#READMORE

[angstandhappiness]

Neat! Tempura Curly though, swallow it 😂 j/k

crashing the tulpar into the asteroid that turns you into a dog ft. lil curlydog fanart by @rdhndrd

some design notes under the cut

Curly: Husky mix, maybe GShep? (mush, captain, mush!!!) Anya: Silken Windsprite (or long-medium haired sighthound mix) Daisuke: seen at least 2 different instances of people drawing him as a Papillon and i agree wholeheartedly Swansea: XL Bully/Cane corso Jimmy: badly socialized German Pointer mix

also ciarans fanart is based on this

[redux-iterum]

Salute to a Brief, Precious Companion

I just came home from the vet. If you missed the notice on Friday, Rocky has been euthanized due to failing health. I'm a little bit of a mess right now, so apologies if this post isn't coherent or it's overly-emotional. I just feel I should pay my respects and tell you all Rocky's story. Be prepared. This is a long one.

This was Rocky. Nicknames included Wocky, Rocky-Pocky, Rockadocious, and Little Man. He was an incredibly sweet and incredibly skinny critter who somehow even Jupiter outsized. I only had him for 7 or 8 months, but what lovely months they were.

Rocky came to me from a horrible situation - someone who is technically part of the family (and do I dearly wish they weren't) is one of the worst pet owners I've ever seen in my life, and he regrettably had Rocky for over 10 years. That is, 10 years trapped in a single room with a connected bathroom where his rarely-cleaned litterbox (singular, shared with multiple cats) was located. He didn't have anything: no comfort, no entertainment, pellets that could barely pass for cat food, and no attention. This was supposedly to save him from a dog that had a habit of killing every small animal it came across, but once that dog died, as did Rocky's companions, he still wasn't allowed out of that room because the idiot didn't want cat fur all over his furniture. Mind you, his dishes in the pantries had dust all over them, if that tells you how he lives his life.

Anyway, a relative of his called me and begged me to take Rocky, being unable to stand his solitude and wails for affection any time she went to that house. I wasn't looking for another cat at the time, but I agreed, on the condition that the former owner pay for the initial vet visits and whatever treatments were needed. Rocky was very visibly unwell when I saw him - underweight, crooked-backed and smelling of sickness. I never had a high opinion of his owner in the first place, but as time went on and I saw the effects of Rocky's ailments and the consequences of him never seeing a vet in those 10 years... well. If murder was legal.

Rocky's first 2 weeks in my house were disastrous. He attacked Moses, Jupiter and Moonshine any time he saw them, had no idea that he wasn't allowed to just pee wherever he wanted, and was frightened and confused by toys. It took several months for him to understand the concept of batting a ball around for fun, and he never did fully get that sleeping on a soft pile of blankets is much nicer than a hard table. I was extremely close to seeking out another home for him, certain that this wasn't going to work and I had just ruined the energy of the house for my other poor cats.

But somehow, Rocky turned around! He realized the other cats weren't a threat to him (all three of them are excellent at handling tense situations with fellow felines, and they never struck back or hissed at him during his rampage), and started seeking them out for companionship. Of course, it had been a few years since he'd seen another living cat, and he'd kind of ruined his initial impression on them with his poor behavior, so it took a while for them to fully relax around him. He and Jupiter very quickly were forced to become friends as both of them wanted on my lap at all times and weren't willing to give up their seat to each other. They eventually sought each other out and would sleep together even without me being there.

Rocky practiced being friendly on Jupiter, including grooming him. Amusingly, Rocky didn't quite remember how to groom another cat, so he ended up licking the fur the wrong way and getting Jupiter all slobbery, like a dog had licked his head. Jupiter never minded, purring along and letting Rocky do his thing.

Moonshine was more hesitant to let Rocky sit on her or curl up by her, but Moonshine's never held a grudge in her life and conceded towards the latter third of our time with him.

Moses...

Well, y'all know Moses. He was just as grumpy with this other old man as he is with everyone else. Though interestingly, over this weekend, he was unusually kind to Rocky, and actively laid down next to him and let Rocky touch him.

In fact, everyone was extra nice this weekend. I suspect they knew something was up from my energy and mood. They were sticking close to me as well.

As Rocky got more comfortable in the house, he really showed his personality. He followed me around everywhere, couldn't force out a loud meow if his life depended on it, wanted on my lap at all times (making up for a decade of loneliness, I guess), and demonstrated a sweetness and cheerfulness that couldn't be beat. He was, by far, the best at taking medicine that I have ever experienced with a pet. He would swallow his pills with no struggle and allowed me to give him shots of vitamins without so much as a twitch. It's extra-impressive for how long he went without those things. Really, his only fault was that he would have accidents around the house - everything else about him was wonderful.

I knew he was a hospice case when I took him in. He was sick and old; he wasn't long for this world, whatever I did. I still feel like I failed him for only giving him half a year of a comfortable, happy life compared to the decade of misery he experienced. Everyone tells me that it's quality over quantity, and that he got to live a wonderful last bit, and I should be proud of that. I hear them. But my friends can attest that I've spent the last two weeks kicking a tantrum about how unfair it is that he didn't get more time with me. I won't pretend I'm the very best pet owner in the whole wide world, but god knows I'm at least better than his previous owner, and I provided everything I had, whatever it costed. I felt like I owed Rocky at least a year of joy and love, and he didn't even get that. It's not fair. It's just not fair.

It's amazing how attached you can get to an animal you know will die soon.

Rocky's ashes will be coming to me in a couple weeks. He'll join the rest of my pets on my desk, and that way he'll stay with me. I'm grateful that he got to fall asleep in my arms and that his pain and weakness is over. Wherever he is, he's comfortable.

I'm sorry I couldn't do more for you, Rocky. You deserved the world.

[ganymedesclock]

This might be extremely late and maybe you already got an answer about this and isn't in su anymore but if it was possible do you think Greg should reconcile with his parents despite everything they done to him?

TL;DR I think "should" doesn't really have anything to do with it in cases of personal relationships.

