#I mean she's a neat character in general but that's the core of it

[blagueofchaos]

Thinking about this and thinking about Galileo's Sidereus Nuncius sketches of Jupiter and its moons and just how we've gone from this:

to these images from the telescopes and just. Yes I'm also still thinking about Marwa wwdits but just... she came 400 years before Galileo and I really need to read more about the history of Medieval Middle Eastern and Islamic astronomy to get a better grasp on her era and what exactly her studies would've entailed but my brain is buzzing too much to really read the articles I've been bringing up in much detail right now but just. You guys. Imagine being from an era when the planets and their moons are little spots of light in your telescope that you're jotting down in your notebook to help you begin to parse out orbits and planes and revolutions and so forth and then you die and then you wake back up and we have photos of those same spots of light but now they're not spots of light anymore they're that. Look at that. Have I sufficiently conveyed why Marwa makes me fully insane yet. Do you feel me. Like the awe of coming forward to see 800+ years of astronomic progress. The way space has absolutely come to life before our eyes, the way we can practically touch it compared to where we were in her time. If I were her I think I'd need to just lay on the floor and process it all. Her perspective is incredible to me and I will never stop thinking about how stories like that just highlight the wonder and awe of how far we've come with our innovations and research and the labor of a thousand upon a thousand scientists and nearly as many years and we've achieved the ability to see things like that... yeah.

The James Webb Space Telescope has released new images of Jupiter.

[themosticonicseveredhead]

ok sorry but i just replayed Portal 2 and this has been consuming my mind

i feel like at this point everyone knows about the potato battery that kid Chell made, but what i noticed this time was what Wheatly said about it

"Look at that, it's growing right up into the ceiling. The whole place is probably overrun with potatoes at this point. At least you won't starve, though."

at which point i think: oh! this is probably where Wheatley got the potato to trap GLaDOS. it grew from right here. i already figured that this area was where he got the idea to trap her, but this was still a really neat detail!

and then i got to the first core transfer and Wheatley's betrayal, and i realized: what would have happened if Chell's potato battery didn't grow like that? well, Wheatley likely wouldn't have a potato, right? he wouldn't be able to trap GLaDOS in a potato battery.

so then what would he have done with her?

would Wheatley have just killed GLaDOS? did Chell's potato battery save her life?

but no, i told myself. i was probably overthinking this. just because wheatley doesn't have a potato doesn't mean he wouldn't find some equally insulting perdition for her. maybe he would just use a normal, actual battery.

and then i got to the scene where Chell saves GLaDOS from the bird.

GLaDOS says: "No tricks. This potato only generates 1.1 volts of electricity. I literally do not have the energy to lie to you."

a quick google search tells me that even a double a battery generates 1.5 volts, and given the nature of the machinery present in aperture, i'm guessing that most of the batteries they have lying around output even more

i don't think Chell would have trusted GLaDOS if she didn't reveal this. GLaDOS lies as easily as she speaks, so the knowledge that she is physically no longer capable of doing so heavily inclines the player, and the character, to believe what she has to say.

it's because her energy is so low that Chell agrees to GLaDOS's plan, and eventually completes the second core transfer and sends Wheatley into space.

it's because she is trapped in a potato that GLaDOS makes is back to the lab and her chassis.

it's because Chell made a potato battery - one that grew to "overrun" the facility - that GLaDOS survives the events of Portal 2. even if Wheatley would have otherwise spared her following the first core transfer, she wouldn't have made it back if Chell didn't trust her, which necessitates her being trapped in a potato.

Potatoes are a source of energy - of life! sustenance for Chell, the bird, and any other living thing condemned to reside in aperture, but also a kind of life raft for GLaDOS as well. in its restrictions, it forces her to be a better person. to be honest. and that saves her!

is this anything?!

[invisibleicewands]

Hello! Here's a fan of your reviews again (they are really great)

Would you mind giving your opinion on Nye, please? I def need your insight on it!

Hi, Anon!

Thank you for your trust, I'm feeling a responsibility on my shoulders now... I'll try to do my best to deserve it, since you appreciate them.

It's not easy for me to write a 'review' about Nye tbh, because there's a lot to unpack and I am terribly slow in finding the right words for this kind of posts (proof is I'm replying only now).

Anyway.

First, I must tell you that my impression may be influenced by the lack of experience and culture in theatre and plays in general. Nevertheless, I think I'm not wrong if I dare to say that "Nye" may be considered a masterpiece. For the theme, the meanings, the perfect execution of all the cast, the writing, the visual impact of the lighting designs, the choreography, the tricks and the original technical solutions with the props on the stage, as well as the rollercoaster of emotions during the entire show. It's all amazing, all perfectly synchronized like the gears of a clock, a real wonder for the view.

The storytelling is neat and well built, the direction is fluid, meaningful flashbacks of the past alternated with the present ones, touching moments balanced with songs and dances, lighter jokes and deep thoughts. There's rhythm, there's a bit of drama and a bit of musical, sadness and happiness, cruelty and compassion; there's speed of execution but also time to breath, to reflect, not a single wasted moment. A perfect team job, a well oiled machine that runs full power for about 2 hours 30.

The actors are really all exceptional, professional, tireless, talented and admirable in their roles. I loved the precision of every movement, the perfect timing of their steps, the expressions, the attention on every little gesture, the care for the detail.

A mention for the performances of some of the supporter actors, excellent, well trained and at their best, who know how to stay on a stage and fully entertain the audience.

Sharon Small (Jennie), with her grit, her grace, her versatility, her patience (when she stays still in the background for minutes, wow), is perfect in portraying this special modern woman: strong, intelligent, nonconformist, but also romantic and soft.

Roger Evans (Archie), Nye's best friend, eternally loyal and protective, sometimes even jealous of Jennie: always on point, a reliable presence in every scene.

Tony Jayawardena (Churchill), with his impressive figure, as Nye's opponent and his doctor, crafty but funny at the same time, and... a very flexible dancer.

And then, obviously, him.

Last but not least: Michael Sheen.

Monumental. Powerful, in his presence on the stage. Inspired, with his long speeches. Ecstatic, during his vivid crazy dreams. Mesmerising. A natural born orator in a play which is his perfect environment. A driving force. He's not just playing a character. He's living an ambition, a mission, that represents the core of all the values, the qualities, the feelings and the things he loves more and ​​in which he recognizes himself. He put his body and soul in this portrait, he cried and laughed, relentless, passionately, he bore the weight of an incredibly high emotional stress for months (all those rehearsals, every day, two times a day sometimes), showing an energy and an unimaginable stamina.

You can understand why he deeply felt this project: he fully believes in its message, and I sense there's also a lot of personal in it, emotions, situations that somehow belong to him. Nye, generous, crazy dreamers, fragile, stubborn, silly, irritating, strong, moving: he perfectly painted all these nuances, because they are also part of himself.

I could also add that some scenes reminded me others he already played in previous works (MoS, H.G. Wells, Dirty Filthy Love, The Passion), but maybe I'll keep these parallels for another post, since this is already too long. It's like there's almost a pattern in the choice of his characters, a little hint that he has a soft spot for some topics, definitely very important for him.

The same for other scenes that really impressed/touched me, but that would take too time to be discussed here.

It was an incredible show to put together, made with hard work, imagination, heart and dedication. To share a story and a message true for many people and different generations, in every eras. For those countries that have a NHS and for the ones that have not. To show how difficult but essential is to fight for the rights, against the social injustice but not only, to care about our families and the others. And affirming that making politics doesn't mean just balancing the books, but giving dignity to the people. This is how the politics becomes a real noble thing.

A huge effort, a great play, a deserved success. A necessary reminder.

(And now, after using too many adjectives, like Nye it's time to expand my vocabulary and find more synonyms.)

[strawberryicemoon]

Does anyone else feel like the Della that was set up and the Della we actually got were two different characters.

Primarily I think Della's just dumber than we were initially lead to believe. And I think there's something in one of the first things we knew about her was that she had pretty handwriting, where I struggle to believe the Della is patient enough to have neat handwriting. The last Crash of the Sunchaser implied she designed the Spear of Selene. Scrooge said someone who "sees the angles". Like I get that don't speak ill of the dead was in play. And I also get wanting Della's legacy to not match perfectly with her true self, but some of the literally flashbacks we saw implied she was clever (she figured out Dewey was from the future, again, she was sketching the Spear). Having the characters stretch the truth is one thing, but flashbacks is another. I mean we literally saw her Scuba-Diving in a flashback, but in show she hates fish.

