#which is nonsense but that argument doesn't even work on me

[crown-ov-horns]

I do wonder whether underappreciating Adriel x Lilith is just the fandom being boring in rejecting m/f (sorry not sorry, no hate from this bi girl, but nothing will surpass the Satan and Lilith dynamic), or, is it because the ship is so underdeveloped.

We see Adriel "tempt" Lilith, I talk about it here. I'ts great, I loved it.

Then, there's the final battle. We see them be an evil villain power couple together.

We even see Lilith be soft towards Adriel for a moment.

But, that's it. She turns on him, without us even understanding why. It wasn't because he's evil and crazy, she knew he was evil and crazy. Also, I refuse to believe she woke from his spell, I refuse to believe she was under a spell at all. He offered her what the OCS couldn't (and by that, I don't mean his rod). That's why she chose him. Maybe Reya played with her head, I don't know, but that would be insulting to her arc.

There's a gaping chasm between Lilith turning to Adriel, and the final battle. What were they doing during their time together? Drinking brandy and scheming? Performing blood rituals? Going on dates? What did they talk about, how did they bond (more)? It would have been great, to see the situation from their angle, at least a bit. To find out what they're thinking. Lorena and William portrayed great chemistry, why not use it? Also, their interactions could've revealed more about the Other side to us.

Warrior Nun did a lot of things brilliantly. Adriel is a wonderful villain, he's one of my favorite characters in the world. But, his dynamic with Lilith was left barebones. They both deserved more screentime in general, it's such a shame the season was shorter. Some things seem rushed because of it. I would've loved to see Lilidriel fleshed out more.

Also, I'm still bitter the creators screwed with the Satan and Lilith pairing by having her ditch him. You don't sUbVeRt that pair. I forgive a lot in the name of an author's license, I don't forgive that. At least she went away on her own path.

#warrior nun #warrior nun fandom #wn fandom #sister lilith #lilith villaumbrosia #adriel #lilith x adriel #lilidriel #otp #diary pages #warrior nun thoughts #idk why do i feel the need to mention i'm bi #i guess because people act like being straight makes your opinion and taste not matter #which is nonsense but that argument doesn't even work on me #tbh I don't like any of the ff pairings in wn except avalil and maybe doctor superion #i guess that's what fanfiction is for but i have enough wips #i did have that idea of a short fic where lilith has adriel's son and of course names him lucifer 🤣 #pfft here she'd be with adriel and have a son named lucifer #in atsbb she's with lucifer (adriel's mom) and adriel's her stepson 🤣 #but that name just... what other one would she pick #the do make such a great villain power couple and i adore anything that's based on my favorite pairing ever... one of there's also another #lorena andrea #william miller #warrior nun gifs #my gifs #of course my grievances with the creators mean nothing the do what the will i like or not like it it's my problem #even in your favorite media there's things you don't like #in wn i have a lot because it's... so out of my genre #tbh FOR ME my favorite ff ships never measure up to my favorite mf ships it's just my preference... well there are a couple but i prefer mf #in wn my problem is not that like i said the characters just don't create the type of ship i like

[lundenloves]

welcome to my projection.

i write sometimes. it’s primarily just to pass the time instead of moping around my room like a lazy bastard but hey-ho, some people seem to gravitate towards the nonsense i write. british comedies by the looks of it *hitting my chest with pride* humour me or i’ll fall into another spiral ‼️

all works listed are owned by me unless stated otherwise, do not copy or use any of my material as your own. minors do not interact. also take note that everything i write is fictional.

→ request info | taglist

→ couples counselling one 1.4k | two 2.4k | f!oc | angst, mentions of sex although nothing explicit

[ aleta and javier peña have been married for ten years, only now do they realise love isn’t reciprocated between them anymore. ]

→ home comforts req | 1k | gn!reader

[ you're struggling to cope after the DEA. fortunately, your partner is there to help you. even with awful jokes. ]

→ dad!simon masterlist

[ where you’ll find your favourite big broody man turning a page in this fatherhood bollocks. a journey. you may even get emotional but don't blame me. thanks. ]

→ ¹ when it rains, it pours smut 6.3k | f!oc

[ after relentless drunken encouragement from 141, simon riley decides to take a girl home whom he's caught eyes with a few too many times. what he doesn't expect however, are the unknown feelings in his chest after her simple acts of affection and pleasure he was always deprived of. ]

→ ² pouring through rainfall part two of the above | 3.4k

[ thea and simon meet again, their year told through seasons and summarised to the ending we all wanted. ]

→ therapy session 2.5k

[ mandatory therapy at base as set by price. simon is not for it, uncooperative mf with glares and the lot featuring a price cameo omg ]

→ johnny's scene 1.3k

[ simon refuses to come to terms with soap’s death and it eats at him. his grief follows him into the house and you’re growing tired of it, ultimately resulting in a fuck off argument. explosions totally happen. or not. ]

→ general headcannons

[ late night thoughts, thrown together with zero process ]

LONG DRABBLES ↓

→ simon hates photos | 500 words

→ pregnant with his third child | 700 words

→ that’ll do, johnny req | 1.1k | gn!reader

[ your soulmate, johnny mactavish. that’s it. that’s the ficlet. ]

→ price teaches you how to smoke req | 700 wc | gn!reader

[ praise, price and cigars, what more could you want? ]

COMFORTABLY NUMB (dr!price au)

〔 you’re slotted right into the service of doctor john price, an elite head of division and self titled marmite character — you either love him or hate him. you personally can’t quite decide, but he knows for certain that you’re not for him. what will you do after being forced to learn under his wing? 〕

→ ¹ welcome to the nhs 3.1k | check warnings

→ first hc

DAMON ALBARN

→ platforms 120k | f!oc | 18+ | complete fic ✓

[ “I’ll show you where things are, and then you can shut up and put your head down. You work for me now.” His accent was sharp.

"I work for money, not for you." In which Amelia's already testing Monday morning is ruined even further by a certain irate man. The two automatically don't get along and soon become sick at the thought of each other. What happens when Amelia finds herself working for the enemy? ]

#masterlist

[thorraborinn]

hello there! today i came across a claim that sort of baffled me. someone said that they believed the historical norse heathens viewed their own myths literally. i was under the impression that the vast majority of sources we have are christian sources, so it seems pretty hard to back that up. is there any actual basis for this claim? thanks in advance for your time!

Sorry for the delay, I've been real busy lately and haven't been home much. Even after making you wait I'm still going to give a copout answer.

I think the most basic actual answer is that it's doubtful that someone has a strong basis to make that claim, and the same would probably go for someone claiming they didn't take things literally. I think we just don't know, and most likely, it was mixed-up bits of both literal and non-literal belief, and which parts were literal and which parts weren't varied from person to person. We have no reason so suppose that there was any compulsion to believe things in any particular way.

