#He was fed propaganda for so long. He was fed that people were the generic monsters and he had to quest to save them

[jaredthebc]

HI I REALIZED SOMETHING THAT PROBABLY ISN’T INTENTIONAL WHILE LOOKING AT N IMAGES ON GOOGLE

Does this sound familiar

again probably not intentional but OH MY GOD I WILL SEE IT AS SUCH UNLESS IT GETS DENIED I love the parallels of how the normal Pokemon traditions become so warped and sad when its in the context of N in particular

[cer-rata]

TW: racism

I think the way that comic book media has uncritically pushed anti-Arab racist propaganda (among other kinds) for decades upon decades is an important thing to acknowledge. Like it's not just a couple of bad apples here and there, it's always been pervasive. So many stories, so many villains, so many Arab coded fake evil countries. That kind of thing desensitizes people, dehumanizes entire groups. The politics of media designed for young men and boys (and not just them but for years that was the only audience that mattered, thanks sexism) has consequences.

Seriously, what was this:

As far as I'm aware this never even got an explicit retcon.

I was a little Muslim boy in the mid 2000s reading a Death in the Family because I wanted to know what happened to Jason Todd, and I didn't understand the depths of the propaganda that was being fed to me. I was so desensitized to hearing about terrible things happening in the middle east, and evil terrorists that I didn't question it. And my parents talked to me about what was going on and how it was wrong. But I was still a little kid and I loved Batman and I wasn't at the point where I could really look at the narrative critically, to realize that the authors have worldviews that are biased. I don't think I even grasped that different people wrote the characters. Iran electing known super-terrorist-serial killer-baby eating clown The Joker to represent them because he understood their values is yes, notably crazy, but most of this stuff isn't so loud and obvious, and we didn't leave it in the 80s. Just look at what happened to the depiction of Talia and Ra's post 911 and how they progressive became less human. So just think about the generations of kids reading this crap who had no counter messaging at all. Where does that leave their empathy?

I'm not saying that everything we're seeing is the fault of comic books, that's stupid and reductive and insulting to the complexity of the reality. But what I'm saying is that a lot of these narratives are actively complicit in the kinds of inhumanity we're seeing. Marvel thinking it's appropriate to throw Sabra into a movie in current day is a glaring transgression but it's not some kind of strange outlier. Lots of those films are actively funded by arms of the American military, just look at Captain marvel and Iron Man. And if anyone likes imposing an agenda onto the narrative, it's the military. A lot of this is baked into the fiction, and we owe it to ourselves and others to actively contend with what that means.

I dunno I'm just mad, and disappointed and maybe a little guilty that it took me this long to really realize the full state of things. I spent a lot of time blindly consuming. Like these books were created to be aspirational, to show good people trying to make a better world. But as always happens when art is completely beholden to money, they still serve the politics of the ruling class at the end of the day.

[napoleonic-sexyman-tournament]

OKAY SO, I AM A BIG FAN AND SIMP OF BAGRATION, and I will tell some curious facts about him that I like a lot for his propaganda! (It's a bit long, but it's worth it).

1.- He was a skilled painter! In a historical novel of his it is said that he learned to draw by himself and his education was mostly based on books and neighbours (he was of noble lineage but his family was exiled and his economic situation was very poor). He showed his paintings to the imperial family (including Ekaterina) and made a sketch of the wife of Paul I!Unfortunately, his works have been lost in time.

2.- In 1803... Do you know what he did? He took care of 47 children of his soldiers! Something very tender on his part, he was like a father figure yippieee.

3.- Speaking of a father figure, he had a father and son relationship with his soldiers, he cared a lot about them and made sure they were well fed and clothed! There is an anecdote that Bagration had a doctor arrested for a month because the doctor was not treating his soldiers properly.

Of course, he also imposed discipline on them and they were very obedient to him, they were ready to die under Bagration's command and at Borodin, when the rumour of his death spread, it increased the fervour of the soldiers and they decided to fight back harder. They also captured 335 French soldiers,

4.-he was too good to exist! He always tried to be on good terms with others and it didn't matter if you borrowed money from him and didn't pay him back, he was fine with that (he was also very unattached to money lmao).

5.- He had a good sense of humour, before meeting his future aide-de-camp, Denis Davydov, he had heard that Denis had written a poem making fun of his aquiline nose.

When they finally met, Denis was a little nervous about being in front of Bagration because of his joke, and Pyotr points at the hussar with "this is the one who made fun of my nose" but Denis quickly responds by saying that it is a compliment and that he would like to have a nose like Pyotr's (?

I don't really remember Denis' response, but it was something like that and that was the beginning of a nice friendship. Denis continued with his jokes and on one occasion he told Bag "That the enemy was very close to their noses", to which Pyotr replies that "if it's in mine, we have time for breakfast, if it's in yours, we have to hurry!"

6.- unfortunately he spent a lot on dinners to maintain his status, on his table there were always treats for others but he didn't even have a fixed place to live. He was very modest and his motto was "Everything for others, nothing for yourself", he often ate in the same cauldron as his soldiers and I like to think that when his soldiers were feeding, Bag appears with a cup of food and decides to walk around the place to check that everyone is eating but finds one soldier bothering another soldier to eat together, so Bag proceeds to hand his cup of food to that soldier hehehe.

7.- outgoing, he had his own lounge and many people came there. He was a hospitable and generous host, he was quite an interesting and entertaining interlocutor, he liked to talk about his experiences in the, if I remember correctly, Italian wiwiwi campaigns.

And here is Yermolov's description of him on the subject:

"Prince Bagration had envious enemies, but, with a subtle and flexible mind, he made strong connections at court. Charming and affable, he maintained good relations with his peers. Attentive: he rewarded his subordinates and idolised them, delighted in their manners, it was not difficult to take advantage of his credulity, but only in matters little known to him.

8. He met Murat and Lannes in person for a false armistice. Pyotr was able to cajole Murat so well with compliments that Murat, cajoled by the Russian general, willingly accepted the armistice while Lannes wanted to fight lmao, and then they were invited to a dinner.

Jean and Pyotr chatted for a while over a glass of mulled wine, all that is known of the talk is that Jean told him that "if the command had been in my hands, we would already be fighting".

9.- he is described as an ugly man and many biographers have done so, which is wrong. Why, look at his portrait by George Dawe! Are you going to deny me that he looks beautiful there? It reminds me that Louis Alexandre had called him ugly and black because of his marriage to Catherine, but he is the real ugly one! Just look up Louis' portrait and you will see the truth!

And here is a description of Pyotr's physique yippieee:

10.- He was like an inexperienced and innocent adolescent in matters of love, he was shy and did not know how to insinuate himself or deal with female affection because he was not used to it, that's why he was always reserved with his feelings about Catherine (who pursued him only with the malice of conquering and abandoning him, everything ended badly) until Paul I arrived and made a disaster that marked Bag for life.

11.- their Marriage was an absolute failure. Bag satisfied the whims of his wife Catherine in order to win her affection, but it was in vain and some time later she left Russia and began to be disloyal to Bag. Pyotr always defended her because he said it was a husband's duty, and he always sent Catherine money when she asked for it, even though it would mean running out of money and carrying a debt until his death :(

That aside, he was quite faithful and respectful, anyone in his place would have told Catherine to go fuck herself and do what she did, be unfaithful, but still he never did, except for Alexander I's sister Ekaterina.

They kept up a correspondence and romantic walks, she even flirted with him, but this was not to the royal family's liking and they were quickly driven away.

In another universe they end up together, I know they do.

Besides the fact that Bag is the kind of loving and lovable man in a romantic relationship who would spoil and protect his partner without a thought, I would have loved to be his wife 😔.

12.- in Borodin he was severely wounded and with time his wound was getting worse, but still he was active and cared more for others. He looked calm about his future death and intense pains, never complained and was not afraid of dying. His last days he drank wine for thirst and to cope with the pain, until the agony came and took him away from this world....

Well, there's more but I've forgotten some parts! I'm also still researching but please vote for Bagration! He deserves it, he's my pookie bear, I love him so much!

Art made by @galakteon meow meow

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[dr-spectre]

also it's a random thing but I've realized people have been using brainwashed wrong too

Brainwashing has nothing to do with actually mind controlling people and has everything to do with propaganda. And being told it constantly

For context -

<- the actual definition of doing something

if we use this definition instead of how literally everyone uses it (ie. It's just a replacement for mind controlled)

Then honestly callie being "brainwashed" makes more logically sense if you treat the hypnoshades as consistently feeding her propaganda. It's not literally taking over her mind she's literally probably being played octavios music tbh

Because it's canonically a thing that octavio uses music for propaganda

TLDR: even by LITERAL INSISTENCE INKIPEDIA DEFINITIONS that she id "brainwashed and mind controlled", she can not be mind controlled. Realistically if Callie was brainwashed that means she was just fed propaganda about Octarian.

So people can't argue that she was forced into that outfit she wears in splatoon 2 still because she probably chose to wear it maybe as a strange solidarity idea. It's not about being forced to wear something... Like that. It's wearing a uniform.

Uh that tldr is too long:

Etldr: callie can't be mind controlled no matter how much people insist, brainwashing literally is about propaganda and not "oh no my memories are lost I can't feel ::((("

You literally cannot force her to not have autonomy no matter if it's "brainwashing vs hypnosis"

It's NOT MIND CONTROLLL 😭😭😭😭

o god this is super long

I actually got a comment that was VERY similar to this!!! Someone (I forgot who) said, "I'm gonna think of cult brainwashing instead of sci-fi brainwashing for callie for my own sanity."

From my knowledge, the term brainwashing has always been this general term to describe mind control plots and shit like that and people use it poorly and wrongly. And THAT'S where my anger comes from. Because people wanna make Callie's arc in Splatoon 2 way worse, more disgusting and less interesting. It's so SOOOOO annoying and disregards any sort of arc that Callie could go through....

The word is either used in cults, or military experiments, or family drama of "you're brainwashing my child!" Or sci fi lazy bullshit where it's just "mind control and you lose all of your autonomy and memories" aka Winter Soldier, Widowmaker, etc. It's such a general term that has a trillion different meanings and it's fucking frustrating as hell.

If I try to look at Callie’s story through the lens of "standard" brainwashing where it's just psychological manipulation and propaganda from the Octarians and Octavio, considering that he is known to use music and other things as motivation to boost Octarians.... then... I actually wouldn't have a problem with people using that word... maybe...

Because Callie STILL had some amount of agency and autonomy, even with the shades on, she couldn't have been forced to do anything against her will cause of how hypnosis works. She still heard out the Octarians and listened to their propaganda. Was Octavio still in the wrong? Yeah! DUHHHH!!! NO FUCKING SHIT SHERLOCK!!! HE MANIPULATED A MENTALLY ILL SQUID WOMAN!!! YOU THINK IM RESOLVING THAT MAN OF BLAME?!?! FUCK NO!!! But in that scenario it's WAYYYY LESS EVIL than what the fuck people and Nintendo tried to suggest that they did. I dont wanna believe that Octavio immediately grabbed and then "brainwashed" Callie with the shades after she said "okay fine I'll hear you out." And then "kidnapped" her and her memories were wiped... Ugh. (Fucking Nintendo bro god I hate them...)