This may come at a contrast to a lot of how "redemption discourse" tends to get circled around but one thing I think that a lot of people don't realize is that when you are talking about specifically heroes and villains in actionized series, there tends to be an accidental blend of "are we going to personally develop a friendship with Badguy McStabs" and "are we going to pull Badguy McStabs off this railroad track before the train hits him"

Longer deliberation under the cut,

The thing is. In a lot of stories. protagonists tend to have, or acquire, or assert, a lot of say over the situation. To use SU as an example, if Steven decides he is not going to work with White Diamond in any magnitude, draw an us-vs-them line and not allow any of his allies to work with her either... White Diamond does not really have a lot of options besides dying- or getting exiled to the middle of nowhere in a 'technically not a death' death sentence. Steven, at this point, is functionally one of the ruling authorities of Homeworld and leading an active revolution.

What Steven Universe does that I think is particularly relevant to this topic is it points out that Steven can choose to let White Diamond have a functional life, while 1. meaningfully halting the threat that she poses and 2. not choosing to personally be her friend.

SU Future makes it pretty darn obvious that their relationship is strained. White has become, in no uncertain terms, the weird grandma that Steven feels some familial obligation to but is not sure he likes. Sure, as his weird grandma she's very enthusiastic about connecting with him but she's out of touch and condescending and a lot of things he doesn't personally like.

By contrast, the thing with Greg and his parents, is similar to the thing with Steven and Marty, or Steven and Kevin. If Our Hero does not extend an olive branch in this situation... nothing's directly gonna happen to these guys. We cannot say directly, unambiguously clear-cut, Greg's parents will suffer if Greg never talks to them again. They may miss their son, but, well, at that point, we're weighing their hurt feelings over Greg's hurt feelings at his upbringing, which we know he was miserable about.

Any time we talk about rehabilitating an antagonist, we're actually talking about multiple bundled concepts.

-Does the antagonist specifically stay in power, or remain unchecked?

In the case of White Diamond, the answer to this is no- while she is still ruler of Homeworld, her relationship with her peers has completely changed and Steven now directly has the public authority to put a check on her and be backed by Homeworld's own resources.

-Does the antagonist functionally get to have a life after this?

I would generalize this out from "does the antagonist die or not"- think about someone going to jail, implicitly for a life sentence, or as Vlad Masters from Danny Phantom, getting flung out into the depths of space for the rest of his existence. They are nominally alive but narratively they have still been put in a neat tidy box where they will never affect anybody's life again, the end goodbye.

-Does the hero or heroes personally keep the villain in their life after this?

That's what this question is getting at. And your intention may not have ever been to touch the other two- we KNOW Greg's parents have or had some kinda life and presumably didn't get fired or forced into destitution by their son running away. The thing they lost was access to Greg- and in time, to Steven. But I think whether or not you answer yes, or no, to this question, it's important to split it off from the other two- because that's where a lot of people can get into really intense arguments about this- where person A thinks that the answer is "yes, they should be redeemed", meaning, "obviously take them out of power and the heroes may not want them around personally but like, don't kill them or ruin their life, yeesh" and person B hears that yes and thinks that person A means "they should not experience ANY consequences for their behavior and in fact be directly coddled by people they hurt whether or not those people independently want to"

And when "is someone good or bad" is inevitably complicated as all hell even in media where it's the Happy Caring Friends Of Hug-A-Lot vs. The Hateful Nasties Of Mount Meanie, you can see where boiling things to imperfect extremes and then getting really mad at people is both an enduring pastime for the ages and also not a great way to read media.

To follow up my opener- at the point where it's just about who do you choose to keep in your life or not, no implicit threat of death or fantastical consequences... I don't think moral imperatives really matter that much.

At the end of the day, we're never going to know Greg's mind fully, even having a deeper lens into him than we'd ever have into a real-world associate given we've watched him as an audience. We aren't going to know his entire situation. And even if we somehow, perfectly did... we'd still have different answers on whether or not he "should" forgive his parents, based on innumerable factors, none of which are "are we, ourselves, Good or Evil"

So I just don't think framing it as a potential imperative, should he, is gonna get us anywhere. It's just not the knife to cut this particular question with. I'd be more interested in would he, or if so, what might that look like? good idea? bad idea? or even just, how did his parents feel about all this, what's their side of the story and how does that inform our read of Greg?

[ninsiana0]

Read PALADIN'S HOPE by T. Kingfisher if you love doctor dramas, *buddy-cop narratives, mysterious corpses, secret powers, vegetarians, being trapped in a maze, definitely not kissing your hook-ups, cross-cultural exchanges of knowledge, deadly obstacle courses, pretty men & apples.

*A gnole definitely says ACAB, tho

[kirby-the-gorb]

reply roundup!

reminder that there's actual stuff on the patreon once again, link in the pinned post :)

@capitalismdisruptedmybarbeque added an [image description] for blanket, thank you!

also thank you for all the boops, what a good website feature.

@optimus-jetpack asked: What is your favorite Kirby game? Probably asked before but I'm new to Tumblr and I love your drawings

my actual favorite is epic yarn, but if we're talking mainline only it's either crystal shards or forgotten land! I grew up with crystal shards and the design in forgotten land is super charming (as is the design in epic yarn lol). and thank you!

on [do not fuck with me] @nogoinghomegame said: roman reigns

how does it feel to be the funniest person on this website? I still think about this and it's been 2 months.

on [quicksand] @graycoin said: Yeah...that sounds like a rough day. :/ I hope all that leads to something better, at least.

thanks. I'll get the rest of the paperwork turned in this month and then we'll see I guess -n- (and thanks for all your other supportive words too)

on [pudding] @xurkitreeking said: I want to eat your art, i feel like it would make a satisfyingly cronch like one of those puffed air chip

omg that's so nice??? like puffed rice or something yeah, I can totally see what you mean

on [pudding] @ceylonsilvergirl said: I know things like spills are technically so small, but when you’re already at the end of your rope it’s fascinating how something like this can send you into a crying fit. you held it together so well for so long, and this was the straw that broke the camel’s back

ugh yeah sometimes when there's already So Much you just look at it and you're like. haven't I already been through enough. but it's like, kind of a "safe" thing to get upset about? because it's obvious to anyone there that it happened and that it's unambiguously negative, even if it is only minor, and it's also not like you're taking space away from someone else or whatever.

