Casual reminder to all of you Naruto 'fans', Naruto never hated Sakura and never would.

Body-swap theory!!

okay, just putting this all together for ease of access, since it's been spread out across several posts now--

The day after it aired I watched the ending like actually 30 times and I became fully 99.999999% certain they switched places. I was initially thinking during the kiss, cuz of how the camera angle changes, but after watching an additional 20 times a few days later, I'm personally leaning much more towards them stopping time in the instance after "no nightingales".

Before the kiss, Aziraphale is saying "nice" things about the Metatron, but his face and voice keep switching to broadcasting distress, and they make it a point to show in ep 1 that Crowley can read him just from tone of voice

As they're pulling away after the kiss, they lock eyes and "Aziraphale's" expression shifts in the teeniest tiniest way, like a confirmation glance, before they shift back (and Michael Sheen is a master, so no chance it's not on purpose)

---(Like really, go back and watch how Aziraphale's expression shifts literally *a second* before "I forgive you" cuz the change is SO minute, but entirely different emotionally.)

Also the way he moves his jaw right after he pulls his hand away from his lips, is a bit from MS's Crowley (you can see it in the very last two seconds of this vid- link)

Aziraphale's hands -stay by his sides- after that, he doesn't clasp them at all, and it's particularly noticeable while he's walking to the elevator with Metatron. The way he walks is very stiff and precise, similar to after the swap in S1.

We don't see the underside of Crowley's jacket collar after the kiss, at any point (it is for sure red at the beginning of the ep, you can see it right before he changes in Heaven)

The Bentley drives away SLOWLY, which is how Aziraphale drives, and we're specifically shown that it only plays other music for Aziraphale

the seats in the Bentley are black as it drives away. They're usually brown, and the only other time they're shown to be black is when Aziraphale drives (@picturesque-about-it broke down the times so you can see-link)

---extra pic for anyone saying it's "cuz Aziraphale is lighter"-- the seats are still brown behind Crowley when he wears white

there's people wearing yellow in -every- part of the scene showing the Bentley both before and while it drives away! (link for pics/credit)

Aziraphale's smile in the elevator looks more like MS's Crowley. It's very similar to the trial during S1, but also (link)

This also explains why they're on opposite sides than they're usually shown while the end credits roll

Extra points--

many good points made by other folks here, about cues and snakes in beehives and swap motifs throughout the season-- link

The clock! Someone mentioned how the scene is so quiet you can hear it ticking, so I watched the ending a further 50 times to double check----I need to preface this by stating, I don't think this is a working clock, mainly cuz the hands aren't 100% where they should be between the minutes and the hours, like -a person- moved them to that time manually

When they're talking, the clock is at approximately 9:25 (?, again the hour hand isn't precisely set), then they walk across the room, and kiss, and immediately after that the clock is set about 15-ish minutes later (link to timestamps)

thanks to these bts shots, we can see that the clock on the opposite side of the room registers the SAME time difference before and after the kiss (link)

the first time Aziraphale looks "towards the window", I'm petty sure he actually looks further back towards the clock, *focuses on it* as Metatron walks up to him, and then spends the ENTIRE REST OF THE EXCHANGE blocking the Metatron's view of the clock

we're shown earlier in the season that Crowley can localize his time-stopping to a certain extent, like when he stopped the doctor and the rest of the room kept going, so it is possible he only stopped everything -outside- of the bookshop

---I KNOW Neil said it's a continuity error, but he also fully said "No" about there being a season 2 just days before they announced it was already written and in production, so. Take him at his word if that's what you wanna do.

---also I DID go back and look it over, and the clock IS consistently specifically set the entire rest of the episode as far as I can see. From the shots when you have a clear view of the clock, the angels and demons enter the shop at around 6, Maggie and Nina leave at around 7, the Metatron comes in at 8-ish, Aziraphale comes back in at that approximately 9:25

(insight from someone who works in production- link)

the music right before the kiss scene is the same leitmotif (Life After Death) used when they originally started formulating the swap in season 1! (link)

the movie Stairway to Heaven (1946) is featured as a poster in both the opening credits and in Maggie's shop (link)

the climax of the film has one of the leads willing to "take the place" of the other in heaven

(they also used a time-stopping mechanic, and the chess book Gabriel tests gravity with also plays a key role in the film)

and one last mention, extra food for thought--- the season's focus on their trusting one another, their history of performing "death (and heaven/hell) defying" feats together, and how they always get the trick right when it truly counts the most

that's what I've got so far!

If I'm right, they're apart now, but are actually more together then ever, and I find that terribly exciting. (And if I'm wrong, that's okay too! I'm just here to have fun.)

I'm not particularly concerned with very specific reasoning (that's for season 3 to tell us!), but I do think this theory is extra fun cuz pretty much any of the others could be the "why" driving it.

I'm not trying to convince anyone, or put down any of the other theories, so if you're not feeling it, that's okay! I'm just sharing what clues I'm seeing, so you can check if you see them too. 💕

Saw your Neil Gaiman post and as someone that found comfort in Good Omens (and got hyperfixated on it), I'm finally glad that some people are finally talking about how he isn't that great.

Even as a Fan, GOmens fandom is so...weird. See, in other fandoms people won't give much of a flying f/ck about the authors besides some mild respect or praise, but GOmens praise Neil SO HARD, despite giving off some iffy vibes (that now I understand why, after that big post) Never liked how almost every single POC character in GO has such a minimal role, same with women characters, the fact he's been caught (and that can be easily checked) lying about his ideas surrounding GOmens, the way he went from "Is not a romance, but it can be if you want to" -> "i always wrote it as a love story" also how he went from "There won't be another season because of Terry and because the ideas for the next book were incorporated in the show" -> "It was in 2019 when I finished writing S2 with the ideas I discussed with Terry before he died" and like seriously no one never noticed how much of a clown he his lying and backpedalling all over again again? Then there's how bad rep for fat people Sandman was and instead of accepting criticism he just keeps giving some "vague intelligent answer" and sits and waits for his legion of fans with a parasocial relationship to defend him. But somehow he's treated as a world treasure and a genius with a big brain. And this is less problematic and more petty but I'll be honest. He isn't that much of a good writer anyway? The prose is okay is good, but the worldbuilding and lore and characters is mostly edgy and lacks deepness. His fans seriously want to make a sea out of muddle puddles,,, and that's fair! Is such a big part of fan culture to dig into the smallests of things and make an universe out of a cardbox background character, but please, don't give Neil the credit that he doesn't deserve. And what proves more to me that he isn't that good of a writer, is just...take a look at that mess of a S2 of Good Omens, it was so bad that some people had to THEORIZE that it was bad on purpose. I have such a beef with S2, characters like Muriel, Saraqael and Michael and Maggie and Nina were so heavily promoted and of course everyone was hyped, finally more POC, more disabled characters, and yay, women! And they're lesbians! And and...and hold on, how it is that Muriel didn't do that much at all? How it is that Saraqael after being so hyped BARELY had almost nothing to do, is really that all the disabled rep we got? How is it that Michael and Uriel barely had anything to do and were just background characters again? It just angers me with how with so many fem-presenting characters, and POC and disabled persons cast, they literally add nothing to the series, AND NO ONE EVER TALKS ABOUT IT. Is just this endless praise for Neil and his oh big brain. All praise Neil Gaiman, our lord and saviour of queer people. HOW IT IS, THAT THE TWO LESBIANS HYPED ROMANCE WAS ALL RELATED TO AZIRAPHALE MEDDLING WITH THEM TRYING TO SHIP THEM? And it also was bad, very badly done, is really this the women representation we got, seriously??? Talking about misleading advertising.

