#But i think like literally all harm from all energy sources is either directly caused or exacerbated by capitalism

[hometownrockstar]

When i was younger i had a brief hyperfixation on radiation and nuclear war movies made during the 80's cold war times but it was brief because after like a week of it i got so viscerally depressed that i had to make myself stop engaging with it and i also have a deep fear of radiation poisoning tho i wouldnt pinpoint the start of it to THAT moment i'd always been scared of it but yeah. But anyways my response to it now at the moment is to learn about nuclear power and learn all the ways it is done safely and the benefits it can provide :-) this doesnt stop the fear of radiation posioning and worse case scenarios obviously but i still like to learn about stuff because if you don't know about it its easy to jump to the worst conclusions to fear about it. Radiation in general is very feared by the populace so i wanna know about it so i dont be afraid of common misconceptions i might take as fact. Also energy is very cool to me i have considered working in the field before whether its wind or solar or electrical pylons hehe

[sockknitterporg]

The main bulk of my suffering is directly related to the manufactured "opiate crisis" that has caused untold pain and suffering for so many millions of people for so many, many years. In this essay, I intend to place my experiences in their proper context, as one of a sharply growing series of victims of medical malpractice stemming from the fundamental shift in our society from seeing pain patients as people to be treated, to deriding them as addicts to be suspicious of.

Though it says volumes about our society that we see addicts as fundamentally 'bad' people who deserve homelessness and death instead of as human beings, often times human beings who are suffering greatly and turn to the only thing that makes life even mildly bearable. But that's neither here nor there. (For more information about addiction, see https://tinyurl.com/rat-park )

Our story begins in 1996, when Purdue Pharma (Stamford, CT, USA) released OxyContin, a sustained release oxycodone preparation that is also sold here in the UK. In the US, where such things are legal, it was aggressively marketed and promoted as less dangerous and less addictive than other opiate preparations. (Source & more information about OxyContin's marketing: https://tinyurl.com/oxymarket )

Anyone who thinks a $200 million a year marketing campaign would not spill over to the UK is more than merely obtuse, but likely willfully ignorant. The entire 'opiate epidemic' is an American import, and it started there: with an unscrupulous American company that would stop at nothing to make money.

Lulled into a false sense of security by Purdue's claims of minimal risk of addiction, doctors began prescribing OxyContin much more liberally and for much more than they originally would have. This increased availability set many people up for addiction and overdose deaths.

To most people, that is the bulk of what the 'opiate crisis' is. But there is a secondary crisis unfolding quietly behind closed doors. In the USA, there are "Don't Punish Pain" rallies that at least try to draw attention to the situation ( https://dontpunishpainrally.com ), but here in the UK we are entirely forgotten and buried under the British 'stiff upper lip' mentality. It is completely hushed up, no one talks about the fact that the pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction. (For example: https://tinyurl.com/opiate-pendulum )

The government and/or the NHS have enforced involuntarily tapering of chronic pain patients' medication. Medication we need in order to not spend our lives screaming in agony. The pain management clinic has already warned me that it is, direct quote, "when, not if" I will find my own medication terminated, ready or not.

But there will be no 'ready'. Chronic pain does not get better with time. Chronic pain does not go into remission. If you know someone with chronic pain who appears to be 'getting better', I can promise you it is merely that the sufferer has learned to better conceal it. It's a saying in the chronic pain community, "We don't fake being ill. We fake being well."

We have learned that the average person only has about two weeks of compassion in them, after that you're treated as a freak for not getting better already, or outright accused of malingering. After all, with all of modern science, can't you just go to the doctor and get a pill and be done with it? Our concept of illness is either 'you go to the hospital, get treated, and come out okay' or 'you go to the hospital, waste away, and die'. Chronic pain patients, who never get better, but aren't actively dying, don't fit in to our society's 'concept' of illness.

People who offer to help us out for the social brownie points of helping the poor cripple soon discover that we're not going to die, we're going to continue to need help for the forseeable future. Rather than gracefully admitting that they don't have the ability to help us in perpetuity (which would be perfectly understandable!), most people choose to lash out at us, we must be abusing their kindness, they helped so we must surely be better by now. Compassion fatigue seems to hit every single human being that interacts with us, as if merely existing while disabled is wearing on their ability to remain civil. (Compassion fatigue: https://tinyurl.com/2-week-fatigue )

Doctors have even less compassion than that. In the backlash of the 'crisis', they have begun to treat anyone who complains of pain, unilaterally, as a drug seeker. And those of us already in treatment? Are addicts in need of rehab. (More examples: https://tinyurl.com/drs-no-compassion )

Despite study after study (Studies: https://tinyurl.com/no-taper ) showing that tapering chronic pain patients unequivocally causes severe harm, up to and including death, the pain management team said to my face that I am, direct quote, "addicted to heroin" and "no different from my four year old grandson, demanding a choccy biscuit because he doesn't know they'll rot his teeth. And I have to smack him and tell him NO! And I'll smack you, too, if it'll get you off those drugs!" (Somehow my complaint that a doctor had literally smacked his hands in front of my face to demonstrate that he was sincere in his threat to physically assault me.... mysteriously got lost.)

I have been denied treatment for other (non-opiate) methods of reducing my pain because, direct quote, "it doesn't matter as long as you're on those drugs, opiates actually make you more sensitive to pain in the long run, so there's no sense trying anything else if you won't get clean." They talk to me like taking my medication responsibly, as prescribed, is the same as shooting up black tar. All in the hopes of bullying or shaming me into "voluntarily" tapering.

Honestly just living under these conditions alone would be enough to snap my mental health in half, but you have to remember that I'm not only facing all of this systemic bullying and professional misconduct while also living with pain that has often been compared to late stage cancer and chemotherapy ( https://tinyurl.com/fibro-chemo ), as well as debilitating fatigue, and a shroud of fog hanging around my brain and clouding my memories and judgments (and at times, my ability to speak English). Everyone's first reaction is "did you report them? you should report them. why didn't you report them!" as if I'm too stupid to have thought of that myself. But I don't have the energy for the lengthy bureaucratic nightmare that is dealing with the NHS's administration, especially not when I could have my entire life destroyed by a doctor's bruised ego penning into my file "patient was uncooperative and combative, suspect drug abuse".

It's only a matter of time before I choose suicide over another sleepless night of laying in bed and praying for death. And when that time comes, I hope that my name is added to the long, bloodstained list of people who have killed themselves not out of any sort of depression, but because their entire existence is built on pain and suffering and enough becomes enough for the last time. Drop my body on the steps of the CDC, which is the main driving force behind the opiate witch hunt. Maybe death will at least bring me some measure of peace.

[savnofilter]

TW: MENTIONS OF DISCOURSE, GR//MING, P/D/PHILIA, ASS//LT, C//NSENT, D//RK CONTENT.

- this isnt under a read more because i want people to read this, but please read past this/tread carefully if you cannot handle such topics. this is not meant to be interacted with.

I'm not sure how to really go about this. I've been overthinking if I should address this and bring up some stuff while I've been gone, so sorry the absence. I deleted the tumblr app a few days ago and I downloaded it again today so i could post this. I really don't like making posts like this because it cuts the vibe that I've been trying to portray that everything is okay and it makes me feel really disconnected to you guys. I am sorry for the abrupt absence and cutting off any source of communication between us. I knew if I left any form of direct line of talk to me that I would receive hate and I just mentally decided that I cant sit through being harassed right now.

Have you guys ever paid attention to the same people who always have a statement to say or is always in discourse? It's very telling how everyone can post about me, but I shouldnt dare post about them. I'm tired of not being able to post about what I want without people vague posting about me, bringing me up every time they start another discourse with another writer or directly talking about me. My days on here are starting to feel the same. Its good then it goes bad. Good goes bad and bad goes good. It's not even tiring, annoying, or angering -- its repetitive. When I'm not saying anything people create fake stories about me, and when i speak about it im the one starting discourse. Don't get me wrong, I'm nowhere near perfect and I have made my own mistakes. But why the fuck am I always being told to be the mature one, why am I the one who should've done better, why do you people expect so much from me. It's the fact people are always quick to say, "no one cares about you, youre fishing for attention" when they're the ones who vague and interact with me while ive been minding my business for months now. Hm. The fact people have me proudly blocked but still harass me anyways shows a lot about themselves than it does for me. How its such an issue that im a minor until it comes to demonizing, tearing down my character, gaslighting, lying and bullying. I'm a literal example of how their friend group manipulates their followers and exiles people from fandoms for not kissing their ass. except now its in your face.

