Tumbling over my own feet

twelve episodes, twelve contestants - a mix of annoying middle aged sci fi authors, fan fic authors and random people off the street

a variety of against the clock writing tasks, big finish scripts, ability to interact with actors without shouting at them and challenges where you have no budget or doctor for an episode

judged by solely by christopher eccleston

Front, back, side twirl...

It occurred to me the other day that the Candy Crew aren't actually interacting with a whole lot of people who have context for what gummies, chocolate bars, and pudding cups are and that's really funny actually...

(was asked to put my Bluesky thread on tumblr)

Just because of some stuff I saw yesterday: if you are a minor online, please do not openly identify yourself as such. It is not safe, it allows adults who want to interact with minors for bad purposes to know you are one.

There are different, safer ways to accomplish your goals than to do that.

You do not need to identify yourself publicly as a minor online to:

Ask that people respect your boundaries

Not create or interact with adult material

Not be a victim of harassment

Not give away personal information

All these are normal things anyone of any age can do online.

If you are being invited into spaces you don't want to be in as a minor, or which people have asked you not to be in as a minor, decline for any or no reason. If an adult wants to do something with you they should not with a minor, decline for any or no reason. If people do not accept that, they are not people you should be interacting with. Don't pretend to be an adult, just don't say you aren't.

I understand that recently, more people under 18 tend to say that they are under 18 to protect themselves online. People who are not dangerous don't need that information. People who are dangerous will gladly use it because they know you are vulnerable. You are not protecting yourself.

As an adult who doesn't really care to interact with minors, I probably won't interact a lot with you if you are "young." That's not hard to catch from the way people act online. If you are "young" I care about you being safe and not victimized by opportunists, regardless of your birth year.

Protect your identity and safety on the internet, and if you are a person who is vulnerable, be a mysterious figure. Make silly posts. Complain about "people you know." Complain about "living with your parents."

"ADULTS DNI!"

Most adults will see this, roll their eyes, and respect it by moving on.

You know what predators see when they see "Adults DNI!"? They see a target who trusts adults to respect a DNI, but probably doesn't trust adults enough to go to one if there is a problem. They know really defensive teens are more likely to have past trauma, which, like any vulnerability, can be easily exploited. All they have to do is pretend to be your age. And yes, it's easy to fall for it. And they will absolutely cultivate your mistrust of adults to make sure you feel like you can't go to anyone. "Adults just won't believe you, or will blame you" is where a lot of you are at to begin with.

“Greg Davies: seems like a kind of a shit task. Everyone just seems like they're going home normally.

Alex Horne: well before you say that let's have a look at how Odysseus did.

cut to panel of Ajax, Menelaus, Agamemnon, and Diomedes who are all staring at Odysseus with his head in his hands”

(post formatted as a script so the names were in all caps) end ID]

my favourite of the replies:

that news crew: breaking news there is an eldritch monster floating over the city causing acid rain

captain who is kougami from ooo: that's not good. send in team lightning

team lightning: sir we can't attack the monster because whenever we fly our jets near it a giant tongue comes out and licks us and it's very weird and upsetting

kajio: yeah, especially since i'm not gay

captain who is kougami from ooo: interesting. gamu our resident Science genius can you explain this with Science

gamu: ok so basically the monster is flying because all of its molecules are made of hydrogen and hydrogen is lighter than air and that's how they made the hindenburg. i know it looks solid but it just decided to have all its molecules be made of hydrogen and so that's how it's flying

captain who is kougami from ooo: i see. thank you very much for your highly informed and accurate Science. does the licking have anything to do with it

gamu: nope

captain who is kougami from ooo: ok. we will shoot a bunch of oxygen at the monster so that its molecules turn to water which is heavier than air so it will stop flying and causing acid rain

everyone: ok let's do it

xig: *firing oxygen at the monster so its hydrogen molecules turn into water molecules even though it still looks the same and it falls to the ground*

gaia: *transforms and beats up the monster so it explodes*

agul: *shows up and punches gaia for no reason*

gamu, detransforming: wtf what is your problem why are you such a hater!!!!!

fujimiya, detransforming: tch... fool. #humansarethevirus #unabomber *walks away, mysteriously*

gamu: fujimiya... 🥺💔

georgie and atsuko: captain we found out that the monster originated above a testing site for hydrogen bombs and was formed from the hydrogen of the hydrogen bombs

everyone: wow this is so sad we need to take better care of our planet #gogreen #stopwars

kajio: does anyone even CARE that i flew my plane real good

Her first 28 years are fairly tame, until we reach 1987's Canadian Mountie Barbie. Reasonable odds for a cop, even if they're not a USAmerican cop.

in 1991, we get US Air Force Pilot Barbie, US Marine Corps Sergeant Barbie, US Navy Petty Officer Barbie. There's also 1992's US Army Barbie, if those guys were feeling left out. I'm also ignoring the 1989 US Army Barbie because that one is 100% a stolen valour runway look, not a uniform.

Going to run my autism over those four.

US Navy Petty Officer Barbie is wearing quartermaster's rating insignia, so no combat for her.

US Army Barbie is wearing an airborne maroon beret with no rank insignia that I could see, but she's loaded down with medical supplies, so I'm gonna say combat medic, but only as many kills as her other medical endeavours.

US Air Force Pilot Barbie is wearing a jacket that looks like a Top Gun tie-in. The unit patch is just the USAF coat of arms, and the name patch says she's a Captain. VERY confusingly, the plane on the box art is an F-5, which had just recently been retired. But its USAF usage was almost all in the OPFOR Aggressor squadrons, which is... "come play enemy planes for our training exercises".

US Marine Corps Sergeant Barbie is wearing E-5 Sergeant's insignia, and three medals (she's in dress uniform). To my eye, and allowing for badly printed colours, looks like Navy and Marine Achievement Medal, Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, and the South West Asia Service Medal. The first two are fairly obvious "Barbie Is Well Behaved" stuff, but uh. That last one though?

USMC Barbie was in Desert Storm.

Where you'll see a rare bird.