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catilinas · 2 years

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Hi! I haven't been following you for long and I'm just starting to get into The Aeneid. Could you explain what you and the other anon meant when you said everyone in The Aeneid is a double of Aeneas? Like who and how? If you decide to answer could you link articles about it too if it's possible (because I'm kinda confused lol)?

the aeneid is (clearly. from its name) a poem about aeneas, so it would be surprising to me if there was any character who didn’t reflect some aspect of aeneas at least a little bit. it is hyperbolic though to say Every Character Is A Double Of Aeneas etc. or is it. eye emoji. there are definitely some characters who are More Blatantly doing doubling things like this Has Been Observed.

most noticeable is (as the other anon was talking about!) turnus. plotwise aeneas and turnus are doubles in that they are both rivals for lavinia. imo the aeneas-turnus doubling starts as soon as the sibyl’s prophecy in book 6 that in italy aeneas will ‘find a simois, a xanthus, and greek camps. in latium you’ll find a new achilles, he too a goddess’ son’ (aeneid 6.88-90 trans. bartsch) LIKE this is saying turnus will be achilles 2.0 But Also aeneas is invading italy! where the sybil says this new trojan landscape is! by taking the role of invader of a trojan landscape aeneas is also framed as a new achilles, and turnus takes the role of trojan defender i.e. what aeneas once Was! and the idea that turnus embodies an earlier (and trojan = not roman yet = defeatable) aeneas is then like. really obvious. e.g. juno tricking turnus into fleeing the battlefield to safety in book 10 as aphrodite saving aeneas from battle in the iliad. there is also the Very Famous parallel in the moment of turnus’ death where ‘ast illi solvuntur frigore membra’ ‘turnus’ knees buckled with chill’ (aeneid 12.951 trans. bartsch) repeats the line that introduced aeneas in book 1 ‘aeneae solvuntur frigore membra’ ‘aeneas’ knees buckled with chill’ (aeneid 1.92 trans. bartsch). what the fuck is going on there. like yes turnus is a weaker (and doomed) aeneas as he dies but also aeneas kills him while succumbing to furor i.e. the force/emotion consistently associated with turnus… like ok you could read it as aeneas overcoming the role of conquered trojan and becoming a hashtag victorious proto-roman via getting someone else to fill his previous role (ritual substitution on main) BUT aeneas killing turnus still ends up looking weirdly like self-sacrifice. and then the academics scream about The Ending Of The Aeneid for One Million Years.

also cool and sexy is that dido is doubled w aeneas!!! this one is kinda an obvious parallel like they are both rulers in exile. they both have dead spouses. they both want to found cities. and alas those cities are destined to be Sworn Foes :( my favourite detail of the aeneas-dido doubling though is vergil being cool and sexy w the verb ‘errare’ (to wander / to Err). the chapter on dido in j.d. reed’s virgil’s gaze (which btw i extremely recommend) says many very cool things about vergil’s Constant use of this verb for dido, including:

‘Dido’s welcoming speech ends with an even subtler and more emotional identification. Her last word—errat, “wanders”—naturally adheres to Aeneas; in his own words, for example, at 1.333. But erro is also her word, connected to her by an etymological pun: the third-century Sicilian historian Timaeus had said that the name Dido was applied to her by Libyans because of her wanderings in exile. [...] The last line of her first speech, in view of this wordplay, makes Aeneas a kind of Dido: perhaps, she fears, he wanders a castaway in some wood or city. Her sympathy with the plight of the Trojans can go no further than to cast their leader as an alter ego’. they are doubles to dido at least.

and then aeneas seems to see them as interchangeable Enough with one another that him helping to build carthage counts as the city he is destined to found! it takes the literal divine intervention of mercury telling aeneas off for placing the High Foundations Of Carthage (which a Reader knows need to instead by the High Walls Of Rome!!! but aeneas doesn’t!!!) to get him to abandon dido/carthage. fun fact until the end of mercury’s speech where he tells aeneas ‘cui regnum Italiae Romanaque tellus / debetur’ ‘[iulus is] owed the rule of italy, and the soil of rome’ (aeneid 4.275-6 trans. bartsch) aeneas has literally never heard of rome. and it’s mercury’s promise of italy that makes aeneas claim that ‘haec patria est’ (This Is My Land™!!!!!!) (aeneid 4.347) i.e. the verb ‘errare’ / Wandering does Not define aeneas the way it does dido and they have different fates, actually, and maybe even Wandering for Aeneas Who Must Settle In Italy IS To Err and the doubling starts to fall apart! and you’re like. but what exactly Does make aeneas and dido different. is it just fate??? bcs that fate was/is contingent on a historical Future Enmity between their cities (the punic wars) and vergil is using the future that has already occurred to say this imaginary past was inevitable, and then using the assumed inevitability of the past to say that specific historical outcome Was Inevitable Also. and that is a circle :/ and history Could have gone differently. hashtag here’s how hannibal barca can still win. like to me this is vergil implying that ‘fate’ (the fated foundation and Imperium Sine Fine™ of rome) only goes as far as the contingent historical events that you can retroactively use to justify it. and eventually you will run out of that and end up at the end of the parade of heroes in the present. and what do you (augustus) do then. (but maybe i have been reading too much lucan like the pharsalia brainrot is Real)

BUT ALSO that is kind of the point of (my beloved) virgil’s gaze by thee j.d. reed…… like that every Doomed Youth in the aeneid Could Have Been aeneas and every nation/people each doomed youth stands for Could Have Become Rome or an equivalent. do the doubles everywhere suggest that the rise of Rome Specifically is not as Fixed In Fate as it could be. maybe yeah. or that the Fated Rise Of Rome doomed every other almost-aeneas. pessimistic readings of the aeneid i love YOU <3

anyway yeah. every character in the aeneid kind of Is aeneas. if they have a dad they are Pius Aeneas (e.g. lausus and pallas. esp. pallas who aeneas even claims to be embodying when he kills turnus!). if venus is there. that’s aeneas (helen). if their humanity is sacrificed to the future augustan golden age that’s Also aeneas (turnus and also. marcellus in the underworld). if they Do Some Conquering In An Inset Narrative that is also also aeneas (hercules vs cacus, augustus on the shield of aeneas). if they found a city (or try to. or their city is the ghost of troy. but then aren’t all cities that.) then that’s also aeneas. honestly the aeneas-andromache parallels at buthrotum in book 3 make me go nuts because helenus is Right There! but vergil is like no. aeneas WILL be doubled with a doomed trojan princess who hashtag Lived Past The End Of Her Myth. wild. you can probably find aeneas anywhere if you look close enough! also wait i forgot about his GHOST. the imago of aeneas in book 10. aeneas is literally doubled in a ghostly image of himSElf while he is Still Alive. i get that this is a thing which is allowed to happen in epic poetry but also aeneas IS really extremely undead, especially after book 6, so. yeah. you see evert character being Also Aeneas and you’re like well if everyone is aeneas what is aeneas like. where’s that one article by adam parry. ‘Aeneas from the start is absorbed in his own destiny, a destiny which does not ultimately relate to him, but to something later, larger, and less personal: the high walls of Rome, stony and grand, the Augustan Empire.’ ‘Aeneas' failure as a hero goes deeper than the formality of his speech. As he makes his way through the first six books, we see him successively divested of every personal quality which makes a man into a hero.’ ough. at this point what is the difference between aeneas and his ghost!!!!!!

#OUGH SORRY THIS GOT LONG #i love. the aeneid. A Lot. i hope you have fun reading it too <3 #aeneid #zombie aeneas REAL #<- this gets to go in the tag #beeps

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avernale · 9 months

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Have You Seen ScarVi's DLC Pokémon? Have You SEEN Them?

I don't know how long its been since my last one of these. Seriously. I tried searching the #haveyouseenpokemon hashtag on Tumblr, and it looks like the last one I did was for Scarlet & Violet's final pre-release trailer? Which makes enough sense, as I remember saying in that one that I wasn't sure I'd comment on DLC Pokémon or anything I encountered in-game (Quaquaval best starter evo, BTW). But then I tried searching on my own blog and it couldn't find one after Sword & Shield? The heck? I didn't even have this hashtag back then!

Pretty sure I haven't commented on the last couple of DLC trailers (mostly because I overlooked them), so let's start with the latest one. I put the video under the "Keep Reading" link since the title alone will kinda spoil it.

youtube

So, am I the only one who laughed at "Nice tea meetcha?" No one? Okay, then...

One thing that occurs to me is that this is literally the newest Pokémon. The object itself is ancient, but the Pokémon doesn't manifest until smart phones are a thing, apparently. That's pretty recent in terms of world history.

While my first thought was "Convergent evolution of Polteageist," the thought did occur that this could be an alternate evolution for Sinistea like Dipplin for Applin and Runegrigus for Yamask. But no. According to the website, it's definitely its own Pokémon. For one thing, it's made of matcha powder instead of liquid (and hence, Grass/Ghost). Unlike Polteageist's pot, the eyes on Poltchageist's tea caddy blink. It also actively poisons people (with Old Movie Disease, apparently) rather than wait for someone to drink it before sapping their energy.

