#But that's another story

[matcha-goblin]

Neurodivergent people are never undiagnosed. We are misdiagnosed. Our symptoms don't go unnoticed, and people will always attribute them to some sort of cause. They'll just attribute them to personality and blame the individual for their symptoms.

For example. My autism is not undiagnosed, it's been misdiagnosed as "too sensitive," "awkward," "rude," "obsessive," and "too intense." My brother's adhd wasn't undiagnosed, it was misdiagnosed as "lazy," "impulsive," "annoying," and "can't seem to get any work done."

Growing up without a diagnosis is growing up believing that you are to blame for your differentness. Your symptoms are a personality flaw. You are diagnosed by everyone around you as "weird."

Edit: Some people have pointed out that I'm using the word misdiagnosis here rather loosely. I'm aware that it isn't quite correct definitionally, and I don't mean to say that medical misdiagnosis and the type of social misattribution I'm talking about are identical--just that they are related phenomena, and neurodivergent people are often victims of one or both. There isn't an exact term for what I'm talking about here, so I used the closest one I knew of. Terminology is important and some words need to be used with precision to retain their influence. At the same time, sometimes meanings change, and bending words to fit new circumstances is a natural way that language evolves. I'm not sure which situation this falls under, so while I don't want to change my post (not even sure what to change it to), I thought I'd edit and add clarification. Additional feedback on this is welcome.

[skxllz]

“ stop obsessing over ships that aren't canon ” first of all stop being a buzz kill you miserable hoe and let me be happy in fantasy land where me and the homies will have tea and obsess JOYFULLY

[celestialtitania]

at least now we know that the very first movie percy and annabeth watch together is gonna be the wizard of oz

[amaryllis-sagitta]

I've always disliked the spirit origin theory and I finally know why

To put it briefly: it's the cornerstone of the Thedosian brand of gnostic pessimism ingrained in the worldbuilding around both Fade spirits and elves, that subtly condemns their existence among the living no matter how hard the writing tries to compensate in the other direction (and to be fair, it hardly ever does).

I have already mentioned in several analyses that the worldbuilding in Dragon Age is trying to impose some objective moral order through the system of virtues embodied by Fade spirits and the speculated position of the Maker, illustrated through the visual allegory of The Gaze. Every place where the Gaze does not fall is identified as the Void - the realm of the Blight, demonic whisperings, evil in mortals' souls, oblivion and erasure.

This moral compass ingrained in Thedosian worldbuilding is outlined in the Canticle of Threnodies. I have always posited that we can read the Canticle's "Maker" as a purely formal locus meant to hook up some form of prisca theologia that would be partially true regardless of whom we put in the Maker's seat.

For example: the Canticle claims that when "The Maker" created the physical world from a portion of the Fade itself, then Their firstborn, Fade spirits, turned away from their perfect resonance with the Maker. They envied what they were not, and for this poisoning of the heavenly "song" with discordant (so, evil) intentions, the Maker castigated them, declared them the first demons, and made humans Their "chosen" race -- presumably, this time building them of both Earth and Spirit so that they would not envy partaking in either.

After multiple hints left in DAI Trespasser, that sparked speculation about the spirit origin theory as the dominating fan theory years ago, DATV confirmed that the "firstborn elvhen" were Fade spirits that manifested physically. They used lyrium, the blood of the Earth's Titans, to build themselves physical bodies. The Stone retaliated, and the first elvhen waged a war with it, eventually devising a way to sunder the spirit essence/ dreams from all Titans. It is heavily implied that this choice to carry out their existence on Earth as war and conquest has twisted whatever the "virtuous" spiritual nature was left in the Evanuris, and that after the end of that war, Elgar'nan simply could not stop.

Why would they do it though? While some concept art from the artbook shows spirits observing primordial dwarves dwarfing, in the end, the Regret mural that shows Mythal inviting Solas into the world explicitly tells us he had no desire to live "as HUMANS" (and the story fails to bridge that lore drop with the known lore about humans allegedly arriving to Thedas from across the seas, and only being able to thrive after the Veil).

