#……maybe id use my powers for evil. just a little.

[quietwingsinthesky]

corrupting an angel to fall by handfeeding them fresh, warm peanut butter cookies

[spacedace]

So I have an idea for a dp x dc fic and I'm going to throw it here since i need to get it out of my head and i'm not sure i'll ever actually write it (and as always if anyone finds my rambles interesting any/all of it us up for grabs to run with):

Elle ends up crashing into the DC universe while exploring, but despite all the dimension/multivariate nonsense that always goes down (or maybe because of it) she can't actually get back, and the levels of ectoplasm are a lot lower than most dimensions which weakens her quite a bit.

There's enough for her to survive, and use her powers a little bit, but using them too much makes her get really weak/maybe even causes serious harm depending on how much she uses.

She finds this out when she tries to open a portal home and both fails to open the portal & passes out as a result of trying. Cut to Elle waking up in Cadmus and realizing "ah, fucked up unethical science, I am familiar with this fuckery" and escapes.

In the process of escaping she comes across Kon, who isn't "finished" yet. He's alive and aged up to a teenager, but isn't quite done with his programming/whatever (this idea came to me based entirely off what I've gleaned through fandom so I don't know the canon of Kon's whole time with Cadmus). Elle immediately realizes "Oh clone baby, that's not good" and breaks him out and takes him with her.

Kon in this doesn't know he's a clone of Superman, he doesn't know a lot of things considering how early into the clone info-dumling process he was in when Elle broke him out. He barely knows language and how to read. What he does know for sure though is that Cadmus is Bad and Getting the Fuck Out is Good so he's down to go with Elle

Queue them becoming friends and being on the run together, learning about this world/dimension together and coming to see each other as family. Eventually they end up in Gotham because it's one of the places that naturally has a higher ectopalsm level and because if you're in the right area no one cares if you have no legal ID (in some circles it's a plus).

Kon gets a lot of odd jobs before eventually ending up working at a strip club or burlesque bar or something (my idea is that it's years after escaping so he's in his early 20s at this point and not just a fresh baby clone anymore and he gets into it because he likes it and it's good money) while Elle uses her ghostly knowledge/what powers she can to work as like a psychic or something like that.

Meanwhile Justice League (with alive again Superman) have found out about the escaped Superman clone and, along with Cadmus, are desperately trying to track him down. The info they have is a bit murky, so they think it's actually *two* clones, one that had Martian dnd also thrown in to the mix based off a short clip they managed to find of Elle phasing through walls.

My idea is that it'd all finally come to a head when Constantine pulls Tim (and maybe also Damian) in on a JL Dark case that involves the Lazerus Pit and for reasons ends up having to hire Elle to help. I'm thinking it's a thing that Elle is a pretty respected name in certain magic circles due to her expert knowledge on the Infinite Realms, though she refuses to work for most people who seek her out - even though the money would be good - because usually it's only evil assholes that want to hire her.

She makes a deal with Jon to help (in exchange for something that would let her get a message to Danny letting him know what happened or something like that) and Kon joins in because there's no way he's trusting a dude Elle calls the "drunk soul slut" with his baby sister unattended, he doesn't *care* if she could handle herself it's not happening.

Anyway, Tim/Kon (and maybe some Damian/Elle) shenanigans during a Lazerus Pit/demon hunting road trip where eventually everyone figures out who Kon & Elle are, Elle manages to get a stable portal setup so she can go home and come back whenever she wants (Kon getting adopted by Danny? Kon getting adopted by Danny) and Kon joining Young Justice and having a good relationship with Clark (who had a lot more time to deal with things before meeting Kon and learned about him as a person before learning he was Clark's clone).

Anyway there would be a scene at the end where Kon would be in his superhero suit for the first time and just:

Clark: Did you choose a hero name yet?

Kon: Yeah, I figured I'd go with Supernova.

Clark, feeling touched: Yeah? Any particular reason?

Kon: It's cool, it has 'Super' in the name, and really it just seemed the easiest option, I'm used to responding to Nova, so *shrugs*

Clark: Yeah? Why's that? Nickname?

Kon: I guess kinda? It's my stage name at the strip club I work at

Clark: what

Tim, brain shut down by this revelation: ...do you do private shows?

Clark: w h a t

[goomyloid]

What was your process for making the Noelle amv, if you don't mind sharing?

hii! im not sure how eloquently or clearly ill be able to explain it but i definitely have some pictures you can look at!

(the video)

i actually got the idea while i was away on a trip with very limited wifi -- it wasn't Trust Me that i got an AMV idea for first, but instead it was one of 4syu's other songs, There's Nobody. for such a happy sounding song it really made me so sad, to the point where if i tried to sing it to myself id get choked up by the chorus LMAO. it was baddd

but basically i was rapidly trying to find both songs on spotify so i could listen to them offline, and it only took me a few loops of Trust Me and thinking about the original MV to make me go "ohhhh. how can i make this about noelle." And so i did .

i was thinking about doing a storyboard, but in the past, i've found that doing storyboards for animations/AMVs lowkey... kills my motivation altogether... SAD... but i saw the whole video so clearly in my head, and i didnt want to make the same mistake i made before... so i went right to doing quick sketches (while still on my trip...) just so i could get the ideas out of my head

i was torn on what to do with my style at the time, whether i wanted to make it more similar to the original video, or to her canon appearance, or to MY style and how i draw her. i think it kind of ended up as an amalgamation of all three...? at the very least, her light world color palette definitely was more bland and desaturated, like i purposefully wasn't trying to do anything special with her colors.

after that point, and getting maybe a few of the actual drawings done, my motivation crashed again, and i left it all to marinate for nearly a week. it was baking, guys, it wasn't abandoned, listen to me, why are you throwing tomatoes at me,

i had up to about the "I dreamed about that again" animation done and stopped, and it wasn't until i decided to sit down and start editing it anyway that i really got in my groove again. i got all my little assets into a workable state so i could really try to sit down and make the video come to life and all

the really fun part was honestly working on the desktop backgrounds. i really wanted to limit colorpicking from the original video as much as possible, but i decided that making look as similar as possible to the original could help with the contrast i wanted to add later.

i drew these two backgrounds first. i was hoping i could somehow fit the bunker into the second one, but decided to do something different anyway. the second one's ui didn't actually change until later in the editing process.

drawing THESE were fun especially, and im happy with how they came out. i think the dark world icons are really cute still. one thing i really did know i wanted to do from the beginning was to turn the soul/undertale icon into the deltarune one.

i was worried if the shift from the Windows Field Background to the dark world would be too sudden, like you would just blink and suddenly it was all different, but i think it ended up all right...?

the not so fun part was drawing all the different boxes, lmao. it go really tedious by the end, so i tried to reuse as many of the same ones as i could.

a lot of copy-pasting and tracing rectangles for sure.

i also had to make sure the animations didnt Suck. i brute forced those things and used every last braincell i had in order to make those pictures move bros

fun fact. ive never animated hair like this before. or in any complex manner really. i had to use sooo much brain here... heres how it started vs. how it ended up

had my animator gf hype me up thru the whole thing... i was having a great time based on the filenames alone

aaaand then ummmm i edited it. i learned after effects like 1 month ago. never touched it before. i learned it for internship purposes and then used my newfound powers for evil it seems

i split the whole thing up into multiple compositions of course, but i probably could have split things up more... im sorry for having 84 layers on comp 3 its not my fault

editing a video in 12 fps was a fun change though -- very easy for my brain to go frame-by-frame, and yet still some of the timing ended up being off... tis the goomy way

like i said before, i started editing when i barely had half the drawings done, but seeing it all start to be in motion really pushed me to finish it up. and i mean Really. like i finished the whole thing maybe 48 hours after i first started editing.

and...i think that's it? i do a lot of discord art streaming to friends lately but i kinda kept this one more under wraps compared to usual, i think i just wanted to surprise everyone... look guys i remembered how to make a video! and it's three minutes! waow

sorry if this is way more than you asked for LMAO

also, the AMV hit 5k views on youtube today! ive never had a video do well like that so quickly! thank you!!