Not helped by the fact I assumed she named her children, and was using that as a gauge of her personality. And like. Turbo is very funny. I get why you'd make it a surprise reveal. Recontextualize her personality. But we already were introduced to her in the episode before. Also I just didn't like it tbh. (And kinda like my beef with the whole April May and June thing, I'm not a duck fan, I have no horse in this race, and things can be different, but considering to my understanding the few glimpses of previous iterations of Della, she definitely named her sons, and changing one of the few things that previously existed about the character felt weird to me, cheap even. On one hand I get wanting to show just how disconnected from her son she is and how much the incident cost her. But on the other hand it was just salt in the wound at that point, for a few jokes about the boys names… which have generally been changed to be even more embarrassing than they were previously for more jokes).

I really did like Whatever Happened to Della Duck. The only "Weird' things to me was how technically and artistically unsavvy she seemed to be, when we had scene her sketching the spear of Selene. Like that was a whole ass plot point. And also how oblivious she seemed to what was happening with the Moonlanders when she was presumably "sharp". But y'know. I can excuse one misunderstanding, and she was probably just a bit crazy from being alone on the moon for so long (and any prior mental health issues) and when she gets back other characters will probably be unnerved by her a bit because she's changed. But this was apparently normal Della (aside from not liking her reflection). If someone had spelled out in show the ways she had changed while on the moon I think it would have made all the difference. (Though Ducktales in general has an issue for completely neglecting to state important information until its necessary but long after it was relevant, so the fact no one says that doesn't mean it can't be true tbh).

I think the core of the character, and thus why she caught my attention remained. She's a traumatized woman who did something impulsive (that should have been fine), that had disproportionately huge consequences. And now has to get to know her children. She has to learn to parent on the fly. She has to establish herself as an adult when she's otherwise been stuck in place. She has to reestablish herself with her family, and a new sense of identity in a world that's changed without her.

And looking some of the Della description from the pitch bible we got recently, and the Della described there is closer to the one I thought we were getting prior to her debut. It makes me wonder when that changed. I know early on, in the Moorshire episode, they realized they made Launchpad too dumb after they finished it. To me it feels like they did that with Della (and to a certain extent Donald as well), but then never made the realization about what they did. We already had launchpad as the stupid adult. We didn't need more. Also, to be honest, I struggle to name any strengths over other characters besides the pragmatic "better at flying than Launchpad". Now, don't get me wrong, I still like canon Della. She had a lot of great moments. But to be honest I think all of her best moments, would have also worked with the Della I thought we were getting. Her fears about losing the kids, so lying to them about participating in the fight. Her song. Her punishing Louie for being stupid. The bit where she talked about being unable to look at her reflection and breaking her glass. Teaching Dewey to fly. Realizing how much her kids looked up to her and to what extents they might be idiots to prove themselves to her. I don't want her not to be reckless, just more thoughtful. That said, the way the other characters treated her didn't really help. It felt like at least for a while she was being ignored. Like she wasn't being treated seriously, but also no one was trying to help or understand her. (Which we got Donald blasted off into space after being ecstatic to see her, made me feel like Donald might actually see her... but then 5 episodes in to S3 Donald gets a girlfriend and the twins rarely appear together).

Liking those elements of the pitch bible might be a bit of the classic "the grass is greener" nonsense. And the fact it's just a barebones description not a full fletched character, and to be fair I don't care for every detail in it. But even before the pitch bible, I was bothered by the fact Daisy, not Della was the person who understood Donald best. (My aromantic self does not appreciate the prioritzation of romantic relationships). And here in the pitch bible. It says Della knows Donald best. We didn't get a single glimpse of "was scared to be a mom", even though I'd solidly developed the head canon that the Spear of Selene ride was a form of post-partum fear even before reading this, and I understand that might have been difficult to work into the show, the lack of support for Della in general, or any hints of empathy for why she did what she did doesn't help. Even of dealing with trauma from the instance. I can't say the "stuff just happens" angle is objectively bad. But this is still a story. A narrative. Not reality. It feels cheap as a character, for her biggest mistake to basically boil down to "oops", rather than a huge character flaw. Like yes, being reckless is a flaw. But considering what the family is USUALLY doing, it… isn't? It really isn't any worse than what they family does normally so for her to be punished so harshly for it is a bit unfair.

In the finale the fact it's revealed that Bradford told Della about the spear, also feels kinda cheap to me. I think its an interesting reveal… but considering this is information one of our main protagonists knows it feels bizarre that it is a reveal to the audience. (Or that no one asked Della before). Also it feels a bit like it's trying to absolve Della of blame, but it doesn't address the core problem of (sure the show never states there's a problem but Scrooge makes reference to Della's "one last big adventure" and it's hard not to see this as an attempt to break out of some sort of mental funk. And it again, needlessly victimizes Della. She got stuck in space for 10 years, couldn't even name her own children, loses her leg, gets betrayed, loses her plane kinda-sorta, and is kind of treated like an idiot by many of the other adults around her. Because some guy was trying to mess with Scrooge. Della's moon trip sucks, I don't think they needed to make it worse by making it not even her fault.

I wish we had gotten a scene of Donald telling the boys what Della was like from his perspective. He's her twin. And I really don't want to welcome the comparisons between DT17 and GF. But the lack of any character drawing the parallels between Donald & Della and Huey, Dewey and Louie is absurd. But they don't utilize it. Like at all. No one ever looks at Donald and goes, oh. He lost his twin. That really sucks. The triplets never go. What would it be like if I lost one of you. Like twins are sometimes just siblings. They don't need to have "super special relationship", but in a show about family it's sure awkward that they don't. I am so mad that Huey, Dewey and Louie didn't get to see another side of their Uncle Donald brought out by Della. Or alternatively a Della struggling to connect with her brother. Even better both.

I know the "is the character acting ooc or do you not actually know the character" is well, a thing. I am aware that the post-partum depression, actually clever and observant Della is mostly made up by me. But I also know where in canon it came from to me. Della never acts out of character from once she's introduced. But that character is still a bit off from the character we had come to expect in the first season and a half. She's not completely divorced from what we were told about her. But still. Do I love Della, or the idea of Della. Honestly, I don't know.

This is definitely very OPINION, and not really anything objective.

[nerves-nebula]

Do you have any loveless/heartless characters? I think they're real neat <3

this post got superrr long lol. im avoiding my homework <3

so this is a complicated ask for me because my definition of "love" is intentionally different from a lot of more mainstream conceptions of it. love isn't a feeling to me, it's something you DO for people you care about, right? you make someone feel loved by doing things that show you care. you putting in that effort and correcting your behavior for their sake is love.

so in that way i don't consider any of my characters loveless. because to me Love is something you chose to do so nobody can really be loveless inherently, they're just choosing not to act loving towards someone.

HOWEVER, from what i've gleamed from a quick google search about loveless aros, it doesn't necessarily seem that being loveless is exclusive to my definition of love?

like, i'm seeing loveless aros talk about not having those kinds of feelings or doubting/opting out of western ideas of love that don't fit them. some talk about not forming that kind of "deep emotional bond" though I'm confused if they mean like.. in general, or just romantically. cuz i've never had a deep romantic bond but i've never really considered that an indictment of Love Itself so much as a type of love that I'm just not a part of.

some people are describing it as specifically romantic love that they know they can't feel. but then again some people are just using it to mean they reject "love" as a label for their emotions/experiences, so like. idk.

it feels like im on the exact same page as a lot of these people it's just that their conclusion was to throw out the word love and mine was to not accept the premise that romantic love is the highest or most important kind of love and focus on, like, other forms of love that are important to me. like my siblings and friends.

soooo i can't say any of them are loveless for sure, cuz i don't identify that way and i'm not sure i grok it yet.

HOWEVER,

I do have aromantic characters, if that's what you mean. though a lot of them are in weird psychosexual situations with each other (just cuz i dont wanna have sex doesnt mean its not fun for my characters to), though there's one or two healthy QPRs thrown in there.

tbh my understanding (or lack thereof) of romance seeps into all of my characters so even the ones who are supposedly in love are doing it with hints of aromanticism cuz like. i dont care what a crush is, yknow? there's only so far romantic tropes can take me before i tap out and just do my own thing.

but as for like canonically aro characters i've got Hondo & quinn, dotty, toasty, Thomas (you guys don't know Thomas yet lol she's a peach), Ezra and Pet (pet is a weird monster tho and Ezra is sort of dead so idk if that counts), Misha Mistaka, Pasiflora, and probably my new one, Benbeck.

I also consider Groe aroace but that's like, a whole thing. cuz Groe is mostly known for having been married to Maureno (one of my characters i explicitly consider allosexual, if not alloromantic) and their relationship takes front and center at every point sfsdf.

because even when i dont see it as romantic i LOVE to make characters lives intertwined and dependent on each other. due to my own personal issues. to be honest i dont think groe and maureno are "in love" i just think they're inextricable dependent on each other. i think their "romance" is an inherently aromantic one because it's not about romantic feelings its about their friendship and trust, which includes kissing and sex sometimes but isn't diminished when they don't do those things.

