Scrolling Instagram is always a mistake, but I’ve been seeing a lot of focus on tropes lately. Writers selling their stories using a bulleted list instead of, like, snippets or summaries, people who only consume media with certain themes while never bothering to branch out, stuff like that. I don’t have particularly strong feelings on tropes, but I do feel that reducing a piece of media to neat little boxes is kind of limiting.

It’s like looking at the foundation of a house. You can build something on that? Cool. But you haven’t. It’s not a house. It’s a slab of stone. One with potential, yes, but a slab nonetheless. I don’t care if it’s “friends to enemies, morally gray” if you CANNOT give me any characterization or depth outside of that.

You need to build on these things. A trope is a foundation. It is the base. YOU build from there. YOU put in the legwork to create. Use other tropes as the supports and cornerstones, but flesh out the walls yourself. Give me something that is hand crafted and made with earnest, even if it’s a shack.

“Ahh this work is shallow and falling apart!” In your attempt to remodel the house (you forcibly put things in boxes), you removed a load-bearing wall (erased important nuance), and now the structure is sagging (it’s narratively weak and cannot hold its own).

Maybe I’m being dramatic. If that’s the case, feel free to call me a goober and a loser and a fun-void. I don’t think I’m (entirely) wrong tho. Who knows.

I unfortunately was not able to take a picture, so forgive me if this doesn't count as a valid submission, but I saw one of those wooden analog clocks with a small slot for a picture at each hour, and all of the pictures were the same one of Jack black in a bowser costume at my local thrift shop about a year ago.

I made one like that but with Gary Busey.

@evilscuderia you were so right for this one

Here's a completely random ask for you: what holiday (halloween, valentine's day, national ice cream day, etc.) would each member of the Gaang feel unreasonably strongly about? Can be positive or negative feelings.

oh this is a good question! (i hate so many american commercial holidays so this is a great avenue for me to project my frustrations with us capitalism onto these little guys. and to be clear im just doing us holidays bc otherwise there would simply be too many options and i’d be stuck here forever)

aang: he’s not enough of a hater to dislike any holidays. he’s a big fan of april fool’s day, valentine’s day, and halloween, because he appreciates fun and joy and love and merriment duh

katara: every thanksgiving she goes on an impassioned rant about the historical revisionism of the us empire deployed as a propaganda tool as it continues its genocidal imperialist project and the absolutely sick and twisted audacity of americans to celebrate a known lie in a mockery of the atrocities committed from the past into the present (this one may or may not just have been me, yesterday). every november-december she goes on an impassioned rant about the commercialism of christmas, and how it’s largely a fake holiday devised by capitalists to glorify the sanctity of the nuclear family, and how the supposed “secularization” of christmas is in fact a product of christian hegemony, it’s propaganda and you’re all falling for it because you crave hollow comforts in your cold and dismal life, and instead of attempting to look beyond the scraps you are given under capitalism you all just force yourselves to enjoy a facade of happiness and nostalgia because you refuse to admit that you’re fundamentally uncomfortable in your society!!!!!!!! (this is what i think but wisely refrain from saying because it’s not worth it. katara, however...) also she likes valentine’s day sometimes (depending on whether or not she has a boyfriend). she also has a lot to say on columbus day and the fourth of july of course, but this bullet point is already far too long.

sokka: his favorite holiday is pi day. he does not care for any other us holiday (but he has been known to enjoy a halloween here and there), but he specifically hates april fools because aang insists on pranking him every time, for some godforsaken reason. (he’s just so prankable!)

toph: her least favorite holiday is valentine’s day because it promotes m*rriage, one of her most hated institutions (it’s a long list). her favorite day is taco tuesday

zuko: he insists on celebrating shakespeare’s birth/deathday as if it is a real holiday that anyone actually cares about. and he gets offended when no one else cares. his least favorite holiday is the fourth of july, but not for any political reasons, it just has really bad vibes.