S2 was such such a mess, it just shows how much Good Omens needed Terry to be, well, Good Omens. I really suspect Neil stole ideas from the fandom because S2 was just a trainwreck of all the fanfic tropes you could find in GO fandom and is almost disrespectful to Terry's work in Good Omens, and I don't care for how much Neil makes his friendship with Terry as a pity party and as a "it gives me so much joy, Terry would be so happy", because seriously it's almost manipulative. Talking about Manipulative. His meddling with fandom is starting to feel unprofessional, but this ask is already long... Sorry lmao, something on me snapped after getting finally the solid evidence that Neil .Is. Not. Great

Oh he’s always been completely unprofessional but since he types in a mixture of corporate-speak and “cool dad” talk his fanbase doesn’t notice.

Here’s the thing about Neil, he’s both petty and extremely insincere. People criticized lolicon sin his presence and he was so offended on the behalf of weirdos who pleasure themselves to Hentai depicting child molestation that he wrote a several paragraph long response dismissing simulated child pornography as simply being “icky speech” that should be protected by the sacred American constitution despite, you know, the fact he’s not even American so his weird obsession with the first amendment and only ever really bringing it up to defend simulated child porn is and always has been suspicious.

As for his backpedalling, the man sees $$$$ and just goes for anything he can find to make more. People love to say “oh but he donates tens of thousands to charity!” yeah, usually to HIS charity for bailing out pedophiles. With funds typically out of the wallets of his fans due to fundraising it rather than coming out of his own checkbook so it’s not exactly a charitable action as much as it’s an empty gesture. And frankly he almost certainly just does it for tax benefits if we’re going to be honest here. He continued good omens because it would make money and generate more attention towards him and he’d be the brave hero who brought back show that did well. That’s it.

He’s just discount, off-brand Elon. Rich white man who thinks he’s gods gift to man despite bumbling through even the most basic concepts because his fans would walk into traffic blindfolded to defend him from even the mildest of criticism.

People on here just like him because they’re starstruck that a creator of a popular IP is active on this site and because he produces media that’s adapted with white middle aged twinks who are dubiously romantically affiliated.

Was talking on the twits about how "not mine" isn't a source, and how you shouldn't be posting other people's art in general but definitely shouldn't be posting other people's art without at least linking back to them, and thinking about the most egregious example of this that I have personally experienced. I haven't really talked about it to anyone because it seems almost petty compared to the rest of the related situation, but bothers me more every time I think about it.

I think most of the people who know me are aware of my old in-character askblog, @askvincentvalentine; I'm redrawing all entries to eventually release as a solo anthology, but I have a lot of anxiety about it and it's going very slow. I think this hesitation (I might even call it apprehension) is in large part connected to this unspoken experience, and maybe finally talking about it will help.

A month or two before we broke up, I found out that my abusive ex had reposted every Ask Vincent Valentine entry to his personal Facebook, starting years before we really met, never linking back to Vincent's blog or to mine. He'd reposted a lot of my art, actually, and treated this like a totally normal thing, saying it wasn't a big deal since we didn't know each other at the time.

Looking back, it's a little...creepy. We met properly in 2020, but I remember him showing me a screenshot of a post he'd made in like 2015 where he reposted a piece of mine drawn in 2005, posted on my original dA account, under a different handle that is pretty much completely unconnected to my current online identity. I'm not saying he was stalking me for years or anything (I'd seen his fanfiction on AO3 for ages so it's not like we were unaware of each other's existence), but it still feels really fucking weird.

On top of that, by reposting it to that particular platform, he allowed my work to eventually be scraped to train multiple gen/A/I models without my consent. As if he didn't mistreat me enough during our relationship, he'd apparently been taking advantage of my work for years before that.

The more I think about it, the more it bothers me. Like...what the fuck, honestly. I don't have any other way to quantify it other than "what the fuck."

Just...why would he do that? And he didn't tell me about it until years into us knowing each other. When I said (as gently as possible) that I didn't like it, he said that he couldn't ask me back then because he didn't know me, so it was okay—and it would have been okay by now anyway, since we were in a relationship, so it wasn't like I was gonna tell him to take the posts down.

I don't know. It's bothering me a lot recently. Reposting other people's art without even trying to credit is bad enough, but this just feels like some next-level bullshit.

I've spent a few days thinking about what to do moving forward. It's not the breakup of a celebrity couple that's affected me the most, it's the feeling of losing my safe space in the Tumblr Swiftie fandom. Every time I've logged onto this app in the last few days I've flinched and quickly exited the dash to get away from yet another take mocking and ridiculing Joe. Or minimizing his very valid fears. "Unbothered 3.0". Rewriting history to make the last 6 years seem insignificant. Comparing him to CH as if petty jealousy is the issue here and not years of harassment. Celebrating the return of Taylor Swift, The Brand, no matter what that means for her future happiness. And circulating pressers that make it sound like Joe was a therapy dog who's no longer needed. All of which is making me feel physically ill. For both of them. And even when this stuff isn't coming from the people I follow (who for the most part have nuanced and fair takes), it's coming from their anons. And no matter what I do I can't get away from the outright cruelty and shocking lack of empathy for the person Taylor has credited with saving her life. Even though swifties know better than anyone what Joe has had to put up with for over half a decade. Given that treatment, I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that this is how he's being discarded. But fuck it hurts. So where does this leave me? This blog was never supposed to be an update account or an ask blog. I just wanted a space to fangirl over my favorite actor. But in the last few months this has become a space for Joe fans to be excited for his upcoming projects and clown over castings (remember a few weeks ago when we were giddily figuring out his next movie because of insta follows? yeah, take me back to that please). And I know some of you rely on this blog as a space to both appreciate Joe and vent your frustrations with his unfair treatment. I have 70+ asks in my inbox right now, the vast majority of which are well written, thoughtful takes on what's been happening. And I agree with pretty much all of it. Thank you for taking the time to send me your thoughts. But the truth is, I simply don't have the emotional capacity to reply to them right now. I can't do it. I can't talk and think and dwell on this. To quote a song that's too painful to listen to right now: "I'm just too soft for all of it." So I feel like I have two options if I ever want to be able to be active on Tumblr again: 1. Unfollow all swifties. Because just seeing pictures of Taylor (especially from the pap walk) makes me feel ill. And it's affecting my opinion of her even though I'm mad at her fans, and not her. And I don't want that to happen or the music to be tarnished. But I also don't want to break mutuals and hurt someone's feelings. And I want to know what's going on with Taylor. I'm a huge fan of her too, and I want to be excited for tour and the re-recordings. So that's why I'm going with option 2: Take a proper break. A real one, this time. Hopefully this all won't feel so hard with some time and distance. I don't know if it will solve anything, because swifties will get back to talking about Joe in the future (whenever she makes art about this) and then I'll probably have to flinch every time I open this app again. Because he will have been reduced to yet another ex swifties can make fun of. So maybe I have to go with both options in the end. If I do, I hope any mutuals out there know not to take it personally. I wish more than anything that I could return to the days of being a casual fan who wouldn't have thought twice about any of this. And maybe that's what I need to try to get back to. For my own sanity's sake. I'm sorry to any Joe fans out there who need a place to vent. I feel like I'm letting you down, but I just can't do this right now. Maybe I'll be able to in the future. Maybe I'll leave this blog and go back to my main instead where the subjects will be more varied. I don't know. I'll always be a Joe fan though, and no shitty presser or swiftie narrative is going to change that.

