My Random Page

Hey there! 35 she/her. I post random stuff I find amusing or thought-provoking.

[lizardsfromspace]

Thinking of Deep Space Nine as "the Dark Star Trek" without digging into what made Deep Space Nine work is so reductive. Like when people discuss Star Trek being "dark" now people bring up "DS9 was Dark and you loved that! Trekkies would hate it now!"

Deep Space Nine didn't work bc it was Dark and it wasn't Dark out of nowhere. Deep Space Nine is intimately tied to TNG in a way no other series is with another (Voyager could've been just as rooted in DS9, but. Y'know. Wasn't). Not only in characters, but that the show is so devoted to exploring deep cuts from TNG: the Bajorans, but also the Ferengi, long dismissed as failed villains, and the Trill, one-off aliens-of-the-week who DS9's writers turned into one of Trek's major species. The central thesis of DS9 isn't that the Trek Universe Is Fucked Up Actually. It's that things get more messy and complicated when Starfleet has to stick around and not dash off to another planet at the end of the episode

DS9 is darker than other Treks, yes, but DS9 is also the warmest, with the most grounded, human characters, not in spite of the fact that two-thirds of the cast are aliens but because of it. The writers treat alien characters as not representatives, but individuals. They treat everyone as individuals, with foibles and flaws, not as perfect, straitlaced future people. DS9's dark episodes are darker than other Treks, but also it's more willing to get silly and emotional. Only DS9 could do the "Sisko confesses to a conspiracy to get the Romulans in the war" episode, but also only DS9 could do the "a holographic lounge singer tries to get Odo and Kira together" episode right after it. Boiling the entire series down to "Deep Space Nine was the Dark Star Trek! Grimdark!" is...just not it

[philosopherking1887]

The central thesis of DS9 isn't that the Trek Universe Is Fucked Up Actually. It's that things get more messy and complicated when Starfleet has to stick around and not dash off to another planet at the end of the episode

Emphasizing this because there seem to be a lot of people who have only watched DS9 and are missing the point: they think that DS9 presents the Federation as an evil expansionist imperialist power no different, no morally better, than the Cardassians or the Romulans or even the Borg or the Dominion -- the only difference is that they conquer with bribes of resources and the promise of protection from the other powers. (Nice planet you got there; it’d be a shame if something happened to it...) They seem to think that the Federation is just the 20th/21st-century US/ NATO/ The West with better technology, with the same dishonest self-interest and cultural arrogance, without having learned anything or done any work to live up to its ideals.

You will not understand DS9 if you don’t understand that it also believes in the ideals of TOS and TNG, but has a more realistic view about how hard it is to maintain and fight for those ideals in a complicated world. It is NOT trying to make the point that the Federation and the vision it stands for are “Fucked Up Actually.”

[nonasuch]

I think it’s important to remember that DS9 was the first truly serialized Trek. It bridged TV’s transition from mostly episodic shows to longer-form narratives. That kind of storytelling didn’t really exist in TV, before.

I don’t even really think of DS9 as being particularly dark. It’s just that it’s the first Trek that got to follow up on things that would have been one-episode plots on earlier shows. DS9 was able to show us the cost and the consequences of Federation idealism, because it had a structure that made those stories possible to tell.

[itsscarab]

Keeping in mind I have seen VERY few episodes of DS9 and know TNG like the back of my hand (except for whatever episode Im' watching right at that moment, apparently, then suddenly I'm a total noob >.>)

...The way I always viewed it is this: Remember what Kirk said in "A Taste of Armageddon"?

"It's instinctive. But the instinct can be fought. We're human beings with the blood of a million savage years on our hands, but we can stop it. We can admit that we're killers, but we're not going to kill today. That's all it takes. Knowing that we won't kill today."

TNG is all about fighting those instincts in one way. DS9 fights them in another.

TNG isn't naive for having a more isolated episode structure and a group of characters who are hopping from issue to issue on a weekly basis without examining the long term consequences too much (although I feel the need to note: it's not entirely devoid of THAT either. There ARE issues in TNG that rise up to bite them all in the butt later on: *gestures wildly at Commander Sela*).

And likewise, DS9 isn't overly DARK just because it gets to do what TNG didn't: aka actually show those consequences. Sometimes those consequences were bad, and sometimes the consequences were good, but they were always consequences we didn't always get to see.

TNG boils issues down to what is happening right NOW. It is pure ethics and philosophy confronted. Because that's the reality we often have before us and we do not always have time to consider the future. With that in mind, we can only do what we feel is right in the moment. And that's true both in universe, and when you look at it from a meta perspective.

It presents the crew with a choice they HAVE to make while knowing they probably won't be around to see how it turns out. When there are no hypotheticals about what could be or should be, when you HAVE to make a decision, without knowing everything that might happen in the future as a result of it.

“I know, Professor, “What if one of those lives I save down there is a child who grows up to be the next Adolf Hitler or Khan Singh?” First year philosophy students have been asked that question ever since the earliest wormholes were discovered. But this is not a class in temporal logic… It’s not hypothetical, it’s real. Can’t you see that? A man’s life, his future, hinges on each of a thousand choices. Living is making choices.”

