#Long Durability

[bharatstarch]

BHARAT STARCH

[hplonesomeart]

@scimagic Uhhh made this because I just think they’re dynamic is neat. Also completely agree with the Puzzle headcanon super fun silly and very on point. As we speak he is clinging for his dear life :))

I really enjoy seeing the illustrated storyline you have unfolding between the two and figured it would be nice to see this motorcycle sequence in motion. So tadaa here it is! In animated form! Now your obligated to make a full length written novel in-depth about their relationship /j

Sincerely though thanks for the creative inspiration and keep on being a swagger artist 👍✨

[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.

[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

[lpseverstone]

I made a trinket bag thingamajig

For some notes:

- bag is a cheapy makeup purse from 5below that I stripped the paint off one side (word of caution, acetone makes the vinyl super plyable, but it will firm up after leaving it alone for a day)

- dividers are foamcore wrapped w/paper & washi tape for neatness

- background is recycled lps packaging

- currently supported by foam insert the bag came with (may swap out for a neater solution)

[spinnysocks]

vita shows me a stick :]

[lemurballing]

tangle is so fun because she is a juxtaposition of something collected and contained with something loose and free and in motion

she’s a rough brawler but she has a stance and a style. she’s impulsive and thrillseeking, but she wraps her arms in sports tape to protect them, a precaution. she longs for adventure and action but she will always need to come to rest at home with friends. she’s bouncy and restless, but she’s an intent listener and considerate. she’s got months of off-and-on experience fighting badniks, but is still so new to real Adventure.

and while there’s plenty of traits sonic and tangle share, you can’t reduce her to ‘girl sonic’ without neglecting something of her own characterization. she fundamentally wants something different out of life than sonic does, because she doesn’t need to be anchorless; she isn’t a backpacker, sleeping somewhere new every night. she’s more like a goose, or a frigate bird; flying free for ages and ages, knowing she wants to go somewhere, until time comes to call her back to her origin.

[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

[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.

[orcelito]

Today I went ice skating!!! Been long enough I had to remind myself how to skate. But I also was able to leave the wall a lot faster than I have in the past (I was letting go of it before I'd even gone half the way around the rink!) And I did NOT fall at all! There were many children that were trying very hard to kill me (by getting in my way, which would trip me and then I would die) but I avoided it!! Got kinda out of breath by the end, especially since by then i was used to the skates enough + it'd cleared out enough that I could take opportunities to Zoom (my favorite thing to do while skating, going fast). Good thing I bike so much (generally speaking, less so in the last month) bc the cardio wasn't much of a problem. My ankles though..... the place got new rental skates that are stiff as Fuck and it hurt my ankles fr 😭 enough to have me like. Well now that I have a car I kinda wanna just... go ice skating more regularly, if I can. It's pretty out of the way but also I've ALWAYS loved ice skating. And if I do go more regularly, maybe it'd be worth getting my own pair of ice skates... probably more hockey style lol bc I dont care about anything with figure skating. Never gonna try to get into it. I like ice skating for the exercise and for Going Fast. It's just fun for me!

Miss going in warmer months tho hfkshdkd I've gone a good handful of times for birthdays throughout my life (as early as my 10th birthday, from what I remember) which is in May and So. There are less people ice skating. Bc ppl r just less interested in it in the warmer months. Not me tho I love it year round. And I look forward to being able to skate without worrying about the 2 dozen children trying so hard to skate into my path at all times.

[local-redhead-bookworm]

You know your parents understand you when they give you a corkscrew bottle opener that looks like a bat

[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