#Oh the discourse

[theanoninyourinbox]

BRUH I HAD THE WEIRDEST DREAM LAST NIGHT!

So the Warriors animation was coming out, and there was a leaked pic of the PO3 designs and

Everyone lost their goldurn minds in the Discourse

points I can remember arguments about: Why are their noses a different color that their ears, why is Holly a tabby, a full blown fight about mollies with beards, why is Lion BROWN, someone else saying Lion was grey and getting doxxed over it, why do the boys have HAIR, why does Lion have GIRLY EYELASHES and people arguing that eyelashes aren’t gendered, just a slew of howling about Lion’s weird anime hair, why is Jay so round, someone asking why Lion has a scar and the chat screaming ASHFUR YOU TWIT, if Jay had eyes or not, and on and on

and then the Erins dropped that they were rewriting the whole series from the Po3 arc and that Holly WAS a Prophecy cat

and my computer exploded from all the discourse

[the-magpie-collective]

One of the few things Wyll mentions about his past is that when he was fourteen he got so drunk he puked in Dillard Portyr's bushes. This is meant to be just a funny throwaway line, that's it.

But this line haunts me.

First, Dillard Portyr is a Duke of Baldur's Gate. In fact, Portyr is one of the longest running Dukes of Baldur's Gate (for some strange reason Dukes tend to die often under horrible and/or mysterious circumstances in Baldur's Gate). Portyr was Grand Duke before Ulder Ravengard, until (for some inexplicable reason) he abdicated that position. So any party Wyll is attending at the Portyr's house is probably for good reason.

But surely there's no important event that occurred when Wyll was fourteen that we know of—

Just kidding, there absolutely is. Arguably one of, if not the most important event of Wyll's childhood.

You see, Wyll would have been around fourteen when his father, Ulder Ravengard, was elected to Duke.

An election that only happened because the prior head of the Flaming Fist—Abdel Adrian—was assassinated.

Now Abdel Adrian was a beloved member of Baldur's Gate. He was a retired adventurer, who had gone on to lead the Flaming Fist and then become Duke. One of his nicknames is literally The Hero of Baldur's Gate. As Blaze of the Flaming Fist, Ulder Ravengard was his second in command. There is no world in which Abdel Adrian and Wyll are not familiar with one another. It is likely that they were close and probable that Wyll regarded him as one of his personal heroes. And then Abdel Adrian was assassinated on returning day in 1482 DR, in front of a large crowd of Baldurians. Except assassinated isn't quite right. You see Abdel Adrian was a Bhaalspawn, overcoming his parentage to become a hero of Baldur's Gate. Bhaalspawns are compelled to seek out other spawn destroy them and it was a fellow Bhaalspawn who attacked him. Eventually one of them emerged victorious from the fight but we do not know which one. The other turned into a Bhaalspawn Slayer and attacked the crowd before eventually being slain by the Flaming Fist and a nearby group of Adventurers.

Let that sink in.

Wyll was almost certainly in said crowd on that day. His father would have most likely ushered him away, perhaps into the care of someone he trusted, before going to join the fight himself. Many people were killed in the ensuing fight, including many of the Flaming Fist. It is very likely Wyll knew several of the people who died, he definitely knew Abdel Adrian.

And there would be no time to mourn. As soon as Abdel Adrian's death was confirmed, Ulder Ravengard would be acting Marshall of the Flaming Fist and on his way to being voted in as Duke. Suddenly everyone and anyone would be interested in getting to know Wyll, pegging him as an easy ticket to get at his father. And meanwhile Wyll is suffering the loss of some of the most important people in his life.

Likely a celebration would be held in honor of his father's new position. It would make sense for it to be held by the Portyrs. And then Wyll is suddenly thrust into a celebration with little supervision, his father being dragged off to play politics. And so maybe he has a little too much to drink, because everyone wants to talk to him and Wyll just wants to mourn in peace.

And in the end he throws up in Dillard Portyr's bushes. And now, years later, Wyll plays it off for laughs. It's funny, really, when you think about it. His father's big day and Wyll's just off puking in the bushes.

Wyll is always playing his suffering off for laughs.

Maybe it's a silly throwaway line.

Or maybe it's not.

[catofoldstones]

we already have people bitching about how “i can’t stand Chani, she’s so annoying 🙄” and “Paul chose Chani to be the mother of his children, Irulan is just at the sidelines eating dust as she should”, like brothers we cannot do this again. We can’t Chani v Irulan our way out of this one because the problem is Paul and the Empire. Gosh, we truly are never getting out of the patriarchy.

[proxissima]

[casscainmainly]

So in Spirit World there's two separate panels that show Cass' family/loved ones. The first I think is more circulated:

The second is this one:

These line-ups are probably different due to space/convenience, but to overanalyse these panels for a bit, it's interesting who's present in which. Bruce, Steph, and Babs are present in both - makes sense, they're the most important figures in Cass' life. Steph is front and center in both, suggesting she really is Cass' favourite person ever.