suki: she loves halloween because it has everything you could ever ask for in a single day: dressing in elaborate costume, eating so much candy, and getting really drunk. she’s also one of those people who gets really obnoxious on 4/20, at which point mai is like “you know it’s hitler’s birthday, right?” and immediately kills the vibe. just because she can :)

mai: she has a love/hate relationship with halloween, because theoretically it’s a celebration of the gothic, the liminal, the macabre, the ghostly. but in practice it’s just an excuse for everyone around her to get wasted. she hates christmas more though. santa freaks her out and cloying, forced cheer and merriment is unnerving and infuriating, actually.

ty lee: she dreads valentine’s day every year because she simply has too many suitors and it is very stressful. she likes april fool’s day because it gives her the opportunity to exercise her more devious inclinations. she can prank people so well they don’t even know they’re being pranked; on april first the world is her playground.

azula: she has no real opinion on any specific holidays. they’re petty distractions for mindless drones who require a modicum of frivolity here and there to spice up their otherwise dull, worthless lives. however, she quite likes tax day.

so uh... vilesonas/team redsonas, huh

i couldnt resist the urge, i had to make a carmen sandiego oc 💔 anyway meet tabitha prey shes an ex-vile operative who used to date carmen's mom (with dexter's prior consent, ofc, we don't do cheating here). lore coming soon :]

What Taylor Swift song should prev listen to?

prev also not to mention there was NO broken man speech !!!!! no elder brother to guide her decision..!! no one telling her what happens to the knights who just mindlessly follows their vows. she doesn’t get the other perspective to jaime’s so many vows confession. like the no chance and no choice hits so hard for ME bc she gets two perspectives on what being a knight entails, and what following your vows could mean to you, and do to you as a person, and the fact that she’s seen both sides and actively choose to follow the vow of a True Knight and protect a bunch of orphans from a fight she knows she can’t win makes the whole scene hits more.

you know prev tags don't work anymore, right?

maybe for you me n the xkit homies are currently chillin

I'll be honest the whole argument about it being imperative that the gang never "wins" is still so fucking stupid to me. did you watch 3x01 with your eyes closed. dennis has "won" before, and it ruled, actually. why do we need broad ass arguments like this trying to pin down sunny when there's like. countless examples to the contrary to show it's been like this the whole time.

he’s performing a gay ass magic act

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advice on running curse of strahd that no one asked for. my credentials are having ran it, it becoming the thing my group compares all other campaigns against, and ravenloft being one of my spins.

1st pc that dies should be offered a dark gift resurrection, especially if if it happens early on. the horror of barovia's soul bubble is important and should communicated to your heroes early as part of motivation. nobody wants to be caught in the soul blender. it also gives great character/backstory opportunity

rig the cards lightly. they aren't equal and you should not have them drag along an 8 year old just because thats the card they got.

don't hesitate to introduce ez early. also ignore the bit abt rvr sparing her parents and let her be his fucked up adoptee. or straight up give her arturi's backstory/make her arturi. as written contradicts his backstory and vrgtr and general radanovich lore anyways.

steal from reddit; a lot of people have shared their really fun and creative ideas. use them.

ignore reddit; a lot of people have really stupid ideas

don't ignore the flavorful random little scary illusions. it really fucks with the players. (also i recommend ismark for argynvostholt)

oh my god change the good ending scene. so many dms express difficulty with ireena and getting players to care about her and it's because the campaign pulls this shit. she is someone who is faced with so many forces and people trying to define who she is and what her destiny should be and so her motivation, her arc, should be one of seizing agency. she doesn't need to be cruel, but give her the chance to live her own life. what's a couple more decades?

be a little silly. the scariness will run out if everything is always at 11. have strahd's organ music be a cover of like megalovania. let npcs be bitchy and stupid and ridiculous. insert jokes. trust me

session 0 wise, every pc should have a connection to barovia. they have lost loved ones who were taken by the mists or were given a "beware of crimson peak" moment or had an encounter with a werewolf. give something to gain/lose on this adventure

strahd is an understimulated large predator and the pcs are new enrichment in his enclosure. he will play with them in the most fucked up and often surprising ways because he is so goddamn bored.

