#( meta )

[insomniac-arrest]

One of my favorite things about Arcane season 2 is that it is embodying not just cycles of violence but also has an example of cycles of mercy

Powder is not abandoned

Jinx does not abandon

It is not just how violence begets violence, one side of the coin, but the opposite as well, mercy begetting mercy--and it's sourced from the exact same character no less

This really is the Show of Duality of all time

[dalishious]

The Sanitized Lore of Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Tevinter is the heart of slavery in Thedas. This lore has been established in every game, novel, comic, and other extended material in the Dragon Age franchise to date that so much as mentions the nation. But in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, when we are finally able to actually visit this location for the first time… this rampant slavery we’ve heard so much about is nowhere to be found. It’s talked about here and there; Neve mentions The Viper has a history of freeing slaves, as does Rook themselves if they choose the Shadow Dragon faction as their origin, for example. But walking down the streets of Minrathous, you’d never know. Because Dragon Age: The Veilguard, for all its enjoyment otherwise, has one glaring issue: It’s too clean.

The world of Thedas is full of injustices. Humans persecute elves, fear qunari, and belittle dwarves. Mages of any race are treated like caged animals in most places. The nobility is corrupt. Although, Dragon Age has not always handled these injustices well, mind you. Many, many times I’ve found myself frustrated with moments that just feel like a Racism Simulator. But what makes it worth it, is when you can actually do something about it. These injustices are things that a good-aligned character strives to fight back against, maybe even for very personal reasons. Part of the power-fantasy for many minorities is that this fight feels tangible. I cannot arrange the assassination of a corrupt politician in real life, but I sure can get Celene Valmont stabbed to death in Dragon Age: Inquisition, for example. Additionally, these fictional injustices can be used to make statements on real life parallels, like any source of media. For example, no, the Chant of Light is not real, but acting as a stand-in for Catholicism, through a media analysis lens we can explore what the Chant of Light communicates on a figurative level.

When starting Dragon Age: The Veilguard and selecting to play as an elf – this should be unsurprising to anyone who is familiar with my bias towards them – I was fully prepared to enter the streets of Minrathous and immediately get called “knife-ear” or “rabbit”. But this did not happen. I thought perhaps it was just a prologue thing, but returning to Minrathous once again, there was not a single shred of disapproval from any NPC I encountered that wasn’t a generic enemy to fight. And even the generic enemies, the Tevinter Nationalist cult of the Venatori, didn’t seem to care at all that I was a lineage they deemed inferior before now. This is a stark difference from entering the Winter Palace in Dragon Age: Inquisition and immediately getting hit with court disapproval and insults. Are we now to believe that Tevinter has somehow solved its astronomical racism and classism problems in the ten years since the past game? Or perhaps are we to believe all the characters who have demonstrated Tevinter’s systemic discriminatory views were just lying or outliers? Because it makes absolutely no sense at all for this horribly corrupt nation to not have a shred of reactivity to an elven or qunari Rook prancing around. But here were are, and not a single NPC even recognizes my character’s lineage. And because this is so different from every single past game, it feels weird.

As an elf, you have the option to make a comment about how “too many humans look down on us” in one scene early in the game. You can also talk to Bellara and Davrin, the elven companions, about concerns that people won’t trust elves after finding out about the big bad Ancient Evanuris… but this is presented as if elves don’t already face persecution. It’s all so limited in scope that it could be all too easily missed if you are not paying very close attention, and coming into the game with pre-existing lore knowledge.

All this made it easy to first assume that the developers simply over-corrected an attempt to address the Racism Simulator moments. And if that was the case, than I would at least give credit to effort; they did not find the right balance, but they at least tried. However, the sudden lack of discrimination against different lineages in Dragon Age: The Veilguard is not the only sanitized example of lore present.