[theresattrpgforthat]

Hello! I have two (separate) genres im interested in recs for, if youve got them (though combined would be fascinating tbh): Horror and farming sim-like ttrpgs. Horror im sure is fairly common, just not in my circles (which are adventure fantasy based); farming sim though seems like it may be rarer? for that id be interested in either solo or with 2+ people

Theme: Horror Games

Hello friend, I’m going to let one of my older posts do some of the heavy lifting, and point you towards the Small Town Farming collection I put up back in 2022.

You are absolutely right that Horror is much easier to recommend, but I’ll also try and put some quick recs for solo-farming type games at the bottom of this post.

1978: The Night They Came Home, by World Champ Game Co.

1978: The Night THEY Came Home is a 1-2 player horror roleplaying game telling the story of a fateful showdown between Survivor (a clever and resilient person caught up in horrifying circumstances) and Slasher (a legendary force of evil). Using a deck of poker cards, dual rule books, varied resources, and shared play space, players will recount the events of a forsaken Halloween, zooming closer into the haunting folklore of a small Midwestern town and its inhabitants, and culminating in a violent battle for survival.

Here is a game for solo gamers and folks who want a more intimate experience. If you’re a fan of Friday the 13th, this is probably in your wheelhouse! 1978 has a win condition, meaning that either the Survivor or the Slasher will come away as the victor, and the fact that this is also a game that depends on a deck of cards means that I think this might also be a good game for folks who also enjoy card games and board games.

Vast Grimm, by Infinite Black.

EACH MISERABLE DAY THAT PASSES, THE UNIVERSE INCHES CLOSER TO ITS INEVITABLE DEMISE.

Vast Grimm is a stand-alone, art-filled, punk-fueled OSR role-playing game about the few humans remaining in a universe being consumed by growing parasitic würms.

Are you a MAnchiNe ravaged by war, pieced together with remnants of bots and the little flesh left of your body? Maybe you're a twisted biochemist shoving needles into your arms in hopes that this next fix will be the one that saves you and what’s left of humanity? Or perhaps you are a soul survivor, like a cockroach, doing whatever is necessary to stay alive even if it means the rest of your Legion must perish.

This is a game about survival, no matter how gruesome things get, humanity must survive.

If you’ve heard of MÖRK BORG and thought it was cool, and if you want the same kind of energy but in a sci-fi future full of mutant animals and horrific parasites, then you might want to check out Vast Grimm. Your characters will have to ration food, energy and ammo in an unending battle against the worms. This game looks to have a large amount of support, from expanded content, to a number of adventures, to an online character generator. For over-the-top violence, plenty of alien goo, and shambling pathetic characters that look like they might fall apart at any moment, try out Vast Grimm.

The Lost Bay, by IKO.

What Is The Lost Bay? The Lost Bay is a Suburban Gothic tabletop RPG se199X. The Lost Bay is also the name of the setting where the game takes place: a coastal suburb inspired by films and media from the 80s and 90s. In it you play as a young person touched by the Weird, an ancient force that gives you supernatural powers. You roam the Bay with your gang, its malls, arcade games shops, skateparks and beaches, and fight the Horror that has awakened.

The Lost Bay is a game for folks who like their horror drenched in 90’s nostalgia. Characters are archetypal, and each one comes with special powers. Using your powers is exciting and effective, but also brings you closer to Scars, horrible truths about the world around you that will irrevocably change your hometown.

The Lost Bay is great for planning heists, rescuing friends, and trying to get out of dodge when the going gets rough. It’s not about fighting your way out, but more about trying to keep you and your loved ones safe. A lot of game designers have had a riot putting together adventures for this game, which you can check out in this game jam. The link above is for the Kickstarter, but in case you see this game after the campaign finishes, you can also check the game out on Itch.

Flyover Country, by Headstone Hills.

Fields of wheat and corn ripple in the wind, hungry eyes peering out between the stalks. Billboards along the road advertise strange and dangerous attractions. Smiles are too wide, manners too polite, secrets buried too deep. The neon light of a diner glows in the distance, but you may never reach its doors. An empty highway stretches out to the horizon, then wraps back in around itself. This is Flyover Country.

Flyover Country is a Midwest road-tripping horror role-playing game for 4-6 players: one gamemaster, or Watcher, and 3-5 players, or Drifters. It is designed to be played in one setting and without prep. It only requires paper, writing utensils, and a tarot deck.

This is a great option for a group where the GM is uneasy about doing a lot of prep. While one person acts as the Watcher, much of the events in this game are simply generated by drawing tarot cards from a deck. Characters will also draw from the Major Arcana to determine what their secret is - and what special ability it has given them. This is a game of hidden information, and grinding your characters down towards a tragic or grisly end.

Gravemire, by Clawhammer Games.

Gravemire is a tabletop roleplaying game about death, growth, horror, and survival, based in an original mechanical framework and set in the churning waters of the Louisiana bayou circa 1894. Players slip into the roles of outsiders arriving in the town of Scarstone, a rural outpost that has been warped by a terrible transformation known as the Convulsion. Once, Scarstone was surrounded by similar towns. The Bayou once had an end. Now, unknowable numbers of horrors seep through the uncharted backwaters, strange magic contorts reality to its whims, and the settlements that called Scarstone their neighbour jut half-ruined from the mire like bones from a wound. Times have changed.

Gravemire is a pretty brutal game, not afraid to kill your character and steal their soul. The town of Scarstone is a trap; your characters wandered in one day through curiosity or the desire for adventure, but leaving the town isn’t nearly as easy. Characters are built using a point-buy system, and as you play you may acquire more skill - but you will also acquire Aversions, which sap your Willpower and inhibit your ability to muster through the worst of what the game can throw at you.

If you want to check out an abbreviated version of the game, you can check out the Kickstarter playkit here.

Under the Autumn Strangely, by Graham Gentz.

"Under the Autumn Strangely" is a storytelling game of pastoral horror priming with anachronistic Americana set in a land that Never Was.

Inspired by "Over the Garden Wall" created by Patrick McHale, players collaboratively create a world uncanny and old. Codify and encourage tonal clash as the Three Roles meld whimsy, autumnal melancholy, and dread.

Take a wrong turn on a dusty road. Follow the sign past the red barn with peeling paint. Doubt your senses.

Get a little lost.

Welcome to the Never Was.

From what I understand about this game, it works best with three players, as there are three roles that the participants are expected to embody. One person plays the Arcadian, who embodies the landscape and setting. One person plays the Traveller, who acts as a “main” character. One person plays the Terror, which grows to dominate the story. Each role can only add to to one role’s suggestions, and can only deny the other’s. If you want to mix your horror with nostalgia and a romanticized vision of the rural USA, you might want to check out Under the Autumn Strangely.

The Facility, by Galen Pejeu.

You awaken, cold and in the dark. Fumbling around by low blue lights in a coffin shaped pod. You pull yourself out of the box, and in the dark see the faces of others. You are all wearing loose fitting white clothing and laceless shoes. Hospital patients? 

You peer into the dark, seeing little but hearing the sound of dripping, running water and distant machinery. You gather what you can, knowing that something is hunting you. It will be here soon.

Wait.

Can you remember who you are?

The Facility is a game for any number of players, taking on the role of ordinary people, stripped of their memories and trapped in a hostile and insane labyrinth of machines and interdimensional weirdness.

The Facility places your crew into an unknown place full of machines that want to kill you. It’s great for high-action scenes, and since your characters have lost their memories, I think the struggle to find pieces of who you are (or were) is a great way to zoom in and make the horror personal. The game is Breathless, so expect your character’s gear and/or abilities to slowly wear down over time, and for the staked to get bigger every time you pause to try and re-stock. If you want a science-fiction twist to your horror game, check out The Facility.

You Should Also Check Out...

