like the only girl in the world but let's say they had a fight, right?

Dude wouldn't know the first thing to do, 50 outta 50, he'll apologize because "that's what a man should do" but what if he felt wronged as well? Either way, whether he apologizes or not, there would be a little toxicity at least, surrounding his relationship with his lady, like please do yall get me? 😭

Istg, I'm not hating, he's literally my fave character, but if he really ended up with a normal girl and lived a normal life, there'd surely be problems, most likely if he had a daughter.

#guys PLEASE do NOT get me wrong i am not hating #i love to discuss complex characters and their rights even with their wrongs #like the fluff and angst is good ok but i want some realisticness that i read about in oatmealcrisp fics ok #sorry for being insane abt my faves 🤞🤞 #also babe #i am not shitting when i say my dad KINS aren so much bro #had the same background and shit #well not the gang parts but yea lots of violence even at home #oh no my daddy issues 😱 #im not projecting prommy 🫶💞 #(half joking) #yellow talks #saiki k #aren kuboyasu #kuboyasu aren #guys pls hes a dude and i love him hes my blorbo

[wraithsoutlaws]

before there was royce and dum dum there was simon and [redacted]

#cyberpunk 2077 #dum dum #simon randall #this is just silly lil self indulgent pre-chrome delinquent stinky babies #i do have a name i gave dum dum but :> #i DO like to think they knew each other growing up/before the gang in some capacity and i hc royce was who got dd into maelstrom altogether #also that dd was pretty ganic when he first joined but royce probably had a little chrome and was already doing some harder crimes #where i hc dd was scav-adjacent and definitely no angel but not quite as hardcore at the time #also. royce went through a nu metal phase im SORRY #most this based on the throwaway line of dd saying he knew royce from the beginning #anyways....gremlin stinky boys #my art tag

[4ce-of-2pades-inkwell]

Fanart for @inkwellphasmophobia!!!

I got really inspired by the Phasmophibia AU. Specifically, oddly enough, by the whole mental asylum part in particular. It would be Mugs, wouldn't it? (Seems like no matter what AU, the one consistent thing about him is that he's gonna snap eventually in some way.)

So I did a few sketches, which somehow ended up turning into an entire comic. (I am not going to confess how late I stayed awake working on this.) I didn't feel like taking the time to make a polished version, but I wanted to share it nonetheless, so you're going to have to deal with my messy scribbles and placeholder characters. I don't know how much of this will turn out to be canon, but hopefully it's cool and tragic anyway. (...Does this need trigger warnings?)

(The sketches on the right of this first image aren't panels of the comic, by the way, they're separate drawings. You can tell 'cause they're not in boxes.)

And somehow these two get in an argument:

All this fanart and not a single mention of ghosts.

#inkwell phasmophobia #phasmophobia AU #cuphead #mugman #bendy #I also had the idea that Mugs has the ability to speak in some kind of eldritch demon-like language #not necessarily possession but more like he's been changed or tainted by an interaction with SOMETHING while ghost hunting with the gang #and this is the cause of both his insanity and his more frequent speaking in that other language #sometimes he can't control when or what he says in the eldritch language (so who knows what he could be summoning amiright?) #sometimes he just chooses to and seems to enjoy speaking it #('cause he's sorta lost it) #and meanwhile Cups is trying to gently direct him away from it like “hey let's maybe NOT talk in the demonic tongue right now?” #if Mugs got enough control over his mind he could be the group's connection to supernatural magic and demonic stuff #because he understands it and can interact with it in a way other people can't (he's not very angsty about it--mostly more fascinated) #(because he's a ghost nerd) #man I'm coming up with a lot of stuff for an AU that Is Not Mine #sorry about that

[coworkers-office]

Have one of my favorite mouse youkai

"Is this a joke?"

< Coworker seems to have assumed you're trying to torment him with rats. Look at the ask box title, people! >

#elevator hitch #studio investigrave #racheldrawsthis #coworker elevator hitch #coworker #elevator hitch rp & ask blog #coworker.answers #ooc/mod: im not actually mad i love the rat gag its great keep it up gang. also what are youkais? avoided this ask cuz i had No Clue what #to say 😔 so sorry asker!

