Bodie A. Ashton
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manwithoutatan.bsky.social
Bodie A. Ashton
@manwithoutatan.bsky.social
3.9K followers 1K following 2.7K posts
historian | pet shop boys fanatic | australian in germany | very bisexual | constantly podcasting | "oh, dr. bodie!" per jordan gray | they/them | latest book: “the pet shop boys and the political”
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manwithoutatan.bsky.social
It’s also not the first time a Cheron has appeared since 1969/2268! There’s a picture of one on a Lower Decks episode. A Cheron, Virgil, is also a character in the movie Section 31, which is based in the 24th century.
A Cheron, Virgil, is black on one side and white on the other.
January 20, 2026 at 11:28 AM
manwithoutatan.bsky.social
She’s from the civilisation of Cheron, and she’s not the first of her species to appear. In fact, in 1969, the Original Series Episode “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” introduced them: two Cherons, Bele and Lokai, are locked in a pursuit that has raged for 50,000 years.
A man with half of his face white and half black.
January 20, 2026 at 11:28 AM
manwithoutatan.bsky.social
Okay everything is very heavy so let me quickly post about something that means less than the destruction of the “postwar consensus”, and instead I want to take a moment about Star Trek. Specifically: this character and the decline of imagination and joy.
A character wearing a Starfleet uniform. Half of her face is black, half white.
January 20, 2026 at 11:28 AM
manwithoutatan.bsky.social
Cap and Bucky say hello!

(How is Eggs doing btw?)
A tuxedo cat, Cap, lies on a windowsill. He is wearing a black bow tie with gold highlights. He has huge eyes and is adorable. A grey and white cat, Bucky, tips her head back to look at the ceiling. She’s wearing a pink and white bow tie and is also adorable as hell.
December 31, 2025 at 8:08 PM
manwithoutatan.bsky.social
Today I finally did my 2025 Christmas French toast! Cinnamon and ginger brioche with Glühwein-spiked vanilla cream cheese, bacon, black cherries, and maple drizzle, topped with a dusting of chopped candied almonds.
On a blue plate surrounded with gold cutlery, the French toast described in the post. Close-up of the French toast, particularly showing the bacon.
December 28, 2025 at 1:13 PM
manwithoutatan.bsky.social
Look, my pies are delicious, not photogenic, but this one I just wanted to shout out because I’m thrilled how it turned out. This is my 2025 bubble and squeak alternative: a roast goose and bacon pie with goose fat-roasted potatoes and Merlot gravy. With the Maus adorning it because…squeak I guess?
The glazed top of a pie, with decorations in the shape of the Maus and a present.
December 25, 2025 at 8:11 PM
manwithoutatan.bsky.social
Actually for that one I can blame @nigella.bsky.social, or instead wholly recommend her Christmas potatoes, which are the ones I’ll presumably be going through over the next few days/weeks.

Also here’s Bucky keeping me company. She’s a good cat. The best.

bsky.app/profile/nige...
In the foreground, a plate containing goose, stuffing, potatoes, and red cabbage. Behind that, an advent wreath has its four candles burning. Further back and out of focus, a grey and white cat, Bucky, watches on.
December 24, 2025 at 7:12 PM
manwithoutatan.bsky.social
There are people (some of whom may be reading this) whose generosity and kindness I can’t hope to repay. But I’ll do my best.

This Christmas I’m alone, for the first time in my life. Well, no; the cats are here. They remain the loves of my life. 5/
A grey and white cat, Bucky, looks quizzically at a white bauble on a Christmas tree. A tuxedo cat, Cap, lies upside-down, with wide eyes and a pink nose.
December 24, 2025 at 9:11 AM
manwithoutatan.bsky.social
So it’s Christmas and it’s a strange one. So I just want to take a moment to take stock. This year really could’ve been one of despair, and to a degree it has been. I lost both of my parents in quick and traumatic succession; in the midst of that, some very dear to me disappeared. 1/
A cup of coffee sits in front of a red lantern and a glass vase filled with blue, pink, and white baubles.
December 24, 2025 at 9:11 AM
manwithoutatan.bsky.social
I'm writing again and it's a beautiful cosy Sunday and also I'm grateful for being able to do work that allows me to write lines like this in all seriousness and with a reasonable expectation that it'll be published.
Text reads: "Thus spirited away from Smyrna — presumably by dint of his prodigious penis — "
December 21, 2025 at 4:43 PM
manwithoutatan.bsky.social
Cap, meanwhile, is here for the coffee.
A coffee workspace has a scale with a carafe and a pink Origami dripper on it. Next to it sits a tuxedo cat, Cap, who stares at the camera with wide green eyes.
December 6, 2025 at 7:49 AM
manwithoutatan.bsky.social
In other words Bucky was probably deliberately lulling everyone into a false sense of security. Also she’s perfect anyway.
A grey and white cat, Bucky, lies on the fluffy white skirt under the Christmas tree.
December 6, 2025 at 7:20 AM
manwithoutatan.bsky.social
Cannot send soup but Bucky sends you snooze and am absolutely sure would call you a style icon.
A grey and white cat, Bucky, sleeps tubbily on a wool blanket. She has a pink nose and her paw is under her chin.
December 4, 2025 at 6:50 PM
manwithoutatan.bsky.social
Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before.

