#And it doesn't feel like it's All Times or Multiple Times overlapping it's like its own thing which. Of course it is. It's his mindapace bu

[abyssalpriest]

8/12/23

Commentary on a place in Lev's mindapace.

There's a particular valley. Do you remember the first time you ever stood in front of a plane? It's one thing to see them in the sky, tiny, whimsical, but your first holiday where you stand in front of one of them, after the long journey out to it, where it hums and breathes and it becomes not just a fun idea but a grounded machine, huge, present, looming, real, its wings dwarfing all your imagined preconceptions with their heavy, outstretched reality? This valley stretches like that. Holds like that. Great mountains stand like a distant jury of gods, moss browns all over, rich rocks, wind-worn yet fertile, pregnant with bitter cold.

The flat valley fills the gap like the courtroom silence.

Running down the middle of this flat valley is a thin stream, no raging river; it's a whisper compared to the chatter of a busy street. I've always wondered why it was so thin. He often meets me beside it, in fact I don't think I've been anywhere else in these mountains and valley... Cloud-grey rocks smooth and slate-like - flat - interspersed with other shades of mundanity. Tiniest little hardy grasses, or something, small specks of life burning with the Name of his lover.

It's so cold, but it isn't. It feels like how the ocean feels to him, when I've possessed his body and found that the depths of cold and the heights of heat mean little more than suggestions to him. It feels like the sky.

There, that mountain, looking out to a direction that means nothing to you, the reader, that mountain on the left. That's the one, in my head at least, that I see that sacred vision: He lies over it propped up by swords piercing through his back, pieta-esque if he were Jesus and the mountain Mary and yet not, because they don't touch except where his legs drape within her, the tense friction of metal holds him above her so that they could not touch. The handles are decorated with some sort of red tassels, or something, ceremonial...

It's always been in the back of my mind though, the lingering question of why, in this expansive valley, wider than any valley I've ever seen, this stream is so thin and shallow. Maybe up to my ankle, maybe almost as wide as I am tall... Why? Glacially cold, air-clear, thread-like. A creaking mountain of ice haunts this place, a mountain of ice and restraint; I say that, I see Lev strung up by the hands vividly but in little detail beyond abstract Bacon-esque suggestions of a solemn, physically taut and twisted form... It isn't tragic, nor is it in any way painful, though. It is like mellification or self-immolation: beautiful, sustained, preserved, meditative-blissful, it is like ice, isn't it. To be the piercingly cold Day sky and its entourage of cloud-bodies - the rain picks up heaviness outside my physical window as I type - to slowly melt and drip with such self-restraint... His connection to her is the devotion of a monk to his monastery, his people, and his God.

[usergif]

HOW TO: Cross-Fade Multiple Gifs

Hi! In this tutorial, I'm going to go over how I typically do a fade transition that works with Video Timeline. Disclaimer: This tutorial assumes you have a basic understanding of gif-making in Photoshop and requires the use of keyframes.

Before I start, if you're wondering "why don't you just use the cross fade tool on the Timeline?" — this thing:

It doesn't work for me 🤷🏻‍♀️ Something happens when converting from Video Timeline back to Frame Animation (the converting everything into a smart object step) that completely negates the cross fade whenever I use it. I'm not sure why, but this is why I do fade transitions the way I'm about to explain.

PHASE 1: THE GIFS

1.1 – Determine how many frames you need. There are 3 things to remember here: 1) Ideally, each gif section should have the same amount of frames, so the transitions feel evenly spaced. 2) The gif's dimensions and total number of frames affect file size. Your final exported gif needs to be under 10MB (Tumblr's limit), so you should consider the total number of frames in relation to the size of your gif. My example gif is 540x540px and 60 frames total; final file size = 7.8MB. 3) Add 4 extra frames to each section to account for the cross-faded portion. (The reason I chose 4 specifically is because Video Timeline works in 0.03-second intervals. The typical duration of my fade transitions is 0.06 seconds — which, when converted back to frames, is 4 frames.) I knew 60 total frames would be a safe bet for a gif this size. Since I had 3 gif sections, each would be 20 frames. I added 4 additional frames, making each one 24 frames (before removing duplicates in the exporting process, which will be explained in Phase 3). You can make your transitions longer than 0.06, but I recommend keeping it to intervals of 0.03 due to the way Timeline works. Every 0.03 seconds = 2 frames, so use this when deciding how many extra frames you'll need.

1.2 – Import frames, crop, and resize. Do this as you normally would! If you need a tutorial for the basics, here's my tutorial. :)

1.3 – Move all gifs onto one document/canvas. Right-click the gif layer and select "Duplicate Layer:"

Then choose the appropriate document from the dropdown list:

Do this for each gif section so you can work on one document for the rest of the process.

1.4 – Put each gif into its own group. Select each layer and use the shortcut Command+G or right-click and select "Group from Layers." In Phase 2, we'll be putting the opacity keyframes on the groups instead of the individual layers.

1.5 – Arrange each gif's group on the Timeline. At the end of Gif 1, move backwards 6 times. Move the starting point of Gif 2 to this spot. At the end of Gif 2, move back 6 times and make this Gif 3's starting point. Here's how my gifs look arranged on the Timeline, animated so you can see the 6-space distance:

We'll be adding keyframes to these overlapping sections in Phase 2.

1.6 – Set up the last transition. At the very beginning of the Timeline, hit the forward button 6 times and click the scissors to divide the clip. Move the starting point of your gif to the newly trimmed beginning as shown below:

Then, move the original beginning chunk of Gif 1 — that tiny 0.06-second clip — to the end of the timeline above the rest of your layers, aligning its end with the end of Gif 3. Put it in a group like you did in Step 1.4:

Note: This screenshot shows my final workspace with the coloring layers in groups and the keyframes already placed.

1.7 – Color your gifs. Do this however you want, just keep all your adjustment layers and any other effects within their respective groups:

Duplicate the adjustment layers from Gif 1 and move them into the folder Gif 1 - Beginning (where your tiny 0.06-second clip is). Be sure the adjustment layers line up with the rest of the group so those adjustments don't affect your other gifs! You may want to trim the adjustment layers to match the duration of the clip or just move them so they start at the same spot as that clip.

PHASE 2: THE KEYFRAMES

2.1 – Place a 100% and 0% keyframe at the beginning of each gif's group. Drag the playhead (red vertical line) to the end of Gif 1. Expand the Gif 2 group to reveal the opacity keyframes on the left side of the Timeline panel, then place a keyframe by clicking the icon that looks like a stopwatch. This opacity keyframe is at 100% by default; leave it like that. Drag the playhead to the beginning of Gif 2 and drop another keyframe. While that new keyframe is highlighted yellow, go to the layers panel, make sure Gif 2's group is selected, and reduce the opacity to 0%.

Repeat these steps for each gif's beginning, including the tiny chunk we moved to the end! Here's a gif to show the process:

(Btw, if you click this gif, it should expand to full size so you can get a better look! I made it 1080px.)

PHASE 3: THE DUPLICATES

3.1 – Convert back to Frame Animation. If you're not sure how to do this, I've written out the steps here. But I recommend using an action in your general gif-making process to make this step a lot faster. The one I use is linked in my tutorial which I linked earlier!

3.2 – Delete duplicate frames. Remember, at the beginning I set out to make my final gif 60 frames total. With the keyframe animations, I now have 66 frames:

Palpatine's number 👎 Anyway, that means I have 6 duplicate frames. This is what the gif looks like without removing these duplicates:

Watch closely during the transitions; there's a tiny lag. It doesn't look smooth to me. It's the clones!! Here's why we have these duplicates:

For every 0.03-second long keyframe animation, you'll get 1 duplicate frame. Unfortunately, that's just how Video Timeline works with any kind of animated keyframe. Since our fade transition is 0.06 seconds, we have to get rid of 2 duplicate frames per transition section (2 x 3 transitions sections = 6 total duplicates. Ew, math!).

There's not really a way to avoid this step that I know of, but it's not a big deal in the long run. You just have to look at each transition section, eyeball the duplicate frames yourself, and delete them. It's usually the first frame where the fade starts and then two frames after that. I already deleted the duplicates from the first two transition sections, so here's how it's done for the last transition:

Side note: I set up keyboard shortcuts so I can quickly move forward and backward by one frame and delete frames. You can do this by going to Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts and editing these:

And now I have 60 frames like I originally said I would!

If you want the transition sections to be quicker, you can even decrease the frame delay for the 3 transition frames only — 0.03 or 0.04 might be up to your speed 🥁 but I don't usually do this since I'm fine with the way it looks already.

3.3 – Export. That's it!

I hope this tutorial is helpful. As always, if you have a specific question about this tutorial, feel free to send us an ask!

[our-lesboy-experience]

hiii!!! so uh, this is sorta about 'contradicting' (?) identities in general, but i only recently found out about, like, lesboys and gaygirls and all of that, but what is it exactly? like how does it work? or is that weird to ask? i'm trying figuring myself out but a lot of stuff i've seen doesn't exactly... explain it (or explain it well), and while i guess i do get why, it's just kinda hard to understand it myself for my own identity

also, probably a question you get a lot in a hating way, but isn't the definition of lesbian nonman loving nonman? so then how does lesboy work? like is it for people with more complicated gender identites, like fluctuating genders and bigender? just genuinly confused, my apologies...

sorry for not getting to this sooner- been busier lately and didn't have the time to collect everything I needed to respond!