About Christians being the interlocutors of a lot of mythology, this is really a whole separate question. On one hand there's the question of whether they took their myths literally, and on the other is entirely different question about whether or not we can know what those myths were. Source criticism in Norse mythology is a pretty complicated topic but the academic consensus is definitely that there are things we can know for sure about Norse myth, and a lot more that we can make arguments for. For instance the myth of Thor fishing for Miðgarðsormr is attested many times, not only by Snorri but by pagan skálds and in art. Myths of the Pagan North by Christopher Abram is a good work about source criticism in Norse mythology.

Though this raises another point, because the myth of Thor fishing is not always the same. Just like how we have a myth of Thor's hammer being made by dwarves, and a reference to a different myth where it came out of the sea. Most likely, medieval Norse people were encountering contradictory information in different performances of myth all the time. So while that leaves room for at least some literal belief, it couldn't be a rigid, all-encompassing systematic treatment of all myth as literal. We have good reason to believe they changed myths on purpose and that it wasn't just memory errors.

I know you're really asking whether this one person has any grounds for their statement, and I've already answered that I don't think they do. But this is an interesting thought so I'm going to keep poking at it. I'm not sure that I'm really prepared to discuss this properly, but my feeling is that this is somehow the wrong question. I don't know how to explain this with reference to myth, so I'm going to make a digression, and hope that you get the vibe of what I'm getting at by analogy. Edward Burnett Tylor (1832–1917) described animism in terms of beliefs, "belief in spiritual beings," i.e. a belief that everything (or at least many things) has a soul or spirit. But this is entirely contradicted by later anthropology. Here's an except from Pantheologies by Mary Jane Rubenstein, p. 93:

their animacy is not a matter of belief but rather of relation; to affirm that this tree, that river, or the-bear-looking-at-me is a person is to affirm its capacity to interact with me—and mine with it. As Tim Ingold phrases the matter, “we are dealing here not with a way of believing about the world, but with a condition of living in it.”

In other words, "belief" doesn't even really play into it, whether or not you "believe" in the bear staring you down is nonsensical, and if you can be in relation with a tree then the same goes for that relationality; "believing" in it is totally irrelevant or at least secondary. Myths are of course very different and we can't do a direct comparison here, but I have a feeling that the discussion of literal versus nonliteral would be just as secondary to whatever kind of value the myths had.

One last thing I want to point out is that they obviously had the capacity to interpret things through allegory and metaphor because they did that frequently. This is most obvious in dream interpretations in the sagas. Those dreams usually convey true, prophetic information, but it has to be interpreted by wise people who are skilled at symbolic interpretation. I they ever did this with myths, I'm not aware of any trace they left of that, but we can at least be sure that there was nothing about the medieval Norse mind that confined it to literalism.

For multiple reasons this is not an actual answer but it's basically obligatory to mention that some sagas, especially legendary or chivalric sagas, were referred to in Old Norse as lygisögur, literally 'lie-sagas' (though not pejoratively and probably best translated just as 'fictional sagas'). We know this mostly because Sverrir Sigurðsson was a big fan of lygisögur. But this comes from way too late a date to be useful for your question.

[max1461]

I actually disagree with @tsarina-anadyomene about the value of philosophy being illegible and difficult to articulate. I mean, I'm sure that's true of some philosophy. But it seems to me that most lines of philosophical inquiry are important for extremely straightforward reasons. Ethics is important because it's often hard to figure out the right thing to do is, or what that even means, and so it's useful to have a community of people thinking about it. Epistemology is important because distinguishing truth from falsity is a difficult problem and so it's useful to have a community of people thinking about it. Etc.

The "philosophy is useless navel gazing" STEM guy position doesn't strike me as subtly incorrect, it strikes me as straightforwardly idiotic. These guys hold all kinds of nontrivial convictions about epistemology and ethics, many of which they actually invoke in making the point that philosophy is nonsense, and which they usually just baldly assert instead of actually arguing for. They believe and aggressively evangelize philosophical claims while

insisting they are not doing philosophy, because philosophy is nonsense, and

refusing to engage with reasoned argument about the validity of their claims, because doing so would be philosophy and philosophy is nonsense.

There's no subtlety to why they're wrong, they're just being extremely stupid and embarrassing themselves.

Maybe the value in Schopenhauer is harder to see; maybe he's saying interesting or useful things but they take more work to get at for some reason (e.g. because they are set to a backdrop of epistemic or metaphysical claims that most modern people do not endorse, or something like that). I don't know, I've never read Schopenhauer. But the general anti-philosophy stance these guys have is so stupid as to not really be worth rebutting, and I do not think you need to work as hard as you do to argue for the validity of your endeavors.

Although, as an aside, I think the content of your arguments on this front is good in its own right and your various points are broadly well taken.

#navel gazing

[dollypopup]

y'all can all cancel me (again) for this, but if there's even a SHRED of 'who should I pick?' from Penelope in season 3, I am tuning out SO fast because like. . .sorry not sorry, there IS no choice. Debling is some crusty OC suitor she barely even knows and Colin is a man who she has been so supposedly in love with to the point where she'd ruin her entire family's reputation to have a potential love story with him. Penelope and Colin have background, years of knowing each other, intimacy that few people in the Ton can boast of having (letters, conversations about purpose, fights and arguments and makeups) and her and Debling have. . .a dance or two at a ball because he's a rebound for Penelope's broken heart. he means nothing. he has no nuance, he has no weight to the story, he is such an afterthought to me. either I wanna see Penelope going 'you know what? I don't even LIKE this dude. he's. . .fine, but I don't care about him even a shred as much as I care about Colin' or the INSTANT Colin's like 'you know what? we should get married' if it's not an immediate 'say less, you're already my husband, try returning me without the receipt, Debling whomst?' then I don't want it!

like. . .it's just so frustrating to see all the 'I hope Debling sweeps her off her feet and she rejects Colin's proposal and she makes him work for it and and and-' nonsense from the fandom and it's always tagged and no matter how many times I block it, it just keeps popping up. I go into the Polin tag for POLIN. I don't give a SHIT about a male love interest other than Colin. Not one. Not a shred. Not an iota.

and also. . .Debling has the 'benefit' of not having depth, or character traits, or HISTORY, so peeps can project onto him however they want, but I'm calling it now, there is NOTHING he could do or be that would make me like him more than Colin. Colin will always hit different, and I will always love him more. and if Pen's not on that same page? lol bye

you want me to believe Penelope and Colin are soulmates and it's romance for her to hem and haw about how difficult a decision it is for her to marry a stranger who knows barely anything about her. . .

when Marina was out here dropping banger lines like 'You were the only man with which I could see myself being happy' and 'I do not care about any of these men, where is Colin?'? like hello??? and she wasn't even fully in love with him!!!! but we'll demonize her until the cows come home in our fandom and make her the villain in Polin's love story for DARING to get in between Polin, yet Debling, a white man, is a darling dear perfect prince for getting in between Polin? existing in our fandom solely so Penelope can be like 'lol, Colin ain't shit, let me entertain any and everyone else'?

