#I do believe there are individuals who wouldn't give a shit

[baejax-the-great]

Assuming Agamemnon makes it to Elysium (which is a big assumption but the criteria are mystery to me), do we think that every single person there who fought at Troy pummels his ass on sight? Do you think every time there is some wild dog pile of flailing soldiers all trying to stab the man at the bottom, some guy leans on his spear and says to his buddy, "Agamemnon must have shown his scraggly face again," before they both shrug and go join the fray? Do you think Menelaus is the only person who doesn't join in, maybe saying a weak, "Hey, guys, maybe we've done this enough times" before giving up and just kinda watching his brother's shade get beaten to death again?

[nekropsii]

Hello, pardon and I don’t want to be a bother but I would like to ask for your take on something. And if you’re not down to answer this question, that’s completely fine, you seem to make large opinion posts on a noteworthy basis so I understand if you don’t have the energy or motivation to give an opinion right now.

But I wanted to ask for your take on the ethics of enjoying Homestuck in the modern day. Many people such as myself and seemingly you as well enjoy Homestuck but are painfully aware of all the gross stuff in it. And as I see the comic pop up in more and more dni lists, with people claiming that enjoyers of Homestuck are supporting these things inherently, no matter the fact that most of us stand against Hussie and attempt to reclaim Homestuck as something to express joy and our identities in, it makes me wonder more and more the ethics of enjoying Homestuck. Since you seem to have thoughts on the matter, I was wondering if you’d like to share your take.

I once again want to stress though, absolutely no pressure to answer. I am not entitled to your time or hearing your opinion. You don’t know me, I don’t know you. I was just asking in case you wanted to speak about it.

Hi, Anon! This is a very interesting question, and you were right to assume I have thoughts on it. They might not be as long and complicated as some of my other essays, but they still exist, and I would quite like to share them. Thank you for the opportunity.

My opinion on The Ethics of Enjoying Homestuck is that I believe it's perfectly fine to do so. I also think it's perfectly fine to dislike, or hate, or not want to associate with it or any fans of it. This is a personal boundary set by and for the individual, and it's not my business to question, nor my place to cross it. However, I don't really agree with the way some people go about communicating or enforcing this boundary. I've seen some people put Homestuck and Harry Potter on the same level before. I've seen some say that enjoyment of either piece of fiction is, at least in part, comparable. I heavily disagree with this- and the fact that this is a point that comes up shows to me that there's quite a few people who don't actually fully understand why so many people are saying to stop supporting Harry Potter.

The conflation of the two things reads to me as if some believe that Harry Potter has been "cancelled for having a problematic creator"- and that's not wholly true. Yes, J.K. Rowling is, by definition, problematic, and she is the creator of the Harry Potter franchise, but people have drawn such a hard line against supporting the series not just because J.K. Rowling is Transphobic, but because she has honest to god legislative power. She is, as it stands, currently the backbone of the TERF movement, and is spending a lot of time and money to ensure that Transphobes dominate the government. Monetary support of Harry Potter pools into her funds, which adds to her ability to further Trans Genocide. Communal/Fandom support of Harry Potter increases her visibility as a public figure, which adds to her ability to further Trans Genocide. J.K. Rowling has made very clear statements saying that she takes any support of the Harry Potter franchise- any at all, including Queer/LGBT+ Friendly fan content- as support of her beliefs. Support of Harry Potter is a method of legitimizing and validating Transphobia, and is being used as a way to further Trans Genocide.

If J.K. Rowling was just an average Transphobe, the outcry would not be nearly as severe, and the line wouldn't be nearly as clear cut. It would just be disappointing, bring to mind the phrase "same shit as always", and many would make the personal choice to distance themselves from it. But that's not the reality we live in. We live in the reality where J.K. Rowling has sway on the government, and is getting real people hurt and killed.

Andrew Hussie, creator of Homestuck, however, is just some random asshole with no political power outside of his own vote. Yes, Homestuck is filled with plenty of unsavory elements- random out-of-place interjections of Hussie's own past bigotry included- but at the end of the day, Homestuck has no influence over government action. Hussie has no tangible political influence, and does not want to have tangible political influence. We don't even have evidence that Hussie still holds the same beliefs as he did during and prior to the creation of Homestuck. This is just some random indie comic, made by some random guy in 2009. J.K. Rowling is dangerously close to billionaire status, and using that power for evil.

It's fine to like something that's not very morally clean- or something made by a not very morally clean artist, during a not very morally clean point in time in a not very morally clean place in this world. It's okay. The fixation some have on this is OCD-inducing. The best that can be asked is that one recognizes the bigotry, and doesn't perpetuate them. That's all. You can read, watch, play, and enjoy just about anything, as long as you don't make the more unsavory elements out to be a good thing. Don't start acting like Racism is awesome, or Antisemitism is cool, or Transphobia is based, et cetera, and you'll be totally fine.

The ability to find value in something impure or unsavory is a valuable one. Some may not want to associate with that, or find the particular flaw in the work in question to be too uncomfortable to stomach, and that's fine, too. Not everyone can just sit through Era-Appropriate Casual Homophobia or Racism and come out feeling fine enough to keep going. I'd argue- hope, even- that most feel at least a bit bothered by such things. It's all about personal tolerance levels. No one's committing a moral crime by either enjoying it or not wanting to even look at it.

[astrobiscuits]

Astro observations part 8

[LONG EDITION] - taken from my phone's notes (also, i was too lazy to edit it so here's a nice chunk of info)

🍂 Sun conjunct Saturn individuals inherit mindsets from the father, grandparents or great-grandparents. They might never fully act like their Sun sign (aka "shine"), since they've been conditioned from a young age to listen to parents, teachers, and later on bosses. They are the type to never divorce, no matter how toxic their marriage is. If these peeps deal well with their Saturn Return, they might become "THE BOSS" (aka the person everyone looks up to due to how accomplished, disciplined and rich they are, they've literally got their shit together and deserve a round of applause, "it wasn't easy to get to the top, but it was worth it" - you might hear them say this). They are also more prone to ingrain stoic principles in their lifestyle

🍂 Mars square Neptune gives off major cult leader vibes. They're the type to fool you with false promises until you sign up for their "camp" but then you realize it's actually an evil cult where all they wanna do is put you to work (and maybe later even kill you lol). These individuals become very scary when angry (you don't wanna see them angry, trust me). If they ever commit suicide, it'll be by drowning, alcohol or drugs

🍂 Mars trine Neptune is one of the best aspects for those who make a living off their talents. The talent depends on the element the trine is in:

If it's in Earth signs - ideal for those who work in the "money handling sector" in advertising, becoming an entrepeneur, holistic care (if Virgo is involved), cooks, those who work in interior design, seamstresses, embroidery/lace makers, models, event planners If it's in Air signs - ideal for those who work in sales (their negotiation skills are ✨chef's kiss👌🏻✨), becoming a spiritual/religious teacher or an art/music/any other creative pursuit teacher (lmao, i can't even speak💀💀), writers, musicians, magicians and astrologers (for the last two - if Aquarius is involved) If it's in Fire signs - ideal for dancers, theater/movie actors, hairstylists, circus performers, photographers (only if Leo is involved) If it's in Water signs - ideal for make-up artists, painters, tarot readers

🍂 Moon sextile Uranus individuals have got the ability to create a positive parasocial relationship with their followers. Since these people often use their devices to validate their emotions, i wouldn't be surprised if most of y'all also have atleast one active profile where you post quite frequently

PRO TIP: Whenever Transit Jupiter is trining/conjuncting your Natal Uranus (to a less extent also the sextile), you'll get a sudden boost in your followers count

