#(but SOME OF US have SKEWED CONCEPTS of MONEY)

[mazamba]

Sponsored By

Ironically, the most eventful day in the careers of Mr. and Mrs. Fenton had nothing to do with ghosts. The two had just returned from the supermarket and were carrying in the groceries, when the shadow in the corner began to speak.

"We need to talk."

"GHOST!"

The couple were on their back before they could draw their weapons.

"You are the foremost experts in the field of ecto-biology," said Batman as if he hadn't just brought down a three hundred pound man and a ninth-degree black-belt before either of them could realize he'd moved, "I have questions regarding your sponsor."

"Sweetie, is the Batman in our living room?" asked Jack.

"I do believe he is," replied Maddie as she stood up and patted the dust off her clothes, "you know, you could have called for an appointment. We'd have made time."

"In the 80's, the two of you had your doctorate studies rescinded due to your studies in what you called "ecto-science"," he stated, ignoring their indignation, "yet you now live in an upper-middle class neighborhood and spend thousands of dollars a year on technology that didn't have a proper proof-of-concept until recently."

"What's your point?" asked Jack.

"Where is the money coming from?"

"If you must know, we have a sponsor," replied Maddie, "after our dean proved to be too small-minded for our research, we were approached by a man who was more open to the possibility of inter-dimensional research."

"He wanted us to study ghosts!" cut in Jack, "He even gave us our very first sample of ectoplasm!"

"That one sample was the backbone of our research for years, until we got our portal running."

"You never asked where he got that sample from?"

"He seemed like a trust-worthy fellow," dismissed Maddie, "all he asks is for copies of our experiments and for ectoplasm from our portal."

"What sort of experiments?"

"Well, at first we needed to verify the psycho-active behavior of the sample," recalled Maddie, "if you give me a second, I have my research around here somewhere."

"You took the sample to several morgues," Batman told them, "the sample's most drastic and extreme behavior occurred when it was placed close to bodies who had a history of violent and anti-social behavior in life."

"Maddie, the League's reading our papers!" Jack giggled excitedly, "But yes, it's how we know that all ghosts are evil ectoplasmic scum!"

"You never questioned the origin of the sample?"

"It was the only sample we had," pointed out Maddie, "but it's properties matched all of our theories."

"The man you spoke with was Ra's al Ghul," he informed them, dropping a folder full of pictures and documents for them to peruse, "thousands of years ago, Ra's found a well of green water that is now known as a Lazarus Pit. Using its power, he has rejuvenated himself time and again to maintain his position as the head of the League of Assassins. After some experimentation, he found the same pits could keep his forces alive, even in death.

"Over time, the League came across a problem that threatened their continued existence. They were consuming the Pit's water faster than it was replenishing itself. After much experimentation, they found a solution. At the moment of death, when the human soul passes over to the Infinite Realms, what you call the Ghost Zone, a small amount of ectoplasm leaks over to our side."

"Wait, you don't mean...?" Maddie trailed off, horror settling in.

"Ra's killed people en masse to replenish his pool," affirmed Batman, "further experimentation revealed that people who died in a state of extreme fear or pain provided more ferocious soldiers. That is where your sample came from.

"In it's neutral state, ectoplasm reacts equally to all emotional ranges. Repeated exposure to emotional extremes will imprint the ectoplasm, causing it to react more strongly to a specific emotional range than to others. The negative emotions of Ra's victims imprinted on the ectoplasm, resulting in your skewed results."

"Wait, how would you know that?" demanded Maddie, "We're the foremost experts on ecto-science and we didn't know that!"

He pulled out a thick folder and slammed it onto the table.

"I had my research peer-reviewed."

"By who?" asked Jack, "We looked all over and couldn't find anyone in the scientific community!"

"You weren't looking in the right place. There is a branch of the Justice League that specializes in the supernatural, ghosts and demons chief among them. They want me to bring you in."

"Really!? Did you hear that Mads! We're being recruited by the Justice League!"

"They want me to arrest you," Batman corrected them, "for illegal poaching of innocent and neutral spirits, particularly after last week's attack on their newest member, Danny Phantom."

"The Ghost Boy!?" roared Jack, "That no-good ectoscum made the League before we did!?"

"I have watched his fights. He takes care to avoid collateral damage and only appears when other ghosts attack, sometimes at great personal cost."

"Look, Mr. Batman," sighed Maddie in a condescending tone, "we've fought the ghost boy for years. He has a history of crime and violence. If you look far enough, you'll find-."

Batman had no time for nonsense.

"The League has already looked into the incidents. All show indications of either coercion or mind control."

"Ghosts are deceitful and conniving-!"

"We have already established that your initial sample skewed your results," he cut Jack off, "this would imply that all of your research and experiments need to be reassessed, including your opinions towards ghosts in general.

"Regarding Ra's al Ghul, you will need to continue working with him. Cutting contact suddenly may put you and your family in danger."

That caught their attention.

"What do we need to do?" asked Jack, all jokes and outrage immediately tossed out the window.

"Keep doing your research with this new information in mind. Your experiments have been applied to the Lazarus Pits, resulting in unstable results. Recent subjects have come out in a mindless rage, while others have shown no effect on their mind, and yet others have had no effect. Ra's is already skeptical of your continued collaboration. If you provide him with research based off this new information, he may decide you are not worth his time or money. When it comes to Ra's, your best option is dismissal to irrelevance. You do not want to make an enemy out of him."

"It's not just that," admitted Maddie, "if we were the only ones being affected, we'd simply let him know we're exploring new horizons outside of ecto-science. The thing is, we have two children, one in college and one near graduation."

He gave them a card. "Call that number. All of their college expenses will be taken care of."

"I... Bruce Wayne?" read out Jack.

"We've collaborated before, he is trustworthy," he reassured them, "the next part is up to you. Will you be scientists, or poachers?"

Their lights flickered, and he was gone.

[whole-bunch-of-hcs]

Teddy Lobo Arranged Marriage

HCs plus a blurb/shortfic at the end, there is nsft content so be warned. Request by @ghnaim24

Teddy doesn't like being told what to do

At all

And he doesn't like feeling cornered or controlled. This is not a man who handles responsibility well or even willingly tbh

But he agreed to this bc it's not like he can refuse if he wants to inherit (which he does) and it's not like this will have all the rules a 'real' marriage does so who cares. Just another way to stay on top

Plus you're an only child and a woman so this gives him a leg up over Mandy- this is something he can do for the Lobos that she can't (yeah he's exactly that petty)

So he doesn't really have any set idea of what you'll be like in his head and doesn't care cause at this point you are a concept to him- a means to an end.

Then he actually meets you. The shy act is kinda cute but come on you're a mafia boss' kid, you've gotta be holding out on him

Except you're not. What he sees is what he gets with you. For a while he's not sure what to make of it bc no one in his world is like you.

Eventually he decides he's on board and wants to make this arrangement actually work bc it's one thing to be married but it's another to enjoy it and he doesn't want a miserable wife right?

(Kinda in denial sure but he's got the right idea)

He takes you out with him and tries to keep you away from all the nitty-gritty. He gets it in his head that you're all sheltered and shit and the reality of this life (that you have also been leading since way before he knew you) would damage you.

Gets on his guys' asses for doing uncouth shit when you're around and everything it's sweet but dude. Come on.

Absolutely FLINGS money your way. You don't even need it but you're never paying for anything ever again. He'll actively encourage, no demand, that you get more and more expensive taste.

His mother likes this less than he does but he's used to her being mad at him

Speaking of which, your gentle and shy nature taps into a more vulnerable side of him so you're about to hear shit he has told NO ONE before

Your wedding is going to be more extravagant than certain royal weddings have been. It's practically a multi-day affair. It is the epitome of ostentatious and why shouldn't it be? Two mafia families are marrying and more importantly he is marrying you. That's worth some serious celebration.