I think I like this design. It's probably not going in my party, though. (I'm making a new one because my old one got to level 100 training to take on Iron Leaves) But I will catch it. I do wonder if it has an unevolved or evolved form (the website compares it to Sinistea rather than Polteageist, though maybe just for sake of distinction) or if it's just a single-stage Pokémon.

Another thought occurs that a lack of evolutionary line would be just another thing that makes it buck the pattern set by other convolutions. Toedscool and Wiglett both get one evolution each. The other thing it bucks is the naming convention. The other ones rhyme with the Pokémon they resemble but start with different words (Toed and Wig instead of Tenta and Dig). Poltchageist still rhymes with Polteageist, but still starts with "Polt." I'm not sure what else sets it apart from other convolutions' relationships to their original, but there might be. The pattern still holds that it rhymes, and that the difference uses a single syllable. Of course, if you're making up your own convolutions, you need not be beholden to any sort of pattern at all. Meanwhile, I'm still trying to come up with a good name for a pure Fire-Type Kirlia that sings.

Okay, let's look at other DLC Pokémon introduced so far real quick...

Archaludon, evolution of Duraludon. Not bad, I think. Looks kinda like a staple remover and transforms into a bridge for its signature attack. Does the Tower Bridge get struck by lightning a lot? No plans to put it in my party, though now that I think about it...

Dipplin, a new Applin evolution. When I saw this, I thought it was a regional form of Applin specific to Kitakami (Applin's already in ScarVi, I think). Nope. Also, the website says its two worms instead of one. Weird. I'm tempted to put this in my party. I wonder if its an item-evolution like Applin's other two, and if it's a candy apple or just the coating...

Iron Crown and Iron Leaves, Future Paradox forms of Cobalion and Virizion. Not impressed. Interesting that they are Psychic types instead of Fighting, though. One can assume the same will be true for Paradox Terrakion, as well.

Raging Bolt and Walking Wake, Ancient Paradox forms of Raikou and Suicune. Most Ancient Paradox forms are cooler than Future Paradox forms, and that includes these two. I saw a Humongo Walking Wake in one of Austin John's videos and was severely disappointed mine wasn't that big. At least it wasn't as hard to get as Iron Leaves was. My first thought on seeing Raging Bolt was "Giraffe" (it's yellow, c'mon), but it's actually a dinosaur, too. I feel like I shouldn't like this design, but I think it looks pretty good. I usually shy away from putting Legendaries or Mythicals in my party (unless the game gives me a reason to, like Calyrex or Arceus saying it wants to travel with me), but I could make an exception...

What's my team look like going into The Teal Mask (Teal? Tea? Hmm...) so far? Right now, I've got Fuecoco (that I got from a trade), Sprigatito (Hidden Ability, HOME integration giveaway), Toedscool, Revavroom, Miraidon (the one you can catch), and Gardevoir (one I used in my Sapphire party). The starters are low-level, and I want them to stay that way as I understand that The Teal Mask is intended for early-game stuff (though judging from Isle of Armor, who knows) while The Indigo Disk is supposed to be post-game. I still have time to change my mind, of course, but I'm also considering putting together another new team for Indigo Disk.

Which way will I actually go? We'll find out once The Teal Mask drops on September 13. There might still be something amazing that I'll be itching to train. Until then, it remains to be seen.

#haveyouseenpokemon #Youtube

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michaelsgozleme · 1 year

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I’m delighted to introduce my new menu at lower prices—it’s not like those other Gozleme expensive menus where you can look but you can't afford! Why did I change my recipes? Well, for nearly 300 years, Gozleme recipes have been kind of the same. There are restaurants in Turkey, and around the world, where the menu hasn't changed in 125 years! So, I decided to change the recipes in order to evolve the food. Yet, I’m not like those restaurants where they give you a thirty-thousand-page menu, and no food—my food is real, it’s authentic, every ingredient in it tells a different story! Part of the secret of a success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside. This is why, if a recipe doesn't taste good, it doesn't go on my menu. And if they’re special, I put’em on the menu. Planning a brilliant menu and preparing it beautifully doesn't guarantee a recipe for success. This is why the great thing about this new menu is that it has a lot of different things on it. I particularly love The Grande. By using lots of fresh ingredients, I help keep the menu buoyant—I don't know if that's the right word, but it keeps a balance of freshness and health. I hope you’ll enjoy it as I enjoyed preparing it. Come and visit or order online to taste my new recipes. Love you all! _________________________ VISIT ME & MY SOCIAL Address: Shop 7, 35-37 Coral Street, The Entrance, NSW 2261 Website: www.michaelsgozleme.com.au Social: @michaelsgozleme Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michaelsgozleme Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelsgozleme/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/taifourmichael/ MY STORY Michael's Gözleme is the first Turkish "Signature" food shop to open in the beautiful beachside "The Entrance" area on the Central Coast of NSW. It serves the best authentic and traditional Turkish Gözleme. BTW, I'm Michael! I'm the owner and only employee of my shop. I cook, I clean, I prepare the recipes and food, and serve the customers--and if there's time left, I put a little boogie in it! My shop on Coral Street is the home of Gözleme, where every ingredient tells a different story, and where there’s a recipe for everyone. Michael’s Gözleme has its own "signature" Gözlemes, from the traditional spinach & Feta cheese to the authentic Sucuk (Turkish sausage), and the mouth-watering minced beef & cheese, along with the fabulous gourmet lamb, the deliciously-seasoned chicken, and my own "signature" meat lovers, veggie lovers, and Peri-Peri chicken Gözlemes. I also offer morning Gözlemes, including my special mix of Zaatar (Thyme herbs) and Mozzarella, and the Oh-So-Sweet Nutella topped with icing sugar and chocolate syrup. At Michael's Gözleme, I believe that food brings people together at many different levels. It’s the nourishment of the soul and body; it’s true love. In my own food culture, I believe that if you want to be my customer, come to my shop and eat with me… The people who give you their food give you their heart. Food can be very transformational, and it can be more than just a meal. That's how I feel! That’s what happened to me when I first came to Australia. I fell in love. And if you fall in love; well, then everything is easy. To me, food is as much about the moment, the occasion, the location, and the company as it is about the taste. When you come to my Michael's Gözleme, you won't need a silver fork to eat good food. You will soon realize, once you step into my shop, the power of food to evoke memory, bring people together, and transport you to other places. Believe me, you will immediately want to be a part of that. For me, cooking is like love-- It should be entered into with abandonment or not at all. Truly, love is delightful food, supplying, as it does, rest to the weary, strength to the weak, and joy to the sorrowful. It renders the yoke of truth easy and its burden light. HASHTAGS #turkishfoodcentralcoast #gözleme #gozleme #gozlemeçeşitleri #turkishtraditionalfood #foodturkish #turkishgozleme #michaelsgozleme #turkishonlinedeliveryfood #turkishfoodisthebestfood #turkishstylefood #turkishfoods #turkishfoodlover #turkishfoodie #turkishfoodrecipes #turkishfoodisthebest #traditionalturkishfood #turkishfood #loveturkishfood #turkishfoodindubai #turkishfoodlovers #turkishfoodsdrinks #turkishfoodinaustralia #bestturkishfood #turkishfoodies #turkishfoodculture #turkishfoodforyou #turkishfoodlove #turkishfoodfest #turkishfoodrecipe #turkishfoode #turkishfoodsdeliver #vegetarianturkishfood #turkıshfood #turkıshfoods #foodmediterranean #mediterraneanseafood #mediterraneancomfortfood #mediterraneanfoods #mediterraneanfoodrecipes #mediterraneanfoodies #mediterraneanfoodexperience #mediterraneanfoodcompanychchnz #mediterraneanfoodie #bestmediterraneanfood #mediterraneanfoodvibes #mediterraneanfoodlover #mediterraneanfoodisthebest #lovemediterraneanfood #easternmediterraneanfood #mediterraneanfoodnearme #costabravamediterraneanfoods

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elliemyrah · 3 years

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Let’s talk followers

Sooooooo

I’m almost at 300 followers.

I’m not gonna tell you how far I am from it because that’s not what matters.

But when I saw that was near the 300 mark I started to think about how this has been the biggest number I’ve gotten since I was on the internet. 8 years I’ve been here and the highest I’ve reach was 200. And that was on Deviantart.

With that said I don’t like my deviantart. I have had to many bad memories over there. I had people who said they were my friends but really they just wanted me to draw their characters. I had an actual person, I knew personally, even was in my main friend group, completely brake me to were I was put into therapy immediately. I was groomed twice. And I wrote a horrible pokemon comic that still gives me nightmares. I seriously don’t recommend you go check it out I honestly still post there just to have my work show up in more places. Even may out of no where just delete it.

Anyway I have had better luck here on tumblr. I’m still really cautions with new people and I try avoiding fandoms. Why? Because I’ve learned trying to identify yourself with fandom can lead to biased opinions which can lead to toxic defenses for when someone points out your specific fixations are actually bad.