It would also help explain WHY she doesn't feel any sort of trauma or suffering from those events and why she finds the Octarians cute and why she went with Octavio to the Low Water party. She probably felt sorry for the Octarians and wanted to help them willingly because her life beforehand was shitty and she was alone... Octavio probably didn't need to do much to convince her, too, which is kinda sad... She probably doesn't feel regret or pain because, well, she was going through a rough period and she wanted an escape, so the Octarians, in her mind, were the only way out...

However.... I can't see that word the same anymore, and every time that I see it, I ALWAYS think of the bullshit sci-fi definition and people just LOVEEEE TO USE IT AS A CATCH ALL TERM!!!! IT'S REALLY REALLYYYYYY ANNOYING!!!!

That word has actually caused me physical reactions when I hear it, like I was in a family dinner and one of my parents used that word and like... I fucking tensed up and felt stinging across my entire body, my heart was pounding and stuff. NO THAT ISNT A JOKE! THATS HOW FIXATED I AM ON THE STUPID SQUID LADY!!!!

Idk if I will be able to comfortably use the word "brainwashing" to describe Hypno Callie because that word has been fully engrained to me as the sci fi. one, rather than the general cult one with more autonomy and more room to dive into depth and character change.

I guess you could say that Nintendo have... BRAINWASHED me into believing that the word is only used as a way to say mind control and "oh no I lost all of my memories!!!" Heh... Heh... eh.... I wanna die.

I fucking hate Nintendo bro. I hate them. So much.

Oh Nintendo, when I find you I swear to go-

[infinialtairs]

~ Baby girl <3 ~

I know i haven't post much and there's a good reason for that...

I may or may not been obsessed with Casper lately...i think the Nasty Dog animation changed me

I understand people might not care all that much for an fan-oc of Captain Laserhawk (i hear you, i'll promise yall smth on the 1 anniversary for Captain Laserhawk) If you don't wanna hear more in depth of Casper, feel free to skip, i just wanna yap 🦊

I keep thinking about Casper and Rayman and them as a dymanic (because there's two technically types of dymanic, one that leans more in canon in Captain Laserhawk and the other leans purely self-indulgent and you could say also experimental with Casper's character that then can be apply to Casper's personality or backstory in general)

"Canon" dymanic: - This is basically completely going along within Captain Laserhawk series (as far as for season 1 at least...). Because of hybrids being treated mainly as slaves and lower class essentially, Casper didn't grew up well with siblings to care of and even his parents cuz they were always off trying to provide some food and because of that. Naturally Casper and his family do not like Rayman for sooo many reasons, purely in the fact that Rayman (pre-Ramon) is fed with propaganda and lies that Eden told him and Rayman has faith in them and so the lies spreads for decades. Casper is a lot more "depressed" if you will, he's still THE funny comedy guy, always taking things sarcastically and never personally or close to his heart (cuz also tehe his entire family basically abandoned him on streets, I still haven't figure out why). Casper does flirt with people and hook ups but it is coping mechanism to deal with loneliness and that people as much as love his jokes and comedies, they don't exactly like him either because talking with him ACTUALLY in person he just comes across asshole and little mean (or in case flirting, very forward or blunt) despite that's how Casper just used to talk like this. I still don't think Casper and Rayman would even be able to meet in any way, shape or form due to very different views and again...Casper openly dislikes Rayman. BUT BUT! They could TECHNICALLY meet for the first time when Rayman is now Ramon, not dealing well at all along with Bullfrog and Dolph, Casper seeing that Ramon's world view is shattered and now changed sides, Casper might struggle to trust Ramon but eventually warming up, maybe also joining along side Ramon, Bullfrog and Dolph (I know it sounds too basic but because I'm still holding up from developing too much in further to wait for SEASON 2 HOPEFULLY)

Self-indulgent dymanic: - As the name implied - this is only purely for me, having fun and doing shits with Casper and Rayman if theoretically they could be a couple and how it would affect. Casper is now OPENLY flirty with most people, same hook ups or one nighters (he's quite a freaky man..) and eventually...yeah it leads to on Rayman with Casper's flirty remarks. I just like to think just imagine Rayman at the bar, drinking some wine or something because he just needs a moment of peace in his own life from being constantly on live shows, the face of Eden, etc. and then random ass hybrid fox man comes in and say "Oh-ho Face of Eden's here ay? Well, y'know you lookin' quite extra spicy" with smirk, raising his eyebrows up and down. Rayman doesn't like Casper much, not because he's a hybrid since Rayman still cares of hybrids and kids despite been ignorant of what Eden did to them. Rayman just dislikes of Casper's constant flirty comments and annoyances, they did eventually become friends (they don't know how either) but they did. They didn't spend a lot of time together because Rayman is always on the clock with Eden's stuffs but whenever THEY DO hang out, like a long distant friend just came by in the town, both realizing they both have this ITCH of feeling...like wanting MORE of this every day, just spending with each other - ending up crushing on each other while both denying in any way. With Casper denying it is similar to "canon" dymanic, he can ACT romantically and all flirty with others, he used with hook ups and all but in ACTUALLY catching feelings feels completely different realm to him and bit uncertain because of fear of being just used as nothing as just "one time off" (his trauma wooo). While Rayman denying is more or less the same, Rayman isn't typically consider a man who goes on all the dates or in any committed relationships, maaybe once or twice but it always fall flat on the s.o wanting just be known as the "Rayman's Significant Other". They did ENDED UP confessing each other and doing their baby steps in relationship that felt...wrong but they try to ignore and while also healing themselves up with things they either struggled or with Casper's case - traumatized of which he learned to move over time, maybe never fully but no longer held back by it. I know this was VERY fucking long, I didn't even expected it to be THAT long, I'm sorry 😭

anyway, have some concept doodle of Casper's family, not really anything much. I just wanted to experimented

annnd Casper's doodle page cuz i love him dearly like my son...

[aj-lenoire]

okay so one of the changes made when the hunger games books were adapted into the films was something they did with cato—the scene on the cornucopia, where cato has peeta in a headlock, is quite possibly the most devious scene in the film, and the best change made (closely tied with the scene where haymitch convinces seneca crane to make the rule change)

in the novel, cato has one line; he warns katniss what happens if she fires an arrow at him, “shoot me and we [cato and peeta] both go down”. he smiles triumphantly and laughs a bit, and coupled with katniss’ internal monologue when she blows up their supplies, it adds to the idea that he’s not quite there, that he’s not totally sane

in the film, however…

Cato: Go on, shoot! And we’d both go down and you’d win. Go on. I’m dead anyway! I always was, right? I didn’t know that until now. Isn’t that what they [the Capitol audience] want, huh? No! I can still do this. I can still do this. One more kill. It’s the only thing I know how to do. Bring pride to my district. Not that it matters.

now whilst i love suzanne collins and she is a damn clever writer, i think in this case the movie did it better, because this little monologue makes cato go from a generic short-term villain (compared to the long-term villain of the capitol) to a complex and almost tragic character

in both the book and the movie, his death, which a lesser story might frame as a victorious moment for the heroes, is unsettling and tragic, but it’s done in different ways.

yes, he’s a volunteer, a career, but district 2, more so than the rest of panem, has been completely flooded with propaganda and treated more favourably. we see it more clearly in the third book, but the first two show us in part that district 2 is very much how the capitol wants it (and the other districts) to be; it’s completely brainwashed. unlike 12, 11, etc, there’s not such a lack of resources that widespread (but low-level so as not to result in punishment) resentment fosters within the general population. 12 in particular is governed much more loosely, and people have greater freedom because of it. but in 2 the majority of the population is totally loyal, unquestioning, and caught up in the idea that the capitol really is generous and the games really are a glorious opportunity

in the film he’s 18, in the book he’s 16. that makes him, fundamentally a kid. he’s a kid who’s been brainwashed, who hasn’t had the chance to think for himself if maybe the capitol isn’t all that great, who has been fed nothing but heaps and heaps of propaganda, in a district that pretty much buys it wholesale, so he would have likely not come across anyone like, say, gale, whose personal hardships (and to some extent the less strict government) gave him the opportunity to question the capitol and think for himself

I’m not saying he’s totally innocent, obviously–there’s parts in both versions where he shows genuine amusement in hunting and killing his fellow tributes, and only when he’s on the other end of the weapon does he realise that no, this actually isn’t a game.

in the middle of the night, surrounded by vicious attack dogs, knowing that he’s going to die no matter what, cato finally understands what the games really are. terror and subjugation. much like a ww1 soldier having romanticised ideas of war and glory, only to be met with the miserable, awful reality of the trenches, he has bought into the government’s propaganda at the cost of his life, and even worse, his humanity. he’s a kid who never had the chance to think for himself, to be anything other than a tribute, a killer. killing is the only thing he knows how to do.

it is what he has been trained to do his whole life, in the academy for the career tributes, he has been told that he can rise above his life as slave to the capitol and bring pride to his district. but ultimately, it doesn’t matter. whether he dies or becomes a victor he’ll just be a piece in the capitol’s games, he’ll just be another slave. he’ll only one step above district 2′s population, just like they’re only one step above all the other districts. he’ll still be far below the capitol, the people who made him this way.

[doctor-seamonster]

Instead of writing what I get paid to write, I spent 30 minutes writing a 500 word rant about the rise of fascism in america post-ww2.

We grew up being told that america won ww2 and stopped the nazis for good.

They never told us about the fascists and nazi sympathizers in the US, who had open pro-nazi rallies before america got involved in the war.

And for as excited as the government was to round up random japanese-american citizens, they didn't do anything to stop the american fascists at home.

Not to mention all the nazi scientists that got smuggled into government research programs after the war, of course.

The nazis are here. They've been here the whole time. They never went away, they just got real, real quiet.

Private newsletters and secret meetings and published books with coded messages.

Politics ebbed and flowed over the decades since the war. When they could be more vocal, they took every opportunity. There was even a presidential candidate that ran on a pro-segregation platform. But for most of them, they were just waiting behind the scenes.

Sometimes they wore hoods, sometimes they wore business suits, sometimes they wore metal badges.

Then came the internet. It was so, so easy to put up anything they wanted. Websites like stormfront popped up like toxic weeds. And any place that wasn't moderated well, like image boards, rhetoric and propaganda seeped in.

Then we get to the turn of the century.

And there was a tragedy so massive that everyone in america absolutely lost their minds. Suddenly it was in vogue to blame everything on not just muslims, but anyone who had dark skin or non-european names. There's records of many indian people getting brutalized after 9/11.

And by then it was open season to spew propaganda against anyone who wasn't white.

They drummed up fears about north korean military threats and chinese businesses and mexican cartels and columbian drug lords.

Then a black man ran for president and shit just absolutely exploded. This isn't really about him specifically, he's definitely not my favorite person in the world. But just the very idea of a black man leading america brought out the very worst sides of the very worst people.

The public got fed lines about how "racism is over!", all the while online spaces were dripping with venomous conspiracy theories about the blacks and the jews.

And then there's this asshole.

A public figure, hot off his own network tv show, started to spew that same venom. Nonsense about "fake birth certificates" and anything else awful he could say that got people whipped up into a froth.