I don't think Groe feels romantic feelings but i get that two characters who ostensibly have their weird fucked up "romance" be the core thing going on in their life isn't exactly the aromantic rep that ppl are looking for. i mean, it is for ME, but not for everyone.

i guess im just not Good Aro rep tho, cuz im not interested in romance but i AM interested in finding a person who i know I can depend on for everything and share my life with, yknow? i want someone who i know will always be on my side.

and that looks the same to a lot of poeple as romance but the experience of it was way different. cuz i can be with them forever and never want to do more than kiss their forehead as a sign of affection and that'd be great for me, while i KNOW that's unthinkable for a lot of people.

but when writing my characters it's hard to really portray that internal difference. so i think ppl just assume it's romance, and like, that's fine i guess?

so like, groe and maureno fuck cuz it's fun and cuz they have unresolved issues but it's not crucial or even really important to their relationship- to the point that they care WAY more about who each other is hanging out with than who each other is having sex with.

but now i'm rambling about asexuality and stuff.. uhhh the point is YES i have aromantic characters NO I dont know if they're "loveless"

but if a character isn't aromantic or at least aspec that's probably cuz i made a concerted effort to think of them as such.

[mischiefmodig]

Unpopular Opinion \ / @flameindream \ / not accepting

🔥 giggles

Loki was absolutely not mind-controlled by Thanos to do what he did in Avengers, and saying otherwise erases his nuance as a villain/redeemed hero.

This high key is one of the main reasons that I typically choose to stay away from the Loki fandom in general. I've seen these takes even before I was a fan of Loki and it always rubbed me up the whole wrong way. I have a lot of points though that go into this particular idea, so buckle up boys we're going in LOL

Loki has blue eyes. Sorry folks, he just does. Tom's eyes are a greyish-blue color and there are no green lenses or anything used to give Loki green eyes. If his eyes """""""look""""""" bluer in the film it probably is whatever filter they are using that makes all of the other blue-eyed folks really stand out. I know pretty much everyone assumes he has green eyes, and maybe in the comics he does - but strictly sticking to MCU here, he doesn't.

There is nothing that says that he was. No scenes. Nothing in the scripts. Absolutely nothing. Furthermore, there are literally no scenes that support that with enough concrete information to confirm it either. Yes, the mind stone can influence people's minds to bring forth what we can only assume are people's immediate thoughts based on the scene where the Avengers fight with each other. And it obviously can be used to mind control people, but Loki does that... when he is holding the scepter??? If Thanos was doing that to him, wouldn't he need to still hold onto the spear to keep it up? I'll grant you that even Loki doesn't need to be holding the spear in order to keep his hold on Clint, but then why would Loki of all people not just use the spear to break out of Thanos' control then since he has the tool that's holding him back? People continuously confuse headcanons with reality, and no supposed director or actor retcons and speculations do not count. Everything that is used to try and prove this THEORY is always stretching the smallest things that don't make sense in the big picture.

I don't like to take LOKI show stuff often and apply it to MCU Loki, but if we're expected to believe that both the show and the films are the same (or similar enough) then Loki cannot be mind-controlled. It's pretty clearly established when Sylvie tries to enter his mind that she cannot enchant him whatsoever and that his mental fortitude is too strong. Granted, an infinity stone will ultimately be more powerful than a sorceress with no professional training, but the point still stands.*

He doesn't need to be mind-controlled, period. The thing I disagree with the most is that he has to be controlled at all. Loki is so much more compelling when he has to deal with the consequences of the actions that he decides to take. He can be justified in his feelings of hurt and betrayal without having his war crimes justified. People can have valid feelings and still do bad things. It's just how life works, and Loki ultimately shook the earth to its core for his own rebellion against his family. Taking away Loki's choice means losing everything compelling about his growth as a person and a character. He has earned his redemption as the hero we all know he can be, just like his brother and that's what makes Loki so neat.

What I see people do with this take, is try to absolve Loki of all of the bad things he did in Avengers, but it doesn't work. It's okay that he messed up and did evil things. Yes, he can have his own ( very logical ) reasonings that come from the pain he experienced, but that will never justify his actions. You are doing Loki a disservice by trying to erase his villainy in favor of painting him as nothing but a victim.**

*I'm willing to have some leniency on the fact that he was likely being influenced by the spear in some fashion. But when I say influence, I mean the stone could have been messing with his memories, emotions, or anything else that motivated Loki to continue with his crazy scheme. But nothing more than that. The infinity stones are insanely powerful objects so ofc being among/using that power was probably messing with Loki, but ultimately he was in charge of himself and how he used that power.

**I think in some ways Loki was still a victim of Thanos though. I don't doubt that to some degree he was tortured with the training he likely needed to be able to wield not one, but two infinity stones. I also don't doubt that Loki realized far too late that he was getting in over his head with this alliance ( particularly when he's fighting Thor and seeing the chaos unfold around him ) and I think he was absolutely terrified of what would happen if he didn't comply. But I also think Loki knew what he was doing and fashioned the entire plan by his design. He chose to do what he did with his singular goal of proving to Odin + Thor that he could/should be king.

[zuzuzuko]

Opinion on teen titans!

I generally really love the teen titans (with exceptions). I really love seeing how characters interact with each other so I tend to eat up team comics. Koriand'r is one of my favorite characters and I really grew to love her through the teen titans. (i just think she's neat and also i want her to step on me????) And I think her and Dick's relationship is so special too. And Dick and Donna's friendship is so important and wonderful to see. And just in general I think the teen titans is really vital to Dick's character. (don't mean to act like the world revolves around Dick (heh) but he's one of my favorite characters and also one of the founding members so of course I'm gonna talk about him a little)

I don't know anything about Jason's titans run to be so fr with you. I haven't read much Jason tbh sue me.

I haven't read much (like i've read some but not ALL) of Tim's titans runs but I'll get around to that eventually bc I'm working my way through a chronological read of his stuff right now. From what I've heard one run is very good and the other is very bad but I'll see how I feel about them when I read them. It was so silly and goofy of DC to put the core four young justice kiddos into the teen titans like idk why that's just really funny to me.

I'm really sad Damian's Titans run was so bad because he's my favorite character 😭 Like do you ever read something and the entire time you're going "i hate this i hate this i hate-" yeah that was me reading Damian's titans run 💀

But I also think like it kind of sucks that some characters have become really synonymous with the titans because DC just de-ages them to keep them a "teen" just so they can be in the TEEN titans bc they don't know what the fuck else to do with them (Raven.... girl they did you so dirty...). Like you're really trying to tell me she was on the team with Dick and now she's somehow YOUNGER and on the team with Damian??? like DC I know you reboot the universe every 3-5 business days but be sooooo fr right now 😭

as for the cartoon: oooooh that was my childhood SHOW. I remember just sitting in front of the TV and my friend's house while a marathon was going on and just being so enthralled with it.

Anyways, this turned out super ramble-y so sorry for that. I didn't go into much detail I just kind of typed my general thoughts bc this has already gotten longer than I intended 💀

GENERALLY though my thoughts are

teen titans > young justice (this goes for both the comics and the cartoons btw)

tldr: i like the teen titans (mostly)

[weird-tea]

The more I think about it the more BBC's Merlin feels like the bazaro mirror dimension of Arthurian lore. A good chuck of that is the struggle of adapting primarily Medieval to Victorian literature with all its themes and motifs to a TV show for a modern audience, but it's still just hilarious to me that this process just flipped the canon so hard.

Right for the start - it takes the core Arthurian plot point of Merlin removing Arthur from Uther's care so that he can be raised ignorant of his birthright and taught how to be a good leader and flips that by having Arthur raised by Uther to be an entitled brat and Merlin coming in and undoing Uther's bad parenting to reveal the good king buried underneath.

Morgana is Arthur's paternal half sister not his maternal. They are raised together meaning they share childhood trauma instead of Morgana's childhood trauma being caused by Arthur's conception and birth and him basically getting away scot-free on the childhood trauma department being the cause of their feud.

Agravain jumps two generations on the family tree going from Nephew to Uncle.

Gawaine and Percival are like best friends, they are even a popular fanon ship, when their families have a blood feud in a lot of Arthurian lore.

Merlin reciprocates the lady of the lake's affections and she's not an antagonist to him even a little bit.

None of the major female characters are mothers, unless you count Hunith & the ghost of Arthur's mum. And Igraine & Gwen are the only two explicitly married. Women in Arthurian lore are nearly always wives and mothers, even characters like Morgause and Morgana. The lady of the lake even raises Lancelot & his cousins. The complete lack of married women and mothers in the show is honestly only just hitting me and it's vastly different from the source materials treatment of female characters (I am not complaining at all about this it's actually pretty neat as an adaptation choice,).