on [reborn] @ceylonsilvergirl said: I’m not allowed to watch any more, after I laughed so hard I gave myself an asthma attack

that's so tragic, this world is in shambles

they also did a delightful [expansion] of [outline] that's just so fun honestly, I love that every single object has the same gormless expression that kirby already had lol

on [bug] @theraphos said: me irl, literally i was about to clean the tub earlier and noticed this baby spider that was seriously just a fuckin. dot. i somehow managed to get it in a cup unharmed

whenever there's a spider in like, the shower, or the sink, I always worry so much about it going unnoticed and getting drowned until I know it's moved somewhere safer (we are a pro-spider household)

on [injection] @fakejtwelve said: I hope new meds work well for you 💜

thank you! so far I feel about as bad as usual except that my nose is finally not congested. which I guess is something. (it usually takes a couple months to really kick in so there is still grounds for hope!)

on [ghost] @11-eyed-rook said: this purple is a good purple thank you

there are many good purples in the world :)

anonymous asked: what is kirby's favorite swear word

honestly I think he's partial to "fuck", it's just got a good arrangement of consonants in it. easy to apply forcefully to a variety of scenarios.

on [eyebrows] @joekingv1 said: *asks baby what is their secret*

they definitely do not have a brown marker hidden behind their back :) don't bother checking you can trust them :)

on [pumpkin] @beardedhandstoadshark said: oh my god. Look at the lad. so round, so happy, so pumped (ha) to be here. no candles in and already glowing. happy halloween to everyone but especially this pumpkin (also as someone who can't cut circles for the life of me, let alone small ones, this seems genuinely impressive)

thanks! tbh my partner just handed me a steak knife and let me go, I smoothed it out some by just kinda like, jamming a finger in there to mush down any particularly jagged parts. it was a small pumpkin which probably helped.

@edgywithaheart asked: opinions on terminalmontages kirbo ?

excellent shape, excellent face. not all the jokes are For Me but clearly others enjoy them.

[kicksnscribs]

"Ah, you want me to talk about the Twins huh?"

"Not much to say about em, really. Used to run the subway system in Iacon way back before all the slag hit the fan. Damn good at it too.

Nicest lads you'd ever met and practically inseparable! Where one went the other was close by, almost as if they were joined at the hip. Rough upbringin's will do that to ya or so I've heard

Couldn't believe it when i saw the white one on the side of the 'Cons, even less so when i realized he was by himself. We captured him one day as a POW one time. Took a lot of us to pull it off but we managed eventually. That's when I heard the story of what happened to his...I guess brother is what you humans would call them if you absolutely needed a word to describe him. Figured the 'Cons promised him a way to get him back somehow if he joined up with them and he took the offer in a desperate attempt to find him.

Though I doubt they ever did give him anything to really go by. Recruiters will say just about anything in order to get bots to join their cause. Especially when it comes to getting their servos on big, strong fellas like the Twins.

He eventually escaped us somehow; found a way to cut through his bonds and was lost to the night before any of us could even blink. Heh, and I thought his brother was the more crafty of the two.

What d'ya mean 'creepy' smile? Rude lil' thing aren't ya?

He's always been smiling like that. Well...not exactly like that but... you know that mech never had a frown on his face that I'd ever seen. Though I will admit there's something...different about that smile now. Not at all like what I seen back in Iacon. Something sinister...

Not the only one to notice it either. Ol' Rung reckons that being separated from his brother for so long did things to him. Spark twins can't be without one another for very long without it messing with their coding n whatnot, you know?

Though, Ratch knows more about the kid's situation than anybody here on this ship. Says that he apparently had done some things in order to get his brother back. Supernatural things. Things smart mechs should know to leave well enough alone.

Wherever that mech went to get his brother, he didn't come back alone....

Such a shame, he was always a sweet kid. Had a bit of a mobility issue but only when he was excited about something I think? Which was a good thing for all I care. You need to have joy in the things you love 'n he had that in spades.

Did not really understand the concept of personal space though 'n it sometimes got 'im in loads of trouble *laughs*

The black one? Whats there to say about 'im, honestly?

Incredibly polite mech, always there to lend a helping servo or two when needed, a little older than his brother i think? He would always mess with him about that little fact.

Very gentle in situations where his brother would be very harsh, but not like in a mean spirited way, more like an excitable way if that makes any sense? You would never think that what with the constant sour look etched on his face at all times *laughs*

Never liked to talk much. Though not for a lack of ability but more of a 'can't control his volume' situation. He can hit Siren levels of loud when excited enough about something or other and feels bad about it when he does. I don't mind it though, means he's found something to be happy about and that's a good thing in my book if that's worth anything.

Really hurt to hear that he went missing millennia ago. His brother looked absolutely destroyed when I saw him in that camp. I'm glad to see he made it back.

Primus the years haven't been good to him, though. Wherever he went it did numbers on his frame.

He creaks when he walks now, and his gaze has that look of a mech who has seen far more than he should have. He still has that gentle nature about him, though. Which is good, because I think he is going to need it if he ever hopes to succeed at getting those demons running through his brothers brain module out.

I got faith in them though, they're as strong as they are inseparable. They'll get through this like they did every other thing they faced,

together.

[Pulled from the personal Datatracks of Ironhide, Chief of Autobot Security]

[bridoesotherjunk]

I did like Sonic Prime overall, but Season 3 was absolutely the weakest of the bunch.

biggest complaint- season 3 was very obviously rushed. The deadline was clearly way too short and the show suffered for it.

I enjoyed all of the Sonic and Shadow banter, they were super cute and it finally felt like it did when I was a kid. Shadow not outright being hostile to Sonic and sometimes sharing a goof with him feels like it used to in the 2000s. Like, yeah, the Shadow the Hedgehog game wasn't great and neither was 06 but at least the two of them interacted! For years it just felt like the only time we saw these two together was just so they could fight and nothing else. Sonic Prime felt like they were rivals and not straight up enemies.

The episodes of the big battle dragging on forever honestly started blending together pretty fast. Like, really just. Too much for too long. There were so many characters that they literally just wrote some of them out of the story for entire episodes so there was less to do. And even then, too much.

We got a really cool looking new form for Sonic in season 2 and it was never used again. Never brought up. There were a few points where it seemed like they were implying Shadow got hurt that just never got mentioned again. Nine kept fucking making clones and nothing else for like 8 episodes?? This guy is supposed to be smart and that's all they did with him.

The best parts of the show were the character interactions, and season 3 pretty much forgot about everyone but Shadow. I like Shadow, he's my favorite character, but it kinda sucked to leave everyone else in the dust.

I dunno... it wasn't a terrible show. We finally got good fucking writing for Shadow again, and for that I will always love Prime, but... it kind of just felt like the Sonadow show for this final season and not much else.

