Hey all I'm back at it again cause what else am I gonna do with my spare time 🤷
Guess the main objective of this is to find some new interesting people to make a lasting bond with and maybe even more if things come to that, although I am straight so if any dudes are replying to this thinking I am of the gay variety you're barking up the wrong tree unless you wanna be friends cause that's cool still.
So to start this off I've been told I look either constantly drunk, pissed or high so that should give you an idea of what you're in for, I mean to a degree it's true.
Anyway about me, so gonna say I ain't into anime in the slightest of regards, just not my forte. I prefer comedies and drama types of shows.
I'm also into video and board games, photography, writing and music. Mostly music cause who tf wants to be left in silence with their own thoughts only to discover how fucked they are, that's just not a vibe.
For some reason I just exhude chaos energy so if you're alright with seeing "I did something dumb" pop up in your inbox then in your dude 😎
Don't really know what else to put, kinda hard to advertise yourself when you ain't got a clue how to make yourself sound interesting.
Anyway if you wanna message me then please for the love of god don't just put "hey" or something along those lines, make it interesting. Like I'm 23, my back ain't wait it used to be so it can't be carrying those dry ass conversations.
So to end it, have a great day/evening and hope to speak to you all soon :)

• State/Country of Residence: VA
• URM? (Y/N): N
• Year in School: Graduated 2023
• Undergraduate Major(s)/Minor(s): Biology Major, CS Minor
• Cumulative GPA: 3.63
• MCAT Score(s): 513
• Research Experience: Research lab (250 hours, no pub)
• Publications/Abstracts/Posters (include how you were credited e.g. first author, second author, etc.): Co-author (I guess second?) of case study
• Clinical Experience (paid or volunteer): 1800 hours done in undergrad, starting full time medical assistant
• Physician Shadowing: 150 hours Hem/Onc and surgery
• Other Extracurricular Activities: United2Heal club and lifting
• Other Employment History: Another medical assistant job
• Immediate family members in medicine? (Y/N): N
• Medical School List:

Virginia schools: EVMS, VCU, VT, UVA
Other schools: Einstein, BU, Creighton, Drexel, Emory, GW, Georgetown, Indiana, Temple, Mayo (I know, I know), Georgia Augusta, MC Wisconsin, Michigan state U, NYMC, UofVermont, Rush, Saint Louis, Thomas Jeff U, Tufts, Tulane, UCSD, UMich, UMinn, UPitt, Wake Forest, Wayne
I understand my gpa is a bit low, I tried to apply to mostly low-mid tier schools. Any recommendations of additions or removals?

Hello! Ik pride is only about 6 hrs tonight, so is there anything at a local gay bar (if there is one, I assume there must be in kzoo lol!) or other spots as a pre-celebration thing my date and I could go to? ☺️

So, we already discussed what DC was doing to match the tenor of the early years of the War on Terror: A grim, smarter-than-it-thinks miniseries full of gratuitous rape that was meant to take the shine off the Silver Age by showing the darker side of its greatest heroes. Marvel, on the other hand, was trying to find a way to capture the zeitgeist of a post-9/11 era of existential threats, constant government surveillance, and the idea that if you weren’t with America, you were against it. A Captain America storyline saw Cap wrestle with the very concept of Guantanamo Bay; like any story arc that involves Cap doubting whether America lives up to its ideals, this made certain conservatives pissy, to the point that bad movie cataloguer Michael Medved wrote an entire article asking if Cap was a traitor. Avengers Disassembled briefly saw the Avengers face down their demons, as the Scarlet Witch goes crazy (again) and starts killing team members, her reality manipulations causing fault lines to form among Marvel’s greatest superteam. But there hadn’t yet been a storyline that would tie the entire Marvel Universe together with the burning question, “Which side are you on?”
Yeah, it’s got nothing to do with the Sokovia Accords. We’d be a lot better off if it did.
Part 1: Mark Millar’s March to the C-Word
Content Warning: Sexual assault. None of this is germane to the topic of the drama, so feel free to skip ahead to Part 1.5 if you don’t want to deal with this. Tl;dr: Mark Millar, the writer of the event, has a near pathological need to be a 3edgy5u contrarian.
Every comics crossover is ultimately a chance for one creative in the stable to shine or falter. The editors pick a writer who has turned out dependable work and give them a chance to try to alter the status quo but good. And for Civil War, Marvel’s EiC Joe Quesada decided the best person to lead the charge was Ultimates writer Mark Millar.
But who is Millar? Well, we could say “edgelord” and leave it at that, but we’re trying to dig deeper. Millar came up in comics alongside fellow Scot Grant Morrison, long before Morrison said the only time they want to bump into Millar on the streets of Glasgow is while going at 100 miles per hour. This antipathy is alleged to have stemmed from Millar copping several ideas from Morrison that went into Superman: Red Son. But after getting a start on Superman Adventures and as a cowriter on parts of Morrison’s JLA run, Millar soon branched out to WildStorm, where he took over The Authority from departing creatowritesex pest Warren Ellis.
The reason I bring up Red Son (for those non-geeks, an alternative universe comic premised on “What if Superman’s rocket had landed in Soviet Russia?”) is to frame a constant refrain about Mark Millar. He has good high-concept ideas… which often get trammeled up in an almost Pavlovian urge to shock, disturb, and/or titillate the reader. For instance, in The Authority, Ellis had introduced Apollo and Midnighter, two close companions who just happened to share the rough power sets and demeanors of Superman and Batman, with a few tweaks. Then he revealed they were boyfriends, which was a pretty bold move for a late Nineties comic book full of widescreen action and lovingly-rendered eviscerations.
In Millar’s first arc on the title, centered on a villainous Jack Kirby clone sending out a team of baddies who totally aren’t the Avengers, Apollo is subdued and is strongly implied to have been raped by someone who’s not Captain America. Apollo gets revenge by destroying EvilCap’s spinal column with his laser vision, then leaving him to the tender mercies of Midnighter, who is strongly implied to have sodomized him with a jackhammer.
In case you can’t tell, Millar loved him some rape. And it kept showing up in his creator-owned titles as well, all of which were basically written as Hollywood pitch docs. Wanted asks the question, “What if the supervillains won and secretly ruled the world from behind the scenes?” Well, an Eminem clone would take the opportunity to step into his dead villainous dad’s shoes and commit a lot of rape (yeah, there’s a reason the movie version replaced this with basically the Euthanatos from Mage: the Ascension getting orders from a magic loom). Chosen asks the question, “What if Jesus were born today?” Well, in a blatantly obvious twist, it turns out he’s actually the Antichrist, and part of his journey into realizing his evil nature involves being raped by all the demons of Hell.
It’s not that Millar can’t write innocent or restrained; he got started on the Superman: the Animated Series comic spin-off, and some of his titles such as Huck and Starlight have been praised for being relatively wholesome (keep in mind Huck is basically “What if Superman was Forrest Gump?” when I say “relatively”). And, as mentioned above, his works are made for high-concept log lines. You might recognize some of his various pitch docs: Kick-Ass, The Secret Service (source for the Kingsman movies), and, as mentioned above, Wanted. It’s just there’s this unctuous contrarian streak to a lot of his titles, a tendency to focus on venality, grotesquerie, and sodomy, with an air of pop culture edge. This also leaked into his image outside of his writing, with comments like “Games are for pedos” and ventures like the creator-owned comics periodical CLiNT (yes, the kerning is intentional). This streak continues to this day, as The Magic Order, a title that emerged from his deal with Netflix, features a magical escapologist who, she feels it very important to tell the reader in a direct monologue, escaped her own abortion. Bottom line, Millar has a sense of vision, but it’s betrayed at times by this reflexive desire to prove he’s smarter than the reader, to rub your face in the contradictions and make you a party to the artifice of it all. Usually with a dash of rape.
But at Marvel, Millar was riding the lightning of the Ultimate Universe. His Ultimates title was drawing on the wide-screen action image of JLA and The Authority, creating the cinematic language that would come to define the MCU. The choice to fantasy cast Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury is why we have Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. He also painted the Hulk as a cannibalistic monster, cemented Hank Pym’s reputation as a wifebeater, and gave us Captain America yelling “Surrender? Do you think this A on my head stands for France?”, so let’s just keep that in perspective.
But the Ultimate Universe was its own pocket universe. Millar was being tapped to write a story for Earth-616, the main Marvel Universe. And he had a vision:

“I opted instead for making the superhero dilemma something a little different. People thought they were dangerous, but they did not want a ban. What they wanted was superheroes paid by the federal government like cops and open to the same kind of scrutiny. It was the perfect solution and nobody, as far as I'm aware, has done this before.”

Yeah. About that.
Part 1.5: What Has Come Before
Ultimately, the crux of Civil War is something that has been explored lightly in the past at Marvel: The idea that, instead of being unlicensed vigilantes who decide the best solution of societal issues is to beat up assholes in spandex, superheroes become licensed government officers that register their true identities with Uncle Sam and solve societal issues by beating up assholes in spandex. In Marvel’s history, it hasn’t gone well. The reality of government liaisons to superhero bodies has ranged from Valerie Cooper, who worked with government mutant team X-Factor but still found herself backing the genocidal Sentinel program as a big “Yeah, but what if…?”, to Henry Peter Gyrich, an inflamed obstructionist asshole who had to be held back from flipping a switch that would depower every superhuman individual on Earth. The idea of heroes themselves bristling against a government they disagreed with had a long history, as there was a period where Steve Rogers quit being Captain America, and the government had to find a replacement while he rode around on a motorcycle in a surprisingly slutty costume. But the idea of registering with the government has usually ended up on the “No” side due to one big cohort at Marvel: Mutants.
Ever since the days of Chris Claremont, a general conceit of the Marvel Universe is that mutants are a stand-in for your minority group of choice. Hated and feared, born different and feeling alienated, painted as an existential menace and threat to the status quo. Of course, it’s long been pointed out that the metaphor breaks down on the general grounds that, say, gays can’t shoot laser beams out of their eyes. I have my thoughts on that which I might share in the comments if someone pokes me hard enough, but it’s been general editorial consensus that people with powers, especially those of persecuted minorities, being compelled to share their true names, addresses, and natures with the federal government is a “That train’s never late!” move. Not only that, it’s a slippery slope. The classic X-Men story “Days of Future Past” is entirely premised on the idea that a government program of genocidal robots built to wipe out mutants will eventually run out of mutants… and then start turning on humans who could give birth to mutants, and then it’s Skynet all over again.
Another running meme in the Marvel Universe is that the X-Men usually exist in a Schrodinger’s cat situation with the rest of the superhero universe, both coexisting and in their own worlds. Yes, mutants have served on the Avengers, and yes, Thor intervened when the Morlocks were nearly wiped out in the sewers under New York. But Captain America, for all his proud statements of living up to America’s ideals, has a habit of missing the plot whenever the US government (or Canada, seat of all the Marvel Universe’s governmental evils - no, really) decides it’s Genocide O’Clock. And when the mutant nation of Genosha was completely wiped out by said murder robots, the Avengers seemed to be all “New phone who dis?” But when the two do intersect, there’s usually support for the mutants. One story in Fantastic Four had Reed Richards - Mr. Fantastic, stretchy man, greatest genius in the Marvel Universe, guy who’s probably being cucked by a fish-man - get tapped by the US government to make a device that detects mutants and other people with powers. He does… and then uses it to show why the government probably doesn’t want it, as it pings several members of Congress as having just enough genetic variation to qualify as “mutants,” even if they don’t have powers.
All in all, while the argument has some merit, for years, Marvel has come down on the position that asking people with powers to reveal their identities to the federal government is something that could go really bad if somebody with a hate-on for superheroes ends up in power. Something that would never happen oh yeah it totally did. But before it all went to Hell, Civil War at least gave an opportunity to reexamine the concept and see if it had merit.
It might have. But not with this argument.
Part 1.75: What Else Has Happened Before?
And now, some things that will ultimately give context for what happens next:

• In the pages of Thor, all of Asgard eventually runs headlong into Ragnarok. Thor and the rest of the Asgardians give their lives to save the earth, taking Thor off the board… for now.
• As mentioned above, the Avengers experience a critical fault due to Wanda going batshit (a common lament). With Avengers Mansion destroyed and the team at odds, it is eventually reunited under Tony Stark, who put the Avengers up in a tower he built.
• Nick Fury has vanished due to doing some skullduggery in the pages of the miniseries Secret War (no, not Secret Wars, this is different). Acting head of SHIELD, the all-purpose super spy squad of Marvel, is Maria Hill, who can’t seem to draw her pistol without shooting herself in the foot.
• Due to Wanda continuing to go batshit, the House of M crossover event ends with her casting a spell: “No more mutants.” While the damage is staunched, Earth-616’s population of mutants (which was recently established to be somewhere around 16 million) is reduced to 200, the rest being depowered or dying as a result of being depowered. This was because, as Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada said, the idea of mutants being everywhere made them “boring.” The fact that mutants were starting to be written less as a minority stand-in and more as an actual minority group with fashion, culture, music, and neighborhoods might have had something to do with that. From the wake of this event emerges Sally Floyd, a journalist whose own mutant daughter died before the mass depowering due to having a power that was more curse than blessing. The series Generation M follows her as the viewpoint character as she investigates the stories of former mutants.