So, despite disproving the story about the Chantry's Maker creating the Veil, the writing confirms the Chant's initial overtly anthropocentric orientation. Humans were always special and spirits were always meant to backup and store their ethically charged concepts. But the important accomplishment here is that spirits/ elvhen are doomed with an inherent moral error that snowballs into inevitable strife, destruction and error!

But wait, there's more! Because now that we have the anthropocentrism as our implied position towards the Thedosian races, the history of the elvhen race looks even more like some bizzare form of "karmic" reckoning that completely misses the point of a reckoning, to replace it with unwarranted generational punishment. First, as a result of the Great Betrayal, the elvhen are sundered from their connection to the spirit essence, and thus subjected to the Quickening, which I guess is supposed to be a way of the world giving the elvhen a taste of their own medicine and saying "Be careful what you wish for". Then, once they are finally effectively like humans in every metaphysical respect (unbeknownst to everyone except the remaining ancient elvhen), the moral corruption of the Evanuris gets passed on as the Tevinters learn to glorify blood sacrifice at the behest of their Old Gods (who are really Evanuris speaking through their Archdemons, at any capacity they still have left). This gets used to further humiliate the remainders of ancient Arlathan. What happened to the elvhen now gives Solas reason to hate the mortal physical existence of elves twofold.

The fact that elves keep being punished by the narrative is a direct result of BioWare implementing the spirit origin theory the way they did, because it was devised as a scenario of original sin that necessitates conflict and moral downfall, and ends up snowballing into dooming elves through and through.

But more than that, as I have mentioned in another post, on the metaphysical level, "pure" spirits should be occupied solely with their respective defining abstracts. Spirits should know no desire. Desire is the "unquenchable flame" that defines humans. As far as DAO, we would read that the more benevolent spirits prefer to sit back in the Fade and not interfere with the mortals, and the ones with the greatest drive to join the living are predatory demons.

And the reason for all of this is "the Maker" being bored of perfection in the Golden City, and wanting some change. That the world requires change and opposition to let its best aspects shine is not an controversial idea. However, in the Dragon Age worldbuilding, this necessity for change is not introduced under a milder Hermetic assumption that, even after being cast down into a darker realm of the incarnate, one can successfully control their mundane passions and heal their soul from corrupting influences whilst existing physically... Not on the grand scale, at least.

Once spirits decided to enter the physical world, they started acting like they were trapped and forced to fight for their lives (despite them being the trespassers). The vast majority of them got spiritually corrupted (if they didn't represent vices like Tyranny from the get-go), they dragged their hesitant kin down with them through manipulation. The elvhen race fell into tyranny as their "First" were actually the worst, yet people looked up to them for survival. One particularly inventive specimen devised two catastrophic tools -- one, to deflect onto the Titans whatever should have happened to the first elvhen in order to sunder what has been wrongly joined; the other, to sunder the tyrannical Evanuris from the rest of the elvhen and spirits and stop their corrupting influence. Yet, because the world changes, the collateral of one such tool introduced a wholly new type of rampant evil, and the collateral of the other made the whole elvhen race spiral down... even further into their entrapment in physicality!

The way they built up the spirit origin theory, it draws a full circle: first, the Southern Chantry and the Dalish demonize Fade spirits - one for dogmatic reasons, because it sees the marriage of spirit and flesh as something that is evil even in humans, the other because they can't be denied that healthy cackle of metaphysical irony even if they try their hardest. Then, with DAI Solas and Cole, we're acquainted with a more sympathetic understanding of Fade spirits as being that are fundamentally different but operate on a logic that doesn't automatically lead to a shitshow of a moral downfall. But then, we learn that a group of spirits doomed the entire world to millennia of strife because they felt curiosity for the Other and because the choice to cross the great threshold almost automatically made them forget the virtues they supposedly embodied and spiral down into the "lower" survival instincts.