My Shudders Rec Post

The Curse of the House of Rookwood, by Nerdy Pup Games.

Nature, Town, Farm, Villagers, by CardboardHyperfix.

Weeds in the Waste, by Meghan Cross

The Wandering Tea Garden, by AP.

Green Thumb, by Curious Frog.

The Bonsai Diary, by Sticky Doodler.

Iron Valley, by M.Kirin.

[aresonist]

your jay thoughts are so real actually i feel the same.. overall i like what they did with his character but i wish they just explained a little more what happened between him pointing a gun at bonzle and him suddenly shattering his soul LMAO like the whiplash is bonkers... lots of jay thoughts much to think about

NINJAGO DR S2 P2 SPOILERS

bit of a longer rant ahead

oh absolutely! im kinda mad abt the way they went abt it bc like if they showed us at the beginning ras recruiting jay and then maybe some training to show his personality start to change due to shatter spin or something (in general i think letting us see his first shatter spin would be really cool and make it so dramatic bc the viewer would just fully know its no longer jay as we knew him b4 the ninja knew) plus it would spare us the random ass monologue in the middle of the jay nya fight

bc if i didnt know he was gonna be working with ras beforehand id be reaaallly confused abt why hes suddenly on his team and evil and the only explanation being oh i ran away and ras helped me after DOES NOT HELP and just in general that explanation felt very unsatisfying

honestly id even go ahead and say that it just feels like he was placed there for the sole purpose of angst? and that backstory stuff was just an excuse for him to be there

also the way he loses one game so they take him out the back and just end his misery is kinda funny to me like yeah sure hype this guy up and then have him appear twice do nothing but fail and leave why not sure keep mentioning him being really powerful why not whyyy not

idk the massacred my boy really cause evil jay had so much potential!!!! he could have ruined everyone's days and lives in there by saying a few mean words actually!!! but he was just a bit of a cunt lost started acting liek a kicked puppy and left LMAO also the way him leaving DOES NOTHINNGG im the story except for getting him out of the picture THEY WANTED HIM GONEE like even the arin wanting to know abt his parents from jay thing could have been very interesting if jay sticked around i think

also my own little personal agenda but im grieving the way we missed out on a cinder jay jordana dynamic they could have been such menaces if they were only given the time... they should have been at the evil club for evil people and drinking evil drinks i think

[silliersiluriforme]

@asukiess [batting my eyelashes kicking my feet blushing twirling my hair ect] I’m using this as an excuse to yap :3c

I love putting the child in child soldier. Like. Marinette is NOT mature and she has to deal with SO MUCH so of course putting everyone and everything in a neat little box is the only way she can function. Chat noir is her non threatening goofy male bestie and Adrien is her perfect beautiful unattainable crush who’s too innocent and pure to realise his childhood best friend is evil. Unfortunately 15 year olds aren’t great judge of character teehee.

Now for what inspires me Id say mostly western comics !! I get most of my coloring inspo from golden age marvels and Gerard way’s works (especially the fabulous killjoys) my lineart is heavily influenced by Mike mignolia (and tatsuki fujimoto’s tho like. Way less. I wish I could make the squigglies work but alas.) !!!! Though I would say for panel layouts I’m partial to franco-Belgian stuff. Like I need to cram as many panels in that page as possible or I’ll explode myself. I wanna try making my colors even more fun and adding more fx in the future :3c.

I LOVE THAT LINE. “It means they like you.” ITS SO IMPORTANT TO ME. I think chat noir and ladybug’s different approaches to “The Public” is soooooo fun.

I think adrien living his entire life up on his little pedestal and THEN obtaining incompressible power at a very young age would lead to him to see civilians- The Public, as just that. Civilians. Maybe to a slightly dehumanising extent ? Which is. So fun.

so idk if anyone has noticed the pattern but like. Ok so first page- chat noir’s sat higher up than Marinette but she gets him to lower himself. In this angle of the love square she has control because he relinquished it.

Next page ! Ladybug is sat way higher than chat noir. She lowers herself but she never quite gets to his level.

NOW THE MULTICHAT DANCE OH BOY- he helps her up. Then he tries to push her down. She resists. He pushes her down harder. It’s confusing!! They’re BOTH confused. Marinette’s his friend ! Why is he being a dick to her ?? A question only god (me) could answer.

I think it’s sososo fun when Marinette is left all alone with no one to rely on. Whether it’s her fault or not. Isolate that baby !

[verdemint]

Back to my conclave thoughts! Spoiler ahead ofc

Something i adored was the shot of them voting one last time and lawrence looking up at the hole in the wall from the terrorist attack letting light enter the room, beautiful metaphorically and also the perfect shot of the micheangelo’s fresco with jesus turning to the light entering from the hole in the wall

Beautifully shot and everything

Also how they were able to showcase the nuns and their role in the church. Them being silent all the time but also showing them cooking and cleaning and eveything, its them taking care of the cardinals, of the church, but they’re ofc ignored, they’re in the background.

Not only showing us the roles of nuns in the church but of women in general. Not only in the vaticane but in every little church around the world! Yes they cant become priests but whos attending masses? Women. Who’s cleaning every church in italy for free usually? La perpetua, women once again. Its women labour and work for free most of the time that are the backbone of the community, they are the reason why going to church is a social athering situation, its their work for the community that goes largely under appreciated. So really liked how they depicted nuns doing the same thing as your random italian woman in their forties going to church and then cooking and cleaning for everyone basically

But also i can’t help but ask myself what was the point of the movie in the end? Maybe i should read the book and I’m open to discussion! Id love to talk about this more! But them choosing this modern day saint as the pope. Why? Is this a way to absolve from their sins and wrongdoings that were shown and revealed to the entire conclave by lawrence? Like choosing the good guy??

I was so hyped when they showed bellini, a liberal cardinal, one of the “good ones” accepting money to elect tremblay, like that was shocking but also so realistic! Not even the good guy are truly good there, they wouldnt be in the conclave if they were, the whole ‘we have to choose the less evil option’ was all fake! Bellini was getting money and power out of it! Perfect brilliant yes thats exactly what would happen there! Even the good ones cant escape the mafia style and corrupted behaviour in the church. (Comportamento omertoso uno dopo l’altro for my italians around! Insane that theres not a real translation for omertoso in english like thats an extremely unique and precise word)

And then them choosing benitez the good guy after that last speech. Were they ashamed of their previous actions and thats why they elected him? How fid that terrible group of people elect Benitez? Co i cant believe they were just mi ed bu his speech i cant believe it. And Benitez this perfect saint! Like i cant believe it once again

So yes! Very beautiful movie and very beautiful dialogue! Im just confused about the why, what was the point they were truing to make? And if the point was theres still hope in the church then do we really need this type of message?

[axnewxera]

// A headcanon (or more of an observation maybe?) I have for Rufus and the Turks

Sooooo I'm only roleplaying Rufus, I'm certainly not saying that every Turk I interact with HAS to follow these ideas. I would MUCH rather you come to the table with your own lore and your own take.

But, here is my personal takeaways from the canon about the Turks and their relationship with Rufus. I'm mostly writing this because it's fun and I'm getting to know my muse a little bit, but this will probably affect how I play the character and his feelings toward the canon Turks and Turk OCs.

I haven't played/watched Before Crisis yet, and I need to revisit Crisis Core because I played it a looooong time ago, so I'm mainly going off the original FF7, the Advent Children sequel film, and Remake and Rebirth. Tseng, Reno, Rude, Elena.

My absolute FAVORITE thing about the Turks is that they almost feel like a "main party" of their own game. They're super professional and do hella questionable stuff, but they are FRIENDS, they hang out, they go drinking together, they genuinely care about each other, they talk about their crushes, they have their own Synergy attacks just like the main party...