Also while this isn't exactly a full flip since merlin is the one to put the sword in the stone in a few prominent versions it will never stop being silly to be that show Merlin did it like the scene before Arthur pulls it out and tells him this whole story about how ancient it is. Arthur pulling the sword from the stone goes from him proving to others that he is the true heir and worthy of the throne to him proving to himself that he is worthy, and I love that I do, but merlin making the whole thing up in like a day when it's such a key part of the Arthurian mythos is just wild.

[kahluah]

Counterpoint, hardly anyone likes Chelsea-Nerissa and would’ve preferred a teen-Chelsea having an interesting and fun dynamic with Ruby while making a neat parallel or foil or whatever to the kraken conflicts of old. People knew Chelsea was gonna be antagonistic of sorts, not flat out villainous since it feels weird to associate that with teens - they can do some horrid shit but that age is still a symbol of significant growth, change, independence, and whatnot so I think people were thinking or hoping for something more… interesting. More interesting than an adult posing as a teen at highschool validating a self-described warlord of an older generation lower views ( I swear she didn’t think too highly of humans at some point).

Ok but that counterpoint hinges on Chelsea ever being something more than just the straight up evil villain. Just because you wanted a fun high school girls dynamic does not mean that was ever the case. Simply wanting for something does not make it the better option.

To be a proper parallel or foil would change the entire core theme and plot of the movie to focus around the fallout of the war as I've said in previous posts. This was not the theme or direction they wanted to take the movie from what I've seen. They wanted a coming of age story for Ruby with a focus on her relationships with women in her life. Having to explain the backstory for the entire war from two angles so that we can see the fallout on both ends and how the girls stories differ from each other is a completely different movie plot. It just isn't the movie that they were making.

I had no issue associating Chelsea with being the big bad instead of a misguided youth. I also had no issue thinking she may be older than she appears and actually the Queen because a villain who's whole plan hinged on deceit,,, I had a feeling that she may be.... deceitful. There are totally adults who pose as peers of high schoolers in order to manipulate them. You keep on talking about Chelsea/Nerissa as if she is actually a teenager, and keep on wanting for her to have a character arc that a misguided teen would have, but in the version we got wasn't a teenager and was doing everything with clear intent and purpose. I don't know what to tell you about you feeling weird about assuming someone that appears to be a teenager is straight up the bad guy. Even if Chelsea remained a teenager, by the storyboards, she is still just straight up bad. Like in real life I would always err on the side of teenagers just being misguided and capable of growth and change, but this is a piece of fiction media in a genre where it's quite common for things to be more black and white than real life is. It really isn't an uncommon thing for the character that keeps raising the bad guy flags to just be the bad guy.

Yes Grand Mama is a warlord. But she isn't actively declaring and going to war on anybody herself. She mentioned how different entities or groups try to fight her for the position of ruler, but she never shows signs of or says that she instigated any confrontations. And despite being a warlord she does not seem to be actively trying to expand her territory.

Know who did want to have that throne and expand the territory by going full warlord on other people? Nerissa. Know who tried to do it again? Chelsea/Nerissa depending on the version. So yeah Grand Mama's views are validated. Wanting a movie where her views aren't validated, is once again, an entirely different plot and movie and nothing about the in-production stuff we've seen has indicated that was the case.

And yeah Grand Mama doesn't think highly of humans and we have no indication that her views have changed by the end of the movie. She thinks they are stupid and not worth spending time around. But when Ruby says "but I like humans" Grand Mama doesn't disparage her opinion or try to change Ruby's mind or tell her she's wrong in any way for liking humans. She doesn't try to change anything about how Ruby wishes to interact with humans, or to see the error of her ways, and that's probably because humans haven't tried to usurp and wipe them out. Yeah she doesn't like them, but there is no reason for her to change Ruby's mind. She doesn't try to. They have different opinions and that's fine.

[jimintomystery]

Kyoko headcanons

[Above: "And now I spend my time looking all around / For a man that's nowhere to be found"]

This is easily my favorite Danganronpa character; I'm not even sure I'd like Danganronpa if she weren't in it. I'd need a whole other post to explain why I just think she's neat. So let's just get into the stuff I like to think about her...

Kyoko's fixation on her father is a fixation on what she can't have. Whether Jin Kirigiri loves her or not, whether he left by choice or coersion, whether he's far away or nearby, whether he's alive or dead...these details just move the problem around. The problem is that Kyoko needs more from Jin than he ever provided, and she hates that she needs it. It's a weakness she can't afford and doesn't want to expose, and she certainly doesn't want to make it worse by getting this attached to anyone else.

Ostensibly, Kyoko represses her feelings to maintain her objectivity as a detective, and focus on the truth. But deep down, she's become overreliant on that discipline to avoid dealing with her trauma. By age 16 it's like keeping a wild bull locked up in a pen, and she's reluctant to crack the gate open even a little. She associates her deepest emotions with anxiety, which in turn makes her anxious about revealing them, creating a feedback loop.

The Killing Game in Trigger Happy Havoc strains Kyoko's resolve like nothing else could. It's terrible in general that the kids' memories were wiped, but Kyoko finds this violation particularly offensive. Moreover, the amnesia resets her to a critical moment, when she's defied family tradition by revealing herself as a detective so she can finally confront her father. So she's already got a lot to bottle up and then on top of that she's trapped and people are dying and so on.

Only under this particular strain, I think, could she lower her guard enough to get so close with Makoto. And even then, "close" means she's pretty rude and bossy to him. But I think the arc of their relationship is that she sees something special in him during the first trial, and then she gets frustrated when he doesn't quickly live up to her expectations, and then she's impressed that he could believe in her. She has no choice in the fifth trial but to throw him under the bus, and she feels awful about it because she's grown fond of him in spite of herself. (And she feels awful about growing fond, just in principle.) Rescuing him and revealing her secrets to him is as close as she can come to embracing their bond instead of downplaying it.

I don't think Kyoko and Makoto's bond has to be romantic, but I choose to interpret it that way because it makes me happy. If you've read my fanfic you'll notice I had them kiss almost immediately after escaping the school, because I am impatient. For me the core of this relationship is Kyoko slowly accepting that she's worthy of being loved, even when she's being kind of a jerk. On the other end of things, Makoto accepts her for who she is (rather than what he might want her to become), but he has to remember he can accept her without being a pushover about it. They both have to put in the work, and they rise to the challenge.

Once Kyoko and Makoto admit their feelings, they agree to keep it to themselves. (Kyoko can barely talk about this stuff to Makoto, much less anyone else.) Over time, the other THH survivors eventually put two and two together, but they don't let on. Any ideas about revealing the relationship are cut short when Kyoko becomes Makoto's boss at the Future Foundation. The conflict of interest would force one of them to transfer to another division, and they can't bear to be separated.

I think the ending of Danganronpa 3 implies Kyoko is Makoto's subordinate at the reopened academy, but I don't like that at all. So I choose to believe she's telling him "they're waiting for you" because she's the one who brought "them" to the school, in her purview as the Foundation's head of PR. Since Makoto is heading up his own thing now, the conflict of interest problem is resolved. They've worked it out so they can each run their divisions from within the campus (or at least from within Tokyo) so work doesn't keep them apart too much.

Kyoko and Hina obviously grow very close between THH and DR3, but I don't think that happened right away. Coming out of THH I think they're friendly but mostly in a "part of the gang" kind of way, not because of any particular one-on-one connection. But Makoto is Hina's best friend, and she thinks he has a shot with Kyoko, so she would make it her business to get to know Kyoko better. Eventually Hina is as close to Kyoko as anyone can be without really knowing all her dark secrets and stuff.

I think Byakuya and Hiro are both a little intimidated by Kyoko. Byakuya hides it pretty well, but Kyoko can still tell, and she likes it. Hiro openly wonders if she's a evil spirit or something. As Hiro gets to know her, he settles into a mentality of "well, at least she's our evil spirit," and stops worrying that she's going to eat his soul or whatever. Kyoko finds Hiro foolish and irrational, but she can't completely dismiss his belief in the supernatural, given that she can hear the footsteps of the god of death.

Toko finds Kyoko super creepy as fuck, but since Toko is also super creepy as fuck it sort of cancels out. She sees past the aura of "super spooky relentless detective" and recognizes an edgelord loner that's too smart to make friends--takes one to know one. This becomes oddly endearing over time. Of course, Toko is even less willing to admit she's made a friend than Kyoko is, so whatever connection they have is so lowkey that it's almost undetectable. But it's there, which Makoto and Komaru find adorable.

I could probably go on and on about this kid, but I gotta draw the line somewhere. If you want to hear more Kyoko thoughts, feel free to bug me whenever.

[velvetbunniie-archive]

AHH YAY FOR THE BOOK BLOG!! Can’t wait to hear all of your book thoughts <3

I do have a question for you: I know how you feel about Jacks and Eva (and that whole disastrous spin-off), but what are your thoughts on the original trio (Scarlett, Tella, Julian… and Dante/Legend too I guess!)? Thoughts on the ships, the characters, the plot itself?