[todayisafridaynight]

#rgg #ryu ga gotoku #yakuza series #ryu ga gotoku 7 #yakuza like a dragon #yakuza 7 #rggo #ryu ga gotoku online #jo sawashiro #snap sketches #i wish i drew him from the other side cause thats where all the yummy scars are but oh well.. mayhaps next time.... #hopefully there is a next time LOL #spiritually this is a birthday drawing for masu since i keep saying ill draw RGGJO VLEKVJLEKJ #also idk... somethin bout sunday night got me finally wantin to draw bro.. <- does not want to study for his spanish exam tomorrow #anyway //obligatory warrior cats gijinka joke// im sorry ill never Not make that joke #i just know if rggo came out when i was 12 i wouldve gone insane over rggjo #ANYWAY. MASU. WHEN YOU INEVITABLY READ THESE TAGS. i hope you had an epic birthday and an epic birthday part ii :] #it was fun watching The Clan's Heir Is A Trans Woman with you and the gang ♪(´▽｀) #ok i should go study now i guess LMAO BYE

[dylanconrique]

not to sound too horny but i want a chenford sex scene so bad.

#*carly catalogs #started giggling thinking about them running off to go have some quality naked time at nolan's wedding #because they'd probably be making love like it's THEIR wedding night sszrdftyghjkl #i can just picture the rest of the gang back at the reception sipping their drinks like 'nah not gonna go up there for awhile' 😂😂 #the rookie #tim bradford #lucy chen #chenford #otp: you knkw me so well #gotta say i am insanely jealous of stellarider's and that shower sex scene they got 12x01???? #even if it was a split second thing like i could almost start watching the show just bc of that #(but i'm not going to cause i don't care enough to commit anymore to 12 fucking seasons of a show lol) #(maybe if i had started it earlier) #sorry it's 3am and i'm losing sleep cause we're getting the s6 trailer today #give it to me rn i need it

[cowboy-robooty]

one of the biggest mistakes of my life was not watching jojo rabbit in theatres swear to god... one of my top 5 movies

#i wanted to watch it actually but i didnt because i was a fucking loser with no friends and no car (too young for lisence) #and idc abt watching movies alone i love doing shit alone unironically but bc i had no car id have to go with my mom or dad #and i was like fuck no not worf it tf this movie think it is? the lego movie? #and now i finally watched it like a month ago and found it it literally is same level of amazing as the lego movie #shit makes me crazy you know that its good when i say its as good as the lego movie okay #cowboy robooty who was chronically obsessed with the lego cinematic universe for like 5 years #im still one of the strongest warriors okay but i cant be the strongest anymore bc the lego movie 2 should not exist and YES. REX DANGERVWST #MAKES ME A LITTLE CRAZY I LIKE HIM SO MUCH OKAY. BUT AUAGWHSHS THE PLOT AND AND THE MESSAGE AND THEY HAS LITERALLY ONLY HALF A SECOND OF #GOOD COP BAD COP. WHERE TF WAS HE?!? HES PART OF THE GANG!!!! #AND THE WHAT THEY DID TO WYLDSTYLE OHHHH MY GAWWWDDDEJNSKWLS #AND THE WHATEVRAWANNABI MARRYING BATMAN BULLSHIT.......................... JUST IGNORE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE... OKAY THEN. #Sorry. robooty crazy as usual u know me heehee! #but yes i fucking love jojo rabbit and i am still obsessed with the lego movie and... #well i think the lego movie is one of the greatest movies made of all time. #so lego movie is second favorite movie and jojo rabbit is swimming around in top 5 #number one is a secret ee hee hee!