Please just be kind to each other, and to Taylor and Joe. Let's hope the best for both of them, and please please please don't tarnish all the good that this relationship gave them. And all the beautiful music it gave us.

All my love

Shameless

Pairings: Crosshair x Reader

Warnings: slight angst, swearing, implied sexuality

There's just inches in between us, I want you to give in, I want you to give in

There is tension in between us, I just want to give in

"That's not the way the galaxy works." It's snarled at you like a curse and it lands like a slap to the face.

Your eyes sting and your face is hot and when you turn to look at him, you can feel the bitterness and the rage burning down your brain stem, eating you up from the inside out. "I know," you snap, but he doesn't falter. He doesn't back away. He just stands there and watches you like you're some pathetic animal he ought to put out of its misery. Maybe he should. Perhaps that would be kinder.

"Then stop your sniveling."

Something buried deep within the cavity of your chest breaks and you go careening into him, teeth bared. "Shut the fuck up." You're grabbing him by the collar of his armor and shoving him into the nearest sturdy surface, peering up into his eyes in all your simmering fury. "If you'd been through half the shit I have, maybe you'd understand. But that still doesn't give you the right to be such a fucking asshole."

Crosshair smirks. The end of his toothpick twitches. "What's the matter? You can dish it, but you can't take it?"

You don't need this. You need time and space to yourself so you can simmer down and work through these feelings before they eat you alive, you need something to drink before you get dehydrated, you need a friend, but what you don't need is whatever the hell this is. So you slam him further into the wall, just to take the edge off, and turn to leave.

His hand hooks around your elbow and suddenly you're stumbling blind, tripping over his boots and almost falling. No. No. Your vision goes spotty for a moment when you lash out and swing your free arm at him. He ducks, but your fingernails catch him in the ear and it feels good when he snarls back at you.

"The galaxy isn't fair," he grunts as he pins you against the wall with his forearm at your throat. "It's sad you think it ever was."

"Not my fault you're a petty bitch and terminally miserable."

That manages to prompt a more genuine smile, but it's not the response you wanted. You want him to hurt like you do right now. You want to see him hissing and writhing in pain because his heart got stomped on and there's nothing he can do to fix it. Instead he's kriffing laughing at you, the bastard.

His breath rustles your hair as he leans in. "Only around you."

He's too close. Everything in this room is too damn close. Your skin is too tight on your body and your clothes feel like sensory hell and your anger is bursting out every pore, but this dumpster fire of a man just keeps smirking at you with that too-humored twinkle in his eye that makes you want to punch his lights out.

"Get off me."

He inches closer.

"Crosshair," you murmur and it's a warning, quiet and deadly like the beginning of a thunderstorm as it rolls in over the horizon.

"Or what?" He plucks his toothpick from between his teeth and pokes you on the tip of your nose. "You're all talk, little tooka."

It's like all the fury and frustration burning up inside your lungs explodes. You can feel it raining down around you when your knee comes screaming up into his groin, when Crosshair topples over and you pounce on him, bring him down with you until you're both rolling together like wild things in a jungle. You land on top. Your legs are stretched over the width of his hips, he's pushing and scratching and snarling, and you're hovering over him with trembling arms trying to hold him down, but he's much stronger than you ever gave him credit for. You may be on top, but he's the one with the upper hand. And he proves it by pinning your wrists together and trapping them under his elbows. It brings your face so close to his that you can practically taste him when you breathe.

"Fuck you." Your spittle lands on his cheek.

Something devious lights in his eyes. You know what he wants, what he's thinking. He's no different from any other man, it seems, and the realization of that hurts more fiercely than it should.

"You're disgusting." What you mean to say is, I thought you were different.

Crosshair simply hums, shakes his head ever so slightly. "All talk."

He's a hunter, baiting the trap and watching with those too-keen eyes. And you've always been his prey. When you dip your head just so and exhale heavy on his waiting mouth, it still hurts but it doesn't sting so bad because he shudders at the whisper of you. You latch onto his bottom lip with your teeth and pull. You don't look away, you barely blink. You want to watch him squirm.

He does squirm. He moans, too, exhales so gutturally into your tongue that it ought to be a sin. The sounds he maneuvers out of you later are just as foul, shameless even. You hate him. You think maybe he hates you, too.

Finished rewatching Nancy Drew season 1!

Nancy's a bit harsh with Ryan in the beginning when she learns he's her dad. Firstly, she's Nancy so she doesn't like people trying to get close to her and Ryan isn't giving her any space at all. Secondly, she's ashamed of being related to him. She has no problem being Lucy's daughter, because she's the sad girl who was bullied to her death, but Ryan? Yikes, obviously. Ryan's obviously delusional thinking a daughter would've saved his life and made him a better person, or someone who can stand up to his daddy. He wouldn't have been happy to learn Lucy's was pregnant and who knows what he would've done? Run away? To his credit, Nancy is the reason he becomes a better person later. But he also doesn't know being a father means you shouldn't be petty with your daughter, which he is after he saves her from Everett at his cabin (he's like "oh you can't be my daughter...unless you need my help").