In Dragon Age: Origins, Zevran Arainai is a companion who is from the Antivan Crows; a group of assassins. He discusses in detail how the Crows buy children and raise them into murder machines through all kinds of torture. The World of Thedas books also describe how the Antivan Crows work, echoing what Zevran says and expanding that of the recruitment, only a select handful of those taken by the Crows even survive. When you start Dragon Age: The Veilguard as an Antivan Crow, you immediately unlock a re-used codex entry from the past, “The Crows and Queen Madrigal”, that says the following:

“His guild has a reputation to uphold. They are ruthless, efficient, and discreet. How would they maintain such notoriety if agents routinely revealed the names of employers with something as "banal" as torture.”

Ruthless, efficient, and discreet. Torture is banal. This is what the Crows were before Dragon Age: The Veilguard decided to take them in a very different direction. The Antivan Crows in this latest game are painted as freedom fighters against the Antaam occupation of Treviso. Teia calls the Crows “patriots”. And while I can certainly believe that the Crows would have enough motivation to fight back against the Antaam, given that it is in direct opposition to their own goals, I cannot understand why they are suddenly suggested to be morally good. They are assassins. They treat their people like tools and murder for money. Even as recent as the Tevinter Nights story Eight Little Talons, it is addressed that the Antivan Crows are in it for the coin and power, with characters like Teia being outliers for wanting to change that. It makes the use of the older codex all the more confusing, as it sets the Antivan Crows up as something they are no longer portrayed as.

I personally think it would have been really interesting to explore a morally corrupt faction in comparison to say, the Shadow Dragons. Perhaps even as a protagonist, address things like the enslavement of “recruits” to make the faction at least somewhat better. (They are still assassins, after all.) Instead, we’re just supposed to ignore everything unsavory about them, I suppose…

We could discuss even further examples. Like how the Lords of Fortune pillage ruins but it’s okay, because they never sell artifacts of cultural importance, supposedly. Or how the only problem with the Templar Order in Tevinter is just the “bad apples” that work with Venatori. I could go on, but I don’t think I have to.

It is because of all this sanitization, that I cannot believe this was simply over-correction on a developmental part. Especially when there is still racism in the game, in other forms. The impression I’m left with feels far deeper than that; it feels corporate. As if a computer ran through the game’s script and got rid of anything with “too much” political substance. The strongest statements are hidden in codex entries, and I almost suspect they had to be snuck in.

Between a Racism Simulator and just ignoring anything bad whatsoever, I believe a balance is achievable; that sweet spot that actually has something to say about what it is presenting. I know it is achievable, because there are a few bright spots of this that I’ve encountered in Dragon Age: The Veilguard too. For example, some of the codex entries like I mentioned, and almost all the content with the Grey Wardens thus far. It is a shame there is not more content on this level.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is overall still a fun game, in my opinion. But it’s hard to argue that it isn’t missing the grit of its predecessors. The sharp edges have been smoothed. The claws have been removed. The house has been baby-proofed. And for what purpose?

-----

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[madokamagicaheritageposts]

Madoka Magica Heritage Post

Stuff about Madoka characters you may or may not have known

(Most of these are from the PSP game and drama CDs)

1. Sayaka can’t cook. Both Kyousuke and Madoka are aware of this.

2. In the first timeline, Mami is not fond of Moemura. She is jealous when Madoka spent more time with Homura and even got mad when Madoka gave her a cake that Madoka and Homura both collaborated on. 

Read More

[buckevantommy]

something about buck waiting for tommy to text just like he was waiting for tommy to reach out in the beginning. something about buck giving in and reaching out - only to be foiled by eddie, a callback to the basketball game and how buck reaching out only ruined things before they began. something about buck hoping and waiting for someone to chase after him for once - to find out he's wanted just as much in return; and the way he doesn't feel it's his place to reach out bc he thinks the ball is in tommy's court.

something about tommy typing and deleting his messages to buck proving he wants to reach out just as much, but he can't find the words or the courage.

something about the hope that flares in buck's chest when those three little dots appear.

something about second chances at love. something about their story not being anywhere near over if tptb had any sense.