Consider this my last post about this discourse. I'm not going to waste my time on people who fail to digest other peoples thoughts and opinions time and time again because theyre weak narcissists. If I so choose to decide to shit post my opinions or argue with someone, none of you should be aggravated or moved by it because youre not even supposed to be on my page. If its not something serious i will not be wasting energy that i can be using to build on myself as a growing person than on miserable old ladies that have to use fanfiction to have excitement in their pity, depressing and lackluster lives. If people so do choose to create stories or vague about me, I do not care. So I ask respectfully to people who do lurk on my page to not attempt to message, post or vague about me please. This includes sending anons to yourself to make shit happen.

Past that, something got me thinking. My (older) friend had showed me screenshots of adult writers (no one i have spoken to) that were very excited to write underaged reader with adult characters. There are other instances where writers (that you have probably read from) on here openly made reader underage while aging characters up as adults/with adults. There are many more but there's really no point in listing them nor do I really care. But least to say, the same people who are gung-ho over these pedophilic themes/stories are the same people who support predatory people.

I've been thinking about whether or not i should continue writing for the students anymore. Granted, I still think they're attractive because one snap of the fingers cant stop that. I had been teetering on this thought for awhile because of how borderline pedophilic the people are here towards my age group. I enjoy writing but not to the point of willingly being in a straight line of sight where people who are well over 16 are harassing me and lurking on my page, especially to other minors solely because they are my friends. Backtracking to the statement before, I honestly dont know if I will either stop writing or just for the students as a whole. It shows that clearly some people are using their attraction to teens with the excuse that the characters are fake. The rapid normalization on dark problematic "kinks" is disgusting and vile, and the fact that its discourse now to shame said interests is appalling. Concluding that combined with my experiences here, i feel unsafe.

***(TRIGGER WARNING)*** I dont talk about my personal life on here that much cause I dont see the need too nor do i think its anyone's business. Paired with the fact that the people i have trusted personal information with have used it against me, I will be preventing myself from opening that door. Besides that for now, I have sparsely shared I've been assaulted before. This is my first time really opening up about this and i kind of find it necessary now. Coming from someone who has been a victim of assault and CP by people my age and well over, writing nsfw has been the only way where I could feel comfortable with sex in general. I won't get into details because mentioning this is triggering already and can make people uncomfortable. It feels like anywhere I go, I'm constantly putting myself in a position to be abused. The same people who told me I didn't have to worry about my age and be judged for it, exposed the minimum comfort of keeping myself private online to demonize, judge and hurt me. People call me "extra" for being distraught about my face and age being posted because they think im trying to be sneaky which isn't the case. Its the principle that they KNEW I wasnt ready to share said things, and coming from someone who is inherently a private and closed person, she knew damn well what she was doing when posting screenshots of me on Tumblr. There is no excuse for it. The same writers who write dub/non-con can BARELY understand basic consent and its fucking terrifying. This site was the only other place I could cope without being criticized. To see people who some i was close to proudly lie on my name, (adults) say that i sent them pornographic content without their consent is so very hurtful. To watch people supposedly be victims and then use their own trauma to invalidate my own was so fucking humiliating, disgusting and nerve wracking. Although I knew I made the terrible decision to interact with stories, I have never initiated any NSFW discussion with anyone in DMs unless they did it with me first and a few times -- and trust me raise your hand I'll show you the proof. I was sure that everyone I talked to regularly knew that I was a minor, and to my general consensus, people were under the impression I was 15/16 (which I was and am).***

Whether it be victim blaming from the grooming discourse, I've been met with racism, harassment towards my friends, people wanting me to harm myself and be assaulted. I fear what will happen when i will turn 18, if the harassment will escalate and what not. A big part of me is that I'm still here anyways because it pisses people off and I don't care when I receive hate. I can take it but I don't want it. A good conscious of me knows that I should be doing what's best for me but at the end I'm still attached to my ego-self with the added fact that I sincerely enjoy interacting with my followers and posting stories.

I just don't know how the options look. I'll probably be updating my blog rules as of right now. I've been writing more sfw lately because of this and it'd be nice if you guys supported those until I properly decide. I still have plenty of requests of a bunch of characters (mostly Bakugo and Dabi) and original stuff (all sfw & nsfw) that I really wanna share with you guys. But I just ask that what I do modify that you will respect it like you would to any other writer on here.

Stay safe, keep your mask on, and thank you.

[buttercupjosh]

This post is all over the place and it’s long but I had to let all of my thoughts out:

Yes, like most people I’m disappointed but not surprised that Carter is conservative. (This applies to the entire league as whole. Most of these players are privileged rich white men so I’m not that shocked but it did surprise me coming from Carter, who literally has Ray Emery, a black former NHL goalie on the side of his mask and had a “privileged conversation” with Kevin Weekes, also a black former NHL goalie. Most conservatives are anti-Black Lives Matter and pro-A*** L**** M****). As a woman of color, this information hurt and caused me to feel distressed. As you may or may not know from my previous Carter related post, I created a false expectation of who he is. I picked up on the fact that he’s handsome and has a wholesome energy and I ran with it. I hurt myself and harmed my perception of him because of that. It’s lowkey devastating to me. (not as bad as some of the other people that I’ve done this to before and things that they did. I can explain this in a dm). Obviously, this has caused my self esteem to take a hit (by letting myself down by foolishly praising the bare minimum) but I will move past this in time. (I also picked up on the fact that some of the stuff he did something kinda shady but we don’t have time to unpack that in this post.)

After finding this out, it lead me to doing a little investigation and I found out that unfortunately but really realisticly, a lot of these players follow only a few people of color (most of the POC that they follow are black men who are athletes or musicians. Only one player that I looked into follows a black woman and it’s Michelle Obama). I understand that they may not know a lot of POC in real life, especially based on the communities that they were raised in but it would be nice if more of them seriously cared about people of color and other marginalized groups; not just because it benefits them or to be performative or to make themselves look like a great person when they’re not. I’m not going to get started on the girls they follow either because I’ve talked about this before. Yes, I literally went through 20+ different players following on insta (before insta stopped loading the following tab) and counted every single person of color that they followed. If you’re interested in seeing how many, just DM me. (Also, through this search, not to cause drama, I ended up finding 2 active players’ finstas.)

It’s an uncomfortable and painful reality that I can’t impact or change. The NHL is still going to accept people that fit into their mold and still do and promote the bare minimum when it comes to racism and other social issues. (This is rooted in their culture and that needs to seriously change). This experience taught me something, it taught me that sometimes you have to realize and recognize that the people you stan/adore/like can disappoint you with their words and actions, even if they’re not harming you directly. I also realized the uncomfortable reality that I don’t and probably never will fit into their puzzle of acceptance because of who I am. I know some people don’t think it’s that deep (which I understand that we all have different beliefs and that’s fine) but we live in an era of misinformation and by sharing infomation from an extremely biased source, spreading false rhetoric and promoting white privileged can be harmful to others. I still like the sport, I’m just now more aware of some players’ alignments and to be more careful when it comes my thoughts of praise towards them. I’m not going to completely write them off (cancel) as horrible people for their trash political beliefs and actively choosing to only care about themselves and people who look like them but I do still think that there is some goodness buried under that mess (for some, not all and being a good person doesn’t excuse/justify racism, homophobia, sexism etc.)

I lowkey hope that maybe one day, a white player in this league/sport will open their eyes and stop blindly promoting the “I’m a rich white boy and I don’t care about politics or other social issues because it doesn’t affect me” ideology and use their platform and privilege to advocate for others (especially those that don’t share that same privilege) and seriously mean it and their peers will do the same. Hockey won’t be for everyone unless those who are accepted can show and prove that this sport is a safe space for all and not just rich white men.