Nsft-wise... boy does he have a lot going on

Furthest thing from a virgin like. Ever. Man was a SLUT all the way up until he met you and he has the experiences to prove it

Good thing: means he knows what he's doing. Bad thing: he has a skewed idea of what normal is

He'll be willing to try anything and everything you like and he is EAGER to show you stuff you might not have even known about

You will be discovering at least one new kink cause of him

He's a switch too so he can really adapt to whatever you want from him

Prefers filling a specific role though, when in a relationship. Likes the stability of knowing his place cause he's dorky like that

Has nipple piercings idk why I'm so sure of this but he does

If he's a dom he is NOT very gentle and if you need him to slow down or ease up you gotta tell him that.

He likes it when you're demanding, when you tell him what you need, when you make him almost wonder who's really in charge (but he is HAPPY to remind you)

If he's a sub you better not be gentle with him. He's a hardcore masochist and he promises he can take it (he has no pain tolerance he just likes pain a lot for some reason bc he's a freak)

He will tell you exactly what he needs too so don't ever worry that you're not fulfilling his needs.

"What're you eyeing, babe? What's good?" Teddy asked. He needed to know so he could tell the waitress, and he'd probably bribe her with absolutely no subtlety to make sure a few other tables were put on the back burner so you could get it sooner.

"I dunno," you answered. "The seafood boil looks really good but it's fifty dollars, Teddy, that's insane. I'm not paying fifty dollars for bugs that live in the ocean."

"Well you're not paying for anything so it doesn't matter," Teddy said. Immediately he wondered if that sounded like he was taking a dig at you. You didn't seem to think so though so maybe he did good? If you did that cute little nose-exhale and reached up to play with the necklace he got you he'd know he won.

You did. I'm an actual good boyfriend now, holy shit, he thought.

"Fine," you said. "Fifty dollars for a lobster and some crab legs."

"What, that's it?" Teddy asked. "Get the upgrade that's got like oysters and sh-all that."

"Teddy that's fifty-seven dollars, that's insane."

"So am I, babe!" He laughed. He had a nice laugh, you thought, when he wasn't playing it up for some reason.

"Yo, Teddy, your mom's calling," one of Teddy's "boys" said, running over, phone in hand. "Wants to talk about the patrols in the French Quarter. 'Pparently one of the beat cops 'round that joint forgot he likes money so she wants you to get a guy out there and-"

Teddy waved his hands frantically. "Hey, hey- not in front of her, man, are you fuckin' stupid?" He grabbed for the phone. "Hey, Mom, I'm out with y/n right now-"

He got up, leaned over to plant a kiss on your cheek and slap some money down on the table. "Go ahead and get a little tequila, the top shelf stuff that doesn't give you a hangover, while you're at it, and- hey, Scraps, if I'm not back when the waitress comes you tell her my girl wants the deluxe seafood boil and we don't care how much it costs, yeah?"

He was adorable, as far as crime-boss nepo-babies went.

[ckret2]

Hi! Been keeping up with your fic for the past few months, absolutely loving it!

What is your take on Bill and empathy? In an earlier chapter he refers to it as an alien concept. I was wondering if he's never felt it before? Or if he's repressed it through eons of denial and self-absorbed partying?

Thanks!!

Let's start with definitions, because empathy is one of those words that gets a broad range of definitions from the colloquial (such as "empathy = caring about people") to the academic/scientific ("empathy = capacity to comprehend what another person is feeling"). I'm skewing toward the academic definition. You can care about people whether you experience empathy or not.

These days researchers define two kinds of empathy, "cognitive empathy" and "affective empathy". "Cognitive empathy" means "I can use my intellect to identify and understand someone else's emotions," and "affective empathy" means "when someone else is feeling an emotion, it makes me feel an emotion too (e.g. I'm sad because they're sad)."

When Bill says he considers empathy alien, he's referring to affective empathy. When he's not busy lying to himself about how others feel ("I'm sure Ford would be thrilled to be my friend again!"), he can be very good at cognitive empathy ("With all the stress Ford's under from his dwindling money and his parents' demands for financial success, he'll be desperate for a big break. This is my chance"). But Bill doesn't consider that empathy, he considers that "being smart enough to figure out what people are thinking."

I don't know whether Bill has never-ever-ever experienced affective empathy. He does possess the capacity to care about other people; and he does have the capacity to feel happiness when good things happen to them and anger or sorrow when bad things happen to them; and what exactly is the dividing line between "a person I like is happy -> that makes me happy" (empathy) and "a person I like is happy -> because I like them, I want good things to happen to them -> so I'm happy a good thing happened" (something that's not empathy)? Where do you split hairs between "I feel bad FOR you" and "I feel bad WITH you?" If Mabel comes home crying and Bill immediately gets angry and asks who he needs to murder, do you consider that affective empathy or just (a violent kind of) sympathy/compassion?

What Bill DOESN'T do is feel casual affective empathy for just, like, anybody. If a woman's husband is murdered and she loses the house and she loses her job and her children are sick, Bill's less likely to go "awww :(" and more likely to go "lol. 🍿" If he's in an unusually noble mood, he might go "man, what kind of a messed up society are you guys running that a lady gets fired for crying at work a week after her husband died? Do you not understand how grief functions in your own species?" but like, that's "disbelieving and condescending about how stupid y'all are being," it's not being sad because she's sad.

I don't know whether he's always had low/no affective empathy, or whether he initially had more and then it was reduced. I do know that if he ever did have more affective empathy, it had decreased before he was out of childhood, long before he destroyed his dimension. One of the things that drastically reduces empathy is receiving too much power without a stable social network and coping skills to keep you grounded, and Bill was given a LOT of power as a teen with zero healthy relationships and all the emotional maturity of a typical socially isolated teenager. By adulthood, he had already emotionally walled himself off from the world—there's me (superior) and everyone else (inferior), and anyone with the potential to be my equal is a threat—so if he'd ever had a capacity to feel with other people, he'd shut it down by then.

I'm trying to imagine what he would've been like at eight years old. If he saw some rectangle with an ice cream cone get bumped, drop the ice cream on the ground, and start crying, would he feel sad too? Maybe a little bit. Not enough to share his ice cream though. He'd just keep eating and hope someone else gives the rectangle a new cone. So at one point he definitely felt affective empathy. Not a lot, but some.

But that was a trillion years ago and Bill tends to say what feels truthy rather than what is true, so "empathy is alien and I'm suspicious it even exists" is what he thinks to himself.

[accio-victuuri]

“big name bxg c-fans earn a lot because cpf give their money to them instead of xz and wyb.” 💀

I wanted to address this comment i saw yesterday but I had to organize my thoughts first as best as i could. I also knew GRA events are gonna take up a lot of my time so i had push it back. However, i want to post about it here even if the topic associated to this didn’t blow up that much (thankfully) cause it irritated me. I’m very used to certain fans having a skewed view of bxgs. I understand that no matter what we say, the prejudice is too heavy to even see reason.

So this is more of to explain to bxgs how this statement is completely wrong and why it shouldn’t even be said in the first place.

Let’s start with the context.

On 11/2, when there was supposed to be an entertainment ban, a few hot search tags popped up. The boys’ name or even BXG was not on it but it sort of involved the fandom. The gist is this person is a former big name BXG account back in 2019 who is now a yxh. They earned a lot from that work and was able to buy “ 8 houses”. That was actually what got on HS, the idea that someone who is working as a yxh can be that rich.

I guess people missed the fact that this person earned the money from yxh “work” and not being a BXG account. Some just saw “bxg” so they made a connection and so the comment i posted above was a common statement. The fact that XZ and WYB are top stars too added to the conversation.