🍂 This is a theory of mine that i've come up with and i'd love to hear your thoughts on it. When it comes to intergenerational astrology, i do believe that we inherit all of our personal planets placements from our parents and ancestors. But then you might say "But i don't act like my mother at all! This is bullshit!". I'm not saying we're all carbon copies of our family members. What makes us unique and distinguishes us from our parents and grandparents (or even great-grandparents) are the way the planets aspect each other in our birth charts and the planetary configurations between them. Basically we start from the same ground, but we all use our traits differently, whether for the better or the worst expression of them. Let's not forget that we also tend to go through different life experiences than our parents and grandparents; we might be blessed with different opportunities that might enhance our best traits and help us achieve what our ancestors always wanted to but weren't able to

Hope you enjoyed today's post, loves!💗💗💗 I've been wanting to post for a while now but my inspiration has been wandering alone in the Sahara Desert I can't promise that i'll start posting again more frequently (the new uni year is starting soon for me + i enrolled in a local astrology school 2 weeks ago🥳🥳 ya girl can't wait to officially become an astrologer) but my inbox will be open again for further questions! I must also thank you for helping me hit 500 followers!!! I'm probably gonna do another ask game once i hit 600 followers, as i'm too busy right now. As always, don't forget to drink water and take care of yourselves! Hope to see you soon! ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

[tamelee]

i just saw a posts about novels that went like

sarada told sasuke he has lipstick stain, sasuke tries to wipes it off and she says he doesn't have one and sakura doesn't wear lipstick.

how do they defend this novels with their lives? it confirms sasuke never kisses sakura and doesn't know if she wears lipstick or not and kisses someone else who wears lipstick. it also confirms naruto likes to wear lipstick XD.

Please. These novels are ridiculous. Kishimoto already confirmed they’ve never kissed in Gaiden. Twice. 

(* something nicer = meant the forehead poke)

Though I wouldn't believe anyone if they said they actually like these novels, because the story (or lack thereof) is complete shit, but it’s fine if they do. A good story isn't the intention unfortunately. I genuinely wish that people understood what exactly it is they are defending. I’m writing a post for someone who asked something regarding canon, but I need to take brakes from it because it pisses me off that this happens constantly to franchises— not just Naruto. 

And in this case it’s even worse, or perhaps it’s just a prime example, because Jun Esaka (writer for some of these novels) made such a fool of herself on twt by making it all too obvious what her intentions were by writing them. (If it wasn’t already obvious.) First, when people pointed out the many flaws, she admitted that it’s “just her story” and “just her interpretation” (she had only read 'Naruto' for the first time a few months before that), but when other ss-shippers started to defend her and said she was a better writer than Kishimoto (as there’s 0 love between SS when he writes), she basked in that glory and went along with it. Even to the point that she completely disrespected Kishimoto, the story, the craft, openly made fun of other characters (mostly Hinata) and ships like NH and demanded her other novels to be animated as well. It’s unprofessional af. And then when fans asked her for a nsfw novel for SS she agreed and told them to harass the company about it. (She didn’t say ‘harass’ exactly, but come on you can’t be that dense given their reputation with staff.)

What are they defending? 

How can you defend anything when the motive is so obviously just personal bias/gain and/or financial profit to a company where both in this case don’t give a shit about the original story. It's not about shipping though, it happens all the damn time to all my favorite franchises and I'm genuinely sick of it. And it's not even about a writer writing about what they want either because I already expected that, but Esaka did her absolute best to try and disprove the bond between Naruto and Sasuke and change narratives completely even for individual cases for the sake of telling her "story". SNS-moments weren’t romantic to her and she quite literally made fun of it by copying them in her story to point out its "irrelevance", but give them to her het-ship and now all of a sudden it is romantic???? She basically calls Kishimoto a liar because ‘Sasuke Retsuden’ in particular is a direct response to ‘Gaiden’ (made by Kishimoto). She blatantly tried to disprove anything he said and indicated about her ship. She wrote about characters that, yes, have the same name as those in ‘Naruto’, but are so out of character it hurts. It took me months to recover my lost braincells. 

I don't think my post about it is still up, but to name a few things in that novel if you're interested: Sasuke resents Naruto and his test-tube daughter because he’d rather travel with Sakura, his wife whom he loves so much. But he has to do stuff just because Hokage Naruto said so and his daughter wants to stay in Konoha so he has no choice but to comply. Being apart from his wife-(did we mention he loves her so much? because he does. so much.)- makes him feel so very lonely and he misses her body so much because he knows it so well. He fails to do anything other than being jealous about the women-deprived prisoners going after the new hot doctor, Sakura, who is his wife btw. that he loves a lot in case you missed it. and he rather stares at trees that remind him of her than helping his friend Naruto who’s apparently dying from his own chakra or whatever kind of bs. Sasuke lets himself be bullied by prison-guards that aren’t even Shinobi, for having long hair and looking like a girl, though Esaka makes sure to mention how so very handsome he is and he looks like a cat. Sasuke loses a battle against an overgrown lizard and tries the same damn jutsu 4 times(!!!!) before realizing it may actually not work, I think because he forgot how to fight, but he can however create anything from ice like Elsa (Frozen), or from dirt like some Gaara-hybrid to make Sakura a ring because he loves her so much ofc… oh and he’s now a healer too. Sasuke sacrifices people’s lives even when it’s not necessary at all bc ig Esaka thinks he's a killer, and also he wouldn’t mind being brought back with Edo Tensei if it means he can stay with Sakura, because fuck everything they’ve been through in the original story, yeah? They also immediately forgive the bad guy cuz he's so relatable even though he just murdered I dunno how many people. SS kiss while an injured Naruto is squished in between them because SS-shippers have some sort of “Naruto has to watch our ship being in love to really make it legit because that’ll learn him for getting in between!”-kink (that's real actually) and according to Esaka, Sasuke is so worried about his daughter and in fact did meet up with them during those 10+ years because he loves them oh-so-much and fuck you Kishimoto that’s why. 

Be so fr right now. It’s such a joke. And these are just the few things on the top of my head that I remembered ;-; ...

Again, what are they defending exactly? It would be nice to just have a genuine fan of the story write an actual story. No other motive other than "I really like the story and would love to explore some options while respecting Kishimoto's work because it'd be fun!" Except, that's unfortunately not very marketable and ffs it's just sad. (I know there's a Kakashi version and I personally really want to know more about his role as Hokage and what he's done etc, but alas.)

[qoldenskies]

omg ok i gotta ask what it wouldve been like if the curse was centered around hurting one of the other bros and not donnie? 🥺 like esp with leo i wanna knowwwww

THIS IS AN INTERESTING ASK..... donnie's situation is really unique to what he's been through considering kitsune's status but i will ignore that for the sake of this thought experiment because i already got THOUGHTS......

i think one of the first things to ask would be "how would donnie act if HE were cursed?" because it melds itself to each person individually, and honestly i think one of the first things would be to ask if leo is also still cursed here too (he'd probably be a lot different if leo were at the center, im not sure how though) because he would have quickly backed leo up in a really similar way to mikey. donnie is Terrible at manipulating and lying, but he can still do a lot of subtle damage considering his skills, so i feel like he would've done some nasty shit like turning off the heating in their room or something, and especially with leo coaxing him along and giving him suggestions it wouldve been horrible!!

