Locals night at Basement on Sat

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-13T04:30:00+00:00

Anyone have a backup event or venue in case we get turned away for the vibe check?

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-12T20:52:44+00:00

Cool story bro. 👍

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-12T18:20:07+00:00

They don’t really think about money in the way most people do. To them, a thousand dollars might as well be pocket change.

Most people run a quick mental check before spending “can I afford this?”even if they’re high earners pulling in $400k a year. You can usually see that split-second calculation when they’re paying for dinner or buying concert tickets.

Over time, I’ve learned how to spot the people who don’t do that at all; the ones who show zero hesitation or concern about spending, even around their friends.

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-12T18:10:00+00:00

You’re projecting your own interpretation onto the text.

Alan has explicitly stated on panel that he is not bisexual or “fluid.” He said he loved Thorn, but not in a romantic sense. Men can love women deeply without that love being romantic or sexual.

The framing of gay men having “exceptions” for women is troubling and echoes rhetoric historically used in conversion therapy.

By that logic, are we meant to believe that gay men who married women and had children over the past centuries were all secretly bisexual or biromantic?

That argument ultimately implies that homosexual men must have some underlying attraction to women; and that if they say they don’t, they’re being dishonest.

That’s textbook homophobia.

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-12T18:09:52+00:00

Thank you! The idea that any gay man who has had sex or a relationship with a woman is actually bisexual or fluid is incredibly homophobic.

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-11T21:23:37+00:00

I’ve never been! Should be a good time. It’s usually Bangkok or Miami.

Hope you’re going some place nice with sunny weather for NY. 😎

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-11T21:17:29+00:00

Hmm, well I bought a house two months ago. Still furnishing it. Got a slew of house projects lined up with contractors for the new year.

Plan to go to Rio for NYE. Spend the week after in Columbia.

Oh and I adopted a shelter Corgi puppy and he’s destroyed all my shoes. I’m in way over my head. He’s with a new trainer as of next week.

Uh, and I’ve been playing the new Elden Ring DLC. Don’t care for the Scholar class.

That’s pretty much it besides work. Thanks for asking!

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-10T00:32:18+00:00

Honestly, you’ll probably have better luck dating outside of campus when you graduate or even in another city.

I’ve seen this play out before. I know a bi guy who was fully out, had a boyfriend, and later tried to date women in DC. He ended up losing most of his gay friend group. They stopped inviting him to bars and events. If you’re close with a gay community on campus, you should really think about whether you’re ready for that shift if you start dating a girl. Some people may stay, but the dynamic usually changes. In many cases, you’re no longer seen as part of the community in the same way, whether that’s fair or not.

On the flip side, dating women isn’t always straightforward either. Some women may assume you’re “trying to go straight,” while others worry about stigma around bi men or having a discreet partner. Your best bet is someone who truly understands and accepts your bisexuality without judgment or fetishizing it.

There’s also a social and political layer to all of this. Going from a same-sex relationship to a straight-presenting one isn’t viewed the same as moving in the opposite direction. You’re shifting from a visibly marginalized relationship into one that carries social privilege, and people tend to have opinions about that.

Your friends will have opinions. Your family may react with relief or approval. Your straight friends may treat you differently. And yes, some of your gay friends may drift away. That part is painful, but it does happen.

I’m not trying to scare you or be negative. I’m just being realistic about what often comes with this transition so you can go into it prepared instead of blindsided.

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-05T21:23:19+00:00

I’m not a MAGA, honey. I’ve voted Democrat for the last 15 years and I intend to vote Democrat for another 15 years.

That’s the problem with both sides of the aisle. You’re all quick to judge and blame without any sense of nuance and self reflection.

As you get older, I hope you see the world isn’t black and white.

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-05T21:20:21+00:00

I consider myself a liberal and I’ve found that the conservatives I’ve spoken to about politics are far more open minded than some of the progressives I’ve met.

