#I just do these as fun infodumps

[air-of-the-waterfall]

Goddard is definitely power hungry, but it's also deeper than that. He has such a raging inferiority complex it's not even funny. Actually, watching Carson Lusk and the Thunderhead bicker passive-aggressively is hilarious, but I digress.

On pg. 228 of Scythe, Goddard writes in his journal that "I do not miss my so-called relationship with the Thunderhead... The absence of [its] uninvited intrusions into our lives is a blessing... Without the crutch of a higher power, I am the highest power I know, and I like it that way."

He wants control and resents the Thunderhead, and that makes sense now that we've seen his backstory in "A Martian Minute." Instead of supporting him when he's having a rough time, the Thunderhead repeatedly decides to sass him and be a bitch (I say that affectionately, but still). It makes him feel powerless, siding with his parents against him instead of looking out for his best interests. It justifies this by telling Carson that the Mars colony work is more important than anything on Earth. His response is, "Blah blah blah. The Thunderhead was so full of itself. If it really cared about him the way it always claimed to, it would find a way to get him off this rock" (pg. 132 of Gleanings).

The Thunderhead prioritized the broader picture over Carson's personal goals, and there is always an ethical debate to be had about the needs of the many versus one. Neither of them was necessarily wrong on that front before Carson got the Scythedom involved. Interestingly, when it's time to launch another space effort at Kwajalein, the Thunderhead and Cirrus are adamant that no one will be forced to take the journey even though this project is important to humanity. This indicates a shift in priorities for the Thunderhead. It learned from watching Carson that the journey would be jeapordized if anyone was unwilling.

Carson isn't selfish to want to leave Mars, but when he's denied and belittled, he escalates into destructive and definitely selfish behaviour. The Thunderhead probably should have predicted that if it knew him so well. It made that mistake, underestimating a human's determination and overestimating his empathy. History is full of cases like Carson/Goddard who felt slighted and blew it out of proportion (literally).

The first chance Carson gets to align with the Scythedom, an entity above the Thunderhead's jurisdiction, he takes it, and he taunts it while he's in the control room with the reactor. When he later discovers the atolls, he interprets them as a slap in the face from the Thunderhead, who went behind his back and undermined all his power and plans. He then takes this rage out on Rowan and Citra to try and compensate for that insecurity. Even more interestingly, by attacking Kwajalein and forcing unprepared people to escape to the spaceships, Goddard does to them exactly what he resented about his own childhood.

What interests me the most is how this story ties into discussions about systemic power and violence. Cirrus says that Astrid is being selfish for harming humanity's chances in pursuit of her own goals, just like the Thunderhead thought Carson was selfish. The difference is that Astrid and the Tonists are victims of systemic injustice and Carson was a teenage boy who didn't get his way. If Carson had been patient (seeing as he's immortal), he could've gotten what he wanted without killing anyone. Astrid could not afford to be patient because her people were being slaughtered. It's a reflection of how people like Carson make themselves out to be victims while oppressed minorities are shamed for fighting back.

It irks me that Greyson as the Toll refuses to let Tonists fight back against the scythes. Mendoza is not a great leader and his motives are corrupt, but he's right that one can't bring a knife to a gunfight (or you can't politely ask someone to stop beating you). The "if you use violence against your oppressors, you're just as bad" argument is ineffective and just continues cycles of oppression.

Overall, Goddard/Carson's relationship to the Thunderhead digs deep into power relations and their consequences. He seeks power to boost his own ego, and so he fights against the most powerful entity no matter what the cost. He knows the Thunderhead will always be better than him, and that infuriates him.

[infohazardouz]

DEMON WALLY DESIGNS! im still working out his design but here’s a general vibe hehehahe as well as some thought provoking sketches... HUUUGE infodump about the design & demon wally au below!

below i explain my choice of representing hindu designs as opposed to christian ones! if you want to skip to the relevant information pertaining to the actual au, jump to the big bold JUMP HERE paragraph!

alright, to address the elephant in the room: no, this isn’t the typical demon/devil design you may be used to! i was originally going to keep within the red-horned pointed tail kind of mythos that generally stems from christianity/christianity aligned concepts, but then i realized i honestly don’t know much about that stuff and don’t really feel qualified to handle it in a narrative. i also know that, especially within the welcome home fandom itself, a lot of people have religious trauma that generally tends to be from various branches of christianity, so i thought this would be an interesting solution: seeing as i know a fair amount about hinduism, wally’s design is inspired by concepts about demons in hindusim in general! that way, it’s easy to write and hopefully refreshing/non-triggering to the audience! also it’s fun!