First of all, being a big name account that posts about XZ and WYB back in 2019 isn’t that hard. Untamed was at it’s peak that time and so were the active fans. The drama was airing. They had appearances and were practically everywhere. It would not take that much to get the likes, follows and engagement for 2 people that had a lot of content going on. After that, when 2020 rolled in, I understand how some people on the c-side of things will fall off. They probably had new interests and I think the same goes for that account. They were there at the height of it and learned how being a profitable blog works. So I wanna say that this fan was seasonal. To say that they “represent” all big name bxg blogs is totally unfair.

Next i wanna address the concept of profit and “cpfs giving money to big name accounts”.

The easiest way is engagement to a blogger’s post. It may not be me giving the money in my pocket to them literally but they get earnings from engagement & through ads/ affiliate links. This concept is not new to BXGs. It’s the same as any other influencers out there. So the accusation of spending money to big name accounts instead of supporting the boys — in this case is misleading.

You can argue that a regular person, even so/os fall in this trap when they engage with blatant anti accounts. When they comment and share those posts, they give them the engagement.

Now there are two other ways that bxgs give their actual money to these big name accounts.

1. Fansites. Those that share HQ photos and videos of them during events. How they make money aside from engagement is selling photo-books. What’s important to remember tho is there is an unspoken rule among these sites ( not just bxg ones ) that a huge part of the earnings will be spent on charity and buying endorsements by the boys. they post receipts. Not everyone of them is perfect and some have their own issues and closed down but that’s just how it goes.

2. Fan artists. The concept of fan art & merch have long been alive and is honestly one of the best things about fandom. It gives a chance to artists to make something and earn from it. I have to say that this is the more lucrative one cause the really popular ones have their products ( usually the dolls ) sell out so fast and have months of waiting list. The same fan sites, there is a rule for them to use the money for charity.

Here is a post I made before about some of those charities but that’s a very small list compared to the actual initiatives that were done for years.

As for supporting the boys, these accounts buy endorsements, magazines of them in the cover ( in bulk ), organize LED ads for their birthdays or fandom anniversaries, sponsor peripherals for bxg gatherings, host block screenings for movies etc.

Lastly, however someone spends the money they earned is none of anyone’s business. These people on the internet thinking it’s okay to gloat about how they are the “best fan” out there because of how much they spend on a celebrity is so crass. It’s like giving Yibo a gift and leaving all the tags on cause you want him to know exactly how much you spent on him.

I appreciate fans that do spend. I really do. It helps alot with their brand value and career. I personally buy merch and watch content on paid platforms. However it should not be a way to measure someone’s worth as a fan. There is no need to shame people who want to spend their money elsewhere and not XZ or WYB. This kind of toxic mindset is largely prevalent in c-ent fandoms that some international fans are adapting. If there is something that the CCP and I agree on, it’s that this practice shouldn’t be demanded of fans. The idea of “how dare you spend on something you like” ( whether it’s a product from a big name fan or whatever ) exposes whoever is saying it as that kind of brainwashed fan.

So anyway, participate in the fandom in a way that you are comfortable with. We all have different approaches on how we take part in it and there is really no need to keep receipts. ✌🏼

[whattraintracks]

27. Human Friends - TMNT 1987

Buffy and Raphael should've been best friends, spread the word

"Poor Little Rich Turtle" is a spectacular episode

almost entirely because of Buffy Shellhammer

all the boys need more friends their age, Raphael especially

and these two could have gotten along SO WELL

in that episode, Michelangelo’s level of attraction to Buffy is inversely proportional to Raphael’s begrudging respect for her

I bet Raphael tells her about Michelangelo's crush as a joke

and she declares she has no interest in anyone human, turtle, boy, girl, or otherwise, and they high-five/three about it

he would love having a rich friend that lets him hang out in her mansion

he makes fun of her for said mansion but still shamelessly takes advantage of her wealth

which is fair since she’s been trashing his sewer home since day one 

Leonardo’s joke about seeing "how the other half lives"? Yeah, they run that bit six feet under

she does not care that Raphael and his brothers are local heroes they’re just some weird little dudes from beneath the city to her

she is, however, so excited to learn about all the hidden sewer routes around the city so she can escape her more boring responsibilities

they're both made of pretty tough stuff and predictably bond over their abnormal childhoods and limited connections/friends

"don't get out much, do you?" he says like he doesn’t have equally negative amounts of experience with normal teenage fun!!

zero understanding of typical friendship rituals between them

they wrestle, gift each other weird stuff, and spend a lot of time trying to figure out what normal teenagers do, only to give up and do something else because the things they thought of sounded boring

they'll just randomly ask each other stuff like, "did you know most people only eat three meals a day with specific foods for each meal?" and be totally confused together about it

they also have the most skewed concept of money

Raphael has never paid for anything in his life other than pizza, and while Buffy knows the exact value of super niche chemical tech supplies, she could not give you a reasonable estimate for produce

a lifetime with Donatello has made Raphael a surprisingly good sounding board for the more technical aspects of Buffy’s work

which she does enjoy, as well as cutthroat business operations, she just hates her public persona and sucking up to adults who think they know better than her

he likes to hold the fact that t(he)y saved her life (multiple times) over her head, but like as a joke

except for when he tries to use it to win arguments

unfortunately, it never works, she is the most ungrateful brat ever thank you much

they very much share that I don’t owe anyone anything attitude

EXCEPT for Master Splinter, whom they mutually respect and agree is the only acceptable adult

she unironically complains about humans with him but particularly has beef with adults, and he heartily encourages this

they love that they can be total jerks around each other without hurting anyone else’s delicate feelings

THEE besties who judge people and hate each other affectionately

all the insults: "martian" "nerd" "pet store reject" "spoiled brat"

when they’re not coming up with colorful insults for each other, they’re doing it together for other people

it's their favorite bonding activity <3

since she enjoyed their initial misadventure so much, she asks if she can go out with the turtles to fight and stuff again, and Raphael laughs at her

until she takes a bunch of martial arts classes and totally kicks his shell

and, well, he supposes a nice easy patrol or two might be fun

unfortunately, the team cannot handle the strength of their combined sass, and she’s forbidden from ever joining them again, even though she has a mean left hook

ultimately, I think they’d mellow each other out now that they have an outlet for their angst and eventually grow and learn a lot from one another

but, mostly, they just talk so much crap together

[spotsupstuff]

i'm glad you enjoyed brandon F

little note about the uniform thing, the reason why he drags on a bit on that is cause he's a reenactor, 18th century uniforms are his insane obsession. he even jokes about it in the video i sent, saying "i'm finally back to my insufferable self!" when talking about the muskets

i don't blame him tbh, after watching his content for a while i had the realization that 18th century isn't like the romans, whose equipment we deduce through archeology, old sources and guess work.

like, the actual documents that standardized 18th century uniforms still exist and are not hard to access, i realized that after Brandon noted that his source was the fucking British Royal Library in London. ( i mean ffs there's literally photos of Napoleonic era vets heres a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npSru7xEzX8)

and i honestly think its relevant, because if a million dollar historical production didn't want to put in the effort to go to a library and get the official documents. then what else they weren't bothered to get right?

but Brandon doesn't just do historical reviews he also talks a lot about the history in general. like, why fight in lines? what were marines in the 18th century? the history of tactics. and what role did cavalry play in line warfare? for example

heavens bless people of utube that manage to get hyperfixated on one topic for basically their entire life and then proceed to make stuff about it for us to watch, right? it's a delight to listen to someone who actually enjoys the subject and their subject therefore basically guarantees the authencity of what they put out

oooh but yes, the concept itself of what we actually get to know about things in what manner is fascinating in on itself. so since i was small i had been very fascinated by chinese mythology and mythology somewhat comes along with other parts of the culture and so on. and you know how the chinese culture is one of the oldest in the world?