Personally, I believe that spirits & elvhen could be built on a fundamental existential difference in a way that would have made their excursions into each other's realm temporary. I believe that the spirit origin theory, even if upheld, could have been taken in a direction that didn't imply instant rampant and thoughtless colonialism on the elvhen part. I believe that such choices would have enforced worldbuilding that didn't need to condemn the spirits/ elvhen with that weird version the original sin that receives completely unsympathetic treatment as the time goes by.

[blackbyrenflowers]

I think the thing I dislike the most about the Lannister twins being Targaryens theory is that a lot of it just boils down to bioessentialism.

Why is Joffrey so awful? It's not because of his toxic upbringing, he was just born like that. Why did Jaime and Cersei get into an incestuous relationship? Their targ genes made them want to screw each other. Why is Cersei like that? Coin flip! It's not the fault of their familial environment or even the consequences of their own agency that made them what they are, their choices were encoded into their genes so why bother discussing ANY of their actions.

[freyadragonlord]

So now that anime watchers are caught up with the MADNESS, I decided to share the list i made back in august after chapter 109 came out, to try and hang onto sanity...

(spoilers if you are not up to date with either the Bungou Stray Dogs manga or the anime)

REASONS WHY I BELIEVE DAZAI IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT:

He still has plots that are unresolved, mostly his relationship with Akutagawa.

If/when he were to die, I honestly dont think it would be by losing to Dostoyevsky, it doesn't seem like the right ending for him. Similarly, i don't think Chuuya is the one destined to kill him; ever since meeting each other, Chuuya has only ever given him reasons to stay alive.

I don't think he would die away from the Detective Agency, after being apart from them for so long. They are important to him and for him, and i think he has still a role to play in Atsushi's story as well.

He apparently "died" without thinking of Oda? Suss as fuck.

Dazai never planned for Sigma to join him or to even be at the prison, he couldn't have predicted that. And apparently he never planned for Chuuya to be there either, while Dostoyevsky had previously made plans to have Chuuya brought there to help him. SO, what was Dazai's original plan for escaping and killing Fyodor? Just the time stopping ability user?? It seems unrealistic to me that he and Ango went so far into plotting this from the beginning, and Dazai didnt have other plans in case of unforseen emergencies. Dazai doesnt have a fighting ability, so reasonably there has to be another plan or ally to help him escape and kill Fyodor.

They most likely need Dazai to turn back the vampires, we have no idea if Bram can turn them back into humans himself even if he gets control over them back.

The missing bullet hole on the wall behind Dazai's head (this was very evident in the manga, but it can be seen in the anime too if you look carefully), plus the fact that he could still talk after being shot in the head from 0 cm away (this was cut from the anime, but in the manga he wispers "finally" before gently closing his eyes), seem to indicate he was not really shot in the head.

If he IS dead, Chuuya can turn him into a vampire and reanimate him - this trick has a precedent in one of the light novels, so we know for certain that Dazai can be reanimated by an ability if he is dead, as long as it happens very quickly after he dies.

If Dazai was really dying, I think his last words to Chuuya would have been more genuine and serious.

Dazai still has to prove that his bond with Chuuya isn't as shallow as Fyodor taunted him for. Cmon guys.... Are we letting Dostoyevsky get away with that one?? I don't think so. Dazai's biggest advantage over him has always been the power of friendship!

[humanjeff]

this is the funniest possible argument for smoking crack cocaine, and the judge should have taken that into account

[spyder-baby]

At daybreak night I roam Ready to tear up the world I roam, I roam

X - The Hungry Wolf

[skeletondanc3r]

I really wished I followed you sooner cause I love Wander Over Yonder stuff

What kinds info ya got for us today on, idk the episode with janice the planet?