if that's the direction it goes then, ten toes down and on my mama, she doesn't deserve Colin and she can move because I'm on my way to court him my damn self

and that's that on that

#you know what? lol it's been a bit since i've posted a controversial opinion #tagging it #polin #sorry not sorry i ship polin. . .so i wanna see. . .polin. . .and i'm getting damn sick and tired #of all the bullshit pen/oc pen/other dude theories and stories in the polin tag #and i don't want polin to lose screentime over a frankly bleh male oc #you can't change my mind #if i don't see at least marina's 'you've seen him with the little bridgertons!' level of squee and 'i only want to talk to colin' #levels of devotion then i don't fucking WANT IT!!!!! #yeah definitely try out the marriage market #realize that NO ONE has a good time on the marriage market #try to get over him w/ whomstever #but then be like 'i don't even LIKE this dude where's colin i miss him' about it!!!!! #because otherwise i am not here #i am asleep #and i am courting colin in your place pen #i'm coming for your man #anti debling #if debling has 100 haters i am one of them if he has 10 haters i'm one of them if he has 1 hater i am the hater if he has 0 haters i'm dead #it's incredibly obvious that 'pebling' is half rooted in a revenge storyline fueled by anger at Colin and his complexity #and half a projection of wanting Penelope to have 'choices' because she is a representation and manifestation of the fans themselves #and so people think an OC that can be 'perfect' for them- whoops I mean Pen (because he doesn't have any real depth or interest) #he's a cardboard cutout we can throw whatever you want onto #so we can make him 'perfect' instead of the much more meaningful storyline of pen and colin both being messy and loving each other more #and part of it is bitterness over Polin not being insta-love #which. . .if it was i wouldn't like them as much as i do #anyways y'all ain't slick #and it's fucking WEIRD to be in a fandom that's like 'i ship this couple but i hope she gets with ANYONE else' #maybe you. . .don't ship the couple?? #like. . .to the point of wanting her necklace to be from debling. . .and her wearing it everywhere??? WHAT??

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Have you or vinelle ever considered moving to TikTok? I think your metas would be very much appreciated there especially with a larger audience like Twilight Tok where it mainly consists of locals not knowing anything about the saga they claim to be fans of and criticizing Stephenie Meyer for silly things like Twilight being anti-feminist propaganda because Bella cooks and cleans. I've also seen a few blokes with suspiciously butchered similar takes to the ones you and vinelle do on here and I'd hate to your work receiving praise by being credited to others

I'm very flattered but you overestimate how hip I am, dear anon.

Notice the blank wall of text that is my profile, posts and posts adorned with nothing, just text. I barely understand tumblr, TikTok scares and confuses me. I'm not kidding, I actually do not understand half the videos there or what I'm even supposed to understand from them.

I can only imagine my short form videos, where I dress up as a gentleman and a scholar, sit in front of a roaring fire, and say with text on a screen, "Ah yes, dear audience, I believe we left off with our these 'Edward's Totally Gay for his Father' part 1.3. In today's argument, read the fucking book, thank you"

And that's with the idea of putting my face on video. You lot can get my voice on spotify (@rankheresy) but ewwwww to video.

(And while I am flattered, I'll say... I don't know if we'd be popular over there. Remember that @therealvinelle and I live in a clown car and it's one that fandoms aren't always receptive to for a variety of reasons. Depends on the flavor of Twilight Tok which I personally don't know. But then again, I don't understand why I've become even marginally popular here, so who's to say.)

As for the suspiciously similar takes this is... well, I don't like it and if people do do this, please for the love of God give credit, it's free internet nonsense and fame that doesn't actually exist, just give credit, but it's not a TikTok only phenomenon in that I have vague awareness of this going on in Instagram every once in a while and I'm sure other places.

Not enough for me to get on TikTok personally, at least, not for the foreseeable future.

You have any TikTokking plans, @therealvinelle?

#tiktok #twilight #twilight renaissance #meta #twilight meta #vinelle #therealvinelle

[sigmaleph]

the "sherlock holmes wasn't allowed to show emotions until yersterday" thing was never true except to the extent the meme of it made it true

by which i mean: sherlock holmes, the character, has been out of copyright for ages. some specific stories about him only came into the public domain in the past couple years, the last ones doing so in Public Domain Day 2023, i.e. yesterday, but the character has been in the public domain for much longer[1].

the doyle estate doesn't like this very much. they want to own the character of sherlock holmes and have everyone making a sherlock holmes adaptation pay them money for it, which many of them do[2]. so when someone doesn't pay them, they threaten to sue. presumably both for the money and because they don't want anyone else getting ideas.

there's two notable cases here. one is from 2013: someone writes some sherlock holmes stories without paying for licensing, the doyle estate says "nobody is going to sell your book because we work with all the big retailers to prevent unlicensed holmes stories from being sold", they go in front of a judge and say "hey can we get a declaratory judgement that they can't sue us over this because the character is in the public domain?"

the doyle estate's argument here is that the character isn't in the public domain. because there are later stories still under copyright, and those later stories continue to develop holmes' character, the whole thing is under copyright. judge says lol no. the later sherlock holmes stories are under copyright, the character itself is not. doyle estate appeals and loses.

the second notable case is the enola holmes one, the one from where 'sherlock holmes can't show emotions or respect women' comes from. someone writes a book series about sherlock holmes' kid sister called enola holmes, it gets popular, netflix makes a movie. doyle estate smells money in the water because they also didn't pay for licensing and they sue.

since the thing they tried last time didn't work, their new angle is: this sherlock holmes adaptation is using aspects of the character that only were developed in the later, still-under-copyright stories. like uh... [loud noises of scrambling to make up a justification] having... emotions...?

this is a terribly flimsy argument, it doesn't work either, and they lose[3]. again. it was never a real constraint unlicensed sherlock holmes adaptations had to work with. it never had any power, because it was nonsense. nothing changed yesterday regarding sherlock holmes' ability to show emotions.

but the doyle estate has been making money off people thinking being sued is a hassle for a while now. their real power is people thinking they need to ask permission, and it had been decisively proven that they don't. which, i guess is why the meme bothered me. by saying 'sherlock holmes isn't allowed to show emotions until the last stories enter the public domain' you give them power they want and don't really have.

yesterday, the last flimsy justifications the doyle estate was clinging onto for dear life finally vanished. you can even rewrite the adventure of the veiled lodger to have holmes and watson make out in between every sentence and nobody can stop you. they'll try something to continue to have a reason to exist, who knows what, but it'll have no legal force and hopefully everyone will know it. maybe they'll just keep the licensing page up and hope nobody actually checks that they don't need to pay, it's worked so far.

[1] this post will focus on the US law aspect of it, which matters most for various things (mostly: dealing with companies headquartered in the US to distribute your stuff). the laws in e.g. the UK are different and there even the last few stories have been in the public domain for over twenty years

[2] their licensing page proudly displays any number of recent holmes adaptations which didn't actually have to give them a cent, but, y'know, easier to just pay them than figure it out in court.