Part 2: Connecticut Can’t Catch a Break
The big kick-off for Civil War involves the New Warriors, a team of teen heroes who have, as of a recently canceled series, been trying to make it big as reality TV stars. They get in a fight with a bunch of villains in the small town of Stamford, CT, when exploding villain Nitro goes positively nuclear, resulting in a blast much bigger than any he’s generated. [1] Not only does this mostly wipe out the New Warriors (save for kinetic energy-absorbing goofball Speedball), but it also happens to hit a nearby school. In the end, 612 people are dead, many of them children, and the nation wants answers.
With public opinion turning against the New Warriors, former member Hindsight starts leaking secret identities to get the heat off his back. This only makes things worse. Secret identities have only recently stopped being a thing for some heroes: Captain America only came out a few years ago, it was only recently that Tony Stark stopped pretending Iron Man was his bodyguard, and Daredevil was almost outed in the pages of his book. But something needs to be done, so Tony helps work with Congress to pass the Super Human Registration Act, which requires that all people with powers or working as vigilantes register their identities with the government to receive training and oversight. If you don’t? Believe it or not, jail, right away.
Fault lines quickly develop in the superhero community. While Tony is leading the “pro” side, alongside Reed Richards (yeah, we’ll get to that), Captain America, usually painted as the embodiment of the dream of America despite its compromised history and many sins, is against it. He’s lived through Richard Nixon being a secret fascist and shooting himself in the head after being fingered as mastermind of a vast criminal conspiracy (yes, that happened ); he knows how badly this could go in the wrong hands. Needless to say, Maria Hill and SHIELD hear his concerns, understand his problems with it, and are willing to iron out the kinks through reasoned debate.
Just kidding. Before the law has even been signed, Maria sics SHIELD’s elite Cape-Killers squad on Cap with the intent of getting him behind bars. Cap swiftly goes underground and starts his own group of anti-registration superheroes.
The fight continues for the next few issues. Spider-Man, caught in the middle, reveals himself to be Peter Parker at a press conference, declaring his support for the SHRA. Doctor Strange is so powerful that he tells the government to fuck off, and somehow, Maria Hill doesn’t decide to go charging up his asshole. Ben Grimm, the ever-loving blue-eyed Thing, is so sick of all the conflict he goes to France. But things are still at a stalemate, and while SHIELD may be acting like a bunch of merry assholes, it seems like there’s a debate to be had that could still be resolved reasonably… except for one key factor.
Part 3: I Fought the Law, and the Law… Huh?
No one ever really defined what the Super Human Registration Act, the legislation that tore the Marvel Universe’s superhero community asunder, did. Every book that had an issue that touched on the event seemed to have a different understanding of its principles, as well as just how fascist it might be in the long run. In the pages of She-Hulk, attorney Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk argues the law is a net good, as it gives heroes the backing and resources they need to not have to go it alone, while also having some measure of government oversight. In the pages of Civil War Frontline (oh, and we’ll get back to Civil War Frontline, don’t you worry), Wonder Man is told by the government that he needs to do a job for them, and if he refuses, well, one thousand years dungeon.
Which then leads into the other issue behind the SHRA. Namely, that everyone in favor was either starting to swing towards fascism or embracing bootlicking as a lifestyle, not a kink. In the pages of Amazing Spider-Man, Peter asks Reed Richards, who has always bucked authority and once stopped the US government from doing something just like this with mutants, why he’s pro-registration. Reed then reveals that an uncle who has never been mentioned before was called before HUAC; he refused to name names, his career was ruined, and he killed himself. From this, Reed - the man who stole a rocketship because the government said “no” to his planned space voyage - has learned that the government is always right, especially when they could step on your neck (this was received so badly that a later comic revealed he’d actually borrowed the concept of psychohistory from Asimov’s Foundation, he’d made it work somehow, and his calculations showed that this was the only way to avoid a greater disaster). This comic also revealed that people who were in violation of the SHRA were sent to a literal extradimensional Gitmo, a prison in the Negative Zone that later comics would reveal was overseen by… Captain Marvel. No, not that one. No, not that one. The Kree superhero Captain Mar-Vell, who had famously died of cancer decades before. How did he come back from the dead? Fuck if we know.
This “the law says what you want it to say” approach spread across various books and miniseries meant to cross over into the event. In the pages of a crossover mini between the Runaways and the Young Avengers, this meant SHIELD Cape-Killer squads were using lethal force against teenagers. The second-to-last issue of the mini ends with several members of both teams in extradimensional Gitmo, about to be dissected by a guy who’s horny for torture. The fact that all the captive heroes were the queer members of both teams? Total coincidence. Honestly.
So, it quickly becomes clear that the editorial control on this event is less than cohesive. There are different ideas all over as to what the SHRA does, and some of those ideas are tacking pretty fashy. But if the law is being painted as that bad, then clearly, there must be some greater statement of freedom vs. security. Maybe Millar’s really painting a subversive picture of what happens when you trade liberty for control, right?
Part 4: Why Do You Hate the Good Thing?
After the publication of Civil War #3, Millar would say in an interview he was actually pro-registration. I can’t find that interview, but here’s a similar sentiment shared years later:

“Weirdly, some of the other writers would often make Tony the bad guy, which I thought was a strange choice because I was actually on Tony’s side... In the real world, if somebody had superpowers, I’d like them to be registered in the same way that somebody who has a gun has to carry a license. But a gun can kill several people while a superhero can kill several thousands of people, so on a pragmatic level I’m 100% on Tony’s side. Maybe on a romantic level, Cap’s position makes sense but I don’t think anybody in the real world would really want that."”

And again, here’s the thing: He’s not entirely wrong. As said above, the idea of civil liberties for all and “free to me you and me” falls down a little when one of your neighbors can blow up a city block by thinking real hard. But Millar is fighting against years of ideological inertia in the Marvel Universe, as well as painting Captain America, the guy who has always embodied the ideal of a righteous, just America, as in the wrong. He needs to make one hell of an argument.
So here’s what happens in the pages of Civil War #3 to sell the audience on the SHRA:

• Thor comes back from the dead… and he’s on Tony’s side! Well, not really. Tony and Reed both realized that having one of the most beloved gods of the Marvel Universe come out on their side would be a big win… if only he wasn’t dead. So, they cloned him. Or rather, they T-800’d him, putting cloned divine flesh on a robot skeleton. But I’m sure he’s perfectly under control, and - oh, he just killed Goliath. In the next issue, one of Marvel’s black male heroes, frozen at the size of a small townhouse in death, will be buried in a gigantic ditch, wrapped in a tarp and chains. You’d think Hank Pym could grow a large enough coffin, at least.
• With Cap and the anti-registration side escaping once again, Tony decides he needs a dedicated team that can track down fugitive superhumans. To do so, he creates a new version of the Thunderbolts, a concept long associated with “villains acting like heroes.” And who does he put on this team? Venom, the Spider-Man villain who eats people’s brains; Bullseye, the Daredevil villain who will kill anyone for the lulz; and Norman Osborn, a.k.a. The Green Goblin, who famously murdered Spider-Man’s girlfriend Gwen Stacy.

Again. Tony’s in the right. The SHRA is good.
Part 5: Yadda, Yadda, Yadda
The next few issues of Civil War might best be described as “They fight, and fight, and fight and fight and fight.” The anti-registration side picks up The Punisher, Marvel’s most avowed murderer of criminals - and Cap is somewhat shocked but not entirely surprised when two minor villains join the anti-registration side and Frank promptly kills them on sight. Spider-Man starts realizing things are weird on the pro-reg side and defects, after he has set his entire life on fire. The X-Men have continued to stay out of this whole mess. In the lead-up, Emma Frost called Tony out on the Avengers’ complete absence when Genosha got nuked. Later, Carol Danvers (then Ms. Marvel, now Captain Marvel) will show up at the Xavier School to pitch the SHRA just after a massive terrorist attack kills dozens of students. Emma responds by telepathically dogwalking her.
By the final issue of the miniseries, the SHRA has expanded out into the Fifty States Initiative, wherein each state gets its own superteam. There’s a big final battle, Hercules kills Robo-Thor, and Cap nearly takes out Tony, only to be stopped by… the heroes of 9/11. No shit, Captain America is subdued by cops, firefighters, and paramedics. And when that happens, Cap finally takes a look around, realizes their big ideological street brawl has resulted in collateral damage, and surrenders. The SHRA wins, though Tony feels a little bad about it. Cap is ready to stand trial and to argue that, while he may have done something wrong, he did it for the right reasons.
Once again: Yeah. About that.
Part 6: MySpace Tom Didn’t Die For This
Running alongside Civil War is Civil War Frontline, a street-level book written by Paul Jenkins that managed to capture this world-breaking conflict through the eyes of people on the street. Though it has side stories, its main leads are Ben Urich, Peter Parker’s journalist buddy at The Daily Bugle, and the aforementioned Sally Floyd. Throughout the series, they start to realize there’s a story underneath the SHRA, as if somebody is playing the angles.
Before we talk about that conclusion, let’s talk about a side story. Remember how we said part of the comics community saw Identity Crisis as a driven effort to make things less “wacky” and intentionally darken the DCU? Well, that same tonal approach led to one of the more laughable moments of a pretty laughable arc. See, despite the fact that, as established, it was Nitro who blew up Stamford, it’s Speedball, the only survivor of the New Warriors, that views himself as responsible and is held up as a scapegoat by the general public. In addition, the blast screwed up his powers. Now, he doesn’t absorb and reflect kinetic energy; rather, he generates energy based on pain. So, he builds himself a new, extreme outfit lined with 612 spikes, one for each person who died in Stamford. This will drive his crusade to make things right - not as Speedball… but as Penance.
It was so laughably DeviantArt “OC do not steal” that no one could take it seriously. Look what you did, you took a perfectly good goofball and gave him an emo streak. The turn is swiftly mocked in other Marvel books, and it’s eventually revealed that Speedball still had his original powerset and always intended to put Nitro in the Goofy Suit of Dark Inner Torment as punishment for his crimes. But this turn gives you a sense of the tone and heft Jenkins was bringing to the proceedings.
Anyway, back to the main plot. Ben and Sally follow the thread as Namor, as he is wont to do, declares war on the surface world after an Atlantean diplomat is shot. But it turns out the assassination was arranged by Norman Osborn, who decided it was better to beg forgiveness than ask permission and manipulated Atlantis into war so that Tony could have another piece of evidence for getting superhumans on a leash. And the two journalists deduce that, on some level, Tony had to know this would be an inevitable outcome of giving state backing to an unhinged mogul who dresses like a Power Rangers villain. Weighing what to do with this information, Ben and Sally, who are kind of sick of the collateral damage by this point, sit on it while they go in for an interview with Captain America, now in custody and willing to tell his side of the story.
And then. And then. The monologue. If you want a lesson in how to assassinate a character in 30 seconds or less, this monologue is a great example. Sally Floyd calls Captain America out as completely divorced from American values. Now, again, Captain America has long served as the beating liberal heart of the Marvel Universe. He has always represented an America that reckons with its legacy of things like internment camps, Manifest Destiny, and Jim Crow, in order to transcend these scars and embody the promise offered by Emma Lazarus’s New Colossus, carved on the side of the Statue of Liberty. Why is he out of touch with Americans at the dawn of the 21st century?
Well, he’s never heard of MySpace. [2] He doesn’t watch NASCAR. He doesn’t follow American Idol. There are pop culture moments that have aged like milk; this one had all the permanence of an ice cream cone in a blast furnace. But despite the inanity of Floyd’s argument - and trust me, there are fan edits dedicated to Cap pointing out how full of shit this argument is - it’s clear it represents something else. This is a post-9/11 world. Fuck civil liberties, we have a no-fly list and Gitmo, and if the American people really cared, they’d do something other than watch Simon Cowell read aspiring singers to filth. What does Captain America stand for in this moment of crisis?
Nothing. Because he just looks away from Sally Floyd. No doubt thinking, “Oh my God this bitch.” But to underline the argument in question, Sally storms out of the interview, Ben in tow. She still has that information on Norman Osborn’s false flag operation… and while she and Ben confront Tony on everything that went down, they decide the story should never see the light of day. Because they wouldn’t dare jeopardize the SHRA, because security is more important than the truth.
Oh. And then Cap gets shot. And dies. He totally dies (except he doesn’t but we’ll get to that). If ever there was an unintentional thesis statement for this event, running in the late stages of the Bush era, it would be this: “It’s better to trust that the powers that be who oversee the new America will keep you safe, even when they stage false flag operations, stick you in a gulag, and put their trust in monsters. All that civil liberty stuff was the old America. And the old America was hopeless. It wasn’t even on MySpace.”
Epilogue: Consequences Keep Consequencing
As you can tell from that last paragraph, a lot of the fan reception to Civil War likely had a lot to do with the period. This was the Bush era, a time where you were for America or against it. We were in the shadow of the Patriot Act, Gitmo, and widespread wiretaps, paranoid about what civil liberty we’d be asked to put on the pyre next in the name of Freedom. A story all about the warm, clenching fist of government control that tells you to ignore the collateral damage… well, it wasn’t great for the cultural moment.
The ideas of Civil War aren’t necessarily bad ones. I frame Cap as the liberal dream of what America could be, but there are good arguments to be made that America has never been that and Cap is just copium for liberals. His most recent title, Sentinel of Liberty, opens with Steve saying he is out of touch with the average American - not because he doesn’t watch NASCAR, but because he’s a WWII veteran who looks maybe 30 years old at most and whose best friends are all superheroes or spies. A narrative that has him on the wrong side of the issue and detonates his beliefs isn’t impossible, but it probably shouldn’t be one where people who got powers due to a fluke of birth or a radiation accident are told by the government, “Join with us or we’ll send supervillains after you.” Hell, as the Civil War movie proves, there is a way to tell a story about a superhero community torn in half by the idea of mandatory registration as government-controlled actors, and just why people would think that could be a bad idea (“Hey, remember when a good chunk of our intelligence apparatus turned out to be Nazi stay behinds?”).
But in the context of the era, and coupled with the execution, Civil War felt like a hard sell, and you could feel the thumb pressing on the scale every second while reading it. The moral center of the Marvel Universe is wrong, the winning side employs sadistic murderers and has an extradimensional Gitmo, and the writer is telling you that any sane individual would be on Team Green Goblin Employer.
So how did that all work out? Well…