[writerice]

Honestly, South Park is a really good show. Anyone who calls it racist today, fundamentally misunderstood why it makes of fun of busybodies, as well as why remaining chilled, calm and cool is actually a good thing. People complain a lot that South Park is a show where uncaring is cool, and where people who care too much are the butts of jokes. Now, I never want to do this- I don’t want to deny someone else their perspective- But these opinions are built on shaky premises, and misses the mark.   First lets start with Eric Cartman, who is recognized as the source of a lot of the bigotted comedy in the show. Eric Cartman, ever since the first season, had almost always been put in the role of an antagonist/ that one drama queen who no one wants to get involved with. He finds ways to manipulate situations if it’ll mean he’ll receive something out of it, and is a self-centered person to the extreme. When he says bigotted things, we’re supposed to find him disagreeable and hateful, and his being funny will never make what he says to be okay. We’re also supposed to feel refreshened whenever Stan and Kyle immediately admonish him for being a dick, which is also funny, because holy shit, not only do we have a child spouting antisemitic bullshit, but we have children who will actively tell their peer to fuck off! Its wonderous. This is WHY South Park was so fascinating to begin with; Before South Park, there was never a seriously funny depiction of kids using realistic adult profanity while having childlike discussions on topics that were considered political.  Now lets move onto Stan and Kyle: These two are clearly shown to be awesome and cool kids who just want to have fun and enjoy their lives. They don’t want to be roped into things that adults tell them that they’re supposed to be worried about. They’re kids, they live in the present. They live uncomplicated lives, as any 8-year old should, unless its something they’re interested in, like an adventure involving other kids from their class (anyone remember them capturing a paper fortune teller from the girls?). They don’t force themselves to care about things. They understand from a young age that ungenuine about causes can be harmful, and a waste of time and energy. 

When they DO genuinely care about things, we have cool and rich plots emerge that are related to our understanding of them as characters- Stan has successfully helped save the lives of veal up for slaughter, as well as whales. Kyle navigates his Jewish faith and identity while being one of the most compassionate human beings on television. Even better than that, these boys arent’ even particularily strongly identified. Stan isn’t that “animal rights activist”, and Kyle isn’t that “humanitarian child”, they’re flexible and dimensional characters. They have their moments where they’re just being kids and are relaxing and having fun like normal, as opposed to brooding over shit that they can’t control. It seemed like South Park had an accurate depiction of what a healthy attachment to identity/cause actually looked like, WAY beyond this era of neuroticism where people are encouraged box themselves.

It says a lot of sad things about children nowadays, too. Children in the current generation are pushed harder than in prior generations in being perfect students, with mandatory volunteer work pushed onto them and being told that they need to develop their life’s passion in time for college plans. Some of them get pushed into becoming esports stars or child Youtubers by their parents. When do they even have the chance to be children anymore? 

Now, onto the adults of the show: The adults are always screwing things up. They want to ride on causes that they aren’t truly aware of. 

They are their own society’s disruptors; They often neglect to critically examine whether their call for action and change are justified. They don’t check to see whether their actions are necessary, or if their methods are reasonable. Sometimes, their actions create more damage than if they didn’t do anything at all! And this is why we mock them- Not “for caring”, but because they’re busy bodies; Their motivation to act or call for change comes less from wanting to affect meaningful change within their society, and comes more out of a vague desire to want to “better themselves”. 

Its the type of selfishness that we don’t really speak enough about in our current society as we should be- How people get intertwined into causes they aren’t truly thoughtful enough about, because they’re just encouraged to get passionate about “anything” that moves them, or “anything that seems worthwhile”.

And this is both stupid, as well as dangerous, because you want people to be mindful about what the real affect of their “help” is. Some things that people do in the name of “help” either don’t help the people it’s intended to help (the only poor family in South Park, the Mc Cormicks, get a single can of vegetables on Thanksgiving via a gameshow-like contraption, and they don’t even get a can-opener for it), or make matters worse for those it claims to help (Like Bono claiming that Timmy playing in a band was akin to mocking his disability).  People can, and should be encouraged to help make a difference, but you don’t want a culture where you keep pushing people to change things for the vague reasoning of “being a good person”. You want people who are informed, aware, are capable of critical thinking, and who can tell when and where their efforts are actually needed. 

Also, this is extremely important: But South Park is, like literally everything ever, a product of it’s time. This show was made during the 1990′s to early or late 2000′s, when things like media activist groups existed to police and censor stuff for people because of those things being deemed “insensitive”. This was before the internet was fully used on the scale it is today, so people were being limited from being able to watch/read/play or otherwise access media based purely on stupid, petty shitty reasons.

Like not allowing children to enjoy Canadian television because farting or using cusswords is “too offensive”, where you were dealing with Karens who had way too much power and time to spend. It meant telling Karens/Boomers relax and not to deprive other people of their ability to express themselves just because they didn’t think their interests were “appropriate”. Totally a different thing than when we talk about the generalized concept of sensitivity today, when we’re refering to how human beings are made to feel as based on their identity. 

Kyle’s lectures at the end of an episode are meaningful- It doesn’t exist to “undo” any offensiveness in an episode. He’s a voice of reason who brings together the social commentary. I don’t see why anyone would ever have a problem with it. Is it obvious and easy? Yes. Does it put a nice cap on the end of an episode to return everything to status quo in time for the next one? Yes. I loved it. I thought it made for a comfortable, easy viewing experience. It may be considered formulaic, but thats how they made the end of an otherwise edgy episode feel wholesome, or depart a message of value.

Its easy to see this as an “attack on caring”, if you’re applying it directly to today’s movements and stuff, but that requires a lot of willful ignorance, and an even greater lack of understanding the context the show was made in. We all have access to wikipedia, no one has an excuse. 

TL;DR, it didn’t “age badly”. It was extremely relevant for its time. Context matters, and this show was perfect for the context of it’s time. The creators are doing their best to address current modern day topics with new story-telling, so maybe look to the present and be amazed by how much they’ve decided to change in those regards instead of repeatedly making everyone who grew up with the show feel old. Sincerely, a nonbinary pansexual liberal woman of color who just wants to enjoy South Park as the greatest still-running animated satire ever, thank you

[fireflysummers]

Just Fiction (and When It’s Not)

I’ve been tying myself in mental knots for the last while about the “It’s Just Fiction” argument. At this point I’ve heard a lot from both sides that’s actually pretty valid, leading to a lot of general confusion. 

The conclusion that I’ve come to, though, is that “It’s Just Fiction” is not a universal defense, and its meaning shifts drastically when it’s shifted out of the originally intended lens.

I propose that there are three lenses through which the “It’s Just Fiction” argument can be viewed: in-universe, authorial intent, and public interpretation.

Before jumping into the analysis, I should note that there are a few assumptions here:

The fiction in question is actually fiction, and does not resemble any real life persons, living or dead in an identifiable capacity. Therefore, things like the Ted Bundy Case Files are immediately disqualified.

We are assuming innocence until proven guilty.

The In-Universe Lens

The “It’s Just Fiction” defense is most often applied to in-universe logic, and is related to the suspension of disbelief--the mechanism by which we can ignore our comparisons to the real world and immerse ourselves in a fantasy.

When you say "It's Just Fiction" about in-universe logic, it understands very clearly that fiction is fake, and that the characters and events do not exist in the real world. It may echo real life, and real people might to replicate it, but no matter how dark or gross or fluffy or fantastical the content, no matter how gritty and “realistic” it is, it is not real. 

Arguing that "It’s Just Fiction" is basically stating that you understand how to separate reality from fantasy, and treat characters and in-canon logic as the mechanisms by which an interesting story is told. While they may feel real, especially if you have a special connection with them, they fundamentally are not. 

As a result, content creators are generally allowed to use it as space to explore taboo topics and search for relationships and meaning in places that no sane person would enact in real life. 

However, this is not free reign to create whatever you want, and expect no consequences, as we will get to in our next point.

Authorial Intent

As stated earlier, the general assumption here is that the content creator did not intentionally have ill will towards anybody. Unfortunately, there have been too many case where this has proven to be bad faith. As a result, how to approach this aspect of the “It’s Just Fiction” argument is very difficult and controversial, because sometimes it is very difficult to “prove,” especially since the creative process is often multi-faceted as content creators draw from multiple inspirational and motivational sources. 

Oftentimes, content creators are young, ignorant, and lacking self-awareness. This leads to them not knowing how to take critique, especially if they are approached in a harsh, critical manner, and generally only alienates them in a way that stifles their desire to learn and grow naturally. It is generally not your job to educate strangers on the internet, either, since there are often trolls who disguise actual ill intent as ignorance.

The most surefire way to address this is to curate your own internet experience by blocking liberally those whose content you do not wish to see.

There is another case, though, that needs to be discussed: that of predatory content creators. These people usually straddle the line between “a distasteful lack of mindfulness” and “preying on vulnerable populations.” 

Accusations of ped/o/phil/ia against any individual are serious, and in process you have to consider a personal history of predatory behavior, rather than applying a blanket "if it's dark and taboo topics, then it automatically implicates the author as a pervert.”

You can usually identify these individuals based on the content’s tone and approach--that they aren't approaching a taboo topic for the sake of literary exploration, but because they are self-inserting themselves. There are heavy implications about people who  self-insert into that sort of fiction, such as people who write or draw cartoon character CP, and you can usually tell on a case-by-case basis whether or not somebody is hiding a gross perversion behind "It’s Just Fiction.”

