#Research and Analysis Wing

[trendynewsnow]

Charges Filed Against Indian Intelligence Officer for Assassination Plot in the U.S.

Federal Prosecutors Charge Indian Intelligence Officer in Assassination Plot In a significant development, federal prosecutors have unveiled charges against a man they have identified as an Indian intelligence officer, who allegedly attempted to orchestrate an assassination on U.S. soil from abroad. This incident marks a troubling escalation in the response from both the United States and Canada…

[news4nose]

In a move further straining India and Canada relations,, the Indian government suspends issuing of visas to Canadian citizens with effect from 21 September 2023 “till further notice.”

[thebtseffect]

"He Too Was a Tempter": Desire and Homoerotic Subtext in "Blood, Sweat, & Tears"

originally presented at the 2022 BTS Interdisciplinary Conference

The media surrounding "Blood, Sweat, & Tears," off BTS's 2016 album WINGS, was a stark visual and thematic departure from the group's prior releases. In this dark era of BTS's "reflection of youth" timeline, the characters introduced in the HYYH series are plunged into a conflicting world of temptation. While there is much to explore and pull apart in this content, a close read of the concept's themes is one particularly intriguing option.

Though "Blood, Sweat, & Tears" has a clear focus on themes of desire and temptation, the song's lyrics are genderless, and the music videos and performances only feature interactions between male characters. This deliberate production choice wraps "Blood, Sweat, & Tears" and its central themes in a homoerotic subtext. While subtle, the use of this subtext is one of the more convincing within BTS's content, adding a new layer to the narrative of the HYYH characters. Additionally, as homoerotic subtext has historically served as a method for hidden arguments for social freedom and expressions of equality, this subtext lends itself to BTS’s tendency towards socially conscious lyricism. With the purposeful choice to steer "Blood, Sweat, & Tears" from the mainstream heteronormative coming-of-age story, the construction of this concept acts as another outlet for such ideas.

This presentation aims to delve deeply into the music videos, lyrics, and performance produced for "Blood, Sweat, & Tears" to discuss how the homoerotic undertones are central to amplifying the work's themes, rather than homoeroticism for the sake of fanservice or stage play. I will also explore the media's thematic links with Hermann Hesse's novel Demian, and argue that this coded desire, while not outright representation, is a quietly visible and important extension of BTS's ongoing social commentary.

[analystavengers]

Leading Edge Wings Market report includes all data sets and factors such as Growth plan, Production, Market, Purchase, Profit, Investment, Technologies.

[another-goblin]

A little analysis of Ratio's owl symbolism. He's absolutely covered (and surrounded) with stylized images of owls. Here are just some examples (feel free to study him to find more). He was even (apparently) supposed to wear an owl mask in an older version of his design. But why.

1. In western culture, owls are traditionally associated with knowledge and wisdom, which indicates his connection with Erudition, as a scientist. That's the most obvious explanation for his owl imagery, and probably the only one intended by the designers. But why stop here. Why not overanalyze it.

2. Owls are known as highly specialized and effective predators. So basically, an embodiment of the Hunt.

Dr. Ratio (about the phase flame): Do you know what to do with cornered prey? Hunt it to the death.

Btw, considering that paths are not just a gameplay convention but the actual in-universe things characters recognize in themselves and others, it's even more ironic that the character who dedicated his whole life to science and education belongs to the Hunt. Because gameplay-wise, the Hunt is the opposite of Erudition. The poor guy couldn't have been further away from Nous even if he tried.

3. Owls are good at being unnoticed. They hunt by hiding, observing, and waiting for the right time to strike. It reminds me of that mission at Herta Station, where we first met him. Most people on the station didn't even know that he was there, even though he personally saved these researchers. 

Screwllum (about Ratio's involvement in that mission): …and pulling the strings from behind the curtain is akin to laying down the gauntlet to a genius.

There is a theory that more or less the same thing is happening on Penacony, with most characters probably not knowing that he's even there.

4. The special structure of an owl's wings and feathers makes their flight practically noiseless, so they can approach their prey unnoticed. In addition to point 3, with him moving through Herta station unnoticed, it also reminds me of how he silently disappeared a couple of times in the middle of his conversation with Aventurine.

5. They gave him vertical pupils, probably in an attempt to make his eyes more owl-like. The problem is, I wasn't able to find a single photo of an owl with vertical pupils. They are round. So, if anything, it makes him look more like a cat.