About what it exactly means to be a lesboy or a gaygirl ('turigirl' is the more common term, 'turi' meaning turian, another word for gay attraction to men. so I'll be referring to it as that from now on), there isn't exactly....one right way to call yourself such. it really depends on the person, but I can give you a basic definition and a list of common reasons someone may call themselves such

im gonna put a read more because this ended up being super long so sorry

lesboy is a term for any lesbian who may have a connection to manhood and/or masculinity. turigirl is just the opposite of that, a gay person (mlm/nblm) who may have a connection to womanhood and/or femininity. common reasons I've seen are:

being multigender or genderfluid

being cusper/in between trans and cis gnc (in between trans man and cis gnc woman, in between trans woman and cis gnc man)

being a system who uses lesboy/turigirl as a collective identity or when identities blur together

a person who uses man/boy or woman/girl as a means of masculine or feminine gender expression but not actually identifying as such

being a trans man/ftm or a trans woman/mtf who still identifies as lesbian or gay for personal reasons

those are far from all the reasons, everyone has their own unique experiences, but the gist is these people may have some sort of connection to manhood/womanhood while still having a queer attraction. personally, I'm multigender, genderfluid, and transmasc. lesboy I find is a nice label to express being both my bigender self and being a lesbian, as it forces people to acknowledge both without separating the two. it's cute and makes me feel validated!

as for "nonman attracted to nonmen" definition of lesbian......it has its issues. it's received criticism all around from all sorts of lesbians in the community. this definition is very new - it emerged only in the recent years, and someone on twitter had date searched it and found it didn't even really exist before 2019. and having that as the one and only official definition that every lesbian has to abide by, when lesbian is a centuries old word with so much history behind it, is a bit ignorant. people who are multiple genders or ftm or bi being lesbian is not even remotely new, going back decades upon decades, and it never stopped existing too. It's a bit weird to have a whole new definition that doesn't include all sorts of lesbians that have been here for so long and just tell them they're not welcomed anymore, right?

that's not even close to the only issue there is with it. it's been disliked for centering lack of attraction to men, or defining lesbian in relation to men, rather than who we're actually attracted to. putting nonbinary people in a new binary of either being "men or nonmen," which not all feel comfortable putting themselves into. especially when considering a definition of gay being "nonwomen attracted to nonwomen," man-woman bigender people are simultaneously excluded from being both lesbian or gay. It inherently overlaps with mspec identity ("attraction to nonmen, which is more than one gender" and "any orientation that involves attraction to more than one gender" kinda obviously overlap), despite people insisting that a lesbian can never be mspec. people have found multiple loopholes in it, (which I can elaborate on if someone wants me to, for the sake of trying to make this as short as possible), and lastly, and term "nonman" (and nonwoman) were found to have existed before to describe the degendering of black people in society. this isn't the only source I've seen for this, but sadly I can't exactly find it (or find it without going back to that hellsite called twitter and I'm not doing that to myself)

oh and as the link points out, defining lesbian by these words also ends up excluding a lot of two-spirit people from ever identifying as lesbian, myself included. which is also really racist. I don't know how you're gonna end up excluding a whole cultural gender that's common for indigenous americans to describe themselves with and try to prove it somehow isn't racist, to be honest

and lastly, some surveys/polls have shown that the definition isn't the most widely accepted by lesbians as people make it out to be. there's this simple poll that someone posted asking how lesbians felt about the definition that received 1,529 responses, and 61.1% of voters said they disliked it. comments gave lots of reasons I've stated already. there was another survey put out that received 211 responses that for any lesbian who had a genderqueer or unique relationship with gender, and one of the questions asking opinions on the "nonmen loving nonmen" as a definition. the average among the group was slightly negative (average 2.838), and reported that the group who tended to feel the most positively about it didn't consider themselves to be trans, with the other positive leaning group considered themselves to be somewhat cis. the group that felt the most negatively sometimes considered themselves to be trans. and of the multigender participants, the average opinion was 2.255 (more negative than the overall average). When concluding, the original poster stated, "When divided by gender, the only groups to feel positive about this definition were "not trans" and "somewhat cis" participants. Multigender participants felt especially negative about this definition"

all of this shows that this definition isn't nearly the best for everyone who considers themselves a lesbian. I know it's been a way to include nonbinary people who are lesbian in it's definition, but I think it really misunderstands why nonbinary people are included in lesbianism in the first place, and just assumes that all nonbinary people aren't men and fails to recognize that multigender/genderfluid people are nonbinary too. and it's not like lesbian has to only have on definition- it can definitely have multiple and depend on each person's experience with it. if someone personally defines them being lesbian around being a nonman attracted to nonmen, and takes pride in not being attracted to men, that's totally fine. what becomes a problem is forcing all lesbians to define themselves like this and make it the standard, or else they're "not real lesbians." it is ahistorical and ignorant to require this or else you'll strip them of their lesbian status, and is really at the end of the day, lesbophobic. especially as a requirement that primarily exists in online spaces. im sure the lesbian who is not at all connected to these circles doesn't particularly care about strict requirements or whether someone is a "nonman" or not. in conclusion, it is not the best nor most accepted definition of lesbian, and deciding which lesbians are valid or not based solely on that definition is pretty exclusionary and ends up policing a lot of lesbians, myself included

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

@grimharuspex in the comments of that @zoe-oneesama post said it the best; Butterfly should’ve been Emotion and Peacock should’ve been Desire. I know that Zoe has a limit on what canon she changes for her comic which I respect/appreciate given the thought she puts into it (even when canon’s various nonsensical magic rules are especially grating like this) but how do you think things would’ve gone in-show if this was the setup from the get-go? On that note, do you think it’s a good setup for canon in the first place? Why or why not?

This is going to be a rather long lecture on lore and world building and how the peacock fails on every level, so before we get into that, let's start with the positives. I saw a few people pointed out the Desire idea - that being that the peacock's associated Force should have been Desire while the butterfly got Emotions - and I think that they're absolutely right. That one tiny change does fix the surface level issues and make the peacock make sense for its larger role in the narrative.

It would complicate the whole magical slave thing and also mean that you probably have to rework a few of the minor sentimonsters, but generally speaking, it makes way more sense for Desire to birth a fully realized human being. The sentipeople being people while also coming from a single emotion will always be total BS in my eyes.

At the same time, I blame no one for just sticking to canon's lore. Reworking the lore is a serious thing and even I only do it when I'm telling a lore-heavy story. There are plenty of stories where I just stick to canon's nonsense because the lore isn't important.

Now that we've done our positives, let's getting into the negatives! The issue of the day is this: changing the Force from Emotions to Desire doesn't solve the larger problems with the peacock. Problems that we'll now get into. Buckle up, this is gonna be a long one.

Issue 1: Power Diversity

While I would not call myself a superhero expert, I have seen a good deal of superhero and magical girl team shows in my time. Most of you probably have. If you think about the power sets that we see in those shows, then you'll notice that one thing is pretty much always true: every power is unique OR the powers are all closely related in some way. You never do both because the two concepts don't mix. It makes no sense for half of the characters to have totally unique powers while the other half have copies unless there's some sort of special thematic reason for this like siblings sharing a power.

Without that sort of explanation, it just feels weird and it also makes the characters feel redundant. You don't need two speedsters or two supermen! One is enough. Heck, Avatar the Last Airbender takes place in a world where whole civilizations have the same power and they STILL didn't duplicate powers for the core team because they understood that it's important to keep the characters unique.

Miraculous is pretty obviously supposed to be the type of show where the powers don't overlap. Every character gets a unique power that's uniquely suited to them. We even have this confirmed in universe during that confusing scene in the episode Destruction where Orikko - the rooster - tries to explain how his powers work:

Orikko: No, you're mistaken! Time travel is Fluff's power and I can't grant the power that already belongs to another Kwami!

This brings us to the problem with the peacock: it is not a unique power. It's derivative on multiple levels.

Derivation Level One: Akumas

The first and most obvious level is how similar sentimonsters are to akumas. In terms of how they're normally used in the narrative, they're pretty much the exact same power to the point that you literally can't tell which one you're dealing with until someone tells you. The narrative uses them interchangeably with some episodes using an akuma, some using a sentimonster, and some using both.

In fact, I thought that it was really weird that Gabriel didn't switch to maining sentimonsters back in season four. You had akumas breaking their bonds left and right, which is a thing that sentimonsters literally cannot do, making them the obvious fix to this new problem.

To really highlight the whole "indistinguishable power" issue, allow me to highlight some dialogue from Kuro Neko to show that this is very much an in-universe problem:

Cat Walker: You think that's Cat Noir? Ladybug: Of course it's Cat Noir! He must've been akumatized because he regrets having given up his Miraculous!

Ladybug: You'll see once we deakumatize him. (She runs towards Kuro Neko.) Cataclysm his bell, I'm sure that's where the akuma is! Cat Walker: Hang on! (follows her) Ladybug, what if that's a sentimonster? If I use my power on him, he'll lose control and become more dangerous!