• With Cap seemingly dead, shot by his brainwashed love interest Sharon Carter as part of a plot by the Red Skull, Bucky Barnes/the Winter Soldier becomes the new Cap. Only it turns out Steve wasn’t killed, but shot with a time bullet that Billy Pilgrims his ass. He eventually comes back.
• Thor comes back, finds out what Tony did, and beats his ass all the way across post-Katrina New Orleans.
• The Secret Invasion event happens next, which leads to Skrull infiltrators hitting everything (this is also the explanation for Captain Mar-Vell’s miraculous resurrection: He was a Skrull all along). With Tony caught with his pants down and Norman Osborn seeming to save the day, Norman - who has been losing his shit for some time - takes over the Initiative and forms his own fascist cabal, HAMMER. To try and stop Norman from learning everything on every hero ever, Tony goes on the run and actually starts deleting his own brain, which he then reassembles with a backup from before anyone even thought of the SHRA. The fact that getting rid of Tony’s “Oops I did a fascism” period came out alongside Iron Man hitting theaters is a coincidence, I’m sure.

As for Spider-Man? It might not shock you, but having a hero without the resources of Tony Stark out himself to the world carries liabilities. An assassin who tries to kill Peter instead hits Aunt May, and it appears she’ll die of her injuries. All this leads to One More Day… and if you thought the fans hated Civil War? Oh, BABY.
[1] This is eventually explored in the pages of Wolverine, of all books, as Wolverine decides maybe somebody should track down the person who actually killed hundreds of children. It’s revealed that Nitro was given power-boosting drugs by the CEO of Damage Control, Marvel’s designated “clean up after the super-battle” corporation, as a way of generating business. In a sign of how little this matters, Wolverine tells Maria Hill to her face that the person responsible for a mass casualty event is the pawn of a powerful conspiracy, and she basically says, “Not my problem.” Cobie Smulders must thank the gods that her Maria Hill is written as somebody with basic human decency.
[2] Hilariously, when Sally Floyd was brought back during Nick Spencer’s Captain America run because no one had piled enough dung on her corpse, this line was retconned to her asking him about Twitter. Given everything Elon’s been doing lately, we’ll see if that ages just as poorly.

So as some of you have seen, I came out to my husband, it's been shitty.
Then I had a friend say to me, "you've literally been dealing with trauma from men your entire life. Of course you're fucking fed up. You don't feel safe around men anymore."
And now I'm just wondering, am I actually gay? Or am I just afraid of men now because of the grooming at 14 and the gRape at 17 and then the constant sexual abuse from my first husband and the 40 year old stalker at 19 who threatened to break into my apartment and "take what he deserved" and the countless bar guests who would touch me without consent and hit on me and punish me by not paying me and verbally harassing me if I rejected them, and the manager who took advantage of the fact that he knew I was afraid to say no to men. Then on top of that being blamed for these things happening because I wasnt more careful, or I agreed to go out wiith a group of friends that included a man or two, daring to have a drink at a party, didn't shut down the manager who could get me fired in a right to work state at an establishment that was rampant with managestaff relations. "Just say no and don't let them/ report them/ etc" is a lot easier said than done when your mom raised you to believe that the only goal in life was to be sexually desirable to men. And then from a very young age being yelled at and harassed and called names and told im a tease and a bitch if I was a friend with a guy and then didn't want to sleep with them or date them. Having friendship and kindness revoked if I listened to the dread I felt when they tried to lay a hand on me. My own husband refusing to give me more emotional intimacy even when I told him I couldn't get in the mood for sex without it, and then him withholding any affection, even giving me the silent treatment when I refused him too many days in a row.
So like, I can't even trust my own feelings. I can't even know if I'm actually gay, or if I'm just bi/pan and can't feel safe around them anymore. I want to scream because when I try to articulate this to anyone I feel like I'm just being so overdramatic.
Sorry, rant over.

Looking for a group of adventurers to join a regular fortnightly in-person campaign in central London! About me 👋 • I’m Liam. 32. Scottish currently living in London. I'm a podcast producer and broadcast journalist. • Narrative focused role-play and challenging but balanced combat encounters are my speciality. I really love working with players to craft adventures around their characters. (I’m not a great puzzle master but I try every now and then!) • I’ve been working on a new campaign for a little while and I’m ready to unleash some players into the world! About the game 🎲 • Sunday afternoons from 1:30 to 5:30 in a bar in Soho from the 25th of June • I’m hoping to have a session zero prior to this (around the 20th and likely online) • I’m a pretty hands on DM and I love collaborating with players. I want all of my players to feel vital to the story of the world so happy to work with you on backstory and whatever else you need for the world. About you 🫵 • This is an inclusive game and all genders and sexualities are welcome and encouraged to come along. We're also playing in a gay bar so if that's an issue for you this group isn't right for you. • As this game will be taking place in a pub it will be an over 18s only group. • All experience level welcome, we're starting at level 1 so there will be room to grow and learn as a new player. • If you give me 1 page of backstory or motivation, I'll give you an uncommon magic item at level 1. • If you've ever wanted to try out a new build, something not optimised or more flavour than outright function, this could be the campaign for you! I'd love to have a really diverse cast of PCs. About the campaign 🐲 👑 ⚔️ • Our story will begin on the island nation of Lythoria. A long established kingdom that has maintained independence for generations. Lythoria’s unique strength comes from an alliance with the Bronze Dragons native to the island. This partnership has proven to be beneficial for both parties. It has strengthened the claim of the monarchy, boosted the military of the nation and provided protection for the dragon's natural habitat. • The PCs will begin at level 1, as new recruits to the Ashen Blade Stronghold. A clandestine organisation that trains Lythorian citizens to fulfil roles in the Queen’s court. Recruits gain entry into the organisation through lineage, nepotism or military/academic merit. Yet those with unique skill sets are often sought out to provide unique roles: a professional dancer could become a lady in waiting while also serving as an assassin or a musician could serve as a member of the court while also a bodyguard or spy. (We can have fun with this) • Session-0 will be around the 15-20th of June however I’ll work closely with you on establishing your character and provide further information once you’ve expressed interest in the game. • Player races, I’ll welcome anything from the ‘Fantastical Races’ listed in Monsters of the Multiverse, I can send you this full list if you’re interested. Eberron and Spelljammers races can be discussed but I’d probably lean away from Autognomes and/or Warforged.

https://youtu.be/aK6WUKO6IKk
https://youtu.be/b-4tPhGMbj4
In an SNL career full of highs, this may be Will Forte's magnum opus: two pieces that are completely different in tone yet linked thematically through great writing and performances. This is ingenius, and very rare for the last...20 years of SNL. Both of these sketches are absolutely hilarious, for different reasons (the quick paced absurdity of the commercial and the slow burning comic tension in the Bar sketch). This is the sort of clever, intelligent stuff I crave from SNL. Pure brilliance.

Looking for a group of adventurers to join a regular fortnightly in-person campaign in central London!
About me • I’m Liam. 32. Scottish currently living in London. I'm a podcast producer and broadcast journalist. • Narrative focused role-play and challenging but balanced combat encounters are my speciality. I really love working with players to craft adventures around their characters. (I’m not a great puzzle master but I try every now and then!) • I’ve been working on a new campaign for a little while and I’m ready to unleash some players into the world!
About the game • Sunday afternoons from 1:30 to 5:30 in a bar in Soho from the 25th of June • I’m hoping to have a session zero prior to this (around the 20th and likely online) • I’m a pretty hands on DM and I love collaborating with players. I want all of my players to feel vital to the story of the world so happy to work with you on backstory and whatever else you need for the world.
About you • This is an inclusive game and all genders and sexualities are welcome and encouraged to come along. We're also playing in a gay bar so if that's an issue for you this group isn't right for you. • As this game will be taking place in a pub it will be an over 18s only group. • All experience level welcome, we're starting at level 1 so there will be room to grow and learn as a new player. • If you give me 1 page of backstory or motivation, I'll give you an uncommon magic item at level 1. • If you've ever wanted to try out a new build, something not optimised or more flavour than outright function, this could be the campaign for you! I'd love to have a really diverse cast of PCs.
About the campaign • Our story will begin on the island nation of Lythoria. A long established kingdom that has maintained independence for generations. Lythoria’s unique strength comes from an alliance with the Bronze Dragons native to the island. This partnership has proven to be beneficial for both parties. It has strengthened the claim of the monarchy, boosted the military of the nation and provided protection for the dragon's natural habitat. • The PCs will begin at level 1, as new recruits to the Ashen Blade Stronghold. A clandestine organisation that trains Lythorian citizens to fulfil roles in the Queen’s court. Recruits gain entry into the organisation through lineage, nepotism or military/academic merit. Yet those with unique skill sets are often sought out to provide unique roles: a professional dancer could become a lady in waiting while also serving as an assassin or a musician could serve as a member of the court while also a bodyguard or spy. (We can have fun with this) • Session-0 will be around the 15-20th of June however I’ll work closely with you on establishing your character and provide further information once you’ve expressed interest in the game. • Player races, I’ll welcome anything from the ‘Fantastical Races’ listed in Monsters of the Multiverse, I can send you this full list if you’re interested. Eberron and Spelljammers races can be discussed but I’d probably lean away from Autognomes and/or Warforged.