[3] suit is dismissed with prejudice by stipulation of both parties. there's no judge actually saying 'wow that is complete nonsense' but like. enola holmes didn't have to pay licensing, is the outcome.

[chaifootsteps]

(long ask, sorry - there was a lot of unpack)

I read the fix-it fic (it's very cute and wholesome!) and looked at the comments expecting to see a few flames or people disagreeing with the premise, but it's an out and out dogpile in there.

it's so ugly to treat someone just writing a vent fic like that, & they must have been actively looking for people daring to criticize Viv given that there's nothing in the tags to suggest it

also like, one of the flamers being like 'how can you say Viv and Raph didn't handle the topic of SA well but still say people are entitled to like the episode or find it cathartic? if people like it and you recognize that, that proves Viv and Raph handled the topic well!'

which is like, no. that's not remotely what they were saying or how it works. they're just giving grace to people who got something out of it, but they still think the depiction and handling of the topic as a whole was bad themselves. being compassionate for someone else's take on media & their feelings doesn't objectively prove that take is correct, they're just making space for other opinions in a way a lot of these 'it was handled well, end of discussion' type people aren't

it's such an all or nothing, combative way of thinking about art, that if you dislike it you must also call everyone who likes it stupid or something otherwise it means you secretly recognize it's good or some nonsense like that. that and it's just populism - if some people like it that means it's objectively good. which is funny because usually we treat something everyone likes as just 'having mass appeal' not 'high art'.

but I guess when people get terminally online they assume the vote of the majority is correct - it reminds me of this one debate about something pewdiepie did (I think it was an edgy joke or something, I'm not interested in relitigating it, it's just an example) where one of his supporters claimed 'we've [already framing a constructed audience] already decided he's innocent because the amount of support/likes he got on a response to [insert controversy here]'. it's literally the logic/rhetoric of 'if the mob decides something is good, it's good' which is horrifying logic and has been used to justify any number of irl awful things. but I digress

you could just as easily argue it the other way - if someone likes the scene but makes space for criticism of it, does that automatically make the criticism right?

also like - there's so much evidence in those comments that people do not understand what SA is. like so many people have this conception that SA is the same as rape - like, unless there was penetration of some kind no assault happened. but like if you actually look at the legal definition of SA, multiple places define it as

1 did person A touch person B? 2 did person B not want to be touch and person A should have reasonably understood that? 3 then it was sexual assault

dragging someone into a room while they yell and plead and say no is sexual assault, even if they got away before they were penetrated. being set upon and kissed and groped by a crowd of people is sexual assault, even if they also were not penetrated (and given Blitzo's dialogue there it's doubtful)

Sir Pent was SA'd, Moxxie was SA'd

anyone who has been held down or groped against their will but was rescued or escaped was sexually assaulted. sexually assault can include rape, but it doesn't always

we desperately need better literacy around this, it's legit disturbing to see how many people will pull the 'well technically the show doesn't mock SA because [insert logic solely reliant on the idea that Sir Pent and Moxxie were not SA'd]'. & it's such a revealing line of debate because they know they can't argue whether or not the show is making light of sensitive topics (it absolutely is) so instead they do the internet thing of making the next argument - they claim no, this wasn't SA and demand people debate them on those terms instead. it's falling into their trap because the issue behind that is the one they don't want to talk about - that Viv does not know how to handle this topic with the slightest bit of sensitivity

(tangent but back when HB aired I didn't judge Stolas as harshly for the full moon deal mostly for the tone the show had set up, if that makes sense? I thought the show wanted us to understand that Stolas and most of the cast were all terrible people and that was the entire 'joke' of the show. that Stolas definitely did a bad thing but the show was more interested in dark humor and the audience just kind of had to meet it where it was at. when they started moving towards there being dramatic consequences in Ozzie's I still though the show understood Stolas was a bad person, only now they were actually paying off a dramatic plot point they'd set up so he would actually have to grow and change. Then season 2 happened and the show is insisting he never did anything wrong, he's perfect, etc. and everything that happened in season 1 looks way worse by comparison. it was already bad, but I thought the writers understood that. they don't. instead they've engaged in the most laughable, embarassingly written domestic violence storyline I think I've ever seen in any media, ever, just to get him off the hook for anything he's done. do I respect the opinions of people who find him standing up to Stella cathartic? yes. does that automatically mean those people are right and it's good writing, actually? no. hard no. a million times no. survivors of dv, especially male ones, are often starved of media representation. I want them to feel seen. it doesn't stop me thinking they deserve far better than being represented by a terribly written character like Stolas, who himself is accidentally the show's best representation of a convincing abuser, but that's a rant for another time)

also also, it's kind of annoying that A03 allows guests to post under any handle instead of assigning a random one, because now if anyone points to AyyLmao that it's unhinged behavior to try to police fics people post on the Organization for Transformative Works (the clue's in the name what fanfiction is for!) he can just claim someone tried to frame him, even if there's plenty of reason to suspect he would totally do that (some of the more hateful bigoted flames strike me as exactly that - going as far as possible with it to be able to turn around and say 'look how hard the Viv haters want to frame me! look how cartoonishly bigoted they make me out to be!'

this is so deeply bizarre to me. I've been in fandoms where the media in question is less than perfect and fix-its exist for entire arcs of shows and everyone else is happy to be like 'I see why you had a problem with this even if I think it was OK or not a big deal', or 'I don't see the problem at all but I'm just going to let you vibe like an adult would do'. and the same with character shilling fics, I'm old enough to know that the best solution for fanfic or transformative works you don't agree with is to just click off. but some HH/HB fans are actively out to create a high control group where any criticism must be policed. if I ever get annoyed enough by HH/HB to make my own vent fic, I'm posting it under anon and with comments moderated. I'm not interested in providing an open forum for people to send me hate for a show that is far from worth defending (and even if it was, who cares? they ought to be able to get on with their day if their fave show is so obviously above criticism)

last point, sorry for the rant - it's kind of laughable to me that the author in the comments provided a long, objective list of what Viv and Raph have been doing that anyone can check and all of which happened publically, because they did it publically, and I don't recall seeing many comments in that thread attempting to respond to any of it; it just got ignored. it's pretty funny they simultaneously want to act like Viv is the victim of unfair hate campaigns when she's actively cultivated a fandom that attracts people like them, who bully people to the point they fear making even the mildest critiques. like you want to act like Viv is some bullied saintlike professional, but can you imagine the showrunner of any much bigger TV show encouraging the worst elements of their fandom to the point that said worst elements think harassing an SA survivor in the comments section of a fanfiction where they process their feelings about how lousy the show is in handling SA, and trying to claim said showrunner is still a professional?

to repurpose a point Viv herself made, a professional would know that any show with more than a cult following will attract criticism. a professional would not encourage people like AyyLmao and Norry, they would shut that shit down and know to leave the writers of a fanfic a couple hundred people at most will see that's dealing with a topic sensitive to them, in peace

No apologies needed, it was an excellent ask!