as a result i've somewhat grown accustomed to the numbers that are typical to the span of chinese history and now whenever i go look into the history of my own country i'm actually stumped over how recently certain things happened! then again you wouldn't believe how oppressed or manipulated slovaks had been across history. ain't that right -glares at hungary-

to what extent we know which culture's history is so wild. the ability for certain historical things to simply last is absolutely incredible (such as military uniform documents or musical pieces of 18th century). fun fact! there's still messages written in stone by the soldiers of the roman empire on slovakia's territory. right near Danube, i think, p sure i visited that

thank fuck for reliable sourcing and also thank u for that vid that's gon come in handy for clothing references at Some point, i can feel it

and you are absolutely correct, yes! it Is relevant! as mister Brandon has said, there's of course a certain leeway allowed when it comes to more kid oriented stuff, but i'll admit! i was surprised to learn that serious historical productions apparently put less effort into these kind of things than the sea beast did (i don't usually watch those kind of things, i'm very fantasy/sci-fi and cartoon focused)

this kind of muddling of history that may seem "insignificant" to money grabbing bastards really screws up the perception of the eras for people who don't really have the time or the drive to look into things themselves. it's annoying

oh while we are on this history stuff, i saw this originally in utube shorts, but Apparently they are making a netflix movie or smth about Cleopatra and they made her black?? which is weird, considering that Cleopatra was greek and all that stuff. like don't get me wrong, yes give silenced/less known cultures like black folk more space to present themselves and who they are but like don't do it in a way that heavily skews the history? why are you going out of your way to create misinformation that could heavily impact understanding of history by taking out an already famous (not poc) person instead of Actually making the space for historically important black people. like maybe why not make a movie about that one super rich king from the southwestern coast of Africa (i think) that crashed the egyptian economy twice by being just too damn generous. that would be SO much more helpful to black peeps' history than shoving a black person into the place of a white one

i swear films nowadays either lack soul, heart, spine or brain like 98% of time

[mywifeleftme]

195: Run the Jewels // Run the Jewels

Run the Jewels Run the Jewels 2013, Fool's Gold

Even as someone who was very hyped for this monster mash album to drop back in 2013, I could’ve used El-P and Killer Mike’s chances at becoming mainstream music stars as a creative simile for extreme remoteness. Run the Jewels started life as a Watch the Throne joke—e.g. while you pay obeisance to the supposed kings, we’re behind them jacking their shit. The name seemed right: any time you put Mike on a pop-adjacent track, he sounded too brash, too angry to fit the scheme, whereas El-P probably scanned to most listeners as like, Comic-Con Bubba Sparxxx or something. It remains bizarre to contemplate that El-P’s original crew, Company Flow, released their groundbreaking Funcrusher EP a year before Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt, and Mike had been OutKast’s war dog since the turn of the century. In other words, these were two rapper’s rappers who made a living on rhymes but didn’t seem likely to have say great prospects of retiring comfortably.

It just goes to show what a creative release strategy (Run the Jewels dropped for free at a time when that concept still had some novelty) and an absolute banger record can do for ya. After years of ambitious, CD-stuffing projects by both men, Run the Jewels is a trim 33-minute object lesson in the power of elite shit-talking. Ten years on their particular chemistry is fixed enough to be fondly roasted, but at the time I’d never heard either man rap as freely, or hilariously, as they did here. Some particularly treasured bars:

Woo, they done let that fuckin' Mike out It's like Tyson in the '80s Nigga snap and punch your lights out, yeah It's like Tyson in the '90s, if I'm losing, take a bite out I'm so motherfuckin' grimy, so motherfuckin' greedy, gritty Mama said she couldn't breastfeed 'cause I was bitin' at the titty — Mike

Yo, Killer Mike and El-P, fuck boys, think about it Fuck you gonna sell me? You don't know a thing about us Women dosed with ayahuasca drum circle and sing about us Dolphins prone to rape'll hear the tape and stop to think about it Monks will immolate themselves until the record hits the shelves Yetis walk right out the woods to cop it without thinkin' bout it Workers at the sweatshop kill they boss to how the vets drop Worker ants surround their queen and chew the bitch's head off Drug dogs bark at the tour bus when it park Priests take the cock out of their mouths To hum along when the chorus drop — El-P

It's time for Skywalker talkers t’meet the true Darth Vader I hit your mom in '03, but a G ain't ate her So baby boy, you should tighten up and show some respect Before I Melvin on you, Jody, put my arm on your neck Or worse yet, be the reason your girl want a divorce Be at her crib with your kids saying ‘Fuck your fort, lil' nigga!’ — Mike

Born to the next-gen system Slow water drip to the temple to live in a prison When the walls don't appear to your vision One floor down from that mall's that prison Where shower stalls'll get all y'all missin' Pardon me, I got half-wit vision But fuck I know? I just crawled here, cap'n — El-P

I'm fat but I dress nice, and bitches finesse Mike They suck the dick and squeeze on my belly like bagpipes — Mike

I'ma smoke 'til the planet erases Build a white flag out of Zig Zags, wave it — El-P

And so on. Alongside El-P’s signature production, limber and consistently knocking, it is the sheer “What will they say next?” pleasure of two elite battle rappers trading the mic back and forth (something that doesn’t happen on Watch the Throne as often as you might remember) that scratched the deep itch of boom-bap-bro nation. Over three more excellent LPs to date, they’ve expanded their sound and skewed ever more topical, but RTJ have never abandoned the template that made them unlikely stars. And for my money at least, it’s this first one that best stands the test of time.

195/365

[oftheseas-rpg]

THEODORA "THEO" PALOMA HART

⚑ GENDER: Ciswoman ⚑ PRONOUNS: She/Her ⚑ AGE: 30 (July 6th, 1994) ⚑ TYPE: Step sibling ⚑ HOMETOWN: Chicago, Illinois ⚑ SEXUALITY: Lesbian ⚑ JOB: Librarian ⚑ ACCOMMODATION: Emerald ⚑ FACECLAIM: Cierra Ramirez

ABOUT THEO

When most parents tell their children they can be anything, it’s assumed it’s to come from a place of bias towards their otherwise mediocre offspring. Anything within reason, anything within their skill level. There are limitations to “anything”, but when Marcus and Regina told a grade school aged Theo that she could do anything, they meant it. Between her family’s unwavering support and Theo’s own intelligence, the world truly was her oyster. Theo was a child whose curiosity often got her into trouble by people who didn’t know her well. Her constant need to know the why of a situation, and only relenting when the answer made complete sense to her, was considered obstinate and would often have her parents called down to school for a discussion on her disrespect for authority.  As a very young child, it was confusing to have people act as if they knew her motivations better than her. She wasn’t trying to be rude, she just wanted to understand the things around her on the most basic level. However as she got older, she realized how much of it was tied to the concept of propriety, a list of social niceties that she had been expected to adhere to without anyone ever actually explaining it to her. That’s when it all stopped being confusing and instead turned to pure, unfiltered annoyance. She’s never quite stopped being annoyed if we’re being honest.

So Theo learned to embrace her status as a know-it-all. It’s hardly her fault that she does, in fact, know it all. Or a good portion of it, anyway. While she will gladly explain to you that the common metrics used to quantify intelligence are culturally biased, resulting in a skewed measure of “average” and thus a skewed measure of what is above or below average, the fact of the matter is that Theo is incredibly smart. On top of that, she’s a big fan of showing off. The good lord made her as clever as the devil and twice as pretty. It would be heresy to not do anything with that. The issue there is that she is also very self-serving, and getting her to do something she doesn’t want to is like pulling teeth. She didn’t attend her high school graduation ceremony, despite being valedictorian, because it was the same night that the first season finale of Smash aired and she needed to prioritize. She could’ve made bank studying law or medicine, given that she had a full-ride scholarship, but instead majored in English literature because she liked studying it. From there, she earned a master’s of library science because why not? The main reason Theo pursued her PhD. in the first place is because she was tired of constantly being asked “is it Ms. Flores or Mrs.?” She much prefers Dr. Flores, thank you very much. She then proceeded to do fuck all with her degrees other than get a gig at her local library. If she wanted to make more money, she’ll just earn another degree. Life really is that simple to her. Why should she waste her time on things that she doesn’t care for?