Cat Walker: (cringes) What I mean is you're right to doubt, and I agree with you. Until we know for sure whether we're dealing with a sentimonster or someone who's been akumatized, we shouldn't make any brash decisions. (Kuro Neko leaps away.) Let's find out more.

This sort of confusion should be impossible unless it's the result of clever planning by the villain, but that's not what we're dealing with here. Kuro Neko was not about Gabriel tricking the heroes. He sent out a normal sentimonster having no idea that Chat Noir had just quit. And yet Ladybug had no idea that this was a sentimonster. She looked at it and saw an akuma.

Cat Walker also didn't know that it was a sentimonster. He just knew that it wasn't Chat Noir, which was probably the only reason that he thought to question Ladybug and warn her to be cautious. They only realize that it's a sentimonster once they learn that there's a child inside it.

This is canon accidentally telling us that akumas and sentimonster are just straight up indistinguishable unless you see then made or do some experiments to figure out what you're dealing with. That's not a good look if your claiming that each miraculous grants a unique power. It is, however, a great lead in to the second power that the peacock copies: the power of illusions.

Derivation Level Two: Illusions

I said above that it should take careful planning for a sentimonster to be confused with an akuma. While we never see that type of carefully planned setup, we do see sentimonsters used to successfully impersonate humans on several occasions. One example is the episode Optigami which gave us SentiNino and SentiAlec. Seemingly perfect clones of Nino and Alec who did whatever Shadow Moth told them to. We even see a scene where Shadow Moth is telling SentiAlec exactly what to say.

You know who else gives us this type of scene? Rena Furtive in Rocketear:

Ladybug: You said that if Nino could have heard what you were saying, there'd be no misunderstanding? Rena Furtive: Absolutely! Ladybug: How well do you remember what you guys said on the balcony? Rena Furtive: Every. Word. Ladybug: Do you think you could make... a sound illusion? Rena Furtive: Totally.

Is there any doubt in your mind that the peacock can do anything that the fox can do? What's even worse is that the peacock does illusions better than the fox! Fox illusion vanish in a puff of smoke if you touch them. SentiNino was real enough to wield a miraculous because he was a fully corporeal illusion that would have kept on going if he hadn't been snapped away. This brings us to derivation level three: the power of creation.

Derivation Level Three: Creation

The peacock doesn't just outshine the fox, it outshines the ladybug! Lucky charms vanish as soon as Ladybug detransforms. Sentimonsters last forever. The ladybug is only useful in battle as it requires a super villain to cast its cure (which is asinine, but let's not get into that here). The peacock can be used at any time. The ladybug doesn't give you what you want, it just gives you a puzzle to solve. The peacock can fulfill your deepest desires and even create life.

Outside of the extremely specific circumstances that the show gives us - aka an ongoing battle with a super villain - the ladybug is kind of useless. If you want the power of Creation, you're going to use the peacock. This brings us to our second main issue: power balancing.

Issue Two: Power Balancing

The ladybug and the black cat are supposed to be the two most powerful miraculous in existence, but it really doesn't feel like that's true. Sure, if you put them together they rewrite the universe, but that's not part of their individual base power sets. At an individual level, they don't actually feel all that powerful when compared to the butterfly and the peacock. It's more like Marinette and Adrien are smart enough to make their very limited powers work while Gabriel and Nathalie are dancing along easy street and making fools of themselves with every step.

I've mentioned before that I can forgive the butterfly's overpowered nature because this is an episodic show. They want each episode's fight to be unique and interesting and so we have to give them room to have one power set that should be an insta-win card, but isn't because plot.

I can give them that grace once. I cannot give it to them twice.

There is no reason why both the butterfly and the peacock need to feel more powerful than the supposed most powerful miraculous in existence. I've even talked to one person who is rewriting canon with the assumption that the peacock and the butterfly ARE the most powerful ones because they are! Nothing proves this better than the fact that they've both made creations that can copy the powers of the ladybug and the black cat (see: Copycat, Strikeback, Ladybug, Sandboy, Miraculer, and probably a few others that I'm forgetting).

They're also the only miraculous that don't require an active user. You can create a sentimonster or an akuma, then detransform and have a snack while your creation does whatever you need it to do. That's so incredibly broken and such a terrible move in terms of power balancing. Either have all of the powers require active users or, at the very least, have more of a mix of active and passive powers. Why do Mirage, Shelter, and Lucky Charm vanish when their caster's detransform while akumas and amoks stick around? There is no in-universe logic to explain this. It works this way because that's what the writers needed these miraculous to do. A fact that makes it impossible to get invested in the lore of this show.

When designing a complex magic system, you generally don't want "because plot" to be the only answer to why things work they way they do. You want your magic system to feel real and organic to the world. That's how fictional worlds come to life! If Miraculous' magic system was well designed, then you could take it and use it to tell a wildly different story set in the same universe, but you can't. Everything about it is designed around making canon's story work and not around making an immersive world that you can almost believe exists.

There are stories that I wouldn't hold to that standard, but they're mostly short form stories. Anything as big and complex as Miraculous needs to have a solid lore system backing it or else you lose all sense of stakes. A great example of this is the Bunnyx problem where you know that she can show up at any time and reset the timeline even if things are happening in her own past, so why do we need to worry about bad things happening? And how are the ladybug and the black cat the most powerful ones when you have nonsense like time travel and the power to create human-like creatures? Early canon lore was decently solid, but the longer the show goes, the more nonsense the lore gets and that makes me sad because I love good lore.

Some Final Thoughts

You may have noticed that I didn't really talk about the sentikid issue in this post. That's because my dislike of the peacock came long before that fun little twist. While sentiAdrien is yet another great reason to dislike the peacock, it didn't need to be a thing for the peacock to be a terrible idea. Take away the sentikids and you still have an incredibly derivative and lore-breaking power set that never should have made it into the show.

I actually completely redesigned the peacock for my own rewrite which I start plotting back when I was first watching season three, long before sentiAdrein was even on my radar. That's not something that I usually do in my fix it stuff. I usually try to stick close to canon and make more minor tweaks, but the peacock is so fundamentally world breaking that I had no choice but to do a total overhaul. This is already an incredibly long post, so I won't go into that here. I'll save it for another ask that's sitting in my inbox. I'll schedule them to post back to back.

For this post, I'll just end by pointing out that switching the peacock to Desire makes it derivative of and arguably better than the pig, too, since the pig can only tease you with what you want. The peacock actually gives it to you. In fact, I'd say that the peacock may be a better pig even without the switch!

You can also argue that the peacock is better than or at least equal to the rooster and the goat because they're also just variations of the butterfly and the ladybug's power. Like there is legitimatly potential in taking those miraculous and doing an AU where each Kwami's power is an aspect of creation because the powers are so awkwardly intertwined. Probably make the peacock the master and all others spawn from that one or something like that.

Anyway, this is why you can't design powers around characters if you want good lore and a large team! You have to start with the powers and go from there! It's why I edit Nino's character to be more of a protector since that's his supposed True Force! Also because I want him to be more narratively important but that is a rant for another day.

[aroaceleovaldez]

idk if youve talked about it before, but have you thought about what deified nico would be the god of? i love deified nico its inevitable canon for him imo because his papa promised him hed do it and he would never lie to his beloved only son!!! ive just always been a little stumped on what he would have dominion over personally, i feel like you could go a lot of directions with it (especially given a lot of greek/roman gods have multiple things attributed to them and all) so id love to hear any of your takes on it if you have them!

I have a little bit! I have a couple of ideas for him, mostly along the lines of: god of outcasts, self-sacrifice, unseen efforts, reprieve from suffering, perseverance, and maybe nontraditional family structures. and of course dandelions as one of his sacred symbols.

my big thing with deified Nico is that I want him to occupy a niche that both fits him and doesn't overlap too much with any deities but that's obviously difficult to find, so that list is the best i've managed so far. My thought process with it is that it's the kind of theme of things in the shadows/seeing & acknowledging the unseen or unappreciated, since Nico has so many themes relating to shadows and seeing/recognizing/interacting with the normally imperceptible or ignored. Just lots of little fun stuff of him recognizing and uplifting people/noble acts normally overlooked. And of course dandelions as his symbol both for the time Persephone turned him into one but also cause they make for a fun symbol of perseverance.

I do also like to play around a lot though with Nico having connections to Zagreus (since in Zagreus' mythos a major aspect for him is that he died and may have reincarnated into Dionysus), ergo me giving Nico's deified form horns a lot of the time.

[dungeonmeshi-confessions]

I wanna do more kabumisu positivity following that other anon. it really brightened my day so much.

bc really I dont want to bash other ships to lift mine up!!! and I actually also really love and respect labru, and know the majority of labru shippers arent Like That, just like most kabumisu shippers arent Like That. every group has some annoying, loud, opinionated people and they dont represent the average person who likes the ship, you know? I would love to see some labrus follow suit and send in some positivity as well!!! If the positivity keeps going I will come in here and post all my fave things about labru, labru art, and labru shippers as a kabumisu. lets ditch the bitching and hold hands instead!

anyway, some reasons I really love kabumisu

- as a neurodivergent disabled person dating another neurodivergent person, this is like. THE couple to me. and like its not just about mithrun being taken care of. taking care of mithrun actively helps kabru be more mindful of his own needs. In my life, I may struggle to feed myself, but I can make breakfast if my partner is hungry. other times she may do the same for me, it depends on who is doing worse.