As evil as Shinra, Inc. is, at least the Turks division of the company seems to be VERY well-managed. And we've seen (moreso in the original FF7) that Heidegger is a super toxic and abusive boss. But, when Rufus takes over, the power dynamics shift a lot. Heidegger is ridiculed and often kind of just acts as Rufus's assistant. The Turks, though, become much more prominent, and I've always gotten the vibe that they report directly to Rufus more than they do Heidegger. Rufus almost seems to steal the department away from him. Even the official art of FF7 had Rufus and the Turks all in one image together. From what I know of Before Crisis, he has a personal history with the Turks and has pretty much gotten their complete loyalty and respect before FF7 happens, and like YEAH that holds up.

I think Rufus is much, MUCH closer to the Turks than the games show us. We never directly see Rufus drinking with them, but we also rarely see him directly out in public at all. He's the Charlie to their Angels, he's more of the behind the scenes guy directing them, but he IS part of the team. He drinks with them, he jokes with them, they all hang out and have love for each other... But with Rufus it's more private and behind closed and guarded doors.

That's not an artificial, "he signs my paychecks" relationship. That's LOVE. That's the power of friendship, the heart of the cards, the eye of the tiger. Just like all the Turks have with each other.

Advent Children, especially, did a very good job of expanding on Rufus's relationship with the Turks. They're all on the same page as remorseful and genuinely wanting to change the world for the better. Rufus has a moment of genuine shock and concern when Kadaj throws Elena and Tseng's bloody IDs at him. Reno and Rude show panic when Rufus just dives off a building. The fact that Rufus even COULD make that jump with full confidence that the Turks would catch him. And they DO.

Like honestly in my mind the Turks are almost an extension of Rufus himself. A scene with Reno is also a scene with Rufus, even if he isn't physically present, and vice-versa. They all have that Synergy (pun intended) to them. They're all watching each other's backs and on the same side.

[maaruin]

can you explain the bin laden thing and answer the questions you posted that should be "attached" to the letter? im kind of ashamed to admit how little i know about bin laden, but i was also only born in 2001... id appreciate some context on why people are into his letter, why leftists are latching onto it, and how this connects to what's going on in gaza. i'll read as much as you wanna write. thanks so much.

in reference to my previous post Yes, I can do that. Thank you for the ask. And I can assure you, many people who lived through 9/11 as adults don't really understand Bin Laden's motivations all that well either. If you want to read the letter yourself, you can find it here on WikiSource.

First for the questions: 1. Are bin Laden’s descriptions of political events and relations in this letter accurate? What could he have misunderstood? What could he be lying about?

When bin Laden lays out his reasons for attacking America, he says America attacked first and then claims that America is responsible for basically every bad thing that his happening to Muslims (in his view) anywhere. So America is not only responsible for its interventions in the Middle East and military aid to Israel, but also for the Russian suppression of the Chechnyan attempt at independence, Indian control of Kashmir, the Philippine government fighting Islamist rebels, and governments in the Islamic world not implementing Sharia. He implies hostility towards Islam is the reason for America's actions, for example, he thinks American soldiers in Saudi-Arabia were stationed there so that the mere presence of non-Muslims in the country with Islams most holy sites will humiliate Muslims. (When in fact they were stationed there in 1991 at the request of the Saudi government to protect it against a possible invasion from Iraq after Iraq had already invaded Kuwait.) This is classical conspiracy-theory-thinking: Assuming that behind all the bad things that happen to your group there must be a plan by someone (often a particular group) to hurt your group and that the motivation is hatred towards you. You will find bin Laden parroting conspiracy theorist talking points in the later sections of the letter as well, for example that America created AIDS, or that Jews are secretly controlling American politicians. The problem with conspiracy theories is very simple: they tend to be wrong. For example, if you want to explain the actions of the Russian military in Chechnya around 2000, don't look at America, look at Putin's ruling ideology. If you want to explain why Muslim governments don't implement Sharia, think about if it would help or hurt their ability to stay in power. Many problems all around the world start from local conditions, not because there is an evil mastermind behind them. I don't think bin Laden is lying very much in this letter, except maybe to himself. He is just falling to his own pattern matching bias that wants to ascribe all bad thing that happen to Muslims to a single cause - America. (Probably because that would mean if you could just defeat America, all the problems in the Islamic world would go away.) 2. Are bin Laden’s goals outlined in the letter worthwhile? Should Americans implement his suggestions? The latter has bin Laden's requests for Americans. Some are goals that an American may support as well, like stop military interventions in the Islamic world or ending support for countries that oppress Muslims. Though even there he sees American support where there wasn't really support, like the Russian operation in Chechnya. The US government did in fact condemn Russian actions. So this goal is not worthwhile because it is based on false assumptions about reality - the conspiracy theory about American Influence listed above. The hugest chunk of requests however is the demand for America to convert to Islam, end the separation of religion and state, and adopt social conservative policies (ban alcohol, ban sex work, ban homosexuality, ban interest on loans, stop employing women in service industry jobs where they serve man, etc - but he also mentiones that he wants the US to sign the Kyoto protocol, so it isn't 100% identical to what US conservatives want). Arguments for or against social conservatism would make this post far too long, but I doubt many left leaning Americans would be on board for these policies. Right leaning Americans might support some of these policies, but they would certainly not want America to make Islam the state religion.

3. Were the 9/11 attacks and similar operations by al-Qaeda an effective way to achieve his goals? Did the terrorist attack on American civilians lead to Americans wanting to convert to Islam - NO, it made Americans hate Islam. Did it make America withdraw from Islamic countries - NO, it made America invade Afghanistan and Iraq. I have read a bit of context on Bin Laden's goals in the past. During the Lebanese Civil War, a number of US soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing (iirc) and after that the US withdrew its soldiers. Bin Laden misjudged this and thought that an even larger attack on American civilians within the borders of the US would have the same effect on a larger scale. He was wrong and caused the opposite reaction. Killing American troops that are deployed in/are occupying another country does make Americans sour on the war if you can keep it up over time. But attacking civilians, especially in their home country, tends to increases the will to fight in the West (with few exception - spain pulled out its troops from Iraq after a terrorist attack on trains in Madrid). In the last decade the Taliban managed to make the US retreat and took over Afghanistan again by limiting their attacks these way, constantly killing US soldiers and their allies, but leaving civilians in America alone. The Islamic State on the other hand got the whole world into uniting against it by its display of cruelties like the beheading of journalists and aid workers and by its terrorist attacks in France and other countries. So even within his own values Bin Laden made the wrong choice when he initiated the 9/11 attacks. Context on why the letter may have had a sudden spike in popularity recently

The more immediate reason is that the letter talks quite a bit about American support for Israeli oppression of Palestinians. And that is one of the statements in the letter that are based at least somewhat in truth - yes, Israel does oppress Palestinians and yes, the US government generally supports Israel. It is somewhat doubtful if America withdrawing support would make Israel oppress Palestinians less. (In fact, it might make Israel more aggressive because it felt more threatened, but that also isn't for certain.) This is, I suppose, the reason why people ended up reading the letter. But the reason for them saying things like "I now realize he was right" is a specific kind of leftist gullibility/refusal to think. Leftists are opposed to oppression. They see that the United States is the most powerful country in the world and is involved, directly and indirectly, in a number of cases in which people are oppressed around the world. And then they think "If oppression is bad and the US oppresses people, people who fight against the US must be good." But the world of international politics cannot just be divided into good and evil. There are in fact things like better and worse. Bin Laden's letter overestimates the influence the US has and that its ability to change things, his vision for the world is worse than the world looks under US hegemony, and the means he chose to pursue his goals did not even help him achieve these goals - instead it just caused a number of bloody wars that got many Muslims (including himself) killed.