You can say I’m part of the SRMTHFG fandom but I have I really done much to show that recently? I don’t even consider my comic counting all that much. I don’t talk about the show really but I mean I could. The show hasn’t really aged well and I really just like seeing other peoples renditions and characters more than the actually source material. Like Glenny is African American teen with large ape arms like come on! I don’t hate the show in fact I still love it but I honestly rather it be rebooted then wait for a 5th season. And the people in the fanbase is a small amount so it’s easier to pick and chose who I want to be around more.

Now listen if I get it excited to see you it’s not because of what you draw (Sure maybe a follow, like, or reblog)but it’s because I simply like talking with you or you made feel comfortable around you. I have a really thick wall up from people screwing me over too many times. Hell recently I had a job interview where I was asking the man questions first before we got to me. He thought it was really funny heh nice guy. Trust me when I consider you as a friend I can’t refrain myself from giving ya lots of love.

Also for the people who have commented and hashtag commented(Why do u guys do that Btw. I‘m curious.)I have read every single one of them, they given me so much joy. I even look back at my older work just to read the comments all over again, you guys are really sweet. Thank you. Honestly that’s all I care about. Likes, reblogs, and followers can be just numbers by the end of the day but a comment tells what you actually thought of the piece. Now if your awkward like me and don’t really know what to comment that’s fine I’m not saying’ Always comment!’ Just know that’s what I look for.

Thank you to everyone who has supported my comic. I’ve really learned a bunch for my past stories weather it be public or personal and I really have been enjoying creating this story. This story has a rough draft of how it’s all gonna go down and I’ve constantly changed characters around, roles, adding new character and even their designs and genders. (Which is still happening) Even the story is changing around a bit every time. So people from drawing parties take what I tell you with a grain of salt. I have mad ADHD and can strip my focus really quickly so keeping everything the same is almost impossible. Also the next part should come out this week, sadly it is a two parter. Sorry I really tried to make it one but it got to long. Just simply zooming out made me almost lose my sanity. Besides it introduces Fluorite and I gotta give him as much love as possible. Plus I really want to be able to at the least post 2 pages a month with other drawings at least twice a week. So your patience has been wonderful.

Ok I think that’s enough for now.

If you read all this, thanks for reading.

#SRMTHFG #update #for my sanity #Thank You #thanks for reading #to my followers

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incarnateirony · 4 years

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i think there’s a distinction that needs to be made. i think those with power over dabb & co are the ones who are exuding more habits of queerbaiting, while dabb and co aren’t. and because those execs are more or less invisible, the blame/fault is put on dabb as he’s the perceived figurehead of everything in the show when he’s not. anything he may want to put in the show can be easily vetoed by a higher exec so

Okay so I said I wouldn’t touch related issues facing wanky-side, but while this runs the line this is such a genuine, and valid thought process it feels worth addressing.

So in short: Yes. But no. But yes. But no. But we’ll see.

What do I mean by that? I’m going to put this behind a cut. But first of all I want to thank this Nonnie for at least trying to critically think about where the problems lead to. This is FAR BETTER CRITICAL THINKING than I see in this discussion most of the time and this. More like this. Nuance, discussion, idea trade, history. Let’s do it.

Okay, so.

How can it be yes no yes no maybe eenie meenie miney mo?

Because it really depends on what part of this 15 year legacy show we’re talking about.

What I’m about to say isn’t going to be popular, but I’ve said it before, I just can’t find the ancient ass post discussing it.

We’re going to rewind. Like, a fucking lot. A lot, a lot. This is going to be a history ride, and you’re probably going to wonder how it connects to the conversation at first, but bear with me.

Ignoring any personal frustrations I have with the casting of season 4 – frankly a chapter of this FUCKING show that haunts me somewhere in the ballpark of, “If my friend wasn’t dismissed as not white enough and got the role, would we have Misha, Destiel, any of this, would the show be on, would she have been chased off as the other actresses?” – and frankly these are the things people don’t even fucking *think* about.

TLDR a bajillion years ago CW made a casting call and we got this super cute character named Anna that Dean was slated to bend over in two seconds flat, as old canon used to be before modernly growing. The actress expressed discomfort, and frankly went over with the audience about as well as wet cardboard. And like, while I agree that a lot of women were hated for misogynistic reasons in this show, she really was about as interesting as a plank of plywood to me once she got past her first performance or two.

At the same time, this handsome bastard named Misha Collins auditioned for a bit role originally intended for 3 episodes and quickly extended to 6. But, identified as lightning in a bottle and with on-fire chemistry, while Anna waffled for *several* reasons, summarily, their story ends swapped. That’s… not like *exactly* what happened but it’s *basically* what happened. Anna became the herald and contagonist instead of Cas, and Cas quite frankly took on the role of the goddess.

With Lisa already entered before Anna, there’s no evidence whatsoever she was intended as endgame. Story flip. Thank you for everything last night on earth fall by angel banishing almost like this was foreshadowed woohoo! But… don’t lend towards a relationship. No point. Given, they made a few jokes on set at that point, but it wasn’t really an idea *they thought anyone took seriously*.

Coming from a phase where most of the leads were introduced to “slash fandom” by Wincest, which they literally used to torture and prank each other, the idea of this being anything serious really wasn’t on their radar. The one I remember most was Misha choosing to sit on Dean’s side of the bed as Cas in the famous “What were you dreaming about?” and Sgriccia being like “that’s kinda gay” “nah keep it”

I mean, is that… queerbait at that point? I don’t think it’s fair to really call it that. They respectfully tried to scrub out the leading romantic edges from what would have been Anna’s story, but ultimately, the human psyche kind of recognizes 8000 years of storytelling history subconsciously when using the Hero’s Journey narrative, so it was resonant. Nobody was crazy for seeing it. That didn’t mean it was right, that didn’t mean it’s what they were consciously leading anyone for.

Hell, Jensen didn’t even know what the fuck Destiel WAS until season 7 (”Deathstiel?”) due to the way cons, circuits, and fansites kept the conversation force-muted at that point. Anything they had floated somewhere in the area of “hah that is kinda gay I guess”, and even that there’s no evidence of being frequent.

Kripke left, the show petered, social media was new, and summarily, Sera Gamble was a dumbass and listened to the wrong crowd that seemed super big back when big accounts were a whole 10K followers and you had 50 asshats screaming as a coordinated group about Ruining The Show™. Ratings tanked, somewhere between Misha being fired and the show turning into a parody of itself with dick jokes that made it seem like Gamble was trying to target 11 year old boys for her audience, and like, that’s it, that was the season.

Until that nosedive spiral essentially turned into a shorthand apology reversal, a panicked and roughly written script that was *SO GAY* that *EVEN MISHA FUCKING COLLINS* couldn’t seriously choke out the dialogue. It was cheap, it was out of character, and as Jensen put it, the dialogue might as well have had him petting and sobbing into Castiel’s coat while essentially being like I SLEEP WITH YOUR COAT EVERY NIGHT TO REMEMBER YOUR SCENT UWU and shit that just LITERALLY vaulted from alien fascinated staring into desperate teenage gay drama in the body of a 30 year old man.

So yeah. Did I consider it reasonable to change that? Fuck yes I did.

Was what Sera Gamble did queerbait? Yes, actually. And she did it again in the Magicians. You see, Gamble had fucked over an audience, and then tried to exploit that audience in reverse when she realized she fucked over the *wrong* audience, but had zero intent of fulfillment.

And then magically, Sera Gamble didn’t fucking work there anymore after a whole like, year and a half as showrunner.

Now, at the same time, Dawn Ostroff was leaving the CW. Jensen’s had some pretty fierce words about Dawn Ostroff not understanding the show and how to manage it, but whatever. Bye, Dawn. Hello… MARK FUCKING PEDOWITZ. But at the same time, WELCOME BACK CARVER and most of all HOWDY DO NETFLIX, so nice to make a guaranteed deal with you (that ended as of this year due to a CBS merchandising meltdown).

When Carver came back, he said a lot of things. He… very tactfully called Gamble’s era trash by phasing it like “:) Watching the show :) since I left :) I realized :) a lot of our mythology :) has been difficult to follow :) so I went :) back to basics :) please help”, and others, like mentioning he had a three year plan on his desk. So 3. Season 8, 9, 10. He had notes for his S10 finale in mind and everything! Great stuff.

Now the fandom, at this point, generally didn’t pay attention to the network or production. In fact, the actor worship around here is some other kind of wild and I don’t know how after 15 years people haven’t figured out that it isn’t how to go about paying attention. Either way – plot switches, showrunner switches, author switches, and NETWORK LEADERSHIP SWITCHES.

Now, this little part here is speculation – but I am 99% sure that when Carver was pulling SPN out of the cancellation toilet, he had bigger things to inform the new execs about than “btw I might make it gay.” Like “Hey, since CW just got its netflix deal, if you give us another year we can import fresh demographic while bringing back Collins’ old fanbase by setting him back as a regular.” SURE, SOUND GREAT, MAKE MONEY, THX.