The reality is that she can come across as off-putting in her pragmatism. This too is something that Theo knows. This too is something Theo has chosen to disregard. Her parents taught her early on that she shouldn’t water herself down for others. Those who appreciate her will do so knowing all sides, the bad and the good. Yes, there is some good in there. Theo’s loyalty is unmatched, as is her awareness of the world around her. An aftereffect of all those “whys?” that she asked as a kid. She is something of a conspiracy theorist, believing in Bigfoot and aliens and things that go bump in the night. She’s not going to fuck with them, but she definitely knows they’re out there. Theo was content in her mundane life when the world inevitably fell apart. Because of course it did, have you not been paying attention? Theo had zero intentions of dying young so she followed her parents’ lead and hopped aboard Sue Sylvester’s giant boat, bringing as many of her mass-market Amish smut paperbacks as she could fit in her luggage. Luckily her skillset got her a gig in the ship’s library, where Theo spends her time judging the patrons and threatening to toss them overboard if they damage anything. 

[ebelal56-blog]

The Psychology of Money: Mastering Your Financial Mindset

Money, it’s a concept that looms large in our lives, yet its true nature often eludes us. We think we understand it, but the reality is that our relationship with money is shaped more by our emotions, experiences, and biases than by cold, hard facts. Morgan Housel’s insights in "The Psychology of Money" resonate deeply because they strip away the pretense that financial success is merely a product of intelligence or knowledge. It’s not about how smart you are; it’s about how you behave. The choices we make, often driven by feelings rather than logic, dictate our financial journeys. Consider this: how many times have you made a financial decision based on a fleeting emotion? Perhaps you splurged on something extravagant after a bad day, or you hesitated to invest because of fear. These moments reveal a fundamental truth: our behaviors are often at odds with what we know. We can read all the books, attend all the seminars, but if we don’t confront our emotional tendencies, we’re bound to repeat the same mistakes. It’s about control—controlling our impulses, our fears, our desires. That’s where the real challenge lies. And then there’s luck and risk, those unpredictable forces that shape our financial outcomes. Housel emphasizes that success isn’t solely a reflection of our skills; it’s also about the whims of chance. We celebrate the winners, the savvy investors who seem to have it all figured out, but how often do we acknowledge the role of luck in their success? It’s a humbling thought. Recognizing that some of our achievements may be due to factors beyond our control can help us maintain perspective. It teaches us to be grateful, not just for our successes, but for the circumstances that allowed them to happen. Compounding is another powerful concept that Housel highlights. It’s the idea that small, consistent actions can lead to monumental outcomes over time. Think about it: a little bit of saving here, a modest investment there, and before you know it, you’ve built something substantial. But it requires patience, a quality that seems increasingly rare in our fast-paced world. We want instant gratification, but the magic of compounding lies in its slow, steady growth. It’s a reminder that the journey to financial security is not a sprint; it’s a marathon. Housel also introduces the notion of "tail events," those rare occurrences that can dramatically alter our financial landscape. A single event—a market crash, a sudden windfall—can skew our perceptions of success and failure. It’s a reminder that while we can strategize and plan, we must also remain adaptable. Life is unpredictable, and our financial strategies must reflect that reality. And what about the relationship between money and happiness? Housel argues that beyond a certain point, more money doesn’t equate to more happiness. It’s a sobering realization. True wealth, he suggests, lies in financial freedom—the ability to live life on your own terms. It’s not about accumulating riches for the sake of it; it’s about creating a life that aligns with your values and aspirations. Saving and investing wisely is crucial, but it’s not just about the numbers. It’s about finding peace of mind in knowing you’re prepared for the future. Living below your means isn’t a punishment; it’s a pathway to security. It allows you to weather life’s storms without fear. Ultimately, personal finance is deeply personal. What works for one person may not work for another. It’s about understanding your own values, your own goals, and crafting a financial strategy that reflects who you are. Housel’s insights remind us that while the numbers matter, the emotions behind them matter even more. It’s a delicate dance between reason and emotion, and finding that balance is the key to mastering the psychology of money.

[seeminglyseph]

Dungeon Meshi really gets me as like. I grew up in a rural city, but my mom was raised on the outskirts of a rural farming village and like most of her family is farmers.

So like. The concept of “meat is animals” and like. Sometimes you hunt it, sometimes you farm it, sometimes animals are not fit for consumption so like don’t fucking eat that you dumb bitch (like. Poisonous. Or whatever. Idk.) has definitely skewed my opinion on like. I guess the meat industry.

Like I’m personally against factory farming for a number of reasons, multiple of them being moral, but some of them also being that they are unhygienic and lead to like. Unhealthy livestock and food output which often leads to worse conditions for people. Like I personally feel like factory farming is a bad system for everyone involved and often that includes the produce farms that exploit the workers. It’s not a vegan mentality really??

But also I’m fucking poor as shit and I can only really afford to buy what’s on sale, so the most I can hope to really do is raise awareness so hopefully the people who have power and money can like. Learn what’s going on and make choices and talk about it I guess with more awareness? Blindly condemning meat as violence is. Not going to make the change many people think it’s going to make, but being aware of what the industry does cause and becoming more familiar and comfortable with the safe and responsible farming practices available to us is probably more likely to actually like. Win an argument here or there.

Food is so fucking important. And learning to appreciate and love the food you need to live is so important. And like… some of the reasons so much modern food makes people sick is the shortcuts in making it. Hormones in factory farming, the excessive gluten in American wheat, whatever the fuck is going on in the American Dairy system. This isn’t shaming people for needing that food to survive, this is like… “if your food is making you sick, why? That’s a problem. That’s a problem that can be fixed because it’s not inherent to food. It’s something that has been caused and can be resolved.”

You deserve better food. Look into why you don’t have it. Ask why. There are holes in your nutritional needs that might not be met because your flour is kinda garbage. But there could be a solution. It’s not totally hopeless and someone might have an answer.

It’s easier to do activism if you’ve eaten a balanced diet and gotten good rest. And you need carbs, sugars and fats to digest the vegetables and fruits and fiber dense nutrients so remember that a balanced diet is the whole plate. You need that short term energy to access the long term energy, don’t listen to bad dieticians talk about how starches and sugars are only good for short energy and therefore useless, they don’t know what they’re talking about. We need sugars to live. And if you bleed on a regular basis due to menses you probably have anemia in some way and should work on your iron. Like. Seriously. It’s an issues.

[roxannepolice]

I'll be honest - as a person living in an east-of-Berlin-wall country, I just love the interpretation that where the Daleks (with their "we are the superiorest race to ever race and everyone else shall be exterminated") are a metaphor for fascism, the Cybermen (with "we'll turn everyone into ourselves, with no individual desires, tastes and feelings so everyone will be happy, or at least incapable of being unhappy, for evermore, and then we will just continue upgrading") are a metaphor for communism. I know, BBC's writers in the 60s-80s were left-leaning (hello, that time the Doctor was chummy with chairman freaking Mao, and of course, the red army's faith in hammer and sickle saving the day), but I really don't think it takes that much to realise the concept of "everyone has exact same needs, genetics are a bourgeois ideology, and if you want to stand out by so much as your clothes you're fundamentally rotten" is... uh. irreconcilable with lived reality*.