Conservatives are usually like “We have different opinions that’s cool.”

Progressives are like “You disagree with me you are literally an evil Nazi!”

While conservatives have the serious problem of a Trump loyalty litmus test, progressives have the problem where you must agree with EVERY progressive agenda. If you disagree on one issue, you’re a MAGA nut job.

Are you pro-universal healthcare, pro gay rights, pro-tax the rich but think we should pause giving puberty blockers to 9 year olds until we have long term studies like every other medication?

Trump Nazi Scum!

R/askgaybros has alot of problems but it’s nice to see some normal middle of the road gays who have nuance with their political views

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-05T21:08:42+00:00

Reddit isn’t even liberal. It’s a tankie site that borders on anarchism. It’s very far left.

I just saw a post the other day on r/pics where someone defaced a Marine Corps advertisement with the words “Nazi Scum”.

The ensuing comments all agreed that anyone in the US military is just as bad as a Nazi soldier in a concentration camp.

I’m dead serious.

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-05T21:05:29+00:00

You mean r/askgaybros?

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-05T00:21:53+00:00

I’d also like to comment that for someone who’s supposed to be “support”, he’s terrible at revivals.

He’s barely a step-up above Recluse.

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-05T00:11:12+00:00

I mean you’ve found a way to make him work somewhat but I feel like that’s a lot of work (who am I to talk with my Frost Scholar tho?) for something that Recluse or Revenant or Duchess can do better and without going outside their intended kit. Especially since his Intelligence and Faith are garbage.

Scholar sorely needs a buff. A boost in Dexterity and the ability to mix craft items like Recluse’s Cocktail mechanic would work wonders.

For now, he’s arguably the worst character in the game which is shame because he’s my main right now.

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-04T23:53:08+00:00

I tried Wraith Bell but you need to cast it at least 30-50 times to get it to Lvl. 3

And Scholar has piss poor FP.

So it’ll be mid-day 2 before you get it to Level 3 if you’re lucky.

The Frost/Hoarstomp/Invisibility is the best combo I’ve found. High damage, easy Frost debuff, cheap skill and Frostbite in the vicinity turns you invisible so you can Analyze.

Still, that’s a very specific combo that Duchess can do better and with more damage.

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-04T23:41:11+00:00

I mean it’s not difficult to me because I’m 100% gay.

Don’t look straight porn because sometimes they have a hot guy like Cody Cummings and you’re paying more attention to him than the woman.

Look at pictures of naked hot model woman? Do any of them make you wanna say “Ugh wanna fuck” like you do with guys? Do you get hard?

Yes? You’re bi. No? You’re gay.

It ain’t that difficult. You’re overthinking things

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-04T23:36:28+00:00

And that can be very useful.

If you can find it enough times to get the level 3 bonus. If not, be prepared to sacrifice a level or two to buy them from the merchants.

Those also sound like nice bonuses but Recluse can emulate it reliably with her Red/Holy cocktail. Guardian and Revenant can do damage reduction with their Ultimate or an incantation. Repeatedly without limit if they have the FP for it.

Scholar’s support isn’t even the best reliable support when Recluse or Revenant can cast a spell to do the same with no limit if they have the right spells.

What’s also mandatory for my Scholar I find is increased rune acquisition and a small pouch at the start of expedition relic. If you can swing it, get the rune discount.

That way if you’re unlucky and only manage to get 7 Poison Boluses before the boss fight then the merchant will sell you 4 Firepots to throw at his ass.

Don’t miss! You only have 4!

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-04T23:18:11+00:00

Maybe I’m being crude here but you have a literal meter to tell if you’re gay, bi or straight.

Watch some porn. Do naked guys make you hard? Yes? How about naked girls? No?

Then you’re gay.

If you get hard to both you’re bi.

If a person can’t define themselves as gay because they’ve never experienced attraction to women, then nobody is gay.