[buryam-soul]

Mind-boggling to see neuvi/wrio/navi/clori quartet being compared to 4/ggravate of all things rather than like... desert gang or (they don't rly have a group name but) victory feast gang

#oh i mean i Know why. most popular ships of the region yadda yadda whatever #but in terms of them as a group.. i recall one certain 4/ggravate member not playing much of a role in the AQs #while their so-called f.ontaine equivalents had all their members participate. gee that sounds familiar #being a 4 star is not an excuse.. where would we be w/o kndk's peace keeping.... #and victory feast gang (cy hthm dhy nlou) is even more fitting bcs oops all five stars #sorry im biased and salty. im not even that mad tho im just. bewildered #it's just one or two ppl saying this on occasion. idek what brought on this long of a ramble tbh #yes ppl can do whatever they want forever. does not mean i can't bitch abt it in the safety of my own home

[nosongunsung11]

Also 🖊️ any variation on Sounder I miss sier

ARIEL-SOUNDER-ECHO-ARIEL THE OUROBOROS EATS ITS OWN TAIL. If you've been on my blog for a while you probably know sier by name I tag sier Constantly. I love talking about Sounder. Here's some Sounder.

Sounder's a PC from a sleepaway campaign that I was gonna play with some friends but never really ended up happening (scheduling issues etc) but we just kind of. ended up writing the entire story of these characters anyway. Including multiple pieces of writing and Significant amounts of art. Ariel is Sounder before sie became human and also a camp counselor. Echo is Sounder after he dies of love. Ariel is Echo after it becomes fucking normal again. If that doesn't make sense I'm about to explain it in detail aldkjfalkjdf

ARIEL was a wind spirit who served at the pleasure of the Underhill King (fae Old World entity that represents the Old Ways etc. big ass bone stag man). Pronouns... uh. Didn't really need them. It/they is close enough. Its job was to rustle the bone charms and bells that the Underhill King wears on His antlers and that was it.

They found Wallace (another PC, goes by Laevis by the time the campaign would have begun) bleeding out and almost dying in the woods, and made a Deal with the Underhill King for the power to heal his wounds and take care of him as he recovered. Laevis wakes up in the forest to see Sounder over him, hands pressing against the shrapnel wounds in his neck.

[Image ID in alt text; the Underhill King's dialogue is written in small caps and His pronouns are written with a capital H.]

Our Crafter for the campaign decided they wanted the magic for this campaign to work via thread crafts, especially friendship bracelets, so Sounder's humanity being granted via friendship bracelet is pretty significant! The bone pendant and bracelet thread make up the necklace that Sounder wears in pretty much all the art I draw of sier, which is the visible symbol of the deal sie made with the Underhill King. Sie never takes it off. The implication in the passage above is that if Sounder ever finds a true home, sier life will end, as sier life and curse are inextricably bound together. I feel like this may be a good point to mention that Sleepaway is a horror-tragedy ttrpg. btw.

That gets us to Sounder (sie/sier and he/him)! ^^ awesome art above is an art fight attack from @klqdraws !!!!! [Image ID: a waist-up portrait of a tan-skinned, blue-eyed man in a white tank top and yellow skirt. Sie has waist-length black hair with a blue tint, part of which is pulled into a short braid over sier right shoulder. Sie has stubble and multiple ear piercings, and sie is singing and holding out a hand to the viewer. End ID]

SOUNDER is a Songleader (one of the character archetypes from the Sleepaway TTRPG.] Gender: Blowing in the Wind, Name: A Name Used Only Here (the character sheets for sleepaway are hella good). Sie is a cryptid of a camp-counselor -- not on the payroll, never heads home on the buses with the rest of the group; sie just seems to show up to help out when camp begins and everyone's just sort of accepted this. Sounder is a camp nickname given to sier; Laevis (who'd lost his voice in the accident that left him bleeding out in the forest) only refers to sier with a handsign of a fluttering bird. Sie's got a playlist here if you want to check it out.

[Image ID: a collection of panels depicting Sounder signing "we're gonna be okay" in ASL, and Laevis, a young man with dark green hair, vitiligo, and small scars all over his body, who echoes the hand signs after them. This is in reference to a mechanic from the TTRPG, the Songleader's hook, which gives characters a mechanical bonus for repeating Sounder's words in a narratively significant way. End ID]

Due to the nature of sier's existence and curse, sie can't stay in human form year-round -- they can only hold human form for so long, turning back into the Wind when they've run out of time to spend with the other campers and counselors. In the off-season, they exist primarily as the wind that rustles through the trees. Laevis, who grew up in the woods with Sounder, has developed a habit of climbing to the top of trees to feel the Wind on his face. He talks to it.

