#But I do agree with what the OP of that thread pointed out of like

[robocops-a-christ-allegory]

There was this twitter thread of someone talking about Byrne She Hulk and doing like a really in depth critique explaining the issue with She Hulk being really into sexualizing herself as a fictional character with no agency and like half the replies were just “I get this but she sexualizes herself because shes confident and its her choice, so its feminist!” even though the OP literally addressed that argument. I think comic nerds need to get over Byrne She Hulk we all need to fucking move on

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Not to be a Negative Nancy... but is anyone else worried that with Kingdom Hearts IV coming out after Final Fantasy XVI and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, it's going to feel so much lesser in comparison?

Because I kind of feel that way... and I know I'm not the only one, in some cases. Like, I remember how in the Key Keepers' spoiler discussion Final Fantasy XVI spoiler cast, Audrey (somewhat jokingly) mentioned how no matter what epic thing they try to do with the boss fights in Kingdom Hearts IV, it wouldn't be on the level of the Eikon fights in Final Fantasy XVI, so it wouldn't have as big an impact on her as those did (paraphrasing here).

And then KHInsider has a thread going on right now, about how Kingdom Hearts IV shouldn't try to take too much from FFVIIR--as they are different games--and user Luminary agreed with that, but brought up how I feel: that if they do take any inspiration from Rebirth, it should be the good character writing and interactions, and cinematography--since they've now shown they know how to do that, and if they don't do that in KHIV, it'll feel like a downgrade.

But I'm just worried that they won't. Especially where the girl characters and interactions are concerned.

I mean, we have new writers on KH now, so maybe they can help make things better than they have been before. But IDK.

[sueske]

I recently saw this post: https://www.tumblr.com/t1sunfortunate/702023527979728896/the-unfortunate-reality-is-that-sns-just-isnt

And I was just baffled by it because like, there is reflexion there, but op seem to think that the fact that Naruto and Sasuke love each other is a retcon of the story??? I see a lot of Sasuke fans including my mutuals reblogging it and agreeing with it… I wonder if anyone is interested in debunking this

Idk how so many people reblogged a post that is just so wrong. Is it because it’s ‘well put together’ and sounds ‘intellectual’ that people are inclined to agree with it and think it checks out? Reminds me of this quote from afrogarou on tiktok actually:

Because how do you read Naruto and get this?

Naruto and Sasuke understood each other’s loneliness from the start. They were two lonely kids and they recognised that in each other. which is why Sasuke came to Naruto’s defence in chapter 3 and overlooked his antics and chose to be nice to him instead. Which is why Sasuke said that naruto understands the pain of loneliness in vote1. Which is why in smol sns’ monologues, they speak of knowing the other was always alone. What they didn’t understand were each other’s actions in response to that loneliness that they then spent the entirety of the manga trying to figure out! Like. That’s the story. For Naruto, every arc ksa inclusive he thought about Sasuke and his feelings and his actions and trying to understand what he was doing, and reflected on his own actions towards sasuke. For Sasuke, he wondered why Naruto would be willing to go so far for him. Of course Sasuke was Naruto’s ‘driving force’ so he received a greater focus from Naruto’s side, while Sasuke’s driving force wasn’t Naruto. That doesn’t mean their relationship was a retcon. the thread that connected them from the start was loneliness. their journey to reaching an understanding ended in reconciliation. how do you miss the point that badly…

oh and about this-

it’s sasuke who says that in response to naruto.

The rest of it doesn’t even merit a response.

[infiniteko]

Nothing happened after that wedding venue, not on tumblr atleast. But I did found something slightly amusing😭

https://www.tumblr.com/stateswscarlet/722535405158825986/hi-scarlet-i-agree-with-your-recent-thread-on

The amount of limiting beliefs on this one my god, have had enough of this cause and effects, and I have no clue what's going on with people anymore💀

This is absolutely insane on so many levels. Holy shit. Illusory but insane. I'll still add a few illusory words because I want to. This applies to everyone, not just anon & OP.

Did anon ever say it "worked out" for them? Because I can't read out a thing from this.

I'm not judging anyone but the illusory issue I have with this is that 1. coaching is being offered "I couldn't afford your cheapest call without sacrificing on food for the week" is insane and you can't deny that. 2. How expensive is that call?? 3. What

K quit school too so that's fine but my problem is with "Quitting everything because of your own limitations and in HOPES it gets better". It's so huge you can physically see it across Space. It's not even KNOWING, it's HOPES.

"I quit going to work because I thought It'd mess up my Imagination"

"I had so little money left I wanted coaching from you but couldn't afford your cheapest call"

I can't put in words how mental this is. People are being fed limitations in a "limitless" communities or whatever they're called to the point of them believing every word they read and every word made up by themselves. They eat it up for breakfast, lunch and dinner and snacks inbetween without noticing that this shit doesn't make sense.

They create more suffering than there ever was. Fueled by nothing but fear. And for what?

"You are limitless" -> creates a million limits

I'm not even trying to make anyone look bad but do you guys not see how hilarious this is? It was never meant to be this complicated. Why would you even stick to limitations? Why do you accept limitations? Why do you accept suffering by your own hand?

I agree that giving a hundred people advice is draining. We've been there, done that.

If you KNOW all is not what it is, there's no need charging anything for a call or an email where you'd 100% just repeat what you said in a post already. Cherry on top is that it's filled with limitations and not even "limitless" like they claim "We" are.

To anyone who ever thought about paying for anything. Do yourself a favor and don't buy coachings.

" " applies to everything and everyone without an exception in the same exact way.

[max1461]

Let me start a new post, regarding some discourse, so that we can avoid bothering OP and furthermore so that we can properly abstract away from (whatever turn out to be) the irrelevant points of the initial seed of discussion.

A woman flashed her boobs to some strangers in New York. Someone on twitter said this was sexual assault. I and other commenters contended it was no big deal. However, I added:

I do think there's a relevant distinction between simply being nude/topless/whatever in public, which I think should be regarded as perfectly socially acceptable, and flashing someone, which is kind of an inherently somewhat sexual performative act. I don't think that flashing in a context like this should probably be regarded as sexual assault, that seems a bit much. In general I think that people are (for the most part) sexual creatures, and so any free society is going to feature some amount of public display of sexuality, whatever form that takes, and there's nothing really wrong with that. It doesn't seem like any big deal to me that this girl flashed these people. But there definitely exist contexts where I think it's reasonable to consider flashing alone to be sexual assault or sexual harassment, and I don't think that should be elided. And I don't think it should be determined on crude grounds of gender or sex either; it's important to have some thoughtful and conceptually robust sense of when sexual acts, e.g. flashing people, are playful and harmless, and when they are in fact potentially threatening or boundary-violating.

Here the discussion split. In one thread, @sivavakkiyar said:

I agree with the nuance of total determination, but the applicability only makes sense now. There’s very good reason to suppose a man who took off his shirt on camera would not be considered ‘flashing’, even if he was flexing his pecs or whatever: the assumed sexual component, regardless of the intent of the woman involved, has to do with the inherent sexualization of…uh…female…presenting…nipples. We’re on the same page of ‘assault’ being ridiculous in this context, but even if you were to ask this woman ‘when you took off your shirt, you knew it was sexually suggestive, yes?’ and she said ‘yeah’, it wouldn’t really change the fundamental question—-I mean that’s obvious as a part of her joke, but—-the guy with pecs might equally be ‘yeah, I’m hot.’ You know?

And I replied:

Well yeah that's part of my point. There is totally a context in which a guy flexing his pecs at you, in some sufficiently aggressive or unwanted way, could be sexual harassment. But that doesn't mean that all men flexing in public is bad, or even all men flexing at someone in public is bad. The standards one takes up for this, whatever they are, should be gender neutral—which would unambiguously mean that women showing their bare chest in public would get vastly more accepted, not less.

In another thread, @wildgifthorses said:

It seems like this is just an area where it makes sense to have sex-asymmetric norms. Trying to make a workable sex-symmetric norm about this just leads to absurdity no matter what you do.