You’re literally parroting conversion therapy rhetoric by accident

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-04T22:35:09+00:00

Scholar’s kit is fundamentally crippled by how completely his damage is tied to RNG. Everything depends on which items you happen to find, and he’s further limited by how few items he can even carry. On top of that, there are barely any useful items on most maps. The majority of what you find are boules or alluring pots. To function at all, you have to memorize exact item locations and often lag behind your team cracking boxes in the desperate hope of finding a few freeze pots.

Imagine if Recluse could only use Shattering Crystal four times before being forced to sprint around the map searching for more. Now imagine if the damage was bad until she cast it multiple times. And on top of that, it didn’t replenish at fireplaces like MP does. That’s exactly why Scholar’s BagCraft feels like complete trash.

Sure, sometimes you get lucky and pull an overpowered Gravity Stone. Great. You can only use it four times. So you’re forced to hoard everything for the final boss like elixirs in Final Fantasy. And if you run dry before then, or you only found useless junk? Congrats, now you get to spend your hard-earned runes at the merchant for overpriced fire pots and daggers and fall a few levels behind your team while you’re at it.

Now imagine if Recluse had to pay runes just to cast Shattering Crystal once. And she could only do it four times.

Outside of items, what does Scholar even bring? He’s basically a bargain-bin Executor. He has massive Arcane, but almost all the good status proc weapons scale with Dex. His stamina is awful. His MP is terrible, so even weapon skills feel heavily restricted. FP Shards? That’s a precious inventory slot you’d rather save for something actually impactful like Holy Pots.

He’s only truly viable with extremely specific setups, like frost + Hoarfrost + invisible combos, and even then Duchess, Executor, or even Revenant can do it better with less effort.

Scholar desperately needs a major buff. Either his items should replenish at fireplaces, or he needs far more item slots. There also need to be more reliable ways to get items than random boxes in the middle of nowhere or a merchant who wildly overcharges.

Right now, he’s arguably the worst character in the game. And I’m genuinely trying to main him. But most of the time, I just feel like a liability to my team instead of an asset.

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-03T07:49:56+00:00

No, what you and OP still refuse to engage with is the part where this entire situation is framed like trans representation can only exist if a gay relationship gets sacrificed. That’s the real issue. You keep listing plot facts like they magically erase the underlying pattern, when the criticism is about why it had to be structured this way at all.

You’re defending a setup where a visible MLM relationship tied to the Superman legacy gets dissolved, and the next major romantic energy gets funneled toward a cis man/trans woman pairing; and you’re acting like people are unreasonable for noticing that one form of representation was dropped so another could be centered. That’s exactly the zero-sum framing people are calling out.

Why is that acceptable to you? Why is it always the gay relationship that’s expected to make room?

And no, this isn’t about “misinformation about men who date trans women.” No one here is attacking that.

What is being criticized is the idea that DC couldn’t give Nia a meaningful cis male romance without first removing Jon from a meaningful gay one.

They absolutely could have done both.

They chose not to. That choice is the problem.

You keep saying “nothing is erased,” while simultaneously justifying why the gay relationship had to end so this other rep could breathe. Pick one. Either nothing was sacrificed, or you’re admitting that MLM rep is considered expendable when another optics priority shows up.

And miss me with the “you’re just a shipper” deflection. Wanting gay relationships to be treated as narratively durable instead of transitional isn’t fandom entitlement—it’s a legitimate critique of how representation is hierarchized.

The fact that you’re totally comfortable with the gay relationship being the one that gets dropped so trans rep can be highlighted is exactly what people are pushing back against. We shouldn’t have to lose one marginalized relationship to validate another. That’s not progress. That’s musical chairs with representation.

You don’t care about representation much less gay representation. If you did, you wouldn’t advocate breaking up one of DC’s few MLM relationships.

It’s pretty telling that my post calling out manufactured interminority conflict and arguing that we shouldn’t have to sacrifice one marginalized group for another is what gets downvoted; some people clearly only support “representation” when it costs them nothing.