and personally i feel like, if it were mikey, he would have found out the SECOND the behavior got worse. he trusts his brothers to be kind to him unconditionally and he's always been the baby of the family, but he's also arguably the most self-assured there. they try to pull the shit they did with donnie and he goes "who do you think youre talking to, you cant TREAT ME LIKE THAT" and when they continue to act terrible, he'd go "no, something is WRONG, they'd never do this to me" and go to april or draxum, maybe both. mikey doesn't feel like the kind of person who would fall for thinking he deserves it, because mikey genuinely believes he's a GOOD person! being forced to hurt someone like that is actually worse for him than if he'd been the one hurt. and i also think a big reason he'd figure it so fast is because it's harder to lean into it subtly, mikey's treatment as the youngest suddenly being switched up would look weird no matter how hard they tried lol. (mikey also fits the canary symbolism but in the way that wild canaries ACTUALLY are... children of the sun that represent childhood innocence and happiness. i do actually plan on using this a little later in the story, it's why ive mentioned he's so important)

and with leo, oooh boy. okay honestly i feel like it would end the same way donnie's did? it would be broken because he broke his ninpo, but leo would react WAY differently and he'd do it for way different reasons. donnie reacted in freeze/fawn, he rolled over and showed his stomach and took it absolutely believing he deserved it, when he was conscious enough to make choices he didn't run. but leo would definitely lean more fight/flight, he would fight back the WHOLE TIME. the SECOND they start treating him like garbage, especially with physical abuse, his trust for them is Gone. especially if it culminated in a murder attempt, i feel like he would go for blood especially with raph, and afterwards while in recovery he'd bristle around them for a long time. it's the same problem in a different way, honestly i feel like he'd turn into the kind of person that would instantly bring a sword to someone's throat if they snuck up on him from then on (and god forbid you try to wake him up from a nightmare). i feel like leo wouldn't end up telling april or his dad, either, because deep down he would be burying some feelings that are very similar to how donnie OPENLY reacted, but i dont think he would have the strength to be open about it until the end of recovery. i think not having someone like CL leo to gaslight him would also be a big reason for this, they'd be just as vicious but there'd be less tact which means he's seeing through it faster, although i dont think he'd suspect a curse. honestly there's some heartbreak in a very similar way, because it'd show just HOW MUCH leo had already been protecting himself and pushing people away/hiding behind a facade; he was just as predisposed to this.

and with raph i can't think of anything super specific, but i feel like despite being in less physical danger he might end up with a really similar reaction to donnie, blaming himself and believing he deserves it. feeling unloved by the people he's sworn to protect would fuck him up, especially because he's less perceptive and wouldn't be able to see through them in the way that mikey and leo would if they were in his situation. the psychological torment would get him BAD. leo would destroy that poor dude's self-esteem :( all he'd have to do is poke raph hard enough to have him lash out and then treat him like he's dangerous for it, and it would be. painfully effective

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Hey, I don't know if you've been asked this already, but what's the worst Harry Potter fanfic trope? The one you where if you see it in the tags or find it reading a fic, unless the rest looks really good, you back out. For me it's Pureblood Politics. The wizarding world is so small, and the population pretty capable, that the idea of wizarding nobility doesn't make sense.

Hi 👋

Honestly, I haven't read HP fics in a while, but I can talk about what I recall from the ones I read.

I can't take crossovers in HP fic. Like, I think that's a me thing, and not exactly a trope, but whenever I see Harry Potter crossover with something else, even as some weird AU, I just can't read it. I don't know what does it to me, but HP is not meant for crossovers in my brain.

And I get what you're saying about pure-blood politics, but I think a lot of it is down to execution. Like, I think wizards do have titles (I mean, the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black is a thing), but I don't think their so-called noble class really acts like typical feudal nobility from the Middle Ages or even 19th-century aristocracy. It has some elements of it, but it's also its own thing. (talked about it more here, here, here, and here).

And regardless of how small a community is, you'd always have some form of politics. The books repeatedly show that politics and agendas definitely exist in the Wizarding World, but this isn't Game of Thrones, and their politics are not that.

They have an elected minister with way too much power, they have inter-department politics in the ministry as well. I mean, Barty Crouch Sr got demoted from head of the DMLE to head of Magical International Cooperation, so, there's something going on there. They also have a House of Lords styled parliament and high court that's based on the early pre-Norman council of the Witen. This suggests they have noble titles, but said titles probably have nothing to do with warfare and land ownership the way noble titles usually worked irl. I also don't think the titles are exclusive to pure-bloods and you likely have half-blood families in the Wizengamot, while some pure-blood, sacred 28 families aren't there (the Malfoys, for example, are explicitly stated to not be in the Wizengamot in OotP).

I also don't think they'd have any heirship/lordship rings with spells on them that pass down family lines. Historically, rings like that just weren't a thing. Since wizards rely on letters, I can see them having signet rings, which are used to sign letters and denote who wrote them, but signet rings are an individual thing, and each new "lord" (I'm sure Lucius would have one too, you don't need a noble title to make one of these. Just enough money and sense of importance) would make a new one for himself and not use an existing one because the whole idea is to ensure a specific individual signed the letter, a dead person's signet ring is no use for that assurance. They would usually include a family crest, but there would also usually be an additional personal flare.

A bit of a pet peeve of mine in that regard is when Gringotts is overused in fics. Like, Harry goes there and gets like 5 lordships or whatever in a way that makes no sense to me. I think families like Slytherin and Gaunt, for example, wouldn't really have any title anymore anyone could have (I think they lost any form of title when they lost their money and lands), and even if they did still have a title, like the Black family, Gringotts goblins are going to be the last creatures to give a shit about wizarding nobles, like, how the fuck would they know? Why would they even care? And no way in hell are they keeping goblin-made heir rings or whatever in their vaults for wizards. They'll take what they believe is rightfully theirs back.

And why would wizards allow goblins to keep these precious heirlooms? I mean, we see Grimmauld Place is filled to the brim with heirlooms and knickknacks. We see Marvolo Gaunt keep his two prized heirlooms on the family at all times. Hepzibah Smith kept Hufflepuff's Cup close to her in her home. If these signet rings I mentioned earlier existed, they'd be kept by the family, not at Gringotts.

They'd also likely not have any enchantments on them unless the owner was particularly paranoid because, again, they are only meant to sign letters for an individual, enchanted heirlooms related to any title would likely be more varied. I mean, we see the Gaunts have Slytherin's locket and the Peverell ring, the Potters have the cloak... I think it's reasonable that each family would have a completely different set of magical artifacts passed down from generation to generation, with different spells, enchantments, and history. Some families might have rings, some would have cloaks, mirrors, bracelets, swords or shields (from old times that are used as wall hangers nowadays), certain unique wands, hats, a cup (Hufflepuff), hell, it could be anything, you could have so much creative fun with magical heirlooms. And these heirlooms aren't unique to families in the Wizengamot, every old enough magical family probably has a few heirlooms.

Also, if anyone is going to know what's going on with the Wizengamot titles it's the Wizengamot Administration Services (which is an office that supposedly exists in the ministry), and no way are they going to be anything close to helpful considering they are part of the ministry. I don't think enough wizarding politics fic takes advantage of how the ministry literally has an office for everything and that there are tensions/competition between different departments and offices. That, and that the majority of the population works in the ministry one way or another.

Honestly, I get the power fantasy element these fics are going for, and I have nothing against fans who enjoy it, I just don't think it's realistic to the world-building in the books.

I got a little sidetracked, but, yeah.

[the-alarm-system]

Anti Endos and Projection of Decisions and Hurt

I'd like to start this off with my story and how it relates to the experiences of many hurt anti-endos.

I don't remember a big chunk of my original trauma, most of it feels like a dream that has chunks guarded by Red our protector. I do have bits and pieces, and I know for a fact that I went through RAMCOA.

Growing up I got hurt by a lot of women, and one of those woman's personas got introjected into my system and would retraumatize me consistently for a few years. This was before I realized I was plural.

What Im trying to say is I have survived a lot of horrible shit, and I know it's why I'm plural, and I have had horribly abusive headmates before.

Anti Endos bring these forms of exo and internal abuse up whenever attacking the slogan "The future is plural". I saw an anti endo say

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And I got angry enough to make this. Maybe it was rage bait, but I'm convinced most of them genuinely believe this.

Using your own trauma and hurt to invalidate the existence of others is one of the most vile horrible things you can do. Not every traumagenic system is formed from programming, not every system existing is formed from programming. Trust me I know the pain of being hurt that way, but are you serious? Don't use your trauma to hurt others. No endo wants to fucking program a child and abuse them, this is just a false analogy used to bring fear to others and towards the movement. We are not the enemy.