6. And the last point, it's most likely not true, it's my little conspiracy/crack-theory. 

But he's sometimes referred to as a Professor; he's as much of an Owl as Aventurine is a peacock. Game, please don't tell me he has nothing to do with Penacony's Professor Owl the origami birds often mention, whoever it is.

In fact, if he wasn't too young for that, I wouldn't be surprised if he had something to do with the creation of Dreaworld. Because he mentioned before that taking a bath helps him with going to sleep, and on Penacony you take a bath to go to sleep (what are the chances), and then you enter a world filled with images of owls. It's probably actually nothing, but what a coincidence.

[ngdrb]

Former Trump official warns ex-president is gearing up to claim 'rigged' election again

Donald Trump and his allies are preparing to make claims of election and voter fraud if he loses in November - according to election experts and a number of old-school Republicans.

Mesa, Arizona Mayor John Giles, a Republican who has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, said that if Trump loses, he and his associates “will throw everything at the wall and see what sticks,” according to The Guardian. 

“They’ll claim everything went wrong if they lose. I’d be surprised if Trump doesn’t try to incite insurrection if he loses the election,” the mayor said.

Both Trump and his allies are pushing the same lies as they did in 2020 about voting machines and drop boxes, but they’re now also attacking prosecutors on the state and federal levels who have charged the former president for trying to overturn the election. They have claimed that the charges against Trump amount to “election interference” and “lawfare” in attempts to paint the former president’s legal woes as political prosecution.

David Becker at the Center for Election Innovation and Research told The Guardian that  “A lot of false claims are masquerading as efforts to change policy to improve election integrity when in actuality they’re just designed to sow distrust in our system if Trump loses.”

“This is all designed to manufacture claims that if Trump loses, the election was stolen and to sow discord, chaos, and potential violence,” he added.

The right-wing organization Turning Point USA claims to be spending tens of millions on getting out the vote for Trump in important battleground states, also hosting several large rallies where false allegations that the 2020 election was rigged are still being shared.

Both in 2016 and 2020, Trump was unclear if he would accept the election results. Similarly, at the presidential debate with President Joe Biden on June 27, he said that he would accept the results if the election is “fair and legal.” That response came after he was asked three times about accepting the results and shortly afterward he yet again claimed that American elections are fraudulent.

In April, Trump hosted House Speaker Mike Johnson at Mar-a-Lago for an event prompting the lower chamber to pass legislation making it illegal for noncitizens to vote – something that was already outlawed and in the past has happened on a very small scale. 

The group True the Vote sent out a fundraising request in March pointing to their attempts to put together “arguments for litigation” as well as other measures to take aim at what they claim will be “chaos” around the election because of “illegal voter registrations.”

Both election experts and Republican stalwarts have told The Guardian that Trump and his allies are preparing to claim that November’s election has been rigged if the former president loses the election.

Former Republican Michigan Representative Dave Trott told the paper that “Trump continues to encourage his supporters like Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA to question the integrity of our elections.”

“He has no evidence or basis for claiming fraud and is only perpetuating these lies so he has a plan B to disrupt democracy in the event he loses,” he added.

Former Republican Pennsylvania Representative Charlie Dent told The Guardian that he believes Trump will claim fraud again if he loses in November.

“I expect he will do the same thing in 2024,” he said. “If he loses he will raise Cain in state capitals and he will descend on state capitals with his allies to make the case for fraud.”

The Independent is the world’s most free-thinking news brand, providing global news, commentary, and analysis for the independently minded. We have grown a huge, global readership of independently-minded individuals, who value our trusted voice and commitment to positive change. Our mission, making change happen, has never been as important as it is today.

[biggesthomuradefender]

homura akemi & birds: black swans, crows, & ravens (analysis)

i feel like i've noticed that homura has some interesting similarities/coincidences (?) w birds, specifically crows, ravens, and black swans. and since i haven't seen anyone rly mention it yet, i decided i might as well and have a crack at it :)

i hope you enjoy !!

- black swans.

now, the easiest comparison u can make first is the fact that homura's entire devil outfit seems to be made entirely out of dark feathers, or at least replicating the appearance of them. she even has wings made of black feathers and bone (i had no idea the white part was bone, deadass thought that was just for aesthetic purposes only. isn't that cool and morbid as hell???) as well.

i feel like this is a very obvious reference to the black swan from swan lake, aka odile, often presented as odette's (the white swan, aka madoka/ultimate madoka in this scenario) double or opposite, causing them to create yin and yang together.