[dee-the-red-witch]

The Monthly Roundup

Okay, normally, this is just a free monthly post over on my Patreon, but I figured I should push this out into the wild as well, because this kind of stuff's always needed. Want this, and a bunch of weekly readings from a cursed tarot deck, media reviews, and other content including fiction and the occasional build post? Maybe consider adding me over there as well. Anyways, like I said, it's a monthly roundup- in this case a bigass collection of links and resources for folks interested in pursuing gender transition one way or another. And while a bunch of it is transfem specific and sometimes medical transition specific, because it's stuff I dug up while hunting down things for myself, there's also things in there good for anyone of any gender, and resources for legal/social transition as well. And this is long enough to deserve a cut for once, so...

Hey! What If *I'M* trans?

The Gender Dysphoria Bible- https://genderdysphoria.fyi/en Wondering if you're experiencing Gender Dysphoria? This may be a good place to start. Realize the GDB is slanted largely towards transfem folks, so it doesn't necessarily apply evenly to everyone, but it does cover a lot of ground that folks may identify with.

Trans Medical Resources

DIY HRT- https://diyhrt.cafe/index.php/Main_Page (for legal reasons, I'm going to tell you to at least try to see a licensed physician or endocrinologist before starting to DIY your own hormones, but keep in mind, I'm not your responsible adult, and if you don't choose to listen, that's on you) This is the main, best hub for sourcing and getting info on doing your own hormone therapy. Keep in mind, it's once again slanted towards feminizing methods, because testosterone is still a controlled substance in most of the world (which is bloody fucking stupid, but that's a rant for another time).

GALAP- The Gender Affirming Letter Access Project- https://thegalap.org/ While we may have new WPATH guidelines with the Soc 8 updates that dropped a little bit ago, most providers and insurers are still on outdated requirements that insist on letters from mental health providers for transgender-related care. Which can affect access to surgeries, HRT, and more. GALAP exists to connect folks with providers who'll give those letters,m in some cases free of charge even.

Gynecologist List- https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Djia_WkrVO3S4jKn6odNwQk7pOcpcL4x00FMNekrb7Q/htmlview This one's more for uterus-owners in general and less trans-specific, but giventhe number of folks with uteri who'd can end up with a hard time finding a willing doctor for some procedures, it's important for everyone. This is a Google database of hundreds of gynecologists, listed by location, willing to perform sterilization procedures with informed consent, without secondary authorization from anyone else. The list is patient-vetted, so your mileage may vary, but for those seeking sterilization and/or hysterectomies as part of their transition it may prove to be invaluable as a resource, because doctors willing to do this work can be few and rare in some areas.

Transfeminine Science- https://transfemscience.org/ Articles, journals and all sorts of researching into, well, just what the name says, transfeminizing science. A lot of medical professionals simply don't have knowledge in the field and are acting on what they learned in med school, which may be way out of date. If they're willing to listen, there's stuff in there to help bring them up to speed. Better yet, it;'s also a great resource to educate yourself so you can advocate for your own care a bit better.

Other Transition resources (legal, social, etc)

NCTE's ID GUIDE- https://transequality.org/documents The National Transgender Center for Equality's guide to changing your legal identity, in a handy format that lets you break it down by state or territory, or even federal documents (United States only, sorry.) and links to the right paperwork to use. Rainbow Passage- https://rainbowpassage.org/ It sucks that we need organizations like this in these times, but I'm glad to see there's people already stepping up to the task. Rainbow Passage is an organization dedicated to helping trans youth get out of trans-hostile states and relocate to safer areas. And if you can, volunteering for them is a great way to help improve safety for trans folk in general.

Seattle Voice Lab- https://www.seattlevoicelab.com/ if you've seen me on social media much lately, then you've seen me talking about this place. This is who I'm (through February and March at least) taking voice lessons through to feminize my own voice more. They also have a bunch of online resources, a discord server, and other help if you need to figure your own vocal chords out a bit better.

Strands For Trans- https://strandsfortrans.org/ Need a haircut, or color or other beauty services you're using for the first time ever as an out trans person and you're not sure where's going to be safe to go? Strands For Trans is the first comprehensive database of Aesthetics businesses for hair and everything, AND THEY VET THE BUSINESSES, to ensure your safety and comfort.

TLC's Life-Planning Guide- http://transgenderlawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/TLC_Life-Planning-Documents-Transgender.pdf The Transgender Law Center put this guide together specifically for planning end-of-life details. Yes, it's a depressing and tragic thing, but protecting and making sure our identities are still properly preserved after we die is still just as an important part of what we're fighting as anything else is. This guide will help you with establishing a Living Will, controlling hospital visits, and setting up proper Powers of Attorney, so that nothing potentially falls back into the hands of people who might refuse to recognize who you truly are. (In many states, you can designate someone other than your next of kin to take charge of your body when you die (next of kin is defined by law, not by preference). If you need to do that, go to nolo.com and look up article on "[your state] funeral law" to get a rundown on if and how to do this.

Trans Media

The Digital Transgender Archive- https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net "The purpose of the Digital Transgender Archive (DTA) is to increase the accessibility of transgender history by providing an online hub for digitized historical materials, born-digital materials, and information on archival holdings throughout the world." (In short, this is one of several free libraries of trans history.)

Totally Trans- https://www.patreon.com/totallytrans/posts Hey, look at that, it's another Patreon! Except, no, wait, it's a podcast! Totally Trans looks at media both historical and modern with a transgendered lens. Sometimes it's silly fun, other times, it's great insights into queer and trans history, and all around it's a great show to add on whatever service you're already getting podcasts through- or you can hit the link above to help support them at the same time for early access.

Trans News, Blogs, and Notes

Erin In The Morning: https://www.erininthemorning.com/ Erin's newsletter runs almost daily these days, mostly with updates regarding trans legislation all around the US. It's a good way to stay up to date, but it can also be a drag these days, largely because it's practically just a constantly expanding list of bad news thanks to the GOP right now.

Stained Glass Woman: https://stainedglasswoman.substack.com/ aka Doc Impossible/Zoe. I first discovered her work and writing when WPATH released their new SOC 8 guidelines, because she was one of the few people that could make the thing actually make sense in non-legalese. But I subscribed andkeep following here for regular updates both because she presents a trans coming out narrative that was just a joy to read, and also covers interesting  news in the field of trans medicine from time to time. Definitely worth adding to your feed.