But I don't recall there ever being a case of Cybermen being a result of a completely external force rather than humans (or human-stand-ins) figuring out how to "improve" themselves? Like, my view may be skewed by the knowledge that the whole concept of a cyborg was introduced into public imagination just years before Planet X, so I always read it as a response to a paper that stated "now we need to take oxygen in tanks to travel the space, but what if instead we used machines to improve our lungs so they don't need oxygen?". The fact that there are usually some. precoursours, for lack of a better word, is kind of in line with the metaphor, like, weird things happening to humans are never a result of everyone democratically agreeing "oh yes, we should fuck ourselves up!", but rather a popular emotion being swayed by individuals pointing out "the single exact thing that's keeping society from achieving perfection"? Bit I could be misremebering things.

*For real, I have distant relatives in France and when they came to visit Poland in the 80s they were shocked because they thought we didn't use any money and everyone was just given what they needed (in reality, people were begging my grandaunt for toilet paper) so that's kind of what my idea of Western Europeans' concept of communism was in that time - they assumed it was completely different from what it actually was, just like Eastern Europeans didn't have a very clear idea of how capitalism works; if you actually confronted either side with lived reality they would immediately recognise that's not how things should be

the master always has some cyberman shit going on around them (let’s be real, the toclafane count. they’re just ball-shaped cybermen). saw a post last night that said something in fewer words along the lines of… it’s another one of their warped-mirror-of-the-doctor attributes. the doctor loves humanity — the master loves humanity stripped of all its humanity

the creation of cybermen is almost like a reassurance to them; “proof” that these weird apes that their ex is irresistibly in love with really do become, with a few tweaks and upgrades here and there, nothing more than programmable easily-manipulated murderous drones. because if they dared to look past their prejudice, to see humans for all their beauty and strength and diversity — and missy almost got there, she tried — they would understand what’s drawn the doctor away from them. and that scares them more than anything

[leam1983]

Time Theft

It's probably a bit of an unusual posture and something that's reflective of my very much Leftist background, but the professional throuple I'm a part of is now fairly well-known for its lax posture regarding the concept of time theft, at the office.

I'll explain: when you work something that's as soul-rending as a CSI desk or a set of promotional lists to whittle down, you'll be paid to effectively get dismissed, yelled at, mocked or insulted repeatedly. That grinds down on anyone, over time. That, in turn, makes focus a bit of a difficult thing to keep up over eight or more hours in a given shift.

Considering, we've decided not to monitor our Call Centre agents' use of our Internet connection and to, perhaps naively, operate out of good faith that people are going to do their time with us - within reason. I'm totally fine with someone taking a few minutes to browse the news or to use our connection to reliably access a personal financial portal, like their bank, in the understanding that most "budget" data plans tend to be a little flaky, in terms of bitrate. Some things, like paying the occasional phone bill, are just more comfortable to take care of on a decent connection.

Needless to say, it's surprising some of the transfers from the Old Place, that had the usual draconian rules in place regarding time theft. In comparison, you might as well say we've elected to claim that there's no such thing as "stealing" time from us.

If you work with me, I'll pay you in return. You're the one who's elected to give of their time in exchange for money, so no-one's time is actually being stolen. If your business depends on productivity targets to such an extent that you're willing to punish people at the bottom of your organization's rungs for being human, something's very clearly wrong. Not that we won't act in case of egregious excesses, though - it's just that our definition of "excess" involves the idea of having a massively skewed ratio of time spent on the clock versus the number of contacts made - and I do mean massively. I'm totally fine if one of our slowpoke hires only makes ten calls an hour if these ten calls are professional.

The execs at the Old Place are claiming we're hanging on thanks to our luxury dealership contacts, but I'll take this over the usual desperate rigamarole where a bloated and heaving mid-range automotive sector acts like a fattened potentate because it deigns to offer meagre bonuses to the average customer.

[bwobgames]

Previous First

"Remember what Owen told us? What we saw on the death certificate?

Mr. Díaz was so stricken with grief for the death of his wife that he asked, with all his heart, for one more chance

In doing so, the house was granted a purpose

Every time someone dies, they'll get another chance by going back in time

At some point, the doctor must've figured out the time loop mechanic and used it to his advantage in helping the patients and keeping himself alive past 100 years"

"This also must be why this house feels so... loved and warm. It was made as a way to protect people, to help them.

And then that bacteria of a man came and infected it"

"Wait, is there paper around here anywhere? And pencils?"

"There's a whiteboard around here, I think. Let me get it"

He finds one, possibly made for bets, or pool point counting. It has 2 markers.

Beebo grabs them and starts drawing

"So, Doctor Díaz, accidentally gives this house the ability to turn back time.

This house is now a 'Haunted House'

And who knows about Haunted Houses? Coli and his daughter.

Coli is obsessed with the concept. He investigates day and night trying to find one.

He wants to put his own purpose in one of them. He thinks he might be able to change the original purpose, but Nadia says it is not possible.

Still, after much effort, he finds one"

Beebo takes a deep breath

"An old... half house half art exposition.

The owner wanted the people who got in to ... never leave

Um. Not maliciously, i think! The owner just wanted his art to be appreciated!

But, um, the house took it differently"

"Are you okay?"

Ángel hold his hand

"Remember how much I told you about my recent phobia of big houses?"

"I... I got trapped in that house"

"I couldn't get out

The rooms. The rooms kept changing I couldn't- I was there for 3 days and- "

"Hey, hey, it's okay, I don't need details if it hurts you to tell me"

He grabs both of his hands and kisses his knuckles

"You are here now, okay? I'm by your side"

"We are okay"

They wait for a moment, just breathing.

Slowly, Oliver picks up the marker again

"I. I killed that house

I made it stop working

Then I asked for it to be demolished.

So now, the house Coli searched for so long is gone.

This why he invited me

And why he wants to kill me"

"After this, he tries to do his own Haunted House in his own factory, using the heightened emotions of the distressed workers.

Once the kids found out, they exposed him and put him in jail

"Due to Marigold not helping him with his projects, Nina being on her side, and the kids doing this, he believes they are all traitors

And wants to kill them

Then, he finds out about Vivi and you, the unrelenting reporter and the guy who bought the company. And puts you two on his 'to kill' list"

"Then proceeds to repeatedly fail in doing so. Skill issue, really"

"... I have been meaning to ask you about that.

Why did you buy his company? At first, I thought you were also a businessman, and that's how you got the money, but I'm guessing you got it from your illegal jewel business"

"Why a company?"

"Well, I've told you, haven't I? I quit heists and wanted to start a more quiet life, so why not become CEO? Those guys do nothing and get a lot of money. Sounds perfect!

But, ah, I don't think I'll keep it"

"Is the business life harder than expected?"

"It's definitely not my vibe, but mostly, I want to give it to Marigold. She's the one who should've had it since the start"

"Yeah, you're right.

I'm glad a life of crime has not skewed your sense of justice"

"And if I don't, I fear that a certain teenager capable of murder puts me in her 'to kill' list"

"Also, I wouldn't call it a 'life of crime', I used to be a normal man with a normal job and a pitiable salary. You can see how that makes someone like me want to get in a cool outfit and fuck around for a bit"

"Really? What did you work as?"

"Head of security in jewelry exhibitions"

"... you sly bastard"

"And never been caught"

"I could've caught you"

"Sure, sure, if it helps you sleep at night"

"If you ever try any heist again, I can and will catch you"

"Scandalous Detective Beebo! Do you want me to go steal things again??"

"Wh- That's not what I said!"

"Well, what a shame! I'm committed to a life of peace now.

I've found the prettiest gem already, and I get to keep it all to myself"

"What gem?"

