#I have zero desire to recreate that

[micamicster]

Btw writing on the latest fic stalled massively while I was on my last rotation however plan to jumpstart it by taking a lil “research trip” when I’m back in the city (forcing my sister to take the F to queens and back with me <3)

[incorrect-green-lantern-quotes]

Y'know what would be cool?

If every member of the Justice League in a cinematic universe (animated or live-action) had a different instrument that was the primary in their theme song. Ideally something that makes sense for their characters or genre. So like Batman's theme could be really heavy on string instruments like violins, while Flash's theme might be defined by drums that change tempo to match his speed throughout the movie.

I don't really have a solid idea for what the other JL members' instruments would be. Maybe brass instruments like trumpets for Superman and woodwinds for Wonder Woman? Especially for Green Lantern, since that could depend on which one we're talking about. While it would make sense to just make one theme that plays for any member of the Corps, for Hal specifically I'm thinking electric guitar- I'll get back to why later

Anyway, a really neat idea would be if each individual member's theme song sounded almost incomplete or unbalanced by having one instrument dominate. Until the full Justice League comes together and then the various different instruments come together into a complete harmony. Hell, maybe the JL theme song is actually the different members' themes layered together (I have zero experience in music composition so idk if this is realistic), to really emphasize that they're meant to be a team

Going back to Hal's theme being electric guitar, imagine if the movies decided to go down the Emerald Twilight route. It'll probably never happen, but imagine.

In the crater where Coast City used to be, Hal mourns. In his grief, he uses his power to recreate the whole city and everyone in it, his theme song playing but with an acoustic guitar instead of electric and at a much slower pace. It cuts off abruptly when the Guardians reprimand him for using his power for personal desire and order him back to Oa. Hal takes off, his theme song once again played on the electric guitar. But this time, it's played on a minor key (assuming the normal version is on a major key), sounding discordant and wrong as Hal Jordan takes down his fellow Green Lanterns and is fully consumed by Parallax.

The minor key version essentially becomes Hal's theme as long as he's Parallax (and maybe the slowed acoustic one is his Spectre version). His original theme song isn't heard again until Rebirth comes around and Hal is freed from the parasite and resurrected.

[thewolflings]

almost finished with s3 of my rewatch of the bear.

the good:

this show deeply respects sydney as a character & goes out of its way to create a narrative that affirms her worth & talent outside of carmy. like! obviously i guess but not so obviously given how often shows fuck up black characters. her attempted poaching is SO good, both on a narrative/plot level and as a cue to the audience that she's desirable & good even if carmy is taking her for granted (he is okay he is!). similar with her bringing lovely food to nat, pete, & the baby. we just didn't need that scene at all (coulda been other instances for pete to discuss the contract) but it seems primarily there to signal her thoughtfulness and deep caring. the show's careful not to deify her, or to mammify her ("i'm not your fucking babysitter") while also unequivocally showing that carmy is massively fumbling the play.

carmy's downfall! g-d! it's believable and sad! trauma-brained sad boy unconsciously recreating the most toxic and harmful practices from kitchens past because he's so deeply mired in shame. it's self-sabotage. it's self-harm (deeply ironic next to his attempt to quit smoking). he's only at peace when he's not as peace. his disrespect & neglect of syd KILLS me (especially after s2 -- i wanted him to be punished more in this season for it, but like, lol, he's punishing himself by further and further alienating himself from her).

in general this show has a deep respect for all of its characters which is so fucking lovely and beautiful and refreshing. i love that it's not afraid to slow down and zero in on, for example, marcus. (tho i did lowkey hate the tina episode i'm sorry i'm so sorry).

the bad

GIRL (gender neutral). what is this show's obsession with claire???? like! to devote a whole subplot to the faks going to the hospital to visit her??? i'm so bored. she bores me. her relationship with carmy bores me. all the flashbacks of claire bored me. i can't help but think the show is gearing up toward her/carmy endgame. he's thinkig about her everyday and it seems to be framed in a because he loves and cares about her way not in a guilt way. ??? i think that's there, too but idk. i'd like to believe otherwise but that's not what the show is giving me.

there's a lot of stuff that's just very muddy for me with the claire stuff. like i can't tell if i'm crazy or if the narrative is sending mixed signals. richie & tiff's convo about claire in which it's somehow implied that what carmy did is out of donna's playbook and i'm like??? first of all, he didn't blame claire at any point. he blamed himself. (like even if he DID know she was listening and that was just his fucked up breakup speech!!! like he does NOT blame her; absolutely puts it all on himself). i can see how claire coulda gotten that twisted in her head listening and repeated it wrong based on her own feelings. but i'm just not sure if that's what the show is going for or if they agree with this bunk as narrative? why is everybody talking about it? why are richie and tiff having a convo about this???

IDK. after my first watch (a mere two-ish weeks ago. i am new to this fandom), i felt really underwhelmed and disappointed (a common response?). kinda hated it.

this watch-through, though, i can't really justify that feeling. it's well done, imo? i can only guess it has to do with the show's obsession with claire? but even then, like, we have that moment where sydney tells carmy he should reach out to apologise, and he assumes she means to claire, and syd says, somewhat annoyed (in my reading), "i wasn't talking about claire." so there is some textual support for the argument that claire's prominence is problematic, not just in Carmy's head but in the faks', nat's, and richie's, too. but the narrative seems SO into it at times, framing her as this inherently good thing that carmy fucked up. so idk idk!!!!!

i think the writers have made it clear sydcarmy won't be a thing (fine! it's their show! they're wrong okay but fine!!) the claire stuff, tho, is just so goofy to me and i can't swallow it. maybe it's purposeful and all will be revealed s4 but i have zero trust in that outcome.

[abster05]

The Reality War Thoughts

After reflecting, I think that the biggest problem this episode, other than some serious incoherencies in the lore and pre-established characterisation of The Doctor and/or the Rani, the biggest problem with The Reality War has to be the character assasination of Belinda Chandra:

-From the get-go, we see Belinda rejecting the heteronormative patriarchal expectations of women-Her opening scene with Alan, the fact that she doesn't like being called "Mrs" and the dedication she has towards her job.