And added the following in the tags:

Here I would like to make my reply to wildgifthorses.

I think you have implicitly invoked, here, precisely the gender-neutral distinction which is relevant: reasonable knowledge that you are violating someone's boundaries and disregard for those boundaries in spite of the knowledge. Most men can be said to have a reasonable expectation that the average woman will be bothered by him flashing her his junk, and consider it a boundary violation. Most young women can reasonably expect that a crowd of passers-by will not feel violated by her flashing them her boobs. While there are sex- or gender-asymmetric facts about society being invoked in this sort of moral calculation, the underlying principle is fundamentally sex- and gender-symmetric. And why should it not be? I can think of plenty of contexts in which a man might be made very uncomfortable by a woman aggressively showing him her boobs, however common or not that happens to be, and in those scenarios I think it is very reasonable to say the woman is in the wrong.

We get absolutely nowhere good by making needlessly gendered distinctions in our abstract principles, as (in different ways) the last 10 years and the previous 5000 before that should make evident. I think until certain follies heretofore characteristic of human society are well behind us, we should probably err very far in the direction of absolute sex- and gender-insensitivity in our most abstract ethical principles, even if it runs us into trouble sometimes.

[nightswatchdisbandmentera]

There was this thread on r/asoiaf the other day that was complaining about how ASOIAF stans seem to lose all creativity when it comes to theorizing about Dany’s endgame. The OP argued that people are so sure that Dany’s story can only end in death even though nothing is set in stone and the story would still be very good if she lived to the end.

Predictably, the comments in the thread proceeded to double down on why Dany is 100% “doomed” and marked for death, which is very funny because not only did they completely miss OP’s point, but they started citing statistics that I have personally never heard of. How can anyone except George R.R Martin know what is 100% Dany’s endgame? Are there some mathematic equations I need to be aware of? Can someone share with the class please…

See, I agree with that OP big time. It’s a bit annoying to go through fandom spaces and have to see the same old posts about how Dany is an instrument of death and so she needs to be put out at the end of the story. Others will try to argue that she will die a hero as a means of being a bit more charitable. It seems that everywhere I go, Dany’s endgame always ends in death. There really is an obvious lack of creativity when it comes to speculating about her endgame.

I have an issue with using death to define Dany’s story because she is so much more than that. People get so caught up in the “bride of fire” and “daughter of death” aspects that they forget about what Dany actually does. She goes around liberating people! Yes she brings death…to those who harm others and deserve it. She is not bringing death wholesale to innocent people but she is bringing death and destruction to corrupt institutions. That’s the whole point of her character. She is a liberator. She is a savior! She is a dragon and the dragon cleanses. To the slaves she is the Breaker of Chains. To those who have glimpsed of the coming Long Night, she is the Prince(ss) That Was Promised. To all, she represents hope for the future. Hope for life and liberation from death.

Dany gained so much power throughout her arc so far and she could have taken a ship straight to Westeros, but she used her new found abilities to free people from slavery; she chose to liberate them from death. Really, that’s how I view Dany’s campaign against slavery. Slaves aren’t treated as people; their humanity is discarded, they have no will, no future, no hope. It’s almost like a death of the person though they may not physically be dead. Then in comes Daenerys Targaryen, a young girl with nothing but her dragons and her compassion, who says to them “you may not matter to them but you matter to me and I will save you”. Where the slaves didn’t have free will before, Dany gives it to them. I’m remembering the unsullied who didn’t even have names but Dany gave them the ability to pick and choose their own; which seems like such a small act but means so much more because names are important in humanizing people. She represents new beginnings.

Dany’s crusade across Slaver’s Bay is a big deal. She didn’t have to do it but she did it anyway. There was no personal gain for her but she did it because she cares so deeply about people. And then she gets to Meereen and decides to stay there because her “children” need her. She cannot and will not abandon strangers to a fate of death. And the people know that.

I’m just thinking of this quote:

“I am no lady,” the widow replied, “just Vogarro’s whore. You want to be gone from here before the tigers come. Should you reach your queen, give her a message from the slaves of Old Volantis.” She touched the faded scar upon her wrinkled cheek, where her tears had been cut away. “Tell her we are waiting. Tell her to come soon.”

- Tyrion VII, ADWD

And this one too:

“I told you, I know our little queen […] this Mother of Dragons, this Breaker of Chains, is above all a rescuer. The girl who drowned the slaver cities in blood rather than leave strangers to their chains can scarcely abandon her own brother’s son in his hour of peril.”

- Tyrion VI, ADWD

These people have never even met Dany but to them, she is hope and freedom and life! She is salvation, and that’s the point. She has spent much of her arc fighting slavery which is in preparation for her ultimate destiny as a savior to defeat the Others. Because they not only bring death to the land but they also threaten to enslave humanity through death. However, they cannot triumph over the Breaker of Chains; the great savior that is Daenerys Targaryen! That’s what her story has been building up to. And it’s not that Dany is saving people and peacing out (e.g., dying in a sacrifice). The point is that she herself persevered. And because she persevered, her people will too. It’s that her constant survival ensures that of others.

Dany grew up penniless, homeless, hungry, and even started out as a 13 year old slave to Khal Drogo. She could have given up but she didn’t because through everything, she is resilient. She is determination and perseverance in the face of death. When she walked into that funeral pyre she could have died, but she lived and emerged as the Mother of Dragons - these dragons that have been instrumental in freeing slaves and will ultimately be important in the Other’s defeat. She “died” in that pyre and was “reborn”, and this rebirth is moving her closer to ensuring that the rest of her people overcome death as well.

That’s why it’s more thematically meaningful for Dany to survive the Long Night, in my opinion. She, more than anyone, represents what it means to constantly fight against the odds. She represents what it means to go through all the worst life can throw at you and then not only come out on top, but turn around and use her own survival to ensure that of others’. She has lived through so many trials and persevered; she is the very embodiment of what it means to survive. Because her survival means that where death could destroy, it didn’t. Instead, life prevailed.

If she survives the Long Night, she remains a constant symbol - a beacon if you will - of what’s to come which is better days. Those who are suffering can look to her and see how she went through hell and lived. This would go a long way in boosting morale especially in the aftermath of the Long Night. Because think about it, the people fought against the Others and overcame death, but now they have to survive what comes next. I think Dany is needed because she has already gone through this cycle and will not only be an important figurehead during the War for the Dawn, but she will also be important as the people try to find a will to live beyond death (winter and the Others).

The last book is called A Dream of Spring so I assume this means that it will still be winter - though the Long Night may be over. People will still be hungry, they will be homeless, and they will be tired. They will not know what comes next only that they have to move forward and survive through this new hardship. And you know who has personally experienced these things and knows what it’s like? Daenerys Targaryen! She has survived through it all. So imagine just how powerful it will be for those who survive the Long Night to look at young Daenerys and go, “you know what, I think we’ll get through this one too”. And it will be even more poignant for Dany to lead them to that rest and restoration. Because it’s not just the people who need rest after fighting for so long, Dany does too:

“It is such a long way,” she complained. “I was tired, Jorah. I was weary of war. I wanted to rest, to laugh, to plant trees and see them grow. I am only a young girl.”

- Dany X, ADWD

People take the “dragons plant no trees” part that comes after to assume that Dany will remain stagnant for the next two books and it really is a pity. Someone pointed out a while ago (and I cannot for the life of me remember who this was) that Dany tends to pivot at the end of each book. As she continues to grow and develop as a character, her plans and priorities change. So it’s a bit sad how people assume that she will constantly be in a state of warfare. Because at the moment, Dany’s didn’t isn’t over yet.

Her campaign in Essos must continue and she still has the Others to fight in Westeros. So for now, she cannot truly settle down to plant trees. But she has been learning! She tried to do that throughout ADWD and I don’t see why that learning arc will be discarded at the end of the story. Especially when we consider that few others have actually been learning to lead. The only other character who has is Jon Snow but funny enough, many in this fandom think that he too is doomed to die. I’m not sure why George R.R Martin would kill the two up-and-coming leaders in the story who best answer “what was Aragorn’s tax policy?”