"... You'll figure it out, come on, keep going over the investigation"

[noxcorvid]

Vansilla "Vansi" Fire-Fur, my Ohmes-raht mage, assassin, and DIY last dragonborn (with art of dubious updatedness i haven't worked with her in a while). (she's got a spotify playlist)

(bottom right hypothetical ohmes markings are based off a combination of beyond skyrim concept art and a few mods i think)

putting in a readmore for several blocks of solid text

Born in Elsweyr, possibly raised in a temple(?) (not sure how lore accurate it is but i'm attached to the idea of her having been an acolyte) that was razed in a Thalmor attack (that they denied any involvement with) during a disagreement with the temple caretakers and Thalmor diplomats. Was one of the few to escape, passed through the grapevine of khajiit resistance until she reached Ri'saad and was raised by him + the various members of his caravans. Very gifted magically, when she was old enough + raised enough money for college fees, she made the trek to the College of Winterhold. (At some point she gets involved with the Dark Brotherhood too but I'm still hashing out the details for that timeline-wise, but I think long story short Astrid sends her to High Rock at some point (in line with BS: Iliac Bay with a circus being a front for assassins) to shake off suspicion from a kill gone badly, another OC wipes out the DB in the meantime, and she goes "oh that's actually a good deal, I was dreading going back. I will never speak of them again" and then she didn't) (Also does the dawnguard questline; haven't decided if she joins the volkihar clan or not, but def becomes a vampire lord)

Raised by a gaggle of merchants and revolving characters of questionable character, Vansi is charming, prideful, quick-witted, taking note of potential opportunity with little qualm on how she might take advantage of said opportunity. Her personable demeanor and go-getter dedication to unraveling the higher mysteries of Mundus are a carefully maintained mask, however, for the feelings of deep rage, pain, and desire for violent retribution - following the attack on her childhood home, Vansi struggled greatly with her emotional state, and Ri'saad spent much of his time dedicated to wrangling it. While she definitely could've qualified for other schools besides the College, Ri'saad (trying his best to keep her away from the Thalmor, both her own safety as a young Khajiit and to prevent her from being tempted from lashing out) thought the College, being so far out of the way and deep in Stormcloak territory would be a safe option for her... no such luck however, and Vansi (as the protag of the CoW questline) is drawn into the machinations of Skyrim's political conflict, and emotionally/mentally begins sliding down a slippery slope of violence and power.

She desires power, both politically/socially and magically as a means of coping with traumatic loss in her youth by trying to gain control of her life - and also well who wouldn't want to be able to call down the heavens to smite your enemies. that's sick as fuck. She's very independent and tries to be as competent as realistically possible given her situation (though her definition of "realistically possible" may be skewed given her natural prowess with blowing things the fuck up). If you have a significant amount of power and won't use it "properly", she will judge you for it and maybe try to take it for herself; this is the thought process that leads to her locating the current dragonborn Ulfhild, ripping out her dragon soul to stuff it in her own body, and accidentally causing a massive Dragon Break. Whoops. it's fine tho she figures out how to fix it eventually. Lives with a great and well-hidden trepidation of destruction magic, especially fire, originating from the whole "childhood temple burned down" thing; she comes to immensely dislike her trauma having so much hold over her (*) and works to move past it, eventually wielding blue flames as a primary weapon. (* J'zargo's exploding scrolls were the catalyst for this; she was not expecting to be set on fire (again), had a mental breakdown, screamed a lot, she stopped talking to him for a WHILE, which was significant given how closely she prefers fellow khajiit and how amiable/professional she tries to be with everybody regardless of personal feelings). A natural in the illusion and alteration schools of magic, branches out into conjuration for soul-swapping purposes, branches out into destruction for brute-forcing-your-way-through-ptsd purposes. Though she's aware of how negatively the Stormcloak rebellion could affect non-Nords, her hatred for the Thalmor outweighs any philanthropist tendencies and she backs Ulfric's movement as dragonborn, though doesn't outright support his claim to be High King; she likes showing off weird magical sleight of hands and party tricks because it makes the average young Stormcloak nervous and she finds it funny; he's suspicious of her motives and trusts her about as far as he can throw her. She and Durnehviir are besties. Her ex, Thurid, is the older sister of the current/previous dragonborn, Ulfhild, and there was a lot of emotional pain she felt, knowing she was going to throw away a relationship she was genuinely dedicated to for the sake of moving up in the world, because Thurid would know what she did to Ulfhild and wouldn't hesitate to throw hands; even with the new opportunities provided to her a dragonborn Vansi struggles to decide if sacrificing their relationship was worth it :( thematically i wanted their trifecta to mimic the observer/rebel/king lore thing but it's kinda mutated since then

Btw, if anyone has/comes across an Ohmes/Ohmes-Raht/other rarely-seen Khajiit type OC send me a link please!!

I just think they're neat!

[minty-mumbles]

I think that we forgot a lot of the time that being a hero is a very lucrative occupation. Like... most, if not all, of these boys are rich as hell.

The one I see mentioned the most is Wild. And yeah, he's loaded. He was able to buy a house just for himself on a whim, just to keep it form being torn down? He carries around hunks of precious jewels??? Like, dude.

And even if you don't know their backstories, or what they've done, you can tell just by looking at them.

Four has little gemstones hanging from his belt. (Kinstones, but people form other Hyrules wouldn't know that.) He has a tunic that is richly dyed. For gods sake, he has a quarter of it dyed purple, which would be hella expensive in the medival-ish setting they're in.

Time is wearing a full set of armor, and that stuff isn't cheap.

Normal people probably aren't able to afford that kind of thing. And the fact that he can also afford to have it embellished with decorations? With what I’m assuming is bronze, or something similar, becuase gold would be a bit overboard

Ravio is able to pinpoint Warrriors as a knight right off the bat, and if Ravio can do it, then other people can as well. (And Legned claims they’re broke, but I think that’s just to throw Ravio off the scent of Rupees.)

Knights aren't just anyone in the military. They are the very best, and probably have the best paycheck too. And that's not not even considering that out of the whole chain, Warriors is the one I think is most likely to be of noble birth. (also, again, amour. even if there is less of it than Time.)

Don't even get me started on Legend and his rings and magic jewelry.

And Sky is covered in embroidery.

That kind of stuff is expensive, It takes a long time to make. I mean, a lot of the others have embroidery on their clothes too, but not to the extent of Sky. He has the design on his sailcloth, but also on his sash, his white tunic, and even his under tunic. To be able to afford embroidery on a piece of clothing that's rarely seen must mean something.

The only ones that really look normal are Hyrule, Twilight, and Wind. But they're probably are just as loaded as the others. They just know not to be too flashy with it, in Hyrule's case, or just don't care enough to dress fancy, in Wind and Twilight's cases.

(And even Hyrule's sword has what looks like rubies all over the hilt)

I'd be surprised if they weren't jumped in every other town by people who assume that they're traveling nobles, and want to rob them.

But then again, people don't usually go to the trouble of arming themselves as well as the Chain has if they don't know how to use said weapons, so maybe people leave them alone.

And the funny part is, is that a lot of them probably have no idea how rich they are. Some of them may have poor concepts of money from the get go, like Time, Wild, and Hyrule, while the others may have had their perception skewed by having that kind of money for so long.

[filipinoizukuu]

hello mr simp do you have any thoughts on the leeks 👀

FIRST OF ALL. THEY CAME SO FUCKING EARLY??? BRO I WAS ASLEEP

SECOND OF ALL

holy SHIT YALL

Okay, it's no secret that I'm an All Might stan. I LOVE All Might. Very very much. Not just as a simp, but genuinely, I enjoy his character SO MUCH.

--And unlike what some people may think, I'm not totally blind to his flaws. I know he sucks as a mentor and that he's done way more harm to Deku than good. He's.... not perfect. in every sense of the word. The whole point of AM's character is that he is a DEEPLY FLAWED individual— but at the end of the day, still good.

