Nerds With Ships

your parents are not your parents. the idyllic farming community that raised you is not your home. you’re a You-Don’t-Know-What from You-Don’t-Know-Where. all you know for sure is that you’re not human. 

so you can fly. so you can run fast. so you can lift cars. so what? why do you even have this power? what should you even do with it? 

your father said do what’s right, so that’s what you do. 

you stop a robbery. the man’s knife shatters against your skin and you see the same fear in his eyes that you saw in your father’s when you were twelve. you catch a falling child before it can hit the water. his mother looks at you like you’re a god. 

they love you, even though they don’t know you. the most powerful man in the world hates you because they love you. 

you wanted to write when you were younger. you wanted to tell stories that needed to be told. you never wanted to star in them. you never wanted super-geniuses and demi-goddesses looking to you for advice; like you have any idea how to handle threats to reality itself. you’re just a kid from smallville who’s trying to do the best he can with what he’s given. 

you try and get back to the farm as much as you can. it feels normal being back among the open wheat; where everyone smiles because you’re that nice Kent boy. 

when you were younger, you pretended to fly, hands out to your sides and running through the tall grass by the river. it doesn’t look as beautiful from on high; the details get lost and the colors of your hometown blur together from a mile above ground. 

Clark: Oh thank God. This guy gets it.

Bruce *expecting arrogance*: wait what

Clark: yesterday I accidentally locked myself out of my apartment in my underwear trying to get the mail and I forgot I could just break the door open. I stood there for an hour waiting for the locksmith to open before I remembered.

Bruce:….

Clark: I’M AN IDIOT OK, I’m just a guy, I have no idea what I’m doing

Bruce: I hate how endearing this is. Stop making me like you

Clark: if I get my mom to make you lemon squares will you teach me how to pick a lock

every fat person you know for the most part probably has a story like this, of medical neglect. many of the stories i've heard personally are when the complaint or the doctor wasn't related at all, like being told to lose weight at the ear nose and throat doctor or at the dentist. it's straight up just bias. it's such a thing that in the show Shrill it's portrayed, when Aidy Bryant goes to the gynecologist and her doctor suggests she get gastric bypass.

the studies on health and fatness are simply not that black and white and there is basically no research that shows that more than an incredibly tiny minority of people can lose weight and keep it off for more than like 2 years. bodies have set points that they gravitate towards, it's not a personal failure. this also is how the weight loss industry succeeds so well - repeat customers.

some of the harm associated with fatness is also due to weight cycling, which is very hard on your body and is even worse if you get off a GLP1, which according to a recent study causes weight to be regained at a rate that is 4x faster than without taking a GLP1.

you don't have to hate yourself. you don't have to hate other people for their body type either. it makes me so sad to see the thinspo tag going around again in 2026 a lot like it was back in the day.

some resources to learn more here:

https://www.reuters.com/article/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/feeling-fat-may-be-worse-for-you-than-being-fat-idUSTON079061/

@blackpensils

Y'all, couple of quick things.

This original work belongs to blackpensils. I got permission from them before I shared this, and they said it was cool to do so. I don't own anything, this is all their original ideas. Just a big fan who wanted to share this with the world.

DO NOT HARRASS THE AUTHOR FOR ANYTHING. Pensils has been kind enough for us to have this wonderful fic shared. That being said, if anyone bothers blackpensils for more updates, harasses them in the comments, and reblogs and pushes for anything further you will be reported. Pensils, if someone harasses you even once, let me know and I'll remove this post.

I'm not revealing where I got this from, but I want to shout out to the wonderful person who made this possible. Not all heros wear capes, but you sure did and I, along with the rest of the MegOp community, can't thank you enough for making this happen.

We're bringing back the don't like don't read with this one. If it's not your cup of tea, don't even bother. Read all tags before proceeding.

The fic title is The Consequences of Accidentally Creating Life with your Arch-Enemy & was megop seems to be part of a series as far as i can tell from the emails I have

I remember reading the first few chapters then adding it to my read later pile because of fanart i saw & lots of ppl discussing the fic on twt like @pricklyjim so sucks I'm probably not gonna be able to read the rest of it or enjoy the author's other work unless someone else has a more up to date backup 😔

I really can't understand why someone would delete their fics instead of orphaning them, i know authors in other fandoms who have deleted all their SM but just change their ao3's username or orphaned their fics

I need to figure out a way to automate making archives of fics I'm subscribed to because there's simply too many emails in my deleted fics folder 😭

Or, if anyone knows which platform they moved to, or even what happened that sparked their sudden action into deleting their works and account.