[rqbossman]

What are your honest opinions on the fact that a dream I had fully revolved around a voice in the sky, of which was both Jonathan Sims and you, where you both somehow turned my grandmother into a blood-thirsty vampire who tried to attack me, and tore my family apart, causing us to move all the way to a different country?

Pray I don't become a voice in the sky. I don't think I should be trusted with that kind of power.

Turning people into vampires again feels out of character. I'd be more likely to encourage them to come out of the closet but maybe I was having a bad day?

I don't think I can be held responsible for the actions of your murderous dream nana. It sounds like I just paved the way, she's the one who drove down the road.

I mean, depending where you live, moving to a different country might be a good idea right now. Just ask someone who is into their 20th century history.

[sepublic]

Manny Noceda Haunting the Narrative

We all speak of Caleb haunting the narrative, but what of Manny? Perhaps haunting isn’t the exact right word here, for its foreboding connotations; But he’s ultimately an unseen, unheard ghost whose influence can be felt. Whose absence is there, more clearly than others to be honest because we know that Luz had to have a father, it’s not ambiguous for witches like it is for humans.

From the very first scene, we have to wonder where Manny is if he’s not present during Luz’s conference but Camila is; He’s not even present for Luz to be sent off. He’s not mentioned or acknowledged.

But we have the book he gave Luz, the one that Luz is drawn back towards, and it’s what leads her to the Boiling Isles, and motivates her to stay there for her own sake. It’s what motivates Luz to think of herself, when by the second half of the show she begins to refuse that option as inherently selfish.

If Homesick had aired during S1B, we’d have gotten a glimpse of Manny, but specifically, curiously faceless; Until then, Luz sees a parental figure deteriorating from an incurable illness and is obsessed with handling it, offering medical advice to Eda at one point.

And in Yesterday’s Lie, there’s still no Manny or mention of him, but we see glimpses of his body without the face. And then finally, finally we get Reaching Out and realize; He died. There was no divorce, it’s not that Manny is dead to mother and daughter, only literally. He’s still very much alive to them, Luz is worried about paying tribute to him in that episode.

Camila mourns the loss of Manny, someone who was always better at her about being a weirdo, and without him she feels lost, falls back into what society demands of her, and in doing so hurts their daughter. She mourns that she misses him, but Camila can’t depend on Manny to be what Luz needs her to be; She’ll be Manny, for Luz but also herself too. And Luz herself struggles to be the unapologetic Manny as well, and must do it for herself especially.

It’s the way Manny recontextualizes everything about the Nocedas. It’s the way he haunts the narrative himself, because we noticed, we had to, we had to ask where he was. Why is he not there for Luz or Camila, would he support her, is Camila also struggling from his absence? We don’t need his face or voice or an outright flashback to feel and appreciate Manny’s influence (Though I would’ve loved one).

And in a way, it’s like Dana Terrace’s own father is doing the same; With it being confirmed that Dana’s dad gave her a copy of Pokémon Red before he died, you understand perfectly that Luz is Dana, Manny is her father. Dana still likes Pokémon to this day, she’s done crossover art with Pokémon and her own show.

When it came out, Pokemon was targeted by Evangelicals as evil, it was absurd; And we see the Conformatorium perform similar absurdities in the same first episode where Luz is shown to hold onto her father’s last gift, and her fight with the Conformatorium is her fight with the system that made Luz feel ashamed of Manny’s gift and the profound impact it had on her.

The villain of the show manipulates Luz and makes her think she’s just like him, something Luz acknowledges means being a selfish, destructive force; Unsurprisingly, the villain is a Puritan, the ancestor of evangelicals, who agrees on the similarities but not on these things being evil.

And between Caleb and Manny, perhaps Caleb is defined incorrectly when it comes to how he influences things. Because Caleb does not really motivate Belos, Belos always wanted to be a witch hunter before he could claim to be betrayed by Caleb, he did it for himself. He made Grimwalkers but still continues the harm unto and through them that Caleb stood against. Caleb failed to do anything with Belos, tbh, and all that is passed on are empty genes that a racist would obsess over, but never the spirit as Luz did with Manny.