-they both struggle with insomnia also

-from everything we've seen, pre-dungeon mithrun wasn't entirely dissimilar to kabru (high masking people pleaser) and thats Fascinating to me.

-kabru's job seems pretty stressful (no matter how much fulfillment it brings him, its a lot of responsibility for one person!) so I feel like coming home to that one guy he can take his mask off around and not even have to try and impress must be such a huge relief. also add mithrun with cooking experience to this, making kabru a nice meal after a long day of work.

-Mithrun is actually very perceptive and sees straight through kabru's bs multiple times and doesn't hesitate to call him out. Laios isnt the only character that forces kabru to be honest. ("unless theres someone else?" "theres someone you want to tell that story to.") mithrun is also the one who gives kabru the information he's been seeking this whole time.

-I am very interested in exploring mithruns whole desire situation. what desires does he gain? I think it is probably a lot of little ones that weave together. oh also I think sometimes things may seem more mithrun centric bc in any story where he is going to end up in a relationship he is going to have a much more dynamic arc than whoever he is paired with. literally dynamic as in like. he requires a lot more growth to achieve the outcome. and there are ways to skip it or gloss through it but. a lot of these stories require that in some way you show the progress has happened.

-to me, kabumisu is more often queeplatonic than romantic. but Im aroace so that could just be my aroace glasses. ALSO kabru is vaguely aro to me. you mean the guy thats super desirable that doesnt really seem interested in anyone particular outside of pursuing friendship? that guy? (also the way he did rin omfg)

-random but I dont think kabrus PTSD is talked about enough and also like the extent of his trauma. its not just utaya/monsters/his mom dying; its being raised by a single mother, its his blue eyes, its being adopted, its being raised by an elf, etc!!!! a lot of things he does bc of ptsd get attributed to autism (I also hc kabru as autistic, and some is symptom overlap. but it is secondary to the ptsd! he is traumatized first and foremost ty) I really love kabru so much. ty for the ptsd rep <3

-also out here to say I know an amount of kabumisu content is mithrun centric. I will tell you from my pov specifically though its bc I deeply relate to mithrun (as someone who once told a therapist many years ago I desired nothing and truly meant it. she said I was like a puppet without strings. of course I saw mithrun and was like. oh.) and Im in love with kabru. kabru reminds me of all the people who gave me a reason to pull through. people who saw good in me and treated me like a person when I didnt feel like one. I also really relate to kabru though as someone with complex trauma, even if my traumas are not the same. thats why I say I think not enough is attributed to his ptsd. anyway, once I just opened a notebook and wrote kabrus name over and over again with hearts. I have never done this to mithrun. so dont tell me kabumisus dont like kabru !!!

-kabru and mithrun are both so gender. Ive seen so many variants on their gender and gender expression in the ship. some people hate this and insist they must be one way or the other. I think theyre neat lots of different ways. I love when theyre both feminine men. I love when mithrun is super masc. I love when theyre butch4butch. I love when theyre both trans. and so much more. its all beautiful. a very good variety of food. the other day on my dash I had a tallman art of mithrun with the biggest tits imaginable and the very next post he was like a little porcelain doll. keep up the good work guys. I love you.

.

[naranjapetrificada]

Astrology is fake but in honor of the beginning of Leo Season, I want to revist this "Stede Bonnet is a Leo king" meta I wrote a year ago almost to the day. Because of course it was written before season 2, but season 2 only underlined my previous points.

Season 2 Stede doesn't have any of the trappings of his old life that would make his Leo status seem obvious anymore. His fancy clothes are at the bottom of the sea, his hair is still great but clearly not as sculpted as it was before, and his beautiful, luxurious, good vibes ship has been stripped of its finery (and its freedom). But he's still a fucking Leo, dammit, and he still acts like it.

I should start with a reminder that I'm a Leo, and anything that associates Stede Bonnet's positive traits feels a little self-aggrandizing, but also as a Leo I'm comfortable practicing radical acceptance about it. Which is all to preface the first season 2 Stede trait I wanted to bring up: Leos can be some of the most romantic fuckers alive.

In the old meta I talk about Stede's generosity of spirit and desire for the people around him to be happy. That coupled with his sunny optimism and the irrepressible way that he loves what he loves (once he figures out that it's love) was always gonna put him at DEFCON 1 levels of romantic hero behavior.

Ed fell in love with him when he wasn't even trying, so of course a Stede who is trying is gonna be writing love letters in bottles and throwing them into the sea DAILY. Of course he was gonna fill the maps he drew on the back of Ed's wanted posters with sketches of his beloved's face and little lines of poetry and manifest good energy by circling "alive" and crossing out "dead". Of course he was gonna say "I love your chin" and "I love everything about you", two of the most heartstoppingly romantic statements I've ever heard (and objectively what Ed needed to hear at the time).

His leadership skills also develop further, and in ways that seem relevant to that Leo meta. He's radically kind, even to the people who it looks like killed the only man he's ever loved, including a certain angry little nightmare creature who tried to get him killed multiple times. In that unimaginable moment he said no, I'm going to save these people because they're my crew, and then plans and leads them through a truly effective escape strategy.

(His other plan, the one in the finale, goes off without a hitch except for Izzy getting shot. But. Izzy should have searched the hostage right? Just trying to get ahead of that argument against Stede's leadership skills.)

Thankfully Ed survives, and they have that "be the captain" scene which is at its heart about performance, another thing theatrically inclined Leos excel at. Stede goes on to perform the role of acolyte to make Izzy feel included and like a mentor. And I will die on this hill but it is a performance, something Stede knows going into it. Stede never needs to learn the old way of piracy and specifically thrives in the absence of it.

(I also 100% believe both that Stede was telling a truth when he told Izzy he had no memory of their duel and also that he knew that saying he didn't remember was the bitchiest thing to do, and so did it for his own amusement. It's like how light can be measured as both a particle and a wave, okay?)

I won't rehash everything I said in the old meta about his generosity as a Leo trait, but I did want to point out something that occurred to me. Unless I'm misremembering, the crew has gotten new outfits by the first time we see them in s2e4, but we don't see Stede in something new until he finds the red suit (which of course he adores and absolutely slays in). Costume changes are always heavily symbolic on this show, but I feel like the simple fact of the crew getting improved clothes before Stede does (the red suit that he discards for their sake, and his slutty look for Calypso's Birthday) also means something.

The things we adore about Stede Bonnet have a lot of overlap with traits and behaviors that are associated with Leos, and I continue to suspect that despite astrology being fake, there was at least one Astrology Gay in the writers room who was at least aware of the vibes. And in honor of Leo Season, may we all go out there and try to be kinder, braver, and more loving. May we all think about the spaces we're in and try to make them a little freer. May we all try our best to go out and spread a little sunshine in the world that so desperately needs it.

[sumarak]

S4 of Camp Camp was a mixed bag for me because I like the premise of "Keep the Change" but not the execution. What the episode does is really good, but I don't like the episode itself. Anyway, I wanna talk about the whole "people can change for the worse and for the better" message.

Max changing for the better/being kind and David changing for the worse/being shitty has been set up since S2 - specifically in "Bonjour Bonquisha." For example:

Max being caring but doing it out of selfish reasons appears here for the first time as the plot revolves around Max inspiring the other campers to do something nice for David because he cannot stand him when he's miserable. This is later paralleled by the conflict Max has in S4, "Time Capsules," where he only helps Gwen to make himself feel better. Both have selfish motivation, but the difference is that the first attempt was genuine, while in the second he was forcing himself to be nice. More on this later.

David ends the episode by punching Jacob out of jealousy in front of the entire diner.