It boils down to that one behaviour: instinct. Doing what you believe is RIGHT and how that matters, whatever the consequences. it's both a valid and true philosophy and also a perfectly good reason for Sisko to start TNG frickin' hating Picard, because even while we know what happened wasn't Picard's fault, we know he was making choices in the best way he and his crew could in an impossible situation... even knowing all that, Sisko's wife is still dead. The people we admire and trust and rooted for indirectly led to the rage and pain of a man we're now expected to follow for several more seasons.

I can see why some people found that a tough pill to swallow, tbh.

We're not supposed to view TNG and DS9 as conflicting pieces of media. They're pieces of media that would not exist without each other.

TNG is the Star Trek series that answers TOS's command: it looks up and decides it will not kill today.

DS9 is the consequence of that choice tomorrow, whatever the outcome may be...

And then, the funny thing is, they still have the make the same choice. And so often... they make the exact same one as TNG did before.

[littlecakeclub]

The Matriarch Isn’t the Villain. She’s the Mirror

I often hear a discourse where Celine in K-pop Demon Hunters, Alma in Encanto and Ming in Turning Red are seen as vilains. They’re the ones who restricted the younger generation, hurt them, and are ultimately responsible for their pain, trauma and self-doubt. They’re framed as the real villains of the story. But I’d like to differ.

These are stories of intergenerational trauma. They are women who survived, repressed, and tried to protect their families the only way they knew how: through control, perfectionism, and emotional suppression.

And yet, when the next generation begins to reclaim joy, freedom, softness — they become the obstacle. Not because they’re bad people, but because they’re scarred. Their minds cling to survival strategies, unable to recognize that the environment has changed.

Alma is still stuck fleeing the colonizers.

Ming is still afraid of her true self.

Celine believes that fear and mistakes must be hidden.

It’s not about hating these characters. It’s about how unprocessed trauma twists love into control. How survival, unexamined, turns into rigidity. These women were never given space to process their own pain and they project it onto their daughters and granddaughters.

And here’s something we rarely say enough: intergenerational trauma can create toxic patterns but that doesn’t always mean there was abuse or conscious harm. Even when their love becomes suffocating or controlling, these women are not necessarily “abusive parents.” They are daughters of silence, fear, and sacrifice. And they were never taught another way. It’s important to make that distinction, especially in a world that often pushes a binary, punitive reading of family dynamics.

They’re the product of a generation that was told to endure. But endurance without healing becomes its own kind of violence.

What’s powerful in these stories is that they don’t end in vengeance. They end in confrontation and transformation. The confrontation is necessary: the younger generation refuses the silence. Refuses the shame. Refuses to carry a burden that wasn’t theirs to begin with.

The house is destroyed in Encanto.

Mei accepts her full self.

So does Rumi.

And in the best cases, this confrontation allows the elder to soften too. Alma opens up. Ming listens. And I’m hoping in the sequel, Celine will open too.

Maybe that’s also why these stories speak so deeply to POC audiences. These aren’t stories about cutting ties. They’re stories about how hard it is to transform them, to protect ancestral bonds while refusing to perpetuate inherited pain. In many racialized families, collectivity, loyalty, and intergenerational duty are sacred... even when they come at the cost of personal boundaries.

And sometimes, Western individualist frameworks read these tensions as dysfunction or villainy. But for us, they’re just the difficult truth of growing up and trying to do better.

These women aren’t villains. That would be too easy. They embody the fragile, necessary work of bringing change without breaking the thread. These stories are about refusing to inherit their pain without reflection. Because love, without accountability, is not enough.

These stories show us that each generation has something to learn from the next. And the new generation must also break free from the chains they inherited while preserving what is meaningfull.

But it’s not just their story.

One day, we’ll be the older generation.

And we’ll need to be humble enough to learn from the ones after us.

So don’t be a fool.

We may be Mei, Rumi, or Mirabel today.

But tomorrow, we could be Ming, Celine, or Alma.

And when that time comes, we’ll realize how hard it is to unlearn what once kept us safe.

So let’s have compassion for all these characters.

Because these stories show us not just how the cycle of generations works, but how it can make us better, stronger, and more connected... if we’re all willing to go through the change.

∘₊✧──────✧──────✧₊∘

If you’re curious, I’ve written more on K-pop Demon Hunters:

A post on the mental health themes woven through the songs — right here.

A breakdown of Celine-Rumi in comparaison to Gothel–Rapunzel dynamic — here.

An analysis about Rumi, Jinu, and the danger of sinking together — here.

Some book recs for each of the K-pop Demon Hunters characters — here.

∘₊✧──────✧──────✧₊∘

edit (07/08/25): Thanks to several kind Colombian commenters and reblogs, I’ve learned that the historical context shown in Encanto is more likely tied to the Thousand Days’ War, a brutal civil war rather than direct colonial violence. I initially framed Abuela’s trauma through the lens of colonialism, which was a mistake. The real context is deeply rooted in internal ideological conflict. As a South asian viewer, I’m very grateful to those who shared insights ! I encourage readers to check the comments and reblogs for more historical nuance and brilliant perspectives 🧡

And thank you to everyone who shared, commented and interacted on this post !

