#Long Durability

[bharatstarch]

BHARAT STARCH

[buttercupshands]

Mha sketch dump!

feat. LoV sleeping and other things

So there's that World Hero vote going now, BUT there's also basically a personal Top 5 thing too

I thought about my top 5 for a bit and ended up with this

But as it was I didn't like that we don't exactly have a way to make multiple characters have same place like that character sorter. But my top 3 would've shared 1st place

And also it gave me some inspiration so I sketched Izuku and later Tomura. And here started the sketch wave, bc choosing AFOmura for the Tomura pic is... A choice and so there are two Tomura's on the sketch, with AFOmura getting the 2nd amd Tomura 1st

I got a bit frustrated with how I drew them so I decided to try to redraw some stuff while keeping with mha style as close as I could

I was a bit... Surprised? To see my own progress as the last time I did a thing like this it wasn't that good

Trying to simplify the style instead bc I was getting sleepy didn't help

[taro-pdf]

Humans are Space Orcs… And They Can be a Bit Clumsy

“We captured a total of 117 non-combatant humans, Ser Xing,” panted the slight six legged creature that was Talia, struggling to keep up with their superior’s much longer strides. Talia had had a long day. Human eyes were much less sensitive than their own, and the human holding cells might as well have been supernovae to them. 

Their superior only grunted. Vakam was a different species from a different nebula and found most other species both confusing and annoying. It was tired of going against humans in a pointless battle for nothing. Humans already had solar systems and planets gifted to them, they certainly didn’t need the dead worlds of the solar system they were trying to take currently. The only thing Vakam liked about humans was their durability; it didn’t know exactly how durable they were, but it had seen them take many nasty falls and survive. 

Speaking of things Vakam didn’t know, Vakam unfortunately did not notice that one or two of the cells it walked by were empty, and it certainly didn’t know that three of the humans it worked so hard to gather were in the ship’s air ducts, smoldering in the non-human temperatures. But ignorance is bliss, and Vakam kept walking.

Vakan stopped walking when something fell through the ceiling to the floor in front of it. Plates of metal that used to be a vent and duct clattered resoundingly across the hallway. As the echos faded, it lowered its arms from a protective to offensive position. Behind it, Talia whimpered in pain, clutching the hearing organ in their thorax in an attempt to protect it from the soundwaves.

With much ado, groans, and curses, three humans attempted to untangle the few limbs they were in possession of. Vakam groaned. Despite their fall, they appeared to be mostly unharmed. If only their durability was proportional to their planning skills, they might have made it somewhere. Vakam scooped them up and unceremoniously plopped them back into cells, this time taking care to find all the primitive tools they were in possession of.

[patrickztump]

if your pet is found by someone who takes it to a vet or shelter, microchips are a great, sure fire way of obtaining your information. qr code tags are great if your pet is found by someone who knows to scan it, a profile with an image + multiple ways of contacting, and maybe even medical conditions + medication needs, can be readily available. but if your pet is found by someone who is not tech savvy or doesn’t have access to a vet or the scanner cannot read you your pet’s microchip, these wonderful methods can make it harder to reach you. which is why a classic metal tag with contact info engraved will always remain the superior fallback, in my opinion. couple it with any more modern, technological option, but never leave it out.

[grenade-maid]

Signalis, Authority, and History

There's a level of nuance to how Signalis presents the violence of the authority of the nation that doesn't call attention to itself but which I really appreciate. Which is basically just, all the officers and cops and spies who make life hell for people like the Gestalt mine workers, Ariane, and the Itou family--we get little glimpses into who they are in Adler and Kolibri's diaries and despite the propaganda and the authoritative tone they take in official communications, for the most part they don't seem to actually be particularly invested in the hard line of national ideology. They uphold it though, viciously, both because things were worse under imperial rule (we don't get hard details on what it was like but it's mentioned in passing enough that I believe it) and because they're scared that if they don't they will be decommissioned and easily replaced. They are literally stamped out of a production line after all. There's a subtext of well, if I don't do it my replacement will anyway and I'm not trying to die so what's the point of rocking the boat?