(Also, I’m glad your surgery went well, wishing for a speedy recovery and nothing but good news from here on out!!!) 💗💗💗

OH, EVERYONE WILL B HEARING THEM… i am annoying, babey!!!

((we don’t talk abt that fucking spin-off on this blog.. love and light <3 need to send eva back to her pre-algebra class fr.))

BUT THE ORIGINAL TRIO…. scarlett is honestly one of my fav ya mcs still… she’s got that eldest daughter syndrome burned into her + she’s so refreshingly sheltered and anxious, but has the strength at the core of her that feels so human and mundane … that said, i think maybe she should’ve smacked tella for killing herself and coming back to prove a point. as an elder sister, i think scarlett should be a bit more ruthless, don’t you agree?

and julian is also a nice departure from the typical ya male love interest, wherein he’s, like, actually respectful, omg?? and kind and sweet? i find him much more interesting than dante (though maybe that’s bc legend being his brother is important to his character development. i will accept legend for this reason and this reason alone.) honestly, out of all of the characters stephanie’s written, i think scarlett and julian are the most soulmate-coded out of all of them. i mean, they have matching white streaks in their hair bc they died together for a day <3 need i say more? the DEVOTION!!! even in the small things!!

i will forever mourn the fact that stephanie felt she wasn’t mature enough to write their love story in legendary… be soooo serious. i want to see it!!! instead we get, like, two scenes with scarlett and julian when actually i deserve a thousand of them. on top of that, it defs feels like lazy writing to ignore all that development that occurs in that book. many issues with this (>jst wants to see them kiss a bit more, ithink.)

((also they were quite possibly her strongest-written charas with the most compelling storyline… WHERE are they!!! i deserve to see more of them!!!!!))

OH ALSO, THEY WEREN’T A LOVE TRIANGLE (legend tried for,like , half a chapter, that doesn’t count), and that, my friend, is what i like to see in a soulmate couple. or in more ya couples in general, bc i literally can’t do this anymore. (>will make exceptions, as always)

i found tella to be fun, it a bit like most of the ya mcs in fantasy novels… but again,, you can’t tear a character that’s a bit of a bitch away from me. go harder. make her a feral bitch too. but, oughhh, the ya fantasy series doldrums… the love triangle… :// maybe i want tella to be meaner to jacks (and also i think jacks wants tella to be meaner to him too. many things to think of.) rather than running off with legend.

whiiiich brings me to legend. i kinda hate that he’s the way he is. he’s jst super up his own ass in a less engaging way than jacks is (i also want jacks dead. we all know how i feel about him. killing him with my mind.) not only that, but he’s boring. oh my god, he’s so boring. the romance with tella felt like stephanie chickening out / making the sisters fall in love with the brothers to make it nice and neat.. honestly, finding out she hadn’t decided who tella would end up with while she’d been plotting out the novel made me all the more enraged. we have a boring ass bitch here??? instead of jacks?? instead of an actually more engaging plotline? i want ppl that are horrible !!!! i’m here for an interesting time, not a wholesome one!

that said, i want jacks left out in the cold, where he’ll die alone. love him to bits. i hope he’s mauled by a wolf <3 i’ll also stick him in a little terrarium, if need be.

anyway, i… won’t lie, i think finale is probably the most interesting book (mostly bc we actually get to see mistress luck, god bless!!), but the scenes with tella and legend had me rolling my eyes. when has he ever been interesting enough to pine after? maybe tella should’ve jst remained single (and honestly, with that travesty of a scene in once upon a broken heart wherein all of the original characters had their personalities mauled to bits, it certainly fucking feels like tella’s single). but alas.

(yes, it defs did!!! my hand’s bruising a bit and my stitches are stinging like a bitch rn, but such is the nature of having a healthy hand in the end, i guess ;;;; )

[navree]

What do you think of house Lannister?

In general? I think they're fun, they're neat, they're a bunch of overdramatic bitches but because they don't have dragons and instead just have a shitton of money it's not as dangerous as the Targaryens. It's like them Succession kids, but in Westeros. They're very funny, it's just this family of messy bitches with good genes who decide to make their problems everyone's problems even tho they're not even royalty, they're just That Dramatic that it infects everyone else.

As for specific Lannisters in ASOIAF, my feelings go a bit deeper.

I like Cersei fine, she's fun to read about and her head's fun to be in because she thinks she's so much smarter than she is and that cognitive dissonance can be very entertaining, but I don't necessarily have the strongest or deepest feelings about her, she's pretty much just an entertaining character I enjoy.

Jaime is my son. He is my baby boy. I love him so much I just want to cuddle him up in a blanket and yell at every single person he's ever talked to until they apologize for being mean to him. Like, God his flashback chapters where he thinks on shit he had to go through in Aerys's Kingsguard literally hurts. If he gets a rocks fall death in the books like in the stupid show I'm gonna be so pissed, he is my number one boy (I think he might be a very strong contender for second favorite male ASOIAF character) and I will protect him with my life and love him fiercely. And why second favorite? Because...

Tywin is the best character in this series. He may be the best character in the entire ASOIAF/GOT/HOTD franchise. He's never done anything wrong except for all the evil stuff he did wrong but it's fiction and he ain't on trial so he's the best. I literally love everything about Tywin, I love all his scenes and all of his characterization and the hints we get of the kind of person he is since we're never in his head. I love his intelligence and his mind and I like that he does encompass what it means to be ruthless, to see the bright line in getting from point A to point B and following that line with no deviations no matter what it does for or to other people. I love smart characters, and I especially love smart politicians, so Tywin is basically if crack was an ASOIAF character for me. And I adore his interpersonal relationships. People have talked to death about Tywin's relationship with his kids and I wouldn't add anything new, but his relationship with his siblings needs to be discussed more. That tidbit about him being the only one to stand up for Genna when she was betrothed to House Frey and how angry it made him is literally just *chef's kiss*. And I could write a thesis dissertation on Tywin and Kevan and all the intricate displays of their relationship but for now I'll say this: the final published chapter of ASOIAF being Kevan's POV where when he gets shot with a crossbow his first thought is literally "no, no, this is how my brother died" is fucked up. That's a really fucked up thing to do George. And sue me I'm a sucker for the dynamic Tywin had going on with Joanna. That shit hits hard.

So, here's an unpopular opinion: I do not like Tyrion. I don't mean I don't like him as a character, I love him as a character, his story is interesting and the way he's written is good and he's understandable and I sympathize with him and I acknowledge and respect him as a key player in the series and one of the five Peak Core cast. And honestly, I appreciate his story and I do feel emotions for him and the way he's treated as a disabled man in a society like Westerosi society. But on a personal leve, I do not like Tyrion, for one very simple reason: Tyrion is so completely and unbearably misogynistic that is genuinely difficult for me to spend time in his head. Now I know what you might be thinking, "Amélie he's not the only misogynistic character" and no he's not, but out of the main male characters, he is the most overt and the most physical with it, not only just constantly thinking awful shit about women but also doing things like slapping Shae for talking and strangling her for the crime of him thinking she's someone she wasn't and even though I'm aware that it's for a furtherance of his arc, him raping the sex slave literally makes me hurl. And while I'm equally as aware that he's not the only Lannister POV character to have severely misogynistic takes (ohhhh Cersei and your internalized sexism), I'm more willing to give Cersei some grace because she is a woman and is suffering under a misogynistic society that has hurt her. For all else Tyrion is, he is a man, a highborn man to boot, and he has benefitted extremely from Westeros's misogyny as well as being a perpetrator of it that does not afford him the same leniency from me that Cersei gets as a victim.

And honestly, some of the shit he thinks about Cersei is just......ugh. I'm not a Cersei stan by any stretch, but I do have some genuine issues with some of the stuff he thinks and says re: her. Tyrion is more than allowed to hate Cersei for her horrible treatment of him, even allowed to want her dead, but him constantly going on about how he wants to rape and murder her not for anything she'd done in the past but for thinking he'd murdered Joffrey (which he knows she genuinely thinks is true, the issue is that Tywin knew it wasn't but was gonna use it to get rid of him anyway) is exhausting. It is genuinely taxing for me to read about how frequently he wants to be gruesomely sexually violent towards a woman not for any wrong she actually did him, and she's done a lot, but for her own erroneous belief that he knows is genuine on her part. Again, I get where he's coming from, I really do, I understand why it's being written and I understand how someone can get to that point, especially after all Tyrion's been through, and I'm not heartless as I said before and there are feelings I have about him, but idk, maybe it's Being A Woman and that the kind of misogyny Tyrion constantly exhibits is a kind that still very much exists today in the modern world, but it's a hurdle I can't get over when it comes to him.