Sie's in a poly love triangle of sorts (souvisel) with two other PCs, Laevis (you've met Laevis) and Joel (or Jay, his camp name). Sounder and Laevis grew up together; Laevis and Joel were childhood sweethearts who never met again after their childhood days at camp together. There's lots of shenanigans here -- Laevis throws Joel into the lake, Laevis falls asleep on Sounder and Joel carries him back to his cabin, Laevis disappears into the woods and Joel searches for him every night because he refuses to believe that Laevis could have died, despite the mounting evidence that he did. Normal polycule things.

Won't spent too much time on Sounder's death since I wrote an entire piece about it; feel free to read it if you're interested (3.5k, about 6 pages)! TLDR; Sounder willingly walks to sier death because sie can't choose to give up the home that sie's found with Laevis and Joel even though it kills sier and Joel wakes up alone in a bed with a discarded flower crown, Sounder's broken pendant, and a wolf who is also his dead boyfriend Laevis. A very bad day to be joel jay sleepaway.

[ID in alt text.]

So. aha. That takes us to ECHO, it/its. It will eventually go by sie/he as well as it/its once it makes its peace with being what's left of Sounder, but that's a ways off. It's got a playlist here also.

[Image ID: Joel, a young man with longer black hair and a short jacket with a broken heart emblem, stares forward with a shocked expression. A white moth has landed on his left eye, covering it. Curled around him is Echo, a translucent white ghostly figure with long hair and a hole where its heart should be. Handwritten text at the top of the image reads "Haunt Me Then." End ID]

Echo is angry. Echo is a spirit of vengeance. Echo is something like the shed skin that Sounder left behind when sie died. Echo's character archetype is Moth Maiden, and it was brought back unwillingly by the moon and is making it everyone else's problem. One of the very first things it does once it begins to exist is kill Joel (somewhat accidentally -- it intended to hurt him, certainly, but Joel was on a journey to the underworld at the time under the condition that touching the water would kill him; its a long story)(you can read the story at the link, credit to @courfeyracs-swordcane , joel's creator, who wrote the story in question).

[Image ID in alt text].

This post is getting pretty long so I won't get too into the Echo relationship dynamics with the rest of the cast (we call them Theseus collectively/as a ship name because they're all dead and different people now. Ship of Theseus kinda blorbos). CJ (Joel after he becomes the Cataract Squire) becomes the Underhill King and Echo is not remotely normal about this. Laevis (who is split into two pieces at the time, Mori and Wolf; it's another Long Story) ascends to a kind of godhood as Hati.

[Image ID: another gorgeous art piece by @lovelandfrogman i received as an artfight attack!!!! The image displays three panels in a descending diagonal from left to right. The first is an image of Sounder and Joel against a backdrop of trees, holding hands and singing together. The second is an image of Echo and Joel against a foggy background. Echo is behind Joel and holding his shoulders; they both seem visibly distressed. Joel is wearing Sounder's necklace. In the final image, Echo, following by moths, holds CJ from behind against a backdrop of the lake. They look tired but somewhat hopeful, and CJ is wearing Sounder's necklace. End ID]

I'm currently working on writing a piece about how Echo becomes Ariel (pt2)(the ouroboros eats its own tail), so I'll probably yell about that later when I get to it, and this post has gotten long enough. If you've gotten this far into the post I love you thank you for reading about my little guy Sounder sleepaway. sie's so important to me <3

I'll leave you with the art Teddy @courfeyracs-swordcane drew me for my birthday of Echo and CJ because it's stunning and I want to put it in here even though I didn't really properly get into the Echo/CJ dynamic (they have a deeply complicated relationship where CJ is wracked with guilt over technically causing Sounder's death and Echo's entire Existence, and Echo hates him for taking the throne of the fae king that cursed Sounder and for the aforementioned Causing Sounder's death, and is fiercely in denial about wanted to be close to them again. They have sex about it. They're almost okay after a few hundred years of this.)(<- from echo's art fight page).