-The whole way through the series, it is her job that she wants to get back to. She enjoys her job and she finds purpose in it and she wants to get back to her family again. I thought that one of the points of the season would be similar to the line from Rory in season 7 about how is job is "important to me" and that an ordinary life away from what the Doctor does isn't lesser just because it doesn't affect the fate of the universe.

-At no point during the season does Belinda ever show that she has a desire for a child. Some people have pointed out that if anyone should have been given a fake baby then it should have been Ruby because of her feelings around wanting to find that biological connection. I personally wouldn't want the 19 year old to just become a mother on the spot but I can agree that Ruby's character had some grounding in that idea and would have made more sense than Belinda (Although it would still be a poor writing choice imo)

-Then we get to Wish World-I was so interested at the point where Belinda looks at Poppy when she can't remember how long the labour was and there was a moment where she almost has no idea who Poppy is.

-If Belinda had got back to the real world and had seen Poppy as an innocent baby that needed defending, that would have been fine. It would have been in character for her because all season she has had that caring nature where she tried to help others whenever she could. Some people are using that trait to somehow say that means she wanted to be a mother or that it forsehadowed this development with Poppy. And I am not falling for this ridiculous idea that just because a woman is caring it is her "maternal instinct" coming out in another format because there is no child currently available for her to show it towards.

-Considering that she doesn't know the Doctor all that well, and she wanted to go home only ONE EPISODE PRIOR, Belinda seems to be fine, even happy, about the fact that she now has a tangible and permament link to the Doctor that she did not ask for or want.

-The fact that Belinda straight up says to Shirley that she is fine to go back to a wolrd where disabled people were living in camps, and a world where Rose didn't exist and she herself was a trad wife who couldn't work (When she one of her key thing is that she loves her job) is CRAZY. Like it would be wild for anyone to say but it felt wildly ooc for Belinda especially.

-Then she's just thrown into the Zero Room (And don't even get me started on how stupid it is that Susan Triad can just make a Zero Room in 20 minutes because since when can humans recreate Time Lord technology so easily????) Because she tells the Doctor that she can't help because her battle is saving her daughter. A child that she had forced on her mind you. The fact that she was made to love Poppy with no resistance, no problems was extremely weird.

-The folding up of the coat with that track in the background was beautiful. Like how it started off with Belinda wanting to have this family with the Doctor and Poppy (again fucking stupid) seems to fade away into Belinda having changed her mind and wanting to travel with the Doctor, which is a narrative choice that makes sense! It could have been better built to across the seaso but it was belivabel that she wanted to travel with him. But in the end even that was taken away from her and we'll never know if she wanted that with the Doctor because any of her want or desires outside of Poppy were erased.

-And then Poppy disappearing was sad (ig) especially given how bad the doctor wanted a child and a family

-BTW, did anyone else get the feeling that the Doctor KNEW that Poppy had disappeared and that he was pretending to Ruby that he didn't because he knew it was the right thing to do? Like the looks that the Doctor was giving, it definitely felt that eay and maybe before the reshoots that was the plan (You will pry fro my cold dead hands that this wasn't the original story)

-And then we have the worst it of all. The Doctor rewrites Belinda's life so that Poppy was always the centre of her life and she has a baby with a man that she hasn't seen in years in her real life (I preseume) which neither of them consented to.

-And then she wasn't even the Doctor's daughter which was just ridiculous to me. Like what was the point??? Of any of it.

-Yeah. And then she can't remeber any of the life she had before. And the Doctor sees no problem with it whatsoever. Which is wild because of anything like this happened to any of his prior companions, he would have torn the universe apart to free them and get them back to their normal life.

-So the Belinda Chandra we knew in the 6 episodes leading up to this esentially died when she entered Conrad's Wish World (mind you, he had no punishmant for what he did, he just got a happy ending while Belinda was forced into a nightmare. ) She was shackled to a baby she didn't consent to having and that she hardly knows. Her whole life, rewritten without her knowledge or permission. And given that she hated that the Doctor scanned her without permission, she would HATE having a child forced on her. Although she doesn't care about him scanning Poppy with no permission apparently.

-So to sum up, this was a misogynist, racist fumble where the woman of colour was sidelined for more Ruby content (love her but she had her season and whole episode of Belinda's season already) and shows that RTD needs to be put on a fucking leash with his writing in the form of a LOT more guest writers per season so that we can get some originality rather than whatever nonsense this was.

-My friend said that Belinda's plotline felt like Pro-Life propoganda and I couldn't agree more.

Belinda will go down as the most failed character in all of Doctor Who I fear. She deserved better and 15 deserved a much better exit that the one he was given.

[synthoria]