And I just wish leftists would think such things (statements like "Bin Laden was right") through. This isn't the first time. During the protests of 2020 after the murder of George Floyd the statement "Abolish the Police" gained tractions. Probably brought into the protest by some anarchists, other leftists thought "well, if the police oppresses people, abolishing it is the obvious solution". Without considering a) how much support by less ideologically committed people it cost them (it was an extremely unrealistic goal) and b) the risk of institutions arising in the vacuum left by the police could be worse (would private security beholden to cooperations be better than the police?, would a mafia that demanded protection money from you be better than the police?). And right now with Gaza we see the same thing: Does calling the 7/10 massacres "decolonization" make people likely to support decolonization? - NO Does Hamas have a shot at conquering Israel and restoring a Palestine "from river to sea" and did the attack further this goal? - NO If Hamas controlled all of current Israel, would the situation be better for the people who live there or would return there, even if you only consider Palestinians ? - DOUBTFUL

I think some leftists latch on to this letter because they have the same conspiracy-theory-thinking bin Laden had and saying "bin Laden was right" sounds really really radical and that makes them feel good. Their politics are very emotion driven with insufficient though put into it. Well, I hope my long post helped to a better understanding.

[kaylinalexanderbooks]

Bingo tag game

Thanks @oh-no-another-idea here, @illarian-rambling here, @melpomene-grey here, and @mk-writes-stuff here.

I got three different types here--

Rules 1: use this link, which will generate a writing bingo card for you!

Rules 2: use this link to create a Bingo card for your WIP and/or fill out the one the person who tagged you made

Rules 3: same as 2 but with an OC

Last Bingo Game: here

TSP Bingo (blank card)

Long Bingo where I did a blank Bingo for SOTL and Carla and filled in Bingos for Kelsey, Maddie, Noelle, Xitlali, and TSP as a whole

Tagging @gracehosborn @theeccentricraven @theelfauthor @dyrewrites @badluck990 @mysticstarlightduck @elsie-writes @little-peril-stories @loopyhoopywrites @bread-roses-and-chrome

Below cut:

Filled in writer bingo for me

Filled in WIP bingo for SOTL

Filled in OC bingo for Hye-Jin

Filled in OC bingo for Alex

Filled in OC bingo for Gretel

Filled in OC bingo for Jack

Blank bingo for IWAJAD

Blank bingo for Lexi

Version 1: Writer Bingo

[image ID in alt text]

Almost got a bingo noooo

If only I read more!! It's not by choice...

Version 2: WIP Bingo

SOTL

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Red for definitely, yellow for maybe.

Damn no bingo, even with the yellow.

I'd have a Bingo if I included more evil fish people but I have incorporated it yet. So I do have a Bingo if that's the case.

Version 3: OC Bingo

Hye-Jin Song (TSP)

[image ID in alt text]

Bingo! Almost got two since she was originally short but I've changed that

A character I don't talk about nearly enough! I don't have any other posts exclusively about her yet :(

Hye-Jin is Lexi's lifelong friend who does not make an onscreen appearance until Part Two, though she does get a couple shout-outs in Part One.

Hye-Jin has a younger sibling, but I didn't highlight cause I'm pretty sure it meant she *is* one.

Alex Vaughn (TSP)

[image ID in alt text]

I think she's just appeared in excerpts. Time to fix that!

Alex is from another universe! A chronological deviant of the duoverse of the Ceteri and Alium that we know! (In other words - it's another version of Ceteri and Alium, the duoverse, i.e. two linked universes, that's different enough due to different choices individuals made)

Gretel Küchler (SOTL)

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I may have mentioned her like once, but she was the only one who'd fill out a decent amount of the board.

Gretel is kind of obviously my Hansel and Gretel character. She's magicked, meaning she learned the skill of magic. She and her identical twin brother Hansel specialize in baking food that can help grant others temporary physical advancements.

If anyone of these end up changing and being inaccurate...I'll live it's okay I haven't written a scene with her.

Jack McDonald (SOTL)

[image ID in alt text]

Haha, bingo!!

De facto MC of SOTL so far. He's appeared a lot in SOTL's excerpts.

Jack was misdiagnosed as being gifted with ice manipulation powers, due to one obvious demonstration. In actuality, he's gifted in being average at everything. This does mean he actually can do literally everything, just averagely. (In other words, Jack of all Trades)

He's not autistic as of yet but probably ADHD. Some of these may change.

My Blank Bingos

It Was All Just a Dream

I already made Bingos for my active WIPs, so here we go with this one

[image ID in alt text]

It Was All Just a Dream is a story idea have had for a while that I have a draft of in the form of a short story. Short version is popular Kyla Tran goes through a night of layers of dreams that force her to reevaluate her life.

Lexi Morgan (TSP)

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I meant ace/aro and you KNOW IT

And ignore that I spelled pedestal wrong as well...

Anyway, more Lexi: OC in fifteen, OC in three, Picrew, two truths and a lie, WIP questionnaire

TSP into

TSP tag list (ask to be +/-): @thepeculiarbird @illarian-rambling @televisionjester @finchwrites

[freetobeeyouandme]

Genuinely though I think an underdiscussed part when it comes to S5 speculations is the fact that the Duffers straight up already told us how Vecna is gonna go down -- in code. We just have to crack it?

Like if the DnD game with Dustin rolling an 11 and Erica a Nat 20 is foreshadowing that Eleven will lose and the second try is gonna kill him, then Erica’s character being who she is must also mean something.

[ID: A screenshot of a transcript of Stranger Things Season 4 Episode 1 “The Hellfire Club”. Erica’s lines are “My name is Lady Applejack. And I’m a chaotic good half-elf rogue, level 14. I will sneak behind any monster you throw my way and stab them in the back with my poison-soaked kukri. And I’ll smile as I watch them die a slow, agonizing death.” /end ID]

This is a wonderful piece of dialogue because Erica matches Eddie’s energy and puts him back in his place by proving her newfound identity as a nerd as she knows what she’s talking about -- but it‘s insanely specific in some instances. Plus the DnD game is foreshadowing, and it‘s not anyone that gets that Nat 20 hit in but Erica specifically, whose character we know more about than tbh anyone else in the party. So it does seem like this has to mean something, right?

I absolutely want to know what y’all think, but also here’s my attempt at codebreaking under the cut:

First, let’s break down the facts. Based on what Erica says at Hellfire this is what we can conjecture happens to Vecna: Lady Applejack, a chaotic good half-elf rogue, lvl. 14 rolls a Nat 20 and stabs him in the back with her poison-soaked kukri.

Lots of information, so let's break it down:

Lady Applejack - Applejack is the name of a character from My Little Pony (MLP), which is in line with Erica's previous interests, but it's interesting because it is the only pony that has been named by name before in ST. Namely during Dustin's MLP Hypothesis in S3, which was supposed to cement that Erica is a nerd like the rest of them. But it also includes a plot summary of an episode of MLP, and well. "Applejack gets turned into a dragon". Which interesting as it is on its own only gets better once you actually look at the full episode in question: Applejack is one of four ponies to get turned into dragons by an evil centaur (Tirek) so they can pull his chariot and allow him to take over the world with his "rainbow of darkness". Furthermore Applejack is technically the fifth pony kidnapped by Tirek because one of the previous ponies is too small and therefore not suitable. The parallels to S4 are self-evident I think, but when you try to map the episode onto the show you get the issue of who is Applejack. The first answer seems to be Max, and it could be her because Vecna attempts to take her, she is saved and then only gets taken in his fifth overall attempt. However with Max alive unlike the other three she may also be the unfit pony and there may yet be a fifth victim -- especially as Applejack in the episode only gets taken once the heroes enter Tirek's castle to free the ponies and steal his rainbow of darkness. Interesting is also, I think, the way they end up defeating him: Rather than sucessfully taking his rainbow (his powers) away from him they take over the rainbow with a rainbow of light. Specifically Megan, the audience insert human character does so (while Firefly, the special other protagonist pony, fails in her attempt to take away the RoD)

Chaotic good - this is the only thing I'm not quite sure about the meaning of. It certainly simply fits the vibe of the character, so maybe it does not have a meaning. But it might also just signal a wildcard option, and also nonconformity: Chaotic alignment means doing what seems to be the best course of action in the moment without following a code of conduct, be that societal or otherwise. Combined with "good" it means doing everything you can to the benefit of others but more on the basis of gut feeling.