Public Interpretation

Public interpretation is usually where the “It’s Just Fiction” argument breaks down entirely, because we are no longer working directly with the work (in-universe) or the people immediately responsible for its creation (authorial intent). Public reactions are very, very real and need to be treated as such--but first, you have to consider the likelihood that a work of fiction will actually contribute to swaying that public.

The argument here is “even if the person didn’t mean any harm, that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be held responsible.” And this is another tough one, because on one hand, yes, content creators ideally should exercise mindfulness about how their work will be received and interpreted. On the other hand, the public is beyond the control of any single individual, and things can easily be taken out of context or snowball out of their control, regardless of their intent. 

So, for the sake of this particular case, we have determined that the author did not mean to cause harm, the next question is how much harm is being done. 

In other words, who exactly is the public, and how many of them are there?

For instance, a bunch of kids filming a shitty monster movie featuring sharks may have the exact same messages as Jaws (sharks are evil and need to be killed). Neither one of them intend to do real sharks any harm; however, the one that needs to be held responsible is Jaws, not the shitty indie film. 

Why? Because Jaws was a box-office success that became a cultural phenomenon. It impacted the opinions of the millions of people, leading to a sharp increase of shark hunting. 

Yeah, the indie film was equally bad in the messages it was conveying, but it just fades into obscurity without actually doing any harm. 

It’s the same spiel with fandom works. Because fandoms are insular spaces, they feel a lot bigger than they actually are. That’s why fan-content creators are not held to the same standards as mainstream content creators, because the public they actually affect is actually quite small. 

When people say “It’s Just Fiction” in relation to content that is not intended to do harm, but is controversial in content, what they’re really saying is “fandom is a small, in-bred pocket of the internet, and and because it is not written by somebody intending to cause harm and will never likely see the public eye, the damage that it does is negligible, and any energy that you put into causing an outcry over it is merely a petty waste of time.”

At which point, again, the best course of action is to just block what you don’t want to see.

Applications

This is a long read, and the basic point is to exercise your own critical thinking skills. My general rubric for what I keep versus what I block is:

Is the content actually fictional.

Is the content creator acting out of a desire to hurt others?

If the harm is unintentional, how many people are affected, and how wide-spread is the damage? 

Let’s Practice

Case 1

Person A is obsessed with a villainous character from an anime.

They know that the character is completely made up.

They have no desire to hurt other people, since this affection for a fictional character is literally just them. Their actions do not pose a threat to vulnerable groups. 

The number of people even directly aware of Person A’s special interest is pretty small, and if you’re squicked out by it they’re an easy block.

Therefore, by this rubric, “It’s Just Fiction” works just fine as an explanation for their actions.

Case 2

Person B’s fanfic reduces your favorite character to LGBT+ stereotypes. The tone of the fic, though, is fluffy and light-hearted.

Again, this is entirely fictional and all parties know it.

It’s difficult to gauge whether this was done intentionally or not; sometimes a quick chat with the author will clear things up; otherwise, the tone of the fic and the lack of mean spirit in any of their other works, so it’s probably unintentional. It’s probably safe to give the benefit of the doubt.

The general readership on the fic and the number of kudos is pretty low, which means that it’s not getting much attention anyways. It was distasteful, it made you feel gross when you read it, but overall the damage is pretty contained.

Therefore, by this rubric, “It’s Just Fiction” still generally works, because of the limited number of people even aware of the fic’s existence.

Case 3

Person C made an AU with characters aged-up from the canon, and there are some N/S/F/W scenes or jokes!

AU = fictional

This is a tricky one sometimes, because there are absolutely people who age up characters just to “legally” draw them in N/S/F/W situations. 

However, there is a difference between people who do that, and others who say, project out an entire timeline full of unique character interactions and are looking to explore the various aspects of adult life, which sometimes involves consensual sex. The authorial intent here is usually pretty easy to pick up on, because a well thought-out aged-up AU often takes a lot of mindfulness on the part of the creator.

Again, things limited to fandom spaces are by default pretty small in the public that they reach. 

“It’s Just Fiction” absolutely applies here because of the amount of work that has been put into it to create an adult version of the world and characters, and it’s clear that the intent was not to expose minors for the entertainment of perverts.

tl;dr: If you’re going to treat fandom with academic scrutiny, please apply critical thinking to situations as they come. “It’s Just Fiction” does not work as a general statement because it wasn’t originally meant to be a general statement.

[too-much-tdp]

Analysis of Elarion’s poem - City Perspective

@siderealsentinel has written up a really cool theory about Elarion being a city and I really really like it. And the reason for that is because finally the poem makes sense to me.

When I read it for the first time, it sounded so weird. None of the phrases really made sense to me. I interpreted it as being about a human and thought “Well, I guess it’s supposed to mean something like she grows up (seedling, pulling roots, her open flower -> adulthood etc.) and that she’s in need of help and that she spreads dark magic (spreads her roots).” But nevertheless it didn’t feel satisfying. The metaphors didn’t feel like very goid descriptions of human experiences to me. Kind of, as if someone was trying just a bit too hard to sound different, mysterious and poetic.

But now, when I read it from the perspective of a city suddenly everything makes sense to me. Everything falls into place automatically. The metaphors suddenly seem fitting and don’t feel like forceful attempts at colourful speech.

And since I’m confusing Tumblr with English class right now, I will quickly go over every verse. : D

Also, I will sound exactly as pretentious as you would expect if from a poem analysis!

In general I think the growing tree metaphor is a very good parallel for a little settlement or small town (seedling) growing over time, streching its roots --> growing and occupying more land, stretching its branches --> amongst others: buildings growing higher towards the sky, open flower --> a city being at its peak, economically, politically culturally and socially. It sounds like the city is thriving, perhaps very rich and possibly quite influental in Xadia.

Elarion, trembling seedling Lying on the ground on an icy night. And in the cold She pulled her roots Defying the deadly winter bite.

This sounds, obviously, like the beginning. A small settlement, weak and with little rescources whose people have a hard time surviving the winter because they lack so much. But somehow it manages to grow into a blooming city:

Elarion, and her open flower, Afraid of wilt, darkness and death, She searched the darkness For a Spark And caught the eyes of a hungry dragon.

However, the city fears the loss of their fortunate situation, their peak, their wealth, their influence. This could either be due to greed or because they fear that they could never withstand magic forces as mere non-magical beings. Or both. So, in order to avoid a possible downfall and the wilting of their city, they search for means to prevent such a case. The spark could mean that they look for a source of magic. Maybe they’re trying to amass magical jewels, primal stones and other natural carriers of energy that they can use.

It is possible that they don’t really go about it in a measured way. Maybe they’re desperate and are too intense in their actions, maybe they’re greedy and try to take too much, maybe they’re too aggressive and it leads to conlficts with surrounding settlements and magical beings. No matter what, their work surely doesn’t go unnoticed and they attract a dragon. (Perhaps they wronged him in their pursuit and it wants revenge. Perhaps it’s just evil and they were unfortunat enough to wake its interest.) Elarion, the fearful fool, Reached her white branches toward the night, Asking the stars To receive their light And stop the fire of the raging dragon.

Now, that they’re faced with an enemy, that seems to be too powerful for them to defeat, their fear starts to make them foolish. Perhaps this is a hint, that they’re so desperate that they’d welcome any solution. Even if it is harmful and risky to themselves and others...like dark magic.

Before that happens though, they turn to the help of the stars which - as most assume - are the startouch elves (and maybe other starbound intelligent creatures) to save them from the dragon.

Receive their light could either just mean that they ask for their “blessing” and their mercy and hope the elves will stop the dragon for the humans. Or it could indicate that the humans asked to receive power - perhaps a star primal stone (which would be a literal physical embodiment of the stars’ light) - in order to fight the dragon themselves.

Personally I think it is the latter for a couple of reasons: It fits well with the theme of humans seeking out magic for their own gains and protection. Even without an arcanum humans could thrive a lot more if they owned more magical utensils like primal stones or arcane gems (they’d still be disadvantaged because those things are rare but if every city or so had their primal-stone equipped mage then they’s already be a much bigger force to be reckoned with). Also, unlike dark magic, it’s save. However the Danish text implies that humans aren’t considered equal. So perhaps the mere idea of humans using magic is considered an affront and their question for a primal stone could be seen as a big offense, making the elves even less willing to help.

Elarion, a heavy body, Cried as the stars of the sky turned to black, They turned their backs They concealed their light, They left Elarion to die.