[shutyourmoustache]

When my mother forgets a word, she is the queen of coming up with new words. Words that would take a third National Treasure movie to fully decipher. I was talking to her yesterday, and she said this: “You know the time for los jibbities is coming up. You must be so excited!” Oh, is it time for los jibbities already? I must have missed it on my calendar. Are we celebrating something? “Of course! We should all be celebrating, shouldn’t we?” OK, so los jibbities is a happy thing. It’s not like something is giving you the heebie-jeebies, which would have been my one and only guess. “Los heebie-jeebies? Now you’re making things up...and this is my show.” You’re right. The time for los jibbities is coming up. Is this a season? “Yes, the season for love. The season for pride.” OK, los jibbities. “Yeah, sound it out.” Los…jibbities. LGBTs! “Sí, mira cuz you’re gay!” “You couldn’t just say pride season? You couldn’t just… *laughs*

[party-gilmore]

HAPPY LOS JIBBITIES EVERYBODY!!!

[hopeful-trekkie-deactivated2022]

James T. Kirk:

-Graduated in the top 4% of his year -was bullied by jocks -Is a history nerd -was so much of a teacher’s pet that he cheated on an exam and was commended for it -Was referred to as “a stack of books with legs”

Jean-Luc Picard:

-Spent all his free time drinking in pubs and playing billiards -broke more hearts than he can remember -started a bar fight that ended up in him being stabbed in the heart -likes to explore dangerous ruins of ancient civilizations for fun -wouldn’t even have become a starship captain if he wasn’t this much of a hothead

And yet people still manage to get it backwards???

[kalinara]

I think it’s a problem of First Officer, really.

Jim Kirk seems like a wild man because he’s standing next to calm, logical Spock.*  

Meanwhile, Picard seems stately and dignified because he’s standing next to Will “Any alien physiology is bangable if you just put some thought into it” Riker*.  

* Of course THEN, we get to the next layer, which is that Spock is the dude who told the Vulcan Science Academy to fuck itself, while Riker plays the trombone.

The Federation is a confusing place.

[only-tiktoks]

[lilacgriffinchainsaw]

A very useful tip!

[body-of-ouches]

One thing that MASSIVELY pisses me off is how fainting is shown in media. It’s always the person sways a little, collapses in one movement, and then is unconscious for like… fucking ages??? They wake up hours later tucked under a blanket and it’s acted like that’s normal. It’s NOT. A person that’s fainted should be back with you pretty quickly, actually:

(From NHS website)

I had an experience in my last work place where I fainted, but because it looks so different to how it’s shown in film and TV my managers had no idea what had happened. Here’s a comparison of usual media vs my actual fainting that they were all confused by-

Films, TV shows, plays etc:

1) Person goes “oh goodness” or something similar whilst holding hand to chest

2) eyes roll back, gracefully falls to the floor

3) nearby people see the poor fainted person, pick them up, put them on a bed or sofa

4) person comes to hours or even days later with no idea what happened and everyone else is just like “oh good you’ve woken up 🙂”

My usual fainting experience:

1) Everything starts spinning. Incapable of making words as my sole focus is on trying to get myself to the ground ASAP

2) Stumble to floor/chair/ anything I can lean against

3) Quick violent slump as actual faint occurs. There is no dainty falling- the whole body has hit shut down. Usually smack my head on the floor if I haven’t managed to get myself somewhere soft

4) Aware of surroundings almost immediately, but takes a few seconds to fully come back round

5) Carefully sit back up and explain to everyone going “what the fuck happened” that I fainted, and no, I do not need smelling salts actually.

[sentientdessert]

This is like the heart attack discourse...  much needed.

[digitaldiscipline]

100% how fainting looks and feels, from both sides.

[captainsblogsupplemental]

[mortimermcmirestinks]

get his ass data

[randomnessoffiction]

#GET HIS ASS DATA

[kindaokmemes]

It’s that time of the year again :)

[trekheritageposts]

star trek heritage post (December 16th, 2016)

[lilacgriffinchainsaw]

A little bit late, but I couldn't resist!

[lizardsfromspace]

Thinking of Deep Space Nine as "the Dark Star Trek" without digging into what made Deep Space Nine work is so reductive. Like when people discuss Star Trek being "dark" now people bring up "DS9 was Dark and you loved that! Trekkies would hate it now!"