He's not so much making racist dogwhistles as he's blaring a klaxon, letting all the cryptofascists know that it's okay to be loud and proud, and telling the whole new generation groomed with online white supremacy that it was their time to shine.

Between the support he's drummed up for himself and the general fucking failures on the other side, it's a cakewalk for him to get into office. Finally, a real, red-blooded, blonde-haired, white-skinned american man is running the country again.

So now we've got open white supremacists on speaking tours and nazi rallies in the streets. Not only is it okay to be a racist piece of shit, just as long as you use the right turn of phrase, but it's even good for mass appeal if you do it stylishly enough.

And that's modern life in america.

[booktomoviebrawl]

We are not judging how bad the movie is, we are judging which adapted the book the worst. There are good movies that are bad adaptions.

Propaganda below the cut (spoilers may apply)

Seventh Son (originally The Spook's Apprentice):

The book is a dark fantasy book for children, with fantastical elements that ring true to folklore but still have their own distinct flair, really well written horror centered on the fact that the protagonist is still just a boy, and a very strong theme that the spook opposes the forces of darkness and evil with knowledge and wits rather than heroics. The series as a whole has a lot of digs at established powers, both the Church or the nobles. It also has a mentor that is showed as imperfect from the get-go because of sexist tropes, and a protagonist who criticizes it even at the beginning when he's just a boy. The movie makes the protagonist an adult, turns the spook from an old wise man who practices using a stick (peasant weapon!) to fight and throwing silver chains to immobilize supernatural creatures, into the SURVIVOR of an ORDER OF KNIGHTS, and generally removes all the slow creeping horror to turn it into generic shitty fantasy movie #493, with bad acting on top. And it bombed so bad it probably RUINED the Spook's series chances to ever get a good adaptation, damnit!

Mentor gets changed from being part of a long line of people with a cool fantasy job to a discount Templar, cool methods of handling monsters got reduced to just killing them, awesome assassin grandma changed to Default Movie Witch, and more! It's pretty much not the story anymore.

It takes pretty much nothing that I liked from the books with the initial premise and some names being pretty much the only things kept intact.

The plot and world were completely changed. Most of the changes make for a much more generic and, in my opinion, worse story. Spooks in the books are seventh sons of seventh sons who are trained to fight creatures of the dark because seventh sons of seventh sons are able to sense the supernatural. They are hired for jobs by ordinary people, usually exorcising ghosts or capturing creatures like boggarts and witches. In the movie, the Spooks are also seventh sons of seventh sons, but for some reason, they are an order of knights. In the books lot of people think Spooks are charlatans until they come face to face with a ghost or creature of the dark because the world is usually pretty ordinary and peaceful. The setting is inspired by Lancashire and the world feels pretty unique. The setting in the movie is Generic CGI Fantasy Land where everyone has American accents and big CGI monsters are everywhere.

The protagonist Tom and Alice, his friend and later love interest, were aged up like in the Percy Jackson movies. In the books, Tom starts out as a 12-year-old and grows up as the series continues. He starts out very uncertain and wants to stay on his family farm. He only becomes a Spook because he knows he has to get a job to ease the financial burden on his family. He grows into his role as a Spook's apprentice over time. Alice is a pretty interesting character in the books, she is naturally very talented as a witch but struggles with the darker side of her powers over the course of the series. In the movie, they became incredibly generic Hero and Love Interest characters with pretty much no personality and instantly fall in love.

Mother Malkin was a first-book villain, who was mostly only such a threat because Tom was an extremely inexperienced 12-year-old at this point who accidentally released her and didn't realise how dangerous she was. She was monstrous and decrepit and fed on blood. In the movie she is turned into a beautiful seductress and a world-ending threat who can turn into a dragon. They also made her the Spook's lover for some reason.

Tom's mother is a really cool character in the books who pushes him to become a Spook despite him being reluctant and plays a larger role in the later books. In the movie, Tom is the one who wants to be a Spook and his mother doesn't want him to.

I think the character who got it worst was the Spook himself, John Gregory. In the books, he is a former priest at the end of his career as a Spook, he is incredibly uptight and disciplined to an extent that other Spooks find over the top. For example, he has a rule of fasting before a battle that he makes his apprentices follow and he only kills as a last resort. He's tough but usually pretty fair to Tom and explains things to him so he doesn't get hurt. In the movie he is pretty much the complete opposite, he's a drunkard who spends the whole movie making getting angry and fighting and doesn't seem very interested in teaching Tom how to be a Spook. Also, the accent that Jeff Bridges uses is terrible.

I'm not sure the movie would be enjoyable if you hadn't read the books, having read them I hated it, but I feel like it would be mediocre at best even without the comparison. The acting is pretty bad despite the big-name cast. I think you could maybe enjoy it in a so bad it's good kind of way. The books were spooky and pretty charming from what I remember and I think if they had been adapted more accurately, preferably as a TV show, it could have been pretty good. Sorry this is such an essay, I've never hated an adaptation more. It's been a long time since I've both read the books and seen the movie, so if anyone wants to correct anything feel free.

The Hobbit trilogy:

Ugh. Too long, added a bunch of unecessary stuff. Tried to make it be the same as lord of the rings instead of a bunch of weird little adventures

Stretched into three films, unbearable amounts of filler, yet important scenes are dropped or not given their due.

Stretched a book that could've easily been a single movie into three, added useless romance subplots, doesn't delve into any of the subplots that *might* have benefitted from more time, the dwarves are turned into caricatures, tried to unnecessarily connect it to the events of Lord of the Rings beyond the already present connections of the original story

[hisuianhellion]

(Just want to be clear, this is an ic-thing, not an actual critique. Feel free to ignore it if you want)

Not to say the clans aren't misguided, but consider this: Progress takes time. It wasn't that long ago the diamond and pearl clans were. at. war. over their religious beliefs. It'll probably be a few more generations before they bury the hatchet legitimately, and probably several more before they accept the historic truth, but throwing your hands in the air and going "they're all children" is absolutely the wrong way to appreciate progress, no matter how small.

M'kie I'm gonna just. Throw my two cents in here. Let me explain that I am specifying that it's Adaman and Irida being children. And that the Wardens, arguably secondary leaders in each clan, prove my point.

Mai and Lian are the newest generations. Both of them are actually quite friendly with each other and speak about one another in terms that you can see a mutual respect in. The warring might've been recent, but they do not seem to have been all that affected by it. It could've been a cold war of sorts the last few decades until a treaty was made. Lian is even an actual child, yet he acts witb the maturity necessary to be a Warden.

Caleba, a woman who has been in the Pearl Clan for a full century of time, was fed the Sinnoh Of Space propaganda her whole life, and needed me to do what she wasn't willing to get off her ass to do to restore an ancient tablet's original message? She was the first to realize that Adaman was being too hard on a subordinate of his, Arezu, and the first to realize Arezu was trying very hard to help the whole of the region, not just herself. Caleba had to have been there during the war. A woman that set in her ways could bury the hatchet once she was shown, point blank, she was wrong.

Iscan and Palina. I don't like them. But they are not bad people. They are straight up a couple despite being from separate Clans. Iscan saved her despite his fears, and Palina's loyalty is unmatched. She herself admitted Irida needed guidance past what her misconceptions could bring.

Ingo and Melli are the outliers. But the former is from the future and simply has no interest in the politics. He only wants to assist people and battle. And Melli might be an asshat, but you wanna know the kicker?

It's because he looks up to and emulates a lot of what Adaman does and thinks.

Three out of five of their wardens, possibly four if the ones in Alabaster are any similar? They are working towards peace and coexistence. Genuine effort being out in, even if it's only in recent months. Even if the two remaining wardens AREN'T friendly, it's still a fucking majority!

And yet both fucking Leaders bicker, argue, snap, bitch and mumble under their breaths about the other?!

I will say this again.

Irida and Adaman are being fucking children. Even moreso than the ACTUAL CHILD of a Warden!

Progress takes time? Yeah. It does.

BUT IT NEEDS THE LEADERS TO ACTUALLY LISTEN TO THE OPINIONS OF THEIR FOLLOWERS TO HAPPEN IN THE FIRST PLACE. AND IF THE LEADERS ARE THE ONES SPEWING THIS SHIT, THEY NEED TO STOP SO THAT PROGRESS DOESN'T HIT A FUCKING WALL.

[dr-mechano]

The time IDW Sonic missed the mark with Eggman

You know, many critics of the IDW Sonic comic will cite characters acting inconsistent with their game counterparts as a point of contention with the series. And while I think the comic is generally fine about this, I do think there’s one arc where this criticism is fair: The Metal Virus saga.

The problem with these “Zombots” is that they’re incapable of any sort of complex thinking or personality. They’re - true to their name - mindless robot zombies.

Now here’s what I know about Eggman: He likes attention. He wants not just power, but also glory. We see time and time again that he wants to be revered by the people he conquers:

He wants to go down in history as the ultimate genius - to be remembered and respected. And that’s something that a planet of zombified staggering idiots could never properly give him. The entire idea of the zombots - of SatAM-style roboticization in general - is so thoroughly antithetical to Eggman’s modus operandi.

He needs living citizens of his Empire to behold his genius, to praise his very existence, to worship their almighty emperor day and night. This is what separates Eggman from his lesser derivatives, like SatAM’s Julian, who was content to rule over a lifeless junkyard (and rarely ever left his chair, unlike his far more proactive video game counterpart).

I like a lot of the stories before and after Metal Virus, mind you. Eggman beating the shit out of Starline was awesome. Eggman tossing Surge around was awesome. “Dr. Eggman’s Birthday” from the 30th anniversary special, which shows him caring about his Badniks, was cute and awesome. So I don’t dislike IDW by any means, but I do think I ought to be fair and not act as though it’s done no wrong by Eggman’s character.

I think Sonic Prime - while not perfect either - has a far better depiction of what a society ruled by Eggman should look like. Living citizens being fed constant propaganda about how great and amazing their fearless leader is. Being encouraged to “be a good egg” by cooperating with his rule. Reserving total roboticization (as in the case of Rusty Rose) for special cases - though it should be noted that even Rusty still seems to retain some personality and dry wit, so she’s not utterly mindless or feral like the Zombots or SatAM’s roboticized citizens were.

There’s also Forces, which unfortunately didn’t really show us much of society. But we also know people weren’t forcibly turned into robots there either. Sonic comments that people are forced to “work like robots” in Eggman’s factories, but we can surmise from that they’re still very much organic. ...Plus, they must be getting paid (even if it’s a paltry sum) for their hard labor, since gambling still exists (see Casino Forest) and therefore money and an economy must logically still exist as well.

There is the mind-control ray from Colors, but we really didn’t get a long enough look at how that worked to gleam much from it. Could Tails still think under its control, even if he was brainwashed into being loyal to Eggman? Or was he essentially reduced to something similar to the Zombots? I think the former is a lot more interesting, but I’ll admit we don’t have enough to go on.

...Unless we bring in that other time Eggman used mind control: Sonic Pinball Party. And what do you know, in that game, Sonic’s brainwashed friends could still talk and still had personalities - they were just made to be loyal to Eggman.