(and also it's a nitpick cuz i know there's no way he could have known about it but it still rubs me the wrong way when i reread the series and he has his thing about how he liked robert when cersei hated him when i know that the reason cersei hated him was because he raped and abused her, it's just a Thing for me)

So yeah, that's the House Lannister take for the most part from me. As House, they're fun and more lighthearted in terms of shit they get up to and very funny, which Cersei tends to encapsulate for me as a character, and I have a lottttt of feelings, just very different ones, re: Tywin and Jaime, and Tyrion is...Well, it's fiction and it's not my job to like every single character, even popular ones.

[fussyspace]

Explorers of Rinth, John L. Simons Jr

Word count: ~208,000

Cover: It's an interesting cover, and the kid on the front (Isuelte, I think) suggests it's not aimed at adults. In hindsight, she does look perhaps a bit too young for YA, which is what this book was marked as, but I'll get into how this is relevant to the content later. There's a nice big tree in the background, which wouldn't mean much on its own, but the little wibbly light artefacts around it suggest something vaguely digital or spacey. All in all, a pretty neat cover.

Blurb: Relatively short, but it covers the two main threads of this story and keeps an air of mystery about whatever the strange secret is that binds the two groups together. I'd definitely take a nosey at the sample if I was seeing it for the first tine,

Vote: I voted yes to continue at the 30% mark (my personal vote, not necessarily team vote) and carried on to read the full book.

Content: Explorers of Rinth is a surprisingly long read for something marketed as YA, but when you see just how extensive its setting is, that becomes more understandable. Rinth's setting is wild and wacky, and it was probably the part I enjoyed the most.

However, it is also a book of contradictions. While it says it's YA, the general advice is that characters in books for teenagers should be a year or two older than the intended audience so that it's aspirational. There are many PoV characters in this book, but the main group are between 11 and 16 and they certainly act towards the lower end of that scale. The writing also feels more geared towards younger readers, but every now and then you get an f-bomb or a kid smashing someone's face in with a hammer that might not fly with a younger audience. Because the characters were young teenagers, they immediately irritated me. Thankfully, this improved about as soon as they stopped playing netball and got thrust into danger.

Our netball-loving teens, after all, live on a space station in a hollowed-out asteroid. They've made their own little group called The Explorers and like to snoop around bits of the station that they shouldn't, including the mysterious black staircase that leads to a labyrinthine network of tunnels. But what begins as a neat place to hold secret girly gatherings becomes a vital escape route when their slightly dystopian world comes crashing down on them. The Greys, soldiers under the command of the mysterious Grey Lady, come to shut the kids' school down and a riot erupts, which is what prompts the kids' escape.

There had been some interesting bits of information dropped about collaborators – people who sided with the Grey Lady and got special privileges because of it – and the exact circumstances were explained later, but at this point I thought they were about to embark on a colonisation mission because of things mentioned in Indira's chapters. So at this point I was confused – the events that prompted the riot seemed very childish and dumb, and I didn't get why the Greys didn't just explain the situation. Even the more senior Greys seemed abysmally trained. My confusion was explained away some time after the 55% mark, but that was still an odd moment for me, and that was a long time spent confused.

It's not just the girls we follow, however. At first we have Aristotle (who bags the first chapter, in fact), a man who wakes up with amnesia on top of a pile of corpses and gets taken in by a tribe. We have Indira, a doctor who gets woken from cryosleep only to discover most of her fellow travellers won't survive being woken – the ship's AI has made them oversleep by several decades. These are the core three at the beginning, although they are joined by many more later. I quite liked how Aristotle and Indira's chapters tended to answer each other's questions despite being separate for a while, and I enjoyed the adults' chapters more than the kids' chapters for the most part.

Slight spoilers follow from here, but it's only for one paragraph if you want to skip over it.

It turns out that the asteroid is a set of superimposed realities, a multiverse, with many of our characters existing in different ones. Throughout the course of the book, the girls visit many of these, coming face to face with minotaurs, gun-toting cowboy robots, six-legged bears and much, much more. By 55%, I was very confused, as I had the conflicting goals of 'go on a suicide mission to fight some aliens' and 'act as an ark for the remnants of humanity' rattling around in my head for the girls' original reality. Despite the multiverse having been introduced by this point, the two ideas were similar enough that I thought they must be the same timeline until it was explicitly mentioned after. Thankfully, all those weird bits of multiverse floating around made my confusion worth it.

The writing was a little harder to get on with, but more as an accumulation of little annoyances. It likes to repeat words and has some punctuation issues. Dialogue lacks natural contractions. Despite naming its chapters after their respective PoV characters, it seems to slip into omniscient or at least drift away from the PoV sometimes, which made it difficult to connect with them emotionally. (While they weren't the PoV at the time, I found the fact that the girl who smashed someone's face in with a hammer had no emotional or physical response unlikely, to say the least.) It also seemed allergic to using the past perfect tense where it should have been. Given it had an annoying habit of having characters show up somewhere, saying something had happened to them, then skipping back in time to show how, this made things confusing.

Towards the end, PoV characters starting rolling in in their droves, and not all of them seemed to advance the plot that much. I also got confused by what seemed to be a continuity error where a character was in prison in one chapter, then mysteriously free in the next. I might have forgotten him being freed because there was so much going on, but I don't think so. I definitely lost track of what was going on a little bit because of all the time and PoV jumps.

Still, I was looking forwards to seeing these many storylines tie neatly to a close, so you can imagine how disappointed I was when it set itself up for an obvious sequel and resolved almost nothing.

Overall, Explorers of Rinth is a solid slab of a book full to the brim of imagination and interesting characters, even if it can't work out what its audience is. It just doesn't quite manage to pull off its multiverse setting in a way that isn't confusing, and its proliferation of plotlines never get resolved in a satisfying way. I'm at risk of sounding like a stuck record with my reviews so far, but I see so much potential for this to have been made into several shorter books. There would have been more space to explore the amazing setting and to resolve some of the many plotlines towards the end of each book. As it is, the lacklustre ending after 200,000 words would put me off reading a sequel.

[a-flickering-soul]

i've been getting into spg for the last few months now, and i'm noticing there's really not much about these characters on the internet. (the spg wiki is Very Short.) you mind unpacking some lore about the bots?

(this is also an invitation to infodump. believe me when i say i Want to hear about these funky little automatons)

Sorry about the two lengthy SPG asks in one day! I'm putting this one below the cut because it is LITERALLY 2.4k man I did NOT come to play with this one! For what it's worth, you may find this ask interesting, as I've linked some good lore sources I frequent a lot :)

Rabbit: The first to be built! She named herself Rabbit after one of the animals in the lab she was built in, which I think is very endearing of her. She's Victorian clockwork/steampunk-inspired, and out of all the automatons is the one to maintain the most of her original vintage workings, which means she's also the one to malfunction the most <3 girl things fr. Rabbit is a wonderful character because she is Bunny Bennett's special special OC and gets to have so so many problems because of it. I am serious when I say most things usually happen to Rabbit. She is the Special Girl of SPG lore. This is NOT my own bias showing up, I PROMISE.

Rabbit has everything bad happen to her. Red Core, which is THEE Rabbit comic and something I read on a semi-regular basis to experience shrimp emotions through, goes through her backstory being trans (this robot is trans) and it peels me every time. I won't recap it but I think everyone who likes trans robots should read it even though it is as of yet incomplete. Lore-wise, it's interesting because it establishes that she was originally meant to look like Delilah Morreo (certainly a choice, Peter Walter I), and was sent to war in an incomplete, half-broken body which I certainly have a lot of thoughts about (it's the lack of AGENCY it's the way she spent the war VOICELESS it's the way she was denied the chance to be finished for a CENTURY it's--). Following that, about half a century later it was her core specifically that was stolen by the Beciles in 1950 in an attempt to replicate her Blue Matter power source. This tinkering inadvertently sent a beam of pure energy ripping through time and space, causing an explosion that claimed the lives of Peter Walter II and Guy Hottie (real name), and injuring Peter Walter III, Ignatius Becile, and Norman Becile. Rabbit, to this day, still blames herself for this because god forbid women have one good day. This also was the point in time that split the events of the Vice Quadrant into Timelines A and B, due to the generative power of Blue Matter, and also maybe created Cosmica? Which begs the question if Rabbit is sort of like Cosmica's mom in a weird way, but that's beside the point. In 2014, her original blueprints were discovered after a series of worsening malfunctions led Peter Walter VI to search for a way to repair or upgrade her, resulting in the confirmation of what Rabbit had known all along--that she was in an unfinished and slipshod chassis, that she was a girl, and she deserved to be recognized as such. Which is cool :') and a really neat way to work in her creator's IRL transition :') and for sure doesn't make me feel things.