George is a mixed bag for me. She irritates me very often but I also have a lot of affection for her. Her confrontation with Ryan wasn't great though. The writing just didn't feel natural. I think she literally quotes Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You" lyrics at one point or two. She told Nick that Ryan taught her she was the girl you hid not the one you took to dinner? Is this the 50s. I get the idea of George realizing she was taken advantage of and confronting her abuser but the dialogue was not great (and a bit ironic given Nancy's affairs with older detectives...). I get George's reservations with Nick. I'm scared of intimacy as well. But I feel a bit for Nick. I think him and George made a good team, but Nick kind of needs someone more in tune with their emotions? He wants the kind of closeness that he didn't feel he had with either Nancy or George. I don't love his new partner though. So far we know nothing of interest about them - according to Bess, they're "exquisite" and have this awkward/cool vibe going for them, and look like someone who is famous on IG, which is not a vibe I care about, but nothing substancial yet.

Ace and Nancy get a lot of scenes together, alone (eg. when they visit Owen's apartment or Lucy's mom). Because George and Nick end up pairing up, Ace and Nancy naturally spend more time together, I think. And I think she likes that he rarely tries to stop her from doing anything, and he doesn't ask a lot of questions or tries to get close to her. He just helps her while giving her a lot of space, which is how Nancy naturally begins to rely on him and open up to him. For example, he tells her that life's been kicking her butt lately and that he's there if she needs help, but he doesn't ask if she's okay or if she wants to talk about it - which is why she's so grateful for his words. Compared to Nick, she's more comfortable that way. Owen also tried to help her too much sometimes, but he was more detached than Nick. I think Ace is kinda perfect for Nancy because he's useful to her. She gets very into her cases and the only way not to lose touch with her is to tag along and help her. If you hold her back, she'll push you away. But Ace is super helpful because he's a computer genius and he's used to her work methods. I think George, and to a lesser extent Bess, are like Ace in that way. I noticed Nancy's gotten pretty close to George.

Ace is unusually angry with her about their Aglaeca curse. They agreed to do the ritual with Nancy. She tried to talk them out of it. Their anger is natural but she's not to blame. If she was reckless, so were they.

Did Nancy really care that much about Owen and/or was his death particularly traumatizing because everything was going wrong that week and he died because of her?

Also, I feel for Bess. She wants so much to be a Marvin and her aunt is an intimidating and dangerous woman that she knows she can't cross, so she ends up putting her relationship with Lisbeth on the line while also losing herself in the process. At the same time, I want to tell her to grow a backbone and not pander to a bunch of assholes.

I love your fic - A Long and Slow Recovery. It’s so beautifully written and the emotions felt are so palpable. Just wanted to pass along my thanks for writing it!

Completely separate from the fic though- What are your thoughts on the Xianle trio - their break up and slow rebuilding of friendship in the novel. 😁

Thank you so much!!! ;-; I'm really glad you're enjoying alasr! I'm really proud and excited about it!

Ah I think about this a lot! As in, I think about it a lot to try and decide my thoughts lol. I'm actually rereading the whole novel rn to try and get a feel for everyone, especially the trio. I've been REALLY excited to write them.

Summary: I love them, I'm sad for them, and I wish them well. Rambling to follow:

So my opinion right now is I love them. I think Feng Xin and Mu Qing are really interesting as foils as well as just completely independent characters, and I love that Xie Lian can see them in both of those lights too. Neither Feng Xin nor Mu Qing are really understood or given enough credit by anyone except Xie Lian, and I don't know if any of them know what to do with that. The impression that I've gotten is that Feng Xin and Mu Qing don't even really want to understand each other, and that's really sad, but understandable. Feng Xin's straightforward form of loyalty doesn't translate to Mu Qing, and Mu Qing's fear that no one will ever care to see the best in him makes him preemptively prickly and eager to beat them to the punch, and that does not play well with Feng Xin's earnestness.

(I'm trying to figure out Mu Qing, especially. I like him as a character and want to do him unbiased justice while writing him, but he's such a unique, self-contradictory case lol. I've met people with his kind of defensive cynicism before--the "stop pretending to be a good person" mindset in the face of altruism--and I've always been annoyed with them as much as I pity them, but I like that he's such a realistic character in that way. I'm intimidated by the prospect of writing him but I'm looking forward to it.)

The Xianle trio breakup, to me, just shows exactly the differences in FXMQ's approaches to conflict. Feng Xin stays with Xie Lian as long as he does because it's a simple answer to him: he's Xie Lian's bodyguard and Xie Lian is his friend, so Feng Xin will stay because that's what is both honorable and personally loyal. It's the right thing to do, and it looks and feels right. Mu Qing leaves before Feng Xin does because 1) his mother needs him more and 2) he hopes he can help more by gaining power and resources elsewhere, because what they're already doing isn't working. It's the right thing to do, even when it doesn't look and feel right.

So at that point, Feng Xin displays the kind of loyalty that traditionally gets praised because it's shown in no uncertain terms, even when it's not performed in the most enterprising way. By the more cynical, Feng Xin's approach can be seen as short-sighted, naive, or even pretentious, when he's really just honest and incredibly steadfast. "Loyal to a fault" is canonically used to describe him somewhere. Mu Qing's integrity is easier to doubt by most people because 1) his reasoning can be interpreted as selfish, even when he's sincere and 2) his intentions aren't always purely good! He's a flawed person and his reasons for doing things can include pettiness and selfishness within the greater good intentions, but that doesn't discount the good in them, at least to Xie Lian. Even when Mu Qing is looking at the bigger picture, people can interpret that as him being cold and uncaring about the immediate problem, and he gets angry that he's the only person acknowledging the complexity or futility of the situation. Anyway, they both try their best to help Xie Lian Back Then and refuse to see the merit in what the other is doing. I forget exactly how much Xie Lian acknowledges that they're both trying to help, so, rereading lol. But Xie Lian is definitely Not in a good place and is definitely lashing out at everyone by the end, which I'm sure he feels ashamed of later.

And reconnecting and rebuilding the friendship!! When Xie Lian ascends again, "Fu Yao" and "Nan Feng" are sent to help him and of course their generals don't know about it. And Xie Lian sees through them pretty early and just doesn't mention it because he's a little shit (extremely affectionate), but he knows what they're doing and appreciates it. But FXMQ both feel like they've failed Xie Lian and want to make it up to him, whether he knows about it or not. And they have to work together to do it, as much as they hate it, but at least they recognize that they share that much in their priorities. I think that while it's ultimately hopeful and sweet, there's a lot about their reconnecting that's just straight up tragic. I'm assuming that FXMQ both feel so much shame and regret about what happened and how they left him, and now that they have another chance to help, the literal devil (extremely affectionate) walks in and takes their spot as Xie Lian's protector and right hand. I think Xie Lian still feels awkward around them, too, as much as he still loves them. I am really proud of them for talking it out as much as they do in the end, though. I need to reread some stuff to see how much they reconcile by the end and in the extras, but I remember it being a good prognosis.