A heavy body could mean that they’re already under attack and have taken substantial damage, making it hard for them to recover. For some reason - justified or not - the startouch elves abandoned the city. Maybe they didn’t see it as worthy because of their disdain for humans, maybe humans had done something arguably wrong in their attempts to keep their city strong and healthy and the elves thought its destruction was justified. As a consequence the city is facing its demise.

Elarion, her shell struggled death, She withered and suffered in darkness, Until the last star Linked from afar: a fire, a gift, a spark.

However in the last moment, right before their death, Elf Jesus - or Elf Satan - appears and gives them the power that they have so desperately searched for. A spark, magic.

Elarion, with her pure whiteness, Embraced the great black night flame. When she bent down, She declared her faith, She whispered, "Aaravos," his name.

The pure whiteness could have a double meaning, referring to the still innocent city on the one hand but perhaps also to the stone the city is primarily built with (not as important, but who knows). Maybe Elarion, being an important city, was famous for its white, bright cityscape.

Going back to the fearful fool, the city readily accepts a dark powerful force that is given to them.

Now here it becomes really interesting because the more obvious way to read it, is that Aaravos gave them dark magic directly. Either because he thought human empowerment justifies a possibly dangerous force since they have nothing else left. Or because he’s a bastard who wanted to cause a human-elf conflict deliberately.

No matter what, the city considers Aaravos their saviour and the humans pledge their loyalty to him (oh...). They become his disciples - maybe more in a scholarly way or maybe with much more religous undertones - but either way, they declare their faith to him and follow him.

The other interpretation, that siderealsentinel suggested, is that Aaravos merely tried to give them arcane magic but along the way humans discovered dark magic. Maybe they wrongfully associated his name with the practise by vocally following him/worshipping him and spreading the belief in Xadia that he is actually the source, when that was never his intention.

Another possibility is a middle-ground between these two, namle that he thought dark magic was a necessery tool for humans to connect to an arcanum (see Callum). So he introduced them to the dark flame, in an attempt to lead them to their arcanum but sadly humans didn’t really share his vision and thought dark magic was much more convinient. And that sweet moment of revenge, when you kill a dragon and actually use its body to conjure more magic that you can turn against other dragons.

I think this also opens up the possibility that Aaravos’ very bitter words to Viren are not in fact about the elves that imprisoned him (if he was imprisoned at all - that seems debatable, too), but about the humans to whom he extended loyalty and friendship but who...yes...ignored him. They failed his test of love. (Sorry, I’m really going overboard here. And eventually it could still very well relate to the elves and dragons. From interviews it sounds like he still has a special interest in humans? Or maybe he’s pissed at everyone. Everyone betrayed him. And on top of that he has to wear pants now.)

Elarion, black-eyed child, Her twisted roots spread deep and far, The humans’ might Sparked by the light Of Aaravos, her midnight star.

Elarion, being the capital of dark magic, spreads out. This could either mean that they literally expand and forcefully subjugate their surroundings, bringing dark magic to the humans living in the land they take in. Or it’s a metaphor for the citizens of Elarion merely spreading the word/the gospel and the practise of dark magic amongst humans.

They do all of this in the name of Aaravos - who may or may not like this depending on his intentions and the level of aggression the Elarion citizens employ.

However, one way or another, as their spiritual leader of some sorts he has become the guiding star of the city. The light in the dark midnight they had to face before. Either because he supported the spread of dark magic until it reached a desastrous tipping point (that he may or may not have wanted to happen) or because he accidently pushed them into the wrong direction and now they’re taking it everywhere and crediting him as their saviour (if only they’d be more like instagram art reposters in this regard...)

[sixpenceeeharms]

Responding to a year’s worth of hate mail

lol it’s been a while since we ventured into the inbox. here’s a selection of the hate mail we’ve received.

all of these have usernames attached because we have anon off, but since I don’t necessarily trust everyone who reads this not to send (arguably deserved) hate, I’m not including the names. you’re welcome.

Thats why all u can call out are sources and “art theft” Ur legit jus mad bc u dont have anywhere near as many followers as they do. Grow the fvck up, man, and act ur age.

you first. make sure to pay attention in your 3rd grade spelling class! it’s really important to learn how to write properly. :)

People need to grow a spine and stop being so butt hurt by every little thing. I do agree that art 6p uses needs to be correctly sourced and credited to the OC, but sometimes it can be hard finding a credible correct source to a specific image

oh my god. you’ve made a medical breakthrough. you’ve managed to figure out spinal regeneration AND a solution to the opioid epidemic??? get this person a nobel prize!!!

also here’s how to find the source for an image it’s really not that hard

There are no sources for some of sixpence’s stuff I’m calling the cops

don’t forget to call a whaaaambulance too we need to be hospitalized from that sick burn

I love how you guys take stuff out of context! Like my favorite is people correcting you on stuff sixpenceee said and you calling it harassment, super funny keep up the great comedy!

thanks! so nice to see our work is appreciated :)

Get over it!

get over what. you need to be more specific. get over a nearby mountaintop? get over our own past hangups? get over what Joss Whedon did to Natasha Romanoff? because that last one is never going to happen.

c'mon dude, grow the fuck up . you're probably some little baby who's sad that she gets more attention then you do. boo fucking hoo. you're a god damn child

you can tell we aren’t babies because we’re allowed to say “fuck”

After looking through your "evidence" to all the things you claim sixpencee to do and be, the only thing I've seen is that your nothing but a typical Tumblr social justice extremist who wants attention. You don't wanna close this blog? The fucking fine, Tumblr will be more than happy to do that for you since this blog is meant to target someone. You should be ashamed of yourself.

we’ll add “be ashamed of ourselves” to our to do list, thanks! quick question tho. is “the fucking fine” a new tax on nsfw posts? b/c that’s quite an innovative way to deal with pornbots that I think legit should be tried.

I feel like you're a sad person if you have to have a blog about someone you don't like. Obviously, you being negative about sixpenceee being negative doesn't make a positive. I hope you find happiness and someday you're able to not waste your time analyzing and scrutinizing a blog every day.

if making a blog about someone you don’t like makes you a sad person, what does sending hate mail to a blog you don’t like make you?

certainly not a good person, that’s for sure.

yoo, i understand that you don't like her blog (it's quite clear), but was an entire blog dedicated to shitting on her reall neccessary? You're not exactly making anyone happier, it's more along the lines of ruining someones blog. Some of your 'proof' posts trot into special snowflake territory (hate me all you want but it's true) and it's a valid argument for the people that can actually accept mistakes and move on. Call put her mistakes sure, but you're really dragging them out too far.

yeah, it’s necessary, because a lot of the people who call sixpenceee out end up deactivating / removing posts because they get inundated with hate from sixpenceee’s fans. 

also we’re not the ones ruining sixpenceee’s blog. she’s doing a great job of doing that herself; we’re just shining a spotlight on it.

I just think there are far worse people in the world, and sixpence could really be a pretty agreeable person with just a different perspective and different environment around her than you or others. But are those differences enough for us to completely demonize her and instead not try to relate to her enough to level with her and communicate on a more constructive basis ?Aren't there worse people in the world that need exposing versus just a girl who likes to post over related things?

this just in, supporting child slavery is not problematic, it’s just a different perspective!

I don't want to defend sixpence but this blog really isn't productive in the slightest. Maybe people will unfollow on the off chance they run into your blog? Or...You COULD do normal things like contact the authorities, report literally every chance you get (since you clearly you have the free time). If you're not going to actually do something then you're part of the problem. A little blog won't even dent the change you want to make.

you think we haven’t reported sixpenceee’s bullshit? tumblr doesn’t do shit about it because she’s one of their most popular bloggers.

and I dunno, the 200+ positive messages in our inbox thanking us for making this blog mean something. not much, but something.

Do you seriously have nothing better to do than to have a blog dedicating to defiling another blog?? Like why???? You COULD just unfollow her and go about your life instead of being extra and making a blog about your teenage angst

ngl I love that you used the word “defile”. it’s a fantastic word that’s really underutilized

Woowwwwwww someone pissed in your cheerios lmfao

...I was wondering what that taste was. thanks for clearing up that little mystery!

You have too much time on your hands lol

thank you for reminding me of the absolutely awful movie In Time. please don’t steal my time, I need that.

This is beyond stupid. I love Tumblr cause we can post whatever we want and show others who we really are. I can't do this on Facebook lol so why go after someone who wants to post whatever they want or interested in?? There is no harm going on. I think your just jealous. If you don't like the posts then just don't follow the person. Making a page about how much you don't like sixpence is very immature!

we’re also posting what we want and showing the world who sixpenceee really is. freedom of speech doesn’t just apply to people you agree with, you know.