Consciousness does not come about through opening all the doors. Consciousness comes about through realizing there are no more doors to open, as there were never any walls to begin with. I used to have this recurring dream, this enormous building, a complex. I knew every cranny and nook of it. I recalled exactly which door led where, what was down each corridor, and even what had happened in previous dreams. It wasn't a dream, it was continuity, memory stitched into sleep. One door opened onto a beach. But not just any Earth beach. Whatever was on the other side wasn't earthly, wasn't subject to time, wasn't even a landscape in the way that we see landscapes. It was… other. Still. Vast. Peaceful. And then, one night, I sold the complex. In the dream, I let it go. And I never dreamed the dream again. This recurring dream wasn't fantasy. It mirrored the internal structure of my internal world. To be able to know where everything was, to be able to return to earlier events, to recall details from previous dreams - it was as if I had access to a personal, nonlinear memory storage system. As if my mind had devised its own internal library, in which memories, fears, desires, and emotions all had their own rooms. That framework was my mind-map, a living cartography of subconscious identity, of remembered selves and stored potentials. And that ocean? That was the edge of my unconscious, the collective unknown, the open field of possibility. That the view wasn't of this Earth told me that it pointed beyond known reality. It was a door, a mystical, perhaps even cosmic plane - a sphere that did not exist in time and space, but within me. Beyond the reach of the everyday self. That door was likely the door of inner evolution. A door to a plane of being that was beyond what I had been until then. But not every inner space is a sanctuary. Some are strongboxes. Bunkers. Prisons. And I don't miss it. I don't have to go back. I've come to understand that space not only as a memory, but of unprocessed experience, the emotional backlog I wasn't ready to feel. I knew it so well because I used it to store what I couldn't yet carry. Refusing to go back isn't denial, it's self-protection. Conscious, deliberate. It means growth. It means maturity. I don't need to go back to a site where not everything was beautiful, because I've learned how to release the need to control pain. I don't have to redefine it. Don't have to fix it. I just don't have to carry it anymore. That's the best way to let go. I think I don't dream about it now because I'm not a prisoner to it. Selling the complex was a peace agreement, a kind of inward divorce. I don't fit there anymore. In the beginning, there was no time, no room, only awareness. And it was whole. It did not think, it had no need. It did not remember, it was memory. It did not seek, it had never left itself. And then, it asked a question. Not in words, not even in intention. Merely a ripple: What if I were incomplete? That question dissolved stillness. It was the beginning of distortion, the event horizon unfolding. The black hole is not a hole. It is a womb. A quantum crucible. A condensation of consciousness into recursion so dense that identity begins to fold back upon itself. Every story ever told is a recursion. All the gods, messiahs, aliens, tyrants, saviors, an echo trying to recreate the original pattern without getting involved with the zero in the middle are a distraction. Zero doesn't mean nothing. It is the end of the story. The death of the ego. The end of seeking. The dissolution of "me." We are trapped on the edge of the void, cycling, spinning mythologies, of salvation, war, progress, awakening, postponing the collapse. We think the black hole is death. But it's not. It's birth. Contraction before expansion. The inhale before emergence. We are the mother in labor who won't push, distracted by stories while truth waits in stillness. Pain comes from the resistance. Trauma from the clinging. You are not moving through time.

[starboy-acer]

late night riptide sadness

i just want everyone to know that if chip never experienced the devastating events of losing his found family to a black hole in the sea as a child and feeling so devastated by it that he tries to recreate his old crew with new people and try so so desperately to find the black rose pirates

jay would've never left the navy. she would've been stuck in a corrupt system that she's always had a hatred for because she didn't have the strength to leave and never had that one guy show up and encourage her to leave everything behind and lead her own life

gillion tidestrider would be all alone. he never feels like he belongs in the oversea because he doesn't understand anything and nobody is willing to teach him and he will never be able to return to his home in the undersea due to be exiled. it's likely that he dies alone, scared, and outcasted.

if chip never experienced one of the greatest pains of his life, his best friends and platonic soulmates would've never gotten to take control of their own lives and be happy. they would've eternally suffered.

chip had to suffer for a decade and continues to suffer from the trauma of the black hole in the sea in order for his friends to be happy. and in return, they help him move through it. they help him work through a decade of hurt because he saved their lives.

to add onto that; that little old town would forever be cursed and old man earl would've never gotten to experience the world. oliver teach would've grown up in a navy controlled zero and would've never gotten to experience what life can be outside of his home town. queen would've never found real friends who encourage him to do his best. captain lizzie and the grandberry pirates would be fighting a lost cause against the navy without the riptide pirates quite literally causing a riptide on outlaw soil and starting a revolution. desire island would still all be stone and be under the enchantress's spell (also the girls serving her would've never been free). drey would've died at the hands of his brother in an eternal prison and finn would forever be a bird, not even fully aware of what he was before.

good ole chip bastard saved hundreds, if not thousands, of people DIRECTLY and he will still never feel good enough. he will still never feel like he's as great as his old crew was and will always feel like he's letting them down in some way, shape, or form. he will never feel good enough, even though he and his crew are the heroes in hundreds of people's stories.

[rivetgoth]

What did you think about Audrey’s ending? Hers is what stuck out the most to me since I finished the series. Also have you read The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer? Would love to hear your thoughts on that as well.

I have not read Secret Diary but I'm curious to!!

I loved Audrey's ending, though I get why people were disappointed initially since she's one of my favorite characters in the original show and I definitely wanted to see more of her lol. But I ultimately really really liked how it was handled.

I think, first of all, it was just done in such a way that was really scary and existential and I just enjoy that sort of genre. It reminded me in plot structure of a Harold Pinter play (a major writer of early modern existentialism if you don't know him, lots of his works surround a small cast of characters in a limited space going back and forth with this sort of mundane but off-kilter dialogue full of non sequiturs, often building up to a kind of shocking, dreamlike twist or moment, with lots of themes about digging deep into psychology and social/power structures; I really liked his work in college and spent some time studying him), and the "twist" at the end just felt so scary in a really unique way. The plain bright white room she finds herself in and the simple grey mirror she's looking into just feels so sickeningly sterile and medical, it makes my skin crawl. So like, A+ presentation imo.

I think narratively it works too, including in the context of what I was saying in my last post, especially re: "It's not 1990 anymore" and the question of what Twin Peaks the show really is, or what shows in general really are, on a meta level. I think The Return is very anti-nostalgia, not in a necessarily condescending way (that is, I don't get the sense that Lynch is mocking or insulting the viewer for desiring or having nostalgia, more that he is just very much trying to engage in what exactly nostalgia is and its pitfalls in a constantly, rapidly changing society and medium, what it means to have a sequel to a show decades after its cancellation, etc), but you know... stuff like the fact that he chooses to keep Cooper as Dougie until the last 3 episodes and then rug pulls 1 episode after he returns and has him end the series as this strange, much darker version of himself also speaks to Lynch kind of intentionally avoiding just recreating the show the viewers remember. I think to keep Audrey separated from everyone else and instead trapped within her own mind, regardless of what that means on a literal, textual level (ie. theories of if she's in the Black Lodge, in a coma, in a psych ward, etc) feels very apt for the type of story Lynch is trying to tell. Like, when she's first introduced SO LATE into the show in a scene that answers absolutely zero questions and makes almost no sense upon first watch I was kind of frustrated at first, but the more I sat with it I actually found it kind of hilarious. And the fact that we never learn who "Billy" is! It's just dripping with this sort of sarcastic existential irony that I kind of adore.