Ultimately, when all is said and done and there are no more wars to fight, I think Dany will finally find her peace and will learn that dragons can plant trees and watch them grow. As all the other heroes in the story, she will probably come out of the Long Night battered and bruised, but everything will be okay because she will still be alive; just like that Bran scene at the end of ACOK, which to me is the very definition of bittersweet. A better ending for her in my opinion isn’t dying in the cold of winter, but rather living and healing and finding a way to build a house with a red door, even though she cannot return to the one she knew as a child. Not only that, she can also provide this house with a red door” for the homeless, beaten, and bruised who survive the Long Night. It’s certainly possible that Martin could write Dany’s death in a way that is poignant and beautiful, but my personal preference is that she lives because of what her survival means for the larger themes in the story.

This whole post has been so jumbled and I’ve rambled a bit but I hope it made sense in the end lol. But anyway….the point is, I’m 1000% Team Dany Must Live!

[sophietv]

Where "You're Losing Me" fits in the Kaylor Timeline

Ok, so I wanted to sum up what I thought “You’re Losing Me” meant for Kaylor. But most of all, where does it all fit in the Timeline.

First and foremost. It’s important to remember that Midnights is in Taylor’s words: “the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life”.

Which means that the songs on this album are not all recent stories. Some happened a long time ago. 

Like:

Snow On The Beach: being about the Victoria Secret Fashion Show in 2013.

Question…?: About Kissgate in 2014.

One thing that is interesting with Midnights is that songs are sampled over older songs. I believe this serves multiple purposes:

Pointing at the muse (Maroon sampled over KOMH and Cornelia Street),

Pointing at the time and cause of the song (The Great War sampled on Only The Young)

Pointing at the similar emotions the event might have with others (Question…? sampled on OOTW).

So where does that leave us with "You’re Losing Me"? 

When you listen to the song you notice that it’s very similar and seem to have practically the same intro as "Cornelia Street".

More than that, if you play both songs at the same time, the timing is perfect, the intro of one song answers the intro of the other.

So what is Taylor trying to tell us with this?

Everyone was puzzled when the song came out, because it does not fit with the narrative of Champagne Problems and Midnight Rain. Those songs seem to point at Karlie wanting to commit and Taylor being unable to choose her over everything else.

But in You’re Losing Me. It’s quite the contrary. Taylor seems to want to commit and seems unsure of Karlie’s intentions in this relationship. 

So what does it mean?

I think the song points to Cornelia Street to offer a timeline of when the events took place.

And I don’t think they took place at the same time the song Cornelia Street takes place (in 2019), but more likely, when they were living at Cornelia Street.

Taylor rented Cornelia Street from June 2016 to early 2017. 

What happened during this time with Kaylor?

I think, looking back on all the events of 2019. Everyone can at least agree that they were still together at that time.

If you don’t believe it. Watch Miss Americana. The Call It What You Want scene, and you’ll see that Kaylor was indeed alive and well.

I did a thread on Twitter about this, but here’s some important events. 

Octobre 11th 2016: “It’s all part of the fucking story”

Octobre 12th 2016: Taylor went out to the concert where she “started dating Joe”.

Octobre 13th 2016: Taylor is out at the Bowery Ballroom with Karlie and Serena William (yes this is suspicious).

Novembre 7th 2016: Karlie and Taylor are out at Lorde’s birthday.

Novembre 8th 2016: Trump is elected. Karlie posted the famous picture of her and Taylor kissing Lorde’s cheek with the ring (last post of them together at an event)

Novembre 9th 2016: Start of the Love Blackout 

(There’s also the engagement theory that happened in Wyoming in August 2016)

What makes me say the song takes place then and not in 2019?

Well she references the Cornelia Street apartment, with the song sample obviously, but also with those lyrics:

 “remember lookin’ at this room, we loved it ‘cause of the light. Now, I just sit in the dark and wonder if it’s time.” 

I think the lyric “We thought a cure would come through in time, now I fear it won’t” might be about them having to hide their relationship.

And I suspect the results of the 2016 elections has something to do with it (as well as with the Love Blackout).

In the song Taylor is begging Karlie to choose her. 

The song is also not a finality. 

When the song ends we don’t know what happened.

There’s fear, hurt, indecision, but also a bit of hope: “Unless you’re choosin’ me”

Taylor is still wishing it might work out.

So I think the song being sampled on Cornelia Street is to tell us it happened during this time frame (June 2016 - early 2017).

And in the song Cornelia Street there’s:

“Windows swung right open, autumn air

Jacket 'round my shoulders is yours

We bless the rains on Cornelia Street

Memorize the creaks in the floor”

Which points to the Autumn of 2016 (if we follow the timeline).

"Back when we were card sharks, playing games

I thought you were leading me on

I packed my bags, left Cornelia Street

Before you even knew I was gone"

This part points to before that. But still at Cornelia Street. So between June and Septembre 2016.

And it’s talking about a fight they had where Taylor thought Karlie was not genuine with her “I thought you were leading me on” 

Interesting because it fits perfectly with the narrative of “You’re Losing Me”.

"But then you called, showed your hand

I turned around before I hit the tunnel

Sat on the roof, you and I"

And this fight had a happy ending! 

So for all those reasons, this is where I think this sleepless night took place and the fight it’s talking about. 

What does it means for LSK? Not much. But it sure doesn’t mean that they are not together. 

[cursedvibes]

https://x.com/kostivedae/status/1800896107381399973?t=83v6yYC4Prw9yz_9NYZaYA&s=19

what do you think of this.....theory thread...?

i somehow can't make sense of it despite how well-researched it seems

Agree with you. They make some interesting points and there are some things that could form a good basis for some other stuff, but the basic premise of "Yuki is 500 years old and merged with Tengen in the 1500s" I just don't see supported by canon. After reading the thread, I saw that they're the person who made that infamous thread about Womb Profusion being Geto's domain and that explains some stuff. Would say though that their Yuki thread at least makes more sense than that and most of the time they don't just pull conclusions out of thin air.

Gonna go through some of what they say:

So the basic premise is that Yuki merged with Tengen in the past, overpowered her and broke free.

We don't know if Riko would've been able to hear the voices of the other vessels because she never got close to Tengen. Yuki only ever brings up hearing the voices when she's right in front of Tengen. For example, she also doesn't know for sure about other Star Plasma Vessels that are still around (like when Riko died) unless she specifically seeks them out, so this also suggest she can't hear them long-distance. I don't think this works across several hundred meters, much less kilometres. Also even if that was the case, Yuki is a sorcerer and has extensive knowledge of the soul, Riko is not. An incident might've triggered Yuki's event, who knows, but I don't think she's always aware of those voice and Riko wouldn't of course be either because she never had any contact with Tengen and she was also not trained in any control of cursed energy or perception of her own soul.

Also I wouldn't say the connection between Yuuji and Sukuna is all that relevant here. Sukuna can sense his other fingers because it's part of his soul. Just how Tengen is aware of when a new Star Plasma Vessel is born. So that kind of connection exists between Yuki and Tengen because Yuki is literally designed to be a genetic match to Tengen. However factually, we have no evidence, that the resonance Todo mentions even exists, it's just speculation on his part. They took precautions, but actually Sukuna has no idea about their plans or even the training they went through, which he would know if this resonance was as strong as Todo suggests. Neither Yuuji nor Sukuna know what the other was up to during the timeskip though.

Yes, it's very likely that her experiences of being a Star Plasma Vessel and being able to hear the other Star Plasma Vessels caused her to invest in research of the soul and cursed energy, hoping to some day free the trapped vessels or get rid of Tengen in some other way. There were more cases of more than one soul inhabiting one body, the many cursed objects Kenjaku made and sealed inside people. Yuki didn't know about that though.