Deep Space Nine didn't work bc it was Dark and it wasn't Dark out of nowhere. Deep Space Nine is intimately tied to TNG in a way no other series is with another (Voyager could've been just as rooted in DS9, but. Y'know. Wasn't). Not only in characters, but that the show is so devoted to exploring deep cuts from TNG: the Bajorans, but also the Ferengi, long dismissed as failed villains, and the Trill, one-off aliens-of-the-week who DS9's writers turned into one of Trek's major species. The central thesis of DS9 isn't that the Trek Universe Is Fucked Up Actually. It's that things get more messy and complicated when Starfleet has to stick around and not dash off to another planet at the end of the episode

DS9 is darker than other Treks, yes, but DS9 is also the warmest, with the most grounded, human characters, not in spite of the fact that two-thirds of the cast are aliens but because of it. The writers treat alien characters as not representatives, but individuals. They treat everyone as individuals, with foibles and flaws, not as perfect, straitlaced future people. DS9's dark episodes are darker than other Treks, but also it's more willing to get silly and emotional. Only DS9 could do the "Sisko confesses to a conspiracy to get the Romulans in the war" episode, but also only DS9 could do the "a holographic lounge singer tries to get Odo and Kira together" episode right after it. Boiling the entire series down to "Deep Space Nine was the Dark Star Trek! Grimdark!" is...just not it

[geekysteven]

People who only see Deep Space Nine as "dark" are missing out on how much DS9 truly loves the ideals that Star Trek represents. Enough to really dig into what they *mean*, how they would look in practice, the pitfalls in upholding them. It's all well and good to end an episode with a moral message about imperialism, but DS9 got into the species-wide, long-term trauma it created on both sides.

As fascism becomes more mainstream globally, I think any art that explores the difficulty and need to maintain our values is the epitome of hope.

[gameraboy2]

Kermit the Frog on Saturday Night Live

[timeandspacelord]

Y'know, putting aside the potential a-/acephobic reasons, and the "not relying on overused romance tropes/shortcuts" reasons, I think one of the big reasons (that I haven't really seen talked about?) that Good Omens gets accused of queerbaiting is that it's basically the story of an existing relationship. It's not the story of how Aziraphale and Crowley fall in love, or admit that they're in love, or whatever that people tend to expect out of romance stories these days, at least, not in the traditional sense. Yes, technically we get to see their relationship develop and we do get to see them realizing and admitting to themselves that they are in love and that the other loves them back, but that's not really the main focus the way it is in a lot of stories where romance is involved. There's no "will they/won't they" drama, there's no big confession or relationship-affirming kiss or anything, because they've been in a developing relationship for nearly all of 6000 years. That's like, literally what the Arrangement is. It's their relationship, their "basically married", their "involved", their "together but we can't say it outright bc people are watching and also we don't wanna screw it up". And people aren't used to seeing that in stories about relationships (seriously, find me one example of a story where the main, endgame couple is together at the beginning and the plot doesn't revolve entirely around them having issues that they need to work out. Hollywood/the publishing industry is allergic to writing about healthy relationships that stay healthy and in tact and exist after they get together). So when they see Neil Gaiman say "it's a love story" they expect the story of Azi and Crowley falling in love and finally admitting it to themselves and each other and having a big climactic kiss to seal the deal. And when they get a couple who is basically married in everything but name, who have been together for 6000 years but have had to be so so careful and dance around their feelings bc ~bureaucracy~, who don't need a big kiss at the end, just a loving, tender look because they can finally relax and be in love together... it doesn't feel like enough to them. They were so busy looking for the "getting together" plot that isn't really there that they missed the love story that was there. Which is a shame honestly, because it really is an excellent love story. There's enemies to lovers and mutual pining and almost a sort of courtly love situation going on and it's excellent. And people don't see it because it's not what they were looking for.

[megpie71]

The love story in Good Omens is also a very queer love story.  It’s the story of two people who have a relationship which exists in every single way except the official one.  And the fun thing is, it was one of those in the original book as well.  It’s a love story countless non-heterosexual people lived for decades, centuries even, and it’s a love story a lot of non-heterosexual people are still living today.  It’s just instead of saying “oh, no, they’re Just Good Friends”, the televisual version of Good Omens actually commits to the truth and says: “they love one another, very very much, and they aren’t allowed to do anything about it, because if they do, they’re going to wind up being flung out of their families and their jobs and their homes, and never allowed to return”.  (Never mind the families, jobs and homes they’d be thrown out of were each as dysfunctional as the other.  That isn’t the point: the point is this was their family, their job, their home and they didn’t know whether they’d be able to replace it.  Don’t belittle the risk until you’ve taken it). 

No wonder a lot of the heterosexual folks didn’t understand what they were looking at.  I think the part which is simultaneously both tragic and inspiring is there were a lot of non-heterosexual people who also couldn’t recognise it... because it wasn’t an experience they had any knowledge of.

[sainamoonshine]

When the show gave us a full montage of their past??? Episode 3 I think? Readers, I cried. That was so beautiful and magical and it was 3 am and I couldn’t believe that the show was awknowledging their love this way! “You go too fast!” The burning church scene! I was besides myself because I never thought they’d make it so clear in the show!!

And then I got online and people were pissed that they weren’t “canon” and I was extremely confused, let me tell you.

[bemusedlybespectacled]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Neil Gaiman, who has repeatedly expressed extreme reluctance to alter anything that Terry Pratchett wrote out of respect for his memory, wrote HALF AN HOUR OF ROMANTIC BACKSTORY THAT DIDN'T EXIST IN THE BOOK AT ALL.