I fully respect and fully support the significance behind gay pride; commemorating the Stonewall riots, demonstrating equal rights and celebrating the lgbt+ identity.
Though I don't think it resonates with or fully encompasses the experiences of every individual who is lgbt. There are plenty of kids and adults who feel alienated from society, friends and family because they're different. So I'm glad pride exists so it can resonate with some of those people and help them know that they're not alone.
Though for others like myself, I just feel more disconnected and alone. I went to a pride event last year and I'm sure some adults and kids especially would rather not see sparsely dressed men marching with their peers, where some are being led by a leashes around their necks and have a silicone balls gagged to their mouths.
I think it would speak more to people if there was more emphasis on intersectionality where people from different socioeconomic backgrounds can be highlighted and less so on sexual fetishes and generalised, blanket presumptions.
At pride (and even in most gay bars) most people are presumed to be a pop-head who has an undying love for lady gaga and Madonna, binges every season of Rupaul drag race (though not a bad show) and leans so far to the left they can't stand straight. It would be more inviting if they expanded the range of entertainment where performers represent different genres, styles and cultural backgrounds.
There should be more spoken word performers who have had unique and distinct experiences that may help inspire that kid or adult to become more comfortable with who they are. More emphasis on being inclusive to children and teens who have exceedingly higher suicide rates.
I'm not trying to rant, spose it's more of like a stream of consciousness of something that kind of bothers me. I'll reiterate I'm not saying these things to solely berate an event resonates with some people and gives them joy.
I just feel like the message behind pride has been become diluted with things that aren't as important or meaningful to people who really need it.
And while gay pride events strive for inclusivity, the unintended consequence can be the assumption and generalisation that a majority of gay people have homogenous interests and tastes, which is far from the truth and needs improvement.

so I'm a non-binary trans guy (he/him) and my current partner is non-binary trans masc (they/them). they've been on T a lot longer than I have, and we both pass but while we both enjoy feminine things, they're a lot more open with it. I kind of have a wardrobe of 'straight-passing' clothes that I wear for general day to day things so I don't draw attention to myself, then I have more flamboyant clothes for if I'm going to gay bars or whatever, then I have much more feminine clothes that I only really wear if I'm at a friend's place or a house party or at home or whatever. Most of my partner's clothes tend to be a lot more feminine-leaning or flamboyant, with soft colours or cute motifs like hello kitty or whatnot. I like it, they have a strong sense of style.
We have a little monthly routine where we'll go to a couple of gay bars and get burgers and get a bit drunk with some friends of ours, and it's always pretty fun. We go to the same burger place each time, and the routine is kind of comforting and stuff. One of the last times we went to get food, a couple of months back, I was queuing to order and they were sitting at the table, and a couple of guys came in and started queuing behind me. I heard them laughing and one of them said "what the fuck is that?" about my partner. They didn't hear, luckily. These guys sounded like the type that wouldn't be shy about saying something or yelling something at us, and I didn't want to give anything chance to escalate, especially considering I have pretty bad anxiety. I immediately stepped out of the queue and suggested we go somewhere else to get food and said I just wasn't feeling like burgers this week. We ended up getting pizza at a different place, which was fine but I couldn't get those guys out of my head.
This month's weekend is coming up now, and last night me and my partner were talking on the phone about it and what we're going to wear and all that, and they mentioned that they were feeling a bit insecure about what to wear, and not wanting to dress too 'gay' because they were worried about people being a bit funny towards them, especially in the food place. To be clear, I never told them about what that guy said that one time, and as far as I'm aware, they don't know. But they've always been someone who's garnered a little more attention than me because of their clothes and mannerisms, and they're used to that, but obviously that doesn't mean it doesn't affect them. They've had things yelled at them on the streets before and they make jokes about it, whereas I don't have much experience with that considering I dress more low-key in my home town, and having anxiety means I'm overly careful about blending in. But we should just be able to go get burgers in peace, dammit. But now I'm worrying about this weekend and getting food, and I don't want it to affect the whole weekend.
I just feel so angry whenever I think about it. It's just clothes! We're just existing! What business is it of other peoples??? Why should we have to worry about being yelled at or potentially attacked when we're just getting some food?? Sometimes I wish we could just live in a little bubble where cis het people don't exist, but I feel like that sounds really harsh. There's a section of the city where all the gay bars are and we feel safe there, there are several guys wearing skirts or makeup and drag queens and all that in that area, but outside of those couple of streets it just gets really intimidating to exist if you're dressed more flamboyantly or look very queer. It's horrible. I just needed to vent, sorry this is long.

AJJ - Disposable Everything

Release Date: May 26th, 2023
Label: Hopeless
Genre: Indie Rock, Indie Folk, Chamber Pop, Anti-Folk
Singles: Disposable Everything, Dissonance
Streams: Spotify, iTunes, Bandcamp
Schedule

Date	Album
Tues.	bar italia - Tracey Denim / Mandy, Indiana - i've seen a way / Water From Your Eyes - Everyone's Crushed
Thur.	Arlo Parks - My Soft Machine / Hannah Jadagu - Aperture / Mega Bog - End of Everything
Fri.	Sparks - The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte / AJJ - Disposable Everything

this is an unofficial discussion for reactions or other related thoughts to the album following its release. these discussions serve as a place for users to post their thoughts on a particular release after initial release hype and the like from the [FRESH] album thread have fallen off, and also for preservation's sake.

Sparks - The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte

Release Date: May 26th, 2023
Label: Island
Genre: Art Pop, Synthpop, Progressive Pop
Singles: The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte, Veronica Lake
Streams: Spotify, iTunes, Bandcamp
Schedule

Date	Album
Tues.	bar italia - Tracey Denim / Mandy, Indiana - i've seen a way / Water From Your Eyes - Everyone's Crushed
Thur.	Arlo Parks - My Soft Machine / Hannah Jadagu - Aperture / Mega Bog - End of Everything
Fri.	Sparks - The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte / AJJ - Disposable Everything

this is an unofficial discussion for reactions or other related thoughts to the album following its release. these discussions serve as a place for users to post their thoughts on a particular release after initial release hype and the like from the [FRESH] album thread have fallen off, and also for preservation's sake.

Disclaimer. I am currently master ranked offlane player who has been playing the game since launch competitively & casually, on all ranks between gold and GM. I took a bit of a break after the last guides but upon several requests to continue making these, I was inspired to continue making them again. This particular guide got extremely long due to concerning a fairly complex hero and I like being thorough with my explanations. Links to other guides can be found at the end.
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Dehaka is one of the ‘’big three’’ bruisers of high rank bruiser play (The unholy trinity of HoggeBlaze/Dehaka) and while other bruisers do also see play, its difficult to find a game where all of these 3 do not exist in either bans or picks. Dehaka, while not any weaker than the other two and situationally stronger, he does have a bit more counterplay to it than the others.

Drafting Dehaka

Synergistic heroes
Dehaka works really well with things that can quickly kill a drag target that often rely on short range. Some examples below;

• Greymane
• Tychus
• Jaina

Additionally, heroes that have high duration powerful AoE effects that Dehaka can reposition people into with his Drag and his level 4.

• Malf
• Stukov

Heroes Dehaka can struggle into
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• Junkrat Using steel traps in bushes near a fight makes for a miserable time to play Dehaka. You cannot really rely on Z flanks the same way you could otherwise since you might risk a 2.5 second silence + root.
• Lucio - Hard to drag with too many cleanses. The Q also interrupts drags and makes it much more hard to get to a position to drag. Lucio and Junkrat are by far the two worst partners in crime for the lizard to face.
• Brightwing - Cleanse and high range interrupt to a drag with polymorph. You usually have to bait out the poly on someone else before attempting to go for a Q.
• Ana - After 13, having a stun removal that gives 50 armor with a 2s CD is pretty nasty, and so is the ability to deny all healing from essence with a basic ability. Thankfully, Ana is fairly vulnerable to getting ran down herself by Dehaka by a good brushstalker. Just be ready to use E quickly to avoid the sleep.
• Deathwing - Not only is he immune to drags, but his massive hitbox is fairly efficient at blocking drags on everyone else either.
• Cho’gall - Dehaka doesn’t have the greatest single target damage to burn him down, and Gall can interrupt drags with his stunning orbs even as he is being dragged himself. On the flipside, Dehaka can focus more on macro and punish the inflexibility of chogall draft to deal with him.

Heroes Dehaka is good into
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Just to be clear, there are not many heroes that like being dragged for 2.25 seconds into bad positions. There are some standouts regardless that he is extremely effective against.

• Diablo - Into Diablo he is amazing. He is the easiest target to hit with a drag in the game with his aggressive playstyle, and he is fairly easy to blow up in a drag if you have any of the heroes that Dehaka is typically great with. After level 4, Dehaka himself is practically immune to Diablo himself because of his stealth.
• Imperius - The level 4 talent destroys him in all the ways possible. No spears, no E, no nothing.
• Kerrigan - She is extremely easy to drag due to her telegraphed back to front movement, and you can use your E to protect any allies from her combos while avoiding those aimed towards you entirely.

Maps

To cut it short, what makes for a great Dehaka map:

• Lots of bushes
• Large size to utilize global
• Macro focused maps
• Camps that are easily defended with Drag
• Maps with split objectives

S tier maps

Dragon Shire
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So Dragon Shire is great for several reasons. The nature of the split objective is one such. The bottom shrine is positioned in such a way, where the only ‘safe’ way out of the shrine is usually by walking through a bush which is also known as the lizard territory. Another is the quantity of maps on the bottom side of the map that are relatively easy to invade for your team, and with burrow you can make it an easy 5v4. It has a lot of bushes for Dehaka to easily rotate and collect essence between lanes. Its great.The only downside for Dehaka on DS is that winning the shrine on top also matters quite a bit and while he is not bad in 1v1s, there are good amount of offlaners who can destroy him in a 1v1.
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Cursed Hollow
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Macro focus, siege giants, a lot of the same as in Dragon Shire. The objective does not split the team the same way as it does on DS but during curses having global is extremely valuable since your team can push very hard on a lane and threaten keep, while the quick rotation speed of Dehaka on sidelines means you are not losing xp and the global means your team isn’t left alone in a 4v5 if they commit everything to defending the push.
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Towers of Doom
Might be, in my opinion, Dehaka’s strongest map. The presence of global enables a solid amount of invasion plays on enemy sapper camps, and the split objective means that every time an altar spawns on two other sides of the map, Dehaka will be there to make the objective fight 5v4 way before the global-less enemy offlane can do anything about it.
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Sky Temple
Really, most of the things that can be fitted into DS can also be applied onto Sky Temple aswell. It is slightly worse on Sky because Dehaka struggles a bit on capping temples alone due to low single target damage and conditional sustain but his global is even more important since all structure damage matters on the map, and pushing out a lane can be just as valuable as getting an objective.
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Garden of TerrorMostly he is awesome here. Lots of bushes, large size, macro heavy gameplay etc. You just want to make sure you have another hero in team who is effective at taking camps because Dehaka is not one, and camps are what often decide Garden games. At least he is very good at clearing the enemy camps.

A tier maps

Infernal Shrines
The map has lots of bushes, 3 lanes to soak and moderate macro relevance. One thing that makes Dehaka still a star on the map is his ability to drag shaman camps into towers to instantly clear them. Just because I took him lower than on some others doesn’t mean he isn’t great here, the reason I didn’t put him in S was mostly because he is not the most effective in clearing the extremely impactful objective alone, nor is he very good at dealing with it if enemy gets it.
Where Dehaka really sucks is when he has to fight on an open lane with no bushes, to defend against a punisher or such.
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Tomb of the Spider Queen
Historically this is a bit controversial take due to the map’s small size. Which is true, it is against Dehaka’s global value. it doesn’t mean though it isn’t immensely relevant on the map, since it can be used to prevent the good old boss cap strategy of taking bot camp, and moving to boss as enemy has to deal with a siege camp.
Aside from that, due to its small size however Dehaka can stack essence extremely quickly, and the quantity of bushes makes him a danger everywhere on the map even without his global.
Dehaka is a very hard to gank offlane, which means gems collected by Dehaka are far more safe than on some other popular offlaners.

B tier maps

Battlefield of Eternity
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Not the best map for him, but playable. The objective sucks the same way as it does on IS and it is more early game heavy. The distance between lanes makes essence management much more difficult.Things he does do well on the map though is defending shaman camps, which is more valuable here than any other map in my opinion. The middle of the map is also riddled with bushes, giving him a ton of opportunities to position properly and getting good drags in. The distance between lanes does also mean the bottom part of the team can play much more aggressively for camps since the global does threaten a constant 5v4.
Alterac Pass
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I hate playing Dehaka on Alterac, but it could be worse. Little amount of bushes makes rotating extremely hard and dragging camps to towers is often of low value. Additionally, taking camps is of a high value and Dehaka really does not do it well on Alterac. The one thing Alterac has going for him is its large size, and the few bushes it has are around objectives so he can still sidepush and join for a fight.
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Braxis Holdout
Dehaka typically isn’t awesome due to the difficulties of gaining essence, relevance of winning point on top lane and lack of siege giant/shamans. The bonus is, if you do win the point its fairly easy to win the bottom point aswell due to using global after bullying the enemy offlaner away from point.

D tier maps

Volskaya Industries
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No bushes, small size, mostly item based camps. Unless Dehaka is the only hero you play, I’d not recommend picking him here.

Base Kit tips

Drag [Q]

• This ability is what most often will win games. Its the longest CC on a basic ability and it has a reposition to boot. Unfortunately, it is also one of the harder parts of playing the hero. Some tips regarding its use;
• While dragging someone, you can still auto attack even if it hurts your movement slightly. In 1v1 it is pretty much always worth it though since good part of your 1v1 damage does come from AAs.
• Drag cannot be cancelled, and you cannot cast E while dragging. Hence recommended to not do reckless drags on low hp while your E is still up.