A Self Defense Study Guide for Trans Women and Gender Non-Conforming / Nonbinary AMAB Folks: https://www.silversprocket.net/2021/09/13/a-self-defense-study-guide-for-trans-women-and-gender-non-conforming-nonbinary-amab-folks/

This is, quite honestly, one of the best self-defense guides I've seen for gender-nonconforming folks (and one of the few, to be honest), short of private defense instruction. AND it's available to read in full for free at that link, or in print for just a 5$ donation. Go check it out.

Other general roundups

Grassroots GAC Resources- https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19kSzBLo_hjpiBjHN8tvK73sVHU25NKWjMau2vNl8uuM/edit#gid=778305468 Google spreadsheet of links in general, from therapy help and hrt assistance, to all sorts of other info, some of which are repeats from here, but there's also a bunch of others I haven't had time or opportunity to vet yet.

[rafaeldearaujo]

Resolutions

[redux-iterum]

Oh yay! Apprentice asks!!! Can we get a small look at all the Kindling apprentices relationships with their mentors?

I'm going to just be doing the ThunderClan apprentices, because I have no idea on any of the other Clans, since they weren't relevant enough to design:

Tigerclaw and Sandpaw: Easily the most emotionally distant pair of mentor and apprentice out of the five. They didn't think too high or too low of each other - the pairing was decided by Bluestar with the specific intention of managing Sandpaw's temper and guiding her into a more sensible, calmer warrior. Tigerclaw was the cat everyone respected, to the point that even the cat with the worst attitude in the Clan (Darkstripe) submitted to him and enjoyed his company (not that Tigerclaw was super close to anyone at this point in time). That said, Tigerclaw hadn't really wanted another apprentice, but he knew he was the cat for the job, so he agreed to it. Sandpaw needed his discipline and stoic sternness to grow as a person and actually get some learning done. It worked out pretty well, I'd say.

Redtail and Dustpaw: Now these two, on the other hand, very much enjoyed being paired together. Dustpaw deeply admired the deputy of ThunderClan for his cool head and excellent work ethic, and Redtail was fond of his overly-rules-oriented little student who could use someone more casual and friendly to study from. Dustpaw was eager to learn and Redtail was eager to teach, and he saw great potential in Dustpaw that he hoped to channel into a leadership position one day. The only pair in this list more perfectly matched than them is the one below this paragraph!

Whitecloud and Ravenpaw: Whitecloud was not remotely surprised when Bluestar approached him and asked if he would mentor the scrawny, shaky little puffball of anxiety who took a full month more than the other kits to be coaxed out of the nursery. In fact, he'd been observing Ravenkit and felt a pang of sympathy every time the little guy flinched or ran away from someone who raised their voice just a bit too loud. Ravenpaw was still terrified when he had his ceremony, but he quickly found that Whitecloud was the first cat he could really relax around and feel...well, maybe not confident, but certainly less panicked and doubtful about his self-worth. Whitecloud never once raised his voice above a near-murmur around his apprentice or used anything but a gentle vocabulary, and it did wonders for helping Ravenpaw utilize his intelligence and learn more easily and quicker than everyone else. But Ravenpaw still needed a push to be able to speak to his fellow apprentices... luckily, a young kittypet with a soul as soft as down-feathers came along and helped Whitecloud out quite a bit with that. Safe to say that Whitecloud is incredibly proud of Ravenwing for having grown as much as he has since becoming a warrior, and Ravenwing is immeasurably grateful that Whitecloud was there to help him every step of the way.

Lionface and Greypaw: Discussed this here!

Bluestar and Firepaw: Well... we did see how that went from a first-person perspective. What Fireheart wasn't in the right head to see was that Bluestar had quite a bit of anxiety about him - she was very worried that she'd made a mistake and couldn't put her money where her mouth was to raise this very un-ThunderClan cat into a proper ThunderClan warrior. It took her a bit, as it took everyone else, to realize that Firepaw was going to be a perfectly fine warrior, but there was no way she could force him to be anywhere near as aggressive and distant as ThunderClan is famous for. In fact, more than anything, he seemed to be encouraging the younger cats to be as soft as he is! Bluestar had no idea where that was going, but despite her nervousness about it, she couldn't help but be interested in seeing where this little guy was going to go next.

[ganymedesclock]

not to come trudging into your inbox unwanted, but is there a word for the phenomenon where like, a protagonist meant to be like, an underdog and societal outcast evolves into The Only Real Person over the course of the narrative because the author is so dead set on making the main character a hated little meow meow but also always right and the only valid arbiter of justice?

I don't know if there's one word specifically for that, but at risk of tvtropesification I would describe this as a phenomenon that can happen multiple ways with slightly different flavors.

Type A: What Do You Mean I Have Traits?!

Example: Danny Phantom.

Basically this is distinguished by being present from the absolute start. We are supposed to believe Danny (or Timmy, FOP does this too) is a Total Loser, but, actually, nobody seems to have a problem with him besides Dash and the series never seems to struggle to think of kids who have it worse than him in the social pecking order.

At this point, the Uncool-Ness of the protagonist is essentially a fig leaf. You can also often see this with "everyman" protagonists like the fantasy hero who comes from a small countryside town but will never have any sort of qualities people might look down on as "rural" or "a country bumpkin". See also: the Sky High variant where the hero has to relate to and move within the underdogs but crucially is ultimately revealed to not be an underdog at all by having the most conventional powers at all.

The underlying problem to type A here is it is written with the goal of relating to the lowest common denominator. It assumes that a character being successful, motivated, driven, is unrelatable... but also, someone being a "real" loser who is actually disabled or poor or has actual unglamorous consequences is not relatable either. So you get an upper middle class perpetually single guy with one (1) bully who hates him and one (1) girl who's Tragically Out Of His League (but is also dying to jump his bones) and this is passed off as actually just the safe, generic, reliable guy! perfectly ordinary. And just for YOU, audience, because this is what we think you are: a loser with no reason for it.

(suffice to say I do not care much for this type of everyman writing.)

Type B: The Backstory Creep

This is more common in long-running series, especially manga with their production model encouraging a bit of seat-of-pants-ing. Basically your character actually starts out a real everyman who could be somebody. A good example of this type I'd point to is Luffy from One Piece.