But what about Caleb’s child? Manny is defined as a father to Luz. What about someone Caleb was a father to as well? His unborn child, the ancestor of Eda. Caleb was a wood carver who loved Flapjack, and the Clawthornes had a tradition of carving Palismen. Could it not be implied that Evelyn carried on his unseen and unheard, yet felt love to their child, born after the death? And this love for the isles and magic and Palismen was passed all the way down to Dell, and then Eda.

And it’s Eda who helps Luz, another human, embrace her love for the isles and magic and Palismen. Evelyn’s descendant helps another human. Luz sees Eda in Manny, she’s his successor as someone who’s present for Luz when Camila can’t always be. Eda loves wild magic and her Palisman, gives Owlbert more autonomy than other witches, and helps the Bat Queen arrange Palismen to find new partners. And what goes around comes around when Caleb’s contribution to Palismen, started by Flapjack, helps Flapjack find a new friend and set in motion events that would lead to the Clawthornes’ injustice being rectified.

I’ve seen people argue that Hunter being with Willow makes him a copy of Caleb, but in addition to Hunter’s arc being him not caring what he does or doesn’t resemble… I think maybe the true parallel to Caleb and Evelyn is Manny and Camila; Both came to Gravesfield, the father was a weirdo with an open mind. He died, the mother mourned, but he passed on something to a child, who would eventually pass it on to Luz herself as both stories and families converge.

So Evelyn and Caleb’s child haunts the narrative; They’re Luz in a sense. Manny haunts the narrative too, since the start. He is Caleb, and so he is Eda who carries that spirit. And he is Eda because she carries the spirit for Luz. Manny is Dana Terrace’s own father, who inspired her to keep being a weirdo, which led to this show. So not only is Manny more important to the narrative’s framing and focus as the main character’s father, whose absence motivates both a disconnect between mother and daughter that leads Luz to the isles, but also motivates Luz to stay?

In a way, Manny represents the father of the series, the father of the show that reflects Dana’s own experiences and beliefs. One could say he haunts Dana’s own life, except… Perhaps the word ‘haunt’ is incorrect. Because it has a negative connotation. Perhaps the word is Inspire; Manny may be dead, we may know little of Mr. Terrace or Manny himself. But we can say that Manny lived, because of his impact, his life had meaning and it always will. Something is in motion, so we all know and understand ask what, or who set it that way.

[hoovesandfloorpaws]

Harry got his “Hi!” tattoo around June 23rd, 2012.

It was his 3rd tattoo — after the star outline in the inside of his arm (which he got on his 18th birthday) and the “Won’t stop ‘til we surrender” (an 90% quote from Temper Trap’s song Sweet Disposition), which he got on June 15th, at the beginning of the heightened closeting and increased ElouNO pap walks.

Louis got his “Oops!” tattoo on November 9th, 2012.

It was his 5th tattoo — after the screws on his ankles (which he got on Oct 12th, 2012; he was in the shop with Harry, who got 4 other tattoos - one of them his Things I can / Things I can’t tattoos), the stickman on a skateboard, the quote marks on his wrist and Far Away on the inside of his right arm (which he got on Oct 15th; very likely together with Harry again, who either got his Pink Floyd album cover tattoo the night before at the same shop or on the same day with Louis) and his 4 bird lines, which he got on the same day as his Oops! tattoo.

By the point that Louis got his first tattoo, Harry already had 24 - many on the tiny side, though.

(soure: @bulletprooflarry's amazing tattoo timeline)

what's the hi oops headcanon?

it’s pretty much in that post!! but ok welllll you know how harry and louis met in the bathroom at the x factor?

well harry tweeted that later about being glad someone peed on him, and in quotes like it was something someone else said.

then harry got the ‘hi’ tattoo

and everyone thought it looked like louis’ handwriting? but it was sort of wishful thinking because how can you really tell from two letters. but THEN liam said it was his favorite of harry’s tats in an interview and looked over at louis all not-so-subtle

and everyone was like hmmmMMMmmmMMm but what could that mean? maybe it was the first word louis said to him or something?

and THENNNNN in the take me hope yearbook edition, louis did the little “louis on harry” thing, where he listed out inside jokes he has with harry or things that remind him of harry.