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I have experienced strong negatives, I've felt strong dissociation, memory loss, and Scald has gotten lost before and we do struggle a lot in disordered experiences. But this is expecting that every system puts the negatives above the positives. This is expecting that your experience and perspective of your own system lines up with everyone elses. I don't care that I have so much to deal with, being a system makes me extremely happy and I would love to share that with others. Obvious negatives? Yes, but "few" positives? In my experience with DID, psychosis, and even BPD I do my best to see the lighter side of them because I wouldn't be me without them. I have so many more pros than cons that comes with being a system because I actively changed my perspective in order to accept ourselves. I had to see the joy of it because I was abusing Scald by not accepting him and giving him individuality. I understand a system seeing their DID as more negative than positive, but this is projection to others which is simply narrow minded.

Before going deeper, I want to affirm that I have no hatred towards those who go towards final fusion or uses parts language. This is an argument about those who project their end goals and hurt and suffering onto other systems in order to invalidate them.

While I may not experience this towards my own system, I can understand why others may despise being many and/or desire to end as a singlet. However in the argument against endos; being broken, wanting fusion, using parts language, and hating yourself as a system is bought up multiple times. Here are some examples:

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Their views on their systemhood, while valid, is narrowed to the expectation that every other system should see it that way and if they don't they are put into the pile of fakes and subject to harassment. Anti endos have called me disgusting simply for expressing how happy being a system makes me. It reminds me of when I was a transmedicalist(essay for later) to be honest.

If you don't want to fuse, if you don't see your systems existence as an abomination, and you desire better acceptance from the world

You are a fucked up groomer who is anti recovery, never wants to heal, and wants to abuse children.

I'm sorry I love my system

I'm sorry I found so much joy in my system that I would love for there to be more of us and better acceptance of us

I'm sorry that I'm not all pessimistic on my system

To be honest, I can't change the past I went through, I can't delete my system,

But maybe to me it's ok to see the good that came out of it even if its hard then and hard now

Projecting your perspective of your systemhood onto others though, projecting false analogies based on your own trauma, and expecting every experience to be the same as yours is vile and just self victimizing in order to hurt vulnerable systems looking for community.

Giving your sob story, ranting about how you hate your pieces/headmates, and then tying it up with "and thats why endos want to hurt children" is a different level of fucked up

small personal note: if I had to endure everything again just to be with Scald, I would Over and over and over Piss yourself mad about it antis, I love my system and we aren't faking because of it

[chirpingfromthebox]

Me just thinking out loud and inarticulately trying to wrap my head around my thoughts on the simmering dumpster fire that is my hometown team. Feel free to scroll on by.

I feel like something missing from a lot of the Curl discussion is the context it all happened in. Lots of articles and posts make it seem like the problem fans have is just that Curl got drafted at all. And I think the context around it all matters.

The league shit canned Natalie Darwitz days before the draft, wouldn't say why, acted like they aren't saying anything because they want to respect Darwitz, but meanwhile Darwitz seems like she would LOVE to talk about the situation.

To make matters worse there's all this talk and speculation surrounding the role Klee had in this, and amongst that he goes to the draft table with the emptiest table of any team, drafts Curl in the second round, (you can tell the league already was ready for bad fallout from Curl because they had a prepared statement locked and loaded to go out in the youtube chat seconds after it happened), and then Klee IMMEDIATELY makes things worse by purposefully staging her draft photo to be taken with St. Paul's mayor Melvin Carter (a black man) and the assistant coach (a queer woman).

Then Klee, the team, and the league decide to handle the fallout from everything in the most half-assed tone-deaf manner possible.

Before the Darwitz debacle I had mentally prepared myself for the eventuality that someone would draft Curl. But I had prepared myself for someone doing it in the back half of the draft.

A team would get her, but at least it would suggest Curl's actions had lowered her value considerably in teams' eyes.

Like, none of the craziness happened, and Darwitz had drafted Curl in the 5th or 6th round, made a proper acknowledgement of the situation and their plan for moving forward, and Curl had made an apology video that was written by someone who didn't go to the American Political School of Empty Statements?

I think the community could understand. We wouldn't love it, but we could live with it. It would be like seeing a big spider in the corner of my ceiling: I certainly don't like it, and I'm gonna keep my eye on this, but as long as it doesn't step to me any further we'll be alright.

But that's not what happened. And that's not how it happened.

And I'm still not sure what to do with my Minnesota fandom at this point.

At the moment I'm waiting to see what the final team looks like. If they re-sign their queer players I'm willing to put in the work to fight against Mr. Potato Head's attempts to sabotage my team, and try to at least make the fan community as welcoming and inclusive as possible.

But if Klee and co. don't bring back Minnesota's queer players? Then I'm out. For the good of my own mental health I'll go support a different team until they can get their shit together.

Because I do believe that people can change. Especially people in their 20s who were dumb-ass ignorant assholes in college. And she's not my main problem. My main problem is what does this team and this league want to be? Because someone like Curl coming into a queer positive environment is one thing. But her coming into a place with nothing but conservative ideals and a pinkwashed door? That's something else entirely.

And if the people at the top are going to fire the woman who built the team, put a dude in charge, give a person with a history of supporting bigoted ideas a position of influence, and become the only team in the league without any queer players?

And then have the gall to claim to be an inclusive?

Fuck that.

[also everyone wants to act like Minnesota is some rogue villain in all this and that isn't fair. This isn't like the big league male teams: there are no individual team owners here. The league controls it all and their fingers are in every pie. But that's a whole different conversation.]

[diacripticcomplex]

How would S+M boys react when they found out that their S/O doesn't trust men because her mother, a narcissistic woman, was cheated on by her husband. She hated men so much that she manipulated her S/O into believing that men were horrible, liars and unfaithful, and that her S/O doesn't need men unless her mother

Shu: Would look at her so baffled but also wouldn't go out of his way to prove her wrong, he doesn't like people and usually avoids interacting with people, questioning his loyalty is stupid, he's too lazy to go to someone he barely knows, even for means of pleasure, he prefers to be in his own solitude for the most part.

Reiji: He'd be extremely offended, "Do I appear to lack self respect like the vile creatures your foolish mother is referring to? Do I appear to look like an insecure man?" He'd scoff and honestly would prove just how devotedly loyal he can and will be, but will expect the same in return or he will poison his S/O.

Ayato: Well well well, he's the type to be extremely loyal only if the relationship is clearly defined as a relationship, if it's just talking or a situationship he will do whatever he wants. His S/O would have to pretty much be clear of the relationship and have him on a leash.

Kanato: Much like Reiji would definitely get offended and super mad, would flip the entire situation onto his S/O, saying that they would do him wrong before he ever thought of doing them dirty. Would get somewhat violent in the process and go to the extreme length of having his S/O and him keep a vial of each other's blood in a necklace for everyone to see.

Laito: "Your mom isn't wrong about me at all, I'll bring you down to hell with me and you'll learn to enjoy my unjust ways" LMAOOO he's a whoreee, he doesn't care if you get hurt, that type of shit turns him on, and you can't even cheat back because he would expect it and enjoy it.

Subaru: He's a loner, he wouldn't do that to his S/O and would try to reassure his S/O as much as he can, he's used to getting insulted and treated badly so he can definitely handle it, he knows what it like to have a mother who would say detrimental things, he tries to be understanding as much as possible but it does hurt him that his S/O would think so poorly of him.

Ruki: As soon as he heard his S/O talk about infidelity he would be so quick to cut them off. "My mother left my father to be with her lover..you have the audacity to think only men are that distrustful and awful?" He'd give you an entire lecture on how both men and women ain't shit basically and it's all about the individual at the end of the day as well as explaining that we all have choices and he would never choose something stupid.

Kou: HE WOULD PURPOSELY CHEAT AND DO HIS S/O SO WRONG, THEN WOULD AT LIKE HE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW HIS S/O.

Yuma: He would understand why his S/Os mother thinks that we, he knows there's a lot of evil in the world but he wouldn't like how his S/O would be speaking to him and being all accusing, he will straight up leave.