Yes, Luffy has a power uncommon to his setting, but the Gum-Gum fruit isn't lavishly unique among devil fruits; it has its strengths and drawbacks. There are even ways that ordinary people have an advantage over devil fruit users. So Luffy is just a particular promising rookie who we like because of his personality.

Then... it turns out Luffy's dad is famous but somehow nobody before this point has assumed a Monkey D. Luffy is related to the notorious Monkey D. Dragon. And then it turns out Luffy's grandfather is also famous... and then we get into the implications of the Will of D and Gol D. Roger.

You can even do this if your characters already HAVE an obvious connection but it gets worse. Consider also Naruto, and how it's baldfacedly obvious from the start Naruto is Minato's son, considering he looks like a younger Minato with whisker marks; later installments of Naruto decided to make his mother not just an amazing badass but also that the Uzumaki name was attached to some amazing legendary ninja clan, which... people more into the series than me have pointed out this makes really upsetting context out of an early fight where a character who is meant to be wrong argues that all victory or loss is based on who is a superior being, and Naruto argues back that if a nobody like him can defeat his opponent, then it's proof this is wrong and free will is important...

...but never mind that, we can give our hero an entirely unforeshadowed Badass Secret Legacy!

(did I mention both of these variants really like to shit on adopted parents? because of course adopted parents can't give you Proof Of Badassery in your genetics.)

A big part of what I think is wrong with both of these, is that it basically tries to have its cake and eat it too. Your character is powerless and likable and struggling, except they succeed amazingly and have cool parents and all these connections! Your character is dominating and godlike except they're such a rookie underdog they are not responsible for their power at all, and don't have to face any consequences or concerns related to being an overpowered monster.

The more honest way to field it, is that if your character is a luckless street urchin, let the narrative treat them that way. Let them have consequences of it that aren't just pretty or flawless. If your character is glamorous and powerful, let the narrative treat them that way. Even in relatively trivial ways, this kind of power-but-not-actually can create weird vibes.

To pick on Frozen, a film I otherwise actually enjoy a fair bit of- Anna's love of chocolate in the time period of the setting definitely marks her as an aristocrat used to a life of leisure and imported fineries. She has beautiful dresses to wear. None of this makes her evil. But the way the film gives her chocolate is supposed to make her feel like a Relatable Underdog, which... frankly, feels like gilding the lily. Anna's perky disney-standard songs come with some of the most heartbreaking lines. We see that she nearly gets killed in childhood and then loses her memory of the incident leaving her to an experience of extreme loneliness that creates a people pleaser who falls head-over-heels for the first person to actually make time for her and agree with her at all.

We don't need to hear her having the tee-hee indulgence that just like you, folks, she wants to stuff chocolate in her face!

(we also will not, incidentally, depict Anna as plus-sized even though for her time period and setting, her being built like a viking bride would both emphasize the various gags- and serious bits!- where she is obviously very strong, but would also make sense as culturally speaking the idea of thin as the ideal body is a recent innovation and Disney can afford to give body diversity to its heroines. Nor will we actually consistently depict Anna with a large appetite.)

She's so relatable, we see her waking up and her hair is gross and messy!

(we will not ever again see her in any sort of unglamorous look the entire film including while she's dying of a curse and her styles are just as fastidiously tidy as Elsa's, distinguished only by more severe lines on the latter... until she goes to her ice queen design)

So funny, she talks about being gassy in one scene!

(we will never depict her farting.)

And this is trivial stuff. There's one line about gassiness. This could be emphasizing not that the problem is fart joke but the problem is Anna has zero filters, which is fairly consistent throughout the film in both dramatic and comedic areas. I could say something a lot worse about the plot hole that Anna is clearly not meant to be a classist person (she does not treat Kristoff badly and he speaks freely to her early on) but the castle obviously has guards and servants... that somehow did not impact Anna's loneliness, even though their parents are dead and Elsa is obviously not sticking close enough to Anna to prevent her from being friends with them. To the point in For The First Time In Forever Anna is dancing actively around the servants but she isn't talking to them and they aren't reacting to her.

Doylistically, this is just because the servants are setpieces. This is vastly overthinking it and I'm not in their target audience. But I think this comes back to the same thing you're talking about, anon:

An awful lot of writers are very uncomfortable admitting their protagonists have any form of power or privilege that they might need to have a more complicated relationship with than just a "spoiled princess must be humbled" moral.

Even when it's a boring, mild form of power like "everyone does not hate me at school" or "I am allowed to sometimes be lucky"

[ninsiana0]

Read INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE by Anne Rice if you love recalling the past, grave mistakes, small things, New Orleans, chasing rumors, theatrics, asexual relationships, disconcerting dynamics, ruminating on evil, Paris, sad boys, revenge, losing your humanity & tape recorders.

I was deep, deep into The Vampire Chronicles as a child, after reading INTERVIEW in 5th grade (definitely not age appropriate, but definitely instrumental in my own understanding of sexuality & gender, as well as general melancholy & aesthetics).

It was wild rereading it again after all these years. It's definitely more explicitly queer than I remember/realized, and the asexual vibes were something I don't think I ever clocked before. It felt like reading it for the first time.

[lavendori]

[MP100] TSUBOMI: FINAL BOSS

if mob is about a powerful esper trying to navigate the struggles of adolescence and social acceptance, then tsubomi, despite being hardly present in the series, is The Main informant of shigeo’s latent power and thus, mob & ‘???%’s final boss.

the first times we see her, it’s through the idealized lens of mob pining for her from a distance. they were childhood friends but he barely talks to her anymore. she is reportedly the school idol & based on other’s reactions, she seems like a far-off unattainable dream.

throughout the series leading up to season 3, we get a sizable amount of hints of her character. most notably, she doesn’t seem to care for mob’s powers, which causes mob to conclude that psychic powers don’t make a man appealing. ritsu also says she’s the kind of person (manga) who would just go home if she got bored. when we first met dimple, his “get a clue” line really triggered mob, and we get this vision of younger takane saying it to him (not entirely sure if it was a flashback or projected image due to mob’s interaction with dimple, tbh.. someone can correct me if i’m wrong!)

based on these things, at least for me, my first impression is that she’s a bit shallow and possibly even a little mean. mob obviously has amazing qualities + so much compassion beneath his middle school awkwardness & is SO powerful but she’s not really impressed by it. why would mob like her and let himself feel so bad about his powers being less appealing than an athletic guy who can run fast?