JUMP HERE: Wally’s design in the demon AU is inspired by Asura in hindu mythology! That’s why he’s got like a billion hands- I’m looking at adding jewellery/a tail/other stuff, but it’ll fall in that general theme. in terms of lore relevancy: asura in hindusim were not strictly evil, which you will find reflected in my story. wally isn’t evil per say; the neighbourhood is his turf, and he will protect it from outside threats. that being said- he is generally self-serving for now and may not always have the best intentions for his fellow neighbours. what his overarching goal is and who exactly his enemy is (as well as Home’s relevancy to the story) is being left to you to discover as the comic goes on! themes of puppetry, where wally darling ends and the asura begins, and stuff like that is left ambiguous for now! puppetry will also play a role in the story, as well as self-awareness and meta themes. hinduism and religion WILL NOT play a role in the story itself. anything i think might need contextualizing will be contextualized in the description of every update; honestly im just pulling the asura elements for Wally’s design and part of his character! this will still be a very accessible comic to people of all backgrounds. if you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to send them to my askbox or leave them in the comments!

[pachimation]

havin a normal one, dudes 🙃

[thepersonperson]

I can’t believe we got an infodump on simple domains AGAIN over a Sukuna backstory.

More complaining under the cut.

Usually I am one to give Gege the benefit of the doubt and will read heavily into what little information we are given. But I can't defend this chapter themes or character wise.

Even if this turns out to be a fakeout, going in painstaking detail over a show-not-tell battle in a way that lacks characterization and heartfelt emotion sucks to read. Even if the new shadow style and simple domain debacle goes somewhere, having it the main focus after an extremely traumatic battle instead of characters processing their emotions sucks to read. Even if Gojo is alive and that's why they're this chipper, everyone ignoring his sacrifice and efforts along with Choso's sucks to read.

I'm happy Yuta and Higuruma are alive but why was their revival off-screened? Yuta was so defensive over Gojo and everyone treating him like an object just 8 chapters ago. What happened to that? Why is everyone treating this battle like it was no big deal? (Also why the fudge did Kusakabe tell Yuji, a 15 year old, to his face he should've been killed while disparaging Gojo for protecting the life of a child???)

After the Shibuya Incident, there was a whole segment dedicated to how this affected the average person. The Culling Games ended and there are still bloodthirsty freaks running around. What happened to them? Is Angel hunting them down and that's why Hana is missing? Infodumping on anything except the battle would've been better.

I doubt we'll get any more info on Sukuna, Kenjaku, and Tengen at this point. We'll be lucky if there's a funeral for even Geto's body. Shoko was absent this entire chapter which makes me thing she's still trying to save Gojo or she's preparing their bodies for a funeral.

Anyways. This is the worst JJK chapter for me hands down. My hopes for the final 2 are mostly dashed. Crunch and poor working conditions really do ruin art my goodness.

[displacedbias]

Are they joining this year's gala? :>

you bet they are!!!!!!!!!

[Open for gala interactions! Both writing and art >:3c]

[lanternlightss]

,,, okay if i Did make a mutuals discord server, would any of you like to join it ??

you can like or reply to this if yeah :]

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

Hi hello I watched all of carmilla in a weekend when I was 17 because a student teacher who in retrospect I had a bit of a crush on mentioned that she knew one of the actresses. also I am pretty invested in all your recent vampire stuff because I watched iwtv in 2 days last week because your edit intrigued me

oh hiiii 🫶 thank you for indulging me. thats so cool that you watched iwtv! did it live up to the expectation?