I think it makes the most sense to presume that the mind-control beam from Colors would have worked similarly. Either way, removing peoples’ free will isn’t unlike Eggman - removing their personality and capacity to properly appreciate him is. That’s the nuance here that I think the Metal Virus arc didn’t quite get right.

At this point, I’m rambling. But the bottom line is: Yes, Eggman would be a pretty awful dictator to live under, but he’d still want most of his populace alive and capable of revering him. Turning all his subjects into an unthinking horde of zombies would never satisfy Eggman’s ego the same way ruling over actual thinking beings would. I don’t think IDW Sonic is bad overall by any means, but this is one story where I don’t think they quite got Eggman.

[captain-kit-adventuress]

Turns out pain and suffering are actually physical things in the body, that's how they nourish Belogarth and the other demons. Seeing Belogarth or another demon won't cure pain and suffering, necessarily, but it can make it manageable in the long-term. So, just like people in chronic pain regularly have to go to the doctor or physical therapy or whatever else, they can go back to Belogarth to get some pain relief and Belogarth gets a lovely meal, so it's extremely win-win.

Of course, the facility where he practices is obviously super nice, very disability friendly and accessible, has quiet/dark rooms for people who haven't been seen yet and need it, and is generally a soothing atmosphere like a spa. People make pain management friends, and definitely there's going to be some weddings and children born because of this, not just because they met at Belogarth's, but because they can have some of their lives back because the pain is well-managed.

And because Belogarth is so well-fed, and happiness doesn't seem to do them any harm when that happens, they are invited to all the weddings and birth ceremonies and anniversaries and friend reunions of all the people they help. It becomes a huge community and there's a lot of love surrounding it.

Maybe other demons start to get wind of it, and they realise, hey, there's work for all of us, we can specialise. Need some quick migraine relief? Aglach's got this, and usually doesn't have much wait time. Broke your leg so you'll need some intensive relief, but only for six weeks or so? Tragoth will see you sorted.

Meanwhile, the devious politicians who are always trying to drum up support for anti-demon warfare will have to find another way, because yeah, the demons help people who are in pain or suffering, but also because people got to know them, and they don't want to see their friends hurt, especially those of them who were only in pain or suffering in the first place because of the demon wars, which they realised mostly existed because of anti-demon propaganda the politicians were spewing.

And so there was, at long last, peace.

Demons and monsters that torture people because they feed on human suffering are so dumb. People are suffering everywhere my guy go literally any place and take a deep whiff.

[snow-system-wol]

Following S'ria and Menphina in Garlemald from the quests "How the Mighty have Fallen" to "No Good Deed".

(the longest single S'ria Snippet piece, at around 4k)

Ao3

(warnings for panic responses and general Garlemald depressingness)

S'ria had thought he was past much of the long-ingrained hatred, whittled away through years of time spent with Cid, Lucia, Maxima – hell, even Gaius. He was fully prepared to help Garlemald, knowing that civilians had hardly done anything wrong (gods knew the propaganda could be incessant) and they did not deserve the brutality and the tempering foisted upon them by the Telophoroi.

That resolve did not last as long as he'd have liked in the face of loyal Garleans, whose minds were yet their own and still utterly consumed by the words their empire had fed them. S'ria could blame the constantly bitter chill for eroding his sanity and patience, but he feared that he hadn't approached this as openly as he'd intended.

But gods, the mistrust would've put anyone on edge.

Licinia's initial accusation was alarming – that their magics and the ones destroying the minds of her fellow countrymen were one in the same. S'ria wondered whether that was merely a knee-jerk reaction borne of ignorance, or if that was a rumor that had actively been sown to breed further xenophobia. It seemed an important distinction, to know what opposition they may face. If everyone thought the tempering was their fault... That could prove difficult.

It's strange... S'ria was well aware that Garlean sensibilities would teach pureblood citizens many things about someone like him -- uncivilized, inferior in every respect, not even worthy of being treated like a person... But he hadn't truly considered that civilians may fear him. 

They calmed though, and accepted aid – maybe. There was an animosity that was so barely concealed, and S'ria knew full well that their desire to simply "help" would be met with skepticism at best. Their paranoia was... a familiar sensation to him, and few people in the world ever had perfectly pure intentions.

He loved the twins dearly, but he feared that Alphinaud's earnest altruism may only put them more on edge – better to seem a little more… believable. Telling them that they hoped for any not loyal to the Telophoroi to survive, simply to spite their enemy, would likely be accepted long before a truly charitable explanation would.

Possibly. Or maybe it would've made things worse.

S'ria knew Licinia was hiding something – someone – but what was he to do about that? The voice he heard didn't sound overly distressed, just weak, so he doubted it was any kind of captive… and so he left it at that. S'ria didn't understand why any member of their group wouldn't be allowed to take in the warmth of the fire with the rest of them, but that seemed far too much of a thing to press at this very delicate stage. Not when she, quite frankly, clearly hated S'ria.

Meeting the tappers was an almost welcome break from interacting with those at Victor's Spoils, if only to speak with some people who greeted their group with less hostility. Ah, well, less hostility after they tried to kill him, but it was a misunderstanding and no one had died, so fair was fair.

A part of S'ria was, illogically, almost jealous of this group. The labour was hard and they hadn't had a chance to leave the country even now, but S'ria couldn't help but think… if he had been brought to Garlemald for this sort of work instead, perhaps things would've been different. But he was a weak child then, it would never have been his fate anyway.

The walk back made S'ria suddenly conscious of the fact that Alisaie being by his side meant Alphinaud was alone, and seeing the area by the fire unattended was enough to make his breath quicken. 

S'ria supposed maybe they should've known better, but the point was that they were out here to try.

Trying had led to Alphinaud clutching his shoulder while blood seeped through his fingers, stood over a group of injured but still very much alive attackers. It was only with a great deal of reminding himself that the aggressors were subdued that S'ria managed to calm himself. No more violence was needed here.

Oh, how S'ria had not missed Garlean sensibilities at all – and it concerned him that he suddenly understood and remembered a bit more about their social standards than he had moments prior. Any little bits of knowledge pried from memories would need to not start an avalanche of recalling, not here, not now.

The word that stuck with him so much was "purity". There was so much emphasis put on purity of one's heritage, on being a trueblooded Garlean and anything else was undeserving of dignity. (And despite the fact that they treated mixed race offspring with little more regard than they did their mothers, they seemed ill-inclined to avoid such things during their occupation.) That status was a coveted trait…as if there was anything pure about it to maintain.

And yet, these lot claimed that anything was better than allowing their magics or their ways to taint them, that it was an act so fundamentally wrong that any proper Garlean would sooner die. They seemed very determined to have their way on that one. The two missing sisters didn't bode…very well.

He wasn't yet at the point of saying that those who seemed so determed to die should be left to it – but for gods' sake, what was even going to happen when they found the girls? What then?

S'ria was hesitant to leave Alphinaud behind to heal himself and the others – the attempts to heal them via magical means may just provoke more violence rather than allowing him to help – but he could handle himself now that they'd lost the element of surprise. The sisters certainly wouldn't benefit from S'ria loitering around at Victor's Spoils.

If it wasn't so damn far below freezing, the tracks leading across the ice would've put terrifying images in S'ria's head. Drowning in a frozen lake seemed a horrific way to go. The ice seemed frozen for at least a fulm down at least and was fully solid under his feet. He was glad that neither his last moments nor Licinia's would be spent in water so cold that your lungs refused to draw air even if you found the surface again.

On some level, S'ria had known that it was hopeless even before they'd started to search. Perhaps it was better that it wasn't a near miss. There was no "just a minute faster" to question here, these bodies were ice cold – even in this temperature, it wouldn't be so quick. It hurt him, but not as badly as it could've. It'd been… a humane enough death, all things considered. They must've bled out very quickly. It was a brief punch in the gut and then he could breathe again – maybe it helped that he'd never really expected this search to go well.

S'ria wished the same could be said of the twins. They seemed devastated, and S'ria would've taken some of that turmoil off their shoulders if he could've. The gods knew they'd blame themselves for this.

From the moment their postures had changed upon processing the scene, S'ria had wanted to draw them close – but who knew if that would go over well, with both of them in a state that rivaled the worst he'd seen either of them in. The closest he could compare to was Tesleen and the Crystal Braves for each of them, and S'ria did not want to make either of them feel worse.

Alphinaud wanted the bodies properly taken care of. S'ria wasn't sure that was for the best, to return carrying their bloodied corpses, but Alphinaud was not likely to walk away without trying to do what little was left. S'ria could honor that.

Licinia would not have liked to have been buried with the aid of magic. It was more for the twins than for her that S'ria labored to drive a shovel through permafrost, but neither did he wish their last action here to be one of disrespect. He felt eyes on the back of his neck the entire time. Did they even bury their dead in Garlemald? Perhaps they did something else entirely, like cremation or the like, and this was only another misstep.

So be it.

It was a painfully cold walk back. What had Lucia promised him for his search efforts? Warm soup upon his return? S'ria hardly had an appetite, but he'd take the warmth all the same. After this many hours, he felt near frozen through.

It felt odd. During this trip so far, S'ria had been (to put it bluntly) the psychological weak link of the group. He was very aware of the fact that he was somehow doing better than Alphinaud and Alisaie in this exact moment, and that was…alarming. For all of Alisaie's boldness and Alphinaud's pragmatism, somehow they'd both refused to explain to Lucia what had happened. S'ria would not begrudge them this one, it was an easy enough burden to accept, telling her in their stead.

He tried his best to stay objective, even if his ability to do so wavered throughout his report. Lucia was never easy to read, as meticulously stoic as she could be at times, but there was something in her expression that S'ria didn't know how to interpret by the time he was done explaining.

They all needed food and rest.

What they did not need was Jullus. S'ria just wanted to rest, so badly, and here was this young soldier bickering with him. It felt as though they were having two damn conversations – one where they kindly offered to let him leave unharmed with supplies and a separate one where Jullus felt that there were negotiations occurring.

S'ria couldn't help but feel immensely frustrated every time he opened his mouth. If it weren't for the fact that the contingent's goal was to establish a working relationship, that meeting their Legatus would be helpful, then S'ria would immediately have told him to bugger off.

That wasn't the case, though, and S'ria knew well enough to keep his mouth shut and not undermine Lucia as their commander.

S'ria knew the twins were going to volunteer and insist on it. He would never let them go alone, of course, but… it was a trap. Just three people only, leaving to an unknown location with a man who so clearly hated them? It was a terrible idea.

It was such a terrible idea that Fray clamored over it, seething in the back of his mind with the vague threat to wrench control and let none of the three of them follow through with this. S'ria couldn't blame them, only to hope that they'd let it happen regardless. Even if it was a truly terrible idea that seemed hardly worth it even in the best case scenario.

Perhaps the only thing that made Fray stay their hand was the fact that Jullus seemed to have no idea who any of them were, even S'ria. "A sellsword and two children", indeed.

(Alisaie and Alphinaud rankled at that, but both seemed to think it to their advantage to not inform Jullus of their actual ages.)

As they traveled, S'ria once again got the sense that loyal Garlean soldiers lived in a reality just adjacent to the one where the rest of them resided, hearing whatever they wanted to hear as long as it affirmed their set beliefs.

Perhaps that was harsh? They were only doing their best to survive.