I guess also, I think Feng Xin sees Xie Lian as someone he's been proud to serve and call his friend, because he believes in Xie Lian's ideals and good heart. Mu Qing, though, doesn't know what to do with this mixture of gratitude and the resentment that comes with being indebted to someone, especially because Xie Lian is the only person who's really shown that he believes in Mu Qing's potential, good intentions, and worth as a person. The classic "stop trying to be a good person, altruist" thing doesn't work on Xie Lian, because he really just IS that good, and I think that makes Mu Qing want to tear his own hair out as much as it makes him love Xie Lian. MQ and FX's opinions of each other, though, wow?? They're so convinced that the other's intentions are insincere (mq saying fx is holier-than-thou, fx saying mx is selfish), up until they're tested and they have to act together. They're competitive against one another, but they also know that they act well as a united front, so there has to be some grudging respect and extremely grudging trust there. It's funny how the breakup has FXMQ as divided, conflicting forces where in present day in the reunion, they're much more cooperative. Despite their issues, they've grown to speak the same language on some level.

Might have some serious errors in here lol, but I don't really think I have any particularly hot takes on the Xianle3. Again, I'm rereading the novel so I can get this stuff right, but pls forgive me if I'm off-base on something.

on the whole topic of many people noticing bakugou and endeavors similarities but not shouto what if we do get shouto comparing endeavor to bakugou in a positive way

You know, I always thought that reason Shouto NEVER compares Bakugou to Endeavor is because he is best placed to know that despite surface similarities, they are different where it matters.

I don't think he's oblivious or blind to it - people do point it out sometimes ever right in front of him how petty they both are.

But interestingly, the only time Shouto compares Bakugou to anyone, it's to a child who is lashing out.

And I think this is the essence of it. Bakugou's "bad" behaviour, anger, pettiness, outbursts are judged by Shouto knowing that he's also a child - just like Shouto. Someone, who holds no power over Shouto (or any of their classmates). They are all perfectly capable of handling Bakugou and fighting back.

[Now, putting aside Deku's quirklessness and Bakugou bullying him - these are things that Shouto obviously doesn't know about and by the time he learns about it, Bakugou is deep into his atonement, that Shouto also watches first-hand. But even then, the power imbalance between Bakugou and Deku were never the kind of power imbalance between Endeavor and Shouto. Because Deku had his mom, he had at least one supportive adult in his life, plus could have reported Kacchan for bullying and suicide baiting, but chose not to.]

Shouto was utterly powerless against Endeavor. He couldn't do much to protect his mom, to protect himself. He was isolated and with no support structure.

I think also for Shouto watching and trying to understand Bakugou's drive to win / to be the best is a really positive experience. Endeavor's ambition was what destroyed Shouto's family, so he understandably struggles a lot with ambition himself (hence the halfassing and how much he holds back all the time) because he doesn't want to be like Endeavor.

So watching both Deku and Bakugou, but I feel like especially Bakugou who is so similar to Endeavor, yet so different, helps Shouto to understand that striving for your best is not necessarily a destructive thing. It can be a positive driver - and competing with someone like Bakugou helps catalyze his own drive. He recognizes this and that's one of the reasons he brings Bakugou along to the internship.

And one that pays off later. Shouto credits the birth of Phosphor to this period where he's trying to keep pace with Deku and Bakugou who managed to ignite his own competitiveness and desire to keep up with a positive rivalry.

While Endeavor's methods of brutal training resulted in Shouto limiting himself and kicking back against the goal his father set out for him.

For me, Shouto is the ultimate authority on who is similar to Endeavor and who isn't and I think it's a really important point in the narrative that he never compared Bakugou to his father.

idk if this is an unwelcome rant or anything but I saw your anti ahs0ka posts from july and I’m just….so frustrated. I don’t want to sound like a dudebro but as someone whose favorite SW character is Luke I just can’t stand Star Wars anymore. I personally didn’t like him in tlj, but I could accept it—but then they just sort of kept chipping at him through every new piece of media. He’s strange in mando/tbobf, no one will join his temple despite apparently all of these older force sensitives surviving rotj, even obi-wan is retconned to know leia more. now this shit w this show, where #she is the self-insert in thrawn stuff. also you don’t even have to be FS anymore, etc etc. the “important Jedi lineage” is now obi-wan-anakin-ahs0ka, bc who even cares about luke amirite. it just sucks because I did genuinely used to like her, but with every new thing it could not be more clear that narratively she should have died bc now the whole gffa’s story is hers

I'd love to say I'm above petty rant but I am SO not, your rant is most welcome. If you don't have anything nice to say about Ahsoka, come sit by me. 😉 (Honestly I'm just happy to see other people acknowledging what a poorly written character she is when I've been saying this since the Rebels season 2 finale. I definitely felt like the only one back then.)

More seriously.... yeah, I do get the feeling of everything you loved about Star Wars being chipped away. I hope those who do enjoy it have fun and all, I don't begrudge anyone that, but I can't lie, I do kinda feel the same way. Like it's all being rewritten Filoni-style. And George Lucas he is not, no matter how much he thinks he is. Also I don't presume to know Timothy Zahn's feelings but I still think it's shitty and disrespectful as hell to carve a big hole out of the wonderful, iconic Thrawn trilogy and plop Ahsoka in. It's becoming REAL obvious that Filoni isn't the creative genius he's hailed as, he strip mines Legends for ideas and then gets the credit.

At this point I almost rather they leave Luke alone. Han is my BOY and they already did him so dirty (left Leia, returned to smuggling invalidating all his character development in the OT, gets a crappy death from his shitty incel son - I did like Solo but it was too little to late) so I 100% get your feelings there. It's like Disney doesn't even care how important these characters are so many people in their rush to replace them with their new, safely copyrighted and controlled characters. And ofc Filoni props his TCW OCs over all. Just look at how Mando S3 had Din and Grogu's story trashed so Girlboss Barbie Bo could feature instead. I'm not sure why they're so resistant to paying writers, they clearly need some new ones.

This isn't me trying to defend Aang this is me trying to continue the conversation, one thing that comes to mind as heroic/altruistic was The Great Divide episode where Aang came up with that story that ended a generations long feud between those two tribes

See, The Great Divide is one of the episodes that made me really not like Aang. To me, it wasn't him being anything other than lazy. Here's the thing, the show sets Aang up as this wise-beyond-his-years hero who's going to lead the world on into peace, but all it showed me was that he's a bad leader. He sucks at conflict resolution. His one job. That "peace" he left those two groups in absolutely did not last because, petty as they were, they had generations' long issues with each other, and those types of prejudices don't just go away because someone comes by with a cute story.

It's been a while, but I've said it before that this could have been Aang's moment to shine. In fact, another Nickelodeon show had done something similar a couple of years earlier. Only when Eliza was faced with the same situation on The Wild Thornberrys, she actually did come up with a wise solution to prove that their prejudices were baseless. She took away the means that the monkeys used to discriminate one another, and showed them that they weren't that different after all. She and Darwin went through a similar arc as Katara and Sokka where they took sides and it came between them, but they remembered that they cared about each other and came up with a solution together.