So both have previously established episodes that put their character progression into perspective. But an interesting thing about Max is that he is very much capable of care it's just that he doesn't recognize it as such. Max has several episodes where he saves/helps David and/or the camp (the two often overlap) for example: Order of the Sparrow, Bonjour Bonquisha, The Fun-Raiser, Dial M for Jasper, Cameron Campbell the Camp Campbell Camper, Camp Corp and Arrival of the Torso Takers. He also has plenty of episodes where the central plot revolves around comforting/or showing concern for Nikki: Camp Cool Kidz (trying to convince her Ered is using her), Anti-Social Network, Eggs Benefits, etc. He also stands up for Neil in "Culture Day" and learns how to be more genuine and kind to everyone in "Camp Corp". There's also the example of him learning to be nicer to Dolf in "Candy Kingpin". And all of that is before S4 in which he realizes how much he has changed and starts making an active effort to be better.

you'll notice that it gradually happens more often, but the one throughline is that even when he acts compassionate or caring, it is undercut by him using shady methods, complaining, or there being something that's in it for him. Like using David's credit card, getting people to beat up the councilors, asking for something in return (usually more dessert). But there are some examples of legit soft kindness like famously in Parents Day but also in "Dial M For Jasper" where after a remorseful look they decide it's better to lie to David and let him be content and happy rather than distress him further. And while he does complain or use shady methods, most if not all of these episodes demonstrate that he is capable of caring for and being kind to the people around him on his own accord.

now remember how earlier I said that in "Time Capsules," Max's attempts at being nice aren't genuine like in earlier episodes despite the two having the same premise? this is where that comes in: that ep is the first time he seeks character development rather than it happening TO him. In the time capsule, he struggles with the idea that he will never be happy or change for the better. the thing is, Max doesn't have to worry about if he's becoming a kinder person because he's already been doing kind things. he doesn't realize how naturally that development has happened and how genuine he can be.

like WHY save david in arrival of the torso takers? he does it because he wants to. he doesn't realize that all of the change he's gone through so far has not been directly intentional but it HAS been genuine. and all the care he exhibits from people doesn't need to be forced out of him because he's already proven he has a capacity for it multiple times.

like he cares abot people in his own flawed way thats often undercut by his little shit personality. its like he doesn't realise he cares for them while hes doing it. like why try to cheer david up? just. because. because he's annoying if he doesnt do it. why try to make nikki feel better? because it's dumb when she's panicking over platypus eggs. like he does care for people but its never an overt attempt to be kind, he just does it naturally. which is why "Time Capsule" wasn't genuine.

It's better to be genuine and flawed than to attempt to masquerade niceness as kindness. I've said it before but Max isn't meant to be nice. He is learning to be kind.

[katy-133]

Rick Prime Theories

Gonna dump some theories relating to our latest Rick and Morty arc villain here.

Time Crystals

(First pointed out in this other post.)

Beginning as early as season 1, C-137 is seen using crystallised xanthenite (also called "time crystals") throughout the series. The context he uses them in varies, but the overlapping connection appears to be that Rick uses time crystals to access alternate timelines.

Despite saying that he hates the concept of time travel, Rick still uses time crystals and ends up messing with time in the process. Not to go back in time, but to see alternate timelines or split timelines.

Examples include C-137 using time crystals to:

Access interdimensional cable.

Detecting that a dimension's timeline has split.

Trying to shoot an alternate timeline version of himself.

Leave phone messages for alternate timeline versions of himself.

Merging split timelines back into one (the time collars in the season 1 finale).

Merging Morty back together after he split himself multiple times from reloading "save points" he created using the remote Rick invented. Note that every time Morty "reloaded," he reappeared in a cloud of pink smoke.

Time crystals are always pink.

(Note: Depending on colour perception, some shots look more purple than pink, but for the sake of avoiding another "the dress was blue not gold" situation, I'll just be using the word pink for this discussion.)

According to time cops, time crystals are illegal to obtain, but that hasn't stopped Rick nor (it seems) other characters from using them to mess with time.

The Bovians dunk Jessica in a pink substance that crystalises her and turns her into "a time god," suspended in animation and able to witness eternity in the Narnia world. While it isn't named in the episode, it looks like the pink crystal was xanthenite (meaning, xanthenite is the pink liquid, and crystallised xanthenite is a time crystal).

(Side note: Not sure why the writers chose the name xanthenite. Xanthe is the name of a a water-nymph in Greek myth, but I couldn't find an obvious connection. If anyone knows, feel free to comment.)

Prime could possibly be using xanthenite to:

a) Keep himself ageless, suspended in time in a sense, but still able to walk around. This would explain why he doesn't look older than he looked 40 years ago in flashbacks.

b) Split himself but somehow keep all split versions of himself within one timeline. This would explain how he's able to exist in multiple places at once.

There's also similarities between Prime's dialogue when he offers portal travel to C-137 and Jessica's explanation to Morty of what happened to her while she was in the crystal:

Prime: "You think it's cool being the smartest man on Earth, but once we give you this technology, you become the smartest thing in every conceivable universe. The Infinite Rick. A god."

Jessica: "I had nothing but time. Endless time. At first, it was madness. Then enlightenment. Then madness again. But perhaps it was a gift. I could see the life of time. And as I watched the life of time in all its fleeting, terrible light, I wondered, had I lived? Was I just the object in another's story? Was that all I ever was? Could I be more? I had nothing but time and still no answer. Time without purpose is a prison. I have glimpsed into the mind of eternity. Perhaps the mind of God. And found nothing but silence. I think we should just be friends."

Both talk about endlessness (infinity and eternity) and have god comparisons. Both also end in a rejection (C-137 rejecting Prime's offer to help him achieve portal travel, and Jessica rejecting dating Morty).

Prime is possibly using time crystals to become "the Infinite Rick."

The Colour Pink

Related to the previous time crystal theory, Prime's attack on C-137's family involves a weapon with a pink explosion. This gives Prime a connection with the colour, which plants the an association between him and time alteration (as time crystals are the same colour).

The device C-137 uses to track down Prime's lair has a pink light:

Plus, Prime wears a jacket with a pink stripe along it. This jacket is unique to this version of Rick.

Prime is associated with time alteration through visual shorthand.

The Central Finite Curve

(Based on this previous post.)

Prime: "You think it's cool being the smartest man on Earth, but once we give you this technology, you become the smartest thing in every conceivable universe."

Note that he uses the word "we" in this talk with C-137. Who is he referring to? The Citadel?

For some reason, in Rick's backstory (the version that he shows to Morty in season 6), Rick went looking for (whom we can assume are) the initial founders of the Citadel of Ricks. We can assume this because the red string wall has the R logo that the Council of Ricks wear as badges.

So the timeline appears to be:

The concept of the Citadel is created, and Prime was one of the idea guys (if not the leader).

Prime offers portal travel to C-137, who rejects it. Prime then kills kid!Beth and Diane.

C-137 goes on a revenge quest to track down Prime by hunting down every member of (the precursor of) the Citadel of Ricks.

C-137 gives up trying to find Prime and decides to help the other Ricks (who later become the Council members) build the Citadel.

This leads to the creation of the Central Finite Curve, created through a machine built underneath the Citadel.

C-137 crashes his ship in Beth and Jerry's garage (hoping to find Prime there), causing Morty and Rick to meet.

Prime does not appear to be associated with the Citadel by the series' start, so at some stage, he abandoned the concept of building it.

This also means that Prime was not directly involved with the creation of the Curve.

The Central Finite Curve

The Central Finite Curve is a portion of the multiverse where Rick became a scientist smart enough to invent interdimensional travel.

It walls off the rest of the multiverse, making it no longer possible to travel beyond it.

Until Evil Morty creates the dimension rift to escape of out it.

This directly leads to to Solaricks episode, where Rick is able to meet Prime.

So potentially:

a) The Council of Ricks built the Curve to keep Prime out (so that C-137 would never be able to resume his revenge quest--which led to many Ricks being killed in the crossfire). Or,

b) The Curve was built to fence Prime in, preventing him from being able to escape any further than dimensions where a Rick exists.

The Central Finite Curve was possibly created to keep Prime trapped in or locked out.

[adhdo5]

Saw your post from a bit ago, am curious what all labels CWL use!

As a unit CWL identifies aerself as a syzygy, and uses ae/aem/aer/aers/aerself (plural or singular) primarily with honorific she/generic he auxiliary; when referring to CWL's component parts they/them is not incorrect (cVwoop is friends with aem; ae's doing aer best but aer best sucks; they are both fragmentary pieces of a whole). This pronouns setup is one reached as one of the first signs of aem settling into a semi sustainable syzygy; the neos were picked by their individual pronoun sets do not overlap, and neither use they/them

Arron and Graph are referred to as component parts as stated or as some variation of like, my compatriot™ but usually by name or epithet; ae haven't run across "headmates" or "system" as terminology but would be amenable to it. Ae have also probably described aemself as plural or multiple/dual but we also haven't run across that as terminology as much as just, using it as the literal meaning

Re: name or epithet: Graph and Arron refer to each other as either the corresponding half of the syzygy's name (e.g. (he of holy) clockwork, (the) locusts) or less commonly as "my host" (not the host, her host; she's a parasite/guest) and "my/our voice" (this is literal – upon formation of the syzygy Graphite, being a "voice" as an entity, ~superimposed her voice over Arron's standing one, which is my in universe explanation for why Arron sounds like me even when it's him talking). Graphite has also referred to Arron as "streamer," though this is usually done to prove a point

Graphite uses it/she and occasionally chatself, crownself, and letheself; it is generally referred to in the singular despite having a plural epithet ("the locusts requests me to notify you of its approval"). She/her is principally appropriate when discussing its various inhumanity™ qualities. It is also referrable to as a voice, a chatter, chat, an angel, etc. It is self identifiably nonbinary; it is technically describable as aroace but it is mostly "not in the dating pool as in an unromancable NPC". It is very relatedly OK with the gaming-common masculine assumption (man, bro, he, etc) but is not a person and not ~something it's worth breaking out they/them for. It's just ontologically not the kind of thing that works in these paradigms bc those paradigms are made for people, not a voice in the studio audience

You may note that she has most of my complexes, just magnified, and that is because she ~started as a self insert (It's Complicated. It's not an avatar for me esp not at this point but it is a character made from ~my interactions with + feelings on things)

Arron is Arron standard loadout, a cyborg for religious reasons and a somewhat feminine gay man; he still uses he/him pronouns and has moderate to severe discomfort with being it/its-ed. He is probably aspec though I am not sure if he is directly aware of that terminology and he definitely has Other Things To Worry About Rn. "Doesn't Graphite" Yes but Graphite has extra time to do identity politics because it is a chatter and of course it has a void in its chest cavity and pronouns. Hope this helps

Neither of them identify directly as neurodivergent – Graphite isn't neuroanything and isn't divergent from what it's supposed to be, and Arron is normal /threat and a promise. Graphite would find "neurosparkly" appealing but I'm not giving it that not yet at least

[skaruresonic]

Where would you rank English among the other languages you've learned?