Cool. Cool. Make sense so far, you still with me?

Because at this point, S8 into early S9, fandom had gotten itself into all kinds of a stir. It was about to go canon, rite nao, said a bunch of bloggers, who at that point WERE pretty much chasing wallpapers and Tshirts and making the most bizarre uncorroborated parallel interpretations like “IF U PARALLEL IT TO MOBY DICK-” WHAT WHY WHERE– ??? BUT cAS = fISH

Okay, my fucking annoyance at what counted as lit crit in those days aside, we’ll get back on track. Everybody started vibrating for this shit because, you know what, S8 did resonate pretty strong, almost like authors were toying with ideas. I’m not gonna get into stuff about Robbie, I THINK fandom knows the statements he’s made and I don’t just mean the whole Destiel being canon tweet both antis and bitters descended on him to eviscerate him about. About what? Calling it queerbait!

So here we go, the great advent. About a year after a dramatic network shift, a CW exec was like :))))))))) I’D LIKE TO LEARN ABOUT THIS FANDOM THAT IS SUDDENLY MAKING ME MONEY!! WHAT SHOULD I DO??? TO TWITTER! HASHTAG TALK TO THEM!

[logs in]

Beep boop. “Destiel?” “Destiel?” “Destiel?” “Destiel?” “Destiel?” “Destiel?” “Destiel?” “Destiel?” “Destiel?” “Destiel?” “Destiel?” “Destiel?” “Destiel?” “Destiel?” “Destiel?” the FUCK is a Destiel? Wait what no I don’t know what you’re talking about representation isn’t our intention with these characters. “QUEERBAIT” “QUEERBAIT” “QUEERBAIT” “QUEERBAIT” “QUEERBAIT” “QUEERBAIT” “QUEERBAIT” “QUEERBAIT” “QUEERBAIT” “QUEERBAIT” “QUEERBAIT”

And then the network exec got so slammed he deleted twitter entirely and everybody popped confetti and felt accomplished and did NOT realize how fucking BAD that was. And frankly, anyone that did kinda didn’t want to admit it, because taking responsibility for that tire fire was… not… attractive. In fact, several folks are still around to this day, bitter blogging or making weirdass meta or accusing other people of wallpapers and Tshirts because that’s what they did so *YAY, PROJECTION!*

My own frustrated bitterness aside, I’m going to place some questions down, and not so much answer them as, now that the reader has really taken history in, let them decide:

At this point… is this queerbait?

Because this is when the queerbait yelling began. It’s when every fan with even a moderate platform or site blasted it out there.

It’s when the fandom made DeanCas a big problem.

And it’s also literally the same time Carver left his very first recorded, known direction with a romantic tilt, “The note I got from Jeremy Carver was to play it like a jilted lover, so that’s what we played there,” on LGBT author Bobo berens’ very first episode. Everyone runs circles around that modernly, or goes “SEE??? QUEERBAIT!” without realizing what the FUCK just happened here.

So, SPN went from cancel rating line to their most successful show between 7 and 9. Suddenly corporate sees their successful product *ON FUCKING FIRE* so do you know what happens?

Fuck it this IS one line I’ll break: Corporate panicked. They changed their press packets. If you noticed a bunch of media-adjacent people and their friends suddenly get bitter as FUCK in season 10 after still surviving the S9 mess, here’s fucking why. Because now that everybody spent the last YEAR trying to burn down the product yelling about shit that corporate had been literally blindsided by, they added temporarily a new section to the packet that included sexuality. They were, at that moment, suddenly listed collectively as heterosexual men. SEE, WE AREN’T QUEERBAITING IF WE TELL YOU THEY’RE STRAIGHT *will smith pose*

Congrats fandom, you have now officially made Destiel A Huge Problem™ to the corporate behemoth behind the shiny pictures. The iron curtain dropped. This is what you could call “Protect the Product Mode” if you will.

Now again, at this point: Is it queerbait?

Because at this point, S9-10 was rolling out. We all know it, Cain, Collette, *gestures off into infinity* But let’s fall back to Carver’s statement. 3 years. 8, 9, 10. You know what else happened season 10?

A bunch of shit, including shit Carver *wrote himself for the season 10 finale* got filmed, then cut. Coincidentally, it was all very gay shit. Things that pulled forward the Crowley/Abaddon Cas/Colette Sam/Abel parallels, arguing over who was who’s boyfriend, Rowena mentioning about them both being shattered at the Altar of Winchester (15.3 is calling), the secret admirer dream, I could go on. I mean, this shit literally would have shifted the entire storytelling arc to full-frontal taking that parallel and addressing it right up in your face. First you’ll kill your mistress but you’ll get it done, and then you’ll kill your wife. He’s your boyfriend no he’s YOUR boyfriend. You’ve BOTH been shattered at the Altar of Winchester. Really, this is what you dream about? Your secret admirer Cas?

K? K. K?

Is it queerbait for Carver to have entered with a plan? Is it queerbait for Carver to have been interrupted on that plan despite attempting to pursue it? And is it queerbait for the network to still lock down on that plan so close after the event?

You see why this conversation gets increasingly complex.

S11 rolled around, Carver was half in half out, Dabb was stepping in, big gay heart songs, take what you will out of that entire mess, and by S12 Dabb entirely took over and we started entering the era we are in today.

So let’s address where we’re at today.

Now :) I can’t say anything for sure :) because anybody that’s been to or worked on marketing stuff definitely has an NDA :) but let’s play for a minute. Let’s say with the stone wall up, a set of creators still wanted to actually *go somewhere* with this story.

“But!” remembered the network, “Remember the tire fire?! And all the people that hated the gay?! What about our profit?!”

“No,” a creator might say, “Tides have changed.”

“We’ll see,” a network might say, “Take it to market testing.” At which point, one would enter a few years of polling how the general audience reacts to this.

Now, if they were seeing promising numbers, they might be given a bit of rope. Why, let’s … just pretend. Totally. Totally pretending. That Dabb pitched this idea to take up Carver’s mantle. Let’s say that started S12ish when he took over. Let’s say they ran through hiatus. And then… authors might be given a little bit of a line. “Looks good, but we’re not sure,” said a network quite fond of its split conservative/liberal demographic, “Try it out a bit and see how it goes.”

And so an author room that would be full of LGBT creators fed out good faith groundwork. They might even be like YALL ITS NEVER TOO LAAAAAATE TO START ALL OVER AGAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN and just throw their whole boy howdy cowboy into that shit and get great ratings.

What if even if the results came back positive leaning, the network ho’ed and hummed and stayed noncommital? Might the creators scale it back while still writing it lowkey just in case they got flashed a greenlight? I know I sure would, woudn’t you?! Or I guess would you prefer we drop the whole thing cold and stop writing anything vaguely in the direction?

Difficult question, in reality, isn’t it?

So in this TOTALLY HYPOTHETICAL SITUATION, this leaves the authors holding the bag, waiting for a sign, and being held with limitations. And just in case anybody thinks “BUT AUTHORS CAN DO WHATEVER THEY WANT!! AND!! OTHER SHOWS!!!”

K have we come down to reality yet? So, sure kids, try the gay, we’re interested, but you can’t like, go Full Gay Frontal with it. You gotta imply the gay. Wouldn’t want to offend conservative america! Besides! We’re totally exploiting marketing making this LGBT content for you over here! *jingles a carrot on a stick* LOOK AT HOW MUCH WE’RE FLEECING ADVERTISING PROMOTING ALL THIS GAY STUFF FOR YOU AREN’T THE RAINBOWS GREAT?

Some creator of limited LGBT content: How’s the marketing looking?

Some network: EH! We’ll see!

Some creator of limited LGBT content: K guys we’ll scale it back to not upset them but don’t drop it.maybe we can have them hold hands at the end or if we’re lucky maybe they’ll say we can do the whole thing

Some LGBT creators: K

Making sense still? STILL WITH ME?

So at this point… is this queerbait, or is this business?

Put aside the emotional reaction. Realize this really only hit scale in S9, hit front line S10, and hit potential corporate discussion in this TOTALLY theoretic universe around S11-12. We’re talking 3-4 years. Not 10. And we’re talking only a few of it really being tested.

So again I ask, history minded: Is this queerbait, or is this business?

That’s where the nuance and complication comes in, and let it be said I am in no way defending the CW. I fucking hate the network. They have literally personally screwed over real friends of mine and I hope they choke on a whole bag of dicks with their bullshit, but honestly, the shit I have seen and heard would make people stick their heads in the sand like scared and ashamed ostriches for every time they trumpet “BUT OTHER SHOWS” – you don’t know what’s going on in those shows. You don’t know how they’re getting hardballed on budget decisions, you don’t know what that show’s marketed demographic is about, you don’t know what they demand cast how, you literally don’t have a fucking idea unless you’re up in that disaster zone.

And even IF you’re in that disaster zone, unless you’re truly in the upper echelon, you only know so much.