Azusa: He would tattoo his S/O name on himself all over just to show his devotion. He would cut his S/os name into his skin.

[sohardlovingyou]

in honor of midnight's two year anniversary, do you have a list of how you'd divide the album into john-songs and paul-songs? would love to know your thoughts! <3

Oh, I don't have a list but I can make one right now! I don't care about my job that much, lol

This is interesting because I think Midnights (alongside Rep) is the least mclennon Taylor album, buuuuuut it does have songs that individually are a lot like both of them so let's see

John songs:

Maroon: this is one of the few songs that I think are mclennon, but specifically I think it's very John pov re: 1968 NYC Apple trip. (heartbreaking, I know)

Anti-Hero: This one is self-explanatory, really. I cried on a train the first time I listened to it because it was so John-coded that it made me sad he was never going to hear it ):

The Great War: this is like Jealous Guy 2.0 (with the caveat that he was an idiot and Taylor is a princess)

Dear Reader: As my beloved @idontwanttospoiltheparty once told me, John was not self-aware enough to write something this intimate BUT I can't hear "you wouldn't take my word for it if you knew who was talking" and "You should find another guiding light, but I shine so bright" without thinking about him, so #JohnCoded

Hits Different: Again, self-explanatory. Probably top 3 most John coded Taylor songs. "I picture you with other girls in love, and threw up on the street" is sooooo baby mclennon it makes me giggle. And "Dreams of your hair and your stare and sense of belief in the good in the world, you once believed in me" is SO SO SO John thinking about Paul that it makes me want to rip my heart out of my chest. But then she says "or have they come to take me away?" and i get sad for both of them.

Paul songs:

You're On Your Own, Kid: If I didn't find looking for video clips so tedious, I would have made a post-breakup Paul edit with that bridge because o m g. "I gave my blood sweat and tears for this" It's literally Get Bak Paul, and it makes me go insane thinking about it. "I looked around in a blood-soaked gown and I saw something they can't take away" they're both thinking about music, aren't they? Anyway, he was on his own and he DID face it.

Question...?: Taylor is so nonchalant and chill in this song that the fact that she's fucking furious almost flies right above your head. And Idk, it reminds me of the way Paul wrote Too Many People and Dear Boy. I wish I was better at explaining this but hopefully, you'll get it. "Does it feel like everything is second best after that meteor strike?" is so petty, lmao, it just gives: you'll NEVER replace me as your soulmate, cry about it (it works both ways tho).

Vigilante Shit: I just think he should have sung it about Klein doing the Eras Tour choreography.

Karma: I'm just adding it for the same reason as Vigilante Shit. "My pennies made your crown". "Ask me why so many fade and I'm still here", it's also self-explanatory.

Mastermind: The first time I heard "I've been scheming like a criminal ever since to make them love me and make it seem effortless" and "I'm only cryptic and Machiavellian 'cause I care" I gasped and went "PAUL!", so make of that what you will. Like, it's just him in song form. Also, baby Paul following John around before they officially met, and then pretending he has to think about being in his band lmao. "Checkmate, I couldn't lose" indeed.

✨MCLENNON BONUS✨

I couldn't finish this without mentioning that Midnights has a song that's literally called PARIS!!! And I have said this before but I think it's just John trapped in a hotel room in 1966 thinking about them going back there, and then THEY DID! (Paul ruined it but whatever).

[bionicle-ramblings]

I have a feeling that the SCP AU is leading to the Metru trying to escape the facility, because both how they are treated and that the bosses are Roodaka and Sidorak is just. Terrible.

The questions are: What is the boiling point that even Whenua says "enough of this shit". And how could they get out?

It does! And you're actually pretty close with Sidorak being in a really high position in the facility. Roodaka's actually another SCP😉

As for that boiling point, Weeeeeeeeeell.... 👇

Credit where credit's due, @chancetimespace thank you for listening to all my brainstorming, and even the angst scenes, especially this one

So it all started when Lhikan was wrapping up a session with Whenua and asked if he wanted to make any requests. Whenua was silent, but ultimately caved:

He wanted to go to the beach, and he wanted the other Metru to come with him. An all or nothing deal too; they all had to unanimously agree to go to the beach together. Even only one disagreed, then they wouldn't go

Lhikan DID point out that such a request can be seen as a potential breach and also cruel, based on the "all or nothing unanimous agreement thing," but Whenua was adamant. He didn't want to force anyone, and he wanted the other Metru to get out and get fresh air because Onewa felt like a caged animal, Matau was treated like one by staff sometimes, Nuju and Nokama were restless, Whenua wanted to feel the sand between his toes, and, if he had to be honest, he had no idea how long Vakama had been in the facility for and thought the kid could use some fresh air and Vitamin D

And so Lhikan took it to the Director and, upon hearing the stipulations, agreed: If Lhikan got the Metru to UNANIMOUSLY agree to it, they would be allowed their beach day. He even had a slight start with Whenua; people don't make requests like that unless they REALLY want it

He moved pretty quickly, talking to each Metru himself and getting their individual answers, making sure he'd get unbiased answers because THEY had to agree themselves, not because, "Everyone else is going and I don't want to let them down"

He already had his 'yes' from Whenua, so he moved to the others next

Nuju agreed almost instantly, glad to be outside and out of the facility even if it was only for a day

Nokama also agreed; she missed natural water and wanted to stretch her legs again

Matau was VERY enthusiastic in his agreement, eager to see people and essentially play 'dress up' again. He did ask which beach they'd be going to, and Lhikan promised it'd be one he'd liked

Onewa was where he ran into a hiccup, because Onewa didn't believe him, as some personnel thought it would be funny to prolong granting his requests or even not grant them entirely. Lhikan had to grant a request(giving Onewa a 2×2×2 block of rainbow tiger's eye/tiger iron) in order to get Onewa to agree, which he ultimately did(on the basis that he would beat the hell out of Lhikan if this was another sick joke)

Vakama was another hiccup, thanks to Roodaka because she'd been talking to him more and getting into his head about being with the Metru. This did not come up when Lhikan asked him about a beach day. Vakama was iffy still because of the fact he'd be outside and, if he was being honest, he thought he'd be a danger to everyone around him. Lhikan assured him he would be and swore nothing would happen. Vakama asked if he could sleep on it to provide his answer. Roodaka also paid a visit and got him to tell her about the beach question Lhikan gave. She warned him it would end badly, that the foundation wouldn't stand for it, knowing who was getting out and what they could do

By the morning, after a couple days, the Metru were brought together, given some ordinary clothes and brought to a shuttle van with tinted windows. Long story short, the agreement was unanimous

Lhikan brought them to an ice cream parlor(the Metru had breakfast before they left) before they got to the beach, because "You can't have a beach day without ice cream," and wind up taking to an out of work friend for a WHILE

The Metru all watched, even when they finished eating, and were simply admiring how two people could talk for so long

Then Vakama, as he was messing with a peppermint wrapper, said, "We could probably leave and he wouldn't even notice."

And, after a moment of everyone staying at each other, they did

They all had their teachers in their arms, but they were out of Lhikan's sight and on their own

And they had a VERY good day

Turns out Whenua tended to leave stashes of cash around in places only he knew were there; "this used to be a speakeasy during the Prohibition. Once the ban was lifted it became an extra room and then one people just didn't care to look for when the fun stuff was right in front of them." They did have to remind Matau to keep to one face, so the police wouldn't be informed and they had to get sunglasses for Onewa and cover for him; "He lost a bet and now he needs to wear that face makeup all day. Looks pretty badass, though, huh?" / "Correction: I *won* that bet."