Like...you literally just said Yuki can hear the other vessels voices, so obviously she based her research on that because it told her that what Tengen says is bullshit. It seems once the vessel is suppressed, the host is never aware of them as Choso can't feel his vessel either for example. Yuki has evidence to the contrary, so of course she investigated that. She is a special case because she shares a connection with the other Star Plasma Vessel (SPV) that doesn't exist between any other (potential) vessels. Only way it could be imitated is by becoming aware of your soul and able to perceive it on others like Yuuji and Mahito. Yuuji doesn't have an intrinsic connection to Magumi like Yuki has to the SPVs despite both being vessels, he has to actively pry Sukuna and Megumi's souls apart to reach them, so clearly SPVs are a special case.

OP assumes all this is due to a merger, but I don't see how this couldn't just be a natural connection between SPVs that always exists and Yuki was able to amplify.

So then we get to the "Yuki broke free after merging and is actually 500 years old" part. On that whole tangent about the name Tsukumo: yes, it seems to be a reference to her connection with Tengen and also the colour of her hair. Neat little thing, but I don't think this means Yuki is actually that old. Takaba's name Fumihiko has the words "history" and a historic version of "boy" in it. He isn't actually that old though. Yorozu is also not 10.000 years old. Names can connect to themes of the character, but they aren't always that literal.

I do think that the reason Tengen didn't merge with Yuki is because Yuki is simply to powerful and has quite a strong will too. Getting her to give up her life is much more difficult than with Riko for example because she doesn't seem indoctrinated into Tengen's philosophy and she also has a means to defend herself, very different from Riko, who doesn't have a cursed technique or any other way of standing up against Tengen unless someone helps her. With all of OPs explanations I still don't see why she has to be 500 years old. It makes more sense to me that Star Plasma Vessels appear around the time span when Tengen's body gradually gets close to evolving. Exact years don't seem to matter, which makes sense since we're talking about quite big timespans. Plus, we know there are always multiple SPVs around. Nothing speaks against Yuki just being a SPV that was ready for merging 20-25 years ago and Tengen decided she was too much of a hassle and instead waited for a better vessel to appear, which would be Riko, who was the ideal choice. Even 10 years after Riko's death Tengen is still holding on relatively fine, so I don't know why she can't just wait another decade or two after Yuki didn't work out for a better vessel to come along.

Then they say that this is somehow evidence of Yuki having merged in the past?? She is criticizing Tengen's philosophy of "come what may" and positioning herself as some enlightened being that is much wiser than Yuki, Kenjaku or any SPV. Yes, Yuki compares herself to a great sage or bodhisattva and that might also refer to the monkey king (there are more people with the title 大聖 than just him), but what does that have to do with the merger exactly? They aren't talking about that. Even if she compares herself to the monkey king who wrecked the heavens, it's clearly to mock Tengen. Idk, connecting this to some nebulous merger that happened 500 years ago seems like quite a stretch to me.

They acknowledge that it is strange that Yuki looks so young if she's 500 years old. Their answer is that she got Immortality from Tengen and it just happens to work very differently for her than Tengen...yeah not the best argument. There are differences between how people use the same cursed technique or how it manifests, but in this case it would get rid of the very fundamental aspect of Immortality that is that Tengen ages and it will not lead to death but a change in her body at some point. Yuki would then just be immortal period and it doesn't seem like she experiences changes in her body either. That's a much bigger difference than Yuuji having some "cut here" marks when using Cleave.

Even if Yuki was 500 years old and broke free from Tengen after a merger, how would Kenjaku not catch wind about any of this? They would for sure notice if Tengen merged again, they killed the infant SPV and six eyes around that time after all, so they were especially alert. Also I assuming Yuki regaining control and splitting from Tengen would mess Tengen up pretty badly and put her in quite a vulnerable position. Yet nobody ever mentions such a severe event, neither Tengen, Kenjaku or Yuki. Yuki would then also already be familiar with Kenjaku, since she would've known about their attacks on SPVs in the past. But she didn't.

Minor thing, but while I wouldn't doubt that Yuki could break through to Tengen's body if she really wanted to and was ready to destroy the entire tomb as well as her body in the process, OP makes it sound way too simple. If you read the pages they so helpfully provided, you see that TCBs translator theorizes that Kenjaku was thrown outside the barrier, but didn't actually break through to the next stage. Plus, the barrier was reassembled afterwards as we see. Even if Yuki breaks a wall/edge of the sunyata barrier, that wouldn't necessarily bring her closer to Tengen or in that instance she would've punched Kenjaku straight through to Tengen's body, which would be a bit counterproductive to the plan they had right? It would've benefited Kenjaku more than her. The sunyata barrier as well as the concealing barrier operate on illusions and multiple layers. Just punching through it won't work.

I talked about this before and I agree that the clothes of the second SPV don't match the time (1500s) she should've merged in. Gege is also usually quite good with historically accurate clothes like in Kashimo's flashback for example. If it's not historically accurate, it's usually an intentional decision like Sukuna's clothes (or lack thereof) and Uraume's haircut in the Heian era.

Tengen says her body is now 500 years old, but the merger with the second vessel could have only happened around the 1600s, likely around their end because we know the fight between the Gojo Clan had with six eyes and the Zenin Clan head was 400 years ago. It would make sense that Kenjaku killing the infant Star Plasma Vessel and the consequent reincarnation would mess some things up with the timeline, but it shouldn't be by this much. It's true that the kimono and also hairstyle would point more towards Meiji or even Taisho era than late Muromachi or early Edo period. Also even with the six eyes reincarnating in the 1600s that makes it seem like Kenjaku waited decades between the infanticide and actually showing up at the Tomb of Stars, which is strange. I think this speaks more towards Tengen merging late (because she did clearly merge with someone who's not Yuki) than merging with Yuki 500 years ago. Because again, Kenjaku would've noticed that and also the death of the infant SPV + Kenjaku trying to run in Tengen's doors for centuries wouldn't be news to Yuki.

I would say this might be a case of Gege maybe stretching things a bit with the historical accuracy because that vessel being from the 1800s just makes no sense and also Tengen wasn't entirely truthful when she said her body is 500 years old (because of when the Gojo clan head lived). Squeezing Yuki in there somewhere makes even less sense.

This is just wrong though. The first SPV is dressed like a Heian era commoner. I can understand not knowing that because it's hard to find references for commoner clothes of that era, but honestly the headdress looks nothing like the cap they show here. It's a bit weird that they go into this so much when it would make little sense for this vessel to also be from the Meiji period. It doesn't underline their point of Yuki being 500 years old and having merged, then broken free either. It would only mess up the timeline further.

If Tengen was so unstable from having lost her vessel and also having been forcefully overpowered, why did Kenjaku not take advantage of that? Why was Yuki not already on their radar if she has power like that? Why did Tengen and the higher-ups keep Yuki around when she was clearly a serious threat to Tengen and also hostile towards her?

As for the last couple of tweets...cool fun facts I guess, but they don't really come off as more than some symbolism that I don't think is that deep (like for example the chequered pattern...). Finally, they say Yuki merged with Tengen in the Meiji era. Which is also the time they say the two other SPVs before Riko are from. So Tengen just changed rapidly between three people somewhere in the 1800s-1900s before Riko? And she still looks that old and is close to evolving? The "Tengen merges every 500 years and that's when SPVs and six eyes show up" means nothing now I guess? And also they weren't accompanied by any six eyes users to protect them.

I am very interested in Yuki's history with Tengen and think Gege left a lot of potential on the floor by killing her so early before digging deeper into the whole SPV business (although I think we will likely learn more when we get to the Heian flashbacks of Tengen, Kenjaku and Sukuna). Props for doing research, even if I think a lot of it is unnecessary and only obfuscates their point, and some tangents in isolation are interesting, but I don't think their theory makes much sense.

[thrilling-oneway]

The queer thread didn't really get critiqued for shipping purposes though, it was mostly critiqued for the abundance of harmful western stereotypes slapped onto an asian cast and media (Tsukasa is emotional therefore feminine (misogyny!) therefore queer) and borderline if not outright racist inclusions (such as VBS gets partying, drugs, sex related content) which is a strange thing to say about the group based on street music which originated from black culture.