i also watched carmilla at 17! or like, 17-19. i found it when s2 had just started and followed it to the end. did something permanent to my brain but i think it was a good thing. on rewatch now im like, i was right to like this. like it's a solid show, it's good. it has its flaws obviously but it's well written, the emotional moments still get me, i can see why i liked it and i still like it now even when it's not anymore, you know, meeting every need that baby gay me didnt even know they had

what it doesnt reaallyy do though - i dont remember if i posted abt this or if i left it in my drafts but - is explore vampirism as a concept. their subject matter is more lesbianism than vampirism. which is great! thats what they wanted to do and they did it and it's very good. but reading interview with the vampire the book rn im realising how much potential vampires have to be metaphors for like so many things and i started wondering like 'wait, did carmilla just not really engage with it or did it all go over my head'. but it just didnt really engage with it all that much. which again is fine bc that wasnt what they were doing. im glad they were more about the lesbianism than the vampirism

but there's this interesting difference in framing, because in iwtv they keep calling armand 'ancient' right? and emphasising how old he is. and he's like 500? and i was like 'wait isnt carmilla like 400?'. she isnt, shes 340, but still, thats getting there, you know? and we know quite a lot about her history, but kind of just the Big Events. when she was turned, the events of the novella, coffin of blood, silas. thats sort of what we know. but none of the long lonely slog of history day to day you know? with armand i feel like we can really feel how much time everything takes. how every one of those years is made up of single days. with carmilla i dont feel that as much. i keep kind of thinking about daniel, when louis calls him a boy in the first episode, saying "im an old man, with all the triggers that come with it"

because carmilla might look 18 (or mid twenties at this point) but she has lived all that time. shes also seen her native land be claimed by like a succession of ruling powers, right? like armand. shes been buried alive, like louis. when lestat is born, shes already 80 years old, shes lived a whole human lifetime, and the entire adult part of it shes been a vampire. shes lived through 1680-1870 being a lure. i compared her to abigail hobbs in some tags on a post, i dont know if youre familiar with hannibal the tv show, but i do also kinda keep thinking about that comparison

if youre not familiar, in the first episode of hannibal the murderer of the week is this guy garrett jacob hobbs who kills and cannibalises girls who resemble his daughter. and later on it turns out she was made to be his lure. like they'd go places and he'd sent her to the victims to make friends and maybe get them back to their home or smth. not sure if they specified all the details. but that's what carmilla did for mother. and in s2 we hear from mattie that while every couple of decades carmilla had to lure victims for the fish god, she also seemed to just enjoy humans between those times, right? like the doctor, gets lonely, gets a new companion. but we've only sort of got mattie's mocking word for it ("dont eat him, hes a poet! or her, shes got such a wonderful voice. or that one, shes just too pretty to ruin"), we don't know exactly from carmilla's point of view what she was doing or why. if mattie's talking about stuff that happened after the blood coffin, 1950-now, then i think it's a fair assumption based on what carmilla says in the s1 sock puppet show that after she'd figured out what the real situation was and what her role in it was, when she'd started trying to save girls from being sacrificed, that she mightve been doing the same trying to save people from becoming mattie's victims. it's probably more likely that she was just trying to find excuses to stop mattie from sucking someone dry rather than actually having like an aesthetic based morality. but it might be a bit of both. im still trying to figure out what her philosophy actually is, like i dont know what existentialism actually means ghkfjghkj but i will

i also found it pretty striking in the movie when shes turning back into a vampire she says like "this was supposed to be done, you know? the blood lust, the self-loathing, the sleeping tied to a chair in my own bedroom". thats what defines her vampirism, wanting blood and hating yourself for it (the third part is a joke/reference to s1 but also i think meaningful for how she sees her relationship with laura when she IS a vampire. little bit of that 'she will reject me for my monstrousness' shining through). and thats what defines vampirism for lots of vampires across the genre obviously, but i dont know, it struck me. we dont get a lot from carmilla's pov, we know a fair amount about her, but the story is always told through laura. we get laura's diaries, but just snippets here and there from carmilla, what shes thinking, how shes feeling