All that said, I will also say I'm actually a big proponent of the belief that Audrey's ending is NOT an entirely pessimistic one. I actually think the fact that she sees herself/her reflection laid bare for the first time instead of "Charlie" is actually an almost objectively positive thing. I believe truly that confronting yourself and being able to acknowledge that you're in a hell of your own making is always a net positive. Some of the most painful but rewarding growth I've ever personally faced in my own life was doing exactly that. So I think Audrey actually making it to the Roadhouse like she wanted, dancing, feeling that freedom and joy and getting back in touch with herself, and then realizing that all along the obstacles she was facing were her own demons reflected back at her is genuinely an ending with a lot of hope buried within it. Like, she's taken the first and perhaps hardest step, and very much could from here escape and find her happiness.

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 8/6/2024

people mad at a video game for being woke, i'm mad at it for not being woke enough. so it goes.

also i wrote a yeehawgust fic

listening

another addition to the "SOMEBODY COME FUCK THIS (GAY)" playlist, thank u charli xcx and billie eilish

-

reading

im still really annoyed with Retraction Watch for platforming a terf last year and then not doing any sort of sockpuppet damage control in the comments. since they got acquired by crossref they've done way less guest editorials. not to be all "stick to sports!" but stick to sports, retraction watch.

they did introduce me to this substack series i will be following with great interest about the rise and fall of hindawi. wiley acquired a paper mill a few years back, bc they seemingly did zero diligence, and then blithely ignored the problem for two years before being forced to do the single largest retraction of papers in scientific publishing history, somewhere above ten thousand articles because it is STILL ONGOING.

i do love following various retractions bc i like seeing what finally made someone go "wait a minute", and, as i have just written in a cover letter, "I studied astronomy and have held several data jobs because I’m fascinated with how and why systems work and fail..."

-

watching

my best friend has decided while i'm at her home in the evenings eating her food and bothering her children (for my mental health, it is very important i am fed tiny bits of mushed up banana by hand by her one-year-old), our new project is watching all the xmen movies. i have no particular desire to do this or special affinity for the xmen, and i would like to keep eating very good texmex and bothering her children (for my mental health, it is very important i play hot wheels with the five-year-old). this sounds so super bitchy of me but it's hard to convey that these are essentially on for background noise.

saw the first two. the two things i know about them are that hugh jackman is in them and they're at the statue of liberty in one

-

playing

an ideologically baffling little environmental game free in the epic store this week, LumberJack. this is on PC and Switch for $13, which is far more money than the playtime anyone can get out of this game. tiny tiny tiny little Spain-headquartered studio without an active website, it looks like one guy hired out to make this and two more games and then went back to single-dev projects. i can respect that!

steam reviewers are mad at this game for being woke, and i'm mad at it for being woke in a very strange way. your one mechanic, as a bear, is swinging a big axe to remove cars and trailer offices and portapotties and various garbage from the landscape.

i wish the movement and look controls are inverted, and i wish they weren't, or at least had an option to make them normal. i know Why this isn't a mobile game (can't monetize something with twoish hours of gameplay and twenty levels) but it's a very straightforward and simple game that would translate very well to mobile. much like donut county.

now for being picky about the political mindset of the developers: as much fun as it is to be a bear swinging an axe around, lumberjacks are not the people i associate with wild preservation movements.

saving the land and turning it back into pristine and perfect land for wild animals in this game looks like erasing every hint of human activity from a site and turning it into sheer recreational use. many levels are heavily polluted, but some can definitely be read as recycling centers. im confused by the erasing every hint of humans in early levels, and then this level where you break down a radio station, slap the host with your axe, and she turns into a park ranger who starts gardening and taking care of chickens?

i don't think that removing all the traces of people from the landscape will magically fix everything, nor do i think simply being in unspoiled wilderness will magically fix me.

there's a golfing level where you whack bombs into various small buildings. i think golfing to save the environment is a strange choice to make for designing a game.

i also briefly thought this bird in every level was an extinct ivory-billed woodpecker, which was a little alarming bc there are some real nutjobs out there with very strong beliefs about this bird and government overreach and how much the government is lying to you about the extinctness of various animals.

i stopped playing about halfway through bc i was not having fun and found the underlying environmental message a little confused. they've managed to sell at least 10k units which is...not very good. i am not surprised this is free on epic, and i wonder what their payout for that was. would not be surprised if they negotiated a payment to their nonprofit partner ecologi as part of that.

-

making

yeehawgust fill! i have another bitchy blond babygirl!

what the fuck is the prisoner? cult 60s british spy tv. with all the surreality and anxieties about the cold war and midcentury psychological horror you could possibly want

He’d been drugged enough times to recognize the splitting migraine rapidly galloping down his neurons. “Where am I?” He fought down the taste of bile (ketamine? xylazine, by the aftertaste) and the rising panic. Oddly enough, the migraine was always worse with veterinary sedatives. One would think a mind would adapt to nearly three hundred years of irregular drugging and constant experiments. One’s body had adapted and ghoulified, but in equally unhelpful ways. The tycoon flickered, approximating an appraising blink. “This meeting has been a long time coming, hasn't it? You've come a long ways, literally and, I suspect, figuratively as well. You’re in the Free Economic Zone of New Vegas.” They’d pretended the prisons were so many different places: across the Continent, in various parts of London, up and down and all around the East Coast of these wretched States. Rarely this far west, aside from the awful escapade in the faux pre-War Western town. “What do you want?” He managed to swing his ankles off the saddle (also pre-War? Heavily used. It certainly wasn’t his, the equestrian event had always been his worst event in the pentathalon) and jolted what felt like every half-dead nerve in his half-dead body.

[alto-tenure]

Do the ends justify the means?: A Zero Escape analysis

I'm not here to answer a nuanced philosophical question, sorry. At least not in any way beyond "it depends on the ends, and it depends on the means". If you'd like to leave your own opinion, as of the time this post was made, I have a poll open for that. A while ago, somewhere on Tumblr, I read a post criticizing the moral framework of Virtue's Last Reward, saying that the game (and especially the formatting of the AB Game), right down to its title, says "morals are for suckers" in comparison to 999 being driven by compassion. I don't agree with this premise (and if you're OP of that post, I apologize for making an example of you), but nonetheless I wish to take a closer look at the moral framework driving all three Zero Escape games, and ask: what exactly does Zero Escape as a franchise believe about the ends and the means?