Forgive me if I misunderstand, but what is the goal here? To get her page taken down? Why are you spending so much energy to call out one person for their, frankly, common misconceptions and issues? Wouldn't it be easier to hide her content from your own viewing so that you don't have to see it? Couldn't you give her your grievances directly? I mean ultimately it's about whatever makes you feel better. No one can stop you, but you also gotta know that you can't necessarily stop her either.

check the FAQ for our goals. 

and sixpenceee is notorious for ignoring people who don’t kiss her ass

and you’re right. you can’t stop us now cuz we’re haVING A GOOD TIME HAVING A GOOD TIME!!

ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

[myriadofquestions]

Are you Pro or Against Mining?

This question is easily thrown out every time there is a discourse relating to mining. I mean, it’s fair. It’s perhaps the easiest way to seek opinions and start a conversation, which is good because matters like this - matters that affect both the present and future generations - have to be discussed. This simple yet thought-provoking question challenges a person to justify their stand and therefore investigate and evaluate objectively whilst at the same time scrutinizing other people’s points of view. And at the end, you either are influenced to change your stance or have solidified your grounds.

The last case we looked into in our Ethics class is the Marcopper mining. The mining incident that happened in March 1996 was remarked as the worst environmental disaster in Philippine history. Its horrid and devastating effects on the lives of Marinduquenos are still apparent to this day. An article published in 2019, 23 years after the incident, featured a 53-year old Village Chief who had been suffering from skin irritation, fatigue, and body pains due to high metal content in her latest blood result and had to be admitted for monitoring. (Dizon, N. April 2019. “The Marcopper disaster: A tragedy that continues in people’s veins”. https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/04/04/19/the-marcopper-disaster-a-tragedy-that-continues-in-peoples-veins) Her story has the same narrative as the thousands of people in her village and expected to exponentially increase as the rehabilitation in their area has not been started yet. Residents are exposed to the harmful toxic coming from tailings that leaked from the dam and contaminated the rivers, their primary source of living from fishing to irrigation. So they basically eat, drink, and bathe in these chemicals.

Any person will find this unspeakable negligence sufficient to advocate against mining. I too am against mining. I think the losses we incur outweigh the benefits that a few people directly gain from it. I do not think that there has been an accurate calculation on what the real effects of mining are. In this case, for instance, there have been reports that the long-term effect of being exposed to these chemicals is delayed development among children. It is literally dumbing down a person, how can you compensate for that? And for this reason, mining companies’ so-called “developmental and rehabilitation fundings” can never adequately remunerate the abysmal and irreversible damage it causes.

And so when the talks about renewable energy came up during the class discussion being an alternative for mining, I got hopeful. Eager to know more about this, I started doing research. Conflicted with what I have found out, I am now uncertain if I heard the suggestion from the class correctly. What I have gathered so far is this: Renewable Energy is not an alternative for mining. On the contrary, mining is essential in obtaining the minerals needed for building infrastructure for renewable energy.

And so with the world gradually shifting towards powering the cities with renewable sources, it will, as a consequence, encourage more mining activities. A lot of big world problems will be solved by renewable energy, if not completely, at least significantly. Electricity formed from renewable sources like the sun, the wind, and the sea instead of fossil fuels will be the start of a crucial reduction in pollution and ultimately mitigate the effects of climate change. All the signs are present to give a green light for the construction of facilities needed for renewable energy; but, numerous studies suggest that the number of minerals needed to sustain the production of renewable energy will have a disastrous impact on biodiversity. (Thomas, T. September 2020. “Mining needed for renewable energy ‘could harm biodiversity”. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/01/mining-needed-for-renewable-energy-could-harm-biodiversity#:~:text=The%20production%20of%20renewable%20energy,other%20materials%20which%20are%20mined.&text=The%20scientists%20found%20mining%20potentially,used%20in%20renewable%20energy%20production).

One study made by a group of scientists was published to explore the extensive effects of mining in harming wildlife and contributing to the extinction of various species. The paper also offered recommendations on how a balance between producing renewable energy and conserving biodiversity can be achieved, as they acknowledge the benefits and need for a new energy resource. (Sonter, L. et al. September 2020. “Renewable energy production will exacerbate mining threats to biodiversity” https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17928-5)

To conclude, we are now reaching new heights concerning the demands of sustainable living here on earth. Fortunately, alongside these demanding changes are technological breakthroughs that can guide us navigate the rough parts. I think this tells us that the government as the Policy Makers and Enforcers must work closely with Scientists when attempting to deal with matters like mining.

This case on hand, although I have declared I am against mining upfront, proves the point that sometimes it is not as simple as you are pro or against it. There is a reason why mining operations are still continuous despite perhaps more than half of humanity advocating against it. I guess the least we can do is to find that equilibrium that will prevent trade-offs that put the larger good (including future generations into the equation) in an unpleasant situation.

[monstersdownthepath]

Themed Finale: Agmazar the Star Titan

CR 26

Neutral Evil Colossal Undead

Mythic Realms pg. 46

And here we are, at the end of Theme Week 2: Endgame Undead for a creature even more endgame than the Grim Reaper. Agmazar is a kaiju, a massive monster with a laundry list of immunities and resistances, one created by an ancient race a long, long time ago on a planet far, far away as the ultimate weapon against the undead. Originally a living being, Agmazar was launched at a planet ruled by death, only to have the lich-kings on its target world teleport it directly to Golarion instead. On this world filled with life, Agmazar was quickly slain by the Kaiju King Godzilla Mogaru, but it didn’t stay dead.

Agmazar’s immense power resurrected it as a deathless monstrosity that continued its mission to purge the world of the undead... Something it is, weirdly, not very good at, because aside from its slam attacks it... really doesn’t have any abilities that outright harm the undead. I assume that when it was still alive its powerset was more elaborate and tailor-made to slaughter skeletons and zombies, but thanks to Mogarou mistaking it for a malevolent intruder, Agmazar now excels in dispatching every living thing in its path from Point A to Point B whenever it detects some necromancy it needs to punch.

As you read below, please keep in mind that Agmazar’s sole purpose, its entire reason for existing, was to destroy the undead. Hold that idea in your thoughts as I tell you of all the horrible ways it can slaughter the living.

To begin with, Agmazar’s slam attacks! Four arms, four punches a round, each dealing 4d12+27 damage and inflicting two negative levels per strike. Those punches are hard, very hard, and are a nightmare for any being stupid enough to get within the titan’s reach (which is 60 feet). Agmazar can also use Quickened Circle of Death to remove any lower-leveled beings near it, clearing out obnoxious summons so it can focus its full attention on priority targets.

Of course, simply getting to the titan is a challenge enough. For one mile around Agmazar, the atmosphere begins to break up, making the simple act of breathing significantly more difficult, and then outright impossible when you get within reach of the titan itself. Its aura destroys the air within 60 feet of its body, suffocating any breathing creature that dares stand up to it and necessitating some form of assisted breathing if one wishes to get into melee with it... Not that anyone should, because of its quadruple slams and the eight negative levels that go along with it.

I forgot to mention: Agmazar’s slam attacks are treated as Force attacks, allowing it to effectively punch ghosts as well as anyone hoping an ethereal form will protect them from its fists. That is at least one point in the favor of “undead-slaying machine.”

Now, then, it’s clear that a melee fight with Agmazar is difficult enough, yes? No problem! If you can beat the Grim Reaper, then you know how to fight Agmazar: Just keep out of its reach! Simple! Except for its Force Field, which causes the first ranged attack made against it each round to bounce directly at either the source, or at another random creature within 60 feet. “But wait!” you say, knowing full well I have more to tell you, “that’s only the first attack each round!” yes, but A) The players don’t know that. The first arrow ricochets and hits the party rogue in the face, and the ranger immediately decides that they should probably hold back. And B) Gravitic Control.

Gravitic Control is the biggest ability under Agmazar’s belt, and for good reason. As a standard action the Star Titan can alter gravity for 2d6 rounds, doing any one of the following:

Acceleration: Agmazar gains Telekinesis.

Attraction: Anyone within 200 feet that fails a Will save cannot move away from Agmazar, and must spent their move action each round or get pulled closer.

Deceleration: Everyone is affected by Feather Fall. Flying creatures can only flop around awkwardly, and ranged attacks become less accurate.

Inversion: Gravity for 200 feet around Agmazar becomes reversed, and everything starts falling upwards. If it spends a standard action concentrating, the area of effect doubles.