Bruce is relatively big in the top panel, but much smaller in the bottom. The top panel explicitly is about "family," while the bottom is about people who "know and love you". Bruce becoming smaller suggests that Cass thinks of him as her dad, but the 'knowing' and 'loving' part isn't as secure for her. (This is probably not intentional but reflects their dynamic very well, particularly post-Cass being sent to HK and her unresolved feelings about that).

Babs is pretty big in both, and I love that she's Oracle here (the wheelchair in the bottom panel!!). This makes total sense - the time when Babs loved and cared for her most was when she was Oracle. Cass probably still sees and remembers her that way.

Onto the interesting stuff, which is Duke being missing for 'family' but present for 'know and love you'. I think he should be in the top panel, but maybe he's too new for Cass to consider him family? Everyone in the top panel is from the bg 2000 era, so Cass might think of that time as her true 'family'. Anyway, the fact he makes it into the bottom still shows they're close, and that Cass considers him someone who understands/'knows' her.

Dick and Tim being present for 'family' and missing for 'know and love you' is so fun. Tim maybe should be present in the bottom, but recent canon hasn't made them as close as they used to be (in BG 2000 and Red Robin). So they love each other, but not to the extent of anyone in the bottom panel; he's still definitively family though.

Dick is the same, but there's a lot more sibling rivalry and complicated feelings there. It makes total sense for Cass to see him as a brother, but to not think he 'knows' or 'loves' her all that much; they do get along, but I think they remember their mistakes with each other and think the other person still holds a grudge (they don't). Peak Dick-Cass dynamic to me!

So if I had to rank Cass' favourite people in the Batfam according to these panels, it'd be: 1. Steph 2. Babs 3. Bruce 4. Tim and/or Duke 5. Dick

[itwouldeatyoualive]

"billford is abusive" yeah. fucking obviously

here's the thing: literally no one is making content w the inherent idea that billford is a healthy relationship, or that they Should be together. but it is a genuinely interesting dynamic with tropes that have been enjoyed since literally forever: power imbalances, mortal/god, enemies/lovers etc. and part of the appeal of why their relationship is so interesting is delving into the underlying care/love between them. abusive relationships aren't constantly threatening or scary 24/7 - part of what makes them so easy to fall into is that you really do love and trust this person - which is a realistic portrayal!! the tragedy of it is an idea that has been loved for ages: watching a relationship grow and evolve, even knowing that it still ends badly!! it's interesting and heartbreaking and it is literally just basic antithesis.

this is like basic media literacy can we pleaaase be serious lmfao. it's fine if you don't fw the ship/dynamic but you don't have to come up with a moral high ground for it - and having a dynamic that is explicitly abusive, while also showing the victim to be able to heal with support, in mainstream kids media facilitates further recognition and discussion on abuse which is a good thing.

[rhad-barks]

how on earth are we still having aspec and mspec and neopronoun discourse it's almost 2024 do you guys understand that we need to embrace all sides of the queer community or the infighting will get us all killed. do you get that. lawmakers want all of us dead whether we're queers with palatable easy to understand identities or cishet alloaro men or he/him lesbians or genderfluid fagdykes with emojiself pronouns. in a world that's trying to erase us all we have is each other Do You Understand That. please be kind to people with identities you might not understand or agree with because they deserve to live freely as much as you do.

[haaam-guuuurl]

If I had a nickel for every time the idea of shooting out one giant sperm has been proposed on a Dropout show this year, I would have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's REALLY FUCKING WEIRD that it's happened twice.

[justanapparatus]

Death of the Tortured Poet

Taylor Swift and other poets in conversation with Roland Barthes's "The Death of the Author" (1967) and Michel Foucault's "What is an Author?" (1969)

I want to say thank you to @ttpds @youmeetyourself and @ohdorothea. This post would not exist were it not for your musings on the topic, our conversations, and your encouragement. Seriously, thank y'all.

Sources:

Unless otherwise noted, lyrics are from Genius and screenshots/scans/etc are from taylorpictures.net

Barthes, Roland. "The Death of the Author"

"delicate" music video

"Dear Reader" lyrics

Foucault, Michel. "What is an Author?"

"Style" music video

"mirrorball" lyrics

Barthes

Taylor Swift before singing "betty" on the Eras Tour in Glendale, AZ on March 17, 2023 (text from @cages-boxes-hunters-foxes)

Siken, Richard. "The Torn-up Road" in The Iowa Review

Promotional image for The Tortured Poets Department from Swift's social media

Savage, Mark "Midnights: What we know about Taylor Swift's songwriting" for BBC.com

Foucault

reputation prologue

Barthes

Promotional image for The Tortured Poets Department

Barthes

Halsey. "Gasoline" lyrics

"mirrorball" lyrics

Barthes

Florence & the Machine. "King" lyrics

"Dear Reader" lyrics

Foucault

"22" lyrics

Foucault

"Out of the Woods" music video

"...ready for it?" music video

"Anti-Hero" music video

"look what you made me do" music video

"if you're anything like me" from the reputation magazines

Foucault

Album covers for the Taylor's Versions of Fearless, Red, Speak Now, and 1989

Taylor Swift in Musicians on Musicians: Taylor Swift & Paul McCartney for Rolling Stone