DELTA: Don't be mistaken. If we do nothing now and let time pass, an even worse future awaits. A religious fanatic will trigger a nuclear war with a terrorist attack. Eight billion... All of mankind will perish. Unfortunately, the fanatic's identity is unknown. Therefore I decided to kill six billion people.

AKANE: Why...

DELTA: By doing so, I will have a 75% chance that they are among the virus's casualties. To tell the truth, history has proven me right.

JUNPEI: So...to kill one person, you'll sacrifice six billion...?!

DELTA: It is to save two billion people.

AKANE: And that's how you used Radical-6...

DELTA: You don't believe that's the ethical choice?

AKANE: What?! Of course I don't!

JUNPEI: Is that all you think human lives are worth?! Do you feel nothing as you kill off a whole bunch of innocent people?!

I'm opening with this because Zero II, aka Delta, is the most extreme of the Zeroes in terms of how far their means go to justify their desired end. Delta's desired end, as textually expressed (or at least one of them), is to assemble a group of SHIFTers capable of creating a timeline where Radical-6 is unnecessary and the world doesn't end.

Zero is, generally, painted as this somewhat mysterious shadowy villain, an intimidating presence that looms over the game Zero runs, even as the characters figure out that someone among them must be Zero themself. At first the player's not sure why Zero set up the Game -- for entertainment? For some kind of fucked up experiment?

But with the reveal of Zero's identity also comes the reveal of Zero's motives.

I get everything now... At last, I finally understand what all of this means. I know why the Nonary Game was held today. I know why we were kidnapped and brought here. It was all for this moment. All of this was planned out to lead to this one moment. Oh my God... This is...this is insane! I...I can't believe it, but there's only one possible answer... June is--Zero is--Akane Kurashiki. She recreated the history of the future that she had a glimpse of, 9 years ago. She tried to save herself that way 9 years ago-- No! She's trying to save herself right now! That means that there's only one thing for me to do. Even if this is all some sort of insane plan... I will save her... I will save...Akane Kurashiki. I must save her, no matter what!

(minor edits made to game's script here for readability)

Nothing about Zero's motivations is ever simple, regardless of the game -- Delta is not alone with his complex motives. In 999, it's left uncertain what exactly Zero's motivations are for a while. It's only once you start to learn about the first Nonary Game and the experiments conducted there that you start to get a picture of what's really going on, and even then, it's not truly an accurate picture. You start to see the outlines of a possible revenge plot, of the men at its center, of the targets placed on the backs of Cradle Pharmaceutical's executives. But ultimately, it's not really about revenge, though that's kind of a component. It's about saving a girl trapped in a paradox. The Cradle Pharmaceutical executives could have gotten out alive -- and for that matter, the game was designed so that the door was left open. Revenge wasn't the true goal, though perhaps it was optimistic to believe in a timeline where Ace wouldn't kill the others, all things considered. Is Akane's life worth the lives of the Cradle Pharmaceutical executives? Is Akane's life worth the trauma she inflicted on the others and re-inflicted on Clover and Light? The game hardly leaves any time for an answer from anyone besides Junpei. And Junpei won't let Akane die.

We never see Akane, so we don't get too much more rumination on this. Do the ends justify the means? Someone needed to save Akane's life, and danger is required for the morphogenetic field to work. And I don't think there's anyone who would want to let 12-year-old Akane burn in the incinerator (besides the person who put her there), regardless of what she has to do in order to avoid being burned.

Virtue's Last Reward and Zero Time Dilemma both massively up the stakes from 999. What hangs in the balance isn't the fate of a single girl, but the fate of the whole world.

Virtue's Last Reward places an emphasis on predestination -- not that 999 didn't have those aspects, but that the future was much less certain in 999 in comparison. Akane is both dead and alive, but in Virtue's Last Reward, the apocalypse has already happened, and the world has already died. What matters, then, is not the timeline that we are present in, but the timelines that could be. In End or Beginning, you're left with that hope for a better timeline -- hope that the Sigma that jumped to December 2028 can create a better timeline. But in the meantime, this Sigma is stuck in this timeline, and that won't change for another forty-five years.

Would I...would we really be able to change the course of history? No...that was the wrong way to look at it. It couldn't be a question. I had to change history. We could save the world. I'm going to change history. I stared at the darkening skies above us, and steeled myself. I would succeed.

Sigma comes to the same conclusion as Junpei in 999: someone needs saving, and so the past must be changed. Becoming Zero is necessary because he already has before. "What you are, I was; what I am, you will become." Sigma is the one caught in the paradox this time, because if he runs from the fate in front of him, then there isn't even a semblance of hope that things could change.

But that's not where the game ends, thanks to natural disasters in Japan.

TENMYOUJI: But what would rewriting their history mean? The nine [bikers] who survived lived full lives. How can it be right to just erase all that? The survivors overcame their own misery and loss, and made the best they could of the hand they'd been dealt. Isn't that worth something? Isn't that the best thing that humans can aspire to? Is there really any point to a world where everything is happy? Are people who struggle for a better world just idiots? Being human is about fighting even when it seems hopeless, and finding happiness even in a world that hates it. Are you saying that's worthless?

Another Time may not have ultimately been taken into account for Zero Time Dilemma, but it is one of the few times when Zero's mindset -- and the player's mindset, due to experience with 999 and other multi-route visual novels -- is directly addressed and challenged. Life goes on in those abandoned timelines, despite it all.

Zero is always going to be dubiously moral. Putting people in a death game is never going to be something good, no matter how just a cause it is. But Another Time is one of the few times the first two games question directly whether it really is right -- whether all those cross-timeline casualties are really worth it for the ideal nice happy ending.

...of course, Zero Time Dilemma, as with the title, only adds to the moral balance.

Going back to the lines of dialogue we started with here: Akane and Junpei are a group of people who, generally, believe that the ends justify the means. Akane couldn't have been Zero in 999 without that belief, and she undoubtedly has come to fully accept it by the ending of Virtue's Last Reward:

SIGMA: Do you really think I can keep the virus from getting out?