And to simplify a long story that I really don't want to go into detail on and would rather just forget and move on, I was tired of ppl thinking it was okay to jump in my DMs and my straw page to tell me everything they didn't like about ACL, about the story, the plot, the way I was handling Optimus' anxiety (which had plot relevance related to his pregnancy, but I never got the chance to get there), the way certain characters were acting or, as I've seen you mention in some of your comments, the overall criticism of how I write. I had ppl acting as if just because my story was popular (something I never wanted tp happen btw) I should be grateful ppl even read it, that their unwanted criticism of the way I write should be taken positively when I never asked for it or accusing me of thinking I'm a better writer than I actually am when all I'm doing was practicing a hobby that I was doing for fun. Something I stopped enjoying everytime ACL was involved in the end. Posting a new chapter would literally have me spiral into such great anxiety attacks it had my doctor concerned, and where it was affecting my real life (such as personal life and even my work. I was away from my place of work sick for a good majority of 2025 because of poor mental health. Now my mental health was bad before as a side effect of bipolar disorder type 2, but everything related to ACL wasn't making it better).

Now I've probably missed some stuff, omitted some stuff cuz I never made some things I had to deal with from online anons public or just forgot some stuff.

And some minor correction on your comment o the length of ACL. It was originally planned for 99 chapters, but act 1 currently sits at about 68 chapters, and the outline for act 2 is nearly twice as long... I don't have an estimated final chapter count anymore.

I also pray you never get to the point where you do understand why a creator may delete their stuff from the internet instead of choosing to orphan it. It's not a nice place to be, but considering I had ppl leaving comments claiming I was withholding chapters when I was on a break between January and May... I felt it was for the betterment of my own mental health to just disappear along with my stuff. Especially considering I made it clear I took a break for my own sake but was still actively working on the story (meaning it wasn't abandoned) and was disabling comments because I didn't want to deal with any "plz come back T.T" or "when's the next update?" comments.

I'm not saying you have to understand or that anyone else has to understand either, but in the last month I've already been called every name under the sun by angry, parasocial anons that act like they're owed the right to read my stories while also treating me like garbage, thinking that's somehow going to make me hand over the fic on a silver plater.

You're allowed to be upset. You're allowed to be mad. And I hope someone can supply you with a copy of the posted chapters. I'm sure someone has one.

Pensils! No you’re all good 😭 No, no, I’m sorry if I came across as rude in my comments and reblogs, that was not my intention 😭

I also want to apologise for pushing the issue too, I know I was reblogging and commenting a lot and tagging you. I’m sorry for any ill feelings I created by doing that 🥺 (I’m stopping now, I just wanted to take a second to apologise first.)

I loved your story, but I loved your writing too. 🙂‍↕️ The anons were cruel and you didn’t deserve that at all. 😢 After reading what they caused you, I can’t imagine how it must’ve felt. I’m so sorry you had to go through that, and I do hope it gets better. 🫶 All of it, I hope that spark comes back to you again for you and you alone to enjoy 🩵

Thank you for giving an explanation for the deletion. 😭 I hadn’t explored orphaning works at the moment, so I was unfamiliar with the process on that, so I do appreciate the clarification.

However your journey goes, I wish you the best in life 🙂‍↕️🫶 Thank you for replying and taking the time to read everything. Once again, sorry if I’m harping on it, but I am so sorry of this came off as bothering you and upsetting you in anyway, shape or form.

It's just a bit exhausting to relive sometimes since the feelings associated with ACL and everything that happened around it are complicated at best.

Did I handle everything the best? No. Was it as a result of everything that went on? Yes, but that's not an excuse.

The MegaSound Zine is officially LIVE on Itch.io!

no. proship literally just means anti censorship and anti harassment. proship does not necessarily mean liking every taboo ship. it does not necessarily mean normalizing any taboo ship.

you can be proship even if you hate every single ship that is taboo. as long as you don’t harass or shame real people over fiction, then by the definition, you are proship.

almost every person who is proship has something they dislike, hate, or even find disgusting. the point is not to normalize any of these taboo things. the point is literally to not shame, harass or censor people who enjoy the things they enjoy as long as it’s fiction and no one in real life is harmed.

Stop backing up my fucking files.

Stop asking me to back up my fucking files.

Stop taking my fucking files off my fucking computer.

I don't want a fucking reminder in three fucking days. Let me fucking say no.

Here's a text tutorial to get rid of that shit on Windows 11.

Here's a video tutorial to get rid of that shit on Windows 10.

Here's a video tutorial to get rid of that shit on Windows 11.

Representation matters.

It’s #StarTrekDay, and I can’t begin to express how much Sisko and DS9 meant to me as a kid. Not gonna try, I’ll just repeat my fave story.

I got into basically every college I applied to, and when it came down to it I was choosing between Oberlin, Pitzer, and I think Occidental.

I was leaning heavily on Pitzer, which seemed like Oberlin with better weather. My parents didn’t want me to go to LA.

(caps) (LOL joke’s on them on Tuesday when I move there anyway, ain’t it?)

Anyway (end caps).

I was scrolling Wikipedia in my dorm room one night trying to look for facts that would convince them to let me go to Pitzer.

I got to the Oberlin page, basically looking for dirt, and scrolled down to the “famous alumni” section and saw Avery Brooks’ name.