I don't think it's fair to write it off as just that when this is the type of rhetoric that sends discussion of queerness back several years by boxing queer behavior in via homophobic stereotypes. It's really truly incredibly regressive.

ftr i did not read past like the first few tweets of that thread when i posted that ask. i went back and read the full thing later and yeah it was very...how to put this, Not Good and some of their characterisations were incorrect too, airi's section stuck out to me in particular

there were several things wrong with that thread for a start, which you've already pointed out and yeah after reading the thread i totally agree that the OP was rightfully called out. historically when the topic of queercoding has popped up in this fandom (in any way actually, not just applying to like Rui or An) it tends to get jumped on pretty quickly by people arguing about shipping. that's why i mentioned it and it's what the anon was talking about (i don't even know if they were talking about the same thread but i'm assuming they were)

i get what the OP was going for. they wanted to make a thread about queercoding that people couldn't start ship discourse over, which, fair enough. they just executed it absolutely terribly. also like the thing is that most of the queercoding is done through relationships, as with, most queer characters lol. you have to talk about shipping if you want to talk about how the prsk characters are queercoded. talking about visual codes and non-relationship related stuff can only cover mizuki, and shiho/rui/debatably akito to some degree for each. LIKE THEY LITERALLY SKIPPED MINORI BECAUSE ALL HER QUEERCODING RELIES ON HER ATTRACTION TO OTHER CHARACTERS.

i've been talking about their errors and doing actual research into the topics all day on my twitter actually! like full wikipedia deep dive on the japanese version of the site and i've been reading articles and blogs for like the past half hour. it kinda bummed me out that people were calling out the thread for its eurocentrism and stereotyping but wouldn't provide any corrections (i don't blame anyone for not making a second thread lol i just think it would've been cool) so i decided to do the research myself and then post it on my private twitter with 4 followers. but i've had a lot of fun with it! i'll put some of my tweets under the cut

don't take all of this 100% seriously, it's mostly just me making little commentaries on my research (i'm still going actuallyoh hey when did it gets to midnight)

i also posted a powerpoint with some examples of queercoding (including shipping stuff) in the game here (this was pre-6 hour google deepdive though, but most of it still applies)

[chanrizard]

not coming off anon bc im a tiny blog and 99% sure your followers would come for my neck because basically no one follows me... i'm not the one trying to start this drama? did you not literally bring up fic writers for no reason in your tags on your original post? saying that it was just as hard to make a gif as a 5k word fic? YOU started that. it's so weird to me that you'd even bring that up or try to make that comparison. like you're minimizing the work that fic writers do. that's all i'm saying. it is just so unaware and honestly shit-stirring to have to drag that in.

i agree that it sucks having gifs not tagged. has happened to me several times and no one gives a fuck because i'm a small blog. i quite literally love your blog and appreciate the effort you put in. and i agreed 100% with what you were saying until i read your tags basically pitting fic writers and gifs against each other. it undermines the entirity of the point you were trying to make, which WAS a good one. please just leave other people out of this

PISS ON THE POOR WEBSITE FOR REAL MY GOD can you not read. i said that because it is. and the reason very much was that the reposter was a fic writer. who happens to make socmed au threads btw so they know how to edit stuff on their own. which means they could very well make their own gifs to add to their content without stealing from tumblr.

and it says more about you than me that you chose to read it that way because it seems really fucking clear to me i said it's frustrating because "why cant you show the same respect (positive term!) for something that takes AS MUCH TIME AND CARE AS (more positive terms!!)". meaning they're both things of value. those are very much positive terms of comparison

sorry that happened to you we're all in agreement that sucks major ass and tumblr made it basically impossible to report stolen content but the point is not that they're not tagged, it's they shouldn't get reposted at all period even less by other content creators and the least you could do if you (general you, just to be clear, i'm not accusing you anon of anything here) choose to ignore op's wishes and delete the post is to link their blog. simple as that. instead 9/10 we get blocked

also sorry but the galls of accusing me of starting shit and saying things i quite literally never said when all i did was post a rant on my blog you could've well ignored and instead choose to camp in my inbox to send passive-aggressive asks is hilarious

[shishikusas]

ik it's been like 2 months after the drama that went down, but i'm curious, what are the points in the thread did you agree with? also, do you still consider yourself a fan of his a couple of months later?

there was a lot of stuff in that thread... off the top of my head i agreed with the creepiness of some of masa's older drawings ESPECIALLY adult patch. like that stuff really grossed me out. i can also understand where OP was coming from with the 'fetishizing cultures' stuff bc masa just can't not draw big tiddy women, but my opinion on any of that does not matter that much bc im white. its not my place to say, only the ppl actually of the cultures he depicted. sorta also true for the 'fetishizing lesbians' stuff, but i'm also ace and see things of that nature differently. so i get kinda confused i already talked abt the illegal song reprint stuff before... idk anything else really

yes bc it is possible to be a fan of a thing while being critical of it

[whetstonefires]

So op of that post that went 'sick of hearing about cis women's trauma' -> 'we need to cultivate compassion for men to help them escape toxic masculinity' has blocked me, which is fair, but it's frustrating because I should have redrafted that reblog a few times, to better and more thoughtfully express the point I was trying to make.

Especially since op isn't the one who advanced the argument about how compassion for the group you've got resentment toward is the true way to universal justice, and may not actually feel this is how the issue of toxic masculinity etc should be addressed.

And my comment sort of treated everyone in the reblog chain as being agreed on this latter point, which made op's original take ironic and frustrating because it's the exact opposite vibe.

A response which if I were op I would also find intolerable.

But my underlying point, that the sentiment about cis women needing to shut up about their gender-related trauma because it's obnoxious in the face of trans people's experiences is coming from the same place as the misandry that was being discussed further down the thread, and they have to be understood as reflections of the same set of impulses with a similar range of reaction options, that stands. I just should have said it differently.

Like I said, op has every right to be sick of dealing with that in their specific life context and to set a boundary about dealing with it, but it's the same thing. It has the same logic structure.

I go absolutely crazy listening to these kinds of conversations and seeing people try to arbitrarily tag certain groups as like. Too oppressed to be capable of harming others, so adopting exactly the same patterns as their oppressors could never turn them into someone else's oppressor.

That's how you get the abusive forms of feminism! That is the underlying assumption of the radfem! It's never true. You are always capable of harm.

You will get the same result no matter what groups you plug in there, because everyone is still people!

You can't just...externalize the harmful consequences of acting within this conceptual framework onto a 'bad group' like men or white people or cis people or religious people or whatever like there's some inherent corruption that makes it turn out like this, and expect the same ideas to work out differently because you aren't Bad Group. It's the same! It's just people!

The less power you have, the smaller the scope of consequences is likely to be, but everybody can find a situation where they have power over somebody, and if you just replicate the same bullshit you've been subjected to what do you think is going to happen?

The same damn damage.

So no matter who you are, you have to keep an eye on yourself for whether you are sliding into this way of thinking.

I just got really frustrated about it in this case because the arguments advocated by the end of the thread (i.e. society can only be healed through patient understanding, not judging entire demographics wholesale, and giving people space to heal from influences encouraging them to be shitty) were ludicrously ill-matched to the beginning of the original post, in terms of underlying principle.

And so often when I see that, it's because people are actively being terrible hypocrites.

But op wasn't responsible for the entire reblog chain, wasn't even speaking in such general terms, and couldn't be held accountable to the direction other people went with their original thought, and I should have done better at making that distinction instead of treating it as an inconsistency in a single argument.

That wasn't fair. And I apologize for being fucking annoying.

[bambi-kinos]

excerpt from the McLennon discord server

What follows is another conversation from the McLennon server, this one spanning a few days. The conversation started as a result of a twitter thread that one of us found interesting. I don’t think it would be fair to highlight this person so I have excised any links to the Twitter OP, I don’t want to point anyone towards them and give them attention they didn’t want.

In this conversation we discussed some of the negative responses to Paul McCartney’s Here Today, namely the type that complains that he still isn’t being honest enough when he sings it (!?) -- and what, exactly, John Lennon saw in Paul McCartney.