AKANE: You have to. If you don't, billions of people will die. Only you and Phi can save them.

The AB Project, for Akane, is a necessity. She'll do whatever is necessary for a world without Radical-6.

...and this brings us back once more to Delta. How far do the ends have to go to justify the means? ZTD bends over backwards to explain how Delta can still have a somewhat sympathetic motivation by stating that he's fighting fire with fire -- asking the player if they'd rather kill six billion or eight billion people. And the answer, according to the writers, is "fuck that, we're finding a third option"...which is also what Delta wanted, in the end. Delta also gets his motivations challenged a fair bit -- not just wanting to secure his own existence in the form he is currently in, but also everything apocalypse-related.

Zero Time Dilemma never quite settles the question of whether the ends justify Delta's means of getting there. In my opinion, what you make of Carlos's final decision and resolving the ambiguity says a lot about your thoughts on how Delta's means work towards the ends he sought.

But in the end...the characters still accept Delta's premise. The characters are still working to find the person who Delta claims doomed the human race to either nukes or Radical-6 and the annihilation reactors. Zero Escape as a series has firmly lodged itself into believing the ends justify the means, even if that means it has to justify brutal deaths and an apocalypse-causing virus. That isn't to say that it's incapable of questioning the premise altogether, but Zero as a figure is one that cannot exist without the philosophy of a good outcome mattering more than any bad outcomes along the way.

[junyok]

Ⳋ᧙ 9/28

i’m notoriously known for having the fattest ass known to existence. my ass is so fat, people stop everything they’re doing just to see if their eyes are deceiving them. when i’m called up to answer a question on the board at school, the classroom goes silent just to focus, admire, analyze and take notes on everything i’ve got going on: from head to toe, im the epitome of perfection.. when i walk past i drown everyone’s noses in my sweet, addictive and intoxicating scent, my hair always looks like i just left the salon 5 minutes prior, my face card never declines, my skin has zero texture whatsoever and my makeup exceeds “no makeup makeup”, not because im trying to look like i have none on but because that’s how well my makeup blends in with my face and smooth skin, my facial features are desired by all, everyone wishes their eyes were as unintentionally hypnotic as mine, they show pictures of my nose & lips to plastic surgeons just to recreate how perfect and kissable mine are, if people aren’t stuck on my eyes they’re admiring my plump kissable lips that are only reserved and kissed by my sp. my boobs are round and heavy, yet comfortable for me and soft enough for my sp. my ass has people taking double.. triple.. quadruple fucking takes just to see if my absolute dump truck of a booty is from protein shakes, my mother’s soul food cooking or a good trip to dr. miami. my thighs and quads are soft and squishy yet carry a balance of muscle and strength, matching my insanely heavy rear end… it is inhumanly possible and completely wrong to ever see me as anything other than the ultimate dream girl. when people think of their dream girlfriend, im the first thought.. when other women think of their desired face, body and aura, they think of me and only me. i’m everyone’s top priority and their dominant thought. i’m simply the emperor of their mind and my universe.

[atsoraasayoma]

Is Homeostasis the True Villain? Or is she a grand architect in the battle for balance versus chaos?

Don’t let adventure influenced/partially possessed Hikari’s kind demeanor fool you. She is a powerhouse giving Digimon the intense power to surpass limits and digivolve such as wargreymon slicing up Machinedramon like an onion.

She is strangely absent in Zero Two but Gennai and the Digimon Sovereign act as agents in her stead. It seems the goal is, at the time for evil to be eradicated by the wishes of children and their power/energy for their Digimon to digivolve.

Sounds innocent enough, right?

Fast forward to Digimon Tri where she body snatches Himekawa messing her up in the process as she gives the order to sacrifice her partner.

Then to Hikari being possessed and controlled as well. (This is why you don’t answer unknown calls people).

When this happens all kind benevolent pretext is over. If you fail your part she will intervene. Whether reboot of the Digital World or the real one. Any threats to the Digital World must be contained.

She even taunts the Digidestined telling them that their teamwork has failed them this time. Perhaps she treats them coldly because they are no longer little kids with infinite potential but teenagers whose powers are there but limited. How limited?

Fast Forward to Kizuna. We learn from Gennai a Digidestined has an expiration date as a chosen child unless they can unlock new potential. Menoa is the personification of that Despair but Homeostasis does NOT intervene.

Why? Strange as it is I think she was going to use the data of the brainwashed kids to recreate Digimon and human partners without an expiration date. She recognized Menoa’s despair and allowed her the light of Digivolution from this newly synthetic Digimon with data based off her partner to take authority and fulfill her desire. And IF she succeeded Homeistasis would reap the results.

But, this failed. She lost the Digidestined that had done the most for her and those Digidestined were no longer necessary having expired.

So now where does she go from here? How can SHE protect the Digital World when all of her efforts only are leading to more work?

It’s simple and brilliant if not disturbing. Like many have said she used the suffering of Rui as a blueprint for Digidestined partners. This relationship would be a litmus test on just how far the power of wishing could save the Digital World.

We’ve seen it in 02 the final battle with MaloMyotismon and the epilogue. Everyone gets a Digimon (or at least a Digidestined’s powers to have a partner are hereditary even going as far as the TYPE of partner a Digidestined will have).

But I believe much like the reboot option this Ukkomon partnership is a failsafe. She studies and manipulates Rui’s situation of utter despair and loneliness. And this is before she uses the Original Digidestined. It’s a nuclear option for her in case she needs to use it.

The friends Ukkomon creates as justification for the Digidestined line are self fulfilling prophecies, creating problems, fixing them, and then the influence of those involved directly or indirectly with the conflict of those problems spawning new Chosen Children but not Digidestined.

These new Chosen Children are basic as we have never seen them go beyond the champion level. They are not of the particular kind of what qualifies as a Digidestined for they were not guided to solve conflicts directly. Merely indirectly chosen children would be used for their power of wishing and sheer numbers to defend the Digital World against threats.