and i love that shes a philosopher. i love that thats how she seems to try and find something to hold onto, in a world that kind of moves around her, having been murdered, kidnapped, turned and groomed to be a lure on the cusp of adulthood, never having been properly loved (the relationship with her father wasnt good she says in s3, and her mortal mother i dont think has ever been mentioned (like laura's)). the only good relationship she seems to have had for the better part of 3 centuries seems to have been mattie, and mattie seems to love being a vampire. i can imagine carmilla just sort of going along with anything mattie wants to do just because shes so desperate for that friendship. not like, against her will necessarily really. but more like, she hasnt even had the space to develop her own will, you know? and philosophy lets you do that. philosophy gives you frameworks to understand the world and to develop your own opinions on it. and by the 21st century she seems to have developed those opinions, she has a sense of her own values, but shes also still stuck in that same situation. shes jaded and cynical in the face of laura's optimism and strong moral code a lot of the time in s1 because she feels probably pretty powerless. like she does what she can to save some girls but at the end of the day shes scared of her mother and she has nowhere else to go really, right?

i like how she grapples with that over the course of the series, in tandem with laura grappling with her black and white morality. she sort of jumps ship from her mother to laura bc theyve fallen in love, but then laura still stuck in her hero thinking refuses to see her monstrous side. not literally bc i think the biological vampirism never seemed to be a problem for laura, but morally. the having murdered. carmilla needs laura to see that and love her while seeing it bc the last girl she loved rejected her for being a vampire.

but you see her kind of swing back and forth in s2. she softens first with laura but then they break up and she leans back hard into the sarcastic cynic defense mechanisms, leans hard into "im a monster, dont expect heroism from me". but thats like, it's sort of learned helplessness i think. it's powerlessness, resignation. bc morally shes not a monster. maybe she doesnt have as strong a drive to help other people as laura does and is a little more selfishly hedonistic in that she just wants to enjoy her/their life, but she doesnt hurt people for fun, she never has. she just sort of didnt have another option for a Really long time. so she pretends she doesnt care. "im a vampire, this is what i do, this is who i am". but clearly from the way she talks about it when she turns back into one, she doesnt enjoy it

and i like how she goes even further in s3, where she starts swinging even more to the heroic side, bc she sees hope. shes like "wow if we kill my mother, i'd be free". theres hope and she becomes like a lot more active. and shes like that at the start of the movie too, a lot happier, a lot more relaxed, and then vampirism is back and bam depression gfhgkjh like shes immediately more gloomy, ashamed of her past and her self, retreats into herself

sorry i just took this as an opportunity to dump all the carmilla thoughts floating in my head on you. you didnt ask fhkghgjh consider this an open invitation to you or anyone else to come talk to me about carmilla

[mbirnsings-71]

@pup-pee I know you have notifications on now but like hands you Magical girl Kyle!!!! He's done!! :D!!!

Magical Girl Guy can be found here!

(Transparent version under the cut because I like using that feature!!)

[spark-circuit]

me: hey Gallagher i just helped Siobhan at the bar last night. what else can you tell me about bartending?

Gallagher, finally having someone else to talk to about drinks after years and years: (be normal about this be normal be normal) A Lot.

[toytulini]

me, stupidly and weirdly resistant to listening to audio books vs reading a physical book for no real reason: man i wish there was a way to like, read a book while i crochet like i do with tv shows and movies and podcasts

[hollowsart]

many many years ago I had discovered and come across a small channel on youtube called "Deceased Crab" and I believe that was during the time I was in a phase of interest with the whole Knytt Stories thing, curious and looking at the other games by its creator. I saw a game called "Within A Deep Forest" and I believe this is the game that I first came across Deceased Crab playing. (I also watched his Knytt & Knytt Stories videos, too)

At some point I also discovered 2 other games that he played and I really enjoyed those two other playthroughs he did. those games being Karoshi ('death by over work', wild game, don't look it up if you have trouble with SH), and a small game called Eversion (criminally underrated, personally. it's short but really neat and I think if it came out now, people would latch onto it cuz of its cute appearance but secretly darker side)

there were a couple other games I had watched that he'd played (L'Abbaye Des Morts, and I think the Trilby's Notes series (ie 5 days a stranger, etc) and Monster Party, just to name a few) and tbh idk why I stopped watching his videos.