Minimal editing was needed on this conversation so it should be easy to follow. 

mynamesbetty — 10/16/2022 Interesting Twitter thread on "Here Today" - OP is of the opinion that even though it's clearly about John (and Paul admits it) it's not as emotionally deep as other songs that are probably about John that Paul hasn't copped to.

Leggy Maddingway — 10/16/2022 it is simple and might come off as superficial but its still abt the fact that Paul wishes he had told John "i love you" to his face and of course there's plenty of baggage attached to that 💔

mynamesbetty — 10/16/2022 And his inability/failure to say it is, of course, just one facet of his relationship with John

I do agree with the songs they list in one of the replies being about John but I'm not going to say that any of them mean more than the others

Leggy Maddingway — 10/16/2022 nodnod big agree

mynamesbetty — 10/16/2022 Especially "Yvonne's the One," it should be officially released so I can cry about it whenever I open Spotify

Leggy Maddingway — 10/16/2022 ;---;

VeggieRavioli — 10/18/2022 I've come back to this thread several times over the past two days, trying to make sense of their POV, and I'm still so perplexed lol

I just can't understand why someone would believe that Here Today lacks emotional depth.

like yes, I definitely agree that it doesn't encapsulate everything about their relationship, that wouldn't be possible with 100 songs, 1000 songs even. And I agree that other songs of his do more to capture the jagged, raw edges of his grief/feelings for John

but in terms of the Here Today "not saying enough" and "not representing what John and Paul have"... well isn't that kinda the point? It's one side of a conversation that Paul never got to have, it was never meant to epitomize their entire relationship. He wrote it because he just wants to talk to him again, and laugh with him again, and tell him just how much he loves him, and go "remember that time when we?" It's a simple song because at its core, what Paul wants is very very simple - he just wants John to be there with him

And that's exactly why he returns to it again and again in concert, instead of Dear Friend or The Lovers That Never Were or any of his other John songs that really rip your heart out to hear, let alone sing - why would he waste precious stage time doing that when it could just be him and his guitar and his John?

namaste — 10/18/2022 Fully agree.

I wonder if there is not a cultural misunderstanding at play too? For someone as utterly reserved in a very English way as Paul, this is him inspecting his own heart on a busy highway with drones filming and an audience clapping. I'm amazed he's even written such a song. It only hints at the depth of what was/is going on with Paul and John.

I do think his occasionally bizarro quotes, typically to assure he is perceived a certain way, have led some commenters to think he can and would wish to expose his most private inner truths. Sex and mariage he's not scared of going TMI on ofc. Love for a fellow man, well this song is a near miracle.

It's like a John lense has been applied to read Paul's lyrics here.

Leggy Maddingway — 10/18/2022 It's someone complaining that Paul is not John, again

It always comes back to the same thing, "we want you to be John Lennon and we'll lowkey resent and insult you for it"

Paul can't be anyone but Paul and he can write songs like this but he cant write like John

Leggy Maddingway — 10/18/2022 In a lot of ways John was the one who solidified the idea that celebrities should be completely open about their lives and then use that "honesty" as a marketing tool. I'm sure other people did it before him but he standardized the idea that celebs should just puke their feelings everywhere. So people who don't, because of reserve/shyness/wanting to keep things private, get the same treatment as the quiet kid in class: "wow she's really stuck up huh."

So you get threads like this where someone who thinks they are being sympathetic to Paul will complain that one of the most honest songs Paul McCart has ever written still isn't honest enough

namaste — 10/18/2022 Right? The madness of he’s not loving John lovingly enough. It’s the best he can do and it’s him showing his heart to millions.

I’m pretty sure John, if he had been here when this song came out, would have a) stuck his head under a blanket for a minute, b) been terrified by its intensity because he would have understood it fully and there’s a lot expressed and implied that would have placed him at some sort of crossroads, and c) gone “How on earth do I deal with that?”

Leggy Maddingway — 10/18/2022 We can criticize Paul and carp about how he wasn't [X] enough but the fact is that we didn't choose Paul so our opinions mean jackshit. John however did choose Paul. And he kept choosing Paul even when he got better offers. He saw something no one else did and found it irreplaceable and probably very charming in its own specific way. (See: how John's temper makes Paul's heart go doki-doki. John is the same way about Paul's weirdness.)

John would appreciate the song quite a bit and done all these things you listed lol. The whole point of Here Today is how uncharacteristic it is of Paul. When taking it in a broader view we realize that it costs Paul immensely to be this open about anything.

It's just wearying. No one in that situation could win. You treat people politely and with respect: "omg you're so two faced!" You actively keep your temper in check and negotiate to get what you want, by getting people what they want too: "you're acting so suspiciously, we don't trust you!" You say "I give up, I don't understand people and I'm too tired to keep trying" and journalists shit their pants, track you down in the ass end of no where, and then call you defending your family and property "a tantrum." You try to keep lines of communication open with your friends who say "are you human?" in a letter that they want published in a magazine. Your ex is murdered by a failson and everyone wishes it was you. When you write a song about your feelings and you try to out words to the emotions that have been clattering your head for years, the Twitterati complain "its not honest enough."

Man, it fucking sucks.

anyway Here Today is perfect no changes

mynamesbetty — 10/18/2022 And I think part of it is the r/iamverysmart line of thought that only complicated things with a lot of moving parts are worthwhile of time and analysis, when in reality simple and direct are often more impactful

Like, Here Today doesn't have multiple layers of references to past John and Paul, a big arrangement, lyrics that need a dictionary and Wikipedia open to understand, because it doesn't need to be that

It can be Paul and his guitar talking to John, like they did for all those years

namaste — 10/18/2022 John would probably be bowled over by this song, touched, and a bit scared. Then he’d post a dig on Twitter to preserve appearances and his brand. Then he’d recuse himself and write another apologetic love song in response at a minimum.

Paul offered predictability in every facet but hid them well. John craved and needed that and everything else to anchor him. The better offer John got we know of was terrifying for it’s constant spirited renewal. It couldn’t work which is a shame. It succeeded in other ways.

I don’t even know really why Paul bothers with social media, but then here’s the thing, he needs attention in a way he can manage so understands he’ll get bs and has a billion buffers social media can augment. And he’ll never have enough of those.

Plus, I suspect there’s a very curious kinky side to his engagement in the dead of night because under the mirage and marriages, he’s the same randy bachelor of yore and he can put his f off stilettos anytime like Ringo did not so long ago.

Paul’s not home reading In Search of Lost Time, he’s in his studio being less digitally illiterate than people think.

Leggy Maddingway — 10/18/2022 please read my ao3 paul

i think Paul is deeply hidden enough that we'll never exactly know what John saw in him but the fact that Paul could tie that ineffable quality of his to stability and some pushiness, made him super attractive. That's part of what makes Here Today so devastating imo. It's not just what it represents, its the context of Paul's other behavior that makes it so impactful....

anyway Paul is actually pretty good at this music stuff who knew

Leggy Maddingway — 10/18/2022 Paul offered John quite a bit, a lot of which we'll never know, some of which we can guess at, and the rest was put on display during and after the Beatles years. IMO Paul showed John that a person could be completely unhinged (Hamburg) but not lose themselves completely -- tho I think John didn't realize how rare Paul's self control was. Finding someone that clicks with your abrasive personality, fulfills you creatively, likes all the things you like, is willing to be nudged out of his comfort zone, and doesn't lose his head when presented with grand visions of wealth and success making him a stable presence in your life is remarkable in of itself. (George and Ritch grew up in even worse poverty than Paul but they bought into what Eppy sold them, purportedly.) All of that would be enough on its own but with Paul I think there was also the intrigue of his dualistic nature and how he's completely at ease with that dualism -- maybe not with all the urges it produces but accepting that he will always be that way. (Ref: that part of The Lyrics where Paul blabs that he thinks everyone is dualistic and can't imagine being any other way therefore everyone else must be too, surely?) For John, who always second guessed himself, this quiet admission of "yes this is what I am even if I don't always like it," would be attractive. "How the hell does he do that?" Admiration and envy.