Seriously. Half an hour. That's half of an entire episode. In a six episode series. Half of an episode, with no interruptions, not even for the fucking opening credits. Do you know how many fucking pages that is for a script? How much of it Neil Gaiman fought to keep in? HALF AN HOUR. OUT OF WHOLE CLOTH. An entire LIFETIME'S worth of interactions, with its own internal plot, that wasn't there before. That's not an accident! And it sure as fuck isn't queerbaiting!

[caspianthegeek]

So a really interesting thing to me is I’ve heard a lot of younger people in the fandom say that “my mom watched Good Omens and even she could see it was a love story!” Folks, it’s because she knows what a marriage looks like.

I’ve been married 18 years and I have never seen a show on television that portrayed my marriage dynamics as well as Good Omens. Ever.

Married people are either relegated to this weird comedy where they really probably shouldn’t be married because they hate each other and it’s all a joke. Or they live in a world where sure the other does bad things, but they never get talked about or resolved. Or my personal favorite to cringe over, married so long that you’re just sort of one existing entity blob with a shared mind that doesn’t acknowledge there are two people with individual wants and needs (that sometimes don’t mesh).

Then Good Omens waltzes in where Aziraphale and Crowley share so many interests, but also maintain their own. Sure, they banter but I don’t think I’ve seen anyone say “Oh Lord, heal this bike” is antagonistic or in anyway indicative that the pair doesn’t still adore each other (Aziraphale shooting back with “perfectly normal velocipede” keeps the light tone going, even if they did). And they respect each other’s boundaries and needs, even to the end of the world.

It’s not just that we don’t see established relationships, it’s that we don’t see developed and healthy ones in media often. Throw the careful queer balancing game of “is it safe” on top and… I can’t think of another time I’ve seen that at all. Or even attempted.

And I am so grateful this show exists.

[ashfae]

I'd like to add to this that my *nine-year-old* could tell it was a love story when she watched it. With no input from me whatsoever.

[oneiriad]

I wonder if, in superhero universes, the villains ever get contacted by those “Make a Wish Foundation” and similar people.

I mean, the heroes do, of course they do, kids who want to meet Spiderman or Superman or get to be carried by the Flash as he runs through Central City for just thirty seconds.

But surely there are also the kids, who - because they are kids and sometimes kids are just weird - decide that what they really, really want is to meet a supervillain. Because he’s scary or she’s awesome or that freeze ray is just really, really cool, you know?

[robininthelabyrinth]

Oh, man, that would absolutely be a thing. The heroes would be so weirded out by it. The villains with codes of ethics would totally band together to force the villains without one (should they be the one requested) to do their part for the cause.

[katyakora]

But imagine the person who has to track down the villains and organise everything?

Like, the first time it happens, no one actually thinks it’s possible, but one of the newbies volunteers to at least try. They get lucky, the kid wants to meet one of the villains who is well known to have a personal code of ethics (eg one of the rogues), and it takes them weeks to track the villain down to this one bar they’ve been seen at a few times, plus a week of staking out said bar, but they finally find them.

So they approach the villain, very politely introduce themselves and explain the situation, finishing with an assurance that, should the villain agree, no law enforcement or heroes will be informed of the meeting.

The villain, assuming it’s a joke, laughs in their face.

At this point, the poor volunteer, who has giving up weeks of their time and no small amount of effort to track down this villain, all so a sweet little girl can meet the person who somehow inspired them, well, at this point the employee sees red.

They explode, yelling at this villain about the little girl who, for some unknown reason, absolutely loved them, had a hand-made stuffed toy of them and was inspired by their struggle to keeping fighting her own and wasn’t the villain supposed to have ethics? The entire bar is witness to this big bad villain getting scolded by some bookish nobody a foot shorter than them.

When the volunteer is done, the villain calmly knocks back their drink, grips the volunteers shoulder and drags them outside. The bar’s patrons assume that person will never be seen again, the volunteer included. But once they’re outside, the villain apologises for their assumption, asks for the kid’s details so they can drop by in the near future, not saying when for obvious reasons. They also give the very relieved volunteer a phone number to call if someone asks for them again.

A week later, the little girl’s room is covered in villain merchandise, several expensive and clearly stolen gifts and she is happily clutching a stack of signed polaroids of her and the villain.

The next time a kid asks to meet a villain, guess who gets that assignment?

Turns out, the first villain was quite touched by the experience of meeting their little fan, and word has gotten around. The second villain happily agrees when they realise it’s the same volunteer who asked the other guy. Unfortunately, one of the heroes sees the villain entering the kid’s hospital and obviously assumes the worst. They rush in, ready to drag the villain out, but the volunteer stands in their way. The hero spends five minutes getting scolded for trying to stop the villain from actually doing a good thing and almost ruining the kid’s wish. The volunteer gets a reputation among villains as someone who can not only be trusted with personal contact numbers but who will do everything they can to keep law enforcement away during their visits.