Repulsion: Anyone within 200 feet that fails the Will save cannot move closer to Agmazar, and must spend their move action each round or be pushed farther.

Attraction, by far, is the most dangerous one on the list (with Inversion as a close second). Anyone with low Will saves literally cannot get away from Agmazar without some form of teleportation. Running isn’t an option, because the only direction they CAN move is closer, and if they don’t WANT to move they have to spend their move action anyway or get yanked towards the titan.

Agmazar gets over the Reaper’s primary weakness by making it nigh-impossible to escape, forcing squishies to confront it or burn a spell slot getting away. And even then, it’s not much of a problem to simply reactivate the ability again when it catches up to them... if it even wants to. Unless some undead beings are in the radius, Agmazar has very little reason to actually use Attraction. It’s more likely to use Repulsion or Inversion to send offenders flying so it can continue on its way. Agmazar’s primary target is always the necromancy that got its attention in the first place, and anything between it and that target is simply bashed until it stops being an impediment.

That’s all it is, remember? A weapon against the undead! A weapon created with a mission to eradicate all zombies! I mean... It can channel negative energy to heal itself, I guess, which... heals undead in general... And they’re also immune to the negative levels it inflicts with its slams. And its Aura of Suffocation. And they’re even immune to Agmazar’s spell like abilities, as Circle of Death, Horrid Wilting, and Waves of Exhaustion only work on living creatures.

... Y’know, I don’t think its creators really thought this whole thing out. Even the Hollow Serpents it can summon by breaking off its own arms are absolutely awful at killing other undead, but amazing at murdering living beings, meaning it can just rip its own arms off and let them deal with any threat it thinks is beneath it.

Regardless of what it was built to kill, though, Agmazar excels in killing huge swaths of living creatures and devastating long stretches of land just by passing through, which is enough reason for players to want to fight it. It may be focused on destroying undead, but anything that interrupts its march (or its otherwise peaceful meditation between marches) is fair game. Entire cities laid to waste just because they were in the way. It’s possible for a campaign to revolve around figuring out what the Star Titan’s target is and clearing everything out of its path so it can dispose of the threats it detects, or at least slowing it down enough for an evacuation effort to complete.

There’s also the possibility of an Evil campaign, or at least a Good campaign where some heavy necromancy is necessary, where the party must stop Agmazar from interrupting a grand necromantic ritual.

You can read more about the Star Titan here.

[mst3kproject]

K05/302: Gamera

The amazing thing about the very first Gamera movie is that they meant it.  By the time it died in 1971, the original Gamera franchise had become a joke even to its makers.  The lack of budget and effort were visible on screen, and the inclusion of things like Guiron, or Gamera playing his theme song on Zigra's back, suggest that nobody was taking any of this very seriously anymore.  But five years earlier (only five years) when they made Gamera, they weren't kidding at all.  They really wanted to make a scary kaiju film, and put everything they had into doing so.

The movie starts when a nuclear-armed bomber crashes in the arctic, and its warhead explodes in the wreck – this wakes Gamera, a sixty-metre, fire-breathing, saber-toothed turtle that has been sleeping in the glacier since Atlantis sank all those thousands of years ago.  Gamera begins flying around the world creating havoc, but also saving the life of a turtle-obsessed little boy named Toshio (I watched a version with subtitles, not the American dub that begat the tradition of naming annoying Japanese kids Kenny).  Toshio thereafter becomes convinced that his vanished pet turtle, Chibi, has grown to enormous size and become Gamera, and embarks on a personal crusade to stop the army from killing it.

Fortunately, at least from Toshio's point of view, the army's not having much luck anyway.  Heat won't kill Gamera, not after he already survived an atomic explosion.  Electricity is tried, and fails.  Heavy artillery doesn't even make him mad.  Fire turns out to be what he eats.  They try an experimental 'freeze bomb' to keep him still while they dynamite the hill below him to flip him on his back, but he just flies away.  In the end, there's only one thing they can do, and that's trap the turtle in a rocket and blast him to Mars!

I spent half my review of It Lives by Night complaining that bats aren't as scary as everybody thinks they are.  Now here's Gamera, a movie about a creature that isn't scary at all! Nobody's scared of turtles.  Even people who are terrified of snakes and lizards generally don't mind them, because popular ideology does not associate turtles with anything harmful.  Turtles are proverbially slow and rather helpless, unable to right themselves if flipped on their backs.  Their evolution has sacrificed speed and power for the protection of the cumbersome shell.  Rather than being in any way sources of threat, turtles are often symbolic of the ability to hunker down and weather it.  Making a movie about a monster turtle is, when you think about it, even more absurd than making one about killer bunny rabbits.

The people at Daiei knew this, of course, and the movie goes to some trouble to counter Gamera's general turtle-ness.  Being a turtle, he's not fast and his motion is severely restricted by the shell (I'd also bet that poor Aragaki Teruo, the guy in the suit, had a hell of a sore back at the end of a filming day).  His enormous size helps, but apparently it just wasn't enough in the minds of the writers to really make him scary. That's why they've also given him teeth, including the upward-pointing tusks that are one of his most notable features.  He breathes fire as well as absorbing it, and he flies.  A flying turtle is a very strange idea, and Gamera's way of flying, by spinning and shooting fire out of the arm and leg sockets in his shell, is particularly bizarre.  The only natural turtle feature the movie makes use of is the invulnerable shell.

When I try to imagine what might have inspired somebody to choose a turtle for their monster movie, I draw an almost total blank. In Japanese folklore the turtle is a symbol of stability and longevity, and a guardian of the city of Kyoto.  There are stories about mountain-sized tortoises, but these are not threatening creatures, either.  All I can really come up with is that they wanted something reptilian, to match Toho's Godzilla.  A dinosaur, or even a lizard or crocodile, would have been too Godzilla-like, though, and a snake doesn't lend itself well to a man-in-suit kaiju depiction... that left a turtle, and they had to work with it.

Gamera is a lot scarier-looking in this movie than he is in any of the sequels.  The black and white film helps, making everything look more atmospheric and menacing, but the design of Gamera himself is also slightly different.  It's a more elaborate and detailed suit than in the later films, and more effort seems to have gone into making him pointy, with the claws and teeth and the sharp scales on his back.  He also looks less rubbery here than he would in later movies, although that may be less about the suit and more about the cinematography: Gamera is always lit from near the ground to emphasize his height, and is more likely to attack by night than by day, when he can be seen by firelight.  Whereas in later movies Gamera is treated like a sort of theme park mascot, here shots are set up to make him a genuine monster.  The images of fleeing people being crushed by debris or roasted by Gamera's fire aren't good from an effects standpoint, but they are very explicit about what's happening.

Gamera is still damned odd, though, so it's fortunate that everybody in this movie seems able to take things in stride.  When the ship in the opening sequence sends a message that it has sighted a sixty-metre turtle, nobody in the American air force base bats an eye.  In any sane movie such a thing would be dismissed as a hallucination or mistake, and the Americans would have to see the monster for themselves to be convinced.  In Gamera people think it's weirder that Toshio likes drawing turtles than they do when an actual two-hundred-foot turtle appears in the arctic!  About the only time people react with what seems like an appropriate level of what the fuck astonishment is when they realize Gamera can fly.

The weirdest thing in this entire movie, though, is the opening.  As the movie begins, a number of planes are on their way over the pole, carrying nuclear weapons.  There's only one thing that can possibly be going on here: World War III has begun.  One of the planes crashes in the arctic and frees Gamera, but what happens to the rest we don't know.  They can't have actually made it to the USA to drop their nukes, because Dr. Hidaka is being interviewed in New York shortly afterwards and the city appears quite whole and happy.  It seems everybody has just completely forgotten about the nuclear strike.

By 'everybody' I don't just mean the characters this movie is specifically concerned with, either – I mean the whole damn world, including the people who ordered the attack and the people it was targeted at.  Nobody in the movie ever explicitly blames the USSR but in a movie from 1965 there's really nobody else who could be directly attacking the United States.  Later in the movie, however, the US and the USSR are working together on Z Plan, as if a giant turtle attacking Japan is somehow more important than the cold war suddenly getting hot.  I'm pretty sure that in literally any other movie, the nuclear attack would be important or even central to the plot.  Here it just sort of vanishes.