A major highlight was going to a carnival and just having a good time and goofing around, more so when they finally made their way to the beach and just had fun. Swimming, playing in the sand, taking in the sun, even having a campfire and watching the sunset and later stars

Here was where they really got talking, about their lives before the facility, about how long they'd been in, making light of their time being in captivity, as it were

Nuju and Nokama were in for the least amount of time(9 months)

Matau had been in for three years

Whenua had been in for five years, three months and 4 weeks(yes, he kept count)

Onewa had only been in for a year, maybe a year and a half

Vakama revealed he's been in the facility for eight years now, counting today

It silenced everyone for a moment, especially as they realized that so much time had caused a lot of damage, and not just physical. Vakama is VERY socially inept, to the point he just froze up when a girl told him her friend thought he was cute, he is pale like a ghost, he looks like he hasn't been sleeping, and, as he revealed to them, being seen as a monster and a secret to be kept under wraps wins up making you believe it yourself, that that's all you are and every will be

After a moment, the question was proposed:

"What if we ran away?"

It caught everyone's attention, mainly because they realized THEY WERE OUTSIDE and they did get away from Lhikan and could run. Nuju pointed out they still had their trackers in, though they could be removed hopefully before the foundation found them all

The discussion was long and there was a lot of "and then what?" But ultimately, everyone just lay on the beach and wind up falling asleep

You may think Lhikan left, but no. He was keeping an an on the Metru and needed to report back to the foundation that he had the Metru in sight and they were safe. He had everything under control

He missed when a group of SCP bands drove in from the back roads and SCP personnel essentially swarmed the beach

To call what happened brutality would be an understatement. Personnel were armed with guns, both with live ammo and tranquilizers, tazer/stun guns, batons, pepper spray, anything to apprehend the Metru, and all are used in some capacity, even when they surrendered

Vakama in particular did immediately surrender, even with a gun aimed at his head, but could only watch as he saw the others be beaten, pepper sprayed, shot with tranquilizers, and even electrocuted in water as Nokama had tried swimming to get away out of sheer instinct

The recapturing left them in horrible states. Matau had been tranq-ed and knocked unconscious, Nuju wound up getting shot in the leg, Whenua and Onewa were beaten until they were unconscious, and Nokama was trembling controlably thanks to both what happened and being shocked IN WATER

Each were put in separate bands and taken back to the facility, though Vakama had to be knocked out with sleeping gas because he WENT OFF on the personnel and how they were using their numbers to talk about them rather than their names. Upon re-entering the facility, the Metru were kept apart, not allowed to see each other. Lhikan wasn't allowed to visit them either

To say the Metru were all affected is an understatement

Whenua made and his weapons in his bed and his room

Nuju practiced his telekinesis tenfold

Matau refused to leave the enclosure in his area

Nokama has trouble being in water again, or would stay at the broke so no one could grab her

Onewa was even more hostile than he ever had been

Vakama often fluctuated between laying in bed all day to sometimes destroying his room and purposely seeing things on fire

It got worse when Roodaka glued herself to him and would often stay in his room with him. Nothing creepy happened, she just played at being his ally

That changed when Vakama was checked on me by Sidorak, started requesting to not see Roodaka anymore, and when Roodaka attacked him and the two had a VERY intense fight that personnel had to break up

While the other Metru earned their way back to seeing each other, the most they saw or heard of Vakama was he was first already seeing Roodaka, and then that he was in solitary containment/confinement because he proved to be too dangerous to be kept around others for a while

In solitary, Vakama met Norik, who talked to him through a vent and the two got talking: Norik and his friends tried to escape, but were unsuccessful. Norik doesn't mind solitary, but he'd heard of Vakama and his friends, as they were the talk of many staff members. He only hoped Vakama knew his friends worried about him because they do; he means more to them than he thinks, and he cares about them more than he realizes

After a VERY emotional reunion, and a shave and a haircut, two bits, the Metru were back to hanging out and seeing each other again, butnwith heavier supervision

That did not stop Vakama from slipping a note to all of the other Metru when they returned to their holding areas:

"We're getting out of here"

[madamtrashbat]

I was chatting with a friend recently about the ways antis operate and how damaging their ideology is and I wanted to organize my thoughts about it.

It's one thing to be like "I wish minors wouldn't interact with my work because it's got adult content" (which is not something you can 100% control short of paywalling) but it's another thing ENTIRELY to be like "minors should never look at anything sexual ever and people who think it's okay that they do are secret pedophiles."

Teenagers need to have the safe space to explore their sexuality and figure their shit out and sometimes that place is fandom. Sometimes teens are trying to deal with the fantasies they have about their hot history teacher so they consume teacher/student smut in order to work it out. Sometimes they're wondering what gives them their jollies and are just reading whatever they can to wank to, including incest and rape and other "unsavory" things just so they can get it all figured out.

Sometimes awful things have happened to teens and they're using the avenue of art and fiction to take the power back from their rapist and create a narrative they control where they are working through it safely.

And antis would see all of this and want it fucking destroyed.

I was brought up in fandom by a few of the sweetest older women (adult women!) who took me under their wings and showed me that what I was thinking and writing wasn't bad or wrong or shameful and it was all perfectly sane to have these sexual feelings because nothing makes sense when you're a kid and if you want to write Frerard where Gerard is the hot teacher to Frank's catholic schoolboy in order to deal with your feelings about the sexy sub you just got at your school then that's totally fine.

These trusted adults also comforted me when I was afraid, taught me what boundaries were (please do not actually pursue the sub!), told me what were normal interactions and what I should be wary of (do NOT let the sub pursue you), and they were proud of me as I made my way into the world as a reasonably well-adjusted adult.

(Hi, Gaja, can't wait for your Christmas card!)

Sexuality is weird and messy and whatever makes our pants tighter is all individual and equally weird. Telling teenagers to not seek out porn and to not even speak to adults is just a one-way ticket to growing fucked-up people who don't know how to operate without shame and then we have a resurgence in Catholicism and NOBODY needs that.

And the way that antis rally against this, like teenagers are Pure and Sweet Babies who are being corrupted by the Awful Adults Like Me (who are secretly child diddlers obviously) is just. So fucking damaging.

Imagine trying to handle the way your hormones are firing off at everything and you're just not sure what's going on and instead of a kind adult going "hey we were all freaks at 16 and it's totally normal to be like 'this strange thing is turning me on' I promise" you have some sniveling puritan asshole going "YOU ARE ACTUALLY A SEXUAL PREDATOR IF YOU LIKE THESE THINGS AND YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED AND PUNISHED BEFORE YOU ACTUALLY HARM PEOPLE."

Like. Y'all. I have seen antis claim that people who wrote about/drew rape in order to deal with their own assaults DESERVED IT because they chose to deal with it in this way. I have seen antis tell people they hope they get raped for the fiction they create. They wish death and harm against people who make fiction. Antis literally have a body count over this shit. And yet they want me to believe they're the good guys? Bye.

Antis will argue that it's not normal for people to think about gross and icky things. I argue that Holocaust survivors had sexual fantasies about actual fucking jackboot Nazis.

No one says you have to like everything everyone else does. We have a robust tagging system for a reason. But to behave as if what YOU like is the only thing that is acceptable and everything else is Bad and Wrong is not the business. Kink Tomato exists for a reason. We are all individuals who like different things. Get with it.

Teenagers are in a precarious time of development and if you want to shame them for whatever is going on in their heads then you are the problem, not the solution. Be the kind of adult you needed as a teenager, not some shaming, screaming Puritan trying to pin scarlet A's onto everything because it's sinful. Goody Proctor is just trying to rub one out in peace.

Get with the way fandom has always operated or go away. ACAB means fancop, too.

[far-side-skies]

How would you rewrite Atmos most wanted?🤔🤔🤔

Oh this is a good one. Anyone who's been in the discord for a while will know more or less my ideas for this one.

Unlike Energy Crisis, I have actual grievances with this episode, and they are as follows:

The Raptors' disguises were just… why? I know why, it's because Storm Hawks is a kid's show, but surely you can give your audience a bit more credit than that. It's Dark Ace in Velocity all over again. I forgive it for the most part because it's a cartoon, but Nerd Corps is on thin ice XD

The people who are on the war path after the Hawks makes no bloody sense for when the episode happens in relation to the rest of the show. Yes, the show has episodic writing but by AMW, the Rex Guardians, Absolute Zeroes and Rebel Ducks all have an established history with the Hawks. If anything, more people than just Dove should've been trying to help them clear their names.