[Image ID: hella good art by @courfeyracs-swordcane of Echo and CJ. Echo is seated side-saddle on a horse and is wearing a flowing white dress and a pink flower crown. It is leaning down towards CJ, who is looking up at it with a scared and hopeful expression on his face. CJ is wearing a jacket over a white binder and ripped jeans, as well as greaves, wrist armor, and a gorget. He has a sword tied to his belt. The background is a forest scene filled with small pink flowers with mountains visible in the background. End ID.]

#pallas post its #long post #yeah i had a lot to say alskdjfalskf im sorry gang #sounder sleepaway #camp azalea sleepaway #sleepaway ttrpg #pallas presents #tagged and credited everyone whose art i put in the post but lemme know if any of yall would rather i take it out

[ranvwoop]

Not all of them are not childhood friends. Serena is really really really trying to make everyone get together for dnd

#vwoop.noises #Arguably I think this is how seth meets everyone. Max presumes hes like Into That because of the whole. The whole thing. #he acts like a dedicated larper. He's never played so Max drags him to Serena's game #He has strong feelings about magic systems and Serena is endeared to him immediately and is like I Am Keeping Your Roommate. #.... this isn't selling the gritty cw rebooting but they do start magic politics #vwoop.ocs #vwoop.files #i forgot i had a tagging system #Sorry. I've been thinking about theem #Unsure if he starts arguing about the distinction between different spellcasters. He is very polite but he just might #Obligatory ''gang plays dnd'': There is a man named Ethan. He is Banned from playing the charismatic bard #Serena is going to do physical violence irl. She looks at him with big sad wet eyes And he says he WASN'T going to seduce the thing. PROMMY. #(They are besties.)

[siixkiing]

I know I’ve complained about this in the past, I know I can simply turn beta on and have my posts unrebloggable BUT it seems its not just my HC posts anymore either...so that solution would only solve half the problem.

BUT, I am once again saying this to whomever keeps reblogging my stuff for Sun Wukong to FUCKING STOP. It should be a written rule and just common sense that less stated otherwise, any post made by an RP Account is not FREE to reblog by anyone - Mun Post, Headcanons, IC Post (less you are a fellow RPer), Threads, and such are OFF-LIMITS.

I am getting sick of seeing notes on my posts and noticing the reblog is private, which means I can’t actively find the user to block them. It’s making me want to post less and less for my muse too. 

#Loss of Powers | {OOC} #The Scrolls | Mun Menu {Post} #Whomever keeps reblogging my stuff for Sun Wukong you are on THIN fucking ice - if I ever find out who you are; I am blocking you #I don't care your reason for reblogging my posts constantly; they are NOT for you to reblog period #So LEAVE my posts alone and go away #I don't want you reblogging my stuff; I'd say delete whatever you reblogged from me to BUT I doubt you will #Sorry gang nothing today; I am frustrated about this - this is the ONLY blog I ever had this problem #I know LMK and JTTW is popular; that sun wukong is a beloved character - but when IDK why my shit is being reblogged I get frustrated #UGH; I don't like 'vague posting' but since IDK who the fuck the person is doing this that is all I can do BC #And yes; it is only Sun Wukong's stuff being reblogged - Macaque or Xiuying haven't been touched...= =;;;

[caimitos]

my most self indulgent hc that is closest to my heart and haven't talked about in years is vespa ilkay filipino (her eyes have a rage you only see in 3rd world med students)