The writers of ATLA had a chance to do something similar, and to prove that Aang was actually wise, instead of just telling us he is. OR they had the chance to have Aang acknowledge his failure, and give him a motive to grow and listen to smarter people, and learn to be the leader he's "destined to be". Instead they proved that he is only willing to help as far as it doesn't inconvenience him too much. That he's not above lying to get his way. That he doesn't care to understand the deeper issues between groups.

All of this is totally forgivable in an IRL child. That's a lot to put on a kid IRL. The problem is Aang isn't a child. He's the protagonist of a story where he is meant to be the messiah of that world. A story where people keep talking about how smart and wise and kind he is, but we never actually see him be any of those things. I for one refuse to give him credit just because the story says I should. Not when the rest of the team is right there being the heroes that world really needed.

I am not conventionally attractive. In a way that isn't salvageable without various surgeries, which is an option I've ruled out for various reasons. I don't like my body but I can rationalise that people are attracted to different body types. And you'd be proud of me if I was yours, I lost more than 60lbs. I trust my partner with everything apart from when he tells me that I'm pretty or that he's attracted to me. Or any other similar sentiments. I don't believe him, I can't make what he's saying make sense. I can see what I look like, I know that I'm ugly. This had also been confirmed by multiple outsiders, or at least a lot of people told me I was ugly in high school. He does everything you're supposed to, he says all the right things. I love him so much, and I'm a less good wife/sub/daughter to him because of this. We had a few threesomes early on and he would love to do more but now the idea of another girl with us just makes me feel like I'm nothing, I can't. My face makes me so sad. If I was one of your girls I guess the answer would be they would never doubt you like that but I'm still spinning this out hoping you have some pearls of wisdom for me. Therapy hasn't really helped. Trying to make peace with looking like this or ignoring it hasn't helped. I just keep picking at it like it's a wound.

Okay, first… 60lbs? You fucking bad-ass! I don’t care who owns you, I’m proud of you. That’s not easy, and requires a level of determination that can be incredibly difficult to muster. You deserve far more credit than that one little sentence allows.

Second, I cannot begin to stress how utterly irrelevant the opinions of high school kids truly are… as a whole, they’re among the most emotionally myopic people on the planet. I know the petty cruelties of insipid children can haunt us, but I promise, absolutely nothing said by a teenaged boy as you passed his locker in 2010 is worth a single nanosecond of your adult time.

Third, I need you to start doing some serious work on developing your ability to trust. Because it sounds like you have a solid guy on your hands, someone who cares about you and actively seeks to include you in his life. And while I know you don’t intend it to be so, it’s a little insulting that you’re so dismissive of his admiration. You don’t need to agree with his assessment of you, but you’ve gotta accept that it is his assessment… he’s entitled to a differing opinion.

Fourth, humans each observe the world from unique perspectives. I know you’re aware of that, but I don’t think you’ve internalized it. Our perception of beauty is largely a matter of focus… it’s all about where we choose to rest our gaze. When you look at yourself, you’re looking at both popular superficialities and microscopic, generally unnoticed details… meanwhile, when he looks at you, he’s taking in all the parts of you that your brain chooses to ignore. He’s seeing how you move, sampling your scent, feeling the comfort of your proximity, recognizing the fullness of your love… the kind of shit your mirror will never be able to show you. Please, let that man embrace all of you, even if you can’t.

You’ve got to stop fighting, and let people love you. As someone who spent decades dismissing every bit of praise he ever received, I can tell you that belief —not in yourself, but in others and their ability to be right about you— will transform your life.

But you have to let it happen.

You mentioned a few posts earlier something that I can’t stop thinking about.

I feel so bad for Kishimoto. I can’t even imagine how terrible it must be. He created such a great story, and obviously, he has to know that it’s his heritage, something that people will remember him for long after his death.

And he had to throw it down the drain, forced to let Boruto happen. I don’t believe he could say no. What author would let THIS happen to his greatest achievement.

This is just sad 😔

Hi @pattie1k ! 💕 Yes!!! I think about this all the time..

There are so many posts that talk about money and "he did it for the money", "he doesn't care, he has money".. uhm, hello? They have no idea, do they? Look, I don't claim to know anything either, frankly none of us can because we don't have any insight in their legal documents but give the man some credit? Think, even just a little, about the industry and how they work- how incredibly strict they are when it comes to rules, how unethical they are when it comes to business, how- even when Kishimoto is held to such high standards in their field, he still has little say about his own story because it became a franchise. One he doesn't own fully himself. Where he has to beg for months/years to get a single scene through simply "because he wants to". Where he has to convince the editors of the magazine he works with that certain things are "essential" to the story and even has to fight them for it because he can't simply decide for himself.

Where.. getting involved directly with the sequel is probably the only way to be in control of things despite him wanting to retire... 👀 Because "supervising" alone, whatever the hell that means (nothing), simply won't do anything. Kishimoto is just a single man in an entire industry where things can get very, very calculative for good and worse behind the "entertainment" we see. Where, the fandom fights in 'Boruto's case worked out wonderful because it keeps people talking. People being dissatisfied doesn't matter because it is still attention nonetheless. Do you honestly think they would care more about Kishimoto's feelings than the franchise making profit? Of course not. The company knows best, yes? He is just "Kishimoto-sensei :)! Isn't he great?! Wow." A name they can use to increase marketing value. To make people say "oh wow Kishimoto's name is on this, it must be canon 🤡!" You have to be very careful with marketing- if they're not clear in the description, then that's for a reason. The Naruto manga explicitly says: Story and Art by Masashi Kishimoto. He spends 15+ years hunched over a desk, neglecting his own family and marriage for the sake of 'Naruto' and not once did he properly foreshadow the sequel despite knowing it was coming. Of course he's petty. Well.. petty is what we can see, he was probably a whole lot more. Chapter 700 and Gaiden reflected pretty well to what he could've felt. He said loneliness scared him to death and yet, instead of concluding his biggest journey with happiness or the promise that was made, knowing fully well that these characters need rising growth both in their inner and outer worlds for them to have a successful fictional story, both Naruto and Sasuke are back to feeling lonely. That is a big Shonen no-no. He broke all the rules with a big "fuck you" in a single chapter (700). Just like that. When I was in Korea, the company I was hired to work with for a project also had multiple projects going. A group of Japanese animators were there in the same building. Two of them I could communicate with somewhat and from them I learned a thing or two about their business. From my understanding, even if you as a Mangaka (as successful as he is) don't agree with certain things, you don't have much to say. That is because you work together with the company, its publisher, therefore they hold a lot of power. We know he doesn't fully own the franchise which means he is not the one who is the decision maker. If I ever have the chance to talk to him (which I will not, but a girl can dream) I'd ask him about this. 'Boruto' wasn't his idea, he literally had no time to think about this while creating 'Naruto'- besides, his interests were elsewhere which is why he created another Manga after 'Naruto' named: Samurai 8.