And to top it all off, Paul loves him. John's flaw was that he couldn't stop himself from testing him but Paul loved him in spite of -- or maybe because of -- that too. Even when John went out of his way to make Paul feel unwanted or unwelcome, a pattern that repeated from Gambier Terrace to  past the end of John's life. Even John's own words couldn't make Paul stop loving John.

Leggy Maddingway — 10/18/2022 The creative aspect can't be undercounted either...John was disillusioned with Yoko, she did offer him some positive stuff (encouraging him artistically, giving him enrichment that the others couldn't) but John never clicked with her the way he did with Paul which I think was the driving force behind the outburst where he yelled I WISH I WAS BACK WITH PAUL in front of many important people.

And then there's just ineffable chemistry... Whoever else John met along the way, they weren't that and he realized he couldn't keep starting over with new people. He would always be missing something which is just 💔

Like damn the more I think about it the more incredible Here Today becomes.

Finding the creative partner who also loves you selflessly and is compatible with you is a once in a lifetime thing, the universe almost never offers second chances with that. No wonder Paul is heartbroken.

namaste — 10/18/2022 Perfectly said.

Yes, there is something powerful and exceptional about Paul other than uniqueness the world perceives of him, which John only truly knew, with Mike I suspect, Linda 99.9%. Other than irreducible - even by them - chemistry they retained through thick and thin.

Obviously that core of iron Paul has, someone who could and did stand up to John as you note in your other post. Enraging and demanding of respect. John's nature was by all indications not to hang around after storms and he never really left. He acted up in part possibly in fear of losing Paul for good, hemmed and hawed, feeding through his actions a correlation whether negative or positive.

Interesting quote by Derek Taylor with additional anecdotes to that effect. 1977. I simply do not believe their last meeting was in 1976 (given there is also a credible report which I don't have handy of Paul seeing John before his Bermuda sailing trip). And Paul is very persistent. Another one of those attractive qualities. John doth protest too much as Derek Taylor indicated.

[goldenteaset]

NSFW

Thanks to this post I can't stop thinking about how much Trimax!Legato's Iron Maiden looks like, to quote OP, "a sex/stress/stim toy". And since Iron Maidens are supposed to have people inside, and there's a suspicious hole in the center...hmm.

Legato x Fem!OCs (can be self-inserts if you wish) headcanons under the cut! They're a fair bit different than my usual style, the roughness especially, but that's not a bad thing? It fits this Legato, at least.

Tags: Captivity/confinement, dubcon, body control, fondling, oral sex, rough PIV sex, mindbreak

There were no women in the fortress Legato was kept in, so his tastes are wide-roaming. He's fascinated by relatively-innocent women though.

Usually they're delivered by his servants or he seeks them out himself.

Getting women into the Iron Maiden is a matter of using his threads, but he particularly likes it if they're charmed by his looks already to do whatever he asks.

"You are a pretty one...for a human. Here, I'll 'help' you in. You'll be quite comfortable--I need you that way."

The Iron Maiden is Lost Technology corrupted to Legato's needs.

The "breasts" in particular can synchronize with the victim's, so he can fondle them from the outside while they squirm in delicious confusion and arousal inside

Speaking of the inside, it's self-cleaning and surprisingly comfortable despite the shackles at the hands and feet. About the comfort level of a velvet-lined coffin, perhaps?

The victim can see and hear Legato through a "visor" of sorts over her eyes and binaural headphones. (This is usually why they agree to enter in the first place, they can still see him)

There's always a vibrator or "suction device" between the victims legs at the lowest setting.

"...For the time being, that is."

He usually enjoys teasing her first: whispering in her ear through the headphones, fondling her, tweaking her brain so that her arousal steadily grows, and she begins to beg...

As time passes and he explores his tastes, he finds he enjoys having the victim's sex stick out of the Maiden's small opening, for him to taste and fondle as he wishes. It's a meal he's rarely enjoyed, after all, and he loves seeing and feeling her delicate flesh pulse helplessly before climax.

And it's amusing, too, to hear her think she's done with him.

Several more rounds of feasting follow, slower each time. Heedless of the pleas.

Sometimes he has little patience for such niceties. In times such as those, he simply tweaks her brain as before but faster, heedless of the free-floating surreality it may cause.

Regardless of his methods, at some point he'll "relent" and the Iron Maiden will slide the woman into position to take him, with her entrance in front of the small opening in the center.

Regardless of what option he chooses, the sex toy will increase in speed to better "incentivize" her.

That is the last bit of kindness she'll receive from him.

The Iron Maiden shudders violently with each thrust, no matter how slow. It serves as a buffer between him and all his weight, pressing in deeper. Deeper. All without reserve or remorse.

It's more than a little worrying when he comes, too, heavy and far more than a human should.

She thinks he's done, he has to be. She's lost count of how many times she's shuddered with pleasure thanks to his compelling her mind and body to do so.

He isn't done.

Not in an hour, nor two, nor three.

By the time he is finished...there's usually not much of her old self left. And she's happier than he'd have preferred, giggling in a sex-induced haze through the headphones at him.

It's troubling, but perhaps a better outcome than he expected.

[etruatcaelum]

scene: Oscar meeting Ironwood

He hangs back while the others speak to the general. There’s a feeling in his chest—like the way sutures pull at skin—a kind of tugging pain he’s coming to know as the loose threads of Ozpin weaving into himself. It makes him kind of nauseous; it heralds the tilting sensation of deja vu.

Oscar knows this place. The pale marbled walls, the starlit paths curving away from the crest of Atlas Academy in the center of the floor: the city meant to hold up the sky.

Yet in the margins of that alien familiarity, he can feel the shape of something else, too. The tall, broad-shouldered man before them—chuckling under his breath when Ruby admits to having stolen the airship that brought them here—that man is the leader of a kingdom. If the firmament rests on the foundations of Atlas, then it is General Ironwood who carries the weight of it on his shoulders.

And here he is, greeting the people Oscar’s come to think of as friends like they’re his friends, too. Oscar isn’t anybody. He’s just some farmboy. But he’s standing in the office of one of the most powerful men in the world like he belongs here, and—and it all just seems more real somehow, suddenly.

He’s… like, important, now.

Not because of anything special about him, or even Ozpin. He’s just found his way– or at least been led into the company of people who Do Important Things. This is his normal now. He is the kind of person who talks to people who rule entire countries.

Oh no. Oh gods–

“—with Ozpin gone,” the general says, and Oscar just about jumps out of his skin. “I needed my own team of people I could trust. So yes, I told them. The Ace-Ops, too.”

Oscar stands ramrod-straight. He doesn’t like the way his stomach twists over the thought of Ironwood bringing new people into the secret without checking in first—he thinks more allies are only for the better. Ozpin can take his lying and sulk with it forever, thanks.

So he listens without interjection, heart hammering, while the general outlines his reasoning—and his plan. It’s all… a lot. The elderly Winter Maiden (pushing ninety now, he knows without needing to be told); the Staff of Creation, the point of withdrawing Atlas into itself and locking it up tight.

He can’t say that he thinks of the politics of the moment or whether Ironwood is really making the right calls—some of it sounds good, or at least as close to it as can be expected under the circumstances, and some makes the hairs on the back of his neck prickle with unease. Maybe his own; maybe Ozpin. But as first impressions go: General Ironwood is upfront with them, straightforward in a way that soothes the acid sting of Ozpin’s expansive dishonesty.

Things will, Oscar thinks, be okay.

…The others don’t seem to agree with that assessment. Qrow sounds almost as wary as he had at Haven when he says, “Oz spent his whole life—many lives—keeping this secret.”

And where did that get him? Oscar wants to snap, but Ironwood beats him to it.

“I know. But since Beacon, things have changed. Without him here to guide us, all I can do is use my best judgement.”

The atmosphere inside the office shifts almost imperceptibly as everyone—every one of Oscar’s new friends—sort of twitch in his direction. His shoulders hike up.

I’m not him!! Not– not yet, at least—

“…What is it?”