Now let’s pretend, again, totally metaphorically, and absolutely not inspired by a real person at all, that someone worked with the crew for a while and, because they saw support inside creeping upward siiiiince mmmm gosh we’ll say season 12 since that’s our advent and totally not when anybody specific started working there and telling fandom ladder fans what they thought they saw going on, only to get sad and bitter and angry and eventually leave, and all those friends, still abiding old bitterness from S9~, now get angrier because of somebody else’s burnout on their ITK level and perspective, even if that was *probably* aggravated by other work stress conditions as well, but hey! WHO KNOWS!?!?! :)))) What a weird hypothetical though and I’m getting weirdly super specific on it aren’t I so LET’S MOVE ON.

We’re in S12-13 discussion category now.

So my question is, from this perspective… when do you call queerbait? When not swept up in misguided hysteria… at what point do you say “Yeah, you know what, yup, that’s all queerbait”?

So we’re gonna take a bit of a break here for a second and really process all of that hypothetical world, where a creator pitched going for it, and got it put into market testing, and was given enough rope to hang themselves on if the network changed its mind.

After only a few years of conscious thought on it… do you even think the network is truly consciously misguiding specifically those fans, or do they see it as giving the fans something they want while testing the idea of possibly truly giving it to them?

Because here’s what fandom misses – the corporate perspective. And again, I’m utterly not fucking justifying the CW as a whole, but people look at this from the angle of fans, and then argue what they think is representative dialogue from the angle of fans, often while missing all of this history. All that history up till S9? That’s all very real. But looking at history in perspective… who are you going to blame for that? Is it fair to hold S4-9 to that five year stretch of queerbait when that was… pretty much fandom manufactured from blissful ignorance to begin with? I mean if you want to go yell at Sera Gamble Specifically okay (please don’t) but beyond that like– that shit? Is that anybody’s fault? Do you blame a company for actually shutting DOWN the talk of it on a press angle? Can we call that and S10 queerbait then? Was Carver’s attempt at writing through it queerbait? Was trying to continue the story in S11 after theoretic shutdown queerbait? These are all genuine questions that are not asked enough. Most people don’t even realize they need to be asked.

So back to Totally Theoretic Land, where S12ish market testing would have been going on to see if people really thought it was Gay N Shit. Like a lot of people in an overwhelming majority after the amount of apprehension the straight old dude running the network has ever since the goddamn tornado of horse shit that happened like a year after he took over. Probably not the fondest fucking memory for him either. Probably also why he dismissively called most of that demographic “casual fans”, because in Smug White Guy Brain, “tru” fans would have all known, I guess, exactly the shit I’m telling you in history backtrack so, look at the silly girls wanting the gay shit :) Ahhhh girlllllls

Okay so, my impression of douchebags aside, let’s give it 12-13 hiatus to give the first test rope lead and 13-14 hiatus for the next, only to have at best noncommital and uncertain numbers and authors, theoretically, cautiously pulling back while writing it as generally established and implicit, as if it might, I don’t know, go from BIG GAY DRAMA to DEADASS DOMESTIC all of a sudden despite ITS NEVER TOO LATE TO START ALL OVER AGAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN cuz get it, they started over, after he came in his room and played him. *elbows* You all get it right?

K. So maybe numbers changed. Maybe they don’t. Maybe I’m not comfortable talking in this hypothetical, maybe I don’t have access to this hypothetical AU’s current marketing data as of this year, I just don’t know! We don’t know where those cards fell.

But if, at this point, after 2-3 years of market testing, and leading authors on, and giving them enough rope to hang themselves with to get themselves accused of queerbait just for trying to lay good faith groundwork for a cohesive narrative, because fans don’t care that 2 open closet LGBT authors are on deck or that there’s totally theoretically probably and in no way fingering anyone at least one closeted author on deck, or at least publicly so, their coworkers would probably know. But I mean. That’s just. :) statistics. Right?

K whatever moving on. If at this point they’ve been boggley bounced around… you know, I gotta say. At this point… I might actually call queerbait if the network stonewalls it. At this point, they’ve had a few years to really get their shit together, and if they’ve just used it to play yo yo with LGBT creators trying to make content then yeah, go suck a whole bag of dicks.

The problem being with the lack of nuance in this conversation, you’re right, Dabb and co would catch it rather than the guilty party, which is why I HATE faux activism culture. If you’re going to be an activist pay the fuck attention to what you’re being an activist in, don’t bite the hand that’s feeding you just because it was a PBJ and not filet mignon, go after the bastard 1%’er that’s eating all the goddamn filet mignon. But nobody will. It never works like that. And then everybody wonders why this continues – be it in this show, or on other networks.

But hey. Maybe this theoretic network got enough material to change their mind. Maybe another executive got promoted that might help one of the other creators argue it to corporate with their new shiny title. Maybe they can convince someone. Convince them of what and to what level, who knows. Maybe just continue telling the established story, give them a divorce, mention marriage, divorce, dead wives, breakups every 0.2 seconds while they go through a classically framed dark point in the romance everybody with brains and eyes understands because, again, historic storytelling we literally all recognize, but pretend we don’t when stomping about personal representation lines? Or hey! Maybe it’ll go further. (Don’t hold your breath.) Throw in some other shit that even a straight guy would look at and be like “two dicks one chick that shit’s gay bro” because WE LITERALLY ALL FUCKING KNOW WHAT IT MEANS EVEN IF IT’S IMPLIED BECAUSE THE NETWORK IS A BUNCH OF PUSSIES.

…*stops, breathes*

If you can’t tell this is a very long term topic of frustration to me, because nobody, absolutely nobody, wants to introspect and think, you know, maybe it wasn’t queerbait back then, maybe we SHOULDN’T have set a corporate exec on fire about it, that might have been fucking bad.

There are other ways to be an activist than to scream queerbait into the void at whoever is unfortunate enough to cross your paths. One of the best examples I can remember is Exorcising Emily collecting demographics on fandom, and testimonials from LGBT fans about resonating with the content – no fanfic, no fanart, no attacks – and sent copies of this to several powerful creative names.

Now… if with this history… if, from season 9 to 12… one of those names became a creator. If, by some FLUKE of imagination… he still had that book around… and even gave it to his freshly joined new employees like 2 weeks after they started working there–

oh wait and i oop

The mentions would be much as you expect, antis screaming and demanding her job (QUICK, somebody tell Andrew Dabb that she’s READING ANDREW DABB’S OWN BOOKS THAT HE CHOSE TO KEEP AROUND FOR THREE YEARS).

Has Dabb’s era seemed… more plugged in? More resonant? Better and stronger in its storytelling? More hooked into fandom?

See, that’s what well thought activism can do. Well thought activism can structure an entire movement. Poorly thought rioting thinking itself as activism can cause the literal opposite effect of what it wanted. That is how these things contrast each other. And that is something fandom needs to DEEPLY consider.

…but is it queerbait for him to try to continue the story? Even if, say, we drop the marketing talk, because TOTALLY nobody can ACTUALLY know because AGAIN anyone that DOES would have an NDA so we DEFINITELY can’t say anybody knows anything for sure, because anyone that said jack shit would probably get sued so hard their descendents down in whatever homo superior evolution 1000 years into the future would feel it, so you know. We’ll put aside this totes theoretical shit and ask

…If he just was told no– would you prefer to just drop the storyline entirely at this point?

Again. Genuine question. And difficult. And something poorly thought queerbait screaming can actually cause, too.

So here we are in the land of the final season. Whether you consider it network queerbait or not – again, they can choke on the whole bag of dicks at a network level for all I care for ANY number of reasons, even well beyond the domain of Supernatural, and may all their bacon burn from here into the next life – it’s a lot more complicated than fandom has ever let it on to be, because letting it on to be what it really is, in full perspective, also demands a lot of introspection and acceptance, and we all know nobody in this fandom can ever make a mistake ever and they’re all fucking perfect darlings.

It’s a complicated answer to a simple idea… and unfortunately I don’t think this fandom will ever really sit here. They’ll yell “VICTIM BLAMING” because it’s buzzy, they’ll yell “HIDING YOUR GAYS” which I mean, yeah, but let’s talk about what led us here. They’ll yell a lot of things. But they will rarely quietly think, and study, and hone down to what’s going on in the world out there beyond what they have, at this point, become obsessively hotlocked on.

Supernatural, as of 15.7, has already taken several steps further than it ever is before. No, that’s not a signal of me saying [Your Personal Goalpost] is going to happen. But it’s a sign that if they have a line, they’re testing it with every strength they have.

Going back onto the Fateful Advent: Cain. The mentor– who was never going to stop; I can’t stop samuel; he was never going to stop; I will never stop; Rowena, the mentor, never going to stop, shattered, at the altar of Winchester. Long ago, when Cas was human, Dean sealed him away, and now, he’s doing the same to him. So Shirt Of Bad Decisions Deanmon basically karaokes with his friend like the Crowley days, REPEATING the Crowley dialogue but infinitely harder to dodge, as if some sort of calculated method of cat’s cradle of How To Write The Gay was discussed. Man, whoever wrote that kind of shit would probably even publicly thank whatever big gay mastermind helped them map out THAT level of stuff. Wouldn’t it be funny if most of that shit had been written by a gay dude that’s still around and it’s still popping back up in the show louder and harder to dodge than before? That’d be fuckin’ wild, man. Oh, fucking WAIT.