For reference:

= I studied Spanish for five years in high school (forgot most of it), = am currently on my second year of studying Skaruręʔkyéha·ʔ, = tried learning a bit of Japanese hiragana but dropped it, = and am researching bits and pieces of Cymraeg (Welsh) and Old Saxon in my spare time.

Language is fascinating, a window into the way people think. I think all languages have the capacity to be beautiful, but also that beauty is not a prerequisite for a language to be allowed to exist, because beauty is subjective. That being said, it's difficult to rank languages as being "better" or "worse" because they're simply different from each other. It's like evolution: all languages have become the way they are to suit their own specific needs. While it's true that I sometimes call English "weird" or "dumb," it's out of frustration with the sheer gulf between the krirù·ręʔ and Skarù·ręʔ ways of thinking. They couldn't be more different if there were galaxies between them. For example, a perfectly sensible question in Skaruręʔkyéha·ʔ is "Teʔ waʔnę́·te saʔnę̀·nę́hwih íhsʔę naʔ čaʔnę̀·nę́hwih haʔ tì·waʔθ naʔ haʔ nyaʔnę̀·nę́hwih?" "[Which] [your relatives] [more than] [you two are related] [the amount] [than] [the] [you and I are related]?" In English, this is surprisingly difficult to translate because we don't exactly have a clean, congruent way of phrasing the sentiment. The closest attempt we made was: "Which of your relatives is it the case that you're more related to them than you are related to me?", which just sounds awkward no matter how you dice it.

Learning Haudenosaunee languages requires a restructuring of your thinking, a loosening of English's strict adherence to word order and grammar. There are multiple valid and correct ways of saying the same thing. What you'd call grammar is, for us, more like a guideline or a template from which we make educated guesses. Though there are "less appropriate" and "more appropriate" ways to structure sentences, the greater emphasis is placed on pronunciation than grammar. And there is so much that overlaps semantically, you'll wonder what the difference is. Learning aspects and how we conceive of time is one of the most difficult parts of the language because English just doesn't conceptualize time Like That. We have a lot of subtle nuances when it comes to time specifically, such that, when you try to find the appropriate English to match it, it feels a bit like using a fireaxe to hammer in a nail. It'll get the job done, but it feels weird and much too blunt. But then there are times where the Skarù·ręʔ feels equally blunt. I'll be honest, some of it isn't politically correct. Some terms come from colonial times, like our calling Asia the "old world." We could probably stand to work on that; making new words is the most fun part, imo.

I don't want to say our language is more "vibey," but because English is a low-context language where words more or less mean what they say on the tin, Skarù·ręʔkyéha·ʔ seems vaguer by comparison, if only because words are broader in their meanings. You either need to provide more information via context or think more abstractly. Skarù·ręʔ people have a rather quirky view of the world. We looked at the giraffe and decided its most distinguishing feature was not its spots, its long neck, or its black tongue, but its lack of a voice: yuwętú·kęʔ. "Cranberry," when translated literally, means "it says 'duks'! (onomatopoeia)," referring to the sound they make when boiled: túks wá·ʔnęh. Listening is important when studying Haudenosaunee languages because critical differences boil down to a literal hair's breadth: a lack of a pause, the way you pronounce one E, whether you aspirate those Hs, all of that can alter the meaning of a word. To an English ear, these words all sound the same: uhčíhręʔ = bear učíʔreh = light učirę́hręʔ = brown učì·reh = bee stinger I guess the main difference is nowadays English sounds stricter, more rigid, to me. Maybe a little... slow? Lumbering? Idk how to describe it. All this being said, it depends. Sometimes when I'm tired, I'll switch to English because it's easier and I don't have to hold eight million conjugations in my head - but sometimes the opposite is also true! I've grown so used to saying certain basic phrases in Skarù·ręʔ that I'll forget to phrase them in English.

From what little I've studied of Japanese and Welsh, they seem to bear some similarities in structure to Skarù·ręʔ as agglutinative languages. Smaller pieces strung together to create more complex sentences. (And this is just me but I like how Welsh sounds lol. why are you all making keyboard smash jokes. stop that.) They also do some similarly loosey-goosey word order stuff, although IIRC, Japanese relies a lot on passive voice whereas the concept doesn't exist in Skarù·ręʔ; everything has a cause and effect, something happening to cause something else. You can't just say the word "run" in isolation; you need to provide more context. Who is running? When? Where? How long? "Put it in a story," as they say. English uses a mix of active and passive language. Not sure how much direct language Welsh uses quite yet. I think Old Saxon is cool too, lol. It's fascinating to trace the etymology of English words through it. There's no such thing as a double-negative in Anglo-Saxon; you can stack as many negations as you want. How cool is that? Why did we get rid of it?

[sazorak]

Every Game I Played in 2023, Ranked

I debated moving this list to Cohost (after all these years, the Tumblr text post interface still makes me want to punch a wall) but whatever, here we are! Keeping it relatively short this year.

A lot of the games I played aren't going to be on this list because I don't have much new to say about them (MTG, Dwarf Fortress, Strive, etc), but for those that I do, here's the games I played this year.

2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022

SD Gundam Battle Alliance - 2022 - Steam - ★★★

I really wanted to like this- you know I like me some Gundam- but the experience is simultaneously too thin, too grindy, and bereft of stakes. There's nothing like "oh no we have to preserve the Gundam metaverse from hackers ruining the archived story!" to make me go to sleep.

There's something about the progression system of every "hey, gotta catch 'em all!"-ish Gundam games that is designed exclusively for people who either played these games in the early 00s, or people with addictive personalities. There's been little in the way of evolution. Yeah, the gameplay here is different as a sort of Action RPG, but this is far more Dynasty Warriors than it is say Armored Core.

Just not for me!

... Where's my new Super Robot Wars at damn it?

9. Pokemon Scarlet/Violet DLC - 2023 - Switch - ★★★★

I talked last year about how I mostly liked this game in spite of its many, many issues. The DLC mostly plays to SV's strengths: fun plot and characters, improved open world catching system from Sword/Shield. They also run considerably better, due to a year of opportunity to make things more stable and address bugs.

That said: It doesn't address any of the other issues that have always been there. Open world exploration becomes kind of pointless when you have the ability to invalidate any level geometry. There is such a thing as too much mobility, believe it or not, when you can just jump over everything. At the same time, the ways cutscenes work is soooo slowwwww, to the point that getting through them to the "action" can be quite tedious.

This DLC also continues the unfortunate thing that drives me nuts about all these DLC, that the level scaling is just awful. It basically assumes you have done literally nothing since finishing Scarlet Violet, and not engaged at all with the post game. Which hey, works out for Lil Timmy who is experiencing this DLC in-line with the base game or only after beating it (since it does dynamically scale for earlier progression), but it makes the whole thing kind of a rote exercise for those who actually played the game more than that?

I realize this is multiple decades now of me barking that hey, it'd be nice if Pokemon didn't exclusively try to appeal to 5 year olds, which is definitely a lost cause at this point. We don't even get stuff like Battle Towers or Frontiers anymore really. Ah well!

8. Street Fighter 6 - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★

Ok, here's the thing: Street Fighter 6 is overall a very good game, lots of care and polish, but I got a few bones to pick with it.

1. I kind of hate its input buffer. Just drives me nuts, particularly with how it handles supers and specials with overlapping inputs.

2. World Tour while is neat, the progression of it is so goddamn grindy and miserable. So much HP for enemies as you go on, and you don't have access to a fighter's full skill set even at the very end due to how special "slots" work.

3. The cast feels too safe. I like the new additions a lot, and in general the old chars have been rendered quite well, but there's just not a lot of innovation going on. The system mechanics are quite good, but it's the thing where no one on the cast really calls out to me. Personal taste thing.

Marvel's Spider-Man - 2022 - Steam - ★★★★

I don't think I have anything particularly unique to say about The Spider-Man Experience beyond hey: that's a pretty good Spider-Man. I think the DLC was obnoxious as shit, and a number of the decisions tied to box-checking-completionist stuff were mean for someone like me who has the stupid brain that thinks it's important to do Everything no matter how tedious it is, but overall: a good Spider-Man. Some of the villain stuff felt pretty weak though.

7. Resident Evil 4 Remake - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★★

A great remake! They trimmed down some areas a fair but, but none of them particularly egregious (some of them, particularly a last act boss being removed, was quite appreciated), and the mechanical additions are fun.

Does it invalidate the old version? I dunno, maybe?