But, for awhile I had wondered where he went cuz I hadn't seen any videos of his in a long time, but I've looked at the channel just recently and he still uploads videos. It's nice to see tbh a pleasant change from a lot of stuff happening with creators on youtube in recent years, especially creators who have been big or small, new or been here since the early days of the site. Happy to see the guy is still vibing and making content that he enjoys and has no desire to monetize his videos or join anything/do partnerships. he's just doing his own little thing how he pleases.

his microphone quality was upgraded after a year and it seems, listening to a little of his most recent upload, he's still got a similar quality to the mic, but overall, despite the clear change in his voice over the years and all, he still seems to have the same level of enthusiasm and chill as he did before with his commentary and manner of speech.

glad to see this guy is still doing something he likes after 17 whole years of doing it. genuinely really nice to see people grow, but still remain themselves after so long. some things change, but some things don't and that's okay, not everything has to change.

[chiropteracupola]

the gentleman of lies himself!

[flintlock fortress is a collaboration with @dxppercxdxver]

[bikerboyfriend]

another dump cos i sorta kinda like these...friends and family

[foxyfexyll]

i like looking at something and imagining what an expert might see and say about it. all the things i don’t know

earlier i saw the rock face of a hill that was clearly cut through to make room for highway. what would a geologist say about them?—

‘oh, these lines are layers and you can tell it’s this mineral because of that colour and this way that it juts out. it’s actually a really common formation for this area’ ‘these vertical indents are indicative of this method of escavation. it has it’s pros but frankly i don’t approve of its use’

or, some biologist spotting a lizard and picking it up to show you

‘i see a lot of this kind of lizard in this area but this one has a unique feature! i love this pattern and how it’s emphasized on this spot! let me look at its toes to determine some fun fact about it…’

or a, construction worker looking at a building

‘look at that feature. i’ve worked on buildings with that sort of design more than a couple times and it is a pain to manage. doesn’t even look good enough to be worth the effort but a blueprint’s a blueprint and a paycheck’s a paycheck’

[hyp3rfixation-h3ll]

Me following you has brought a lot of sonic creepypasta stuff onto my Tumblr feed and I honestly love it. I have no idea who any of those silly little scary hedgehogs are but I'm vibing with em

SQUEAAAALLLS this is making me so so happy whadda hell AAAEEEEE <3333 sonic.exe and creepypastas as a whole r a super big special interest 4 me so im so so so happy there's others uninvolved in my audience who like seeing me post about them //^__^// if you'd like a good place 2 start learning about exes out of curiousity , i'd recommend the CONTINUED: Sonic.EXE Wiki, it's basically a MASSIVE compendium of (almost) every single sonic specific exe/creepypasta there is (and there's a special section for "Classic" Exes, aka the popular ones) . There's also a TONNNN of sonic.exe retrospective videos out there that talk about the popularity boost it had because of F//N//F ( which , even if i do Not fw the base game , i'm going to admit the mod that made all of this happen , while UNFINISHED , was pretty damn good in terms of sprites and music. highly recommend the VS. Sonic.EXE ost if you want absolute bops as well as The Chaos Series & the Hoggy Holidays mod (which is so fuckin cute im gonna eat Drywall) . :3 ) , so if you're real interested and wanna get a small grasp on who all im talking about i hope these are good starting points !!!!! :O

my infodumping aside, i got so excited i wound up drawing one of my pastasonas w/ the hog himself as a thank you WAUAYUAUGH

[fennthetalkingdog]

I don't know if I'm in the minority on this, but I love writing essays. The feeling of choosing something that seems fun, getting to research it, organizing what you've learned in a neat and tidy way, and now having a random pocket of knowledge that stays with you for the rest of your life is something that I can hardly ever replicate elsewise. Some of my favorite hyperfixations have come from essays and other research projects that I had to do for school (like when I learned about LSD for a biology project on cell communication, or when I wrote a speech on neopronouns for a public speaking class)! And I miss so much having a class where I can just... do what I love, for credit! I haven't had a research class since my first semester and I'm feeling it 😔 One of my friends asked me for advice about choosing a topic and I got so excited at just the mention of a research paper that I started happy stimming hard, lol. I really should just write a paper on my own time, but then I'd need some executives to function for once, *sigh*.