The volunteer has a phonebook written in cypher of all the villain’s phone numbers, with asterixes next to the ones to call if any other villains give them trouble.

Around the office, they gain the unofficial job title of The Villain Wrangler.

[beka-tiddalik]

The heroes are genuinely flabbergasted by The Villain Wrangler. At first, some of the heroes try to reason with them.

Heroes: “Can’t you, just, give us their contact details? They’ll never even have to know it was you.”

The Villain Wrangler: “Yeah sure, <rollseyes> because all these evil geniuses could never possibly figure out that it’s me who happens to be the common thread in the sudden mass arrests. Look man, even if it wouldn’t get me killed, it would disappoint the kids. You wouldn’t want to disappoint the kids would you?”

Heroes: “… no~ but…”

The Villain Wrangler: “Exactly.”

Eventually, one of the anti-hero types gets frustrated, and decides to take a stand. They kidnap the Villain Wrangler and demand that they give up the contents of the little black book of Villains, or suffer the consequences. It’s For the Greater Good, the anti-hero insists as they tie the Villain Wrangler to a pillar.

The Villain Wrangler: “You complete idiot, put me back before someone figures out that I’m missing.”

Anti-hero: “…excuse me?”

The Villain Wrangler: “Ugh, do I have to spell this out for you? Do you actually want your secret base to be wiped off the map? With us in it? Sugarsticks, how long has it been? If they get suspicious, they check in, and then if I miss a check-in, they tend to come barging into wherever I am just to prove that they can, even if they figure out that they’re not being threatened by proxy. Suffice to say, Auntie Muriel really regretted throwing my phone into the pool when she strenuously objected to me answering it during family time. If they think for even one moment that I’ve given them up, they won’t hesitate to obliterate both of us from their potential misery. You do know some of the people in my book have like missiles and djinni and elemental forces at their disposal, right?”

Anti-hero: “Wait, what? I thought they trusted you?!”

The Villain Wrangler: “Trust is such a strong word!”

Villain: “Indeed.”

Anti-hero: “Wait, wha-” <slumps over, dart sticking out of neck>

The Villain Wrangler: “Thanks. I thought they were going to hurt me.”

Villain: “You did well. You kept them distracted, and gave us time to follow your signal.” <cuts Villain Wrangler free>

The Villain Wrangler: <rubbing circulation back into limbs> “Yeah well, you know me, I do whatever I have to. So I’ll see you Wednesday at four at St Martha’s? I’ve got an 8yo burns unit patient recovering from her latest batch of skin grafts who could really use a pep talk.”

Villain: “… of course. Yes… I… yes.”

The Villain Wrangler: “I just think you could really reach her, you know?”

Villain: <unconsciously runs fingers over mask> “I… yes, but, what should I say?”

The Villain Wrangler: “Whatever advice you think you could have used the most just after.”

Villain: <hoists Anti-hero over shoulder almost absently> “….yes.”

The Villain Wrangler wasn’t lying to the Anti-hero. They know that the more ruthless villains would not hesitate if they thought for one second that the Anti-hero would betray them.

But this is not the first time the Villain Wrangler has gone to extreme lengths to protect their identities.

Trust is a strong word. The Villain Wrangler earned it, and is terrified by what it could mean.

[weezley]

My first official deadpool headcanon is this. This this this.

[fireandwonder]

Okay but this whole concept actually makes a lot of sense, because villains are a lot more likely to be disfigured/disabled/use adaptive devices (bc ableist tropes), so of course, say, a child amputee is going to be more interested in the villain with a robot arm who almost destroyed New York than the heroes that took him down.

Also, imagine one of the kids gets better, and a few years down the line becomes a villain themself, except their crimes are things like smuggling chemo drugs across the border for families that can’t afford treatment, or stealing from corrupt businessmen to make donations to underfunded hospitals (idk this turned into a Leverage AU or something) and every time the heroes encounter her, they’re like “oh no. she’s getting away. curses. welp, nothing we can do.” Though it isn’t that she can’t take them on; bc of course once the villain from way back when found out what she was up to, he started helping/training her. 

“I thought they just hired someone to dress up and pretend to be you,” she says, amazed, when he reveals himself. “I didn’t think they actually got the real you!”

Every year the Villain Wrangler gets a very expensive gift basket from the pair.

[kelssiel]

and for the kids who don’t get better the villains are there too, they show up to every funeral, they bear too small coffins on their shoulders and the heroes stand aside

they are fierce with grieving families assuring them that their child will not be forgotten, and they don’t balk at negative emotions, they don’t tell people to be strong or “celebrate their child’s life,” because these parents have every right to their grief and anger

and the lost children are never forgotten. flowers appear on graves during birthdays and anniversaries, heroes find pictures of those kids and they carefully take them down and ensure they’re delivered to the villain’s cell, and a few villains can be seen with friendship bracelets wrapped around their wrists the cops have learned not to try and take them off

[beka-tiddalik]

And then one day, one of the evil geniuses who happens to specialise in inducing bizarre genetic mutations meets a young fan who was born with a rare genetic disorder that is slowly killing them, and realises that they can help.