Mercs
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As I eluded earlier, you don’t have to be the one to deal the actual damage to mercs. You can also drag them into towers and forts for a faster clear. The damage of the drag isn’t high, 160 at a base (159% of one AA), but it is big enough that if you know you are going to base to get mana or you won’t be needing it any time soon, using drag for damage on PvE does increase your clear speed. It is mana intensive, which is why I excluded its use to the two scenarios above.
​
Landing drags on heroes

• You don’t have to fish for one. If you can start a fight with a clutch drag that is great. But usually if every other hero is just posturing, that drag is going to get interrupted quickly. It can be good to wait for a bit of chaos to happen so people are less focused on the Dehaka and will have harder time dodging it.
• In general, targets that are walking towards you are the ones that are easiest to hit. If someone is dancing sideways in front of me, I dont have to use it yet.
• Holding the drag: Sometimes not pressing Q when you have it up is more potent than pressing it. It happens quite often on offlane and in teamfights that people are so focused on dodging drag that they are walking in circles in awkward positions eating tons of damage. At some point, after they have taken enough they have to walk away in a straight line - which is when they are an easy grab.
• Use your E. I’ll go over more of this in talents, but you can set up an easy drag on anyone with the use of the level 4 talent ‘’Lurker Strain’’.
• While dragging someone, you can still auto attack even if it hurts your movement slightly. In 1v1 it is pretty much always worth it though since good part of your 1v1 damage does come from AAs.

Dark Swarm
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• Mostly used for waveclear, but it does have a few other applications. Post 13 it also becomes your damage and your slow, and you have to use E less for drag setups.
• Against certain heroes like Leoric for instance being able to pass through heir hitbox has some significant advantages. The downside is, you cannot bodyblock while using the ability.

Burrow [E]

• A good bit of this one’s utility comes from the level 4 talent.
• If playing without the level 4, this is mostly the panic button to use in order to dodge a skill shot, or to buy time for your trait to regenerate you to higher health. Your W does deal damage while you are burrowed, so you can use it while clearing waves in order to dodge spell power reductions from Blaze Qs and such.

Essence Collection [D]
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• Easily the most overlooked and most screwed up part about playing Dehaka. Using 50 essence restores about 61% of Dehaka’s max health. Going to fight without it is like entering one with 40% hp and the healer cannot even patch it up.
• One should never look to enter a fight unless absolutely necessary without essence. If an objective is on its way, it's better to not just directly trade into the enemy offlane just so you are not forced to use your trait before a fight. If I am low on health, I rather use HS and then burrow to the objective (or waddle back to lane first to force the enemy to play aggro on the objective).
• One minion wave gives 14 essence. Even if forced to use essence, if the map is small enough there is a shot you can collect it back before it's too late. Three waves are usually sufficient, getting you to 42 essence. If you are not double soaking in the early game (often due to having a bad lane match up or having to clear camps on a big map), around 1:30 you can use your essence and then unbind the ability until the next objective.

Brushstalker [Z]

• The other easily screwed up part about the hero is the use of global. It is not often correct to use it to get to a lane in order to soak, you have your movement speed for that. When used aggressively though, you can use it to start a teamfight from a position where your drags are much harder to deal with.
• Even when not used, it provides value. As long as your Z is up, the enemy cannot reliably invade your camps (or well, it isn’t smart), you can force the enemy to play objectives more aggressively than they would want to by remaining on side soak before burrowing.
• Situationally it can be used like this if there is a large wave and you know there won’t be an objective coming in the next 70s and the camps are down (especially relevant on ToD) but generally I’d advice learning to save burrows for aggressive usage, and shifting rest of the playstyle to be more macro focused.
• Using Z does remove you from the game for 1.5 seconds allowing you to cleanse most debuffs and avoid Chromie loop if your E is off CD.
• There is an odd interaction that allows Dehaka to clear Chromie loops and avoiding Dots without committing: If you self cast Brushstalker while in a bush, or click the bush location within your own unit radius, the ability is not put on cooldown when used but it still puts you in stasis / removes harmful effects. This is a fairly niche trick but useful when it comes up. I am not sure at this point if this borders bug abuse since blizzard is fairly unclear on what are intended interactions and part of the balance, looking at you Samuro and hearthstone teleport tricks.

Talents / Builds breakdown
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To start off, different builds have different values on different levels of play. The build I pick most of the time is immensely powerful in diamond, master and GM SL aswell as competitive. It is equally powerful in lower ones, but some other builds also become better there (Such as the W build). The % mentions are just my rough estimates on how often I pick a certain talent.
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The builds:
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Standard/Recommended build: 3/1/1/1/1/2/1
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BeginneLow SL build:1/3/3/2/2/2
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Situational Braxis/Alterac build: 2/X/X/1/3/2/1
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Level 1
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Enduring Swarm - 2%

• This is a good talent. It does make Dehaka a lot more durable, it gives him extra duration on W which has some synergy with Hero Stalker.
• The downside is that it cripples his rotations and lethality of his burrow flanks somewhat substantially in comparison to Enhanced Agility. As it is, Dehaka is extremely durable already and while extra sustain never hurts, there is a point where other aspects should be considered.

​
Enhance Agility - 96%

• On every map where Dehaka is great, this is awesome. It enables all the rotations between lanes for easy essence gathering, it has great synergy with the 13 talent due to increased duration. In teamfights, this is what allows Dehaka to easily get into positions where drags are easy to land.
• Completing it early is nice, but it isn’t something to be too fussed about since the baseline version of it is already great.

Tissue Regeneration - 2%

• Technically the best for pure 1v1
• I consider this a bit of a training wheels talent, since it does make gaining essence much more easier and the increased. I do pick it still on Braxis just for the increased lane sustain to cover for lack of essence from double soaking. It is not bad on BoE either but Enhanced Agility is also really good on it for the amount of bushes.
• Has synergy with Primal Rage due to increased cap on essence.

Level 4
Lurker Strain - 95%

• This might be the most powerful talent on Dehaka, bar none. Not just the level 4. To paint a comparison, imagine getting E.T.C W with a massive slow, greater knockback, higher damage and stealth from just a level 4 talent. However, it is also the hardest talent to play since it helps you in no way in essence management and it is more complex in its use than the others
• Works extremely well against heroes that are weak against displacements and is very insufferable for several tanks such as Diablo and Varian. If there is ever a moment when Diablo sees a good wall stun, Dehaka can use E preemptively and just stay hidden for your team to reposition to a better spot. If Diablo charges, his Q (or if you miss it, his E) gets interrupted and he will be slowed with no mobility in a bad spot, ready to be dragged to his death. Into Diablo it has extra value since the stealth makes it so he cannot use Q on you.
• Onto heroes like Imperius and Thrall, it's good to use whenever they press their limited time window damage abilities (E’s on both of them). The displacement tends to ruin their effective teamfight window. Even getting a spear through to anyone as Imperius gets complicated. To Yrel, you can use it to interrupt jumps easily even if she is positioning behind minions. This is also one of the few ways to somewhat reliably get drags on the more elusive divers.
• The other good thing about it is that it really makes your kill pressure less reliant on drags. If you have Enhanced Agility you can often position yourself in places easily where you can knock one target towards your team while moving everyone else away. It is extremely potent with heroes like Stukov and Malfurion with powerful consistent AoE effects you can knock them into. On BoE, immortal stuns become your best friend.
• Akin to Mighty Gust, the daze duration as the opponent has no control over their character is always the same regardless of the distance travelled. It is not terribly long duration knockback, and characters have a few frames to press a button that would move them from the drag. However, if Dehaka does push them against the wall, even the slow missile speed of drag is fast enough to confirm a drag to land on any target before they can teleport away.

Hero Stalker - 3%

• A great talent, shame about its tier. This is often what wins games in lower ranks where teamfights last for a long time and using this alongside Symbiosis can grant Dehaka several health bars in a fight. This talent makes the hero a lot easier to play.
• While it is great in lower ranks, there is a bit of an unfortunate side effects to this; Very often when I see Dehaka’s play with this talent the idea that they can get essence without soaking leads them into not soaking. You still should not arrive to fights with no essence because they can still do a blow up before you can get enough of it, and you should still make use of your global presence and soak sidelines. The talent makes some bad habits far less punished creating the illusion that the other options are worse when they are tried.
• Great into Samuro for fairly obvious reasons

​
One-Who-Collects - 2%
​

• Used to be my go-to until Lurker Strain was buffed. The effect makes gaining essence much easier and allows making trades on offlane. I do recommend this one if you are learning to play the hero and managing essence isn’t yet your strong suit. It teaches less bad habits than Hero Stalker and gives him some extra merc clear which is nice.
• On Alterac I listed this as a situational pick since you are doing a lot of offsoaking and potentially have to be the one to split to defend the camps as an objective spawns. Enhanced Agility is not recommended on the map so its much harder to get into good positions for your E knockbacks in the early game. Lurker Strain is still very good on the map.

Level 7
​
Feeding Frenzy - 98%

• Drag is insanely powerful as it is, and this makes it so it becomes even stronger and more spammable. The extra 0.5 second duration is a long time to suffer when you are being dragged into a worse position. The CD starts immediately after landing a drag so you can already prep your next drag during the old one with AAs.
• If you miss a drag, you can hit walls and minions to get it back up faster. Without this talent I’d recommend skipping trying to do fish kills with a drag entirely since missing it gets heavily punished and confines you to being a standing duck for 14 seconds. This also applies to playing several lanes, you should always look to AA whatever you can safely to reset drag CD as quickly as possible.

​
Symbiosis - 2%
​

• The core talent of the W build. It makes your W spammable which has natural synergy with all the other W talents. Downside is, it doesn’t actually reduce the W’s mana cost and spamming W can quickly drain your mana bar.
• The upside of this build is that it gives Dehaka great damage numbers in games where focus fire is less precedent, it gives him much greater sustain which also matters more in games with less focus fire and it makes him reasonably useful with little skill involved. Its great into melee comps but…in order for it to be really good you need Hero Stalker and Lurker Strain also happens to be extremely powerful into melee comps. I do recommend this for beginners and plat and below SL.
• Into Samuro it is almost a necessity in order to be able to sustain the pressure, which is where I still lock it.

Paralyzing Enzymes - 0%
​

• This is terrible. Dehaka has reasonably good shot at holding on to gambit stacks but the damage over time in team fights is rarely more useful than the extra duration & fishing potential of Feeding Frenzy and less impactful in 1v1s than the CDR.

​
Level 10
​
Isolation - 100%

• High skill high reward skill shot.
• 3s silence and slow is often as good as a kill when used in a right spot. One easy way to land one is right after landing a drag when they are close and have to run away, but into some heroes I’d recommend the opposite. Especially into brightwing. If she doesn’t die during the drag she won’t die at all due to blinking away. While the drag stun and silence will mostly overlap, the isolation’s vision removal does have a side effect of being unable to press Z or Blink Heal for 6 seconds. The 30% slow on the isolation also makes drags a lot easier to land if you do manage to secure an isolation.
• The ability does have a high delay and moderate travel speed, which is why its often great as a follow up. Alternatively if you have trust on your aim, using Z to join a fight as your team is engaging and going straight for the Rehgar from flank for instance to put him of a 6s timer of no Ancestral is fairly effective if your team lacks the tools to kill a target before an ancestral would land.

​
Adaptation - 0%
​

• Too slow of an effect just to add more sustain to already a very high sustain hero.
• Low ranks and for beginners this can be great since the focus fire will often be more forgiving, allowing this to trigger on time.

​
Level 13
Ferocious Stalker - 93%

• Massive power spike.
• This allows your W to instantly clear waves. It allows you to do big enough damage to threaten a solo kill on a flank, and it gives you access to very easy slow so you don’t have to use other tools to confirm drags. If you are clearing waves, this it is almost always worth the detour to move to a bush and trigger this. Assuming you have Enhanced Agility that is. The talent isn’t worthless and sometimes even worth picking without it, but it becomes much more consistent with it.

Primal Swarm - 4 %

• If I am playing the hero stalker build , I might consider this. But on top of Samuro, it gains a bit of extra value against heroes that naturally have armor like Deathwing. It sucks enough to play Dehaka into DW but this makes it a bit more tolerable.

Primal Rage - 3%

• Need to still win point on Braxis? This is awesome. If you are in BoE and your team decided once again to draft 0 race and you don’t have enhanced agility? Great. But it is often the option to pick when you are in a situation you should not be in to begin with.
• Has synergy with Tissue Regen due to having a higher cap on the AA damage

​
Level 16
​
Elongated Tongue - 0%

• Potentially good,
• Most of the value of this talent comes from the fact it is not meta and people misjudge the drag range. The issue is that Drag has fairly slow missile speed and usually isn’t very reliable on max range to begin with - and it is even more unreliable on a higher range. Drag is still a powerful enough ability that this talent cannot be called bad.