AND HE INCLUDED THE HI. so now everyone’s like lol we were so right THE HI TATTOO IS FOR LOUIS IT’S AN INSIDE JOKE THEY HAVE!!!!!!

and then louis got an oops! tattoo (or maybe it was before idk) and everyone was like huh weird random but IT LOOKS LIKE HARRY’S WRITING!!!

and some genius put the pieces together and it’s everyone’s headcanon that they met in the bathroom and harry peed a lil on louis accidentally and in what’s possibly the cutest grossest first meeting ever louis said “hi” and harry said “oops!”. or if that DIDN’T actually happen, it’s like an inside joke they have, or like…the memory they’ve created for themselves.

:)

[artbyblastweave]

My increasingly preferred interpretation of the SCP Foundation is the version invoked by SCP-173- the fluorescent-lit bureaucracy housing or monitoring a few hundred distinctly impossible objects, entities or locations; contained and corralled less out of some sweeping ideological mandate about the veil of secrecy and more for the practical reason that they have no goddamn idea what these things can do or how they'll react to any given stimuli. Largely (though not totally) divorced from extant folklore and conspiracy culture in favor of a unique pantheon of weirdos that don't fit an obvious schema. Terse, clinical documentation that nonetheless clearly implies a discovery process only a little to the left of a bunch of nervous nerds poking at something with a long stick to see what happens. Don't get me wrong, I love the modern foundation. I love Eigenweapons, I love Akiva Radiation and tactical theology, I love the sprawling supernatural subcultures and the nine different equally-extant eschatologies that are slugging it out. But after a certain number of articles predicated on entire secret fields of academia or postmodern articles about "what even is an anomaly, man," you become increasingly aware of the ways in which you're looking at least three really cool settings that don't necessarily play nice with each other thematically. There Is No Canon yadda yadda

[ceoazula]

I love this line because on one hand, yes, Vi isn’t responsible for Jinx’s choices and should absolutely stop blaming herself for how she turned out. But on the other hand, this line isn’t in response to Jinx blaming Vi for what she became or something like that. It’s in response to Jinx calling out Vi for becoming an enforcer and going along with a plan to poison the air in Zaun…aka Vi’s choices.

[milarca]

These tags are exactly it!!! @queer-is-future

[gffa]

JEDI PHILOSOPHY IS SO GOOD (Star Wars: The Living Force | John Jackson Miller)

[metalatias5]

Been wanting to draw a sad little lonely Lucifer to "Apples to the core" from My Little Pony Friendship is Magic for a while now >:) hehe

[darkwing-ramblings]

@eri-pl I don’t disagree that it applying to the two trees is an intriguing concept but must object to it being considered non-British: Britain has a history of coppicing like many other places do too. Hedge laying may be getting more efforts pushing it as a wider spread habit to get into again reliably right now but coppicing is more of a human populations thing where there’s trees I imagine than possible to categorise as linked to any one place.

Traditional forestry is so fascinating actually. Humans used to be much more invested in sustainable practices*, and they got creative about it.

Take coppicing. Coppicing is wild, ya’ll. Young trees get repeatedly cut down so that they regenerate with extra limbs. You know, like a freaking hydra.

This doesn’t harm the trees. In fact, since a regularly coppiced tree stays in the juvenile stage, this effectively makes the tree IMMORTAL, unable to be touched by age and the ravages of time. Also coppicing has been practiced since literal prehistory and has a lot of ecological benefits. In return, humans get a theoretically infinite supply of wood from one tree, instead of having to plant new ones.

tldr if you cut off a tree’s head it will grow more heads like a hydra and become functionally immortal.