(an image of the black swan, aka odile, and the white swan, aka odette, from the 2010 "black swan" movie)

homura believes herself to be the devil, the very embodiment of all that is evil, wicked, unlovable, etc. bc of her very black-and-white mindset caused by repeated trauma; this makes her the opposite of madoka in her eyes, who embodies hope, love, selfishness, etc.

just as odette's outfit is pure white, so is ultimate madoka's attire.

on top of that, when i did some research on black swans, and there is apparently a metaphor called the "black swan theory" that characterizes an event that has a huge outcome, occurs as a surprise, and often used incorrectly when someone wants to or tries to rationalize/make sense of their actions after they know the outcome of them.

in a more broad sense, it can be used to highlight or represent how we have the tendency to underestimate or overlook the possibility of events that are unpredictable and rare.

sounds exactly like devil homura, doesn't it? her taking the power of the law of cycles (or at least part of it) was a huge shock to everyone, including the audience, and the way she tries to (incorrectly) rationalize her actions by proclaiming herself the devil and all that is evil and cruel after she has done it, when that clearly isn’t true.

the term itself comes from the idea that people thought that all swans were white, so when black swans were discovered, it challenged their beliefs.

kinda like how homura believes herself to be/calls herself the devil, even though she is technically a goddess, like ultimate madoka is. referring to/seeing herself as a goddess in any capacity would surely challenge her black-and-white mindset, bc how could she be anything like madoka when she's oh-so-terrible and madoka is anything but?

- crows.

in different cultures, crows symbolically represent transformation, death and the afterlife, fortune telling and the prophecy (such as warnings and good omens), intelligence. even more so, seeing a crow in your dream is apparently a sign of change that is coming into your life.

without saying much else, you can probably see the similarities to homura very easily. not only did she transform into a supposed "devil", but she also had a transformation when she went from moemura, aka her glasses and braids self, to the more cold, closed-off persona and demeanor she portrays.

homura is clearly very intelligent, and she served as the embodiment of a warning and a good omen since her introduction, albeit quite ominously and cryptically. her constant warnings and protection towards madoka and her telling madoka the truth about who she is and what her goals are in ep. 10 are both parts of what directly allows madoka to make the ultimate wish and sacrifice she made in ep. 12 to begin with, besides the fact that she was directly affecting madoka's karmic destiny.

not to mention, madoka had a dream about homura the night before she transferred to her class, and her life promptly changed tremendously right after that.

when the research about crows i researched mentioned death and the afterlife, i instantly thought of homulily's design.

- ravems.

ravens basically say the same thing !! but unlike crows, the research.i found mentions that ravens have symbolic connections to the spiritual and moral world, and be able to move across them as messengers.

ironically enough, homura's clara dolls, which represent the way she sees herself, call themselves the "troupe of the mortal world"... very interesting.

even more so... doesn't homura's hair kind of look like dark bird wings because of how they're parted due to her constantly wearing braids before moving them, especially when it blows in the wind? (i sadly don't have any gifs of that but hopefully, you know what i'm talking abt lol)

look at how even more bird-like and dramatic it becomes when she's devil homura.

before

and after

anyways, that's my analysis !! hope u guys enjoyed and thanks for reading :)

[danandfuckingjonlmao]