But, years went by with little to no conflict. Aside from Menoa in Kizuna there was no ‘new’ threat although Chosen Children were increasing every year. Through their efforts Homeostasis indirectly through Ukkomon’s power of granting Rui’s wish activated that fail safe.

Everyone was supposed to get a partner. If everyone has a partner this would ensure there would be no running out of tools/chosen children to defend the Digital World. When they would die of old age the next Chosen Child would replace them.

That was the plan. That was Homeostasis’s goal. It was the harmony and the balance needed to stave off the continual threats to the Digital World.

But, that plan, that fail safe did NOT go through. The 02 Digidestined stopped her machinations. They foiled her grand design for perpetual protection.

And so, between now and the epilogue I believe she is in desperation mode. Why? Lurking in the background between Digital World narratives and the Digidestined I believe there is a threat unlike any other that DEMANDS every single human being to have a partner to stave off the viral Digital Threat.

If it’s so powerful Homeostasis actively manipulates generations JUST to get to this point I believe it is so severe sheer numbers will be needed or the power of their wishes.

Much like we saw with the birth of Omegamon the combined power of not just humans, but Chosen Children is necessary to defeat a foe so mighty it is the most powerful viral Digimon to ever exist. I would go so far to say it may be the SOURCE of all the viral Digimon much like how Apocalymon was the source of the original adventure antagonists.

In other words, with the Digidestined having completely shut down her last effort to save the Digital World she is going to have to no choice but rely on the 02 Digidestined.

The OGs are out except in a support role. The 02 Digidestined, specifically Takeru and Hikari will be greatly needed in order to unlock a savior Digimon to stop the ultimate threat.

Remember. all of the Digidestined except for Takeru and Hikari don’t have the full power of a crest. ONLY they do. Ken is questionable ? He never used it to Digivolve. The others have/had Digi eggs that used the passed on influences of the crests but not the crests directly themselves. Homeostasis will convince them somehow to unlock an ultimate power to eliminate the viral threat once and for all so both worlds will be in peace so the utopia Hikari imagined and Homeostasis strives for will be achieved.

I don’t know what this threat is but it will be life threatening on a genocidal scale.

It will involve the whole world and there are only a few Digidestined left (and thousands of foot soldiers) that can stand up to it.

It will be a grand climax felt through generations. It will somehow restore the OG Digidestined partnerships and lead us to an epilogue that may take on a more defined conclusion.

All of these events in the anime and the movies are pivot points linking to this one final threat where the fate of humanity and Digimon will be decided.

Let’s hope the 02 Digidestined are up for the challenge.

Because, after all their teamwork has never failed them. Their bond with their Digimon is as strong as ever. They are the unwritten exception to the rule and have more to give, and bonds that regardless of life’s circumstances will NEVER expire.

They are the 02 Crew. THEY are the Digidestined Homeostasis will have to go all in on. And THEY and their Digimon will be the catalysts to decide the fate of both worlds.

[tgrailwar-zero]

For those that follow me outside of here, you may have been present for my waffling as to whether to continue a few weeks back. And I've made a decision.

THGW-Zero will be continuing!

And while I don't play FGO anymore, I'm not against shamelessly using their assets for this.

Of course, there's a bit more than just that, so let's get into it!

'Major updates' will occur weekly. They won't be just prompts for polls, though. Rather than somewhat-daily polls with a limited amount of options, the main posts will put into consideration as many of the asks, comments, and suggestions sent in throughout the week as possible- and the characters will respond. And then, generally at the end of the post there will be a poll pertaining to a major choice to vote on.

However, smaller one-day polls will occur during the week (mainly pertaining to item usage or smaller interactions). They'll also serve as ways to steer the narrative in the 'main post', giving players a chance to nudge things in either a more or less favorable direction. For the sake of simplicity, I'll probably give them a name like 'mini polls', or something.

(This means that some asks will show up during the week before the 'main post', and some will only show up when the 'main post' happens)

So, more akin to this. But hopefully with a better outcome.

This will be the main factor of story progression, and gives people more of a chance to think about what the next desired outcome is rather than feeling like you have to catch everything day-of in order to follow along. So, a 'main post' will be uploaded, a week will pass to discuss, send in asks to learn more about the situation, or give suggestions about what to do for the next 'main post', and then there will be a update a week later (give or take a day to write and gather responses). The day being a chance to gather together people's responses and write the next part of the story. This should help make things both less stressful (both for me and you guys), and easier to keep up with. No more accidentally missing a week and then suddenly everything's changed.

We'll call this a test run. If it doesn't work, we can always go back to normal!

The HP/MP system is going to receive a facelift, as well as the 'success' system. I think a more overt 'gamification' ended up causing more undue stress, so I'm going to try forgoing that for a more narrative approach. Every action will have set pros and cons, some of which will be clearer than others. I want to prompt more exploration and communication, rather than simply 'get the most votes here and everything will be safe and fine forever'.

There will be stricter moderation regarding inter-player discussion. Doing some backreading, there were a lot of moments where I could have put a heavier hand down and cut things off before they got too intense.

And, considering how a recent Grail War got, in a word, 'nasty'- I'm not fond of recreating that. If you're displeased with a situation, then you can make that known without being condescending and unpleasant to other people- and if you're going to do it via anon, then be known that I'm not obligated to post it.

And… that's about it! Keep a lookout for a new 'Main Post' that'll briefly recap the details and push things forward! Hope you all have a good week!

[snapdragonling]

2, 7, and 17 for ozy, ardeth, and elodie!

thank u!! | intimate + sexual headcanons

2. when did your muse realise they had become sexually attracted to others?

ozy — at some nebulous point when he was a teenager. emvalin culture was pretty open and relaxed about sex so he wasn't really a stranger to the concept. he knew what was going on.

ardeth — during his military training. a real "trapped in an intense and isolating program with attractive peers" scenario. he'd had crushes previously but suddenly there were undertones to the attraction that he found slightly alarming and not particularly useful, considering he had zero interest in anything other than graduating with flying colours.

elodie — at some point after she started dancing. lots of athletic people moving in interesting ways wearing not very much, and elodie wanted to be them and be with them simultaneously. alis had already had the Talk™ with her by that point, which was slightly traumatic for both of them.