And this is why I hate the way shipping culture thinks it’s doing activism. Most of the time it’s cosplaying as an activist and at this point it’s become more of a furry convention than it has any kind of organized rights movement. Nobody’s out here fighting for the rights of these LGBT authors this year, nobody’s helping them get a voice, and in fact, often scream at them or bury what voice they’ve had as not enough.

And I want to fix it.

Desperately.

And frankly, I don’t know how anymore.

But what we’re not talking about is some 3-5 year show that came in early and started intentionally fucking at you. We’re looking at happy coincidences, so let’s check with our gay king, the father of Wayward that everybody coincidentally accepted as canon with far less because of a (meaningful) third party line DeanCas had elsewhere but hey it didn’t have antis so suddenly it counts; let’s check with him about that.

That’s my king. That’s my king that wrote the first recorded episode to be intentionally directed as jilted lovers. My king that gav eus Colette. My king that gave us the mixtape. My king that gave us the PR framed breakup. My king that gave us Cas leaving Dean. That’s my King. That’s my gay king who has been fighting his ass off, only to be hung out to dry by a fandom that doesn’t even care to look where or how to scream, or maybe consider that perhaps screaming isn’t the option.

Is he yours yet? Have I broken through to a single soul on this?

That’s my king who wrote about the necessary evils in 2003, before the youngest in this fandom were born and while many were still in diapers or kindergarten; about the unfortunate necessary evils that he loathes and acknowledges about moderate queer content gaining exponential amounts of platform compared to whatever is considered hardline aggressive at the time, about how that incrementalization is what helped our media landscape evolve to this day.

And he isn’t wrong.

And he’s getting roasted for doing just that.

And I really wish I could just psychically make everyone fucking stop.

But I will say one thing.

“It’s network queerbait!” I mean

Yeah

That

Because… realistically? like 99% of modern queer content is queerbait, even stuff with canon queer content.

ESPECIALLY on the CW.

If you’ve noticed CW panicking the last year and trying to slap rainbows and DARE TO DEFY on everything, it’s because their entire fucking ecosystem just got fucked over by CBS wanting 100% merchandising profit like it already took 100% digital profit and Netflix was basically like “miss us with your bullshit” and broke the CW contract which was *HOW PEDOWITZ BANKROLLED MOST OF HIS NETWORK*. Now? Now CW has to carve a niche. So LOOK AT ALL THE FUCKING PRIDE COLORS ON– OUR– STRAIGHT–CHARACTERS??? BUT WE HAVE GAY ONES LIKE LEGENDS OF TOMORROW AND *flips notes* THAT SIDE CHARACTER LESBIAN ON SPN.

*gets a whisper* What they killed her? Shit. Maybe bring her back. AND THERE’S THIS PERSON OVER ON JANE THE VIRGIN oh that just got cancelled uhhh VAMPIRE DI-wait fuck. Well we’ll just make one of the chicks in this shitty charmed reboot CBS just forced down our throat and killed Wayward over, that’ll fix it *jazz hands*

TV is a business. Businesses make money. The entire LGBT battle is basically us industriously proving we can make money. It’s about rights and visibility on our end, but on their end it is *always* about money and I really don’t think anybody really groks what that really means.

So “it’s the network! Queerbait!”

…yeahhhhh.

…welcome to working in television. Now you just have to sit and think about how many other times this has completely missed your radar.

The network will never get a shit about you, they give a shit about your money, and that’s just the reality of capitalist america whether we like it or not. When it’s 2143 and bernie sanders’ floating head in a jar is president and andrew yang’s base income shit is in effect and we’re all a socialist country and the world has figured out how to run high cost businesses like TV on the power of unicorn farts, they might actually give a shit. But they don’t. There may be a few advocates WITHIN the company that do, but as a whole body, the network will never give a shit. They don’t care if you’re black, white, straight, gay, disabled, male, female, beyond what, explicitly, that totals to in dollar signs depending how they feed you, when and where.

So it’s not like... *just* a queer rights issue, it’s an “Anything Trump’s America may consider offensive on their television” issue. It’s businesses weighing who they think pays their bills while making it and beyond that who they think is the safest investment to make the most money.

As a side note: Personally, I’d consider it dumb as fuck to not do it. SPN will taper within a few years down to just trekkie-esque addicts unless they find a way to get a new burst of viewership and boy howdie do I hope so, but how much Pedowitz overvalues the conservative US demographic, or certain international markets, I don’t know. I’m not in his head and I don’t have this year’s marketing numbers beyond basic live, +3 and +7 ratings, and digital calls. And just general nielsen released demo. But how he’s added that all up? Can’t say. And I sure ain’t gonna bank on him not being a dumbass, when he’s famous for it, so don’t go get your hopes up either.

#supernatural #representation #queerbait #intersectionality #business #corporate #marketing

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lovelylogans · 4 years

Note

:o Please please rant about the 100 and Bellamy!! I was only marginally into it so I don't know much but I love to hear your meta on literally everything!!

all RIGHT. spoilers for the 100 past this point! also i’m gonna go ahead and preface this with a warning about racism, and also that a lot of this is based off stan twitter, but like. they aren’t Wrong.

oh, also, i’m gonna go ahead and drop my stan twitter: i rarely make original posts, but, ya know. it’s a jumble of content. feel free to follow if u want.

also! there’s this whole thread of hiatus drama, if you want a fuller picture than what i’m giving you.

so a quick, general sum-up of some plot that goes into this Whole situation: the sixth season of t100 took place on a different planet, after t100 spent ~5 seasons on earth, so this introduced new characters and also the concept of interplanetary travel. in the season six finale, hope (the daughter of a character, diyoza, who was still pregnant with hope, because ~time travel~) stepped through what’s called “the anomaly,” says “i’m sorry,” and stabs octavia, dissipating her into green mist. bellamy, octavia’s brother (who has had Issues and a Lot of storylines centering around octavia, which is a whole other topic of conversation (ft. bellamy’s storylines centering around white women (bob morley, who plays bellamy, is half-filipino) octavia’s treatment by fandom vs bellamy’s, and you can probably tell which side i’m on by how loudly i screamed “YEEEEEESSSSSSS” when bellamy said “you’re my sister, but you’re not my responsibility anymore” after SIX SEASON of—okay you see, i’m getting off topic)

anyway, the season closer was that octavia went through the anomaly, which (this is important!) a fair amount of the main characters saw (gabriel, hope, echo, and bellamy, namely) bellamy, in that same season closer, was running through the woods alone, yelling for octavia. season ending. good hook!

and then.... nothing.

seriously. the hiatus between season six and season seven of the hundred (the LAST season of the show, EVER!) there was next to no promotional material. no bts pics, no tweets from cast/crew, nada. nothing. which stirred up quite a bit of complaint in the fandom—one, it’s the last season, can we not have some promotion, and two, it’s the last season, and there’s no promotion by cast/crew/the cw, why is this happening?

seriously. the season seven teaser clip that got aired between episodes on the cw was released before the trailer. it became a meme, how long we were waiting for the trailer. like it was... what, 19, 20 days before the season aired, and all we had was like a stitched-together character poster?

there was also some drama throughout the hiatus, ft. the fandom getting on the news for not getting content in the hiatus, jessica harmon (who plays a guest role, nylah, and whose brother plays murphy) getting snappy at fans on twitter for asking for promotion, and isaiah washington, who played thelonious jaha (a character that died in s5) telling a minor (and also going into their dms!) that he’d call the fbi on them, good times, the 100 fandom is a Disaster and i live a nightmare every day

and then. the trailer drops.

which starts “where is bellamy?” like. people. were SEARCHING for bellamy. people were trying to be optimistic, but rapidly people were also coming to, like, the worst conclusions. however as always t100 fandom did have some jokes, so like, ya know

people were looking forward to other promo: the poster, and also, there’s this tradition of countdown bts photos for the show, and since bob and eliza (who plays clarke, the female lead) just got married, people had high hopes!

and then came the poster (which had no bellamy, or characters at all) and then the OFFICIAL poster (which had characters, but still no bellamy) which started the hashtag #whereisbellamyblake, because, seriously, he’s the male lead and it’s the last season. also bonus screengrab of this from jroth (the lead writer’s) mom’s twitter lmao

so people rightfully had questions: the excuse that was being given was that including bellamy would be “spoilery,” except, like, it’s a poster? and the only shot of him in the trailer was him being dragged along the ground despite the fact that he was the thumbnail for the trailer? like, okay, which led to some twitter meltdowns, and some more, and again people were fearing the worst, because like, see lexa, jason has a BAD track record when it comes to fan-favorite ships. people were HEATED, people were RANTING, it was a MESS

also. the edited posters were pretty funny, okay, then bob and eliza, bless them, dropped some a+ twitter content, and things calmed down a bit

and then, countdown days started. usually, the order goes bob on one more day, and eliza on show day. except this year? eliza was one more day. which. people were going nuts. because it was a tradition! and keeping BOB out of a behind the scenes where there weren’t any spoilers? it just seemed unprofessional—especially damning, given jason’s past history with ricky whittle, who played lincoln, and was bullied off the set. people were worried that, one, this was affecting bob’s storyline, and two, well. remember that thing about fan-favorite ships? here’s a whole thread of that, btw. and a video of ricky whittle, here.