*grabbing you by the shoulders, shaking you violently, screaming in your face*

I WANT TO WRITE ESSAYS ABOUT PHANNIE CULTURE AND HUMOUR!!!! I WANT TO DO A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS BETWEEN THE PHANDOM AND OTHER FANDOMS AND WHY AND HOW THE PHANDOM CAME TO BE THE INFAMOUS AND NOW RELATIVELY ISOLATED PLACE THAT IT IS!!!!! I WANT TO DO RESEARCH STUDIES ON DAN AND PHIL’S APPEAL TO QUEER NEURODIVERGENT PEOPLE!!!!!! I WANT TO UNDERSTAND WHY WE ARE SO INVESTED IN THESE REAL PEOPLE IN A VERY UNIQUE AND SPECIFIC WAY!!!! I WANT TO KNOW THE CHANGING PERSPECTIVES AND BEHAVIOURS OF PHANNIES WHO HAVE BEEN HERE FOR 10 OR MORE YEARS!!!!! I WANT TO STUDY PHANDOM LINGUISTICS AND HOW OUR LEXICON CHANGES AND GROWS WITH DAN AND PHIL!!!!! I WANT TO DISCUSS AND DISSECT WHAT MAKES TWITTER PHANNIES AND TUMBLR PHANNIES HATE EACH OTHER WHEN ITS THE SAME PEOPLE AND HOW THE DIFFERENT CULTURES OF TUMBLR (COLLECTIVISM, ANONYMITY) VS TWITTER (INDIVIDUALISM, DIRECT INTERACTION WITH CREATORS, THE RESPONSE TO GETTING A NOTICE) IMPACT THIS DYNAMIC!!!! I WANT TO WRITE ABOUT THE CYCLE OF PHANDOM DISCOURSE AND WHY WHENEVER THERE IS A CONTENT DROUGHT PEOPLE START SHIT AND HOW WE CAN STOP DOING THAT BECAUSE ITS NOT GOOD FOR OUR MENTAL HEALTH!!!!! I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE PHANDOM’S POWER AND HOW WE ACCOMPLISH DIRECT ACTION ABNORMALLY FAST FOR AN ASYNCHRONOUS GROUP OF STRANGERS ON THE INTERNET!!!!! I WANT TO MAKE A PHOCUMENTARY AND EXPLORE THE WORLD OF DAN AND PHIL AND THE COMMUNITY AND INTERVIEW EVERY SINGLE VIEWER AND LEARN EVERY SINGLE PERSON’S EXPERIENCE!!!!!! I WANT TO DO AN IN DEPTH DISSECTION OF THE PHASES/ERAS OF THE PHANDOM!!!!! I WANT TO CONFRONT PHANNIES’ SUPERIORITY OVER EACH OTHER AND THE TENDENCY TOWARDS CONTEMPT AND OTHERING EACH OTHER BECAUSE OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE!!!!! I WANT TO GET INTO ACCESSIBILITY IN THE PHANDOM AND WHY ITS SUCKS AND HOW WE CAN IMPROVE IT!!!!!! I WANT TO HAVE A HUGE DISCUSSION ABOUT HOW DESPITE HOW LEFT WING THIS AUDIENCE IS WE HAVE A TENDENCY TO STEP ON AND SILENCE POC PHANNIES WHEN THEY EXPRESS BEING NEGATIVELY IMPACTED BY SOMETHING DNP SAID IN THEIR PAST AND HOW ITS GOOD ACTUALLY TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT SOMETHING WAS HARMFUL ESPECIALLY IF YOURE A FAN OF THAT PERSON AND WE SHOULD ENCOURAGE THESE DISCUSSIONS AND WE DONT NEED TO IMMEDIATELY GO ON THE DEFENSIVE WE CAN JUST LISTEN!!!!! I WANT TO TRULY THOROUGHLY EXPLORE THE ETHICS OF RPF AND WHERE THE LINES ARE AND BOUNDARIES!!!!! I WANT TO FIGURE OUT THE GENERAL OPINIONS OF PEOPLE ON LABELLING DAN AND PHIL AND WHY WE DO THAT AND WHAT IS OKAY AND WHAT ISNT!!!!!! I WANT TO WRITE ABOUT DEMON PHANNIES AND COMPLICITY AND DANNIES AND PHILLIES AND PHLESBIANS!!!!!!!! STOP TRYING TO ESCAPE ME I HAVE TO GET THIS OUT BEFORE THEY FORCE ME BACK INTO THE PHENCLOSURE!!!!!

[kimmie2me]

Hi there! May you pretty please do deku x reader with a deer/fawn quirk! Headcannons or a story is fine you can choose🍒

Marks of a Hero

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀𓂅⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Midoriya Izuku x AFAB!Reader with a fawn Quirk

.....

Izuku’s dorm room was filled with the soft amber glow of his desk lamp, casting a cozy warmth over the walls covered in hero posters and personal memorabilia. You sat cross-legged on his bed, smiling softly as he animatedly flipped through his notes, pointing out drawings and theories with a passion that seemed to set his eyes alight.

“…so, I guess that’s what fascinates me so much about quirks that alter someone’s physical form. Like Tsuyu-chan! She’s developed abilities that make her adaptable to so many situations—on land, underwater, high places,” he gushed, eyes sparkling with admiration. He moved on to mention quirks like Mirko’s remarkable rabbit agility and speed, Hawks’ feathered wings with all their hidden abilities, and finally… he paused, looking over at you, hesitant but with a trace of wonder in his expression.

“…And yours. I just think it’s incredible how graceful you are. There’s something different about the way you move, how attuned you seem to your surroundings. It’s like…” He trailed off, almost bashful, rubbing the back of his neck as he fumbled for words. “It’s like you’re connected to something beyond what we can see. I don’t know, maybe it sounds strange, but I’d love to understand it better. If that’s okay?”