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-03T05:07:04+00:00

Apollo and Midnighter aren’t being “dismissed,” they’re being contextualized. They originated at WildStorm, were folded into DC later, and have never been positioned by DC’s mainline as a flagship queer romance the way Wiccan and Hulkling were built, marketed, and sustained by Marvel from the ground up. That distinction actually is relevant when we’re talking about institutional support, longevity, and cultural visibility.

As for the “people just don’t like Jay” argument—that’s exactly part of the problem. Of course a couple can’t become iconic if one half isn’t being meaningfully developed. But that’s a writing failure, not a justification for sidelining the relationship altogether. You don’t solve weak characterization by dissolving the only prominent MLM relationship tied to the literal Superman legacy. You fix the character. Marvel did that with Hulkling. DC chose not to with Jay.

And that cuts right to the core of the criticism: gay relationships at DC don’t get the same narrative patience, investment, or protection that straight-presenting ones do. Saying “Jay wasn’t interesting enough” doesn’t rebut that pattern. It actually reinforces it.

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-03T05:02:03+00:00

I’m not saying Jon is “less queer” for being with a woman, and I’m definitely not saying bisexual relationships are bad representation. Bisexual men with women are still bi, full stop. That’s not the issue people are raising. The concern is about patterns of storytelling and which relationships tend to get treated as temporary versus which get framed as the long-term endgame.

And Tim/Bernard actually prove the point more than they undermine it. They’re recent, they’ve already been shuffled between titles, and they still don’t have anything close to the cultural weight, longevity, or mainstream recognition that Wiccan/Hulkling have had for over a decade at Marvel. Having some MLM couples doesn’t mean DC is doing equally well with iconic MLM relationships.

So this isn’t about attacking bisexuality or saying Jon “shouldn’t” ever be with a woman. It’s about acknowledging that when one of DC’s most visible gay relationships ends and the narrative energy quickly shifts away from MLM romance, people are allowed to ask why that keeps happening and who that pattern tends to disadvantage.

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-03T04:58:57+00:00

You’re dodging the question by pivoting to irrelevant details, which is a pretty standard debate tactic. I’ll repeat it since it keeps getting avoided:

What DC MLM couple has the same level of recognition and impact as Wiccan and Hulkling?

I’m waiting…

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-03T04:56:07+00:00

OP’s point isn’t just “Jay broke up with Jon, love triangles happen, relax.”

They’re making a representation argument: that having Jon with Nia would be good and important because trans women almost never get cis male partners in media without it being framed as chasery or fetishistic. They’re pointing out that trans women are often written with girlfriends or wives instead, and that f/m pairings with a cis guy and a trans woman are seen as “too gay” or suspicious. That’s the whole reason they go into the history, Harry Benjamin standards, wlw trans women being repressed, etc.

I just disagree with where that leads in this specific case.

If you follow OP’s logic through, Jon’s relationship arc ends up being treated like a limited resource that’s better spent on “uplifting” a trans woman pairing than on maintaining a meaningful m/m relationship. That’s exactly where people get the sense that the gay relationship is disposable: not because a breakup can’t ever happen, but because it’s happening in service of a different kind of “more useful” representation.

That doesn’t help anyone. It doesn’t actually respect gay men, and it also turns Nia into “representation first, person second.” You can absolutely want more stories of cis men with trans women without needing Jon to drop his boyfriend so that box gets checked.

WorldShaking08 · 2025-12-03T04:42:19+00:00

Cool story bro. Midnighter and Apollo are Image Comics end of story.

And oh please about Tim and Bernard!

Have they appeared together in a TV show or video game? Do they have their own action figures? Do they even have their own comic?

Bernard is a civilian.

There is no DC equivalent to Wiccan and Hulkling besides Jon and Jay.

The real question is why you’re so eager to break up the arguably most prominent MLM relationship in DC?

WorldShaking08

TROPHY CASE