S'ria could understand his doubt over any cure for tempering, even if the stance taken was somewhat callous. (But he didn't have to kill tempered soldiers, was he truly so uncaring to the idea that they could be saved still? Was proclaiming them a lost cause really what felt best?)

(S'ria did at least realize in that moment, while outraged at the idea of this needless death, that he was properly capable of thinking of imperial soldiers as victims at the very least. He hadn't be quite sure if he'd manage that or not, even trying to come into this mission with an open mind, but the tempered very much had his pity.)

S'ria understood that they weren't trusted, but it was still so frustrating that he wouldn't even listen to the twins. Wasn't admitting the limitations of the cure more believable than claiming it could fix even those with fully corrupted bodies? The prior claim, that most could be saved, remained true and... while S'ria was in no rush to explain who they were, Alisaie and Alphinaud had seen many tempered even far more corrupted than this, they knew what they were talking about. These people need not die. 

S'ria had to remind himself that viewing the twins as children, beneath him, could be very useful if needed... but no matter – at least the annoyance served to keep his blood pumping a little warmer. And maybe serve as a distraction to his nerves.

His body was quick to remind him, after all, that he'd hardly had the chance to warm up before heading back out here.

 

The legatus could've been worse, S'ria supposed, but that wasn't high praise. Quintus was everything S'ria had expected – calmly arrogant and utterly assured of being right. Would they have walked into such as obvious trap if they did not bear good intentions? More importantly, surely the world not ending was enough of an explanation of the Alliance's motivations that foul play need not be immediately suspected? It quickly became clear that nothing would come of this.

Any possibility of common ground being found crashed and burned when Quintus asked Alphinaud – if he cared for peace so much, why would he not advocate for Eorzea submitting to the Empire's rule? If Quintus truly, truly could not comprehend the answer to that question, was so numb or naive or deluding himself about the very real suffering that kept constantly occurring, then there was no point in speaking to each other at all.

Quintus clearly agreed, declaring negotiations over. At least the sound of a dozen soldiers readying their weapons meant that S'ria could stop waiting for things to go wrong. Hostages, that was what had come of whatever this was meant to be – perhaps meant to barter for food and supplies that had already been offered in the first place. They seemed to have no concrete plans yet aside from not allowing them to leave.

If anyone suggested that S'ria should speak to another Garlean faction and try to provide aid or seek common ground, putting himself at their mercy in the process, he thought he might just say no next time.

He hadn't even been paying very close enough attention to Quintus speaking any longer. He was more concerned with regretfully considering whether Fray intervening back at Camp Broken Glass might've been for the best, so the next words shattering through his mind were met with no preparation.

"Collar them."

S'ria would be hard-pressed to explain what his mind and body felt like for those next few seconds. Time felt very slow as his blood turned to ice in his veins and the adrenaline rush to his head was enough for half his vision to go spotty. The scars on his neck burned with phantom pain of something that blessedly lay just outside of his memories.

No. No. No, this wasn't going to happen. Alisaie and Alphinaud briefly dropped entirely from the equation, with him fully ready to leave them behind to cut his way out of here before a single person could lay a hand on him – or if escape was impossible, at least die before letting someone clamp anything around his neck. 

Quintus waved off the soldiers, warning them off from approaching S'ria and he could breathe just faintly easier as he realized they weren't going to try it. Good for their sake, he supposed – the result would not have been bloodless. He could feel the pressure in his skull subside as the frantic attempts of others to wrench control away and engage fight or flight ceased.

S'ria wasn't sure which would've stepped in... but allegedly he'd gone completely meek and pliant way back during the Crystal Brave's betrayal, and that seemed the worst possible response in any given situation going forward. That was safely avoided, this time, it was all right.

His lungs tightened anew as he realized they'd considered abandoning Alphinaud and Alisaie while in that blind panic. How could he even think that?

It was clearly obvious to Quintus how much S'ria cared for those two. In the same relief-inducing statement in which he suggested trying to put a collar on S'ria was impractical, he also clarified that their only leash on him would be psychological. And he was entirely correct – S'ria had no desire to see what happened when the shock function was activated, and even less desire to see it demonstrated on someone he cared about.

S'ria wondered how obvious his full body trembling was. He hoped it'd be misinterpreted as rage, or else his mind and flesh were betraying far too many weaknesses to those who likely had no aversion to exploiting them. The dregs of terror along with the rush of relief were a potent cocktail that left him unsteady on his feet and less present than he'd like.

S'ria took back any concessions he had made while taking on this entire mission – tempered or not, there was something deeply wrong with the people that still remained in this country.

Menphina was unsure if S'ria meant for this, which of them had been the catalyst, but perhaps she was brought out by S'ria's concern for the twins. Jullus seemed aware of the change on some level – the Warrior of Light softening around his previously raw edges into a sort of soft worry, S'ria's accent giving way to Menphina's (to say nothing of the noticeable pitch change.)

She wondered what he may think of all this and whether he thought his confusion was well-concealed or not. He'd seemed a touch intimidated to learn who this "sellsword" actually was, so it was surely just more fuel for the fire to hear S'ria's "Limsa-Lominsan-enough-ish" accent slip back into hers, fully unaltered since the last time they were in this country.

She was sure it was not lost on Jullus that she sounded… distinctly more like an upper class Garlean citizen than like those without good lineage or gil. In fact, she spoke not unlike Jullus himself. Of course, no miqo'te would ever have been allowed in that part of their society, so let him make of that what he will.

She'd never explain, if he decided to ask. S'ria was safest if no one who meant them harm knew too much.

Never mind the fact that Zenos already did know to some unknown extent, which was deeply and truly regrettable – though less dangerous than it sounded. What would be a far more alarming problem was if any of that had found its way to Fandaniel.

Zenos, with their rematch not yet taken, would not intentionally toy with S'ria's triggers in any way that would dull S'ria's edge during the fight – she was reasonably certain at least. If Zenos was to win, he would not want it to feel like he only bested S'ria via the path of least resistance. Killing S'ria while his will to fight was broken seemed just distinctly unsatisfying for his wishes.

(Menphina hoped fervently that she was right about that much.)

Fandaniel, on the other hand… held no such concerns.

No, Menphina should not be spending so much time worrying about what-ifs while they were in a situation that warranted her full attention.

If push came to shove, Menphina hoped that someone else would step in if things escalated into violence. She had never learned how to fight. (Maybe that was a mistake. Or maybe it was a mistake to think she could bear to hurt someone.)

Perhaps, actually, it would be better if she was left to handle it actually. The words and threats hurt, but she could bear them (better her than S'ria, repeated like a mantra) – it was the fact that she was quite perilously close to being struck that concerned her. She was scared of the pain, yes, that'd never been her burden to bear, but she feared more for what may happen if anyone dared to lash out. Fray would hardly let that go.

Alphinaud's request that they help the ill and wounded was very welcome, a task that she knew how to do and would gladly assist in. She'd been considering it before he even asked… except there was scant little they could do.

The unit refused any attempts to secure outside aid, even to keep the weakest of their people alive, supplies were few, and Menphina feared that exercising even  a tiny amount of white magic would prove… disastrous, the moment her patient realized what was being done. Besides, many of them might never consent to treatment via magical means, and that was not a line she wanted to cross while the wounded remained conscious enough to object.

 

Ah, while Menphina did want very badly to assist the sick and wounded in whatever way she could, this particular option was… unfortunate. The body already fared so poorly in this climate, so Alisaie's suggestion that they both wade waist-deep into icy waters was borderline horrifying. Despite already shivering while dry, she took off G'raha's scarf and placed it somewhere relatively dry – while G'raha's scent had faded from the fabric by now, Menphina was sure S'ria would be none too pleased if the fabric got dunked in frigid pond sludge.

And sweet hells was it cold. The water was numbingly painful, but being out of it was even worse, with it feeling like any dampness would freeze over instantly. As glad as Menphina was that they'd found something decent to help the people there, she still huddled so close to the fire afterwards that she risked accidentally touching it.

It was always interesting to experience things, with her own past actions having been so limited in scope – interesting but often unpleasant and very strange. If Menphina had an allagan tin piece for every time she'd spoken to Garlean soldiers around a base in S'ria's stead… well, it was just an odd coincidence that it'd happened more than once now.

It wasn't all terrible, once she started to become less frozen through. Jullus wasn't so bad, not nearly as much as S'ria had made him out to be. He was just a kid, really (in her eyes, at least), and training hadn't driven all of the compassion out of him. He was clearly both concerned and grateful for their somewhat hazardous efforts to find ceruleum – even if he might phrase it in ways that sound more pragmatic than that.

Jullus was just another grieving young one that wanted his family and home back, same as everyone else in the war, and as long as he didn't take that desire far enough to go to dark places, then Menphina could be okay with that. 

While searching for more ceruleum, as startling as it was to hear his voice, Menphina was glad that Thancred and the others were trying to keep an eye on them. (Glad and terrified. She didn't doubt their skills, but Jullus had been very clear that catching anyone following them would have been considered an act of hostility and knowing that Thancred had actually done so was… well, Jullus hadn't noticed him then or now, so it was fine.)

She wasn't sure if there was a plan, or just to sit tight and see. Menphina agreed that their safety and well-being was the most important thing they could maintain – the twins most importantly, in her opinion. Just… she didn't like the situation much.

"Whatever demands the Garleans make, indulge them." Menphina knew Thancred didn't mean anything by it, but his choice of phrasing made her stomach twist. It wasn't like that, she had to remind herself – if nothing else, with Jullus as their keeper, he still seemed too principled to condone senseless cruelty (an admirable trait, in wartimes, she'd give that much.)

 

Shivering in the bunker, S'ria slid back into place with a jolt, nearly bumping into Alphinaud in his brief disorientation. He laughed tiredly.

"I would've hoped to have been warmer by now, but no such luck."

"Oh, S'ria! We'd been concerned. Are you well?" Alisaie seemed genuinely glad to have him back. That was sweet, as long as Menphina hopefully didn't feel any sadness over that reverse side of that idea. It was still... odd for this to be considered a somewhat normal thing, with both himself and others knowing and being okay with these strange moments.

"Yes – just a bit tired and out of it. I remember enough, no need to be concerned." S'ria wrapped his scarf a little more securely around himself. "And damned cold, but you already knew that."

Alphinaud and Alisaie both nodded very resignedly. Yes, with the heaters all but running dry now, it was awful.

S'ria just wished, more than anything else, that being reunited with the twins was not so brief. He'd suspected it would come to this from the first – while Jullus only now changed the twins' status from envoy to prisoner, they'd had the damned collars on the entire time regardless. And the cruelty of everything was just so… why accept freely offered charity for fear of owing anything when one could just take it all by force. As if Alphinaud had not already all but begged the legatus to allow for supplies to be sent for their sick and wounded.

S'ria wasn't sure Jullus could even go through with pressing the button to set off the shock collars, the way his face froze and hands shook. He didn't want to find out, though. For one moment he considered it – lunging to rip the control out of his hands in the hope that it was the only one for this set of collars, removing any chance of them being hurt. But if he was wrong, oh, they would pay the price.