half-elf - This one's a bit puzzling as well, mainly because there weren't a lot of elf mentions in ST yet. There's the boys talking about Nancy dressing up as an elf in 1x01, but none of the boys characters have a clearly defined race (in DnD terms). However, "The Hunt for the Thessalhydra", an officially licensed DnD Adventure based on Mike's campaign in S1 does come with character sheets that have races listed. The half-elf is a wizard. (The cleric is an elf and the paladin a human.) Now you can argue that's not canon and that would be fair, but it does seem to maybe point in the direction of Will the Wise, who is a Wizard/Cleric.

rogue - Is a very fun class to choose for Erica because it's anachronistic as hell! AD&D, which they would be playing in the show, didn't have Rogues but instead two equivalent classes who would have been called Assassin or Thief. Rogue only became a dnd term as a class grouping in 2nd edition and then a proper class in 3e. Which may just be an oversight because the Duffers (and the rest of the writers room probably) weren't old enough to be playing AD&D in '86, but if I was making a TV show set in the past I'd look that stuff up (It's 20 mins on a wikipedia page, if I can do it they could have too). Especially because they are careful about other stuff they reference and there ARE equivalent classes. However Rogue made me think of another anochronism in the show: X-Men #269. That's the issue Will wants to have from Dustin in the OG Montauk script, and it wouldn't have come out until 1990. However it is a thematically apt issue, as it features an X-Man getting stranded in The Savage Lands, this primeval rainforest with Dinos and stuff, and having to survive on her own like Will in the UD. It also features her fighting a zombiefied and possessed Ms. Marvel whose lifeforce she's sharing due to previous issues' shennanigans. That X-Man, if you haven't guessed: Rogue. Whose powers are taking others' powers. Which is interesting because S4 implied Vecna can take others' powers and lifeforce, which means these things are transferable and theoretically maybe others can do as he has done. Like Will, perhaps, who is associated with Rogue.

lvl. 14/Nat 20 - This one feels most like a stretch, but a) 14 is what Will rolls at the end of S1, his winning number, and b) is 2x 7, the Byler number. In 5e lvl. 14 Rogues also deal 7d6 sneak damage, so another seven. 7 is also a lucky number generally speaking, and nat 20 is the luckiest you can be in dnd. Nat 20 also means double damage in 5e (idk about Nat 20s in AD&D I have to confess), so we have that idea of 2. Further Nat 20 also more or less means hit no matter what. So all of this may just be a level high enough for Erica to fit into the difficulty of the campaign and the Nat 20 be the clearest roll that she won. But I think at the very least there is something here about the connotations of "natural" 20 and "critical hit". I also wanna say something about luck and the dragon motiv, but that is a whole other post I think.

stabs him in the back - This part is just very Rogue, because that's what dnd rogues do, stereotypically, they come at you from unexpected corners and stab you when you don't expect it. Especially with extra damage weapons like poison. But I want to bring it up on its own already because the motion of stabbing is different than say slashing at someone with a sword. This imo is relevant because of the vampire imagery surrounding Vecna. He is "undead", they talk about "driv[ing] a stake through his heart" and there is a OST Track called "Sleeping Dracula" which refers to Vecna hanging suspended by vines. He also acts vampire like in the way he does seem to survive by killing and taking over others, metaphorically drinking their blood in a way. And the way you kill vampires is by stabbing -- in the OG Dracula their heart specifically (And then you cut their head off to make sure they really stay dead). While sunlight (=fire)? Doesn't hurt Dracula, actually.

poison-soaked - A very Rogue weapon choice, but I like that it's poison instead of like fire or frost or a billion other damage types that exist in DnD. For one it's interesting in the sense that it's most associated with corrupting and taking over, so one could say, going back to MLP, that Tirek's RoD is poisoned by the good RoL. Poisoning is also kinda what is going on with the plants and stuff in S2 through the UD tunnels. Poison is also mostly green in pop culture (or purple), which, y'know, is what you get from mixing yellow and blue. (Also no coincidence that the weird substance in S3 was green and when it got out it was so acidic it ate through metal. That's Poison with a captial P). Green Dragons in dnd also spew poison (at least in 5e).

kukri - last but not least: What a specific ass weapon choice. I love it because it's a nerd thing to do, but it's also curious because there are no kukri stats in dnd. You can use one, but you'll have to reskin another more basic weapon choice, so it's not like this is an extra special weapon. It is the kind of weapon you might come across when reading up on rare and exotic weapons from all over the world, but it's not exactly a common weapon in western pop culture. In fact, afaik the only famous pop cultural kukri is that of Jonathan Harker in Bram Stoker's "Dracula" -- which is one of the two weapons that kill Dracula in the final confrontation at the end of the book. Did I mention the Vampire imagery surrounding Vecna? Well it gets even better because Dracula lets itself be mapped onto ST as well. Will is obviously Jonathan Harker: He gets kidnapped, escapes, has a mental break down, and when he finds out the monsters are real after all he goes vampire hunting with the gang. Jonathan's wife Mina is their chronicler, always associated with writing and she's also kinda the plan lady because when the boys don't involve her in their planning their plans tend to go awry - so that's Mike. Mina's bestie Lucy who gets turned into a vampire and dies is Max, which also fits because Lucy has three suitors who are all besties with each other: Her fiance Arthur, gallant gentleman, has societal sway, and has to watch her die - Lucas; Jack Seward, a psychiatrist, the scientist among the bunch - Dustin; and Quincey Morris, a foreigner with a funny way of speaking sometimes and their fighter - El. I'm not quite sure who would take the role of Seward's mentor and vampire expert Van Helsing, but I could see maybe Steve (or maybe the return of Mr. Clarke) or the older kids collectively. It's two different stories so the match up won't be perfect. But this match up certainly fits with some expectations one might have after ST S4, because it's Jonathan and Quincey, Will and El, who kill Dracula together.

So where do we stand after that? I'm not sure about all the points, as I mentioned, and so the details are a bit hazy. But I think some things we can say for certain are: It's most likely Will and El defeating Vecna together, as we have that idea of double damage from the Nat 20 as well as Jonathan and Quincey working together in Dracula. Will and El are also both associated with magic and wizardry, so they're most likely the half-elf part of Lady Applejack's identity. I think Will's way of defeating him is what the poison soaked kukri refers to, and I think it also goes back to his association with Rogue i.e. he's going to poison Vecna's RoD with his RoL, probably take over the mindflayer and with it Vecna's powers and so metaphorically cut off his head while El stabs him Quincey Morris style. I think that entire siutation is also going to involve someone else getting "turned into a dragon" though, as I doubt Applejack refers to Max. Considering Mike's position as Mina Harker that makes him the most likely (Mina gets attacked and turned by Dracula). However it confuses me that Lady Applejack is the one acting while Applejack is the one getting turned into a dragon -- while invading Tirek's castle. So Applejack kind of becomes Jonathan Harker, which means maybe Will gets taken instead. Maybe he goes to the mindscape to free Max and gets attacked there, leading to him destroying Vecna from the inside out. However in that case I'm not quite sure about the roles of everyone else, especially Mike. But regardless I think those four, Max, Will, Mike, and El are the most important players here and Will taking over the Mindflayer will be the key.