Pack Leader - 0%

• A fairly worthless option.
• Has synergies with the AA build but it does also have some issues. You need to use bushes to get value out of this, and if you are able to do so you often want Enhanced Agility. Meanwhile the AA build is fairly reliant on Primal Rage that kind of wants Tissue Regen instead of agility to function. The temporary AA speed increase is fairly low, and while the armor is nice we don’t need to pump the hero’s sustain upwards much more.

​
Tunneling Claws - 100%

• An insane talent. It makes Dehaka much harder to kill and near impossible to gank (especially when combined with Lurker Strain). But on top of the defensive elements, the kill potential of being always able to move to a position where the knockback effect of E is just perfect is the greatest draw. My usual sequence when killing a frontliner post 16 often is Drag -> move back -> E to their other side -> knock the kill target back to allies and push everyone else away from helping.

Level 20
​
Contagion - 99%

• If Isolation is good, up to 5 isolations is also good. Tanks get a nasty habit of trying to peel for their backliners from isolations by blocking them and this puts a stop to that. You don’t need to hit many targets for it to be great, a single isolation effectively puts 1 person out of a fight for 6 seconds. If you hit it on even 2, you are likely to win the fight if you do it early and they cannot all just back away.

Change is Survival - 0%

• If you pick Adaptation, this is reasonably good.

Essence Claws - 1%

• The effect is nice, but usually just nice isn’t enough to compete with a threat to silence an entire enemy team.
• You do have other slows as it is, and requiring the AA targets to be heroes makes it fairly inconsistent to use. I pick this mostly if we are ending the game and Isolation happens to be on cooldown.

Apex Predator - 0%
​

• Just a worse version of Epic Mount of Falstad, and even that has fallen off the meta. The reason why Epic Mount is still situationally viable at places is that the talent is on a hero that is not vulnerable when threatening a core with no bushes around, one that has solid siege damage on structures and the global can be used to go to core aswell as for moving out of there.
• Meanwhile Dehaka cannot really do the same shenanigans as Falstad to the same extent even with this talent. He can move only away from the core, and he is extremely vulnerable to getting rotated there if the enemy has any interrupts to Z.

​
Laning tips
​
Do note that these estimations expect two equally skilled players, and playing with the talents listed above. Most of them do not directly improve the 1v1, so experiences may vary.Favored match ups

• Blaze
• Malthael (post 7)
• Chen (post 7)
• Thrall*
• Illidan*
• Gazlowe*
• Imperius (Post 4)

Fairly even match ups

• Leoric*
• Artanis*
• Yrel*
• Sonya*

Unfavored match ups

• Murky*
• Rexxar
• Samuro (Can be made into even with adjustments)
• Hogger
• Deathwing (No chance)

Thrall

• Thrall does not have really high clear, and his damage window is heavily limited by his windfury. If you use E and knock him back when he does windfury, or drag him, he will often be forced to tank minions while trading negatively against you.

Imperius

• Once again, the key is the use of E. His damage window is often limited to his Q + E window. If you knock him back as soon as he uses E, he loses his sustain. After 7 it gets much easier since you don’t just have to rely on your burrow to deny it.

Illidan

• For all his mobility, Illidan is fairly easy to drag. And I am not saying to try to drag him as he is attacking and jumping about, save it for when he uses Q. The windup on the ability is long enough that you can land if by aiming it on your other side as soon as he uses it.
• If he does not use Q, you can make the drags easier to land by backing off and forcing him to run into you for an easier target.

​
—--
Leoric

• Every second drain can be canceled with E and you just need to dodge half of them to come out ahead. Leo E has 10s CD while Burrow has 17s post level 4 so the time window is also limited for Leo to land the drain.
• As I alluded to earlier, using Swarm during this timer to stack with his hitbox makes it hard for Leo to land a drain, but admittedly it is not the easiest thing to pull off as Dehaka either.

Artanis

• Artanis' shields and Dehaka's low single target damage do not go well together. In order for Dehaka to do well on the lane, they need to count the CD left on Artanis shield and aim drags to land when he cannot get a shield up.
• Artanis cannot really recover from taking big hits due to lack of self healing mechanics, so while Dehaka is outtraded in the short run over longer period he can be taken down. Just don't trade with him right after his shields reset.

Yrel

• This is a match up where both need to play smart. Yrel can deny Dehaka’s clear by timing a D + W as soon as Dehaka presses Dark Swarm, and Dehaka can deny Yrel’s clear by using E and Q to interrupt jumps and Q casts
• E does have a mini stun to it so it does interrupt all the casts. The match up really comes down to who bothers the other more on the clear. Both of the two have fairly scuffed single target damage so the wave management is usually what makes the difference in clear

Sonya

• You can technically deny all her healing and clear if you are good enough with drags.
• Her hitbox is fairly small on bruiser standards (only 0.75 - for sake of comparison, Dehaka’s is 1.0 and Leoric's is 0.81) with extra movement speed and she can do the same to your drags as you can do to Leoric by spinning on top of your hitbox. In a pinch the E also does interrupt her spin.
• If she picks Wrath you are done 1v1’ing.

—------
​
Murky

• I am not trolling when I say this but a good murky is the bane of Dehaka on lane. Dehaka is very prone to getting kited by slows and his low single target damage doesn’t really put a dent on Murky’s hp regen, and he clears the wave slower than a murky does.

​
As per usual, hopefully someone got something out of this. It has been a while since I written my last write up on bruisers. If there are any other particular bruisers people would want to see me make a write up on, do mention it. (I had to repost this due to reddit markdown acting stupid).

Happy Pride Everyone! I thought I'd drop a list of my favorite queer romances.
Please feel free to drop and gush about your favorite queer reccs in the comments below!
(p.s. sorry for the lack of details on some reccs, I haven't re-read them since I started my master list with the notes)
(p.p.s I did my best with formatting on mobile)
 
~Kit Rocha~
Bi Author Duo
 
{Beyond series by Kit Rocha} - Bi/Poly (kink) relationships, Post-apocalyptic Dystopian, 1st Rotating POV.
Book 1 is permafree on Amazon and you can buy the omnibus versions cheaper than individually ;)
Notes: Bi MCs, FF, MM, MMFF+ ect., Casual Queerness, Casual Polyam
Disclaimer: Non-traditional HEA and relationships, many of the pairings in the series are monogamish
 
~Aveda Vice~
Neurodivergent, Queer, Gender-diverse Author
 
{Feed by Aveda Vice} and {Yours, Insatiably by Aveda Vice} - FX, 3rd Dual POV, Monster x Monster, Urban Fantasy.
Own Voices: Autistic, Gender-diverse, Queer
Notes: FX, FF, Monogamish MCs, Queer Side Characters, Autistic FMC
Avirin works in a historical archives institute while hiding her identity as a succubus from the world. Avirin orders a sex worker from an app called Monstr (to provide her necessary life and sexual energy) and opens her door to find her coworker Pye, a death’s-head hawkmoth fae. Pye restores paintings at the historical archives and (according to Avirin) they are office enemies. Now she must decide if Pye is trustworthy enough to keep her secret.... and if she wants to feed on more than their life energy.
My Gush post with additional details.
Disclaimer: Non-traditional pairing, they are monogamish
 
{Skin by Aveda Vice} and {Inextricably Tied by Aveda Vice} - MMF, 3rd Rotating POV, Monster x Monster, Romantic Suspense
Harbin and Flint are investigative partners who have been hired to locate the bodies of a recently caught serial killer. They team up with Agony (a night terror who was extracted from said killer) who may have information to share... if he'll cooperate.
Notes: MMF Love Triangle Turned Polyam, Nonbinary Shadow Person MC, Forced Proximity, Stoic + Chaotic + Chaotic, Bodyguard MMC, Jailor MMC +FMC / Captive MMC
Sex Notes: Touch Starved FMC, Praise, Soft Dom, D/S, Safe Words and Check Ins, Toy Use, Exhibitionism, Ribbed Tongue (Flint), Sex in a "Holy" Place, Fisting, Use of the term "Daddy", DP, "Why Choose" Parts (Agony)
 
~Jae Dixon~
Gender-diverse Author
 
{Song by Jae Dixon} - MX, Monster, 1st Dual POV
Join a beautiful cryptid mothman and a burnt out grad student as they face love, loss, death, & necromancy.
Notes: MX, Nonbinary Mothman, Fated Mates, Diphallic Mothman, every character is referred to as "they/them" until their gender preference has been expressed
Own Voices: Nonbinary
 
~Kaye Draper~
Queer and Gender-diverse Author
 
{Gesa’s Menagerie series by Kaye Draper} - Urban Fantasy, 1st Lightly Rotating POV, Complete series.
Book 1 is permafree on Amazon and you can buy the omnibus versions cheaper than individually ;)
Notes: Pan Polyam, FF, MM, MMFF+, ect.
 
{The Reluctant Necromancer series by Kaye Draper} - Urban Fantasy, 1st Lightly Rotating POV, Complete series.
You can buy the omnibus versions cheaper than individually ;)
Notes: Pan Polyam, Gender-diverse MC, FX, FF, MX, MM, MMXFF+, ect.
 
~Victoria Weyland~
 
{Champagne on Vice by Victoria Weyland} - MF, Monster, 1920s, 3rd multi POV
Notes: Explicit consent, overcoming religious oppression and religious sexual trauma, female empowerment, touch starved FMC, found family, casual affection, diverse sexualities and genders for side characters, every character's skin tone is described including white people
Sex Notes: Bondage, MFF threesome, MFFM foursome, D/S, anal play
Disclaimer: Non-traditional pairing, they are monogamish.
 
~Lily Mayne~
 
{Monstrous series by Lily Mayne} - MM Monster, Post-apocalyptic Dystopian, Series in Progress. 1st POV, some single and some lightly dual.
These books are amazing for consent, overcoming prejudice, coming to terms with trauma, and m/m/pan/everybody everywhere romance. The world building over the series is fantastic. Something I appreciate is that none of the pairings have penetrative sex during their first (or even second or third) encounter, pleasure and the MCs' comfort is the main goal.
 
~Lillian Lark~
 
{Deceived by the Gargoyles by Lillian Lark} - Polyam Monster, 1st Rotating POV
Notes: 3 Gargoyle MMCs, MMMF
 
{Entranced by the Basilisks by Lillian Lark} - MMF Monster, Monster x Monster, 1st Rotating POV
Notes: 2 Basilisk MMCs, MMF
 
~Kathryn Moon~
 
{Tempting Monsters series by Kathryn Moon} - Polyam, Monster, Historical, Series in Progress
Notes: Polyam, MM, MMF+, Bi MMCs
 
{Sweetverse series by Kathryn Moon} - Polyam Omegaverse, Complete series of Interconnected Standalones
Notes: Polyam, MM, MMF+, Bi MMCs
 
{Inheritance of Hunger by Kathryn Moon} - Polyam, Fantasy, Complete series, 1st Rotating POV
Notes: Polyam, MM, MMF+, Bi MMCs
 
{The Librarian's Coven series by Kathryn Moon} - Polyam Fantasy, Complete series, 1st Rotating POV
Notes: Polyam, MM, MMF+, Bi MMCs
 
~Chace Verity ~
Gender-diverse Author
 
{Match with the Demon by Chace Verity} - MM Monster CR, 3rd single POV.
A cute novella about a 39 year old single dad matching with a pleasure turned trash demon on a dating app. Sports bars, trash dates, and queer love ensues.
Notes: "Older" 39 year old MMC, Tentacle Demon MMC
 
~Sarah Honey and Lisa Henry~
 
{Red Heir by Sarah Honey and Lisa Henry} - MM, Fantasy, 3rd Single POV
Notes: Grumpy/Sunshine, Prince and Pauper, Hidden Identity, On a Quest, Band of Misfits, Only One Horse
 
On My TBR:
{Sex Wizards Series by Alethea Faust} - Queer, Poly, Gender-diverse, Fantasy
{The Reanimator's Heart by Kara Jorgensen} - MM, Own Voices Autistic Rep, PNR
{Catch and Release by Isabel Murray} - MM, Merman MMC
More Chace Verity - FF, MM, Queer, ect.
Katee Robert - Queer
Cat Sebastian - Queer Historical
Vaela Denarr and Micah Iannandrea - Lesbian Polyam with Diverse Side Characters, Fantasy
 