This new chapter gave me SOOO many new feelings. I'm not gonna lie to y'all and say I was a Stain apologist beforehand because I wasn't. I disliked Stain to a certain degree, but I also knew he was morally grey enough that I was able to still quite appreciate him as a character. This chapter was about EVERYTHING to me because I honestly did NOT expect Hori to go in this direction and for things to happen the way they did. It was too good to be true! Too fanfic-y! The disbelief I felt when I read what happened was on par with when Bakugou and Deku had that apology and kinda-hug in the rain!

But this disbelief is not because it was a bad thing.

I think the writing in Chapter 326 is phenomenal. The moment that All Might was really beginning to lose hope in not just himself as a hero, but himself as a PERSON... we finally hear the opinion of someone who would abso-fucking-LUTELY make or break the last of his spirit.

Stain is, as much as his views are pretty agreeable and his label is that of a vigilante, still a pretty shitty guy. He's tried to kill literal kids who got in his way, even if said kids made pretty dumb decisions. AM hearing what he has to say is absolutely mind-boggling to him because he knows all of that. He knows Stain is a shitty person and that his worldview is perhaps terribly skewed. He knows Stain has spent a hot minute frying his brains down in Tartarus and isn't good at making judgment calls. Knows that for all intents and purposes, Stain's opinions are not to be trusted.

But the thing is... Toshinori also knows that Stain, regardless of the soundness of his mind, is telling the truth.

Regardless of how fucked-in-the-head Stain is, we as readers are able to acknowledge that he isn't blinded by hero worship. Sure, he's bitter, cynical, and quite the absolutist--but Stain is still clear-headed enough to be able to see AM's flaws for what they are and accept them, ultimately proving to Toshinori that the power of All Might was never his own but rather the legacy that he inspired.

The society MHA takes place in is flawed. We all know this. Heroes, as a concept, had been corrupted into being purely about good and evil. Purely winning fights for money or fame or the abstract concept of victory (coughs Endeavor and the no.1 spot coughs), making heroism as we know it about flashiness and power instead of mercy and the desire to help others.

All Might symbolizes the ideal version of the Hero Society. He represents doing the best you can. Being a hero until you reach your limits, and then going even past that. He symbolizes pure intention and the desire to be a hero not for material gains but because of the pure want to make society a better and safer place. Stain refers to Kamino Ward and the statue as a "holy land" because he believes that through and through, AM's only had the purest of intentions and morals. To him, Toshinori was like a deity that had no fault in making society what it was in the present because that accountability fell on the generations of heroes that failed to fulfill his legacy.

The point being, Stain understood that All Might was fundamentally not about 'being there' for everyone 24/7, but rather the message his presence had sent.

All Might's monologue at the beginning of the chapter essentially boiled down to the ideas that:

A. He regrets not being there properly for Deku

B. His image was a delusion that ultimately led to the downfall of hero society.

To break this down, his problem with Deku is his inability to be a competent mentor. It shows that he has led him down dangerous and horrible paths (Deku's stubbornness to do things by himself and his 'dark' arc post-war), and is unable to bring him back into the light even if he tries. It was only when Class 1-A had intervened that they were able to get Deku to rest and let people tag along, after all, which is why Toshinori was far too embarrassed to follow him into UA's walls even after everyone had come out with umbrellas.

Stain disproves this in two ways.

First, he says that it was never about All Might's ability to actually be there for people. The whole point of what inspired Deku to be the inherently good-hearted "true hero" he is today is because of the values that AM's brand had instilled in him as a child. AM's biggest positive impacts came from behind the screen where he was used as the proof that true heroes can and do exist. Deku does want to be exactly like All Might, yes, which is why we see Toshinori leading him down the same path that he walked--but the underlying message of this is that the very first thing All Might gave him even before OfA was the courage to help fix society.

I do believe Deku is an innately compassionate person. Most people in the series are. However, what makes All Might's smile so uniquely impactful to what it did to Hero Society is the way it gave people courage to help people. Less hesitation. Less bystander syndromes. The ability to move without thinking. Because you can feel the want to help a person, but the courage to be nosey and actually do it? That's portrayed as something AM's image teaches people.

The second way he disproves AM's insecurity of dragging Deku down is that he makes it clear that this pain is somewhat of a necessity in reforming society. He says, interestingly enough, that this is but the 'middle process' in reforming society. This spills over to how he addresses Problem B, but what Stain is essentially saying here is that this sort of brutality and isolation that Izuku faces is impermanent. A phase. It implies that even if Deku is struggling and Toshinori is unable to help him, it is something that needs to happen before they re-realize the ideal heroes All Might's image is meant to create.

The second problem in regards to how All Might feels about current society (how it's collapsing because of him, etc. etc.) is more interestingly addressed. There are many things that Stain says--like how Toshinori doesn't need to actually be the one to fix society with his bare hands. The current society is not his fault because of the fact that it is not finished developing. I'm not sure if I can go so far as to say that Stain means this in the sense of the Scorched Earth method of tearing everything down to build it back up better-- but I can say that Stain still has faith in society to rebuild after this period of chaos.

This rebuilding starts with the old generation of heroes correcting what they messed up (i.e. Endeavor v Dabi) and more importantly, paving the way for a better generation of heroes that was inspired by All Might's image. Heroes that are led by people like Deku, who is defined by his proclivity to help without thinking. The violent deconstruction of society is about exposing society to the raw truth of All Might's image that not everybody can be as strong as him-- which is why we have to take care of each other.

When the lady comes in to remove the sign and start cleaning the statue, it's symbolic. It's a clear metaphor that the past few chapters are the turning point for society as a whole, and how people are starting to remember what real heroism is. From the distrust that was seeded in society ever since LoV had surfaced, we are seeing that trust being returned TEN-FOLD now that people can see not only the mask of a hero's smile, but also the person underneath.

I think it's some really neat symbolism here too about how Deku, who's metal mouth guard was literally all about representing All Might's smile, is shed.

This is hero society dropping their masks. Letting people see them for as they are. Toshinori revisiting the statue in this form makes all the more impact because he shed his mask ages ago during the Kamino Bust, so this is him coming face to face with the image he's created and seeing the differences between them, and how his image continues to live on even after he's almost completely Quirkless. The lady cleaning the All Might statue shows off the fact that things can be repaired again--that society can be clean (hehe stain pun) again.

It's interesting to me here how Stain offers the information from Tartarus.

He doesn't care anymore about his life. It's evident. He disagrees with what the LoV is doing, but believes enough in Deku to think that it's time for him to retire the mantle of 'Stain'. Unless this is another test, it's very odd for me to hear that Stain is offering a blade and his life to someone he isn't even sure is All Might.

But the impact of this action reads loud and clear.

This is Stain taking pity on All Might. This is him realizing that All Might too is a person behind the hero. That Toshinori Yagi is incapable of doing anything past the image he had already created. By offering that knife and information on Tartarus, Stain is giving control back to Toshinori. He is giving AM the chance to do something big again to help society's reconstruction. To be a part of the revolution that he so badly deserves to see. That knife is essentially an exit ticket from the sidelines, and one last chance for All Might to be able to see what his image has done for people.

I personally think that the main reason Stain is willing to die then and there by Toshinori's hand, despite not being sure that he is All Might to begin with, is because of the final impact it creates that it isn't about Toshinori Yagi's true power as a person, but the image of All Might. It is because he looks like the symbol of peace, that Stain (the literal HERO KILLER) feels comfortable laying his life in his hands and giving away valuable information.

If that isn't a great testament to the power of AM's image, I don't know WHAT is.

I guess all I have to say is I absolutely love what Stain did in this chapter. Everything felt so incredibly symbolic and emotional and as someone who absolutely ADORES All Might and what he stands for in the story, this felt like a cool balm after seeing Deku tragically reject his bento box a good few chapters ago. I have a few more opinions about symbolism, and how I think Deku's generation of heroes is going to stray from the old gen, but I think that's a discussion for another time.

Thanks for reading 'til the end!