[detectivehole]

first i want to state i know this part of the greater conflict solution in that by acquiring the crown, the lesser demon has also sort of acquired the name, and thus it does not bind hellboy. that being said im tabling that to talk about the other meaning of this interaction

again the little text quiet admittance of something he's afraid of is really good characterization (and general use of the comic format), though it's different than asking if cutting off his right hand would help; that was something he probably didn't think would work and likely didn't want to do, but was putting out there because if it was the solution he'd be willing, as unpleasant and strangely simple as it'd be

muttering his "name" here happens after his spirt's been damage, and his sense of identity challenged again- that name was just used to physical control him, to summon aspects unto reality that he already associates with a rejected path for himself and just generally with negative emotions, and that some previously unknown aspect of himself was just stolen and provided clearly immense and dark power to someone else (maybe there'd be a sense of freedom in that, or pride that he was so controlled and in charge of himself that he'd never notice it, but id feel guilty too if i knew another part of my very being just had this strange, nearly inherently evil dark power to it). he's only saying his "name," but i read it as a question rather than a statement; is that my name? do i really know myself? these are part of the fundamental and reoccurring thematic "personal identity and choice vs abstract concepts of fate and circumstances of birth" questions key to early Hellboy

his rejection is very good as well- but it's not special. i have no unique comments. we know him by now, we know that given the choice he always choses to be his own person, and to fight for what he believes in, regardless and somewhat in spite of what Hell want for him. that he gets back up, kicks it's ass, kills if with his own horns, and rejects the crown is cool (i like when he gets kills with his horns after snapping them off- maybe he shouldn't have had to reject that part of himself, but he did and it's his choice and they are to an extent superficial, and certainly representative of who he does Not want to be, so killing these beings with them after ripping them off is always a good thematic and cathartic thing) but standard

overall this commentary isn't unique, needed, or particularly insightful. i didn't mean for it to be. hellboy is a very straightforward character, easy to understand. but i just continue to enjoy how very normal and reasonable he is as a person and wanted to talk about it- he got his spirits crushed in a way that would scar anybody, and he was scared, and he questioned who he was again. he wasn't immediately some confident badass, which again is in contrast to what many many comics would do with a character like him. i just like it. MM isn't squandering this Big Intimidating Demon Guy by falling into too many easy tropes

[whumpitisthen]

here's a quick rundown on astarion: gay vampire spawn (not a vampire. like a demo version vampire. a "lesser" one but don't let him hear that) who has been kept for 200 years by his master as a slave. guy (who was an actual vampire) carved him up, tortured him and forced him to lure victims into his manor. astarion has been abused in so many ways i'd hit some sort of character limit if i listed half of them. he was only allowed to feet on rats and small vermin in the sewers. poor little meow meow astarion is now free due to [game story] reasons and seeks power and revenge -- he's an edgy fuck with a lot of swag and no moral compass. bro is a menace and loves causing problems on purpose. [slight spoiler] he will literally try to suck some of your blood like a day or two after you meet him and unless you succeed a skill check he'll just keep doing it until you die. if you resurrect yourself afterwards he'll go like "ooooh ooopsie sowwy! i wouldn't kill you if i knew you'll be back teehee can we forget about this? ;) <3 don't fucking kill me". he's such a good fucking whumpee you don't even know. it's insane. i don't want to ramble but he's almost everything i've ever wanted from a character like this in a large scale rpg. [slightly bigger spoiler] despite being the go-to "fuckable" character who everyone finds hot as hell (both in-universe and online) he's HORRIBLY traumatized by his sexual experiences from when he used to be a slave and when you romance him a good portion of his storyline revolves around trying to make him realize that he's more than just a slab of very attractive meat. he hides his feelings behind a facade of "evil tumblr sexyman-esque" mannierisms and getting to finally peel it back and see him for the poor wet cat that he is is so fucking satisfying. [an even bigger spoiler] i loved watching him cry when he finally gets to confront his former master. pristine content. there's so much more to his character (and this game in general) but if you ever need to justify spending full price on a new videogame release, there's nothing better than bg3. if i could choose one game to beam directly into the brain of each whumpblr user, it'd be this one.

Okay so i already loved him from the very little information i had about him, but this is so delicious

I saw some pics of bad scars which are always hhh and heard that he is a whumpee but i didn't know the extent and now i think ive collected a new blorbo

You are telling me he meets his old master at some point...... and he cries..... and hes all sad....... he rly was made for tumblr but especially me youre telling me he has white hair and is a vampire twink who was a slave and hurt and traumatised and he has incredible sad wet cat energy and he only has a flimsy layer of confidence and absolutely no idea what morals are. i knew i needed to know more you have to understand my knowledge of the game stopped at the bear sex scene like that is it and yet i somehow always find the most pathetic little men no matter what in any media i could not give a shit about any of the rest i will consume the entire thing just to know the exact extent of his sad little life

Also i wish i had the opportunity to even consider buying a full price new release no matter how good the game is there is no world in which id be able to pay for that. Also idk about the gameplay either it seems very story oriented roleplay and almost dating sim-ish? Not a huge fan of those in general its gotta have more gameplay than walking around and basically watching a movie, but, again. No idea about anything, maybe it has incredible gameplay and i just dont know. Dont tell me if it does itll just make ms sadder bc that would absolutely make me wanna play it myself. Its kinda funny honestly the longer i spend not knowing anything the crazier everyone seems to me both online and irl. Its like im living in a separate world, i know no one who hasn't played this fucking game fjfhskhfd

[waterbottlqueen]

i recently dug up this weird awkward rant-thing about garou i typed out over discord back in february and thought that i should try comparing my thought on his character now to my thoughts from a little over two months ago.

- "get rid of heroes"

i wouldn't say that he was trying to get rid of heroes. in a way, he wanted to be a hero himself. i think that he not only just wanted to prove a point (heroes arent as awesome epic cool as the media makes them seem), but he also only ever hated the idea of false heroism. not heroism itself; instead the false heroism that the heroes in the association parade around for popularity and ranks, not worrying about the issues too small for them to care for. he wanted to replace this false heroism with... real monster-ism. lol. just his "absolute evil" stuff. honestly, from the way he worded it, absolute evil is just unbiased justice. peace and order achieved via unethical means. because in his eyes, this evil could spread where good wouldnt. (if he just (literally) got gud it would have the same effect. same strength but give him a heart made out of rainbows and puppies like mumen rider)

-  "heroes win too much"

i still stand by this. heroes/protagonists in fiction need to lose more often. gets kinda bland when in every form of media it is always the protagonist winning to state a moral at the end of "dont be a bad guy". but garous relevance as a character isnt about that. it isnt about him being a bad guy. its about him being a good guy under the guise of a bad one. and the lesson to be learned from him and what he says is that the people who appear good often only appear good for face; on the inside, theyre the real monsters. during garou's flashbacks regarding justice man, a cartoon that he and many other children watched, we find that the villains of the show tend to have actually good reasons. like the monster that garou defended who was trying to restore peace to the ocean. (maybe following the direction of garou, the ha could air a children's cartoon centred around a monster as the protagonist. i would unironically watch it.)

- "the pity card"

i feel now as though garou was never meant to be written as a bad character. instead, i think that he was always meant to be a strange sort of hero. by the "pity card" i am referring to when writers take a character who is initially evil and gives a backstory to get viewers to like the villain more and understand their side. but while that may work on me sometimes, you'll notice that this isnt the case with garou. even from the start, (or, well, not from the START, but from the beginning, i guess. his start was beating up a bunch of people lmao. but most of them were bad people, so my point is still there in a way) garou is a good person. hes a sort of mentor figure to tareo and stands up to bullies for him, protecting the shed and deflecting bullets just so that tareo doesnt get hurt by a "hero". he doesnt kill metal bat and his sister when he has the chance. later on, he saves someone from getting used as a sacrifice to the monster association as well as an old man getting mugged. (granted, he dine-and-dashes after, but its fine. hes just a silly little guy.)

- "id let him destroy the world and even then, he wouldnt" 

again, i agree with february me on this. even while under the influence of god, who gives him the power to live out his original goal of ruling the world, garou starts sobbing when he realizes that he killed tareo from the radiation. we see him desperately crawling away in a meager attempt to save the young boy. from this you can tell that he finally comes to the truth: world domination would never achieve the peace he wanted. the people he tried to save with his absolute evil, those helpless, bullied children on the school playground that painfully remind him so much of himself would've died. garou snaps out of gods influence from that, asking saitama to take gods power in his place. garou says that he himself is the ominous future that must be defeated, as he is the one who killed the only thing that had mattered to him at that point. im guessing that garou never remembers this moment, but it does impact his character.