it is a genuine fear of a lot of the fandom that jason will, in all his pettiness, not give in to bellarke. which is kind of nutty, given that it’s the core relationship of the show, and he himself had said that he’d been foreshadowing it. bellamy and clarke are literally “the head and the heart” of the show.

oh, yeah. so hard cut to the showday pic.

cast. crew. writers. everyone.

except? no bob.

people lost their gotdamn MINDS.

there’s a lot of subsequent drama; the fact that apparently they’re pushing through clarke/gaia (even though there was ??? no previous evidence of this??) still no bellamy for four episodes (seriously, it took clarke, like, two episodes to even cotton onto the fact that he was missing at all) a lot of criticism of jason (he’s shamed shipping and also, lmao, is trying to push through a spinoff?) and just. Yeah.

i’m really burnt out when it comes to the 100 fandom; i’ve unfollowed a lot of the t100-centric tumblrs i used to follow, once the show is over i’m gonna unfollow a lot of the twitters and just, yeah. i care about bob and eliza, and i care about bellarke, but the fandom wears me out and the unprofessionalism of a lot of what’s gone down has kind of just? made me lose interest? they’re recycling storylines (esp centering around octavia and bellamy) and continuity doesn’t seem to really be a priority. i just... yeah. i mostly care about bellarke and the fact that i bond a lot with one of my real-life friends through this show. if bellarke doesn’t happen, i’m gonna be like Really... disappointed, mad, irritated? like. imagine. it’s literally So Easy. the actors got married, ffs, you’ve gotten in trouble for ending two ships via very tragic death (in the same season, even!) like how is this Not Clicking

anyway that’s my (entirely too long) rant about t100!!!!

#the 100 #the 100 spoilers #not ts #Anonymous #ask

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praphit · 4 years

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Space Jam: Smells like wholesomeness, with a touch of R.Kelly.

I want to talk a lil "Space Jam"

(that's a very awk pic of Michael Jordan. He doesn't look real. Have aliens possessed MJ? Is that the twist in the movie? You'll have to watch to find out)

I've been thinking to myself, "We need a hero right about now." We need a hero who is strong and wholesome. Heroes today are so...

you know?

yeah, you know...

To find the type of hero that we need, we have to go back to the 90's, and what better 90's hero, in our current time of need, than Michael Jordan?

MJ, at the time of "Space Jam", when he wasn't soaring through the air, was walking and dribbling on water. MJ + Looney Tunes = hell yeah!

Lo and behold, we get some bonus nuggets out of "Space Jam" - a lil bit of MJ's origin story.

Everything starts off wholesome enough - with R.Kelly’s. "I Believe I Can Fly".

Yeah, some of you remember now. This movie actually starts and (spoiler alert) ends with R. Kelly.

A young Mike playing basketball in his backyard with his father. He is telling his father of all of the things he'd like to accomplish when he grows up: he wanted to play at North Carolina, play baseball at some point, play in the NBA, dominate Nike, dominate the world, bang supermodels, everything that all kids want.

The young kid hears the climax of R.Kelly's inspirational hit coming, so (with his dad cheering him on) jumps in the air for an epic slam. He's flying and flying and falling and falling and then lands on his head - blood and brain matter spread out everywhere. There is huge panic on the face of daddy. Walking by, at the perfect moment was a homeless kid, who saw the whole thing.

Dad shouts, "Hey, you! Come here!" The kid runs, but daddy had a bike nearby and caught up with the homeless kid. He convinces this homeless child to help him bury his son (no one knows where), and assume the idenity of the previous Mike.

(We're learning so much)

The rest of his family all had bad eye sight, so the plan worked, and a new (OUR) MJ was born!

"SPACE JAM"!

Then, there's a lot of Michael Jordan footage to the soundtrack of this movie, which I remember being excellent! It wasn't just the gospel musings of R. Kelly, but also Coolio, Salt-N-Pepa, Monica, Jay-Z(with more R.Kelly), Biz Markie, Seal, Barry White.... SPACE JAM, y'all!

There's many cameos in this flick. Ray Ramono's wife in that show... "Everybody hates Ray?" or is it "loves Ray"? Idk I don't know her name either, but she's in it.

Bill Murray at the height of his powers is in it.

Btw - most of the LOL moments come from him.

Newman from "Seinfeld".

And a bunch of terrible-acting NBA stars. Barkley and Jordan are ok, but the rest... Good thing that the Looney Tunes are there to compensate.

Danny DeVito is up in there! - playing a degenerate as usual.

He's always playing that type of role isn't he??

But, then again, look at him.

It's not like he was ever going to compete with the Tom Cruise’s of the world.

Sometimes, people, you gotta play the hand that you're dealt, you know?? - work what you look like. Some people look like drug dealers, some look like beach bums, some look like porn stars, but you gotta rock it.

Some say that I look like a weed dealer. Yep! - pastors have told me this. I'm not saying that I'm going to go around selling pot to pastors, but... you know... you gotta do what you gotta do.

DeVito had a plan... a plan that I do not feel like explaning, so here's a montage of sorts; picture this to the inspirational music of R.Kelly (since he appears to be the background music to MJ):

(I don’t remember which song this one is from... oh well)

Recap:

DeVito wanting to enslave the Looney Tunes, but somehow Bugs Bunny convinced him to play a basketball game instead.

Danny, buddy... that's not how super villainy/dictatorship works. If you've got the power to make slaves, and you want to make slaves, you make slaves. You don't accept a challenge of a basketball game for their freedom.

The Looney Tunes struggle, but they have MJ, so we all know what eventually happens.

A few things:

1) Some fat-shaming when it comes to Newman. BUT, that's more a reflection of how "woke" we've become:) And... look at him.

If you show up to a basketball court looking like this, you're asking for trouble. Remember what I said about playing to how you already look.

2) Lola Bunny -

When she is first introduced, all of the Looney Tunes.... REACT

Let’s just say that all of those mofos should be hashtagged! Bugs, at one point, grabs her ass and forces a kiss on her. She likes it though, i guess. They're both horny as well. Isn't that true about all bunnies?? I heard that they're all horny, all of the time. Hmmm...

A lot of Bugs Bunny scenes are starting to make more sense.

That being said, there's a lot of messages of unity and diligence and belief up in here.

Even though they shamed fatty, he was still able to play with them. And after they all got a chance with Lola, she was able to play as well. She was one of the best players!

This movie still holds up! It's funny, entertaining, and a feel-good for any family hiding in their homes from COVID-19.

Grade: A

In watching MJ play ball in this movie, I was reminded of how great he was in general. Go check out some old footage of him. There's something enchanting about watching someone do what they were meant to do on this earth. It's like watching poetry in motion. I remember being sold a car once by a real sleazebag. He was ripping everyone off (probably even me to a degree), but he was so good at lying to people and talkin shit. I had to compartmentlize for a sec, and appreciate that I was in the presence of greatness. This man was (and IS, if no one has murdered him yet) the MJ of sleazy car sales.

We need a lil more of that in our lives at this time, right?? Not the sleaze, but watching poetry like that of Michael Jordan.

I wonder what MJ would do about this current pandemic? Though, the real MJ is rumored to be quite the gambler, and with a lack of sports to bet on, he might be gambling on other things... like if people are infected or not; which is terrible. I could see him having a closet filled with tests, but only for gambling purposes.

So, let's not think about that. Let's stick with 90's "Space Jam" Mike! What would he do? How would he lead us?

Wouldn't it be nice if he could simply challenge COVID-19 to a game of basketball, for our freedom?

I read a headline that said Trump had contacted Arod for advice on COVID-19.

Different sport, but maybe Trump's thinking the same solution. Time will tell.

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p101recaps · 7 years

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Broduce 101: Episode 8 First Half (Quick Livestream Recap)

Since I missed the first half of the livestream, here’s a quick recap off the raw. I’ll link this to the second half recap too.

Before elimination heartbreaks, they’d served some fanservice to numb the pain with a bit from when BoA came to visit before position evals.

She brought them pizza! The boys had a collective breakdown of food appreciation, and we see a brilliantly photoshopped press picture of BoA holding up pizzas like an angel, like Kim Youjin clearly imagines.

Jung Jung, at the brink of tears: WHY IS IT SO DELICIOUS

They’re just happy to be around her, which is fully understandable. She does a little happy dance as they chant for her, and mingles with the trainees (there’s a nice shot of the Amazing Kiss group talking to her) before leaving them to their food.

Sidenote: the cameras always catch Noh Taehyun in the background, and he’s always unintentionally pulling the ugliest faces possible, unaware he’s in the shot.