later on, in season 2, however, we get a bit more hints of what she’s like. we see her observe mob when mob uses his powers to fix emi’s writing notebook (i’ll come back to this). we also see a moment of her and her friend in reigen’s office where the friend asks reigen for romantic advice. takane asks him something too and it’s concerning, especially for ritsu, who now believes she’s interested in some guy from cram school. (ritsu is also trying his best to hide the fact that mob is associated with reigen LOL). but then, we see a scene where she tells the friend she made up a story to test reigen. this definitely gives more edges to her character. it’s now clear that she’s not just an airheaded popular girl who’s into superficial things like dating and gossip. she might be a little shallow, but she’s not superficial. she has the intellectual capacity to test reigen.

so yeah, maybe she is a little shallow, but i think rather than superficial, tsubomi is image-focused and puts a lot of thought into how she presents. while this might be a different form of shallowness, she’s not an airhead who only thinks about mundane things. rather, she cares about her image and how she comes off to others. when she sneezes in front of her friends, her first thought jumps straight to “they will make a laughing stock of me in the school!” - she must be pretty self-conscious to assume this. you either have bad choice in friends who aren’t real and laugh at you when your time comes OR, as mezato suggests, she simply doesn’t feel like she can trust anyone and therefore guards herself quite diligently.

mezato, who has proven herself to be a sharp observer of people, says that tsubomi holds her real feelings back & doesn’t let them show. guys only like her for her looks but nobody seems to really Know her. she doesn’t seem interested in other people. even her friends don’t seem to notice or see her true colors behind the mask of her pretty smiling face.

and then there’s the comedic line of guys who don’t really know her, all waiting to confess to her before she officially moves out of school. here we also see clear moments of her brutal honesty. of course, being asked “why don’t you like me” is an uncomfortable situation to be in, but she could’ve responded in other ways for example, i know people who feel bad and might sugar coat the truth a bit more (especially in middle school!), or might have been shown more visible discomfort bc it’s hard for them to hide their feelings. instead, she doesn’t bat an eye and remains impassive when she tells them straight up she’s not interested. the most emotion she really shows is just cringe @ the boys lol. this honesty says a lot about her & also is reminiscent of the past where she tells child mob “i’m bored of that.”

these qualities are also affirmed by dimple during the divine tree arc. although dimple was provoking mob, his description of tsubomi lines up with everything else. she’s honest about her values & doesn’t conform to others, even when her friends offered the divine tree food. she cares about her image but doesn’t trust anyone, not even friends. all of this paints a picture of tsubomi as a cold guarded person who is brutally honest, extremely aware of her values, & stays true to those values + herself.

ironically, this is actually kind of the direct opposite of mob, who is a gullible softy and has a hard time putting weight to his own convictions (of course, due to trauma, but i digress). right from the start, we see through reigen, dimple, and tome that mob is still developing his own views/opinions. 

but you know what, maybe that’s one of the reasons he likes her. they’re childhood friends & she has all the qualities he lacks. she also doesn’t make a big deal out of his powers, which he seems to subconsciously appreciate— (being treated as normal, that is). likewise, others make a big deal of her & don’t treat her like normal either. she clearly doesn’t trust others & one has to wonder if that’s a related (& partially a self fulfilling prophecy. she doesn’t show her true self & therefore doesn’t get treated like normal either.)

they’re both just normal people who knew each other as kids. mob wasn’t even aware she was the school idol. even if tsubomi doesn’t realize it, i think part of her appreciates that mob is someone that still treats her earnestly for who she is.

this is mostly evidenced by the few shots of tsubomi observing mob. for one, the fact that she was watching mob patch emi’s writing back together, and had thoughts on it, seems kinda different from the usual stuff we see of her. she’s also ready to give reigen the benefit of the doubt after seeing mob’s photo in the office. ultimately, although she does not trust a lot of people, she does trust in mob’s earnestness, even to the point of waiting for him despite evacuation orders, despite the earthquake and heavy winds from ???%’s power swirling around her. she noticed that his voice was shaky & (at least mentioned in the manga) this was the main reason she stayed behind. despite how far they grew apart from each other, she still really trusts him & believes he’s a trustworthy guy.

also, still not sure why they took this part out but given what we do know about tsubomi, it would appear this sort of dynamic would actually be possible between them. which is ??? interesting???

anyway, all this is to say: despite how little we see of her, her relevance to mob’s growth & confrontation to ???% is HUGE. neither mogami nor suzuki could bring out mob’s full strength, even if they challenged him to his limits. mob was only able to fully snap out of mogami’s created headspace after dimple mentions tsubomi. even when teru awoke ???% that one time, it didn’t cause nearly as much damage as this final arc. tsubomi is mob+???%’s first love, and ???% has a LOT of feelings about that!

(tl;dr) and that is why tsubomi is his true Final Boss.

[kirby-the-gorb]

reply roundup!

whoops turns out the last one was shortly before my immune system got fed up with me again which makes it hard to feel particularly talkative

thank you for:

all the [birthday] wishes last week!

and all the support on the updates about my disability compensation appeal back in july!

and being appropriately horrified by finally drawing something truly [cursed] again!

and all the other tags and replies too, I read them all even when they don't end up in these roundups :)

@istherewifiinhell has added an [image description] to the latest kirbear as well, thank you!

on [travel] @ceylonsilvergirl said: kirbo’s exhausted because he didn’t have a yo-yo (I say from bed, exhausted, holding two yo-yos)

howl's moving castle bedroom but it's all yo-yos

@bi-files drew a cute [pig] with the brush that I use :) (after asking me which one it was)

on [sleepy] @sleepydreamybunny said: he's so cute and small omg pocket-sized kirby, perfect little buddy to go on adventures with you 10/10 farmer's market friend. i would like to give him seasonal fruits thank you

he would love seasonal fruits. he is so small that a single raspberry is a whole treat.

on [bow] @kingdedede8 said: no no it does its perfection

oh good (this is genuinely helpful feedback) -u-

on [rat] @nookisms said: Kirby goes to the pet store and looks at the animals all day

it's like a zoo but free (and sometimes if you're very very responsible and good you even get to take a couple of them home)

on [flail] @dragonsandmollusks said: still very nice to see that this blog is active though after my tumblr disappearance

yep, I'm still kickin! every day same as always (sometimes almost literally the same drawings lol)

@maybeifitalk asked: I got a Kirby hoodie and I keep getting compliments on it. it's just a black hoodie with Kirby on the front and his name underneath. people love Kirby. as they should.

good! that sounds comfy as heck tbh, I've been meaning to get myself a new hoodie.