You blinked, heart swelling at his openness and curiosity. His enthusiasm for quirks always inspired you, but hearing him speak so intently about yours had a different effect. You leaned forward, smiling gently.

“Why don’t you explore it yourself?” you offered, the suggestion so natural that it slipped out before you could second-guess it. “It might help your research if you could… well, take a closer look.”

Izuku’s eyes widened, cheeks flooding with color. “W-Wait, really? You’d… let me? I mean, here? Now?”

You nodded, a calm reassurance in your expression. “Yes. I trust you, Izuku. Besides, if it’ll help with your analysis, I’m happy to assist.”

“Right. Right, of course! Purely for research,” he stammered, trying to steady his nerves. With a deep breath, he inched closer, his fingers hovering just above your shoulders, hesitating. “This is… okay?”

You offered him a soft nod, and, at last, he began to reach out, his touch light as a feather at first, as if afraid to disturb something precious. His fingertips traced along the faint contours of your collarbone, where your skin bore subtle markings unique to your quirk. He’d always found these hints of animalistic strength mesmerizing, even in his sketches and notes. Up close, he seemed even more awestruck.

“This is… incredible,” he murmured, voice hushed with reverence. His fingertips followed the delicate tracings of darker pigmentation on your shoulders and arms—markings reminiscent of the patterns found on young fawns, subtle but unmistakably present. “It’s like these patterns… they almost mirror actual fawn spots. I wonder if they have any evolutionary purpose, like camouflage? Have you ever noticed if they shift in different seasons or adapt to your surroundings?”

You chuckled, unable to hide your amusement. “Not that I’ve noticed. But I do have enhanced senses, so maybe it’s just as useful that way.” His fingers brushed over a slight ridge along your shoulder, evidence of a minor quirk-related adjustment beneath the skin, and you saw his gaze sharpen with fascination.

“Your shoulders,” he observed, his voice soft and analytical, “they’re slightly more developed, like there’s an extra layer of muscle. It’s so subtle, but… is that how you can leap as high as you do?”

You nodded, impressed by his insight. “Exactly. I don’t even realize it sometimes, but it’s there. Helps with balance and power.” You could feel his hands relax as he grew more absorbed, each touch more confident, his focus trained on understanding rather than hesitation.

For a moment, he was lost in his analysis, fingertips exploring the faint curve of your spine and the sinewy strength you carried. There was a purity to his admiration—his complete and genuine awe of your abilities—and it warmed you to see him immersed in discovering this side of you.

And then, he stilled, drawing his hands back with a shy laugh. “I, uh… sorry. I got a little carried away.”

You shook your head, still smiling. “I don’t mind. Actually, Izuku, would it be okay if I… looked at you, too?”

His face reddened immediately, and he seemed to shrink back, rubbing the back of his neck in a nervous reflex. “Uh… m-me? I mean… I… I don’t think there’s much to see.” He glanced down, his voice faltering. “It’s mostly just scars. Nothing like… like yours. I mean, there’s not much that’s…”

He trailed off, unable to bring himself to finish, and your heart softened. “Izuku,” you said gently, reaching out to take his hand, “these scars are part of you, too. They’re part of everything that makes you who you are. I’d like to see them, if you’d let me. I promise, I won’t judge. I just… want to understand more about you.”

He looked at you, and in his eyes, there was something so vulnerable, so open that it took your breath away. Slowly, he nodded, taking a shaky breath as he lifted his shirt, revealing the map of scars that crisscrossed his chest and torso—signs of battles and struggles, reminders of his journey.

Your hand hovered just above his skin, taking in the raw evidence of everything he’d been through. Carefully, you let your fingers rest over a thin, jagged scar running along his collarbone.

Izuku’s voice softened, almost as if he were telling you a secret. Maybe because, well, he was. “That one… it’s from the Hero Killer, Stain. When he attacked Iida in Hosu City, I… I knew I couldn’t just stand by. We were just supposed to be training, but I couldn’t let him hurt anyone else.”

You nodded, fingers tracing over the scar with gentle reverence. “You were so brave,” you whispered. He blushed, his eyes downcast but a small, almost bashful smile tugging at his lips.

“I didn’t feel brave,” he admitted, glancing up at you. “But in that moment, I just… I knew I had to act. I'm so glad Todoroki-kun came to help us.”

Your hand drifted to another mark, a deeper one just above his ribs, and he inhaled, recognizing the spot immediately. “That was from Overhaul,” he said, voice low. “When I… when I saved Eri. She was so scared. I remember feeling like I had to give everything I had, and then some.”