Yaoi Manga Reccs:
Twittering Birds Never Fly by Kou Yoneda - MM, Yakuza
Jealousy by Scarlet Beriko - MM, Yakuza
Coyote by Ranmaru Zariya - MM, Urban Fantasy
Hitorijime My Hero by Memeco Arii - MM, School Life
 
Watchable Reccs:
The Owl House - Bi and Lesbian FMCs, Various Queer Side Characters, Neurodivergent Rep
Our Flag Means Death - Gay Pirates (need I say more?), Various Queer Side Characters
The Last of Us - Lesbian FMC, Gay Side Characters in Love
Interview with the Vampire (series) - Messy Gay Vampires
Yuri on Ice - MM, Figure Skating
 
Be sure to check CWs for everything

Sometimes a band gets so big that they somehow outshine themselves. They reach a point in their career where it does not matter if they release a new album or not; fans just want to see them tour. No one gave a damn that Led Zeppelin had not released a new album since the 1970’s; everyone just wanted to see them play again at the O2 Arena in 2007. When The Who played the Super Bowl halftime show in 2010 they had only released one new album in 28 years, and no one cared. And no one cares that Guns & Roses aren’t making new music. They still packed arenas to see how much cake Axl had packed into himself.
We’re going to take a dive into a blues power trio from down south who have zero need to release any new music, since their recording career stretches back over five decades. They had amazing and groundbreaking success in the ‘70s, the ‘80s, and the ‘90s before hitting the max level. Instead of playing to win, they now play for fun. Their sexually charged lyrics and videos inspired generations of teens to both dress better and worry about their fly. And you can bet that their fuzzy, bluesy tight sound had a huge impact on our very own desert dwellers.
It’s time for us to take a walk with That Little Ol’ Band from Texas. This week’s featured artist is the legendary ZZ TOP
About Them
The Power Trio is a tested and true format for a rock band. Lots of examples come to mind: Cream. Rush. The Police. Biffy Clyro. King Buffalo. Them Crooked Vultures. (Wait a sec. Just three members? Clearly, not everything is bigger in Texas.)
There is a member joke there somewhere, but I just can’t get it to come. Hmm. Perhaps it will come if you play with it a bit.
Hey! Stop that. Get your mind out of the gutter.
ZZ Top’s original and founding member was William Frederick Gibbons. Born in Houston in 1949, the front man was originally a drummer but, after studying with Tito Puente in New York City, picked up the guitar at age 13. His dad was a musician in show business, which allowed Billy to get an insider’s view of the industry. By the late ‘60s, he had been in and founded a number of bands and had even befriended the late great James Marshall Hendrix. One of his first bands, a psychedelic/art house band called The Moving Sidewalks, toured with the Jimi Hendrix Experience. This meant that Gibbons was actually mentored by Snagglepuss himself. They also toured with The Doors, where Gibbons saw the legendary self-destructive band somehow manage to rise above conflict and make music every night. The Moving Sidewalks generated a following all of its own with a couple of hit songs, and things seemed to be headed in the right direction.
Things were going absolutely great until bassist Don Summers and keyboard player Tom Moore were drafted into the army to fight in Vietnam. Don't you just love the ‘60s?
Gibbons and drummer Dan Mitchell added a new keyboard player, Lanier Greg, and tried to make another run at it. But the chemistry was all wrong. Gibbons rechristened the band as ZZ Top (an homage to BB King), and declared that he wanted more of a straight up rock approach than the art-house kaleidoscopic sound.
Gibbons, Mitchell, and Greg (isn’t it weird when last names are also first names too?) recorded the single Salt Lick in 1969. This generated a bunch of interest and a recording contract. Decisions over the direction of the band ensued and it quickly became clear that Mitchell and Greg did not agree with Gibbons’ hard rock approach. That ended up being a poor life decision for them, but a great one for a couple of other guys.
Clearly, Gibbons needed a new rhythm section.
Fortunately, he found a package deal.
Dusty Hill and Frank Beard - also both born in 1949 - had been playing together on the Dallas-Houston-Fort Worth circuit in a number of bands, including The Warlocks, The Cellar Dwellers, and a fake cover band called The Zombies. Both the Duster and the (then ironically) beardless Beard also heard the siren call of rock and roll. Hill was classically trained and was an accomplished cello player before moving to his signature bass. Frank ‘Rube’ Beard appears to have been born with drumsticks in his hands (which I imagine might have been uncomfortable for his mom).
Beard joined the band first, along with bassist Billy Ethridge, who had played with Stevie Ray Vaughn. Ethridge balked at signing a contract and so joined Mitchell and Greg on the list of ZZ Top’s former members. Their lineup was set. Hill and Beard anchored the band in a rock-solid, tight, bluesy fashion. Gibbons meshed perfectly with this duo, and his Hendrix-inspired guitar work was on another level. Hill provided backing vocals, and Gibbons’ low throaty growl was an impressive counterpoint to his soaring fretwork. The talent was all there; now they just needed to record some music.
But success was not instantaneous, not by a long shot.
Their first album - appropriately called ZZ Top’s First Album - gives insight into who the band were to become. In this 1971 release, you can hear their raw sound. The record peaked at 201 on the charts, and had only one single - (Somebody Else Been) Shaking Your Tree. It did give them material to go out and tour. The boys gelled on that tour and went back into the studio with renewed energy, and emerged with 1972’s Rio Grande Mud. The disc was a step forward in refining their sound. The album almost cracked the top 100, and the only single - Francine - went all the way to number 69.
Nice.
But the band knew that their third album, Tres Hombres, was something special. It is the epitome of Southern Rock: bluesy, fast paced, sexy, and irreverent, it is just over half an hour of pure magic. And while the album went gold and peaked at number 8 on the charts and is worth your time, it was one particular single that rocketed them to stardom. You know it and you love it, and a-how-how-how-how: La Grange. It is still in heavy rotation on classic rock stations today. And why not? The song is an absolute banger of boogie woogie blues, written about a visit to a whorehouse. What’s not to love?
La Grange propelled them to popularity. Tours sold out. Venues got bigger and bigger. 1975’s follow up album, Fandango!, was half live album (with some covers) and half new material - like an EP with bonus tracks. They covered the Elvis Presley classic Jailhouse Rock, Willie Dixon’s Mellow Down Easy, and John Lee Hooker’s Long Distance Boogie. The boys had rock and blues chops, and had 5 years of touring experience. These were bold statements that cemented their musicality as well as honoring their roots. But side two of the disc had another track that you’ve come to love. You ain’t asking for much: You’re just lookin’ for some Tush. Tush was the perfect sexually charged follow up to ensure that they were not one-hit wonders. It was written in a ten-minute spasm of creativity at a sound check, and has gone on to be one of their most popular songs.
While Tush topped the charts, ZZ Top went back into the studio to record their full length follow up, 1976’s Tejas. The name of the album means ‘friends’ in the Indigenous Caddo language, and was the basis for the name of the state. You know what that means? It means that the name of the state is ‘Friends’. Just like the ‘90s sitcom. Don’t mess with Friends. Anyways, this was an album of experimentation for the band, and unlike its predecessor it came out half baked at best. Billy Gibbons has called it a transition album. What actually happened is the band transitioned into a hiatus from touring and recording, taking some significant time off. They had recorded five albums in six years and spent virtually all their time on the road. The latest effort was just not up to their standards and was a step back. It also completed their recording contract.
What was the solution to this burn out?
Facial hair of course.
The boys took a few years off before landing another recording contract, this time with Warner. Over those months, both Gibbons and Hill grew what would become their signature long ‘Texas Goatee’ beards. Frank Beard did not grow a beard (though he did finally succumb to peer pressure from his bandmates in 2013, and his is much more neatly trimmed). So while they were resting/relaxing/getting their groove back/aligning their chakras or whatever, they also started to reinvent their signature sound as the world moved towards a decade of legendary excess.
The first step on this reinvention journey was 1979’s Degüello. The title literally means ‘decapitation’ but idiomatically refers to a fight to the death. Clearly, the band decided to tackle their transition head on. The album was not as successful as Tres Hombres or Fandango!, but it was not the flop that Tejas was. It did spawn a couple of singles - I Thank You (which was a cover) and the signature hit Cheap Sunglasses. Both are staples at ZZ Top concerts to this day. Degüello was quickly followed up in 1981 by the album El Loco. This was really the first time ZZ Top incorporated a synthesizer into their sound. As you know, the synth was THE new wave sound of the 1980s. Gods help us, keytars were once popular. But Gibbons, Hill, and Beard did not abandon their edge. The single Pearl Necklace was an immensely popular innuendo laced tune from this album. And no, I will not explain what a pearl necklace is to you.
Ask your mom.
Over the course of their first seven albums, ZZ Top had steadily grown in popularity and become a truly extraordinary live band. More than a decade of touring together meant that they had not just cut their teeth. They had found the Tooth Fairy, beaten her senseless, and added fangs to their jaws. They were ready to tackle whatever came their way.
Their huge breakthrough coincided with the birth of music videos and MTV. 1983’s Eliminator was an absolute monster of an album. ZZ Top were everywhere. They completely embraced the Music Video as a medium and became pioneers in this new genre. They branded their band with a 1933 fire-engine red Ford Coupe, which was on the cover of the album. They even had a signature hand gesture that they used as the car went by. The car belonged to Billy Gibbons and embodied his hot rod obsessions. It was featured in the videos for Gimme All Your Lovin’, Sharp Dressed Man, and Legs. Other singles from the album included Got me Under Pressure and TV Dinners. Eliminator is still the band’s most successful album. They were at the absolute height of their popularity with a massive audience. No doubt the 10-year-old Joshua Michael Homme watched those videos on a small screen in the California desert, little knowing that he would one day collaborate with Gibbons.
Seeking to capitalize on the popularity, the band went back into the studio and released Afterburner in 1985. It featured the signature hot rod on the cover and spawned two more singles - Sleeping Bag and Velcro Fly. Afterburner was not an innovative album by any stretch of the imagination. It simply built on the success of Eliminator and replicated the sound. If you blended the two albums together it would be very difficult for a novice fan to guess which song came from which disc. But hell, when you release the most popular album of your career and are earning millions of dollars for that sound, it is not time to mess with success. Or with Texas. Or with Friends (though Ross was a pain in the ass, IMHO).
That desire to not screw up a good thing was also evident in their next release, the retrospective re-release Six Pack. This was a great way to earn some bucks with a simple repackaging of existing tracks - I’m looking at you, K-Tel… - and introducing them to another generation of fans. This was not a bad thing at all - you gotta get that green whenever you can, because fame can be fleeting.
ZZ Top closed out the decade by going Back to the Future. Literally. They appeared in the third installment of the Michael J. Fox trilogy as the olde-timey house band (complete with rotating guitars) in the saloon scene. The single and signature song from the movie, Doubleback, appeared on their 1990 release Recycler. The album spawned two more singles: My Head’s in Mississippi and Concrete and Steel. Recycler was not as successful as its predecessors, but it did effectively max level the band. In the 1970’s they were a scuffling bar band that hit it big. In the 1980’s they were one of the most popular bands of the MTV generation. And in the 1990’s they achieved superstardom. They had hit the level where it truly no longer mattered if they ever released new material again. They could simply tour on their back catalogue alone and sell out stadiums.
It is clear that the band realized this as well. In the thirty years since Recycler came out, they have released five albums of new material: Antenna in 1994, Rhythmeen in 1996, XXX in 1999, Mescalero in 2003 and the critically acclaimed and Rick Rubin produced La Futura in 2012. This was equivalent to their output in their first six years.
In contrast, they have released no less than eight greatest hits albums, cover albums and live albums in the same time span. Greatest Hits came out in 1992. One Foot in the Blues was released in 1994. The massive compilation Chrome, Smoke & BBQ came out in 2003, and is a fantastic place to start if you are a new fan. Rancho Texicano was released in 2004, Live from Texas came out in 2008, and Double Down Live hit shelves in 2009. Live at Montreaux came out in 2013 and Tonite at Midnight: Live Greatest Hits from Around the World was released in 2016.
As recently as 2019, there were rumors that a new album was in the works for our Septuagenarian heroes. Lord knows the boys from Texas have nothing left to prove to anyone.
It was then that tragedy struck. Dusty Hill had to leave the band during a tour in 2021. The reason given was a hip injury. His guitar tech, Elwood Francis, filled in. Shockingly, Hill died at home at the age of 72 just five days after leaving the tour.
Fans were shocked and mourned the stalwart bassist. Per his wishes - and it seems he knew something wasn’t quite right - ZZ Top did not break up. Francis replaced Hill on bass, and the band soldiered on. In 2022, they released Raw, a soundtrack for a 2019 documentary about them. This was Hill’s final release.
You can still catch them on tour. They are going to be out there this summer, touring with Lynyrd Skynyrd, for something they are calling ‘The Sharp Dressed Simple Man’ Tour.
Go buy some tickets. Don’t miss your chance to see a truly iconic band before they are gone.
Links to QOTSA
The Reverend Billy F. Gibbons was a big part of the Lullabies to Paralyze album by our Desert Dwellers. He played guitar and provided backing vocals on Burn the Witch. He was co-lead vocalist and lead guitar on the QotSA cover of Precious and Grace, which he originally released as a ZZ Top tune on the Tres Hombres album. He also provided the guitar stylings for Like a Drug.
But the connections don't stop there. Billy sang the lead vocal track on the recent Desert Sessions tune Move Together, and he played guitar on Noses in Roses, Forever.
What may be most important to QotSA fans is that Gibbons was the first person, almost two years ago, who hinted that Queens were working on a new album.
And now we know he was right. Never doubt a Reverend.
Their Music
Salt Lick
(Somebody Else Been) Shaking your Tree
Francine
La Grange -- Live on Howard Stern
Jailhouse Rock
Tush -- a fan made video. It is not subtle.
Cheap Sunglasses
Pearl Necklace -- Live
Gimme All Your Lovin’
Sharp Dressed Man
Legs -- the ultimate makeover video
Got Me Under Pressure -- Live at Montreaux
Sleeping Bag -- Let’s go out to Egypt and check out some heads...
Velcro Fly -- also somehow in Egypt
My Head’s In Mississippi
Concrete and Steel -- vintage video
Doubleback
I Gotsta Get Paid -- from La Futura
Show Them Some Love
/zztop
Previous Posts
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Meine Freundin und ich sind heute in Köln und wollten ausgehen, deshalb die Frage was denn coole Gay/Quuer Bars mit einem relativ jungen Publikum sind (sind beide Mitte 20)
Freuen uns über Vorschläge

Ancient World

• 455 – Sack of Rome: Vandals enter Rome, and plunder the city for two weeks.