6. We Love Katamari Re:Roll - 2023 - Steam / Switch - ★★★★★

Hey, you know what's also a very good game? We Love Katamari. Not much new to say beyond hey: the name is accurate, and you should buy and play it. I liked it enough to buy it twice on two platforms, which is silly but it gave me the excuse to play more Katamari so quite understandable.

A thing that does annoy me about the game is them reusing certain models from the other Katamari Remake, even when they were deliberately replaced in We Love Katamari and are even called out as different in the item descriptions despite not being so. Arrgh. It doesn't really matter, but I got the dumb brain for that kind of thing.

5. Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★★

A fighting game that I enjoyed years past now has actually good netcode! The mechanical additions have been very nice, and I've been enjoying myself grinding away for my meager gains. It's also funny having skipped all the base game's DLC and coming in now, since it's like this release just added 20 more chars I'd otherwise not engaged with before.

A ton of polish has made this a fantastic package across the board, so many smart decisions and little details. I'm sure for GranBlue gacha fans it's probably incredible as something that pays tribute as well.

… but see, my main annoyance with the game mostly ties to being unable to stand the source material it pulls from. It's not enough to diminish my positive feelings for the game, but none the less: man, everything about the lore and characters themselves just does NOTHING for me. This is nothing particularly unique to GranBlue itself even, it's pretty in line with how I feel about every gacha title that exists to roll out chars and appeal to as many niches as possible without real forward movement or actual story, but hey here we are.

Looking forward to that 2B.

4. Baldur's Gate 3 - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★★

A game I admittedly haven't completed yet (I got up to a certain kidnapping in the last act and had to set it aside due to stuff repeatedly coming up for the past couple months) but still: this is a very good tactical RPG. I enjoy the writing, characters, and gameplay quite a lot. A ton of polish went into this.

I don't think I have much to say about it that hasn't been said by others, especially with all the Discourse that has circled it for months-to-years now across Early Access into release.

If there's one thing that does kind of annoy me about the game design, it's the way the player characters are handled. You have the option during character creator to create a character with a number of character-build-y backgrounds, or use their pre-built characters that have existing stories. This choice is lose-lose.

A fully custom character is blank, unimportant. There's nothing special about them beyond their affinity with a certain orb and being Protagonist Man. Their background doesn't really matter, even as you express your personality. You have nothing behind you that meaningfully comes up or affects the story (no Gorion, etc) beyond your role in the conflict. In other words, there's not a lot of reason for you to exist except as a cypher for the named characters.

Playing one of the named characters also sucks, because you lose those the writing for those characters. If I'm stuck aping Karlach, I have no Karlach in my party. You barely even get voice acting once you choose to play those characters either. You effectively end up with less writing and characterization, which kind of sucks! Yes, you do get your backgrounds being looped in and mattering more, which is indeed something, but not enough.

There is secretly a third option that, the more I think about it, is the correct one, they just don't tell you it. You can choose your character background to be tied to the Dark Urge, which results in a lot unique interactions, gives your character an actual background and comes up, etc. They don't outright make this the main option presumably because it comes with a lot of baggage (which, yeah, it does), but it seems completely worth it by comparison to just flitting through the story as either a ghost or the phantom of a real character.

3. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective Remastered - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★★

Play Ghost Trick.

2. Armored Core VI - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★★

From Software continues to not miss. Fantastic game, some of the most satisfying mecha combat I've played. Story is great; it's still your usual "oops we're not explaining much other than in medias res or by circumstantial details" that From Soft has continued to double down on, but I really enjoy that stuff so hey. I 100%'d this game, got all the endings etc. Great stuff.

Really want some proper DLC so I can do even more, though.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★★

Let's face it: this wasn't going to end any other way. Breath of the Wild is probably my favorite game of all time, and this is basically just more of that, remixed and remastered into a Second Quest that builds on the first one.

Something I kept thinking about while playing is that while there is volumetrically more to do, more things happening, more mechanics, etc etc, the different approach it takes in terms of focus and approach doesn't make it necessarily a "strictly better" version of Breath of the Wild.

Breath of the Wild was deliberately spare, quiet, and minimalist. Like the name says, its about the quiet wilderness, a poignant world that you explore. Tears of the Kingdom drops much of that, in many ways turning into a kooky madcap version of BOTW. You don't spent nearly as much time smelling the roses and taking in the scenery, as you're often too busy blasting by using any number of the new movement abilities or combat tools or literal flying machines you can now Nuts and Bolts together.

It's a deliberate escalation, one that in my opinion requires the preceding part to work. They add together into one complete singular experience, rather than pulling against each other. That's awesome, exactly what I wanted. Now I get to have two favorite games of all time that are secretly just one-and-the-same.

Some minor thoughts:

1. Lots of great writing and characterization, built up well on BOTW there.

2. It's kind of funny how much it goes out of the way to avoid talking much about BOTW in case someone plays this game first.

3. The last of a Master mode this time around is kind of a bummer but oh well!

4. The vehicle crafting system and everything about it, including the way it plays into the existing physics system is fucking insane. Absolutely incredible game design. Bonkers.

I'm really curious how the hell they're going to follow these games up. Going back to square-0 from this formula- one that is so built up and diverse, seems like it'd be impossible to me. What the hell could you do? Looking forward to finding out.

[phregnancy]

Hi. I know you said you don't usually respond to asks of this nature, but I just wanted to add to the interruption discourse even if you don't publish this.

I would like to push back on the idea that chronic interrupting is always rude and easy to just stop or work out in therapy (Also, if this is not what you were saying, I'm sorry :3). I'm not saying this is the case for Dan, but often times this behavior is because of neurodivergence or a genuine disability. If you have poor vision, hearing issues, auditory processing issues, social skill issues, etc. it can often be genuinely difficult to tell when someone is done talking (even when you are actively listening to them to the best of your ability.) Furthermore, just because we see someone frequently interrupting others, doesn't mean they are not actively working to communicate better; these things often take time.

Furthermore, what is or isn't considered rude is dependent on context and culture. Conversational styles that include interrupting, cooperative overlapping, are not considered rude in many cultures and situations.

All that being said, I do think constantly interrupting someone and then disregarding their frustrations (like rolling your eyes when they call you out lol) is rude and uncooperative because people with different communication styles who want to have a relationship with each other should be making a conscious effort to consider each others needs, abilities and feelings.

Again, this is not to defend Dan's interruptions specifically or say that interrupting is never rude, but more so just point out that interrupting is not always considered rude, and not interrupting can be genuinely difficult to just stop doing for many people. Of course, this doesn't mean people who are bothered by interrupters are wrong (or ableist, or culturally insensitive etc.) or shouldn't point out the behavior. In fact, the best way to help accommodate an interrupter is to just let them know they are doing the thing again, and if they care about your relationship they should be receptive.

Anyway, thank you for reading all that if you did. I really appreciate it. And if you didn't... you're real for that lol.

the issue i’m having with all of these asks i’ve received is that people are talking to me like i do not understand what it’s like to be neglected by my family (as multiple people have given that as a reason for why dan behaves like this, which is why i said he should work this out in therapy if people are saying its a trauma response) and that i’m not neurodivergent, when i am autistic and i do very well know what it’s like to experience severe and extreme neglect over a long period of time. also talking at me using things as excuses, when really there is no excuse. they explain why someone might talk over people and interrupt, but ultimately it is still on us to make the effort when people are communicating to us that this is an issue. and it is our loved ones responsibilities to openly and directly communicate and show us grace as we make efforts, so there is no building resentment or confusion as to what the problem is or what their feelings are. communication, respect, and effort are the key components. also i am overly familiar with cultural differences, i come from a culture where everyone is talking over each other constantly and that is the norm. that is not the issue - the issue is when someone is unhappy and has communicated to you that you talking over them is a problem, or you are broadly aware of how this is viewed as a problem that you have inflicted upon people, and you do not take that seriously and try to excuse it. we all have personal responsibilities to ourselves and to each other, and a british allistic (as he proudly stated recently) man continuing a behavior he has been told someone doesn’t like and has rolled his eyes over in the past is bad. that’s it. i do not have anything more to contribute to this conversation.

[velvetshirtnumber3]

I want to discuss the beginning of ep 8 teaser, where Ray and Sand are having a conversation. Ray says words to the effect of, "I still want to be friends" and Sand says words to the effect, "We were never friends; you are going to do to Mew what you did to me."

First (no pun intended) of all, Sand is doing what he has already done multiple times in this series: attempting to safeguard his feelings. Sand started off this friendship of sorts with him saying in the confessional essentially that Ray and him sleeping together and being friends had potential to go wrong. Unfortunately for him, he is proved right and starts having feelings for Ray. But he does still hold out a sense of hope that maybe Ray will feel the same way. It isn't a large hope (at least initially), since Sand seems like a person who keeps himself grounded in reality. After all, he is one of the characters who seems to face the problems of reality on a daily basis, having multiple jobs, and not having a lot of money (whereas the rest of them seem more financially secure). But I feel like Sand wouldn't view the idea of Ray having feelings for him as realistic.