The memory hung between you both, heavy and sacred. You remembered that battle, the way he’d come back bruised and battered but with that quiet strength that had always set him apart. “Eri’s safe because of you, Izuku,” you murmured, a soft pride in your tone. “You’re a hero to her.”

He looked up, his green eyes softening as he watched you trace each mark with such care. “It wasn’t easy,” he admitted, “but seeing her smile afterward at the school festival… it was worth it.”

You moved lower, touching a scar on his side—a small one, but etched with a memory just as fierce. “This one?”

“That was… from Nine.” Izuku’s voice grew quiet, his gaze distant as he relived the memory. “On Nabu Island. Kacchan and I fought him together. He was so strong, but… I couldn’t let him hurt anyone. I couldn’t let anyone on the island suffer because of us.” He managed a small, shaky laugh. “Kacchan wouldn’t forgive me if I gave up anyway.”

The way he said it made you smile, knowing that even amid chaos and danger, his heart had been focused on protecting others. You took his hand, giving it a light squeeze. “You’re incredible, you know that?”

Izuku’s cheeks flushed as he scratched his neck, embarrassed. “I just… I did what I had to. What any hero would.”

But you shook your head. “No, Izuku. Not everyone would. That’s what makes you so special.”

You continued to explore each mark, reaching one on his upper arm next. He looked at it, a fond smile in his eyes. “This one… it’s from Kota. When we fought Muscular. I thought… I thought I might not make it, but he gave me a reason to fight, you know? He trusted me.” There was a warmth in his gaze, a memory he held dearly.

“He trusted you because he saw how strong you were,” you said, feeling the strength in his arm. “You’re someone people can rely on, Izuku. Kota, Eri… and me.”

He let out a small laugh, nervous but happy, eyes shining as he looked at you. “Thank you.”

You paused on a scar just below his ribs, softer than some of the others, almost hidden against his skin. He placed his hand over yours, looking down at it with a sad smile. “Flect Turn,” he said quietly. “It’s still… hard to think about that one. The way his quirk worked… it felt like I was being forced to face myself. To question everything I was trying to achieve.”

You met his gaze, voice steady. “But you didn’t back down.”

“No,” he said, his voice more certain this time. “I didn’t.”

For a moment, you just sat there, taking in the weight of his story, each scar a part of the journey that had shaped him. You ran your fingers over a few smaller ones, ones he didn’t mention, but you knew from the look in his eyes that each one had a tale to tell.

Finally, he looked up, the tension in his shoulders softened, the vulnerability you’d seen in his eyes replaced with a quiet confidence. “Thank you for… for wanting to know all of this,” he said, voice thick with emotion.

You took his hands, squeezing them gently. “Thank you for letting me in, Izuku. These scars—they’re not weaknesses. They’re your strength. Proof of every battle, every person you’ve helped, and every reason you’ve kept going.”

He looked at you, really looked at you, and in that moment, he felt seen, understood, in a way he never had before. His cheeks flushed again, but there was a warmth in his expression, one you knew he’d carry with him beyond this room, beyond these memories.

“Thank you,” he whispered again, and this time, you knew he meant it in a way only the two of you could understand.

Midoriya Headcanons

...

— Izuku is utterly fascinated by how graceful you are, often catching himself watching you move without realizing it. He’s taken by the way you seem to instinctively navigate through crowds and small spaces with ease, almost like you’re attuned to every small detail around you.

— His notebook is filled with little sketches of your quirk’s features, like the subtle fawn-like markings or unique muscle structure that helps with agility. He’s spent hours researching how animal traits like yours might benefit in hero work, adding little notes like, “Could be useful for enhanced evasion.”

— He’s always mindful about touching you, especially if he’s trying to understand your quirk’s physical differences. His fingers are soft and light, often tracing the markings on your skin with almost scientific reverence, as if he’s afraid to break something delicate.

—Izuku’s attentive enough to notice if your senses seem more heightened in certain seasons or environments. He’ll offer his jacket or scarf in the winter, thinking your quirk might make you more sensitive to cold, and will keep extra snacks on hand in case you need extra energy.

—On days when training has been intense, he’ll suggest taking you to quieter places, like an empty park or a spot on campus where you can unwind. He knows that your heightened senses might make crowded spaces overwhelming, so he loves giving you a peaceful place to recharge.

— IIzuku finds your presence calming in a way he can’t quite explain. When he’s stressed or overthinking, he’s drawn to you because your calm demeanor and gentle movements help him feel grounded, and he’s always grateful for that unspoken support.