Cube Chick Yoo Seonho is by far the happiest, putting away as much pizza as he could to compensate for only getting three meals a day at dorms. He’s obviously at that age where you eat everything in sight, it reminds me of my brother.

Cut to eliminations day and shots of tears. Okay, the warm and fuzzies have disappeared.

The trainees all do their entrance into the Ceremony Hall of Crowned Chairs.

Kim Donghan did a move from Shape of You, then a heart and wink combo.

Starship boys did something weird, ofc

Brand New trainees did the point choreo from Twice’s comeback song, Signal. Cute.

My man Ong-ssi transitioned from a very stiff and formal bow to his high note meme face from Get Ugly

FNC Yoo Hwiseung did his lip-swipe

Cube chicks, whose backstage hwaiting needed to be redone three times for them to be in sync, did the Shugo Chara frame.

Pledis’ Nu’est boys did hearts and more Twice references.

Hashtag that Twice relevancy

Bae Jinyoung did the ear flapping move too

So did Maroo Park Jihoon. I suddenly miss Kwon Hyeob, seeing him up there alone.

ONO Moonbok, who looked ridiculously pretty btw - I hope they stick to styling him like this, did something that looked like Red Velvet’s Rookie or Lovelyz’s WoW, and held up his lovely hair in two pigtails. Adorable. The trainees were KO’d

Star Empire Takada Kenta looks more like a puppy than ever.

The Yuehua kids shot hearts and Ahn Hyungseob acted like he got hit by one

S.How trainees used their minimal screentime references - Namhyung did his finger to the lip with elevated pinky detail that had impressed Lee Seokhoon, while Dongsu did the plucking from the air bit from the Amazing Kiss stage.

MMO trainees, extra as always, integrated Auntie Jisung’s clapping move with Twice’s Signal.

Baby maknae Lee Woojin did his meme face and finger heart from the Be Mine stage. A worldwide cutie.

C2K Kim Seonglee did finger hearts with the Very Very Very head bobbing

YGK+ Kwon Hyunbin tried a headstand before just rolling over like a cat in a blanket

Real Performers Ardor and Able Noh Taehyun and Ha Sungwoon did a finger point choreo before moonwalking off the stage in sync

RBW puppies referenced fallen trainee Dongmyung by doing his warm up flapping dance and hearts.

Protect Them.

Tension building and then cut to concept evaluation song distributions.

They keep playing up the fact that Jihoon dropped ranks...are they egging the fangirls to have a flatout fight?

This way of arranging missions, with distributing trainees into teams and then shuffling after half of them leave is stupid and could be avoided if they split up the mission footage better. The show could fully have filler episodes between missions at this level of popularity so the vote timing and mission preparation could be allocated efficiently.

Imagine working at a song and then having to start over a few days later. It’s ridiculous.

Songs are introduced by their producers. The viewers have been voting to match the songs to their favourite trainees for this mission.

I’d said earlier that the idea was just going to incite some kind of fuckery, with fans not used to this amount of legitimate power. Sure enough, there was cheating involved so Kang Daniel, Lee Kiwon and Kim Dongbin were banned from their leaked song preferences.

Honestly, the cat emoji morse code was great. It’s one of my top controversies this season.

First up is my personal favourite of the song concepts, I Know You Know, produced by heavyweight producer Joombas (who is famously responsible for Exo’s Growl, SHINee’s Dream Girl and also apparently worked with HOTSHOT). I’m all about the funky R&Bish vibe: not the kind of song that tops charts, but probably stays there a while. Watch this song be ignored though lol

Second is Oh Little Girl, a name even the producer draws quote marks around. This is the song for the hip-hop concept, and has a jazzy easy listening feel.

Next is Showtime, coming from a trio of newer or less popular producers. This seems catchy, but it sounds very familiar - not a song I’d remember. The choreo looks fun though, and they reference Dongmyung’s warm up! The trainees love it, cracking up as they mimic the move.

Fourth are another famous producer group, Devine Channel, who I believe do a lot of SM’s songs. They’ve also done a lot of very trendy title songs, including BTS’ Fire and VIXX’s The Closer. I think the English title for this song is Open? Correct me if I’m wrong. It sounds great, oddly like something I might have heard from Nu’est. I’m looking forward to this too, the choreo looks great.

Fifth song is from the producers that get the most hype, Hyuna’s new charity project from Cube, Triple H’s Never. Auntie Jisung decides he wants the song because Hyuna is involved, which, honestly, same. The EDM structure also feels overdone but I have a sneaking suspicion this is going to be the song that gets maximum hype since there’s no ballad.

Trainees get allocated their songs in envelopes and have to go to wait in separate practice spaces for the rest of their team.

Jaehwan doesn’t want to be in same team as Hyunbin, which I understand, considering that he’s had to carry him twice already. Like the other trainees, he wants to work with GodJonghyun.

Pretty boys Bae Jinyoung, Park Jihoon and Ahn Hyungseob get sorted together. Maybe their fans have been working in sync. They also get excited puppy Gunhee, which means their vocals will be taken care of.

Once the trainees all gather, their songs are revealed. Byun Hyunmin decides to rip the sticker for his room and accidentally pulls off the whole thing.

Byun Hyunmin: :O

Noh Taehyun: Everyone, we’re not singing.

Hyunmin retries.

All the trainees: cAREFULLY

The group gets Showtime, which was Samuel’s pick. He’s ecstatic.

Minhyun’s room has their sticker peel by Emperor Hwang to reveal Never, which pleases most of them.

Park Jihoon’s room has a breakdown before Dongbin peels the sticker to show Oh Little Girl, a song I can see Sewoon do well in. The Yuehua trainees are all in this team too.

Moonbok has a braid in his lovely hair this segment, it looks fire emoji.

Hyunbin’s room has I Know You Know. Taedong, who has a lower range than the song needs, is nervous.

Baekho’s group gets Open, which most of the trainees are excited about. Seunglee in particular is relieved, since it was one of his picks.

We go into centre struggles for the killing part.

Oh Little Girl has Jihoon battling Euiwoong and Minki. They all demonstrate, and vote Jihoon and Minki as their preferred centres.

Euiwoong is getting worried. He’s one of the only initial popular trainees that seems to be dropping down ranks every week. Kahi gives him a much needed confidence boost at dance check in, and Don Mills praises him at vocal check in too.

Product placement break.

Open team wants a dance focus trainee as leader because of the high level choreo and elect Daniel, who now probably understands what he needs to do to lead his group after faltering last mission.

But the team has so many people that they split into two halves while leaning choreo and one team falls behind since Daniel doesn’t split his attention between the two initially

Kahi calls them out on the distinction, with one group lagging while the first one does great. The second half, which has Park Sungwoo, who we know needs a lot of focused help, starts to catch up after the whole team gets scolded.

There are so many trainees in this team that won’t survive eliminations, oh god.

Kim Seunglee, you deserve better.

Showtime group has a lot of strong singers. Woodam wants to be main vocal, and Yoo Hwiseung needs that vocal hype boost since his rank is risky too.

Auntie Jisung: I want to try to do it too.

They start talking about the need for facial expressions and singing, Samuel wants to lowkey be centre. They need to have impact to bring the concept across, they decide.

Auntie Jisung: I still want to try though!

They ask the trainees to sing and do some face expression to pick centre and main vocal. Jisung and Samuel share centre while Woodam and Hwiseung share main vocal.

Coach Shin Yumi likes Hwiseung’s control over the notes better. He’s a lot more stable than Woodam, maybe because his natural tone is stronger?

Yoo Hwiseung gets some screentime for the first time.

Far out, Mnet. You really annoy me.

Never team has Ha Sungwoon being worried about being in a team with high ranking trainees, most of who want to be centre.

They all battle with facial expressions but the trainees vote for Guanlin and Minhyun as centre.

At dance check in with Dabbing Ajusshi Kwon Jaesung, however, Sungwoon is the first one to volunteer to dance.

He gets some well deserved praise for it, which honestly, the kid needs. Being in a group of trainees that are all popular is awful enough, but he’s a true all rounder. Without enough screentime or helpful editing, he’s been fading despite being good looking and a consistent performer.

More product placement.

I Know You Know team has the underdog feel straight up, with the lower ranking trainees. I called the song as not being the kind to be popular.

Appealing time for the centre spot. RBW Hwanwoong stands out. Ah, my heart. Donghan and Hwanwoong get centre.

Dance check in with Kahi has her appreciating their hard work. Hyunbin’s dancing seems to have improved, I guess being cyber bullied has that effect on you. She also thinks Hwanwoong is a good centre choice, which is some well deserved praise.

Tears and mournful instrumentals are abound as the low ranking trainees recount their experience before for upcoming eliminations. We get flashbacks for some of them, which should prepare you for what’s coming.

We all know where this is heading. The rest of the recap can be found here.

#p101 #p101 recaps #p101s2 #p101 spoilers #p101se2 spoilers #produce 101 season 2 #produce 101 #produce 101 recaps #broduce 101 #broduce 101 recaps #broduce 101 spoilers #livestream recap

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