*before colonizers realized they could steal all the land & trees they desired

[lazykcdoodler]

Slight spoilers: meta and speculation about the names of Jinx and Vi's birth family members

(I wrote this up in a comment on my secondary reddit account a little while ago, so I didn't steal it)

:read more:

The name of Jinx and Vi's mother is Felicia. Felicia's name stems from a Latin word that means "lucky." (Sooo the exact opposite of Jinx, in terms of literal meaning).

Connol- the briefly mentioned birth father- is an Irish Gaelic name that means "strong as a wolf," deriving from parts that mean "wolf," "hound," and "valour."

Very interesting, given Vander's association with hounds and wolves *cough cough*

Meanwhile, Vander stems from the Greek *evander,* which means "good man." Warwick is an Old English/Anglo-Saxon name that means "farm; buildings by the weir." Weir is an old term for a dam or a barrier built across a river to raise water upstream, regulate its flow, or catch fish. An appropriate name for the man who was once responsible for the unsteady peace between Piltover and Zaun way back in Act 1 of Season One.

Silco is the only name that doesn't have a true meaning that pops up on Google; broken down to its roots, it might take from words that mean "of the forest," as a derivative of the Latin "Silvio." It could be different spelling of the African name "Silko," which means "silk," and mightve been the name of an ancient Nubian king. It could even be a mix of the words "silk," (as in, the fibre produced by larvae to form cocoons, or "Silk Road," as the garment and trading currency) and "Co," as in "company" (since he produced Shimmer like a capitalist and brought great wealth for the chembarons).

Now onto the sisters!

As a proper Latin root word, Vi means "with force; violently." It can also be interpreted as the Roman Numeral 6. The name "Violet" originates from the Latin word viola (which happens to share its name with an overlooked instrument in the string family), but is Old English in proper form, and means "purple flower; steadfast."

The word Jinx is derived comes from the Greek/Latin word "iunx," their name for the wryneck bird- a bird associated with sorcery, and "jyng," an Old English word that means "a spell." It's meant bad luck since the mid to late 19th century.

Me, internally: "Wow, the writers at Riot and Fortiche really cooked with this one! How insightful!"

Me, externally" *sobs*

[tenpine-row]

Hm okay I'm rewatching the second episode, and when Viktor comes out of his fuckin cocoon, his voice is noticably different than it was in the first season. There's like a reverb effect being applied. BUT! The interesting thing is that it's only applied to certain words and phrases. So here's that whole scene with a comparison of Viktor's voice with reverb (in blue) vs. normal:

Viktor: Jayce? Jayce: ... Viktor? (pause) My God. V: What... Am I? J: You're... you're alive. You're alive! (pause) Oh! Oh, oh, uh, you must be cold. V: ...Cold. No, I don't think so. I sense a... charge. A potential. A recursive impulse. Unpleasant, but... "cold" isn't its name. (pause) The Hexcore. J: Viktor, it saved you! Somehow it, it adapted to your injuries, changing and evolving - it was as if it was connected to you! I did my best using the notes from your leg, recorded everything. There are still so many questions, but - V: I was supposed to die. (pause) You promised to destroy the Hexcore. J: - No, don't you see? Heimerdinger was wrong, we were wrong, it's not as bad as we - V: It killed Sky, Jayce. J: What? ... No. V: She had such dreams. (pause) As did we once. J: I'm going to resign from the Council. (pause) I understand now. My place was always here, in the lab, with you. We'll make this right, together! V: I must say goodbye to this place now. To you. J: Goodbye?! Viktor, you're my partner. V: Our paths diverged long ago. It was... affection, that held us together. J: (pause) You think it's so easy? To turn your back while your whole city looks to you for salvation? To cling to principles while your best friend, bleeds out in your arms? (pause) I never asked for this! (pause) ... Where are you going? V: ... Goodbye, Jayce.

And like I don't know what this means, per say, but I think it's DEFINITELY an intentional production choice, which is sick as hell