"look what you made me do" music video

"the lakes" lyrics

Foucault

"look what you made me do" handwritten lyrics from the reputation magazines

"my tears ricochet" lyrics

Foucault

"my tears ricochet" lyrics

"look what you made me do" music video

Foucault

"hoax" lyrics

"why she disappeared" from the reputation magazines

Barthes

1989 prologue

Foucault

[gray-ace-space]

recently encountered a post where someone said "gender is fluid but sexuality isn't". (they were talking about bi lesbians.)

my first thought was: does that person, like. hear what they're saying? how can you explicitly hold two beliefs that are so logically inconsistent and not see it? how can you simultaneously think gender is this fluid and complex thing, but sexuality, much of which is defined around gender, is simple and stationary and its boundaries need policing?

but like, fuck, why even argue against it, right? there is no internal logic because there is no logical thought behind it. these are not genuine beliefs. this person is repeating what is currently acceptable in their (small) specific social circle. this is the same person who, a few years back, would be excluding nonbinary lesbians, but nonbinary lesbians are cool and normal on queer tumblr now, so they'll exclude bi lesbians instead, and not even pause to reflect on the difference.

oh, and if you read this and thought "these people don't even actually accept nb lesbians either", ding ding ding! because it's not a real, deep belief, that acceptance is extremely shallow and conditional. so as soon as someone is an nb lesbian in a way these people find odd (like being both a man and a lesbian) they will exclude them too and find a way to justify it.

why do we have to endlessly go through this cycle with queer identities. can we not? can we just not. i'm tired.

[kenmarlenn]

Heads up, in case you've seen the VAs tweets.

I'm the one who informed Reed, Davis, and Kat about the whole situation with users [EDIT 9/1/24, 9:20PM EST: sending anonymous asks and making blogs] planning to send documents to the VAs to complain about harassment in response to the post [EDIT 9/1/24, 9:20PM EST: by Alex] about the harassment. I informed the VAs because I moderate for many of them, and for TSBS on Discord, so I wanted to be sure they were prepared and not confused if someone tried to message them. I also did it to ask what should be done about the topic being brought up on their Discords (as they are not involved in that situation/it is not relating to TSBS or their personal content, it will be removed).

Neither Alex, Ceph, Dana, Witchy, etc. interacted or sent them anything since they posted the documents - they said they're not interacting with the situation anymore, and they are sticking to that. Just so we are clear.

[tiredbitchposts]

I often feel like people forget that both Shen Yuan and Shen Jiu got fucked over in the transmitgation with Shen Yuan dying and being forced to live as someone to fix that person's mistakes and Shen Jiu being forced out of his body so someone could live his life better than he did. Both of them got the shit end of the deal, that's the whole point of it, Shen Yuan may have gotten his happy ending but he'll never be his own person and he's at the mercy of the system for the rest of his life and Shen Jiu never got a happy ending but now he'll never get tortured in the most cruel ways possible and live knowing he indirectly caused the death of the person he loved the most

[crimeronan]

it's sometimes so silly to look in the notes of a polyamory art/post and see people like "is this cheating art....?" when the characters in canon are all extremely close friends. i know it's not malicious because most people think of monogamy as the default and anything outside that Must be cheating, but truly i'm always like. guys. guys Please.

please think about this for like 2 seconds.

under what circumstances do we think this non-canon couple might hold hands directly in front of their canon partners. and under what circumstances do we think the canon partners might be okay with this. do we Truly think this is a secret relationship. do we Truly think these guys would sneak around behind their canon partners' backs when all of them are extremely close friends with a high level of trust and commitment to each other.

would assuming that these extremely close friends have actually communicated with one another Exactly The Same Way They Do In The Canon Source Material perhaps cause less despair.....

[tevanbuckley]

yeah no, I can’t think of any reason queer people would enjoy the *checks notes* sweet and well written canon queer relationship, one half of which is a character whose been bi-coded for 5+ years. yeah must be a fetish thing you’re absolutely right, there’s zero other plausible explanations.

[aaronsinferno]

Tommy caring for Buck and showing (in my opinion) dominant tendencies isn’t the same as infantilizing him. Staying the night, wanting him to get some rest, and cooking him breakfast the next morning isn’t infantilizing him, it’s him showing concern and taking care of his boyfriend. Simple as that.

Yes, he was weirded out by the boils and the curse at first, but he was never repulsed by Buck’s appearance, which Buck feared was the case, and he still indulged in Bucks belief of the curse despite himself not believing before.

Hate him for your ship not going anywhere all you want, but stop projecting and learn to cope properly.

[jeannetterankin]

don't mind me, I'm just hopping in the time machine to go talk to the old ladies in 1933 who just come out of the movie theater from seeing Little Women so that I can listen to them complain about how it's not as good as the 1917 one (but talkies never are! they don't make motion pictures like they used to!) and then the oldest of them pipes up that none of them have any right to complain because SHE read volume one when it first came out in 1868 and had to wait a whole year for volume two and then all her theories got jossed by it and her ships were sunk, so none of them know true pain