I think Kolibri stands out to me most clearly on this because in communications from the block warden regarding Ariane there is emphasis put on how it is unacceptable and suspicious that she should be so interested and invested in art and literature that does not serve the purpose of furthering the goals of the nation. But we know that Kolibris themselves are bookworms, Adlers are fiends for stimulating experiences, and both get miserable FAST when deprived of art and puzzles and entertainment and hobbies. Y'know, just like anyone. Far be it from being a paragon of The Nation only interested in productive labor, we are reminded that the block warden, too, hates this shitty town and wants to transfer but is denied. They're hypocrites, but not monsters, nor brainwashed puppets of the state.

The monstrousness at play is not contained within any particular subset of evil individuals, or even an inherent universal force of evil contained in the broad notion of The Nation. There is no cosmic evil force that makes them all do these things to each other. The monstrousness is within the social systems, the mechanisms of how authority perpetuates on a structural procedural level, held in place by fear and tangible threats of violence, each link in the chain restraining the next through those threats out of fear that if they don't, then they'll be next. Regardless how many, if any, of those people in this chain are true dogmatic hardliners, they must act as such because failing to do so opens them up to danger.

Here then I think of the quote that is so prominent, "Great holes secretly are digged where earth’s pores ought to suffice, and things have learnt to walk that ought to crawl", from Lovecraft's The Festival. This is not just a chilling abstract visual that conveniently evokes a mineshaft-- in Lovecraft's story, this line refers to worms which ate the decomposing bodies of wizards whose wretched souls had remained after death, complete with the terrible powers they gained through contracts with demons. Those worms inherited both their power, and also the evil. The Nation, despite having overthrown the Empire, is built on imperial technology, in particular Replikas and bioresonance. So too, then, we can imply that The Nation inherited with those things some of the monstrousness of The Empire as well. There is no end of history, nor clean break with the past, no matter how violently it may seem to be rejected. That which remains from the past--and something inevitably always does--creates the present.

This is a game that is not shy about evoking East Germany. And I think all of this provides a sophisticated picture of repressive authority that we rarely see in fiction of the English speaking world, especially in games. The year the S23 incident takes place is notably 84, but, frankly, I find this to be more compelling and illustrative than 1984 (and I'm a librarian and have taught English classes so I get to say that). Orwell, let's be honest, presents a fairly one dimensional picture of authority, where people seize power and wield it against others out of seeming mustache twirling evil or malice.

Here though we get a more humanistic view. Authority did not come from nowhere and is not wielded arbitrarily out of gleeful cruelty or mindless brainwashed allegiance. People aren't "just following orders". Individuals have rich inner lives. They make decisions, and those decisions are based in the context they're in. Even the decision to carry repressive tools of the past into the present is a decision that was made strategically with the big picture in mind. Nobody woke up and decided to be evil that day. Everyone operates on self interest, and, we must assume, an earnest desire for things to get better. Even the [spoiler] program which served as an inspirational demonstration of The Nation's power, you can imagine the chain of officers and bureaucrats who genuinely wanted the people of the nation to believe in the future, to confidently trust that everyone was working together towards something great and beautiful. And, through a long chain of those people who couldn't say "No" without being decommissioned, we ended up with something unbelievably cruel.

We get to know Adler and Kolibri and the other officers not to say well they're human too, maybe it wasn't so bad that they condemned all those people to agonizing suffering, but to remember that if we keep looking for true monsters we will not find them. There are no monsters and there are no demons. There are only people making decisions. A better world is possible. A better world, where Adler is just a paper pusher who does puzzles after work instead of signing papers to authorize torture, where Kolibris are librarians instead of spies and cops, where EULEs can gossip and play piano and ARARs can do maintenance on facilities that don't contain torture rooms, is one that would not have led to the Ariane and Elster's tragic cycle and ultimate end.