It's absolutely insane that any of this happened. In all my years of moving through some pretty aggressive fandoms and seeing (and writing) some pretty contentious fics for them, never have I seen anyone dogpiled like this just for writing a small, intensely personal fix-it fic. It's just beyond disgusting.

#Anonymous #vivziepop fandom #hazbin hotel critical #viv stuff #actual blog post

[beardedmrbean]

If those countries want a cure to that "far-right populism", I have the perfect one right here : Start giving two shits about your people.

It's in the name : populism is literally just a qualifier for a politician whose main argument is "the people in power are out of touch and don't care about your problems, but I do, and I will fix everything if you elect me", regardless of their actual ability (or willingness) to fix anything.

You know what would shut down their arguments faster than anything else ? Caring about people's problems.

I hate all of this nonsense, and there's a contingent of people that have been sounding the alarm bells about it for years now.

You push and push and push on people and even the reasonable will reach their breaking point and say enough eventually.

It's how these parties, despite the agreement between all of the other ones to not work with them, continue to grow in number

People feel ignored and shunted off to the side and told to just bend over and take it up till they start voting for the people that aren't telling them to bend over and take it and instead telling them they're going to help them stand tall again.

So ya, no matter how much I hate it happening the natural progression here, if the people at the top don't start paying attention, is that there will be some fairly regressive folks making their way higher and higher into positions of power.

Folks here in the US didn't figure that out and instead doubled down on calling everyone racist, sexist, and the whole lgbt alphabet soup phobic, which is handing trump tons of votes.

It doesn't seem like they think they're doing anything wrong or even that should upset people, and it's been backfiring for a while now in ways I've seen going on.

There's a give and take to everything and eventually the one side is going to be 100% done with being the only one giving,

and again, I hate it because lots of people are going to be hurt as a result and we're going to have a whole bunch of people wondering how this could have happened, when they could have been part of it not happening just by not pushing so hard all of the time.

I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.

I wish people would think.

Some jackasses on the right here in the US that need to figure all this out too, not a one sided issue at all.

#anonymous

[riahlynn101]

"A Sky Full of Stars."

This was a request for a one shot where Mike and Vanessa reveal their true feelings to each other. I didn't get all the plot points in the request, but I'll save those for a different one shot.

Thank you to the person that requested this. It was a joy to work with you, and I hope you enjoy :D!!

word count: 1,537

--

"How was school today?" Vanessa asks, taking her seat at the dinner table. Behind her, the setting sun casts an orangish glow on the off-white wall. It's a quarter after seven. It was a little later than 

their usual dinner time, but only because Mike and she had to work later. 

Mike at the local diner downtown. 

And Vanessa at the police station. 

Thankfully, she had the foresight to pick up a pizza before heading home. 

And isn't that such a novel concept?

Home.

A place that Vanessa looks forward to returning to every day, with people that fill her heart with joy. 

She feels….safe. 

Mike smiles at her across the table. It's not as rare a sight since the entire incident at Freddy's occurred. For a while there, Vanessa worried he was incapable of smiling. 

"Good," Abby answers, biting into her pizza. "I aid-"

"Ew, Abbs, don't talk with your mouthful," Mike lightly admonishes. "It's gross."

Swallowing, Abby sticks her tongue out. "You're grosser!"

Mike makes a face. "Nuh, uh!"

Watching the pair of siblings bicker is the highlight of her day. Their arguments are almost always silly and nonsensical, but they are the most entertaining things Vanessa has ever watched. 

"Vanessa," Abby says, "tell Mike he's grosser than me."

She looks between the siblings. To a (relatively) clean little girl, save for the pizza sauce stain on her shirt. And then to the nearly 30-year-old man, with chronically sad eyes and a penchant for sleeping. 

Neither of them are "gross" by any means, but Vanessa once watched the aforementioned nearly 30-year-old man dig through the trash can for coupons. Which she would be sympathetic to if they weren't already five months expired. 

"Mike."

"See," Abby gloats, sitting back in her chair. 

Mike puts a hand over his heart, leaning back. In a dramatic voice, he yells out, "Betrayal!" He touches the back of his hand to his forehead, feigning sickness. 

Both she and Abby erupt into laughter. The kind that makes your sides hurt. 

These are the moments that make this house feel like a home. 

These are the moments that make Vanessa feel like she's finally found her people. 

-x-x-x-

That night, Vanessa tucks Abby into bed. It's usually Mike's job, but he's setting up the VCR in the living room. 

"Vanessa…?" Abby asks, fiddling with a loose thread in her blanket. 

"Yeah?" She tucks a stray hair behind Abby's ear, soothing down the girl's bangs. "Something wrong?"

"No, I just…"

"Just what? You know you can talk to me. I promise, whatever it is, I won't get mad."

Abby nods. "You aren't going to leave anytime soon, right?"

"I would hope not. Unless this is your way of telling me to kick rocks?"

Abby blinks owlishly up at her. "What does kick rocks mean?" 

Again, Vanessa soothes the girl's bangs down. "Leave, get out."

"Oh," Abby murmurs. "No, I'm asking because we don't want you to leave." She furrowed her eyebrows. Such a severe expression on such a cute face should be laughable, but Vanessa listens to her as intently as she would her boss. "I think if you left, Mike would be sad again. He smiles more when you're around."

"He smiles when you're around, too," Vanessa says. And that's the truest thing she's ever said. 

Everything he does, he does for Abby. Hell, what led Mike to even take the job at Freddy's was his need to stay with his sister.

"Yeah, 'cause he loves me, too."

Vanessa flounders, trying the right words. "Yeah…uh….well, your brother doesn't love me. But we are pretty good friends, so-"

"No, he loves you." Her tone is so matter-of-factly that Vanessa finds it hard to argue. "Or, at the very least, really, really likes you."

She nods along, unable to formulate a coherent thought. 

"But that's okay with me. I like you being here." Abby's eyes start to shut, head sinking deeper into the pillow. "I think you're cool." 

Vanessa pulls the covers up. "I think you're cool, too," she murmurs. "Goodnight, Abby."

-x-x-x-

It's nine by the time Vanessa makes her way down the hallway. A glance at the clock hanging in the dining room tells her that much. 

The living room is only lit by a static-filled screen. The VCR rests in front of the TV, not hooked up. Mike is nowhere in sight. 

"Mike?" She calls. "Where did you go?" It's times like this that Vanessa really hates her father. When her anxiety starts acting up, and it feels like there's a weight on her chest. Making it hard to breathe. To think. 

She panics - just a little and quietly because Abby is sleeping. She looks behind the couch, in the 

kitchen, and even behind the TV stand. But there's no sign of Mike, which only makes her anxiety worse. 

The front door opens. Mike pops his head in. "Right- are you okay?"