Some cool facts I've just gleaned about Rabbit over the past eight-odd months are that she has memory problems, fell in love with a toaster, knows what BDSM is (SWEAR to god this is true), likes feeding ducks, and has a laser cannon in one eye, hence the heterochromia. There also is this cool series of drawings showing Rabbit's evolution drawn by Bunny here, which is really interesting to look at! In case it's not obvious, she's my favorite and I love her and I think about her too much <3

The Spine: The Spine is a special, special old man. With a retro-futuristic aesthetic, he was built with a titanium alloy spine (that's his Back Story), and before he got upgrades in 1955, was fashioned with a high amount of steam vents running up and down his vertebrae that kind of looked like old-fashioned train smokestacks, which is very endearing. In 1955, as I mentioned earlier, he got a ton of upgrades funding exclusively by the US government improving his weaponry, as well as an upgrade to his AI and programming making him much more humanistic, more personable and more able to mimic how humans moved in order to make it easier, once they were inevitably drafted again, for him to take up dangerous military operations without risking human lives. It's to my knowledge unclear if he was built like this or if this was part of that 1955 upgrade, but he is also able to detach his head and spine from his torso and limbs and actually slither around like a snake, which some people think is weird but I think is very endearing and fun! He hangs out a lot in the Hall of Wires since he's one of the few inhabitants of Walter Manor that can actually climb up towards the ceiling and presumably debug or repair the AIs, and also because it's the only room in the entire Manor with a door.

I love the Spine because I think the evolution of his role in the band is incredibly funny. If you watch the earlier Balboa and Zoo-era performances, he plays the straight man of the band in a stoic, but also kind of dumb way. He doesn't really know what's a bit and what's serious, but it's okay because he's really trying his best. Now, as the straight man of the group, he's so so old and tired. He really just wants to go back home and power off and who can blame him? By dint of the current lineup being a Black robot, a trans gay robot, and a white guy robot, he is now the butt by default of most jokes which is delightful to Me and boy, does he shoulder that weight with begrudging grace. My special, special old man. Watching him get made fun of onstage is kind of like watching someone give a very old and tired dog a pill, and I mean that in the most affectionate way possible.

Cool facts about the Spine include the fact that he's really into cowboys and the Wild West, he has actually never really been in love, he secretly thinks Saturdays are Just Okay, and he actually swears the most out of all of the members of the band (at least as of now).

The Jon: The Jon is an interesting little guy. He has a cool Art Deco style and is known for being a little more whimsical, young, and off-the-cuff as opposed to the others. What's interesting about his backstory is that while Peter Walter I was mucking around with his power core trying to bring him to life, some switch flipped or some level was triggered and a minor explosion occurred. By the time the smoke cleared, the Jon was alive and sentient and there was a void in his chest instead of a power source. Unlike his siblings, he didn't run on clockwork, or hydraulics, or anything of the sort. He appeared to sustain himself on the void sealed in his chassis, which contained only a koi fish and a hot dog floating in space. He tends to have a certain effect on people blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, and odd coincidences seem to follow him like a well-trained dog.

In 1992, the Jon went through his own upgrade--Walter Robotics, always looking for ways to boost their quarterly revenue, signed an ad deal with PepsiCo advertising Crystal Pepsi. The Jon was modified to run solely on Crystal Pepsi, which. . . as you can see by the popularity of Crystal Pepsi right now (sarcasm), it obviously didn't go well. The Jon's efficiency is tied to an out-of-production soda and his machinery refused to be retroactively fitted to water again. To prevent the inevitable from happening, he left around 2012 through one of those Blue Matter portals through to a sister dimension (in fact, the same one Peter Walter I discovered back in 1896) known as Kazooland, where we are assured he now serves as the Mayor of Biscuittown (presumably, it is up to us to determine how much of this is true and how much of it is the Jon trying to sound cool).

Cool facts about the Jon include the fact that he and Zer0 are besties, animals love him, and that the very first show that Steam Powered Giraffe did all the way back in 2009 was about them going back in time to get him more Crystal Pepsi.

Upgrade: I used to be neutral about Upgrade but then I watched all the busking videos and also the 10 year anniversary show and now I love her. She was the Girl Of The Group (TM) all the way back in their busking era in 2009-2010 and her ongoing bit was that she was in love with the Spine and also knew exactly how adorable she was. However, she can be stubborn when she wants to be, and her AI is permanently frozen in the QWERTY 1996 OS because she really just liked the 90s I guess.

I for one am completely fascinated by Upgrade's lore because it's noted that during the Weekend War and WWI, she served in the military presumably doing the same sort of things the other bots were doing, then as a medical nurse in WWII, indicating that the governmental military contract really played fast and loose with whether or not they could enlist woman-coded robots in the war effort. What's notable to me, though, is that during the Vietnam War, Upgrade specifically went on to protest the war with the hippy movement while the others served in the war. How did that happen? Were they just allowed to opt out whenever they wanted? Are these robots really willing Vietnam War vets? Did Upgrade out of all of them just have enough guts to run away? Anyways, she was brought back into the fold about four years after the war ended, just in time to a few decades later get Sharpied with facial hair while the robots trial-ran a boy band concept. She ultimately left to go be a princess and become actual royalty. I swear to god I read somewhere that Upgrade killed Princess Diana but for the life of me I cannot find it. Know that it haunts me.

Upgrade facts include the fact that she is an actual princess, her makeup out of all of them is most inspired by classic vaudeville, and it was her and Rabbit's roles during their busking era to banter with the audience while the Spine and the Jon tuned their guitars.

Hatchworth: Hatchworth was built in the frantic few months before Peter Walter I had to face Thaddeus Becile in battle and presumably the poor man was turning anything metal into a robot. Hence, Hatchworth's design--he was initially constructed out of an old-fashioned bronze wood stove. Walter chose this robot to experiment with his Blue Matter levels, and with one tiny change in concentration he accidentally created a Blue Portal into another dimension in his hatch. This was incredibly useful in battle, as almost any weapon could be summoned through the hatch--after the war, it was used to summon sandwiches for the growing Walter family. All was well and good, until an as-of-yet unnoticed hairline fracture in his core began making the portal act unstable, coming to a peak in 1938. After accidentally summoning a pack (herd? flock?) of badgers into the middle of a tea party he was serving, he was determined too damaged to fix for now by anyone other than an ailing Peter Walter I, and locked in a lead vault deep below the manor while Peter Walters II and III tried to find a fix. Decades later, he was found hallucinating and lonely by our boy Peter Walter VI, who was stricken with his own Blue Matter mishap and had an inkling of how to fix the old robot. One thing led to another, and now thankfully we are all 99.9% Hatchworth acclimated!

Hatchworth facts….he left the band to go Gold Fishing (with some degree of success), he has incredibly fancy shoes that are also inexplicably tiny sometimes, he has a Hello Kitty cell phone, he does know how to cross himself, and Zer0 tried to microwave his head once.

Zer0: Myyyyyy sweetest and most special boy Zer0. Zer0 was actually technicallyyyyy the first one built, since he originated from three separate rudimentary prototypes Peter Walter I fused together after testing out various weapon designs. As a result, he's incredibly robust, very powerful, and has a cobbled-together patchwork appearance. Unfortunately, as he didn't have much by way of singing at the time, he fell to the wayside after the Weekend War and was forgotten down in the basements and testing labs sealed miles below Walter Manor. In 1992, the AI Beebop found him while archiving documents and turned him on. Zer0, enamored with the evolution of music over the past century, taught himself how to sing exclusively from the old Motown records in the basement with him. Peter Walter V, upon hearing his voice, was so awestruck that he immediately repaired him and Zer0 became the face of the band (#Zer0OurShiningStar). Zer0 then absolutely skyrocketed in popularity, signed with a TV show, and subsequently became so famous Walter Robotics had to erase all content of him from their market because they lost the rights to his appearance and voice. Sadly, our sweet boy invested all his money in "the abstract concept of love", lost all his money, sold one single copy of a bad autobiography, and came back home to Walter Manor with naught but a yacht to his name. He very graciously returned to performing in Steam Powered Giraffe, where his lovely vocals can be heard to this day.

Zer0 facts include the fact that he got a brand deal to sell his own kind of overly sugary cereal, he fell in love with a "large-chested lamppost" once, he likes possums, he would collect worms on strings if he could, and his defining characteristic is joy <3

I hope this was somewhat readable and comprehensive! I think…..I covered everyone out of the automatons, unless there is another member about to crawl out of the woodwork somewhere. Best of luck in your lore-hunting! I hope this helped :)

[farieshades]

:) :) :) :) :) :) :)

What parts (if any) would you change about Harry Potter?

I had the initial thought of “Scrape it all and start anew” but as I was writing that I was deeply reminded that the books, while deeply problematic in multiple ways, were a core part of a lot of people’s lives. 

So, what would I change? I can think of 5 main things off the top of my head. 