— He’s curious about how your quirk can be applied in different scenarios, so you two spend time coming up with unique tactics for you in mock battles. You’ve even managed to startle Bakugou once by sneaking up quietly—Izuku was genuinely impressed because not everyone can just do that!

— Knowing how self-conscious he sometimes feels about his scars, you’ve started a quiet ritual of tracing them gently, assuring him that they’re a testament to his courage and resilience. It’s become one of his favorite gestures, even if he blushes each time you do it.

— Izuku takes notes on exercises that might help you develop your natural abilities even further. He’ll shyly suggest new routines designed specifically with your quirk in mind, encouraging you to experiment and improve in ways that feel uniquely suited to you.

— Some nights, after studying or training, you’ll sit together, sharing stories about your quirks and experiences. Izuku finds himself opening up about his insecurities and struggles, especially around those he’s saved, while you reassure him that he’s helped you feel seen and understood, too.

[communistkenobi]

I love finding new communists blogs because you immediately have to scroll through all the posts to see if you wanna follow them or block them lmao. Anyway from what I understand you work in western academia to some degree and as a student taking some classes in the social sciences it’s such a pain in the ass trying to even bring up a Marxist perspective. How do you deal with how much pushback socialism has in academia?

I’m doing a PhD in sociology ! And please feel free to block me, we are all annoying etc 

I would say that resistance to socialist ideas is a major source of frustration for me in academia - a learning curve for me has been gearing my writing & research to work around that type of institutional hostility. It depends on the discipline as well. Given that Marx is such a titanic figure in sociology I find it easier to engage with his work openly (although you will be mocked for it lol - it’s viewed as a dead-end project in the West since the USSR collapsed), whereas more history- or politics-based courses I’ve taken have been extremely hostile to even tepid Marxist analysis. I have friends to vent to and have found other people in my discipline who are like-minded, which has helped. You will need to do a lot of tactical retreats - I’ve found that tying your analysis to state policy helps a lot, it helps you get grants, and academics trade in policy-talk across disciplines so it will prepare you for that if you want to stay in academia.

I have also been making peace with the fact that academia is not really the place to “do” socialism - it is a deeply political job, and my ideological commitments motivate me to do work and research that I hope are beneficial to the world, but I think the authority and privileges afforded to academics, not academia itself, is the better avenue to conduct political activity - participating in student & left-wing actions, giving money and resources to activist groups, using your prestigious position to publicly speak on issues, sign important documents for vulnerable people (profs are counted as authorities to sign off on name change documents for trans people in Canada for example, as well as visa and citizenship proof I believe?), things like that. There was that Canadian doctor, Dr. Yipeng Ge, who was suspended from his university position for speaking out against Israel and went to Palestine on a medical mission, Engels used his family’s money to fund Marx & socialist actions, Lenin went to law school, etc (i am NOT remotely comparing myself to any of them to be clear lol, just demonstrating that there is historical precedent for this way of thinking). I’ve done a decent amount of union + community work and the reoccurring lesson I keep learning is that there are many little, vacant positions of power sprinkled throughout the world that will help you organize and agitate above and beyond your individual capabilities. And the right wing knows this! They take over local school board committees and town halls and run for office in their local neighbourhoods all the time, often unopposed, and use that to exert terrible political influence.

I try very much to resist the “one of the good ones” mindset re: my own career in academia and is one I struggle with pretty often. being pragmatic about what academic research actually does in the world is still something I’m grappling with. Academia has provided me with an incredibly prestigious education and a lot of social capital that I hope to use for some amount of good. I’m also betting on what is essentially a lottery ticket, given how rare tenure-track university positions are, so maybe all of this will be irrelevant anyway lol. I’m not sure if that’s helpful but it’s not a settled issue for me either, so if this reads as vague or wishy-washy that’s why!

[newspatron]

Read about RAW and World’s Most Powerful Intelligence Agencies

Do you want to know more about RAW India’s external intelligence agency ? Do you want to learn how it became one of the world’s most powerful intelligence agencies?

Intelligence agencies are some of the most powerful and secretive organizations in the world as their job is secretive such as collecting and analyzing and thereafter use information for various purposes. Their pnational mainly national security, foreign policy, law enforcement as well as military. From time to time, they can be as well seen conducting covert operations to influence or intervene…

[mariacallous]

This is a gift article.