Vanessa stares at him, eyes wide and hair a mess from the frantic search. "Yes, why wouldn't I be?"

He looks at her, and then looks at the askew couch cushions, and then back at her. 

"No reason. I wanted to show you something." Mike holds the door open.

"I thought we were gonna watch a movie."

"I promise this is better," he says.

"Better than," Vanessa eyes the cassette tape on the TV stand, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?" 

Mike shakes his head. "Nothing is better than Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, but this is definitely a close second."

She laughs, joining Mike outside.

It's a warm night in the middle of July. Pleasantly warm, too. There's a slight breeze that offsets the heat. 

He takes her by the hand, fingers intertwining with hers. "Sit here," Mike says, leading her to an area in the front yard. A thin blanket has been laid out.

"What-"

"You have to lay down." As if to emphasize this point, Mike lies down. He glances up at her. "C'mon, you're going to miss it."

Heaving a sigh, Vanessa lays down next to him. The yard is lumpy, and her back still hurts, even with a blanket. She hopes whatever Mike wants to show her is worth the back pain she'll be dealing with for the next month. 

"Good, now, look up."

She does so. The sky is beautiful tonight, a million tiny twinkling stars against the black void of space. It's mesmerizing. Vanessa smiles. "This…this is beautiful."

"I know," Mike says, "but that's not why I brought you out here. Keep looking."

Vanessa hums a response, focused on the night sky. Something about looking at the sky puts in perspective how small they truly are. 

Suddenly, something crosses the sky. A ball of light. Her eyes widened. "Mike?"

"Make a wish," he murmurs, interlocking his fingers with hers. 

Considering Mike doesn't seem concerned, she chooses to believe that whatever that is, it's not dangerous. Especially when a few more pass by after it. 

She closes her eyes and makes a wish. When Vanessa opens them, Mike is eyeing her intently. 

"What did you wish for?" 

Her smile turns mischievous. "I can't tell you. Wish rules and all that."

He turns his head back to look at the sky. "Right, right, otherwise it won't come true." Mike sighs dramatically. "I guess that means I can't tell you mine."

"Nope," she says, zero hesitation in her answer. 

It's silent for a solid minute. The only sounds are dogs barking in the distance and the occasional car passing by. 

Mike is the first to crack up, and Vanessa's composure crumbles shortly after that. Their laughter feels contagious, being passed back and forth until their sides and faces hurt. 

Vanessa takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself. There are tears in her eyes, but for once, they're the happy kind. 

"Phew," Mike starts, breathless, "hehe…I…I haven't laughed that hard in a long time."

"Me either."

It finally hits Vanessa that they're holding hands, like…like a couple. She glances down at their 

interlocked fingers. Mike is so gentle when he holds her hand. She could yank it away without any extra force at any point, but he's still firm in his grasp. He squeezes her hand every so often. 

It makes her heart beat faster, and her face turn red. 

They look at each other. Not a single word passes between them, but they don't have to talk. 

Vanessa doesn't remember if she or Mike made the first move. All she knows is that they're staring into each other's eyes one second. And the next, they're kissing. 

His hair is surprisingly soft beneath her fingers. His lips, too, and he tastes like an after-dinner mint. 

When they pull away, his face is red, and his pupils are blown. Mike smiles at her. "I like you," he admits. "And it's okay if you don't-"

Vanessa leans in again, kissing his forehead, the tip of his nose, and finally, his lips. "I like you, too, Michael Schmidt."

"Really?" He asks, sounding genuinely surprised. 

"No, I just go around kissing everybody." 

Mike laughs. "Okay, smartass."

They continue watching the sky. Vanessa gets closer and leans her head against Mike's shoulder. Hand-in-hand, they fall asleep under a sky full of stars.

#fnaf au #mike x vanessa #request fulfilled #requests open #fnaf #fnaf movie #schmelly

[jyndor]

if i see one more "vote for joe biden because trump is worse" post in fucking JANUARY i am going to start getting into arguments with people

just say you don't understand how organizing or politics works. or leverage. do you understand that right now organizers in swing states are trying to use their leverage to get democrats to not support genocide? you are not helping the cause. you are only making yourself feel better.

and especially if you do not understand how us american electoral politics works... not every vote counts the same because we suck. some states the presidential vote counts barely at all because we have this thing called the electoral college which i feel like we have to explain to people every year since no one seems to understand it especially us americans but that's nothing knew. if you're not an us american cool cool let me explain how shitty this place is.

our states have representatives and senators. the number of representatives is proportionate to the population of the states, but because we can't just have a representative democracy we also have the senate - and every state has two senators, no matter how big or small. it's supposed to even out representation from high population states and low population states but it really just makes life shitty for everyone. anyway. each state gets a certain amount of electoral votes for the presidential election - equal to the amount of representatives plus the two senators. so say my state delaware has three votes. meanwhile california has 54. in total the electoral college for the 2024 election is estimated to have 538 electoral votes.

electors are supposed to vote for the candidate that their state voted for but not every state has outlawed "faithless electors" aka people just fucking doing their own thing and voting for another candidate. most of the time they honor the votes of their state though. states also handle all this shit differently - some do winner-takes-all (so say if biden won 55% of the vote and trump 45%, biden would take all electoral college votes for that state) others would give a proportion of the votes to each candidate based on how much of the vote they won.

this is all a lot of nonsense but it is what we've got here. it has also resulted in a number of presidents who have lost the popular vote but won the election - see george w. bush in 2000 and donald trump in 2016.

but say we had a direct democracy. okay? and???? you need to use your leverage. several unions are holding out from endorsing joe biden because they want him to call for a ceasefire. it's called using leverage. that doesn't mean they won't eventually endorse him, but we have months.

frankly it is nauseating to me to think about screaming at palestinian americans to make sure they vote for joe biden right now. like honestly how dare some of you. you are only hurting your own case because you clearly don't care enough about their humanity to have an ounce of empathy and compassion.

#us politics #free palestine #joe biden #electoral college #i am not saying you shouldn't but like time and a place #also maybe use that energy to call your reps every day

[hey-michael-young-history]

Hotline Bling: Another Excerpt

Johnny and Hanzo got into an argument and learn something new.

“Calm yourself.” Hanzo was next to him now, subjecting him to the intensity of his brown eyes. “Regain control of your pheromones. You will disturb Kuai Liang.”

Johnny scoffed and rolled his eyes. “He's out like a light. I can't believe you don't know how hard he sleeps after he cums. Or maybe you just never noticed.”

Hanzo growled and grabbed his face, fingers digging into his cheeks. His pheromones slipped out, focused and seething. Towards Johnny.

Whoa, is he targeting his pheromones just to me? He felt like a kid about to get scolded. Oh well. Any attention is good attention.

He smirked at his own internal sarcasm, which did not help his present situation.

“You take nothing seriously, not even a matter as grave as my Omega. Your insolence will not be tolerated, even if I have to punish you like the child that you are.”