The crimes and items stolen is just nonsensical. There was no end goal for the Raptors here, they were just being evil for the sake of it and as a result the stakes were depressingly low. We deserved a bigger threat than what we got.

With those problems established, let's go over how I'd fix them, starting with the teams who think the Storm Hawks robbed them.

This episode would've been a great opportunity to introduce some squadrons we don't know very well. Perhaps the Buff Buzzards and the Screaming Queens, both teams we've seen in passing during Velocity, but that never got much development.

As for the teams we do know better. All of them felt like they were being written terribly out of character, excluding Wren. Wren can stay the crazy accusing old man he originally was. This man almost yeeted these kids into the Wastelands on their first meeting because he refused to believe that they weren't Cyclonians until Radarr bit him.

So we have Wren on the war path making false accusations again. How about the rest of the Rebel Ducks are following him to make sure he doesn't give himself an aneurism. Meanwhile Harrier and Suzy Lu are trying to get to the bottom of these thefts before pinning it on the Hawks. These kids surely wouldn't steal such valuable and even dangerous items, would they?

Now what is actually being stolen? And why?

The Cheese Stone is funny but ultimately useless. Let's replace it with a box of high-grade explosives, because one of my headcanons for the Rebel Ducks is that blowing things up is their favourite way to get shit done. Nobody makes a bomb like a Galeman can.

The snow blaster is… ok, I guess? One of the few instances of gun weapons being seen in Storm Hawks. But let's make it a bit more specific and have it that one of Suzy-Lu's frost crystals was stolen. An extremely rare one that's capable of freezing metal to the point where it shatters.

The Rex Guardians always seemed to me like one of the most influential squadrons in the Free Atmos, so as well as old Sky Knight relics they probably have archives of current and recent goings-on in the war, maybe even things that let them access high-security locations such as prisons.

If anyone can see where I'm going with this, you can have a cookie.

Stealing the Aurora Stone pieces is a brave move, and I'm sure anyone's attention would be grabbed by an attempt at such a crime.

So we have some new antagonists, and a running theme for the items that have been stolen. What can these things be used for? What goal shall we give the thieves of this rewrite?

How about a prison break?

The Atmosia Stockade is a high-security prison that houses Carver, and no doubt numerous other prisoners of war, such as high ranking Talons, turncoat Sky Knights, powerful Murk Raiders, the list goes on. The Free Atmos would stand to lose a lot if so many dangerous individuals escaped. Imagine the chaos!

And if that wasn't enough, I have one last major change to bring out.

The Raptors aren't the thieves in this. Not the main ones anyway. Perhaps they were hired as distractions, perhaps they did help with a couple of the thefts, but they're not the primary culprits. It's the Storm Hawks Reserve team.

This ties into other rewrite ideas I've got lined up, specifically Talon Academy. I decided a while back that several members of the Reserves that Aerrow suggested in TA and that never got mentioned again what the hell were in fact Cyclonian double agents. People with a huge motivation to break people out of the Stockade. And it'd explain why the likes of Wren are so sure that it was the Storm Hawks who robbed them. They have the right uniforms, the right insignia, and they are not a pack of giant lizards in paper masks.

...Sorry, I'm a bit salty.

I want the Storm Hawks to fail in this episode. It would've been interesting to see how they handle a loss like this, and I think it would make things incredibly interesting for the lead-up to Cyclonia Rising. Imagine all the new threats we could've gotten.

So that's my extensive ideas for how I'd rewrite Atmos's Most Wanted. Maybe one day I'll do a fanfic or even an audio drama based on this rewrite, because apparently recording my attempts at voice acting is something I want to so. I hope you enjoyed my ramblings!

[batsplat]

in a way valentino did himself a big disservice by undermining sete as a rider and a rival. like he pretty much erased that rivalry from his narrative and sete is now (mostly?) remembered as that one bloke that vale overtook in the last corner at jerez. like come onnn valentino now ppl think you raced against some very mid guys 😭. but that rivalry was great actually! love watching their on track battles. also it’s such a great foreshadowing for vale/marc and the marc/dovi parallels…….valentino was really doing thee most in terms of interesting feuds and narratives, always years ahead.

sadly the same anon so there are still only the 3 of us.

complete agree on everything in this ask. thanks anon it's fine if it's still just three of us. the growth will be organic I #believe. anyhow I find it funny he does this shit but it also drives me a little crazy. like... it's so obviously not self-serving... and gives you a real insight into his priorities. you see this stuff all the time... ah, sete was mid, valentino didn't rate sete (or biaggi) at all, it was such an easy rivalry for valentino which proves he competed in a weak era... terrible pr move, you'd think! such a fantastic on-track rivalry! why wouldn't you stand by it! and even if he did truly think sete was an unworthy rival, it would still be in his interest to give that man a little hype. you would genuinely be forgiven for thinking the 2004 title was basically wrapped up after welkom, which!! my man!! that's literally your best season, what are you doing!! istg you are making it HARDER to get people into what is straight up the best era racing-wise in modern motogp because half the fandom saw one clip of you calling sete mid and have based all their opinions on that. work with me you twat!!

it's also just so obviously not true. how valentino behaved over the course of that rivalry is not what you would do against someone you don't see as a serious threat. the massive reaction after sachsenring 2003, everything about that early 2004 trio of races (especially the last lap of assen), everything about his reaction to qatar, the targeted cruelty of the sepang celebrations, taking all those risks at phillip island, his panic at the idea of losing in 2005 at jerez, the ferocious determination with which he set about preventing sete from winning again for the rest of that year... sure, some of that is personal animosity post-qatar, but it's personal animosity that was in large part because valentino was spooked by sete. this was the guy who dented valentino's impeccable reputation in one-on-one duels, who actually managed to make him bleed when valentino wasn't expecting it - the first time somebody had managed to do it with anything approaching regularity at a bit of the season where it still mattered for the championship (though shout out to barros for motegi/valencia 2002). genuinely the first time it felt like somebody had valentino handled in direct duels since, y'know, 1998 harada when vale was a teenager. valentino may have fought for the title with biaggi in 2001, but in actual duels it was very one-sided. there's a pretty decent argument that sachsenring 2003 is the single wheel-to-wheel defeat that stung the most until phillip island 2015? like that fucked with him! it prompted a bigger reaction from him than any individual defeat inflicted by casey or jorge! (not that valentino ever really lost duels against jorge but that's a conversation for another day.) he was determined to NEVER fuck it again like he did at the sachsenring! he did this whole reclaiming the spirit of his teens at brno! he AGREED TO SIGN FOR YAMAHA! this was SUCH a massive turning point

he was struggling!! he was seething!! he's exceptionally good at not being a sore loser on a race to race level (always been more of an 'attack from a position of strength' type by disposition) but this is. genuinely. as close as you can run him this decade. maybe assen 2001 is the other one where the mask does slip a little. but apart from that

which objectively makes for a better rivalry! sete being that good bothered valentino, he really hated losing to him even before they were enemies! and the thing is, right, valentino is aware that great rivalries make great stories - that his opponents being strong makes him look stronger by reflected glory. he knows this! it's an own goal that he's just rolling with this tactic! it's so personal he's gonna take the reputational hit! it's night and day when you compare it with, say, the casey rivalry. basically the biggest most obvious tells valentino actually harbours personal animosity towards someone is if he a) blanks them, like just straight up ignores them unless he absolutely has to, and b) starts fucking around with his career narrative where he excludes them from his story in some way, even if at times it's to his own detriment. it's quite straightforward! that's why the moment you cut away all the noise, you can tell he never really had anything against casey - complete competitive happenstance, casey was just there. (you can also tell this how you'd be hard pressed to find anything particularly mean-spirited valentino has said about casey after, like, mid-2013, but that almost feels too simple.) valentino loves to yap and valentino loves to tell fun stories about his career. if he's not yapping with some bloke and he's not including them in his stories, you know it's something special