[cesium-sheep]

okay I finished volumes 1-11 of witch hat atelier, I'd read volume 1 a while ago and I got the rest in a humble bundle.

in short, I'd call it deeply, deeply thoughtful. but not in that tiresome way of a high school edgelord, but in a really genuine way. the way you say "that's very thoughtful of you" when someone gives you a particularly well targeted gift, or when they reach out to check on you when you're having a hard time. that kind of thoughtful.

there will be some spoilers below the cut <3

the art is very very pretty, and it's not uncommon to see builds and skin tones and even facial hair styles that do tend to be uncommon in manga as a whole, though our leads are still generally fairly conventional. I love the magic system, and its flexibility, and I do find it very compelling that the rules surrounding forbidden magic aren't just being taken as writ, and especially with a later character we clearly aren't meant to just assume all people who use forbidden magic are inherently evil in some way, especially since the reverse, the one exception to the rules, is absolutely not viewed as inherently justified.

one thing that stood out to me that wasn't really obvious from the first volume is a remarkable emphasis on accommodation and accessibility. it's not only the appearances of a body that are more realistically varied than usual here.

for example, early on a character's legs get crushed in a natural disaster, and he is briefly shown receiving a sealchair, a chair carefully carved and enchanted so that it can walk about on four legs and serve a similar function to a wheelchair, with different tradeoffs. this brief panel showing that this is a mobility aid is never directly mentioned, but when another character, one of the three head witches essentially, is also shown using a sealchair to gambol about, we are to understand as soon as we see it that this is a mobility aid. without including that one panel, given the rest of this character's presentation it would be very easy to mistake his sealchair for a bit of theatrics or indulgence, rather than something he needs. and, while he frequently appears as smoke copies, he still always appears in his chair, rather than taking advantage of the illusory form to appear to walk. these smoke copies have additional limitations of their own which the apprentices are shown actively considering and accommodating for when designing a spell for him, by widening the corridors around him so they don't poof away.

this same head witch is shown in the same volume in his own bed, clearly set up for his own access and comfort, with no commentary whatsoever on his disability while still clearly demonstrating it. he is also later shown suffering from pressure sores, exacerbated by staying in a castle where no magic is possible, which also necessitates him occasionally being carried by other characters, which is again shown with no commentary whatsoever. it is treated as no more remarkable than an abled character standing up from his seat.

the stationer's grandchild is colorblind, which he had already mostly learned to work around in his own environment but he'd been told it prevented him from becoming a proper witch. one of the apprentices is able to help him devise a new workaround in a moment of need, and this new accommodation greatly encourages him.

the character whose legs were severely injured comes back later on, using his chair sometimes recklessly. two of the kids put their heads together to develop better accommodations for him, specifically because they see the struggles he has and explicitly say they wouldn't have thought of it otherwise, and that it makes sense but sucks why the witches who designed the sealchairs didn't either. the process of developing these accommodations is shown, and they explicitly ask for his input once they think they have a route worth pursuing. he is also shown expressing a lot of bitterness and hurt over being probably-permanently injured, though he never once says he is ungrateful that he was saved from the natural disaster.

later on he is offered a magical cure, despite it being forbidden to do magic directly to the body. this is clearly morally/ethically fraught by the rules of this world, and the "cure" he receives is not actually a cure at all, more of a grafted assistive device if anything. he does not feel misled by this cure, but he is extremely upset with his friends for withholding the knowledge of how to do magic from him.

even small things, like a friend being able to recognize someone's glasses have a spell drawn on them to block out harsh light, or someone retrieving the returned sealchair recognizing the existence of temporary disability in their internal monologue.

there are many other less concretely mechanical limitations that also come up, and the answer to all of them seems to be the same according to witch hat atelier - know your weaknesses, and use your strengths to work around them. it never feels like a character is meant to simply power through a weakness, and while sometimes there are instances where weaknesses can be put to use, other times they require consideration of an alternative path that may be better than the usual way, and other times still they are simply there to be lived with.

another pervasive theme throughout the series is the responsibilities of adults. these tend to be more explicitly stated in the series, rather than much of the stuff about disability, so it's kind of less important for me to write it all out :v but some adults take their responsibilities towards their young apprentices very seriously, while we are also shown others that are neglectful, or spiteful, and other adults who are explicitly worse. but the adults who take their responsibilities seriously, though they are never depicted as infallible, are depicted being very conscientious in those situations, whether they're present during or simply come along in the aftermath. there's a firm rule that all apprentices get to choose their own master, rather than being beholden to whoever chooses them. there are even instances when the apprentices are certain it's do or die, but we and they find out later the adults still had a handle on things. (then again, there are some instances where it really is out of control.)

there is one chapter that deals with sexual assault, nothing is shown on page and it has a clear and comprehensive warning prior to the start of the chapter at least in the copy I have. there are also multiple instances of emotional abuse that are not warned for, most prominently in richeh's first big focus chapter which iirc was when they're taken out to the second test. there is also an instance of someone being bodily transformed into a beast on-panel. there are several instances of forced memory erasure, and this is treated as very grave.

also there's very much not an emphasis on it, and there are plenty of friendships portrayed of many different gender combinations, but the small bits of potential romance we do get are extremely sweet. whether it be the pen grip moment between two apprentices or the little detail that the two masters of our main atelier switched hat decorations somewhere in the course of their lives -eyes emoji-

overall the tone starts off very lighthearted and fun other than the inciting incident, but there seems to be a general weight that grows over time, though there are still lighthearted moments and I get the impression this is a writer who can be trusted to bring it to a conclusion that may not be all sunshine and rainbows, but will still ultimately be hopeful. if they ever get there ofc, as such is the nature of manga sometimes.

I'm only one volume behind, and it's on sale right now. I think it's worth catching up to add it to the release date list.

[toxicrecs]

The readmore button is available on mobile now! See in the bottom right of this screen cap, it's the two horizontal solid lines with a wiggly line in the middle. When you use it, it places the dashed line with "more" (in the top purple circle below).

People don't want to reblog very long posts unless most of the text is hidden. Otherwise, it takes up a log of space on their blog. So If you don't use the "readmore," you're not reaching as many readers as you could.