Thank you for following me but bro, people got stop asking me about Janet; I hate her so flarpin much 😭

For a better explanation as to why, there's a section in this post where I talk about it:

I'd also recommend checking out the comments of this post for a more in-depth discussion, keeping this post's tags in mind of course.

Tldr: predators suck and can also be women.

[santiivans]

i read a few “Sua is the one who starts it all/the catalyst/the beginning of Alien Stage” and !!! yes!!! i have similar sentiments i'm working into this AU draft haha

i've been working on a gods AU for mizisua and ivantill (Sua as the Beginning, and ??? as the End) and i'd planned to finish them before things got hectic irl (yapped abt it on ao3 too 🥹) however the hectic got to me first ╥﹏╥ but i thought i'd share what i have so far! :]

[tiredpassenger]

this might be a controversial take,

but I really don't want Naminé to have a keyblade, ever.

Like, I get it, it's cool and all, everyone gets one lately... but it's one of the reasons why I don't want to see her with one. She's not a fighter, but she could be a cool mage. Give her a wand. Make her a magic girl. Make her draw the desired effect of her spells with crayons. Idk, literally anything else other than a keyblade.

I just can't see her physically whacking shit, even if she uses a more Aqua-style combat.

[unma]

My theory is that you've had (or currently have) a big thing for roleplaying, perhaps directly related to your aptitudes as a writer.

I feel like someone just sniped me through a buncha buildings and windows and still hit a head shot. How could you tell? I haven't actively roleplayed in at least a couple of years—not because I don't want to, tbh, I would if I could actually get back into it again—so I'm surprised anyone could tell. I still have a bunch of my proudest rp posts saved (it was mostly crp), and I was into it for at least 3 years or so.

It's definitely related to my aptitude as a writer though. Having to respond so often to some of the most detailed crp posts where you would and often did get technicality'd into oblivion (and would do the same back) definitely made me care a lot about the details, and I'm not gonna lie I do still draw on that still when describing combat sometimes. Getting technicality'd into oblivion doesn't sound too fun, but I assure you it was (once you got used to it anyway), and that community was definitely my closest set of online friends for a good bit.

[frogayyyy]

just some ramblings on the rise of rebranded homophobia in relation to shipping and fandom etc (i watched lotr yesterday)

the way people will say "healthy friendships between men are important and we need representation!!!!" (this is true) in response to shipping as if there's an abundance of mlm relationships in media and yknow. homophobia hasn't existed??

“>:[ us men aren't allowed to be just friends anymore!!!! because of the homophobia!!!! that we created!!!!!!”

i've definitely seen this sentiment grow more again over the last few years as the number of canonical mlm relationships (often badly written or lacking any substance) increases.

before it was just a blatant "no homo" or something but it's now becoming a bit more subtle and "how dare you imply this character could be gay? do you hate men being friends?! go back to your handful of bland designated Gay Characters that we so generously gave you" from the same people who have spent years adding to the very same toxic masculinity and homophobia that stopped them from having deep and healthy friendships with other men in the first place. dare i say gaslighting?

(and just to be extra clear i am not talking about ace/aro people, or characters who are headcanoned as ace/aro, or qprs, etc. or even anyone interpreting a relationship as 'just' platonic. i'm only referring to that specific "no homo" kind of argument against shipping)

[probablyaseamonster]

Gotta love characters whose hair grows out during their descent into madness, either because they are in some way physically deprived of a way to cut it for a while-ish or they just stop caring about their appearance, especially if the character is introduced as a neat, well-kept dignified individual... gotta be one of my favourite tropes.

[mspaint-flower]

I dont know about Win10 paint but heres windows xp paint which is pretty similar to 10 i think

OUGGHHHH omg...........thank you so much this is treasure for me i might try it one day

[lindyloosims]

I do like this hair on my simself, I have very thin hair but it goes wavy like this when it gets wet so apart from being slimmer than me, she's not too far off what I look like.