I think it was like 10min later I called my parents and said “I’ll be okay with going to Oberlin, Sisko went there, write the check pls.”

My logic was that, as a famous alum, he’d probably come back and maybe l’d get to meet him.

And my logic panned out– Avery Brooks came back twice. Once to do Death of a Salesman. It was amazing.

He worked with the AfAm Studies and Theatre departments, and came back a second time to give a lecture during my senior year.

I met him the first time and cried (A lot) while trying to explain what he and Sisko meant to me.

He said, “I know. This is why I did it– so *you* could watch it.” Then I cried some more.

My favourite Avery Brooks quote is from one of his Oberlin talks: “Brown children must be able to participate in contemporary mythology.” End description.]

(Cover Art by @urghblergh)

✨Issue 3: 'Golden Years' is out NOW!✨

Happy Spones Day everyone!

Just in time for the big day is the newest SWF issue of the Spones Zine! This time around we're celebrating their Golden Years!

Inside this Golden Years themed issue you will find artwork, poetry, fanfiction, edits, cosplay, & more from our extremely talented creators. This issue features over 40 pages of brand new Spones content for all to enjoy and download.

You can download it for free here on itch.io!

NOTE: itch.io may be experiencing some lag and downtime so please don't be alarmed if the page doesn't load right away. Please be patient, hopefully they have it sorted out soon!

A big thank you to all of our artists, writers, and content creators for contributing to this issue! We ask that you all please wait ONE WEEK until the grace period has ended to post your works elsewhere. After a week is up, feel free to post them wherever/however you'd like~!

Thank you to our moderators and to the ZIne committee for all of their hard work in making this issue a reality. We couldn't have done this without you!

Also, more often than you might think, they’re not actually promoting bigotry so much as “didn’t consider all the implications of something” or just used words that were polite then but considered offensive now.

Then there are works which are more ignorant than actively malicious. The early 1900s comic strip Alphonse and Gaston features a trio of extremely polite French men who travel the world and get into wacky misadventures which, unfortunately, means they run into lots of racial stereotypes. But the tone of this comic presents the heroes as bumbling, grotesque idiots and the nonwhite characters are just stock depictions without any true vitriol behind them. That said, this does not mean that these comics are not potentially hurtful; just that it is important to recognize the difference between societally normalized bigotry based in ignorance and people like Columbus or Hitler who took things much, much further.

The shifting of terms is also extremely important to be cognizant of. The NAACP dates from a time when Colored People was an acceptable term used by their own group to describe themselves. Rocky Horror dates from a time when terminology for the LGBT+ experience was very different than it is now.

And another comment I hear occasionally is "so what, all this stuff is just saying that people from this group are people! Who doesn't know that?" which. We need to be aware of history to know what a big deal the scene in In the Heat of the Night where Sidney Poitier retaliates after being slapped was, or how revolutionary it was for Barney Miller to have recurring characters who were a gay couple and were presented as deserving just as much respect as anyone else. In 2022, John Turturro and Christopher Walken could play gay characters on Severance without it endangering their careers; in 1995, network executives refused to allow Xena and Gabrielle to appear in the opening credits together because of concerns that they would be seen as lesbians, despite both characters being written as straight at that point. I have seen people argue that the plot of The Birdcage makes no sense and that the son of Armand and Albert is a terrible person for asking his fathers to pretend to be straight, and yes his motive is selfish but it only appears nonsensical now because of the huge societal changes that have taken place since the mid 90s, in part because of media like The Birdcage or Will and Grace or Modern Family (a series that feels far too recent to make this list but which started long enough ago that gay marriage was not yet legal nationwide when it featured a committed gay couple raising a child as main characters).

So yes, there is a lot of genuine prejudice in older media. Yes there are things that were ignorant, or overtly bigoted, or the right term then and the wrong term now. But we need to engage with it to understand why and how things have changed since then, and to recognize when similar things are in need of changing now. The talking points stay the same, the targets just change, and it is vitally important to be able to see those talking points get re-applied. It is also vitally important to be able to recognize the difference between an ally using outdated terminology, and a bigot who knows all the right terms.

And most of the fanfiction I've found (which isn't much sadly) is Harris/Dietrich. And I get that. It is so valid. They were roomies for a while. Dietrich was hurt when Harris moved out. It's totally there.

So from then on whenever one of us called something problematic, he would make us talk it out until we could name the “bad” thing we were hinting at. In this particular class, 7/10 it was some type of oppression, and the remainder was like, “I’m uncomfortable because this is very new/confusing/pushing boundaries that made me feel safe.”

Once we stopped calling things “problematic” and stopping at that, class got way more interesting and... we all had to say, like, “that’s racist” or “that’s misogynistic” or “ew capitalism gross” out loud, which a lot of us had never done in a classroom before. Or we had to be like, “Uhhh... I’m not sure what’s so bad?” and confront our own beliefs and that was maybe even more useful.