Another, who created their own exosuit, talks to a young fan and suddenly understands how much the technology that they have built for themselves could revolutionise quality of life for people with muscular dystrophy, or paraplegia, or other disorders that confine people to wheelchairs with little mobility.

A third thinks of a way that their nanobots could be used to detect and remove cancer cells when their fan, who had been in remission, writes to say that the doctors have found a new metastasizing tumour.

Then shortly after, an evil genius specialising in cloning is contacted by an old colleague asking if a suitable heart couldn’t be grown for their young fan with a congenital heart condition who needs a donor.

Suddenly, a pattern of villains offering (and marketing) their insights and resources to improve medical science starts to arise. Many who had previously been operating on society’s fringes are shocked to receive public accolades, research grants and job offers from major companies because of their work.

A grassroots movement arises advocating for imprisoned villains with appropriate qualifications and/or experience to have access to resources to conduct research for the public good. The Second Chance Rehabilitation Project launches.

(It is an open secret that only people who have been vetted by the Villain Wrangler are allowed to join, because the Villain Wrangler has by now a meticulously set up method and intelligence network to run background checks and character references through ensure that none of the children wishing to meet their role models get hurt.)

Being able to say that one is involved with the Project begins to look really good in parole hearings. The Villains involved perform their own quality checks on one another, because if one of their kids got hurt, then all of their kids could potentially lose out, and the ones that are serious about the Project are not having that. (Also, the ability to collaborate with other geniuses is the most interesting thing to happen to most of them since losing to various heroes, and most consider the intellectual stimulation to be worth putting up with the ridiculous egoes and inevitable personality clashes that arise.)

Reformed Villains come out of the woodwork to advocate about better mental healthcare, and support systems. Savvy universities and private labs quietly take their advice, setting up better mental health supports and laboratory safety standards to prevent the Brain Drain caused by losing their less stable scientists to the Costumes.

The Villain Wrangler watches all of this develop with a smile.

Their plan succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

[magicalgirlpropaganda]

The whole self love thing is good and all but some people can’t fathom being loved. They can’t imagine there being anything good about them. So they can’t simply just stop doing unhealthy things, there’s a process.

[sandersstudies]

Before self love you have to invoke self tolerance and self neutrality.

[sandersstudies]

If you can’t say “I love my body!” say “my body gets me from place to place.”

If you can’t say “I’m beautiful,” begin by shutting down the “I’m ugly” thoughts and saying “I’m a person.”

If you can’t say “I’m valuable” begun by shutting down the “I’m worthless” thoughts and say “all people deserve basic respect, and I’m a person.”

If you can’t say “I’m important,” or “I’m kind” say “I am the one who waters my plant every week” or “I am the one who tips the kind barista down the street” or “I am the one who makes sure my dog does not eat plastic” or “I am the one who leaves long comments on people’s fan fictions.”

[closetedguyy]

I’ve genuinely never seen a way to bridge the gap, especially body-wise. There’s loads about self-confidence and loving your body EVERYWHERE, but no one really explains how to get there. It’s great to have the former, but I’m glad this info is out there.

[ahrima-deactivated20240728]

executive dysfunction be like *wants to do something* *doesnt do it* *feels bad* *wants to do something* *doesnt do it* *feels bad* *wants to do something* *doesnt do it* *feels ba

[o-v-e-r-w-h-e-l-m-e-d]

I recently learnt that executive dysfunction can be broken down into two main categories: anxiety that your attempt won’t be satisfactory, or confusion about where to start or how to break it down into steps. As much as we feel bad about it, it’s extremely important to remember that it is NOT laziness and we in fact shouldn’t feel bad.

[ahrima-deactivated20240728]

hey reblog this instead

[memewhore]

[afuasthoughts]

I can't stop laughing omg😭😭😭😭😭😭

[justchelseaaaa-deactivated20221]

😂😂

[quadradaz]

Sound on

[bunabi]

They're brainstorming anti-spice legislation in the notes 💀

[themadprideprofessor]

They really are brainstorming away down there. However, I like this note, so I’ll share it. 

“lightcycler:

Anyone even mentioning why you shouldn't do this, has likely stolen food before. There is not a single person alive in their right mind that would risk a food allergy was someone else's meal. Y'all are just trying to justify what you did in the past.”

[ankaa-avarshina]

Wait, hold up. There are actually people out there saying you shouldn't put allergens in YOUR food (even if YOU are not allergic to them) because SOMEONE ELSE may have a reaction and DIE from eating YOUR food??? Without YOUR PERMISSION?!?! Am I getting this right!?!?

[cdelphiki]

as someone with food allergies, can confirm I have never and would never steal someone else's food and risk an allergic reaction. Half the time I won't even eat food made specifically for me if I can't confirm it doesn't contain said allergens. Spice away, friends. Defend your food.

As someone who puts notes upon notes on MY tub of butter or mayo or whatever I keep in the fridge at work and STILL gets BREADCRUMBS in MY tubs from assholes putting a glutened up knife in MY CLEARLY MARKED 'GLUTEN FREE DONT USE ON REGULAR BREAD' jars, I support the ghost pepper lunches. Maybe I should spice up my mayo.