“Oh yeah, spank me, Daddy,” Johnny growled back, rolling his eyes.

Hanzo scowled but something on Johnny caught his attention, leaving him speechless.

Johnny looked down And almost jumped out of his skin. He was fucking hard, fully erect and leaking. Come on, little Johnny, don't do this now!

“You… what is this?” Hanzo snapped.

“Okay… uh… look, hold on, hold on, okay hold on,” Johnny stammered, backing up. “There's a lot going on.”

“You… want me to spank you…?”

“No, geez, ah– maybe? No, no. Look.” Johnny held his hands up. “I've got shit of my own to work out, okay? Shit that I thought was tucked away in the vault.”

“Vault? I have no idea what nonsense you are spewing. You are an unstable Alpha.”

“Back the fuck up,” Johnny growled. “I'm a lot of things, but I don't deserve to be called that. What's your issue with me? You think I’m a clown? You don't think I notice you challenging me every fucking time I see you? What, you think I'm a sucker just because I didn't go to hell and become a bitter fuck when my wife died?”

Hanzo started to speak, but Johnny continued, “You think anyone who doesn't react with to any slight inconvenience with insurmountable rage is a fucking pussy. You think I'm living in a fantasy world but look buddy, I'm living in the real world where there's consequences for my fuck ups. Not everybody reacts to everything with their fists. Not every situation needs a total disaster response. Everyone isn't an asshole like you, Dad!”

He hadn't even realized what he said until Hanzo’s expression shifted from annoyed to stunned. Johnny scoffed and waved his hand dismissively.

Alright, I just unloaded some pent up daddy issues on a guy who breathes fire. This is punishment. I deserve this. No running, Johnny Boy. Cages don't run.

Johnny cleared his throat, turned on his heel and promptly walked out of the room, leaving Hanzo even more confused.

#mk omegaverse #subscorp #subcage #subscorpcage #Johnny's under a little pressure

[rateaters-sutff]

THE CONVERSATION BELLOW SHOW AN ACTUAL UN ALTERD CONVERSATION I HAD WITH AN AI ART TECH BRO:

I'm not going to censor his name since he has deleted his account

He posted a really low effort ai animation on r/ animation, to which I responded with this meme:

Fig 1. The inciting incident

He then responded to me with this defending his decision using Ai art assets:

Fig 2. I responded that he should at least say parts were done with AI. Note that at this point, I meant no ill will and just told him that stating he used ai would be a good practice. This will get worse with the screenshots that follow:

He then stated it doesn't matter if he uses AI and that he made it "not for bragging rights"

Fig 3. I responded that crediting who/ what did what, helps the viewer not misarribute skills to him. And that always crediting what/ who did what aspects of a project is a good practice. This will set you up for the kicker he's about to say in the 4th screencap.

He then states that he infact,

doesn't need to credit anyone for the work they do in his projects because he paid for it.

And that as long as he pays for art, it is his, and he doesn't need to credit anyone.

Fig 4. He claims that he has copy right over his AI image, and if he needs to credit Ai, does he also need to credit Adobe too???

I then claim that he doesn't infact have copy right due to a recent court ruleing. As well as the fact that professional creators do credit their software. As well counter his claim by stating it is not like using a reference, because he didn't even make the art generated in the first place.

Fig 5. I also profess confusion over the claim that you don't need to credit free lancers for art.

This will get worse I promise:

He now states he does make art because he edits AI images.

Fig 6. Please note his "edits" were so minimal that I was able to spot it was ai before his short even ended.

I respond with this.

Fig 7. Yes this is still ongoing and will get worse

Now, when I engaged in this conversation, I did not expect him to try to send an NSFW AI generated Mona lisa, but

Fig 8. My comment is in refrence to him failing to send an image, and my assumption that he was banned off the subreddit.

Though evidently, this is not why

I then respond with this. Ignoring the absurdity of what he tried to do 5 seconds prior.

Fig 9. This thread will now get really sad and kind of pathetic

After all of this nonsense he goes to a separate subredit to complain about what happened. Key points being he only has ever done "south park level drawings". People who recognize he uses AI are "smart asses" and his reference of " bragging rights" as a reason to do art

Fig 10. This is kinda sad tbh.

This will certainly stick out in my mind for years to come. Notably beaucuse of how nonsensical and devoid of compassion his arguments are. But also the fact he tried to send me NSFW Ai generated Mona lisa as a counter argument.

#animation #artwork #196

[aotopmha]

i totally get your point of view and i too wish that we got more of historia, not only in the final episode, but throughout this final arc. but that doesn't bother me as much because in my mind historia's arc is complete. and while i do wish she did more in these final chapters, i'm happy with everything she did throughout the series and how she ended up in the end. i don't think she ended up in a bad place. sure, she could have been more on-screen, prominent etc. but i'm just happy to see her happy. i think all the characters got a good conclusion. some better than other, though, for sure.

I just really disagree with that.

The very specific idea behind her character to me was that she was no longer her passive persona Krista Lenz.

I, not for once, thought that was her actual "true self", but that's what I feel like she reverted to for the minimal amount of time she was on screen for the last arc.

She complied with her position as a baby machine and took all of Eren's bullshit while for some reason deciding to have a child to simply basically "save herself and stop the 13-year cycle".

We had chapters of character exploration of why she wouldn't doom another child to save herself.

Her father only wanted to use her for his gain and she denied it.

*SHE OPENED AN ORPHANAGE TO GIVE PURPOSE AND PLACE TO THOSE WHO DIDN'T HAVE ONE.*

I 100% think she would not doom another child like this no matter what, even if it ended up "okay" in the end. Even if it is "the only option" to save herself.

Ymir, who is the most important character to her for most of her journey, doesn't even get the tiniest of nods in relation to her at the ending.

Who even IS the Farmer Guy?

If you know anything about how gay-coded characters are treated in fiction, you know how common it is to pair them off with random straight partners without any work put in the character writing.

And okay, let's make the argument that Historia only had a strong friendship with Ymir, she's bisexual and all of the usually weak excuses people give when (even potentially) gay characters are denied a full on relationship by the writers pretty blatantly.

I don't know Farmer Guy. He doesn't even have a name.

As much as I don't care about the romantic aspect to Annie's and Armin's relationship, both also actually have talked to each other on screen. It was there for a long time.

For Farmer Guy, we just have a blurb of saying he used to be one of her bullies who wishes to make amends.

*SO MUCH TIME* went into building her character and this is the payoff?

Her end is "happy" and "complete" only in the most surface-level sense. She and her child are okay. It's not even that I want more, it's that I want something that isn't a bunch of nonsense.

But in reality she has basically zero characterisation in the last chunk of the story and most of what she does is only explained in a couple of lines – so much of the meaning of which is gleaned from other characters talking about her. And because her own words are so minimal, reading her motivations is based on a bunch of conjucture, too.

It's a vague mess.