#when u grow up in a place where going into healthcare is a ticket out of ur shithole country that exports 10000s f healthcare workers yearly #but only if you're a nurse or some other profession that can still get ordered around in hospitals #the amount of MDs i know who tried working abroad thn got their degrees & licenses rejected so they had to pick up...a wildly different job #and also vespa ilkay medtech grad real in my heart of course (points at heart of it all pt 2 the blood tells you everything) #and vespa ilkays mom ofw na unti-unting hindi na umuwi also real in my third secret heart #her network of med professional friends is fucking huge bc filipinos go into pre/med expecting half the ppl to leave for richer countries #which is to say most of my friends are already making plans of leaving for the usa/australia/singapore etc etc and some are there already #most of her college batch is scattered across the galaxy they have a groupchat named 'brain drain gang class of 2XXX' or wtv the fuck #but also college swamp girl vespa is just so dear to my heart like the mental image of her #studying under a mosquito net sweating wearing a neck fan with her illegally photocopied medical textbooks from rangian recto avenue #she broke my 'characters i love are southeast asian (in general) characers i hate and want to suffer are filipinos' rule i'm sorry queen #skl.txt #rangian recto avenue whee she gets a fake marriage certificate for her and buddy for shits n giggles #guy who knows all the alumni gives her one for free when she visits they have copies of the vesbud wanted posters behind the counter

[arkhmlcst]

what’s your role in the tragic play?

this story is a cycle, and you're spinning around it like a hamster in a ball being tormented by a cat. you know how this story ends. after all, you've told it a thousand times. but you try to change it every time. you love the people in this story more than anything. so watching them fall victim to the narrative breaks you in a way you can't begin to describe. but all you can do is tell the story── their story── with tears in your eyes. you're prone to anxiety and feelings of helplessness. you have so much love in your heart, and for once you wish it would change something. it didn't. it doesn't. it won't. but you refuse to stop telling the story. and you refuse to stop loving the people in it. in this way, no one is stronger than you. you just wish being strong hurt less.

#{{ at first I wasn’t sure about the answer but putting it into the perspective of dewey? #{{ every last Arkham has had a bad ending. whether being burned at the stake or r//ped and murdered in your own home. #{{ this both applies to me and dewey i think. Dewey is a character who i desperately want to have a good ending #{{ and i think she does too. But the endless cycle of curses for their family #{{ it seems like she’ll never catch a break - never be free from her shackles #{{ even after her suicide attempt had went awry she’s still. Here. #{{ unlike the other Arkhams she’s almost a miracle. #{{ everything EVERYTHING thrown at her. the lobotomy could’ve killed her. Batman could’ve never saved her. She survived a gang war in akcit #{{ if she has to be the final Arkham to attempt to break the cycle of death and misfortune than so be it #{{ far as she’s aware - she’s the last surviving member of the Arkham family ( or atleast the last one to bear the name ) #{{ if any Jeremiah Arkhams are out there uhm Erm. Say hi to your awkward and tortured step sibling #{{ this was a deep retrospection on dewey o had to end it on a funny note sorry #{{ this just made me so sad for her. #— * memes

[seekerstone]

like, the thing is that for a parody/play on genre/trope deconstruction/etc you need to love the source material deeply and unironically. i really do think that’s it. i LOVE writing silly goofy fantasy that breaks the 4th wall and lampshades all the genre staples BC I LOVE FANTASY!!!! & i take it seriously too but sometimes when you love something SO MUCH you almost have to put the meta post in ur writing, if i may phrase it with such cringe. you can writing silly goofy anything that lampshades the genre staples IF you love the stuff that takes itself so seriously. otherwise it’s just stale and you can tell!! it’s why disnep movies have gotten so tedious where enchanted was delightful. the second you stop appreciating the actual source and origination, no joy can be truly sparked by your creation. how can you tease a thing if you do not love it!!!

#the moon speaks #this is mostly apropos of nothing im just watching a lets play of elden ring & remembering for the fifty thousandth time this month #why i love fantasy and how MUCH i love fantasy #& it got me thinking abt how often i write jokey cheesy lightheaded fantasy & it's really just a way for me to heap adoration on the genre #you can tell when something is done with love and when it's done with derision or scorn or -- worst of all -- shame #if you are going to take something apart you had BETTER love it first!!! that's all i'm saying #also the typo was intentional . i don't want it showing up in the tags & also i think it's funny. disnep gang rise up #sorry this is such a wordy post :( no one has ever taught me how to be concise

[twosides--samecoin]

Thank you for your ask 😊 I really enjoyed answering it. So! What are some aspects of Mac that you personally feel that the fandom overlooks/handles poorly?