Slavery

And by that I mean, of course, the entire race being enslaved by Wix that only Hermione seems to find problematic. Like, there is absolutely no need for this. The Weasley house doesn’t have any House elves and yet there is enchantments on items to do the work for them, and in the Fantastic Beasts series we see a meal being made by a flick of a wand. So what’s to stop them from going ‘all these things can be done by magic’ not a slave race that ‘enjoy’ their status as slaves to wix. 

Now, Nothingeverlost on tiktok does a video to a comment on how “She took brownies and tisted them into an enslaved society that people could abuse and belittle” and their video spoke about how Brownies/Brooni/eBrùnaidh/Gruagach worked on their free will and would be paid in a way for their service through milk or bread or cream, but these weren’t elves, they were household spirits. 

[Illustration of a brownie sweeping with a handmade broom by Alice B. Woodward from Wikipedia]

So, what part would I change? Just the entire removal of this. It serves nothing in the lens of household chores and cooking. The only actions that it seemed to serve was when Regulus ordered Kreature to get out of the cave to destroy the locket. This could reliably have been done without the aspect of slavery put into place and most of the House Elf characters could have easily been replaced with just plain workers and staff. 

2. Jewish representation. 

I’m realising this is the second post im mentioning both House Elves and Goblins, but thats just a neat fact to myself. 

Goblins, as throughout history, have been portrayed with antisemitism stereotypes and carictures [https://www.ushmm.org/collections/the-museums-collections/collections-highlights/500-years-of-antisemitic-propaganda-the-katz-ehrenthal-collection] , which isn’t a Harry Potter series issue, but a historical one in general that, apparently, a few articles have mentioned earlier in 2022. But nevertheless, there is still the portrayal of the Goblins with hateful anti-semetic tropes running the underground bank for Wix, while being called untrustworthy, greedy, and generally not positive. 

Indeed, our first look in the books is in Philosopher’s Stone, when Hagrid, who raises monsters as a passion, warns Harry about goblins before he enters Gringotts with "They're goblins, Harry. Clever as they come, goblins, but not the most friendly of beasts." Despite the fact that Goblins are not "beasts," but rather a fully sentient, intelligent race much like humans.

I am of Jewish descent from my parents, thought I've only started reclaiming my faith through readings and research due to displacement from WW2, so i'm not quite 'qualified' to speak on matters like this in my opinion, but I wanted to mention it anyway, as it has distinctly been identified by others in the past. The images from Nazis look also strickingly like the Goblins we also see in the show, such as "Der Ewige Jude" and other such pictures and works. 

[Der Ewige Jude - Ein Dokumentarfilm Uber Das Weltjudentum - Gertaltung: Firtz Hippler - Musik: Franz R Friedl - Herstellung u. Vertrieb: Deutsche Filmherstellungs u Verwertungs || The Eternal Jew - A documentary about World Jewry [The term Weltjudentum is derogatory for a global network of influential Jews that supposedly rules the world or aims at that] - Directed by Fritz Hippler - Music by Franz R. Friedl - Production and distribution: German film production and processing]

Now, in folklore, goblins are often depicted as cruel creatures, untrustworthy and likely to take any item they could get their hands on, not bankers that want to be in control of an economy with paper pushers and cartriders and dragon tamers in their heirarchical employ. This doesn't help with the lessons Hogwarts teaches in the droll class that Professor Binns teaches on that there are centuries of goblin oppression, segregation, mistrust, bad relations, exclusions, and revolts. 

[Illustration of hooked nosed, hunched backed, dark haired with beard Jew with hands clasped together with a sense of greed or untrustworthy/connvining expression]

Of course, there is antisemetism through the works unrelated to the Goblins as well

The only canonically known Jewish character is Anthony Goldstein, and possibly the other Goldstein family members, which when it was announced did feel like a random name she remembered being said but then, Anthony is a Ravenclaw and we don’t see much of them outside of Cho and Luna. 

Now, Frankie_Rose19 on Reddit mentions Severus Snape  "being hook nosed, pale, dark hair and eyes and very academically minded and ambitious when he was younger is Jewish coded", they also reference Hermione in that. Now, Snape has a lot of symbolism that has been used to depict villains, and unfortunately, alot of that is based in antisemetic roots, but then Wix religion isn't quite talked about. Which makes sense in a heavily Christianized Europe under the KJV belief of "Thou shalt not suffer a Witch to live". Now on Snape, I think @prismatic-bell has a post for the topic there.

So, what part would I change? Do we need to have Goblins running a bank, because I don’t think so. I like that there is mythical, sentient creatures, but the steeped antisemitism in their depiction within the race is unnecessary. The existence of Goblins could still be around the HP universe, but why are the Wix trusting a race known for untrustworthyness to protect their money when there have been revolts in the past. According to History taught by Binns, its that there is a law that prevents Wix from opening their own bank, but in what world [well, obviously this one] did Goblins want to serve Wix when Wix treat them as an inferior race.

And on the other religious representation, there could have been more characters than an offhanded comment by the creator. Rather, there could be plenty of references to diverse backgrounds, even in simple comments like offering a dish at the dining table to have someone refuse it or a piece of jewlery that is noted on.

3. Just to say fuck you, Trans!Hermione, because I too am a bookish fiend who will info dump onto unsuspecting friends, and I too am most assuredly not cis. And, like the above statement, the potential of Jewish-coded Hermione.

4. Wix Gay Marriage Rights.

No idea if there’s any comment on this in the books, but I want there to be. Even just an offhand couple doing random shopping things. Or two classmates getting together and it being told about through Lavender (who doesn’t change from a POC to a white girl when she becomes a love interest thanks). 

5. The Dursleys. 

There is alot wrong here. 

In the first chapter of Philosopher Stone, young Harry is sent to live with his non-magical Aunt and Uncle proceeding the murder of his parents. While standing on the end of the street and conversing with Professor McGonagall, Dumbledore says, “It’s the best place for him— His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he’s older. I’ve written them a letter.” The Dursley’s were incredibly neglectful towards Harry. Harry often went days without meals and spent weeks locked inside the cupboard under the stairs. Later in Half-Blood Prince we also get the wonderful quote of “You have never treated Harry as a son. He has known nothing but neglect and often cruelty at your hands. The best that can be said is that he has at least escaped the appalling damage you have inflicted upon the unfortunate boy sitting between you.” 

In fact, there are many times (at least once a year according to Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone) when the Dursley family went on holiday and they left Harry behind with Ms Figg. In 1995, she admitts that while she didn’t enjoy it, she intentionally kept Harry bored and miserable, as she thought that the Dursleys would remove him from her care if they thought he enjoyed it.

So, what part would I change? I’d choose to show the audience that the depictions of abuse are horrifying. That the adults, Vernon and Petunia, should have been punished. I’ve no idea what the Child Protective Services looked like in 1980-1998 but surely something could have been done. If not by the muggles, then by Ms Figg who was in contact with Dumbledore, and I don’t care how important the blood wards were, that's no excuse to leave a child in an abusive home environment. I’d also try to give positive muggle influences in the series outside of vague references to Hermione’s parents.

[thedreadvampy]

speaking of Mechs deep lore and centripetal force, here's a drawing Nastya's performer gave me in 2011 of how she thought the Aurora would be (in keeping with the character, Nastya's performer was the person who set most of the canon about Aurora)

(sorry for the pins, I have a board of Mechs pictures that I use as a necklace pegboard)

[Image description: a sketched pencil drawing of the starship Aurora, partially obscured by a zig-zag pattern of thumbtacks along the top. It is a torpedo-shaped ship with fins at the back and a string emerging from the nose, leading to a huge spiderweb shape which goes off the edges of the page in every direction. The nose of the ship is patterned with a checkerboard pattern and has some sort of geometric shapes protruding forwards from it. The belly of the ship is encircled by a sort of collar, out of which extend six spokes. At the end of each spoke is a cylindrical pod. There are arrows drawn around it to indicate that the whole structure of collar, spokes and pods is rotating clockwise around the ship. The drawing is heavily annotated in neat cursive handwriting - the labels are as below]

The note pointing to the tail of the ship says "limited rocket propulsion for intra-system manoeuvring"

The note pointing to the pods (partially obscured by a pin) says "Living pods rotating around the core to generate low gravity. One crew member lives in each pod" (obviously this was done in 2011 when the band was 7 people, not 9)

The note pointing to the nose of the ship says "Gribblies (Nastya's fault)" I have no idea what that means.

The note pointing to the ship's body says "core of Aurora, an ancient Cyberian battle cruiser, now predominantly engine space as [unclear..."allowed"?] by Nastya, but also contains the bridge and some other communal areas; also Gunpowder Tim's guns. Zero gravity."

The note on the webbing says "Sun-sail (biomechanical semi-sentient spiders maintain this web of metallic fibres 100s km square). Can collapse, be angled etc"

The note in the bottom left says "Average speed: 1% speed of light"

From this what you should take is while we continue to respect Nastya's performer's wishes to not be identified, we all know they're the biggest nerd in the band and that's saying a LOT