anyway obviously the fact that sete doesn't get rated also means a lot of people do miss the pretty glaring dovi parallels lol. like they're right there. here just again for reference:

sete never quite got valentino to a title decider, but 2004 is basically almost as close as 2017 and then 2003 is more of a title challenge than either 2018 or 2019, though 2005 isn't one at all... point is, these are broadly similar levels of threat vale and marc face at literally the same age. sete and valentino were closer on a personal level than marc and dovi ever were, but apart from that you've got two rivalries that immediately stand out because of how much more 'respectful' they were than what directly preceded it. I supposed marc does better pr for that rivalry because he doesn't dislike dovi and because it also did him a world of good to be able to point to a more 'respectful' rivalry in his resume, as a kind of 'oh look I can do that too, I'm not the problem' type thing. vale was very image conscious in the sete rivalry, but more in a 'oh I can use how image conscious the other guy is to suffocate him'. and I reckon that's one of the biggest differences between the two rivalries... because losing to sete was a real reputational hit for valentino, like that was a net negative, got the italian press calling him washed and all that shit. whereas marc and dovi... I honestly cannot recall people giving him too much grief for all the last lap duels he was losing? which is odd, in a way, but meant that broadly having dovi around was a good thing because it was almost like a built-in way of making those dominance years watchable. adds a little spice if there's always the threat marc might at least lose a last lap battle, even if unfortunately that might be the only competitive tension you're getting that season. for marc, just having the dovi battles was beneficial. for valentino, the only way he could benefit from the sete battles was by winning them

[northwest-cryptid]

Idk if I fully understand ffxiv being native-phobic? I just played through stormblood & what I got from that was colonialism bad, to put it in super simple terms. Like idk the entire point of it was liberate an oppressed peoples and give them back their homes? And maybe I missed it but I didn't see the Ala mhigans as being native coded or inspired?

You didn't see the Ala Mhigans being "Native Coded" because they aren't and yet Ala Mhigan clothes use Native patterns. You didn't see FFXIV being "Native-Phobic" because it's generally not, it likes to hide it's racism away in little pockets.

It's hard to see it when you're not used to seeing it. This isn't your fault, it's that you're looking in the wrong places.

This is the "Ala Mhigan Gown" it's being largely attributed to being "Ala Mhigan" it is not. It is Native.

These patterns are Native, and while I cannot claim exactly and exclusively which tribes use them I can say for certain that I'm Deer Clan Lakota and these patterns are ALL OVER my traditional Native clothing. To attribute our clothing to Ala Mhigo is wrong.

This pattern is being reproduced and sold as Ala Mhigan, as "Kimonos" and lastly, as cosplay.

And these patterns can be found across plenty of First Nation/Indigenous clothing and beadwork.

Like, here if you're curious:

Let's also quickly talk about the New World set,

This is just ugh. Believe it or not I like the pants, and the actual torso and shoes aren't bad either. IF (and this isn't the case) this set were to exclude the headdress and were to actually pay proper respect to Native design and culture I'd love it. I actually used to use this set in game minus the headdress obviously, but wouldn't you know it I'm literally Native. This feels like those party city costumes people make, and the parts it gets right are almost more upsetting because it's not being properly attributed to the right people despite knowing very well the devs clearly referenced actual Natives. Those straps on the pants for example are a very real thing, the clothing my father passed down to me has those, tipped with metal because it makes enough noise to scare off rattlesnakes since those were a threat for kids on the res. The colors and bead patterns also do follow a lot of various Native designs, though I find it harder to pin down these exact patterns.

You're looking at the plot, but that's not entirely where the problem lies; also sorry sorry but I can't overlook this. None of the story or plot justifies Zenos calling me a Savage. I do not care if he's the antagonist, that's a fucking slur. It's been used against me and my people for decades. It's been used against me when I was in middle and high school. So yes, even in recent times this is acknowledged as a slur by racist individuals seeking to cause us harm.

If you've never gotten into a physical fight that you didn't instigate only to have someone ask you "what are you gonna do savage? You gonna scalp me?" And then do the worst imitation of a Native war cry; you likely have no idea how annoying it is to see/hear even a villain in a video game call you a fucking savage, have this be hand-waved as kinda being whatever by the general public who don't deal with this kind of racism, and then furthermore when you go into FFXIV community spaces you see this blonde ass white boy being plastered up everywhere like "oh I wanna fuck him so bad" why do you want to fuck a racist?! He's not even hot. Any potential sex appeal he had left his body the second he uttered the word "savage" and you know the worst part? He's not real. Which means he didn't say that shit, someone at Square WROTE that into the game and really thought "hey is it okay to use a slur like this? Yeah it'll be fine no one is gonna know or care."

Can you IMAGINE if they had a villain drop the N word mid fight? You'd never hear the end of it I assure you.

I think the biggest issue is that people don't even know what Native is, they don't know tribes, they don't know patterns, they don't know our actual history.

You say you don't know how it's "Native-phobic" when it's racism and mockery of Natives is very apparent to Natives, but I can't fault you for it because you literally don't know what to look for.

I want to make it super clear I'm not mad at you, I'm upset that this game can get away with this shit because no one is actually educated on Native matters, culture, etc.

I hope this helps clear that up a little.

[eremin0109]

I remember making a shitpost comparing Han Dong soo and Park Jun mo as protagonists just because how similiar I thought they were. But now that we're in the last week of Evilive, I can't believe how fucking right I was.

I will make a more cohesive post talking about all the parallels between the two, but what's more fascinating to me is how different, on the contrary, Do young and Gicheol are. Do young is a man fuelled by pure ambition, refusing to let his heart (if he even has one) dictate his course of action, ready to sacrifice anyone and anything to achieve his goals. Gicheol, on the other hand, is purely driven by his emotions and personal connections to people. In a way, he is a slave to them, he just can't help but love too much, care too much.

And yet, "greed" is a factor that bounds these two incredibly contrasting individuals. In Do young's case, the greed is for being the sole proprietor of the Shinnam Ferry Business, willing to trample Dong soo's ambitions for it if he has to. While for Gicheol, the greed is for still wanting a normal life with the woman (and man) he's loved when they both emotionally manipulated him for their own selfish gains.

Do young and Gicheol are both extremely violent people, willing to kill and maul people that threaten them. For Gicheol, it is more a defensive instinct in a "kill or be killed" situation and it is almost always when him and one of his loved ones are in danger. But Do young is a sadist predator who genuinely enjoys inflicting torture on people, both physical and mental. He kills for himself, and wouldn't get involved in shit unless it benefits him somehow.

and of course they've both got "partners" who are essentially a worse version of them. Gicheol openly admits how he could "see himself" in Junmo while Do young carefully crafted Dong soo's monstrous persona in his own image. They're not the two sides of the same coin but after a point, they ARE the same coin. And one coin cannot be two different things at the same time--so one has to go. That's how it always goes in these type of stories.

For both Dong soo and Junmo, Do young and Gicheol are both, the people who put them on a pedestal and the people who they'll have to get rid of to continue being on that pedestal. For Junmo, it was clear from the start--Gicheol's downfall was his mission, the only way to get that coveted promotion. For Dong soo it will be more complicated, but the signs are all there. If Do young can't give him what he wants anymore, he'll have to figure a way to get it himself, even if it's the cost of getting rid of Do young.

There's a heavy Jesus-Judas, "my savior who came to ruin my life", betrayal disguised as devotion symbolism going on throughout both shows. We've already seen how it all ends with the worst of evil, with Junmo on the top of the world, alone, with the corpses of the people he trampled over to get there lying at his feet.

I doubt it would be any different for Dong soo.