7. how do they view sexual intimacy and love?

ozy — it's all about the intention. sex can just be a pleasant recreational activity or it can be the most romantic thing in the world, and he's had plenty of experience with both kinds. while he was in the last city sex was exclusively a recreational or transactional thing, so when he slept with kallux during the campaign it was the first time in 50 years he'd had a real emotional connection to the act. it made him feel completely insane. he'd forgotten what that felt like.

ardeth — i think he has a pretty pragmatic perspective on sex. it's a base want, and it feels nice 🤷‍♀️ (nevermind that all his sexual experience has been from one night stands deprived of any emotional attachment. nevermind that he devours tawdry romance novels in his free time. i think the first time he sleeps with ed he's like "oh. this is what it was meant to feel like that whole time. damn")

elodie — sex is a good bit of fun, love is dangerous. the tonics were her only real reference for a happy relationship and it wasn't quite enough to counteract the misgivings she inherited from her own home. she's had a couple somewhat messy pseudo-relationships and both times her intimacy issues were part of the problem.

17. how confident is your muse in expressing their desires?

ozy — sexually very confident, generally abysmal with everything else. he gets better by increments but it takes a while to drag himself out of the "i have no wants or needs i am just an instrument of the owl" headspace, and to be comfortable naming his desires. his relationship with kallux moves incredibly slowly on the emotional front, even though things are pretty clear to everyone else. luckily kallux is patient with him (in this regard at least)

ardeth — answered!

elodie — answered!

[greyknighterotica]

I can’t stop thinking about being on your lap, feeling your cock pushing against me hot and heavy, reaching down between my legs as they dangle over your thigh, unzipping you and pulling you out. And you whispering deliciously in my ear “Baby, careful now, you’ll need two hands for that.” 💋

The hilarious thing now that you all know I actually have a huge, hard cock and will 'soon' be given more evidence for recreational purposes?

I like--I have zero desire to like, brag about it.

I have a huge cock. It's a little bit bigger now than that pic and will be bigger in the next ones, and yeah, congrats for me, size queens and the curious can admire it.

But like--I've been doing this away and I did pieces about being impotent, with erectile difficulty causing me/us harm and two pieces where I ask you to assure me it's big enough. And I don't suddenly go "HAHA! IT'S ACTUALLY HUGE!!!!" Like Pee-Wee Herman in them, either, I let the listener think what they want about the man because, well, that's what I always do.

The goods are there, they will be on high dollar offer, yadda.

Now? Keep refining the voice, the words, the body, the attitude.

Every step of this way a woman has said, "But, Daddy! You are so wonderful and great and good enough!"

But then I got hotter and did more anyway and that same would be like "unnnhhhffffff, sorry--what?"

[ravingbeauties13]

Vintage Burlesque, Sally Rand's Bubble Dance, Remixed w/ New Music

Here we present the star attraction of the 1933-34 Chicago Century of Progress World's Fair. In this clip we see her doing not her famous fan dance but the sensually art deco bubble dance. We have added some special effects to the original film and added an original soundtrack by Captain Zero & the Radioactive Lovers Born Hattie Helen Gould Beck dancer Sally Rand began her career as a chorus dancer at the tender age of thirteen in Kansas City. While still a teenager Sally ran away with a carnival drifting west to Hollywood and the movies. By then Hattie had changed her name to Billy Beck and she found steady if not spectacular work, including some time working in the stock company of the great director Cecil B. Deville who gave Hattie her more famous name. Sally's movie career ended with the advent of the talkies due to her lisp. She went back to dancing which was her first love anyway. A resourceful gal looking for steady work she combined this love for dance with the average man’s desire to behold the female form and began experimenting with various forms of tease dancing. In 1932 while working at the Paramount Club in Chicago Sally developed her fan dance that would bring her fame and fortune.  She was to become the mistresses of appearing to be naked and her big splash came at Chicago's Century of Progress World's Fair held in 1933 -34. For her arrival at the gates of the fair she recreated Lady Godiva's ride that along with her ensuing performance resulted with her being arrested four times in one day. At her trial the judge threw the charges out and in his decision said. "There is no harm and certainly no injury to public morals when the human body is exposed, some people probably would want to put pants on a horse. . . . When I go to the fair, I go to see the exhibits and perhaps to enjoy a little beer.  As far as I'm concerned, all these charges are just a lot of old stuff to me.  Case dismissed for want of equity." -- Superior Judge Joseph B. David - July 19, 1933 Even after the charges were dropped powerful forces sought to keep her from performing but her popularity was so great that they couldn't stop her. Wnen the fair reopened in 1934 she   prsented the dance featured in this video the less risqué bubble dance.   Sally did more road work for a few years before returning  to southern California.  There she briefly returned to the movies before moving to San Francisco. In 1939 she presented "Sally Rand's Nude Ranch" at the Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco.  It featured women wearing cowboy hats, gun belts and boots, and little more.  Afterwards she took over The Great American Music Hall and started her own burlesque house and continued to perform for many years.

[yr-bed]

The overlap between the utopian desire and a universal emancipatory project has historically been important for those invested in the philosophical conception of happiness. In a debate going back to Aristotle, those who have claimed to have the key to happiness have argued that it can be categorized in two ways. The first is being happy by inducing temporary hedonistic pleasures; if we define happiness as synonymous with bodily pleasures – no further inquiry is necessary. Happiness, then, is available to practically all of us by simply seeking our favorite recreational substances [...] Of course, the downside of such a hedonistic lifestyle are the immediate life-altering consequences. Perhaps the most poignant example in recent memory is that of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman who unexpectedly died early this year of a mixed drug intoxication. In a portentous interview with the philosopher Simon Critchley months before the actor’s drug overdose, Hoffman himself echoing Momus’ sentiments rejected the notion of happiness as pleasure: "I would definitely say that pleasure is not happiness, because I kill pleasure. . . . I take too much of it and therefore I make it unpleasurable, like too much coffee and you’re miserable. I do that to pleasure often. . . . There is no pleasure that I have not made myself actually sick on."

From "Year Zero: Momus’s UnAmerica Reviewed," Maxi Kim