[colt-kun]

Every person I have ever known with food allergies knows this stupid debate and has agreed on this front: we don't take other people's food. Ever. Even if it's a dish that doesn't normally have X, we can't be sure the prep area wasn't contaminated. Stop using us as the crutch of your argument to justify your theft.

Enjoy your ghost peppered justice.

[defilerwyrm]

What you need to understand about people who steal their coworkers' lunches is that they do it for a power trip, and that is why they deserve to get ghost peppered or worse.

I always think back to a coworker from a previous job who had a similar experience at a prior job of his own.

He had dietary restrictions that meant he had to make his own food. Someone kept stealing his lunch. He made his name label bigger. They kept doing it. Sometimes they'd just eat half of his lunch and put the other half back. Sometimes his name label was removed. It was 100% on purpose. He complained to HR/management. Memos went out. It kept happening. He changed where in the fridge he stored his lunch. It kept happening. This fuckface was determined.

So he took matters indy his own hands. One day he made chili, portioned out some for lunch, and added most of a bottle of laxative.

Sure enough, his lunch was stolen again that day. He just waited.

About half an hour after he found his Tupperware bowl empty, the lady in the desk across from his, facing him, suddenly looked up with a D8> expression, leapt to her feet, threw her headset down, and sprinted for the ladies' room.

Only she didn't make it there in time.

She did not come back to work the next day. Or at all, in fact.

Don't whine at me that what he did was in any conceivable way wrong. Office food pirates deserve to get got.

[charlataninred]

Love how tumblr has its own folk stories. Yeah the God of Arepo we’ve all heard the story and we all still cry about it. Yeah that one about the woman locked up for centuries finally getting free. That one about the witch who would marry anyone who could get her house key from her cat and it’s revealed she IS the cat after the narrator befriends the cat.

[meraarts]

Might I add:

The defeat of the wizard who made people choose how they’d be to be executed

The woman who raised the changeling alongside her biological child

The human who died of radiation poisoning after repairing the spaceship

[eater-of-hopes-and-dreams]

The adventures of a space roomba

Cinderella finding Araura (and falling in love)

I don’t know a snappy description but the my nemesis cynthia story certainly lives in my head

[blitzlowin]

hilariously, these are almost all in my fic tag. so, a compiled list from the notes (and some extras):

The God of Arepo (graphic novel 1 / 2 / 3) (ebook)

The Monster of Sentan

The Witch’s Cat

Raise Both Children

Stabby the Roomba (honorable mention)

Cinderella Marries the Prince (comic)

My Arch Nemesis Cynthia

Pirates and Mermaid

Eindred and the Witch

The Demon King

The Cornerwitch

Grandmother Beetroot

Apocalypse Daycare Worker

Grandmother Accidentally Summons a Demon

New Year Saga

A Story About Changelings

Ranger in the King’s Forest

The Difference Between a Hare and a Rabbit

Goblin Men (Canines)

[charlataninred]

I am in love with you /p

[nevereacheaven]

another changeling story

[curlicuecal]

Whenever I take a long car ride I end up exhausted afterwards, and I’m always like “why am I so tired? I was just sitting around doing nothing all day.”

But the answer, it turns out, is I was doing something. Riding in a car jars your body in many directions and requires constant microadjustments of your muscles just to stay in place and hold your normal posture. Because you’re inside the car, inside the situation, it’s easy not to notice all the extra work you’re doing just to maintain the status quo.

There’s all sorts of type of work that we think of as “free” that require spending energy: concentrating, making decisions, managing anxiety, maintaining hypervigilance in an unfriendly environment, dealing with stereotype threat, processing a lot of sensory input, repairing skin cells damaged sun exposure, trying to stay warm in a cold room.

The next time you think you’re tired from “nothing”, consider instead that you’re probably in situation where you’re doing a lot of unnoticed extra work just to stay in place.

[ceekari]

opening my body’s task manager to see what’s taking up all my cpu

[mikkeneko]

Also, just to add: we should not lose sight of the fact that the mammalian brain is a ridiculously  energy-hungry organ. A human brain makes up 2% of the body’s weight and volume and 20% of its caloric requirement. Thinking is physical work.

[hasufin]

Competitive chess players carb-load before tournaments. And lose weight in the process.

[headspace-hotel]

It took me an embarrassing amount of time to realize that thinking physically takes up energy. I would be like “why don’t i have energy I’ve been sitting inside studying all day” ma'am it’s because the phrasings, evidences and vocabularies in your brain are eating the energy

[jabberwockypie]

If I’ve been really focused on crafting or something, there will invariably come a point where my brain is just like “Warning! Warning! Out of Energy!”.

Getting a snack usually fixes it.

[kipplekipple]

I get post-exertional malaise from just… Going places. I sit in a wheelchair, I take one bus and spend some time in a different building… And when I get home, I’m sick.

This post helped a little cause I always feel bad about it.