And now here we are.. Just.. waiting for the nerfed OG's to die :/

It's very sad.. ;-;

Didn’t Elton trash Colby’s first car and asked to show his wrists when he knew he was harming himself?

All in all. I watch both accounts but Elton is just crazy. I also think he’s desperate to prove himself and to prove the paranormal like Sam. But then again, they both want to spread a message. But they both differ I guess.

He was at the Hellfire 3 days after I went there. So crazy!

this turned into such a rant omg i'm so sorry

he did wreck colby's car, but a lot of us personally believe he actually just trashed a car that looked like colby's since in the end he "gave" colby a car that look suspiciously like his and was just slightly nicer looking.

and the wrist thing NEVER happened. i've had to reiterate this on several occasions so if i seem a bit snippy about it, my apologies. but this has never happened. colby has never self harmed before, and elton has never made him show scars… since they don't exist.

here's where the rant starts in case anyone wants to read it:

the only reason this rumor infuriates me so much is that it wasn't until last year that ppl started talking about it and bringing it up but there is literally NO PROOF of it's existence. and when you ask ppl where they heard it from, they say "oh someone said it was in a video that got removed" or you also get "someone said it was in a livestream that's been deleted". my issue with this is that the last time snc collabed with elton was in 2019. and it took until 2022 for anyone to talk about this event. if that's the case…. you don't think someone would have brought it up before?? like the ENTIRE fandom just let elton make colby "show" self harm scars and it took three years for anyone to say that wasn't cool? if it happened in a livestream, which notoriously never gave saved or screen recorded all that often, how do you know it happened unless you were there and watched it and WAITED three years to say something about? and if it was in a video that only got deleted recently, no one… not a single person…. recorded it??? i've been in the fandom since 2018, this did not occur bc i've heard NOTHING about it ever until 2022 and the only place i've heard it from is tiktok.

idk who started the rumor, but i really wish they didn't. bc elton is an asshole for a lot of reasons, but this is not one of them.

sorry this is turning into a rant about elton and the tiktok fandom but i gotta vent a bit: i get that some of elton's pranks back in the day were a bit intense. and if you want to harp on the ones that got snc hurt or really emotional, also valid. but some of these fans are being upset for snc when snc don't fucking care about these pranks and SIGNED OFF on them existing and being posted in the first place !! you are talking about the same boys that did the killing best friend prank. clearly, snc can handle a douchebag who possibly destroys their car or slams a hand into their face or whatever. again, i agree that elton went above and beyond with his pranks, but like…. dear lord, please dislike him for the actual bad shit he's done.

he made a rape joke in 2020 and then tried to argue with fans about the semantics of it since he didn't "actually" make a joke about sexual assault. then he bitched about have to remove the video since the clip was at the tail end of it and only lasted like 10 second or whatever. he can't take a lick of criticism and will block fans that don't kiss his ass just bc they have something to say that isn't positive. for YEARS NOW, he has been petty and shit talking snc's name just bc of a video series they haven't done since the early half of 2021 that he believed they copied off of him BUT HE WASN'T CORRECT ABOUT THAT. tfil and 25x25 were not copies of one another. similar? sure, kinda. but not copies. and the single time snc went to the same place as elton THEY GAVE CREDIT IN THEIR VIDEO. but since then, elton has made it his mission to shit on snc any chance he gets and literally has bad mouthed them to crowds of his fans during tour (and most likely to the owners of some of these haunted places since snc weirdly can't go to some of these places for one reason or another but elton and other creators can). elton was BANNED from the conjuring house, and that alone tells me all i need to know about him. when demons can vibe in a space, but not you…. that's proof that you suck deeply as a human being. the only reason he was allowed back recently was bc of it having new owners.

everyone is harping on the old fucking pranks and dumb made up shit and not focusing on ACTUAL shit elton has done. it's like when the anons i had a couple years ago where focusing on shea lying about her age…. who CARES? there are bigger things to pay attention to !

sorry, none of this was directed at you, anon. i've just been really annoyed about tiktok and the dumb shit the fans on there say and it's getting on my last nerve that ppl are focusing on shit that does exist or lying about elton when there is plenty of proof of him being a dick irl. no need to lie on his behalf.

i just realized i never got to the rest of your ask. my bad lol

personally i can't sit thru elton's content bc i deeply don't like him. but if other ppl like him and his content, that's fine ! watch whoever you enjoy more of. my whole thing is elton is the reason i know who snc are, and i don't want to hate him. i would much rather live in the world where they're all still friends with one another and collab when they can. instead we live in the world where elton did all of that and then on top of it didn't even wish colby well when he was going thru his cancer treatment... so fuck him :)

and that's kinda cool that he was there after you. he was definitely copying you, you trend setter haha

I decided to watch the beginning of SOTUS based on @waitmyturtles' reactions as part of her Thai BL education, and the conversations that inspired. I'm definitely not watching the whole show! Probably not even the whole first episode, I'll only go as far as I can stand it for, but I was finding myself desperately curious for context.

Well, 25 seconds in and we're already off to a good start 🥴

I kinda like this theme song, ngl.

Wtf how is 2016 seven years ago already. What even is time.

Baby Off in the credits! Hello!

Actually this credits montage is making the show seem kind of appealing. Perhaps I will surprise everyone and myself by being a SOTUS fan.

I don't know if it's just this opening sequence, but the colors are so de-saturated compared to more recent Thai shows. Kinda makes it look like 90s home video.

This name tag table makes me miss Fighter and Tutor. 😢

But also, pre-Covid they could get HUGE casts of extras. That room is full!

So far the show is successfully building drama and intrigue! I'm more hooked than I suspected.

Arthit makes an excellent insecure petty tyrant. Unfortunately I'm having trouble imagining how they're going to transition him to love interest.

Brave Kongpop!

Seriously, there are like 500 extras in that giant room!

Baby Off!

Oh yep. And here comes the femme characters as comic relief.

Ah, Kongpop is the other lead. Of course. For some reason I assumed he was a side character?

I like this smiley girl who does the grilled chicken dance!

Aww, I think I might really like Kongpop as well.

Oddly enough the hazing stuff isn't bothering me (so far). I think because a) it's SO over the top ridiculous, and b) I came in expecting the worst. (But of course, it can always get worse.)

Maybe if I stop here I can pretend the show is a dystopian future romance (á la Divergent) about M and Kongpop falling in love as they rise up against their oppressive seniors. I'm kinda digging their chemistry.

However I'm predicting a het romance between M and the chicken dance girl (my beloved) [May] instead.

I can see from whence the Singto fandom. What a charming smile. He's already bringing a welcome groundedness to the role.