You can *assume* she had the child because she was pushed into a corner by Eren and the threat of repeating the 13-year cycle. But we never get anything from her beyond this. It's a really massive reversion with very minimal explanation to me.

Aside from the base thematic issue of her taking away the freedom of another child, I think Historia, just like Eren, would be able to be immune to the "influence" of King Fritz (which is actually all OG Ymir herself). I think she would stand against the Rumbling in a way that doesn't involve being a passive pawn because she found her meaning in giving meaning to others.

She wouldn't just forget what she wanted with a snap of a finger and I do not think she was so bound to Ymir emotionally her death removed all of the actual fight from her.

I'm sorry, but I just deeply do not like this take. To me a good character ending isn't the most surface-level happy or sad ending, it is payoff to all of the work the story has done with its characters and themes.

And regarding Historia, I deeply disagree with how she was written in the final arc.

Thank you for the ask!

#Attack on Titan #Shingeki no Kyojin #Historia #Krista #Historia Reiss #Krista Lenz #AoT #SnK #AoT Finale #SnK Finale

[purlturtle]

Is there a ship that you used to ship, but don’t anymore?

what’s your favorite canon moment of Bering & Wells?

what kind of dates do you think Bering & Wells would go on?

Oh wow, thank you for asking! (questions from over here)

I've been trying to think of a ship I used to ship but don't anymore, all through breakfast, and I can't think of any? I don't have many ships to begin with, that's probably why 😅 Like, it's not that I watch *any* show with shipper's eyes, only waiting to encounter two (or more) people that I can ship with each other. It's more that sometimes when I witness two people interact, their dynamic feels compelling in a romantic way, and then I ship them. Bering and Wells absolutely falls into that category; they might be a tiny fandom, but they're a behemoth in my mind: I do not ship *anyone* the way I do them. Much more often than that it's "I can see why others ship them" though - that's the Leverage Thiefsome, or J7, for example. They're fun little ships, and people make compelling arguments in fic form or gif form or manips or fan art and I enjoy them and reblog them, but I'm nowhere near as invested in them as I am Bering and Wells. As for ships I personally can't see, but know others are into, more power to them, I can see they're having fun with them and that's good for them!

I'm gonna put the rest under a readmore because it's gonna get long!

Favorite Bering and Wells canon moment

Whichever I watched last? 😅 I mean they don't have all *that* many, more's the pity, and the ones that they do have are (almost) all so well-crafted both in terms of the writing and in terms of Jo and Jaime's acting! I can tell you which one I *don't* like the writing of, and that's the Bookstore Hologram moment. Helena's monologue is... almost nonsensical? Like, I'm not dissing the acting; Jo and Jaime both act the *hell* out of it, but the lines just don't make sense to me. Apart from the "wish I'd thought of that" morsel; *that* one is gold, the rest is meh.

But the other moments between them? Those meaningful gazes in Helena's old home? The grappler scene, the "keep an open mind" scene, the graveyard scene, the- Oh, I just love all of them. So good.

Bering and Wells dates

I think they might have a number of dates that don't really work out, actually? Like, Helena might want to make a grand romantic gesture because she still has a bad conscience about Nate and Giselle and wants to convince Myka that she's here to stay, by showering her with flowers and renting a limousine and I don't know, stuff like that, you know? And Myka is *mortified* (who wouldn't), because one, she doesn't like people making such a fuss over her and two this is UNIVILLE population eight hundred odd, EVERYONE will know and talk about this for the next fifty years. Meanwhile *she* takes Helena to her favorite museum, but that doesn't click for Helena who is not into museums at all (she wants to get her hands on stuff (and not just on Myka, stuff in general), and museums are stiff and boring).

So they both have a botched first attempt at taking the other on a date, just like they had a botched first attempt at a relationship? 😂 But they get better at it. It takes Helena much longer to get off her "I treated you so badly" cross than it takes Myka to figure out a date situation that piques Helena's interest, though. Helena learns that the best way to Myka's heart is to really see what Myka is trying to show her when she takes her to places that mean something to her, like museums, or an ice skating rink. That even if the subject matter isn't interesting to her (Helena), it is something that is dear to Myka, and it means a lot that Myka is showing it to her. And Myka learns that Helena wants to actively engage with whatever they're doing/wherever they are, so when she does take her to a museum again, it's a personal guided tour that has hands-on exhibits and a guide who has personal experience with the subject matter. Say, a dinosaur dig site museum where the visitors can do some digging of their own, something like that.

Oh that was such fun to think about, thank you, Sam!!

#ask meme answered #ship asks #bering and wells

[itsclydebitches]

Recently dipped into a Twitter thread about the video hhbomberguy made on RWBY years ago and it sort of got me thinking about how the RWBY community kinda tends to focus hard on the person rather than the arguments.

Like someone brought up that hhbomberguy made his points in good faith and one of the responses was literally that the thumbnail called RWBY "dissapointing", and another argued that because he critiqued (or as they put it "bashed:) Monty before his death, it wasn't good faith.

It feels like they're more focused on trying to prove that Hhbomberguy is a bad dude more than anything.

Do you ever feel the same way?

Oh definitely, anon. It makes sense to me too because there are only three possible responses here:

Engage with what the criticism is saying

Ignore the criticism entirely/take a blatant "Agree to disagree" approach without really hearing out the arguments

Attack the writer instead of the writing

Many RWBY fans are defensive of the show to the point of rejecting all criticism as a matter of course, which eliminates Option #1, and just as many are unable to simply scroll past an opinion they disagree with, which eliminates Option #2. So if you've got someone who a) is giving in to the need to engage with a critic's vid/post but b) is unwilling to actually give the criticism a fair shake and respond to their arguments... all that's left is to insult the writer instead. Think of all the asks critics get that just toss out broad (and usually deeply ironic) accusations of racism, ableism, sexism, intelligence, and general moral standing. It's usually about the person as opposed to their work, with the work simply acting as the excuse to engage in (frankly) a form of bullying. "Oh, well you said this about a cartoon, so now I'm justified in hurling slurs at you."

Plus, in this fandom in particular, it becomes a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Critics receive so much hatred that it doesn't leave room for others to approach criticism with an open mind, lest they become the next target. If you see a critical post and engage with it -- even if you agree with the points because they're supposedly made in "good faith"! -- that could loose you fandom friends, the community's support, and gain you asks ranging from ridiculous trolling to outright death threats... would you really go for it? Obviously a lot of us still do, but for far more it's easier to bypass the argument entirely and start repeating whatever writer-based accusations are most popular at the time. Learn to provide a blanket "RWDE is ____" statement and you don't ever have to consider what RWDE -- or Hhbomberguy -- has actually said. Instead, it's a win-win from a social standpoint. The majority of the fandom doesn't hate you, will likely praise you for (supposedly) helping to "clean up" the community, your ask box isn't filled with nonsense, and you never have to grapple with the difficult task of unpacking the flaws of something you enjoy.

Ignorance is bliss!

#rwde #rwby #mymetas