- "because hes a good guy"

back to the topic of garou not actually being a villain! as i mentioned, he isnt a bad person. he has more compassion and regard for human life than some members of the hero association (amai mask nearly slaughtering human people under mind control, metal knight knowing information about the hostage they had to save but still refusing to comply, etc.) hes more of a hero than a majority of the heroes in the ha. just a little unhinged. but hey, so are at least 60% of the s class heroes, garou would fit right in. hes definitely strong enough, hes clearly fine with killing monsters, hes good with kids, and hes a little crazy. (most importantly hes got accidental rizz comparable to amai. i can picture him running from an insane fanclub. the girlies would love him.)

so has my opinion really changed? not really, lmao. still love him, always will. forever my favourite character in the series. i think that i maybe understand him better though. do i feel cringe for writing this long ass shit about some fictional dude? yup. wont stop.

[cybermoonmoon]

Here's a story.

I woke up at what I thought was Social Services. White halls with the smell of antiseptics long rows of hard plastic seats, and them flat screens with Fox News on them.

I was the only one there. It pays to go early. Still wait I did. 40 minutes into some Fox guy proving the moon is made of baked ham. I see my code blink on the board. This is when I realized I didn't know why I was there. No cards or ID. For that you gets sent to another hall to wait some more.

However instead of being drop kicked by security. There was loud music. Sort of like "Tubular Bells" from the 70's. Santa the Tooth Fairy my Guardian Angel...the worthless jerk, and my Grandma shoves me into a sedan chair. I'm processioned to the elevator

like the Tardis it was much bigger on the inside. ...a local.

Penny lane was playing in the background. Folks in costumes from different centuries was coming on, and off. They talked shop with my pallbearers or had faces buried in their devices.

Me I was just along for the ride.

We got off on 685th floor. I was dumped sideways into an office...smaller on the inside. Gawd or one of them was sitting at Her desk piled high with parchments audio cassettes floppy disks, and Edison Cylinders. She looked like my Aunt Dot and was smoking a pipe. Gawd puffed away on 'Holiday' tobacco...like my dad. She nodded to an old folding chair, and I sat. Fox was yacking away on the wall screen.

This time some neo-Nazi in a bowtie was saying how they want to exterminate the world...but in a nice way. Lately these guys are trying to appear reasonable. Anyway, he was going on about how everybody could be killed cheaper and faster with Neutron Bombs.

Gawd turned off the screen. Sort of like that scene in "1984". Where that Inner Party enforcer had the juice to turn off the tele-viewer...much to Winston Smith's amazement. Sez Gawd who now looks like Nat King Cole: "First off ya dead pal. Dead as a bag of rusty hammers in Hiroshima.

No, I dunno how. Those details get lost up here, but ya a goner."

Gawd who is now Eleanor Roosevelt smoking a joint sez to me: "No there's no Heaven or Hell...eh ya not going to cry or some shit? Religion makes people do that. No? ...good. Well, there's an orientation to bring you up to speed. Eternity dark matter the non-temporal realms all that crap. Ya gots a lot of unlearning to do. Religion, and science has fucked you guys up bad."

She went on as Emily Dickinson: "However, that old time Abolitionist Beatnik Hippie stuff was close to the mark. Your file sez you was into some of that. Let's see...you was on da radio talking peace, and stuff. Ya printed little broadsides about it too. Not too bad. You're full of shit about everything else though."

"I'm sending you up for remedial ironic humor, and maybe reprograming about the properties of the Multiverse. You guys got that one wrong big time! Galileo took it well. Niels Bohr, and his crowd of smarty pants was really pissed though. ...fuck'em."

There was a gong like at the fights. Me, and the folding chair dropped through a trap door, and I was in Heaven. Well not that, but the name will do. A vacant lot in Cincinnati 1946.

Like the stories say they start you out with stuff you're used to. So for me working class Negro mayhem. Segregation evil cops, and keys to a tenement apartment. The upside...there being no hell the digs was real cute. Like from the neat stuff in Architectual Digest.

There was some sort of 3-D Google, and all the greasy food I ever wanted. Being dead there's no craping or farting. You can eat like the frigging Sun King and keep ya girlish figure. I needed wheels so I used the complimentary iPhone to order a 1932 fusion powered handmade sky-blue Bugatti. It appeared in my living room. I called back and told them to quit fucking around. I heard a room full of kids laffing. They sent it down to the street.

I decided to start a journal blog thing...Chapter One.

"I'm fucking dead, but the food's great."

To be continued.

[dallasareaopinion]

Stand up to social media bullying to it’s face!

Sounds wonderful, some kind of righteous fight against injustice except how do you stand up to social media bullying to it’s face when much social media especially bullying is anonymous.

As stated by thousands of articles, people and just what you read, social media bullying is a real problem. And what could it even mean standing up to it’s face?

Social media bullying at a basic level has people telling you how wrong you are, you know nothing, you belong to the wrong side, your side is evil, comments about your appearance, etc.

And do not get me wrong, if you wanted to give me constructive criticism of my writing I welcome it. Yet nowadays you cannot receive constructive criticism. It is all negative to true hate of you just because you expressed an opinion. Opinions of opinions can be good if well thought out, or even based on some underlying principles. Today though speak your mind and the flood gates of hades will open. And worse too many responses are just hate. Very few people even try to address your point or make a counter point.

“X” what use to be Twitter is a cesspool some of the time or it is people only posting to their followers to get more likes. You can say anything no matter the facts because if you are popular enough people will still click that little heart.

And then there is the real bullying. Where for some reason someone is attacked by a few people to a multitude. And this goes beyond the political realm where certain politicians are denigrated by the other side to the point of stupidity and madness. No one says anything except how _______ is that person. I am talking about where someone takes their own live or tries.

If we could find a way to stand up to that type of bullying it would be wonderful. Yet how? Again it is mostly anonymous. And with teenagers can we even track it down and worse if you have any knowledge of who it ends up being after the fact most of the time. And this is especially true since most social media bullying is around something embarrassing or perceived to be embarrassing so people don’t want to report it

Could you legislate something? Maybe but what? Hold people accountable if their bullying leads to harm, maybe manslaughter, but again how and what. And since many legislators are more interested in being popular than legislating or holding onto to their self perceived power a person cannot expect anything anytime soon.

And I don’t want to create a police state on social media either. Yet this problem shows deeper rooted issues with our society since it happens enough to make the news. So how do you balance privacy and certain privileges with the need to protect people and identify people harming others with their attacks on social media. A libertarian’s nightmare to say the least, even though I am not that much of one.

How does our society empower victims to alleviate this problem? By the fact that this is a much written topic and keeps happening shows we have a long way to go.

I might offer some way for people that receive social media posts directly or about them be able to find out who is behind the posts. It would be a more enhanced version of being able to have caller ID. Which by the way is a joke. Go back and put some teeth in that people who are the receiver of a call have every right to know who is calling. Telemarketers and others shouldn’t be allowed to call indiscriminately. Whatever technology to toughen that legislation up could be used to help with the social media problem. Or at least that is a start. And maybe a way to report offending posts anonymously to authorities if desired. This way someone can address the poster without any embarrassment to the bullied individual. This might help teenagers obtain the help they need in combatting an attack for some perceived slight or whatever.

Anyway just a thought, but something needs to be done. It is so scary to read about someone taking their life just because someone can take advantage of them anonymously or through some scam. How many times must we read stories about people being scammed for money over something embarrassing or not thinking and then a threat of a picture being posted online? Sure common sense would help prevent some of these problems, but a person shouldn’t be put into such distress that you harm yourself over these matters. I cannot fathom what type of world my grandchildren are living in that I would have to worry about this for them, yet as a parent or grandparent it is a real concern. I just hope we, as the elders, communicate with them well enough that they can come to us when needed. Unfortunately you may never know until it is too late.