Happy 1. Advent everyone.
A Christmas wreath sits in a golden dish. It has four thick red candles, one of which is lit. In front of it is a glass coffee carafe and a white porcelain cup, which is full of black coffee (Seven Seeds Rwandan Mushonyi through the Aeropress, with notes of apple strudel and maple, for those playing at home).
November 30, 2025 at 8:41 AM
manwithoutatan.bsky.social
One (1) historian and their loyal Boy.
A person lies on a white couch, wearing a black t-shirt and clear-framed glasses. They have cherry cola hair. Lying on their shoulder is a tuxedo cat with his paws curled up.
November 29, 2025 at 4:15 PM
manwithoutatan.bsky.social
Passion
Love
Sex
Money
Violence
Religion
Injustice
Death
The pope stands soulfully before a microphone, surely belting out a banger
November 23, 2025 at 1:22 PM
manwithoutatan.bsky.social
Marvellous couple of days in beautiful Bamberg for BritCult! Congratulation to @susannegruss.bsky.social and all the organising team for a really great conference, and for reminding me that it was high time I (re)visited Oberfranken!
A half-timbered building juts out from a stone bridge and a tower over a river. With sun shining on a river, a view of houses along that river.
November 22, 2025 at 3:45 PM
manwithoutatan.bsky.social
Hey, please accept the very very best wishes from this internet stranger and their cat. I can’t picture what this experience is like for you and wouldn’t presume to, but I hope you are surrounded by comfort and support. 💜
A tuxedo cat, Cap, states down at the camera from inside a cupboard. He has wide green eyes and enormous ears and he looks startled and extremely handsome.
November 21, 2025 at 8:15 PM
manwithoutatan.bsky.social
Happy birthday, dad. 💜
Two men are on a yacht on clear blue seas and with an almost clear sky above. The one on the right is slightly out of frame; the one on the left holds the tiller, and is wearing a white spray jacket and sunglasses.
November 19, 2025 at 10:25 AM
manwithoutatan.bsky.social
Saw it recently on a trip to Australia. Well done Vicky 💜
On a book table, the cover of a book picturing a beached Messerschmitt Bf-109. The title reads “Eagle Days: Life and Death for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain.” The author is Victoria Taylor.
November 16, 2025 at 11:09 AM
manwithoutatan.bsky.social
O R B
A grey and white cat, Bucky, sits on a white couch and a crocheted blanket, ready to pounce. Her eyes are the size of dinner plates.
November 9, 2025 at 11:09 PM
manwithoutatan.bsky.social
“I couldn't have anticipated [backlash]”, says a man who built an Auschwitz-themed Halloween float for a kids’ Halloween parade. I think this tells us an awful lot about more than we might like, to be honest.

(Reposted screenshot with alt text.)
Galen S. Shelly, who identified himself as the head designer of the float, told Harrisburg news outlet PennLive on Saturday that he had made a mistake but had "no ill intent. Senior said the approved design of the float did not contain the gate. Shelly told PennLive he added it later, after another part of the design fell through. "I wanted to illustrate the idea none of us get out of this life alive," Shelly told PennLive. "I never intended anything to be like this. I couldn't have anticipated it. I made a mistake and I ask everyone's forgiveness."
November 2, 2025 at 9:32 AM
manwithoutatan.bsky.social
And now I know how Johnny Marr felt.
On a stage with lots of blue backlight, a man wearing dark denim jacket and jeans plays a guitar. On a stage, a man wearing dark denim jacket and jeans plays a guitar.
November 2, 2025 at 9:03 AM
manwithoutatan.bsky.social
The world is nonsense so Cap and Bucky are here to brighten your lives.
A black and white cat, Cap, lies upside-down on a crocheted blanket. He has wide eyes and a pink nose. A grey and white cat, Bucky, stands among bags of coffee. She is looking to her left, with big orb eyes.
October 30, 2025 at 10:07 PM
manwithoutatan.bsky.social
Let me add to this both Kenneth Branagh and Stanley Tucci in “Conspiracy” (2001).
A man wearing an SS uniform and a black leather coat is smiling tightly. He wears a hat with the very distinctive skull and crossbones of the Totenkopf, which is not at all to be mistaken for the Jolly Roger. A man wearing an SS uniform stands in the snow. He wears a hat with the very distinctive skull and crossbones of the Totenkopf, which is STILL not at all to be mistaken for the Jolly Roger.
October 22, 2025 at 4:42 PM