Seaweed snacks! Now I want some. Your advertising is working on me. Also, one thing I think SOTUS does well is camera angles and editing; they really build the drama.

Also the sound recording (and mixing) quality is not terrible. What happened after this? Was Covid to blame? (Or perhaps GMMTV has always been better at it.)

I don't think I'd be that into this if I was watching just for pleasure, but I'm actually quite enjoy the experience of watching it for historical curiosity.

I like this girls at the table too! The women in this show are much more solid than I was expecting, and actually seem like real people [gasp!]

Honestly I'm not even looking at Arthit or the subtitles, I'm just watching Off in the background.

God, Arthit is so annoyingly awful. The only way to get through this may be to ignore his existence as much as possible.

I don't know if it's because Off is the one actor I recognize, or if it's because he just has that much charisma, but my eye keeps getting drawn to him on screen. (Even if he is aiding and abetting the evil guy.) I love the way he keeps snatching things from Arthit's hands.

Like, I can see how this COULD work, if Arthit wasn't such a stupidly petty tyrant. Enemies to Lovers! It's aiming for what FighterTutor managed to do so well. But. Well. The bully character has to have some redeeming feature. (Although perhaps he will win me over in the end.) As for their chemistry, I haven't seen enough to venture a firm opinion yet, but it's certainly not jumping off the screen.

Oh great, now we have homophobic bullying 🥴 But Singto really is very good as Kong.

Are you all sure this show isn't really Kong/M? Because that's still the story I'm creating in my head.

Umm. How on earth are they going to make this homophobic bully into a passable love interest. Help. I don't understand.

oooh, I could ship Kongpop with Wad as well. There is potential in this scene about the shirt exchange.

Ok! We've got M in the tight fitting tshirt! Show off those muscles, babe!

Like, I don't think Krist is bad in this so far. He's playing a petty tyrant bully perfectly. But I believe y'all when you so he doesn't manage anything other than this one note.

However, Singto is managing to single-handedly create something out of their scenes anyway.

Yes rebel Kongpop! I feel like my dystopian version of the story would be so much better than whatever we actually get.

However I do appreciate if it has to be bully romance that the target is not in the least a passive victim. (I ❤️ Kongpop)

This hazing is just so dumb. It's so silly it doesn't even bother me really, just makes me think about how young and dumb these engineering seniors are. Actually mostly it makes me mad at the school administration for sanctioning it.

I do love the way Off stands (and sits).

And I love May and this wavy-haired girl! Interesting female characters in my BL?! Who have a life outside of "shipping" their classmates or having crushes on impossible gay boys?! My goodness!

Rebel Kongpop my beloved! And such a smartass 😍 Love his little smirk.

Okaaaay. Still struggling to see how they can possibly build a romance out of this. Like, in Semantic Error and Why R U?, there was bullying yes, but even from the beginning there were hints of connection and attraction. And I am simply not seeing any of that here.

Well. I finished the whole first episode after all! And despite all expectations I'm kinda hooked.😲 I can see why SOTUS was so popular; the things it does well it does very well. And Singto is elevating it far beyond what it deserves.

It helps that bullying and hazing, while they annoy me, aren't a Yikes Nope 😬 I'm Outa Here for me the way rape is (which is why I couldn't make it past the first episode of TharnType). And cringy slapstick humor, while objectively less of a problem, for some reason make me even more uncomfortable (which is part of the reason I couldn't make it through 2gether). And it's not boring me, at least as long as the camera isn't on Arthit. (My problem with some other OG Thai BL that was so boring I can't even remember its name now. [edit: it was driving me crazy so i went through world-of-bl's list and finally figured it out... it was Nitiman. Maybe I'd find it more interesting if I tried again, but it just could not keep me engaged, sorry Nitiman lovers.]) And it's helps that my expectations were basement level. (Thank you @waitmyturtles for preparing me. And I'm sorry for your suffering in the process.)

So I will probably continue! Although I don't know how soon or how regularly, or if I will do such detailed reaction posts for the rest. The only reason I started this one is I didn't expect to last more than 10 minutes.

Hardspace Shipbreaker is a weird game isn't it

The actual mechanics of it are deeply satisfying (everything goes CLUNK when you undo the cut points, even though inside ships there's this careful difference of audio between pressurised and unpressurised spaces, because it not going CLUNK would be sad) and even tiny things like encountering a stray bolt and it going 'dink' off your helmet are just really nicely done

And I love all the death messages, 'Lynx reminds you that shipbreakers dying horribly can cause serious paperwork for Lynx executives', and so on

Plot spoilers follow...

But the plot is... Kind of all over the place? OK, so Lou is the agitator, Deedee is older and too tired and has seen too much, and Kaito is the kid who doesn't know any better. I called them killing off Kaito really early, by the way (they don't commit to it! you can't just un-kill characters it makes the moment entirely worthless, though to be fair to them they did set up the fake-out with his mic problems in act one)

Hal is the petty shopfloor supervisor with no real power who's interpersonally worse than the actual boss, BECAUSE he has no real power and knows it - god I have met too many of these people - and Weaver is Space Dad. We love Space Dad.

OK, they're archetypes but that's fine. And the plot is ... sort of meant to be about unions? Don't get me wrong, the day of industrial sabotage was fun as hell (or would have been, if you got CREDIT for blowing a fuel tank and shredding a load of panels, but the panels don't count as destroyed until they've been thrown in the furnace so now you just gave yourself loads of tiny bits to sweep up. sigh)

And so the resolution is 'you got yourselves some attention and the regulators stepped in and now you don't owe Lynx a gajillion dollars'. Hooray! But the thing is, this does not work as a game climax because obviously the mechanics don't change. So you're still being given ships with broken atmosphere regulators and told "don't cause an explosive decompression". You're still cleaning up ghost ships that Lynx says aren't full of ghosts. There's still no way to unfasten a Quasar thruster without shoving your entire head down the barrel and hoping you don't catch fire. Because the game was built as 'industrial hell' and it still IS!

Also I had a few tens of mils to tidy up before I could do the big ending cutscene, so I did a few shifts after the 'union victory' cutscene and there was this one conversation between Deedee and Kaito where she told him not to work free overtime. Good message: don't. But the reasoning just wasn't there. Deedee just said "do it the next day when you're getting paid" and Kaito complained about having to set up again the next day. Nobody said: You don't work free overtime because that's scabbing. If you do the work of two breakers, you're leaving a breaker in the unemployment line and you're endangering your colleagues who only do the work of one. Lou would have known that - why wasn't she in that conversation?

I dunno. Really felt like Baby's First Worker Solidarity, I felt it could have respected the player's intelligence a bit more. Maybe it's just because it was made by North Americans and getting them to notice that workers even exist as a class is fairly difficult. Apparently Blackbird are on a four day work week, though, so good for them!

P.S. don't organise against the company via the company email server you fuckwits