The general’s eyes are a very dark blue, almost the color of the cobalt floor, and meeting them demands honesty. “Actually,” he mumbles, “Oz isn’t… completely gone.”

Because he didn’t even have the decency to leave all the way.

“Uh, Oscar here,” Qrow rasps, “he’s the next Ozpin.”

Just another one of his lives–

Worse than that horrible reminder is the way Ironwood’s whole face lights up with joy—and unmistakable relief. Oscar withers on the spot as the general approaches him. “Oz? I’m so glad you’re here! I didn’t think you—”

He drops to one knee in front of Oscar, who cringes and forces out, “Not—quite. He’s kind of… um, gone, at the moment.”

Ironwood’s smile drops. Clouds of perplexed concern roll in to replace it. He says, “That’s… not normal. How did he—?”

“We don’t know!”

Ruby.

…Ruby?

Oscar snaps his head around to stare at her so hard his neck pops. We do know! We know exactly why he–

“We were in a train crash,” Ruby says, eyes wide and guileless and scared, “and ever since, well—Oz wasn’t there anymore!”

Silence.

Oscar gapes at her. Everyone else but Ironwood and his lieutenants is staring at Ruby too, grim-faced. None of them speak up to contradict her, and Ruby herself is standing very still—still in a way he recognizes as trying to stop herself from trembling—so Oscar doesn’t say anything, either. Even though it opens up a deep pit in his stomach.

Ironwood sighs, sounding crushed. “That’s the worst news yet.”

He gets up: he turns and paces away, bent like he feels the weight of the heavens on his shoulders anew after this fleeting reprieve, and the hollow feeling in Oscar’s gut fills up with something bitterly unpleasant. Like he’s nothing, unless he’s Ozpin.

“Did you learn anything from him about the relics, before…?”

“He told us the lamp can answer three questions,” Ruby says slowly, “…but all the questions were used up already.”

“Right,” the general mutters distractedly, “right.” He stops at the window and stares, the weary hunch in his shoulders slowly relaxing as he resets himself. “Ozpin told us that too, once upon a time.”

There’s a shadow in his eyes when he turns around, a flicker of distrust—although whether it’s for them or Ozpin, Oscar can’t tell. Still: he finds Oscar’s eye again and smiles warmly.

“At least we have you, Oscar. You’re safe here in Atlas. Maybe together we can figure out how to bring Ozpin back.”

It’s not the prospect of Oz returning that puts a grin on his face so much as it is the general acknowledging him as something more than a placeholder. “Thank you, sir!” He straightens up—hand twitching—(is he supposed to salute, or is that only something soldiers do?) “–I mean. General? …uh, Ironwood?”

Nailed it! Now if only the floor would open up and swallow him, please.

But at least his complete ignorance of the proper etiquette isn’t egregious enough to do more than incite another indulgent chuckle. He takes a deep breath, jittery, as Ironwood’s attention moves back to Ruby, the lamp—(the lie)—Oscar shuts his eyes.

So that all could have gone better, but it could have gone a lot worse, too. Mixed bag. But on balance, he’d call it a good talk.

[luckybyler]

I swear some people lack even a modicum of emotional intelligence. There's a reddit thread saying Will was at fault for not reaching out (normal and valid opinion), and I said that the last time he did, they mocked him for still liking DnD. This was the reply (not from OP) that I got:

I'll copy my answer here, because I think it's important to understand their fight better:

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That's exactly how Mike or Lucas would describe the situation if they posted on /r/amitheasshole and wanted everyone to validate them and agree with them.

1. It's clear that the issue wasn't about Will wanting to play that single DnD campaign. The context was that Mike had been ditching his friends to go make out with El for a long time now. We heard it from many characters, including Lucas himself, not just Will.

2.

Will wakes Mike and Lucas early in the morning to spring a D&D game on them.

Which implies they had a sleepover at Mike's, right? The three of them. And I assume all they did was talk about their breakups with El and Max respectively, while Will was just ... there, probably wondering if they could be their old selves for at least a day.

Although they aren’t enthusiastic, they agree to play.

Ding ding ding!!! Here's mistake #1. Either play enthusiastically, or use your words and say "Will, our girlfriends just broke up with us, we're trying to get them back, and we're not in the mood to play DnD". It would still have led to an argument ("and when you get them back you'll ditch me again"), but it would've been a smaller, more open and solvable one.

Will protests that the Khuisar tribe still needs their help. Mike proposes a course of action that will save the Khuisar and end the campaign. Lucas agrees.

Yes, mockingly. The campaign lasted for long, but that is standard for their DnD campaigns. Doing this was worse than just not playing (and explaining to him why). This is the part where the OP in the AITA post says "I was totally calm and offered a fair solution based on facts and logic and the other person went crazy for no reason 🤷🏻‍♀️" when they know good and well there was a damn good reason.

When they see that Will is upset, Mike offers to finish the campaign “for real” and Lucas concurs. Will refuses and leaves.

They offer that just to appease him, not because they really want to keep playing. Will refuses and leaves because he's not an idiot and sees that the offer isn't sincere. You know the meme that women say "I don't want you to do the dishes, I want you to want to do the dishes"? That's what we mean. Will wanted them to enjoy their friendship together like they did before, for at least one day. Not to force them to play for his benefit.

In the course of their confrontation, where Will accuses Mike of destroying the Party and refers to El as “some stupid girl”

And Will was right that Mike was destroying the Party.

and Mike counters that it’s not his fault Will doesn’t like girls, Mike asks if he thought that they’d never get girlfriends and would play games in his basement for the rest of their lives.

Translation: "I'M NOT GAY WILL!!! Also I outgrew you and my concerns are more important than yours".

This hurt Will's feelings so bad that it shattered his whole childhood (really, that's literally in the script: "his childhood, gone."), he was so hurt that he destroyed his safe haven with the baseball bat that his abusive dad gave him. That's the sort of thing that will come up in therapy for the rest of Will's life, and it never got resolved.

Lucas apologises for his lack of interest in Will’s D&D campaign, calling it really cool.

When they're too busy with the monster thing, so Will says it's not important anymore. Not because it really isn't, but because the supernatural crept in again. And yet again, it rings hollow.

When Will adds his D&D manual to the box to be donated to Erica, Mike asks if he’s sure, and points out that he might want to join another Party. Will says that that won’t happen.

It's a beautiful moment and it solves the surface problem, but (as we see in season 4) the damage is already done. This is putting a band-aid on a festering wound. They're back to being friends and he's not mad about the DnD thing specifically, but it's no longer the same. Now, besides the caution that comes with being in love with Mike and not wanting to come off too strong or reveal his true feelings, now he has also the nagging thought on the back of his head that maybe he's not that important to Mike, or that he's a bother or a nuisance to him. Their relationship can't be fully repaired until that issue is actually and meaningfully addressed, which it hasn't been as of now.

None of the characters make fun of Will for liking D&D.

Maybe "make fun of" is the wrong expression. They belittle him and act condescendingly to him for it.

Having priorities other than D&D doesn’t mean that Mike, Dustin and Lucas no longer like the game, or that they look down on Will for enjoying it.

But that's now it came off. There's no other way to interpret Mike's words during their fight in the rain.

We see in Season 4 that with El thousands of miles away, Lucas and Max broken up, and no Russian spies for Dustin to chase down, the three of them join Hellfire Club.

1. Maybe not as far as Will knows (only a couple of calls), and 2. That makes it worse. From Will's POV, it looks like they called him childish (at the ripe old age of 13 years old) for still liking DnD, only to turn around and join a DnD club the second he's gone. That's gotta hurt.

I'm not saying Mike or Lucas are evil or anything, I'm just shedding light on why it's understandable that Will didn't reach out and instead waited to see if Mike still wanted to be best friends with him. And the next time he sees him, Mike acts like a dick to him at the airport giving him a bullshit No Homo shoulder tap and being awkward about the painting, basically confirming that it's true that he's "not interested in anything I have to say".

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I think Will and Mike still need to address this in Season 5 in order to heal. And of course, and we Byler's know, to be together.