Authority and its attendant cruelty is not contained, radiating forth from The Great Revolutionary and Her Daughter, it is within the social systems of control. When those two women die, that cruelty will continue so long as those social systems continue. Like Lovecraft's worms, no matter how long dead the evil of the past is, so long as it continues to be fed upon, that evil will not only remain, but evolve into something new in the present. A better world can't be achieved through the death of the old world alone, even if violent overthrow is warranted. There is no end of history. There is no clean break from the past.

"Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living."

Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

[seamsterslocal]

reusing craft supplies is all fun and games until your reclaimed zipper breaks 3 minutes after installation

[normal-girl-in-an-odd-world]

Sooo, according to the descriptions you provided, you would be a superhuman then. Modified to survive in hostile environments... what a fascinating news

I mean, I guess??

I'm only like, "a bit stronger than average" according to my P.E. and Karate teachers.

It's just that for some flippin' reason, I'm stronger than every single person on this stupid planet! DX

[discount--dracula]

edward has a younger sister now, meet leonard chicken wrap the hateborn !!!!

her name IS to be taken literally, she was born out of sheer frustration when i couldn't replace her batteries (multiple cables broke off when i was putting the speaker back together)

she enjoys travelling any distances larger than her tiny feet allow her, telling stories from her adventures to her brother, and snoozing after a long tiring day

edward is also very happy to not be the only long one in the furby family anymore :D

[mariatesstruther]

happy mother’s day to maria miller

[myfandomincolor]

Rushing through the estate like a wild animal so I can rescue Riordan

[gendzl]

I do not want a "lightweight" rain poncho. those don't do squat. I want a rain poncho so thoroughly waterproof that it weighs me down and makes it hard to bend my arms. why is this impossible to find.

[coughloop]

going to be so fucking mad if zions injury is serious literally he could be an all time great but he keeps getting so unlucky with awkward landings

[simply-sithel]

I carved a spoonish thing! And then actually used it!

The place we were staying at was wonderfully stocked except for one thing-- it was missing a spatula. Was delighted when A assigned me the task of producing one, tho it took... 3 days?

The material was driftwood (bark?) and thankfully quite easy to trim down given it was my first time. Was inspired back in late July when I went camping with my buddies and @mk-slop used my hatchet to sharpen a stick by the campfire- I'd only used it to chop firewood up until then! Had no idea it'd work so well! Thankfully I'd also tossed my seldom used Speedball Lino Set No. 1 carving tools in the travel craft bag at some point and used it for the more delicate work.

[i3utterflyeffect]

What would be the aftermath of the events of LOC? What does Vic do after all of that?

honestly? i'm not totally sure. they might still try to hunt down Alan, but if all the other hollowheads are unwilling to tell them-- and they can't just exploit the others for information like they were initially planning, they're kind of... just lost on what to do?

i feel like Vic takes being indebted to someone very seriously, so it's not exactly like they can just go back on their word. plus there's a non-zero chance that Alan actually tried to help them get back to normal, even if it likely didn't work.

for the most part, they're just focusing on recovering after LOC, because it definitely took a toll on their already-damaged body.

[bijoumikhawal]

was thinking about how pants are constructed today and got amusedly reminded of this one paper that analyzed and reconstructed some pants common in Late Antiquity Levant and Africa. Because the pants make you look a bit like you're wearing a saggy diaper

Even the line drawings are done. To convey the sag

[spindle-girl]

Cell had a few funny moments despite what happens in it, like Defiant's "stop trying things," and another I found was where Alexandria was talking about her rep compared to the other Triumvirate members.

Alexandria went on a monologue about how forum debaters would talk about how she shouldn't be seen as strong as the other Triumvirate with her set of powers, only for Taylor to have the exact opposite belief about who the Undersiders could take a few paragraphs down.

Taylor legit thinks Lisa could solo Eidolon by giving him the Panacea treatment and Legend is more of an afterthought that could be beaten through the power of friendship, but she balks at their ability to take Alexandria on. The dissonance of Taylor trashing the two who weren't her childhood heroes and their ability to take on her team while Alexandria is wondering if she's being too soft with applying pressure so she plans to go off to 'kill' Skitter's ex.