Finally, I must ask what we are to make of the relationship between Gamera and Toshio.  Actually, 'relationship' is probably the wrong word – they only interact once, when Gamera saves Toshio from falling to his death off the lighthouse.  This appears to be a deliberate act of mercy on Gamera's part, but if so, it's the only evidence of such behaviour in the entire movie.  For the rest of the film, Gamera feeds on energy, stomps around destroying stuff, and flies away from threats, but he never again appears to notice the humans at his feet.  Saving Toshio is also the only time there seems to be any real intelligence or purpose to Gamera's actions.  The rest of the time, he is only an animal trying to survive.

I guess technically, Toshio is in the movie because kids like monster movies and need a child character to identify with, but that's really not enough to justify his presence.  In later Gamera movies, the children are often the ones who actually save the day (as in Gamera vs Viras) or at least have a place, however poorly-justified, in the action (as in Gamera vs Gyaos).  In Gamera, Toshio spends the whole movie chasing after his turtle friend, but it has no effect on the plot besides to keep the kid as an observer in the middle of things.  He is never disabused of the notion that Gamera is his vanished pet, or that the monster means well in spite of all the destruction he is causing.  The movie seems to believe that having introduced Toshio, it needs to somehow keep him around for the entire running time, and therefore makes excuses to do so.

Of course, the real purpose of Toshio's rescue is to put something in reserve for the sequel.  If we hadn't seen Gamera do this in the first movie, him saving the world in Gamera vs Barugon would come totally out of left field.  It's just unfortuante that there's no place for the interaction in this movie's narrative.

Gamera is really just as silly and nonsensical as its own sequels, but the tone is totally different.  Here everything, from Gamera's bizarre ability to fly to his rescue of Toshio to Aoyagi's unrequited crush on Kyoko, is meant to be taken entirely seriously. This is why Gamera comes across as one of the most earnest and sincere films in the series, and seems to have the most respect for its audience as it never talks down to us.  Unfortuantely, it's also among the less memorable of the Gamera movies.  As far as making an impression goes, apparently you can't beat a pug with a knife for a face.

[unturnabletable-blog]

The mysterious girl(?) who ruined me

I am here to talk about the person who has destroyed me inside and probably the worst person in my life to affect me so negatively. 

I met her in the beginning of 2014 when she was making depressive comments somewhere, it made me want to ask what was wrong. From there we started to talk a lot, almost every day. I eventually found out she was in love with some big streamer, someone who was ignoring her all the time, so I hated to see that so I took it upon myself to try and help her out. She was thankful, got over it later and things were going alright, I even asked to meet her one day and she was open to the idea, we talked about doing it in the summer. I was interested in her romantically, at this time anyway. However in the summer she was acting very depressed lately, I tried talking to her but she said something that caused me to leave mid conversation, I don’t remember exactly what happened, but after that she disappeared for a week. Someone claiming to be her friend got on her skype account to tell me that she had killed herself. She also showed me a picture of her. This had to be the most devastating moment in my life and it made me depressed for at least a month. I blamed myself a lot for it. 

About five months later she came back out of nowhere, she told me that she thought she’d never be happy again so she did that. I didn’t hear much else about what was happening with her, I didn’t even know it was that bad before it happened. I never really knew what was going on because she was extremely mysterious. She refused to say anything about herself such as what she looked like, random things she did, or what she does. She even refused to tell me her birthday. Being interested in her, anyone could probably imagine that that drove me absolutely insane, I was fine with it at first but not after it has been so long. She also claimed to not be able to speak, before this happened, and I didn’t understand that. I couldn’t understand how anyone could lose their voice at a random point in their life, I guess it could happen if you smoked too much, but I don’t think she did that. I also had trouble believing that the person on her skype account was her friend, I think it was actually her lying to me. She also told me that she faked her death to everyone online and in real life, and she went into hiding, all to get back at someone, I still don’t know who or why, it wasn’t the streamer according to her. It is probably the most selfish and insensitive thing I have ever heard anyone do in my life. 

So after a while, things started to get back to normal, but not entirely. I noticed that she changed, she wasn’t as nice and more cold, she wouldn’t respond to me as often and I felt like she took every chance she could get to be snarky to me. After a couple of years, it got really bad. She ignored me out of nowhere for months for no real reason. I would send her messages all the time asking what happened but would never get a response, so it drove me more crazy. She finally one day said how she was getting tired of me and just didn’t want to talk to me anymore. She knew that I liked her before, and any time I tried to get even slightly personal, she would get silent or defensive. I wouldn’t ask this too often, but I was still interested in what she looked like and other things, I still didn’t know after all that time. The picture I had of her was old, and she told me  that she looks a lot different now, so I couldn’t help but feel that it actually wasn’t her. I would ask every now and then things pertaining to herself, and every time I tried I felt like I was being pulled away from her. It was the main problem, I didn’t know what to think and I don’t blame myself. I asked myself things like, “what if she is lying? what if she’s not really a girl, or a killer?” So many things pointed to the not being a girl part, claiming to not speak, refusing to show herself, not to mention acting like a guy sometimes. Not to mention, she mentioned being in love with another girl at some point who had someone already.

Every time I asked, which might have been every couple of months, it felt like she was getting really annoyed. She said that we were talking too much, I didn’t know that and understood so I talked less, but even if I talked after a week, or talk about something not related to games, she would either just ignore me or shut me down. I understand if you don’t feel like talking to someone so much, but this was not the way to handle it. I never even got a direct or rational response even after I wasn’t talking much anymore, she would just make it worse with her uncaring irrational behavior, I basically wasn’t allowed to say anything ever. Bringing up anything personal whatsoever was a big no to her, and I still found it weird and driving me crazy. I was eventually sick of everything and told her off, telling her how I didn’t deserve this treatment and that she was selfish for causing me all this pain for not being able to know anything and for being ignored for no good reason. Eventually if I tried to talk at all it was bad, and eventually I was blocked. 

I am coming to the conclusion that whoever this is is not really a girl, so many things just point to it. She is extremely selfish for all of this and flat out stubborn. I feel like all of these ill feelings towards each other now could have been avoided if she wasn’t overly sensitive about every detail about herself. So now I will probably never know the truth. After what happened in 2014, why should I believe anything? She is the shadiest bitch I have ever met in my life and has been the source of all my anguish for a while. She was unreasonable with everything I said, I tried to be nice and compromising but she liked to turn everything around, constantly telling me to give up, because she was done with me when I did nothing wrong and didn’t ever care about how I felt. She would refuse to answer any little question I had, to apologize for anything she did to me, probably found it fun, and didn’t find any form of communication acceptable which is unreasonable.  There is one point I can remember when I was talking about being suicidal myself, and she actually told me things like she wouldn’t care if I was gone and that I should just go ahead with it. She turned into the biggest piece of shit ever and after all this I wish she fucking stayed dead. I even mentioned to her so many times at one point that I was interested in her and not being able to know drove me insane, and she didn’t care. I didn’t like her anymore at one point and barely talked, but it was not enough, nothing ever got through to her, as long as she didn’t give a fuck she was completely unreasonable. And that’s not the only thing im annoyed about, I just feel used. Like I tried to help her when she was in need, always tried to be a good friend, and I just felt like I was getting manipulated and abused at some point, like I probably should have told her off a long time ago.

So something is definitely up with this and I am just trying to tell myself that she is someone that I would never want to be with anyway, and that she is most likely not even a girl to begin with. So many guys these days create fake online female personas to get attention or for other advantages, and this is probably no exception. I’m seriously just trying to move on and focus on my own life and goals and not have this bitch ruin it even more. It’s just really hard to move on because I feel like I was cheated of so much of my time and energy that I actually feel like I need to do something, the least I can do is write about it publicly. She is a selfish bitch, but she never directly tried causing me harm, at least I don’t think. For all I know she could have been laughing at me while ignoring everything I said for a while, and I wouldn’t be fucking surprised.

I am not sure if I want to say who she is, but I at least want to talk about it. Also, I don’t believe I was all in the wrong. I realized she wasn’t into me a while ago, I never was abusive or anything like she was, at the point she said how she didn’t want to talk a lot anymore, I understood and cut down on it a lot. I was good to her and she treated me unfairly, refusing to listen to anything I say. Am I missing something here? Have I done something wrong? I understand when you are tired of someone, but she took it to such lengths of selfishness. I am actually trying to think of something else that I might have done wrong, but I genuinely can’t. Is it wrong of me for asking a personal question sometimes? Is it wrong of me to want to know what she looks like or her fucking birthday or something after three fucking years? I don’t think it is, I think it’s completely natural, especially after this long and when I was into her at one point. I admitted to maybe being wrong in that I talked too much sometimes, but she couldn’t admit to literally anything, and actually told me it was my fault it got to this point. It’s actually unfucking believable.