The good thing is his character is really not handled all that poorly by the fandom. The game definitely handles him worse on the basis of giving him a story that couldn't actually be finished and fully explored by leaving his child back in D.C. RJ Very Good Dad Whom Do Get The Medicine And Then Stays In Boston And Does Nothing is the biggest pet peeve anyone's done to the character. Fandom-wise, I would say these are "little annoyances" - if anyone holds these headcanons dear, that's cool, I don't hate on that, but the following is decidedly not for me:

Dirtbag Trashman: Ok I know his looks sorta lend themselves easy to the comparisons to ferrets, foxes, opossums, rats and whatnot; the SkinNakedDirty texture is turned WAY up on his character model, but he is not dirty, ok?? Why do some of y'all WANT him to be the Pig-Pen in the F4 Peanuts gang??

....at least not in my game he isn't dirty...

Literacy, or Lack Thereof: This is one of those headcanons I don't like for a few reasons. There's headcanons that he "read comics" that had words that were too faded to read and he made the stories up as he looked at the pictures as a kid. Sure, fine, I'm not mad at that, comics printed on crappy paper probably don't hold ink that well 250+ years on if you can find a copy without damage anyway.

My first question is why would anyone assume he specifically can't read versus any other companion? We know Lucy got her medical knowledge from textbooks; from that we can assume there was some form of teaching happening at Little Lamplight for children to learn reading and writing.

Piper is the only one we see making a living from writing but I never see anyone making those headcanons towards other characters - would Cait have learned to read or write given her abusive childhood, existing post-war outside of the structure of our society where schools aren't necessarily attended by kids and social work basically doesn't exist as a profession? It's a fairly big assumption that anyone just has the skill to read and write in the post apocalypse, and framing illiteracy as MacCready-specific has never sat well for me. Realistically there would be a lot of adults who're unable to read or write but for me, he learned to read and write alongside Lucy in Little Lamplight. Older kids taught them and it's part of the responsibility of getting a little older in LL. He helped teach the next generation of kids. For my convenience as a writer, he needs basic literacy to send letters to Duncan, anyway.

One headcanon that didn't work for me in the opposite way was that MacCready had intellectual pursuits because he knew of Henry David Thoreau. With respects to the OP, it was gleaned from a line of dialogue near Thoreau's cabin, but it's a location where everyone has a line to say. HDT is a massive influence in my personal life + writing and while RJ can read.. he's not reading Thoreau. He's generally disdainful of pre-war people and how they handled the world, resulting in a ruined one he has to live in, so he's not seeking out philosophical texts on how some Mungo named Henry who lived 400 years before his time thought people should live. What good did that do for his world? I headcanon him (in the beginning) as deeply regretful, unable to really enjoy anything too much. What hobbies? There are none. He'd read Thoreau if it would make Duncan better and solve his problems, but reading for enjoyment would largely be a waste of time. Each time he enjoys himself or isn't doing things for Duncan, it means (to him) that he's not being a good father. Something taps him on his shoulder to say it's not his place to read a book or take time off. He exists in a state of penance, in the beginning.

However, I do very much headcanon him as being receptive to Thoreau's many wisdoms (Walden and Civil Disobedience in particular) and as some of my fave classic works in literary history, I honour those texts by having those concepts introduced to him in a future chapter. I wrote the chapter before I saw that headcanon, because I always had the intent to involve literary history/discussion, so it was funny when I saw that and I was like, yes! But not like that!

I just want my readers to know that society fuckin' sucks and we all gotta touch grass and I- *gets pulled offstage*

#I had a lot to say yeesh #sorry lol #CleanCready Gang #robert joseph maccready #thank you for the ask! #long time running #ask me anything #fallout 4 headcanons #unhinged mac headcanon #henry david thoreau #cait fo4 #piper fallout 4