S'ria hated to let them out of his sight, alone with only men who hated them, the only protection afforded to them the dubious rights of a hostage. Jullus had guiltily insisted that no harm would come to them if they were compliant, and S'ria wanted so badly to be able to trust those words. 

Perhaps, with the twins separated from S'ria, the next person to accuse him of offering an olive branch with ulterior motives would get a different and far clearer answer – that his goodwill had rather run dry, and the only thing that now maintained his willingness to help was honoring the wishes of the kindest among the Scions

[hardynwa]

Elon Musk visits Isreal, backs war against Hamas

Popular Tech mogul, Elon Musk has visited Israel and declared support for the war against Hamas. Musk said that “There’s no choice” in Israel’s resolve to destroy Hamas. Musk made this known on Monday, during his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and other stakeholders, in Kfar Aza, Israel. Musk arrived in Israel on Monday to meet with Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, other officials, and victims of the October 7 Hamas attack, as well as the families of hostages, after being accused of promoting antisemitism with his social media platform, X. The billionaire decided to visit Israel less than two weeks after he endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory on his X platform, which led to major companies pulling advertisements from the microblogging site. Benjamin Netanyahu and Elon Musk watch footage from Hamas atrocities on October 7, during a meeting on November 27, 2023.  Accompanied by Netanyahu, Musk began his visit by touring some towns in southern Israel that were among the worst affected by the Hamas’ October 7 onslaught. During the tour of Kfar Aza, Musk was shown the horrors of the Hamas attack, which saw terrorists storm the community and 20 or so others. According to Musk, the experience was “jarring”. He also noted that he was struck by what appeared to be “joy” on the part of the terrorists in the video. “The rebuttal is often made that well, you know, Israel has killed civilians also in Gaza,” Musk said. “But there’s an important difference here, which is that Israel tries to avoid killing civilians, doing everything it can to avoid killing civilians. And, you know, there’s no sort of joy expressed.” He added that “there’s no choice” but for Israel to destroy Hamas, but that Israel then needs to “help those that remain,” likening a future postwar scenario to the post-World War II US occupation of Germany and Japan. “If you want security, peace and a better life for Gazans, then you need to destroy Hamas. You first have to get rid of the poisonous regime, as was done in Germany and Japan,” said Netanyahu, to which Musk responded: “There’s no choice.” He added, “You need to pair firmness and taking out the terrorists and those intent on murder, and at the same time help those that remain, which is what happened in Germany and Japan.” Elon Musk with Israeli President, Isaac Herzog and representatives of families of hostages held in Gaza during his visit to Israel, November 27, 2023. “Usually the victor punishes the loser,” he continued, pointing to the rehabilitation of Germany and Japan by the allies after World War II as examples of how reconstruction efforts after a major war and a clear-cut victory helped secure peace for a long period. In his remarks, Herzog noted that Musk’s X platform reeks of antisemitism, calling on the tech mogul to endeavour to nip it in the bud as soon as possible. He said, “Unfortunately, we are inundated by antisemitism, which is Jew hate, and Jew hate impacts the entire notion of behaviour of human beings in so many places around the world. And you have a huge role to play, and I think we need to fight it together, because under the platforms you lead, unfortunately, there is a harbouring of a lot of old hate which is Jew hate, which is antisemitism. “You’ve seen how evil can supersede everything, you’ve seen this morning what hate can bring about, you’ve seen how thought turns into evil turns into hate and bloodshed”, he added. Responding, Musk said, “These people have been fed propaganda since they were children. It’s remarkable what humans are capable of if they are fed falsehood since they are children. They think that murdering innocent people is a good thing. That’s how much propaganda can affect people’s minds.” Since he took over the company last year, Musk has been panned for what critics say is a proliferation of hate speech in general on the platform. Read the full article

[danieldranove-blog]

Israel/Palestine post

It's been 15 years since I interviewed a member of Hamas while studying the conflict in Istanbul. With the conflict all over the news, I think my most useful contribution to the dialog is to share that experience.

Hani was in his late thirties or early forties and I was in college, staying in the same international dorm of the university of Istanbul. We both liked chess and I got along well with him. He was happy to try to convince me, a young, impressionable American jew, to see the conflict from his perspective. I got very dangerous vibes, however, from two members of Fatah also living in the same dorm. They wouldn't speak to or look at me, and once they came up and spoke to him quietly and seemingly angrily when he was spending time with me. I was pretty sure it was about me, and that he was speaking in my defense. I'm glad nothing like recent events transpired while I was studying there.

Hani's story was that he was walking with his children in a market when bullets from Israeli police passed just a few feet above their heads. He said he could see the bullet holes in the wall they were walking next to. He said he would never "do anything" but that if his children had been killed he would have. He said this event was why he joined Hamas.

It's a notably non-religious story and may or may not be widely representative. He was essentially saying his children dying would have pushed him past his breaking point - 'you pushed me too far, now my actions are your responsibility not mine'. He was also implying the only thing left to such a person is a violent, vengeful end, with no room left for moral consideration of his victims.

This is hardly a justification in my view for an action like beheading children - I don't think you can ever pass moral responsibility for something like that - but I do think there is truth in viewing it as a statistical inevitability. Historically, Israel kills roughly 10 people for every Israeli who dies, 2.5 of which are children (hopefully I have those numbers right). Some fraction of people whose children are killed will go on to commit terrorist acts, and the cycle of violence will continue.

I believe the above is true regardless of the positions of institutions like Hamas. I'm sure they can tip the needle a bit, but someone like that hypothetical Hani whose children have been killed would simply have joined the most extreme organization he could find. There will exist a latent demand for extremist terrorist organizations for as long as children were killed in the preceding decades, and there are plenty of regional actors who will step into any vacuum thereof. The best we can hope for is a slow de-escalation of the conflict.

I also had some experience with how the conflict was taught at university in Istanbul. Our professor was friendly and positioned the Palestinian side as better representing hopes for peace. But there was another professor who was more fiery and severe in his thinking. He gave a guest lecture which came across to me more as justifying his own passionate hatred of Israel. To me this speaks to how widespread the desire for violence is, and how the current narrative of it being motivated by a small number of extremists is wishful thinking. It may not be a majority of people but neither is it some fringe movement, on either side.

Arabs generally sided with Hitler and subsequently with the Soviet Union. They had good reason to do so (they were opposing their colonizers, England and France, who had betrayed allied Arab's hopes for independence after WW1), but the result was decades and decades of antisemitic propaganda being fed to their populations. Middle Eastern politicians scored points by going on genocidal tirades against Israel (while making secret, back-channel deals to guarantee peace.) Add to all this the very real human rights abuses by Israel and I'd be very skeptical of any claim that violent anti-Israeli or Jewish hatred was only felt by extremists.

On the other side, from my own non-first-hand research it seems to me that a lot of Israelis view Palestinians almost as trash to be swept away. Others view any threat of genocide as deserving the most extreme of responses available, even a genocidal one. And many others simply don't care what happens to the Palestinians as long as they feel safe and the economy keeps going.

Israeli expansion in settlements has never ceased, only paused. There's about 500,000 heavily armed settlers who commit acts of violence with religious fervor and have near legal impunity. What people think of as times of peace are actually full of raids and human rights abuses. Treatment of Palestinians has not been a high priority election issue in Israel for a very long time, so it's not like the Israeli population has on the whole been demanding a more humanitarian approach. Obviously there are many exceptions, but since independence the country has moved in a right-wing, hawkish direction with a large religious bloc casting pivotal swing votes in forming coalition governments and receiving commensurate political power.

So I reject the notion that it's just a small number of extremists in either demographic group who are motivating violence against the other. Nor can I dismiss the idea that civilians who support war, terrorism, or oppression are to some extent complicit in it. I'm pretty strongly anti-Israel and view the situation mostly as a disaster of their own making, but I also wouldn't want the tables turned and dominant military power held by Palestinians. I think a genocide would be a very possible result.

Broadly speaking, Israel has held the upper hand militarily for most of the last ~75 years. They have a strong centralized government that is capable of de-escalating the conflict if they so-choose (by killing fewer people, or giving rights to Palestinians, or clamping down on settlements, etc...). The same is not true on the other side - there has been no strong, centralized political organization of Palestinians, in large part due to Israel's resistance to a Palestinian state. Both sides kind of suck and you can't fully support either one, but in my view Israel alone is capable of de-escalation, and they have done quite the opposite for a very long time now.

The conflict bears some comparison to India after partition. There was massive, genocidal violence between Hindus and Muslims, but then Nehru established a secular democracy and actively protected the Muslim minority and their right to vote. There are many differences, of course, but I think a gradual de-escalation of violence and movement to a secular one-state solution is the only realistic path forward. (Various people I respect have said that a two-state solution is no longer viable). Whether even the above would work is about as questionable as the fate of Jammu and Kashmir.

[whumpofalltime]

Last minute propaganda from an anon:

sorry for being late, but you want YBC propaganda? then you're getting YBC propaganda. I know you're a FOB fan, but I will be writing this for the benefit of those who don't know what YBC is, for better propaganda purposes! and yeah this is gonna be LONG. sorry.

So! The Youngblood Chronicles (shortened to YBC) is a series of 11 music videos made by the band Fall Out Boy, for their album Save Rock And Roll (you know this album, it's the one with My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark on it). The whole thing is quite short, less than fifty minutes long (even shorter if you don't count the uncut version's credits!!), and every single music video has some element of whump in it. This propaganda is gonna break down each individual music vid, and at i'll also talk a little bit about the irl context the album was written in, and why even THAT can be a little bit whumpy if you're insane like me!

(note: i'm going in the original release order over the uncut order, hence why i'm starting with MSKWYDITD instead of The Phoenix)

My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark: Arguably the least whump-y out of all of them, but man, seeing all of Fall Out Boy's discography and memorabilia be burnt while people are dancing around the destruction? Man, when you know the real life stuff (the reception the band had in 2009, leading to them to take a three year hiatus)... and at the end, you see four guys bound in the back of a van!! And that van is getting burnt!! Burn everything you love and burn the... ashes.

The Phoenix: NOW here's the first of MANY whump tastes you'll get. Patrick Stump, the singer/cutie of the band, gets kidnapped, tied to a chair, has his hand CHOPPED OFF and mailed to his bandmate/best friend Pete Wentz, then gets tied down and utterly tortured by women who are laughing at his misery the entire time, getting prodded and stabbed by tools for... well, you'll see. By the end of the video, Pete and the other two members of FOB (Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley) have been kidnapped by these mysterious women too, with Pete specifically getting kidnapped by the blonde woman he was in bed with when Patrick's hand got delivered to him. If you enjoy cute boys getting tied down, covered in blood, and writhing around like worms while getting tortured... well you'll enjoy all of YBC but specifically you'll enjoy this!! I did :D! The war is won, before it's begun, release the doves, surrender love...

Young Volcanoes: Good news, FOB has been reunited! Bad news, by the women who dismembered Patrick! And now all the band members are tied to chairs, hooked up to IVs full of god knows what types of drugs, and blindfolded (all except Patrick). They are then forced to drink, snort hard drugs, and are force fed Patrick's organs! Yep, all four of them are forced to eat their lead singer's guts, and are so fucking drugged up they don't even realize what's happening (and now you know what the women were doing to him in the last mv, and you even get a nice little shot of the hack job of stitching him back up)!! Patrick hallucinates everyone having fun, but of course, at the end, all of them are knocked out because of the drugs. Americana, exotica, do you wanna feel a little beautiful baby?