Then Ray spends that day going everywhere with him, which is essentially an example of what it could be like being in a relationship with him could be like. They eat breakfast together, go shopping, go to a concert, and are having a really good time together. We see ourselves that Sand says to his mother that him and Ray aren't a thing, but maybe they could be. The events of the episode build hope that maybe Ray and him could be together. And then Boston happens.

He reveals that Ray has feelings for Mew and has had them for years. And just like his hope is broken by reality. Ray has feelings for someone else, including during the whole time Ray and Sand have been hanging out, proving to Sand that anything that made him feel like Ray liked him back was a false hint. So he tries to protect his own feelings by distancing himself from Ray, starting with when Ray tells Sand to ask him any questions. Sand should have taken him up on that, but he doesn't. Ray didn't deny his feelings for Mew when Boston brought it up, so it appears that its true. What else could Ray say about it that would make Sand feel any better? The worst has already been said, so there is no point is asking any more questions. Sand says it isn't his business, meaning he isn't important enough in Ray's life for Ray to need to share his feelings OR Ray's feelings for Mew doesn't overlap with Ray and Sand sleeping together, because at the beginning Ray and Sand has said they would be just friends, so feelings aren't supposed to enter the equation. Either way, emotional distance.

Followed by physical distance: Ray says that Sand has been ignoring messages and asks if he is mad about the whole situation with Mew (which Sand once again replies with that it is none of his business). Sand only is there to tell Ray about the sex tape, and he knows what path telling him will lead to. Ray does the whole revelation at the bar, and Sand realizes that it has gone farther than intended. He tries to stop Ray from driving, then follows him when it doesn't work. He takes care of Ray while he recovers from the car accident (and apologizes for telling Ray about the sex tape, to which Ray says he doesn't need to) and I feel like they fall back into their old dynamic again. Ray brings back the pleases, Sand caves to him, they tease each other a little. The next thing Sand sees regarding Ray is Ray and Mew dancing together, very clearly in a romantic way. His expression is disappointed, definitely, but I think to him it is just further proof that Ray doesn't like him romantically and he should give up on hope, now that Ray has the person he's always wanted. So when in the preview Ray asks if they can be friends, Sand says that they never were friends, shutting Ray down because once again, Sand wants to spare his own feelings. Continuing to be friends, when he would continuous see the person he loves with someone else, would hurt a lot and he is unwilling to do that to himself.

Honestly I think Sand's statements in the preview have a little bitterness to them. I think Sand feels a little used because as I said above, with Sand taking care of Ray after the accident, they fell back into their previous dynamic, maybe Sand thought things were going better again, and now he sees him with Mew. Sand doesn't regret taking care of Ray because he cares about Ray, but I think it definitely stings that Ray ran to Mew afterwards, when Mew did nothing for Ray regarding the accident, and didn't even run after him after the events in the bar (while Sand did and tried to stop Ray from driving).

I think Sand saying we were never friends is interesting too. There were other ways he could have worded that but he chose to say not that they aren't friends, but that they never were.

Is this because he wants to deny connection entirely (more distancing) or because he is stating that their relationship has never been that of friends (what with the kissing and such)?

I'm not sure which one I think but both are interesting.

This got too long so I made it two parts.

Part two here

[guardianssystem]

hey 0/

saw your response and so here's my attempt to describe what being a median system is/means (from our experience and knowledge, if anyone wants to correct things here or add on feel free :D)

median, when refering to plurality or systemhood, is a descriptor for how a system functions or presents generally. there are two main, often overlapping definitions. i'll be using the words system and parts respectively throughout this as thats how we talk about ourselves but they can be substituted with plural or any other similar terms (or none at all) and headmate/person/alter/facet.

the first 'definition' of median, is a system whose parts are all quite similar, generally like different versions of the same person but they can be quite similar in other ways. this is distinct from 'multiple systems/plurals' (systems and the like who aren't median) as generally those systems experience a reasonably high level of difference between parts. (like how you hear a lot of systems saying they are multiple people in one body, it implies that there's a decent amount of difference between them.)

the other 'definition' of the word, is a system who feel like they are not really independent from each other in the way multiple systems are. like they is more than one person/part in a body but not exactly 2, like 1.5. so singlets would have 1 person to a body, median systems might have 1.5, and multipe systems might have 2. its not exactly a headmate count even though it sounds like one, more like a separation level i guess.

tumblr wont let me attach an image properly but this is a little diagram i just made to try show some of the ways you might imagine a medain system compared to a singlet or multiple (feel free to copy and paste it into your post if you reply) https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1166724958362275884/1169587061397917787/IMG_8414.jpg?ex=6555f1d5&is=65437cd5&hm=e518ae1c3f68c42ab9b5a20291744b823adb4b7f576e29c84c47fc2ca5252964&=&width=1422&height=1054

not all median systems experience themselves like one of those two things but they are generally how the term is defined. some medians experience one of those things but not the other, some experience both, its really a matter of how you define yourself. its all a spectrum as well and there are some terms in between and some more i could probably say but this is getting longer than i intended so ill finish up there.

if you want a little collection of stuff about the experience you could also take a scroll through @/median-culture-is here on tumblr. again, ask if any of this doesn't make sense. thanks for taking the time to read through this and understand us a little better :)

- 🌱☀️

Okay that is definitely something that should be in the document, but not something that should be where we put it 🤣

We have the feeling we might have mixed Median up with something else. Maybe Medium? We're not sure. We think we definitely should have known this already, though. Our partner thought they might be a median or similar when they first discovered their plurality and did a ton of research that we helped with. Amnesia, we guess 😅 so sorry

Thank you for explaining! We'd heard the phrase "more than one, less than two" quite a few times, we guess that's probably in relation to medians.

We'll edit it in the document sometime today (quite a few things on today unfortunately.) Thank you for bringing it up and explaining ❤️

-Ash

[thelooniemoonie]

So I just finished reading House of Leaves...

Here are my thoughts. I will do my best to avoid spoilers, but will mention a thing or two.

Oh man, that was one hell of a ride. While I myself am a huge fan of horror, this was the first horror book I have read, and what a great experience it was!

Going into the book I already somewhat knew of the madness that lurks inside (that being the quarter inch, and the impossibly long hallway) and was surprised that the madness started on very early. Being the book is over 700 pages long, I sure as hell didn't expect it to start about 60 pages in.

What you don't expect however, is the madness that takes it's toll the longer the book goes on. Multiple storylines, narrators and themes start converging together to the point where everything starts falling into place, to the point it becomes nauseating as exploring the house itself. What I can say however, is that the house is only barely scratching the surface of what is truly going on within these pages.

For context the book is cleverly written as a meta-narrative, as an essay analyzing the film The Navidson Record, a fictional film that does not exist in the real world. What the book strangely does however, is reference actual real life sources when dissecting its premise, to the point where reality and fiction start blurring. The book feels as if it's having a conversation with itself, covering countless of different themes and metaphors that overlap with one another. Given this thing has been analyzed and picked apart for decades since its release, I'm gonna leave it to the experts about the secrets within its pages. (Although I will say this: pay attention. The longer the book goes on the more the different puzzle pieces will start clicking together.)

I was curious as to how a book may scare a reader since I'm unfamiliar with the experience of reading horror, but I will say the longer the book went on the worse it got. If I had to make a comparison, it would be the same feeling I experienced when watching Skinamarink: Dread. A long, droning kind of dread that one experiences when you are alone in your house and all the lights are off and everything is black. And you know no one is coming for you. But you swear you saw something from the corner of your eye. It's the feeling of running up the stairs after turning the lights off and praying something isn't running after you. Dread.

Very quickly things will become nauseating. At first I wasn't scared of the premise of the house: it's a haunted house that defies reality. So? But I found myself not dreading the events that unfolded or the "interesting" formatting of the book, but that the reality of the book itself seemed to be imploding on itself. Spoilers, but the one moment I think where I specifically started spiralling was when Exploration #5 was occurring, and Navidson had to stop and rest with only his matches, he pulls out a book to read and it's....the House of Leaves? The book you're reading right now? But how is that possible? How is Navidson reading the real life book that you're reading, when the fictional events that are pertaining to him are happening right now to him?? What are even the Johnny segments?? (Note: don't read them at work like I did) Why does nobody cited in this book know who the Navidsons are, even though they're quoted directly in reviewing the film?? What the hell is going on???

.

I made a joke in an earlier post that Navidson wants to fuck the house. I meant this as a joke. What I soon horrifically realized was that others were correcting me in that it wasn't a joke. Navidson wants to fuck the house. But he also doesn't want to fuck the house. But it is also a secret third thing that's literal to the foundation of this story. (No pun intended.) But oh god it gets so much worse.

At the time of writing this, I just finished the book 1 hour ago. I feel like I just stepped off the worst rollercoaster. And I loved it.

10/10 very spooks

On a less serious note I think the funniest moment in the book was when the Chad's and Daisy's teacher, after noticing their strange behaviour at school due to the effects of the house, reasonably decides to pay their parents a visit to talk about it. What the poor lady doesn't expect however, is that she arrives right after the events of the house unfold and the Navidsons are having the worst week of their life, coming to the screaming and crying family while there is a dead body on the floor.

In essence it can be summed up by this gif, which frankly sums up the vibe of the story overall:

So yeah it's a good book. I recommend it.