Middle Ages

• 1098 – First Crusade: The first Siege of Antioch ends as Crusader forces take the city; the second siege began five days later.

Early Modern World

• 1608 – The Colony of Virginia gets a charter, extending borders from "sea to sea".
• 1615 – The first Récollet missionaries arrive at Quebec City, from Rouen, France.
• 1676 – Franco-Dutch War: France ensured the supremacy of its naval fleet for the remainder of the war with its victory in the Battle of Palermo.
• 1692 – Bridget Bishop is the first person to be tried for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts; she was found guilty and later hanged.
• 1763 – Pontiac's Rebellion: At what is now Mackinaw City, Michigan, Chippewas capture Fort Michilimackinac by diverting the garrison's attention with a game of lacrosse, then chasing a ball into the fort.
• 1774 – Intolerable Acts: The Quartering Act is enacted, allowing a governor in colonial America to house British soldiers in uninhabited houses, outhouses, barns, or other buildings if suitable quarters are not provided.

Revolutionary Age

• 1780 – The anti-Catholic Gordon Riots in London leave an estimated 300 to 700 people dead.
• 1793 – French Revolution: François Hanriot, leader of the Parisian National Guard, arrests 22 Girondists selected by Jean-Paul Marat, setting the stage for the Reign of Terror.
• 1805 – Napoleonic Wars: A Franco-Spanish fleet recaptures Diamond Rock, an uninhabited island at the entrance to the bay leading to Fort-de-France, from the British.
• 1835 – P. T. Barnum and his circus start their first tour of the United States.
• 1848 – The Slavic congress in Prague begins.
• 1866 – The Fenians defeat Canadian forces at Ridgeway and Fort Erie, but the raids end soon after.

Second Industrial Revolution

• 1896 – Guglielmo Marconi applies for a patent for his wireless telegraph.
• 1909 – Alfred Deakin becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time.
• 1910 – Charles Rolls, a co-founder of Rolls-Royce Limited, becomes the first man to make a non-stop double crossing of the English Channel by plane.

Interwar Period

• 1919 – Anarchists simultaneously set off bombs in eight separate U.S. cities.
• 1924 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act into law, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States.

World War II

• 1941 – World War II: German paratroopers murder Greek civilians in the villages of Kondomari and Alikianos.

Cold War

• 1946 – Birth of the Italian Republic: In a referendum, Italians vote to turn Italy from a monarchy into a Republic. After the referendum, King Umberto II of Italy is exiled.
• 1953 – The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey becomes the first British coronation and one of the first major international events to be televised.
• 1955 – The USSR and Yugoslavia sign the Belgrade declaration and thus normalize relations between the two countries, discontinued since 1948.
• 1962 – During the FIFA World Cup, police had to intervene multiple times in fights between Chilean and Italian players in one of the most violent games in football history.
• 1964 – The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is formed.
• 1966 – Surveyor program: Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on another world.
• 1967 – Luis Monge is executed in Colorado's gas chamber, in the last pre-Furman execution in the United States.
• 1967 – Protests in West Berlin against the arrival of the Shah of Iran are brutally suppressed, during which Benno Ohnesorg is killed by a police officer. His death results in the founding of the terrorist group Movement 2 June.
• 1979 – Pope John Paul II starts his first official visit to his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country.
• 1983 – After an emergency landing because of an in-flight fire, twenty-three passengers aboard Air Canada Flight 797 are killed when a flashover occurs as the plane's doors open. Because of this incident, numerous new safety regulations are put in place.
• 1990 – The Lower Ohio Valley tornado outbreak spawns 66 confirmed tornadoes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, killing 12.

Modern World

• 1997 – In Denver, Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, in which 168 people died. He was executed four years later.
• 2003 – Europe launches its first voyage to another planet, Mars. The European Space Agency's Mars Express probe launches from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.
• 2012 – Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the killing of demonstrators during the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
• 2014 – Telangana officially becomes the 29th state of India, formed from ten districts of northwestern Andhra Pradesh.
• 2022 – Following a request from Ankara, the United Nations officially changed the name of the Republic of Turkey in the organization from what was previously known as "Turkey" to "Türkiye."

Featured

• Sack of Rome (455) > The sack of 455 AD marked a pivotal moment in history when the Vandals (led by King Genseric), a Germanic tribe, invaded the city of Rome. The Vandals pillaged the city for two weeks, causing widespread destruction. This event not only shocked the Roman world but also symbolized the decline and impending fall of the Western Roman Empire.

https://freeimage.host/i/Hrt77mQ

tl,dr: a friend asked me out and I don't know what to do/say
For the whole story : I (23M) was playing some online games with a friend (21?M) last night, and after our last game, when I said I was stopping, he casually asked me out, out of the blue. There was a long moment of silence, where my mind and heart ran at 200km/h, I knew what I wanted to answer but could manage to say it out loud. I exchanged a few texts with my sister and finally left the chat and sent him a DM saying that I was very surprised and pleased, I was sorry to leave the chat without saying anything but that I needed some time to think. He answered me a few minutes later saying he understood.
For a bit of context, I'm gay, been out for a couple years, but I've never dated anyone nor had sex with another man. I've felt lonely for a while but I have zero social skills and never went to gay bars or got on hook-up apps, only once I made a semi-attempt with someone I used to have a crush on disguised as a joke, so this is a very new situation for me.
It doesn't help that I have known the person for over two years now, we don't live in the same.city so we don't see each other often, but we regularly chat/play together. I knew he was bi and single but I had never thought about them in a romantic way, so I'm pretty lost right now.
The one thing I know is that I was very moved, and it pleased me a lot to have another guy interested in me, in some way it also reassured me : I don't feel ugly or stupid or anything, but since no one has, to my knowledge, ever been interested in me I felt kinda insecure (I still do about other things).
Any advice on how to process all this ? I feel really confused right now but I don't to make him wait for too long, whatever the answer.

I’m a cis white male born and raised and still residing in a mid tier metropolitan city on east coast. Scrappy, angry, apathetic, I’m a lot a lot things. This isn’t a “trend” that I’m trying to make all about me. Some things I’m gonna type might be triggering or offensive but I promise you I’m writing this in context and objectively.
When I was a younger man there was this dude, Dominic, a few years older than me. He was a (forgive my pejoratives) pussy hound. Any girl, every girl; “he had” them. All of our families were close, they all drank, sang, ate together.
Well one day I hear “ah man that’s just his roommate”, kind of In a defensive way, that how I heard it in passing. His father would start mentioning a new “roommate” that took up all of his sons time. Everyone basically skirted around the fact that they were an item.
Days and weeks pass and it’s all the same “Dominic’s new roommate is kinda fruity, right?”
I had not met this guy yet. Had no idea what the big deal was. But to say that GAY was a foreign idea to everyone around me would be putting it politely.
Anyway; one night Dominic was there when I was being thrown out of a local bar (for being a mouthy asshole). He comes out slaps my back and says “yo, you good?”
“Dude I’m Fuckin’ fine” I yelled back at him, totally embarrassed. We start bullshittin and I tell him what I think happened and blah blah blah, long story short we end up at my house with 3 grams of cocaine.
So here we are, two local hard asses. Two guys known for going fisticuffs when the moment shined. Blue collar. PROVIDERS…sniffing coke off of my mothers living room table.
We talk about the usual nonsense and bullshit but the question does eventually arise, from me to him, “so what’s up with this roommate, dude?” He looks me square in the eyes and says “that’s my boyfriend, Jay, I’m gay”
I nodded my head for a moment as if I was taking in this shock to MY life, not even thinking about the trust he must’ve felt with me, or how hard it must’ve been, or easy, I don’t know enough to say that. But I remember just thinking “dope, this dude knows who he is” I extended my right hand and said “good on ya, bro” and we dapped up and hugged.
The follow up questions were comparable to a grandmother learning that people fuck out of wedlock “it’s new to me, but I’m willing to learn”
I’m embarrassed, but not ashamed, of asking him if he chose it. Asking why?
Where we were raised it was cool to be a pirate or rebel, as long as you didn’t offend the Catholic Church or neighbors. If it weren’t for those questions, I wouldn’t be so passionate about what I believe today.
Dominic, being Dominic, he just casually said “Jay, I couldn’t tell ya when or where, how or why, I love him, that’s all I know”
My father might’ve been dead about a year at this time and despite his many faults that cantankerous southern boy taught me that true love is hard to find and good friends are even more rare. And he’s wasn’t wrong.
Every preconceived notion, idea, rationale about the subject before went out the window. This is Dominic and I love him dearly and support him. If he’s gay then he’s fuckin gay, fuck anyone that’s gotta problem.
Well ya see; his father was retired military, uncles the same. My family? Yep. Friend’s family…same shit. These are men that care about the laws. For some reason or another.
To close out the story my friend Dominic died 2 weeks before scotus legalized gay marriage.
This fight isn’t about me, it’s not my story. But it’s a fight I want to fight and continue.

Another u/cream trees rant
Anyway I feel like the main reason why suburbs are shifting so quickly to the left is simply because a lot of them are upper middle class socially liberal white people .
And the Republicans extreme social conservatism is slowly but surely turning them off to the Republican party.
And since the Democrats and Republicans have very similar fiscal stances both of them being fairly fiscally conservative they seem to be pretty okay starting to vote Democrat.
Which is why I feel if Republicans were to just moderate themselves on their social stances, things like abortion gay marriage trans issues ETC, they could very easily sweep the country.
Like the suburbs would probably most likely Fall back to the Republicans.
And they would probably also keep their gains in the rural areas.
And that would probably cause States like Ohio and Iowa to become deep Republican strongholds think Tennessee or Alabama type situation.
It would probably push Georgia and North Carolina back to the Republicans by like at least r + 10 or so.
Arizona and Nevada would also probably become pretty Republican as well.
They would definitely be able to gain ground in Oregon Washington and Illinois although I highly doubt they would ever win those States bar from extreme Republican wave years.
Michigan would probably become one of the more penultimate swing States while Pennsylvania and Wisconsin become red leaning.
Maine and New Hampshire would also probably slot themselves in the competitive category.
They would also probably be able to make some inroads in New Jersey and New York but again never win them again barring exceptional circumstances.
Maybe even some inroads in Connecticut Rhode Island and Delaware.
I think Colorado could also be slotted back into the competitive scene same thing with Virginia especially Virginia actually.
Texas would probably go back to its Republican stronghold. and New Mexico would probably slot itself in a more leaning Democratic position as opposed to its likely Democratic position currently.
I think the main reason for this would be because if Republicans took a relatively similar stance to more moderate Democrats on social issues apart from say immigration and guns it would be pretty hard to tell the difference between Democrats and Republicans as they have very similar fiscal beliefs and the only thing that would differentiate them from that point would be immigration and guns and the United States public has shown itself to be fairly conservative on both of those issues.