Alone Together: This is the song the OG propaganda mentioned, and for good reason. All four of them are shipped off into little personalized torture rooms, and, well, tortured! Pete is able to break out and even steals the hook from the girl who was torturing him, but little does he know that'll be his own undoing... also, in general, this song has some whumpy elements, specifically the line "my heart is like a stallion/they love it more when it's broke-in"... but notice how easy it is to hear "broke-in" as "broken"! At the end of the video, Pete is at least able to find Patrick (Joe and Andy have NOT been having a good time, either!! But sadly, they aren't found by Pete, but Pete DOES find Big Sean), and is even able to attach the hook to the stump (ha!) where his hand used to be. But something is clearly wrong with Patrick now. His eyes are yellow, and as the song ends, we hold on him, sneering and twitching. This is the road to ruin - and we're started at the end...

The Mighty Fall: First off if you say this is the worst song off of SRAR I will hunt you for sport. OKAY ANYWAYS, chronologically this comes after MSKWYDITD, and yeah, the four guys are the members of FOB. Pete is able to free himself with Patrick's new hook hand, and is able to get the other three out while Pete is hacking up a lung from the fire they just barely escaped. But they're not done getting their shit rocked yet. A gang of children show up (the leader being the kid Patrick waved at right before he was kidnapped back in the Phoenix MV), and proceed to separate them and beat the living shit out of them. The leader kid who's chasing Patrick plays something on a boombox... which triggers Patrick to go yellow-eyed again (from here on out i'll call it "going Youngblood" or "Youngblood self"). It was confirmed in the commentary track that ANY music would cause him to go Youngblood. And knowing Patrick IRL fucking loves to create/compose music... yeah! Take something he loves and turn it into something that drives him insane!! I'm normal!! And also the irl parallel you could draw to his solo career doing the same thing to him (on a less uh Dramatic level but you know)!!! Ouch!!!! Big Sean is able to save Patrick, but at the cost of his own life (and a killer rap verse... HELL YEAH I'M A DICK GIRL, ADDICTED TO YOU). Oh, how the mighty fall in love...

Just One Yesterday: The last vestiges of comfort you're gonna get for a WHILE. The four are separated, getting even more beaten up, Pete vomits up a snake, Andy gets his shit rocked by a homeless guy, Joe has to use white sheets as a makeshift tourniquet bc his leg got fucked up in The Mighty Fall MV, and Patrick is picked up by a kind stranger (hi Foxes! you have a very pretty voice! PLEASE KEEP YOUR HANDS ON THE STEERING WHEEL!). And finally, finally we get a hope spot. Fall Out Boy is reunited (the part where Andy just grabs onto Patrick's arm, in disbelief they're both alive... augh!!! AUGH!!!!), and for a moment, it seems they've been delivered to a hospital... before Foxes' eyes go completely black, looking at Patrick... and turns on the radio. She's able to trigger the Youngblood. And now Patrick is gone. The other three scramble into the hospital, Patrick not far behind, determined to kill them to stop the noise in his head. If Heaven's grief brings Hell's reign, then I'd trade all my tomorrows for just one yesterday...

Where Did The Party Go: Patrick, now fully consumed by the Youngblood brainwashing, is now stalking his bandmates in a hospital. Patrick is seeing visions of the hospital as an abandoned party, Andy has to painfully disinfect the wounds he's gotten, Pete is able to call for the police, and Joe... oh, poor Joe. He barricades himself into a room, but not well enough. Patrick finds him, and kills him, slitting his throat with the hook hand, showing no remorse at all... until Andy and Pete find them. The Youngblood wears off, and Patrick looks to what he's done, and is horrified at what he's done to his friend. And, bad news for him, the police are here, ready to arrest the murderer. All Andy and Pete can do is watch as tears roll down Patrick's eyes. And for the extra IRL context, this was the first song written for the album that made Pete and Patrick realize they had to get FOB back together... so lets match that with a music video where the member who helped get the band together in the first place dies. By the hands of the kid he found. Let's fade away together, one dream at a time...

Death Valley: Joe gets... uh, a little comfort? I mean, he thinks he's getting sent to heaven but goes to hell, buuuuut I think doing drugs in rock and roll hell with Tommy Lee is actually a pretty sweet deal, better than the deal the other three got! Pete and Andy are being interrogated while Patrick is in a jail cell. We find out that the cult that kidnapped them, Silence the Noise, is lead by Pete's girlfriend from WAAAAY back in the Phoenix MV, Courtney Love. And at the end of the MV... Patrick is bailed out of jail by Silence the Noise. They have him again. And this time, they're not gonna let him walk out until he's fully under their control. 'Cause tonight it's just fire alarms and losing you...

Rat a Tat: Silence the Noise has Patrick, and they utterly brainwash him, A Clockwork Orange style, with electroshock stimulation to keep him from looking away or closing his eyes, until there is nothing left. Patrick Stump does not exist anymore. Only the Youngblood, pliant under the control of Silence the Noise, tasked to destroy what he once loved; music. Andy dies at the hands of the cult, and now Pete has to protect a briefcase, the thing that got them into this mess, and keep it away from Silence the Noise, all while his best friend hunts him down. Are you ready for another bad poem?

Miss Missing You: THE WHUMPIEST OF THE WHUMP. What if we were best friends but you've been driven insane and I know the only way to stop you is to kill you and it was my fault you got into this mess and I was the one who gave you the weapon that will be my own undoing. What if we both died at the same time. What if we died, both of us failing the mission we had before us. What if that was a reference to one of their first music videos. What if this song was originally written for Patrick's solo album but he realized it was more of a Fall Out Boy song so it was scrapped until now. What if there's a legit argument to be made that half the lyrics for this song was written by Patrick. What if we were both boys. Grips walls, yeha i'm normal. If you don't watch ANY other music vid, watch Miss Missing You. Sometimes before it gets better, the darkness gets bigger. The person that you'd take a bullet for is behind the trigger.

Save Rock And Roll: And our final track gives us a final bit of comfort. Patrick is able to overcome the Youngblood, and gets into heaven, where all of FOB is finally, finally reunited. God (aka Elton John) gives them new instruments and brings them back to earth, so they can do what they love; play music together. Which just so happens to release people from the control of Silence the Noise! But, because we can't have nice things, a cult within Silence the Noise got a hold of the briefcase, and summoned a spirit that starts to kill everyone. FOB stands together, and blasts the evil spirit, the blood coming up to the gates of heaven and covering Elton John in it. And... that's how it ends. No true resolution. Just Elton John covered in blood, as the song fades out. Oh, no! Wherever I go, go! Trouble seems to follow! I only plugged in to save rock and roll!

UH. AGAIN I APOLOGIZE FOR THE LENGTH. but i really wanted to express just how much WHUMP they manage to fit into less than fifty minutes, all backed by an amazing album colored by the three years they were apart. colored by how they grew, colored by how bad the hiatus was for Patrick specifically, colored by how Confessions of a Pariah got Pete to reach out to help him, and this album came out of it, Fall Out Boy came back out of it, and now here we are, ten years later, with the title track being performed every night for their concert, with all the band singing the final lines together, and the line you are what you love, not who loves you hitting every single night.

SORRY. LISTEN TO FALL OUT BOY. thanks for letting me rant.

WHUMP OF ALL TIME: Quarterfinals are here!

Find links and propaganda under the cut. Quarterfinalist match-ups are untagged, so your votes and reblogs matter!

FMAB:

 (video, starts at 15:55)

"God. The way he tries to stand up, desperate to continue the fight, only to realize there's a fucking steel pipe through his gut. His slapdash medical alchemy that hurts so bad the guys that were previously trying to kill him feel bad enough for him to hold him down while he screams. Life-changing" @sad-boys-anonymous

The Young Blood Chronicles (Save Rock and Roll's music videos, Fall Out Boy):

(link)

"Everyone gets bloodied, bruised, beaten up, tortured, rescued, limbs are amputated - it's brutal. Alone Together is particularly strong."

[lanterne]

So um... themidorian propaganda 🤡

it must be very odd to run into people on tumblr defending Robespierre saying that calling him a mass murderer is "thermidorian propaganda". So let's unpack that.

Thermidorian propaganda is, long story short, a series of made up or distorted facts about the politics of year II (1793/94, like, the terror) and specially about Robespierre. We all know propaganda is supposed to push an agenda, it's usually financed by an entity. With thermidorian propaganda is hard to tell because the people who had anything to gain from painting Robespierre as a monster are long dead, but somehow it still gets parroted to this day by non-specialists and reproduced in fiction and pop culture. 

In this post I'm going to focus on the original thermidorian propaganda that came out immediately after Robespierre’s death. I hope, if real life allows me, this to be the first post of a series. I must clarify I’m not a historian so there will be inacuracies, this is just a casual, funny and quick intro to the subject, so if I succeed in picking your interest, I strongly encourage you to do your own research with real academic sources and draw your own conclusions. Also I’d like to thank @frevandrest​ and @tierseta​ for their corrections and suggestions! Also I relied a lot on @rbzpr​, specially this post that compiles a lot of primary sources about the propaganda.

Year II (1793-1794) speedrun

Robespierre's real role during the terror

To understand what even was the terror about, you need to know that there was an external war against all the monarchies of Europe and simultaneously, an internal war against counterrevolutionary forces like vendean revels and federalists. To even have a chance for the republic to survive, the national convention declared that the government would be “revolutionary until peace” which means that there would be a state of emergency, which suspended certain freedoms until peacetime. Some of the emergency measures were the suspension of the constitution of 1793, the infamous law of suspects and general maximum, the limitation of freedom of press and the institution of representatives on mission, deputies of the convention that were sent to the provinces to watch over military operations and had the authority to do whatever they wanted. 

Robespierre in 1793 was elected to the Committee of Public Safety. The CPS was the convention’s executive branch and pretty much a war cabinet with dictatorial powers (in theory, but in practice everything they did had to be approved by the convention). Its purpose was to take measures to win the war against all of Europe, keep everyone fed and crush counterrevolution. They didn’t have a “director” or anything like that, the twelve had equal authority. Besides, the CPS was full of deeply confrontational, clashing personalities that weren’t exactly fond of Robespierre, so it’s not like he could dominate over them. (Twelve who Ruled by R.R. Palmer gives you a good idea of their dynamic and boy did they hate each other)

Despite this, Robespierre was the most famous member; so he became the de facto face of the CPS and it was assumed outside of France that he had control over the republic, which was portrayed by the monarchies as a barbaric mess, and that impression lives on. 

I hope to make this very clear: Robespierre wasn’t as powerful and didn’t have as much control of the situation as bad school texts will make us believe. Nobody did, the situation during the terror really was that chaotic. By the summer of 1794, known today as the Great Terror, Robespierre’s popularity and influence on the goverment was weakened compared to that it was before (I’ll elaborate why soon).