KAIROOOO HIIIIII!!!!! I'M HERE TO YELL SOME MORE<333 WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE SCARY MOVIE HEHEHHE no fr thoughh what's your favourite scream movie what's your favourite horror movie?????? i NEEED to know aalso what are you feelings towards blood🤔🤔🤔 totally normal question btw (i'm a blood lover myself hehehe) anyway MWAHHH i hope you're having a sexy day/night

- @softgirlgonehaywire

OMG HI MICKEY HI BESTIE :3 OMFMDMFMD I HAVE SOOOOO MANY MOVIES I LOVE (of the horror genre) it’s so funny though bc none of the movies are actually that scary so if you have any ACTUAL scary movies pleek lmk legend <3

AND OMG OKAY SOME FAVS……… i have such a soft spot for freddy vs jason ok i love jason voorhees so much that’s the bestie 4 life actually <3 i also love scream (obviously) and methinks the first is the best one bc omfg…….. friend when i first saw billy loomis i was like oh……. OHHHHHHH 👀🫦 hmmmm i’ve watched so many horrors but not all of them are good/have scared me unfortunately 😭 i liked “US”! “it” was also good it wasn’t scary i just loved the kids so much they were hilarious <3 i’ve watched babadook & the annabelle series in theaters w my friends and they were so funnyfnfnnffn omg someone needs to make an actual scary movie soon fr like can we PLEASEEEEEEE get some scary films 😭

AND BLOOD I LOOOOOOOOOVE BLOOD <333 i am also a blood lover methinks we should see more of it in film <3 also think that we should get more poetic cannibalism in film but that’s just me though <3 need a heian era sukuna film where it’s just a horror movie of all his misdeeds i would Simply Give It 5 Stars <333 WBU BESTIE WHAT ARE YOUR FAVS/YOUR THOUGHTS PLEEK LMK HEHE

tbh there comes a point in the tumblr culture where it is just so incredibly embarrassing for everyone involved when u guys say you’ve never heard of [piece of famous, influential etc media] on those tournament/have you heard of blogs. like you people truly are so unbelievably uncultured and never seek out new information. there is a reason things are popular and i do genuinely think everyone should watch old famous movies even if u think it’s pretentious or whatever. like this media is so foundational for what came after so how can you like [whatever modern media] without appreciating the og? and also its sooo embarrassing reading through the have you seen this movie blog and it’s just a sea of only 00s cartoons. live a little. grow up. are you not ashamed tbh? it’s not cute to not know these things imo

"Listen, I'm a feminist but [insert something about romance]"

No one cares. For FUCKS sake, no one cares. Let him save you, let him pay the check, let him buy you flowers, WHO CARES.

The only reason you believe you can't do those things as a feminist is because you were taught feminism wrong. Feminism is about equality and loving yourself and not judging people for harmless things. You can wear long skirts and bows in your hair and be a feminist. You can wear tank tops and crocs and be a feminist. You can wear suit pants and a button up and be a damn feminist. You can be a florist and be a feminist. You can be a scare actor and be a feminist. You can be a weightlifter and be a feminist. You can be a feminist and not pay the check. You can be a feminist and sleep around.

For fucks sake, feminism is about empowering EVERYONE, so believing that you can't do certain things "as a feminist" is so backwards.

GUYS ASJHGDHJKASJDK LOOK C COLORED ONE OF MY DUMB DOODLES FROM TWITTER AGAIN WHERE I FORCED DANTE TO HAVE A SHOWER I LOVE THIS SO MUCH

(again, the line art is done by me while C colored over my art!)

what about thrawn? / The George Lucas Talk Show with James Austin Johnson, X Mayo, and Zac Cherry