The excesses of year II and who made them

The deputies that became the future thermidorians, for the most part, were ultra radicals from the mountain (the far left party that was most influential in the convention and Robespierre himself was a part of) who had been sent to the provinces as representatives in mission to crush counterrevolution or supervise the army. Some of them committed some atrocious war crimes, brutally executing thousands of people. Robespierre was appalled, had them recalled and spent the rest of his life antagonizing them because he didn’t have the authority to bring them to justice.

For example, Collot d’Herbois, fellow CPS member, who shot people with cannons full of shrapnel as a representative on mission in Lyons alongside Joseph Fouché, used his authority to counteract Robespierre’s attempts to hold him or the other representatives on mission accountable. Still Robespierre had them on his radar to punish them as soon as he had the opportunity and they had him on their radar fearing that he would use his popularity against them at any moment. Some of them tried to bootlick him and get on his good side, but their actions were so repulsive to him he refused any kind of compromise.

Other important details

The idea that Robespierre was aspiring for a dictatorship comes from way earlier. In November 1792, a girodin named Louvet accused him of such and wanting to form a triumvirate with Danton and Marat. Robespierre defended himself well and the idea was discredited, only to be recycled during thermidor when the surviving girondins came back to the convention (the girondins another long story lmao) 

The idea that Robespierre was some kind of blood drinking monster also started even before the man even did anything wrong. His radical ideals about giving voting rights to minorities like jews and protestants, to men that didn't own property, to free black people, him speaking out against slavery, against the inviolability of the king, the royal veto, etc… it genuinely pissed off a lot of people

This is a huge tangent but it’s relevant because it’s the origin of Robespierre’s supposed God-complex. So, if you have heard about the decristianization hysteria that was going on during the terror, Robespierre was hostile to it actually, and thought the state needed some kind of religion to hold it together, which is funny since a lot of people nowadays believe he was an atheist. To put a stop to it and reinforce the freedom of cults, he proposed that the French Republic must recognize the cult of “Supreme Being and the immortality of the soul” as a compromise between religion and secular patriotic worship. To clarify, this isn’t some religion Robespierre made up out of nowhere, it was influenced by Rousseau’s deist ideas and civic festivals (More on that in Mathiez essay about The Supreme Being in The Fall of Robespierre). The project was a success at the time, but his militant atheist coworkers couldn't forgive him for it and went out of their way to use it against him later. Thus the Committee of General Security put together a report (with fabricated evidence and all!) in which they tried to link him to a wacky but harmless and obscure cult that prophesied the coming of a messiah, implying that it was Robespierre, with the purpose to ridicule him.

The infamous Prairial law (here's a post explaining it better than I ever could). This law, which streamlined processes and executions and centralized them in Paris, removed the deputies immunity which would enable Robespierre to go after the aforementioned war criminals' heads. However, Robespierre cut ties with the CPS after a fight with the other members and disappeared from the government, leaving the law in the hands of people who abused it, like the Committee of General Security and public prosecutor Fouquier-Tinville (who also had beef with Robespierre). In fact you don't see many arrests signed by Robespierre during this time, that later became considered to be the Great Terror, while his coworkers, like Carnot or Barère, were very trigger happy using this law to say the least. 

Robespierre's fall

So, Robespierre goes rogue against the CPS and disappears from the government for more than a month. There was an attempt at reconciliation that Robespierre completely rejected when the 8th thermidor he returns and causes a commotion with an emotional and disjointed speech in which he expresses his despair about the gory state of the revolution and vagues the violent deputies, but refuses to give their names. The speech is definitely not his best and you can tell he’s not ok, but it has some raw, revealing lines like:

“Anyway, voilà within less than six weeks that my dictatorship is expired, and that I didn’t have any kind of influence on the government. Has patriotism been more protected? the factions more timid, the patrie happier? I would wish so” 

Or my personal favorite:

"They call me tyrant… If I would be one, they would crawl at my feet, I would stuff them with gold, I would ensure them the right to commit all the crimes, and they would be grateful.”

Fouché and others took advantage of his vagueness to convince half of the convention that he was targeting them and aspiring for a power grab.

Jean Lambert Tallien, a young deputy who had participated in bloody repressions in Bordeaux, conspired with his then girlfriend Thérese Cabarrus who was in prison, starts the reaction the next day by interrupting SJ's speech trying to mitigate the mess Robespierre caused the previous day. Later Tallien becomes instrumental in building the narrative to justify Robespierre’s murder and create the concept of the Reign of Terror.

The first batch of Thermidorian propaganda

The accusations against Robespierre were vague and contradictory… and calling them accusations is kind of generous because they were mostly people yelling vague grievances against him, nothing official or legal. The ultra radicals accused Robespierre of not being enough of a terrorist. The moderates of being too much of a terrorist. The funniest example of this dichotomy was when Billaud-Varenne (CPS member) accused him of, I shit you not, protesting against arresting Danton and another guy shouting "the blood of Danton chokes you" during the session. Anyway, Robespierre was declared an outlaw and executed with no trial and at least a hundred of his followers were dragged with him to the scaffold. Ironically, the day after Robespierre’s death saw the highest number of people guillotined in a single day in all of the terror. I need to empathize that he was guillotined without a trial, because while the revolutionary tribunal could be a kangaroo court sometimes, at least they kept registries of what someone was being accused of, Robespierre didn’t even go through it so his imputed crimes remained very vague and open to add shit later. So the next day Barére showed up with a report and fabricated evidence about how Robespierre was conspiring with his close supporters to crown himself king.

Some time later Tallien came up to the convention with a speech about how what had happened the past year had been a Reign Of Terror, that Robespierre bullied a congress of 700 something men into doing whatever he wanted, that every single bad thing that happened, all the unnecessary bloodshed was exclusively Robespierre’s fault. Boohoo, Robespierre poisoned our water supply, burned our crops and delivered a plague upon the republic and he did all himself.

The thermidorian convention, with the press of the time, made sure to run the robespierrists' names through the mud and scapegoat them of their own excesses. A massive amount of libelous pamphlets against Robespierre were circulating circa 1795-1799, portraying him as some kind of gangster-sultan-pimp tyrant monster with a secret castle and lots of money and chicks, which is hilarious in hindsight since all his stuff sold for like… 300 francs, but at the time people ate it up. 

Here's some of my personal favorites because original thermidorian propaganda was seriously wacky (and let’s make it fun by rating it)

✨highlights✨

Apparently, Robespierre wished to marry Louis' eldest child to crown himself king. I’d rate it higher for the creativity but she was a literal teenager ewww. 3/10

Courtois report: Courtois was in charge of going through the robespierrists papers and of course he suppressed and twisted a lot of evidence. He collected his "findings" in a report for the convention. Thanks to this guy most of Robespierre’s correspondence is lost. 🤡 -4563456435/10

La vie de Robespierre: I haven’t read this one so what I know comes from secondary sources, but it’s worth mentioning because it’s one of the first biographies of Robespierre ever written, by his own school teacher, the abbot Proyart, who became a royalist émigré during the revolution. It’s such a mess, he makes normal things children do sound malignant when little Maximilien did them. He’s also the source of the legend that Robespierre read a poem for Louis XVI as a kid, which Hervé Leuwers debunked in his Robespierre bio. 5/10 because apparently his beef with Robespierre (besides the whole revolution thing) was that he wouldn't say hi to him during vacations. Petty as hell.

Le chat-tigre: the description that Robespierre resembled a cat comes from a pamphlet published by Merlin de Thionville. This one is key because it deviates from the common view of the time of Robespierre as a morally corrupt orgy-frequenter, and portrays him as a dull, emotionless incel, which is closer to the way thermidorian propaganda reads like today. It also has this hysterical line: “History will say little about this monster”. Anyway Merlin called Robespierre a catboy unironically so I rate it meow/10 

La queue de Robespierre (Robespierre's tail). This pamphlet by Méhée de la Touché is interesting because it goes after certain thermidorians like Barère, Collot and Billaud, foreshadowing how the whole thing would soon backfire on them. Also the title is a dick joke, so, 10/10.

These two engravings. 760936/10

This whole-ass painting of Robespierre straight up ruling over hell

My absolute favorite: this one is from later when the whole mountain was purged from the convention (so there's lots of thermidorians here too). There’s so much happening here. The snakes, the bats, the be gay do crimes skeletons, and the whole gang is there, looking like smurfs. It’s beautiful. 1793/10

But why spread so many lies about a dead man? They had to do it, you see, they had to gaslight the entire nation as much as possible, the ultras to avoid accountability and the moderates to discredit the democratic ideals that he represented so they could pass shit like the constitution of year III. This has effects on historiography to this day (but let's not get ahead of ourselves).

Thermidor backfires

With some exceptions, who ended up becoming Napoleon’s ministers, they did not avoid accountability...

Some of the original thermidorians were radicals who believed in the jacobin ideals of year II and just thought, sincerely or not, that Robespierre was aspiring for dictatorship, and the ones who had done war crimes as representatives on mission seemed to genuinely believe they were justified to do so and had to defend themselves when they were used against them. 

Some of them weren’t expecting that after purging and persecuting Robespierre’s supporters, the mountain would be weakened and that the national convention would take a turn to the right when they brought back a bunch of girondins. What was left of the mountain wanted to keep the progress towards a more egalitarian society made in year II. Some of the right wingers like Boissy d’Anglas took credit for Robespierre’s fall and influenced the convention to become more reactionary. Some of the montagnards got guillotined for their crimes against humanity, like Carrier (the infamous dude who drowned thousands of people in the Loire - also a massive thermidorian, because of course he was), while most were exiled to Guyana.

Decades later during the Bourbon restoration, former Montagnards and members of the CPS like Billaud and Barère, came to regret bitterly what they did to Robespierre, his memory and the Republic, and admitted to having lied about him.

Conclusion

It’s not a secret to anyone that the French Revolution was extremely brutal and nobody is denying it (and that’s without counting what happened after Robespierre’s death). Donald Greer in The incidence of the terror during the french revolution estimates a death toll of 35.000-40.000, which includes not just people sentenced to death (which he estimates between 16.000-17.000), but people massacred without a trial by these representatives on mission I spoke about, people who died of disease in prisons, etc.

The executions by guillotine, that Robespierre came to represent, were just one aspect of it, an aspect that has become iconic in pop culture and exaggerated to death. The Jacobins weren’t executing people just for being nobles, in fact, there were some former nobles in the government and more commoners were executed than nobles. All those 17k death sentences weren’t signed or approved by Robespierre personally, and while Robespierre was powerful in theory as a member of the committee of public safety, he had very little control of the situation. And it's not like he was an innocent little angel, he had blood on his hands but so did everyone back then, and his reputation is very disproportionate to what he actually did.

And yet, we’re taught in schools and in media that he was single-handely the supreme authority who did whatever he wanted and we never hear about the people that got him killed, what they were up to during the terror and how they straight up scapegoated this man to escape accountability for their crimes against humanity. But why though? Shouldn’t that be common knowledge by now, more than two centuries later?

Next part, if I can do it, I hope I can cover how thermidorian propaganda evolved to what it is today. Still this is a subject I only have general notions about and haven’t read about extensively so I’ll take a while to write the post, but it should be fun to research as it was fun (and infuriating) to research this.

Salut & fraternité and... happy birthday Robespierre!!! :-) My present is posting about how you got murdered and slandered I guess lmao.