The truth is, it’s getting harder to describe the extent to which a meaningful percentage of Americans have dissociated from reality. As Hurricane Milton churned across the Gulf of Mexico last night, I saw an onslaught of outright conspiracy theorizing and utter nonsense racking up millions of views across the internet. The posts would be laughable if they weren’t taken by many people as gospel. Among them: Infowars’ Alex Jones, who claimed that Hurricanes Milton and Helene were “weather weapons” unleashed on the East Coast by the U.S. government, and “truth seeker” accounts on X that posted photos of condensation trails in the sky to baselessly allege that the government was “spraying Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton” in order to ensure maximum rainfall, “just like they did over Asheville!”

As Milton made landfall, causing a series of tornados, a verified account on X reposted a TikTok video of a massive funnel cloud with the caption “WHAT IS HAPPENING TO FLORIDA?!” The clip, which was eventually removed but had been viewed 662,000 times as of yesterday evening, turned out to be from a video of a CGI tornado that was originally published months ago. Scrolling through these platforms, watching them fill with false information, harebrained theories, and doctored images—all while panicked residents boarded up their houses, struggled to evacuate, and prayed that their worldly possessions wouldn’t be obliterated overnight—offered a portrait of American discourse almost too bleak to reckon with head-on.

Even in a decade marred by online grifters, shameless politicians, and an alternative right-wing-media complex pushing anti-science fringe theories, the events of the past few weeks stand out for their depravity and nihilism. As two catastrophic storms upended American cities, a patchwork network of influencers and fake-news peddlers have done their best to sow distrust, stoke resentment, and interfere with relief efforts. But this is more than just a misinformation crisis. To watch as real information is overwhelmed by crank theories and public servants battle death threats is to confront two alarming facts: first, that a durable ecosystem exists to ensconce citizens in an alternate reality, and second, that the people consuming and amplifying those lies are not helpless dupes but willing participants.

Some of the lies and obfuscation are politically motivated, such as the claim that FEMA is offering only $750 in total to hurricane victims who have lost their home. (In reality, FEMA offers $750 as immediate “Serious Needs Assistance” to help people get basic supplies such as food and water.) Donald Trump, J. D. Vance, and Fox News have all repeated that lie. Trump also posted (and later deleted) on Truth Social that FEMA money was given to undocumented migrants, which is untrue. Elon Musk, who owns X, claimed—without evidence—that FEMA was “actively blocking shipments and seizing goods and services locally and locking them away to state they are their own. It’s very real and scary how much they have taken control to stop people helping.” That post has been viewed more than 40 million times. Other influencers, such as the Trump sycophant Laura Loomer, have urged their followers to disrupt the disaster agency’s efforts to help hurricane victims. “Do not comply with FEMA,” she posted on X. “This is a matter of survival.”

The result of this fearmongering is what you might expect. Angry, embittered citizens have been harassing government officials in North Carolina, as well as FEMA employees. According to an analysis by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, an extremism-research group, “Falsehoods around hurricane response have spawned credible threats and incitement to violence directed at the federal government,” including “calls to send militias to face down FEMA.” The study also found that 30 percent of the X posts analyzed by ISD “contained overt antisemitic hate, including abuse directed at public officials such as the Mayor of Asheville, North Carolina; the FEMA Director of Public Affairs; and the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.” The posts received a collective 17.1 million views as of October 7.

Online, first responders are pleading with residents, asking for their help to combat the flood of lies and conspiracy theories. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said that the volume of misinformation could hamper relief efforts. “If it creates so much fear that my staff doesn’t want to go out in the field, then we’re not going to be in a position where we can help people,” she said in a news conference on Tuesday. In Pensacola, North Carolina, Assistant Fire Chief Bradley Boone vented his frustrations on Facebook: “I’m trying to rescue my community,” he said in a livestream. “I ain’t got time. I ain’t got time to chase down every Facebook rumor … We’ve been through enough.”

It is difficult to capture the nihilism of the current moment. The pandemic saw Americans, distrustful of authority, trying to discredit effective vaccines, spreading conspiracy theories, and attacking public-health officials. But what feels novel in the aftermath of this month’s hurricanes is how the people doing the lying aren’t even trying to hide the provenance of their bullshit. Similarly, those sharing the lies are happy to admit that they do not care whether what they’re pushing is real or not. Such was the case last week, when Republican politicians shared an AI-generated viral image of a little girl holding a puppy while supposedly fleeing Helene. Though the image was clearly fake and quickly debunked, some politicians remained defiant. “Y’all, I don’t know where this photo came from and honestly, it doesn’t matter,” Amy Kremer, who represents Georgia on the Republican National Committee, wrote after sharing the fake image. “I’m leaving it because it is emblematic of the trauma and pain people are living through right now.”

Kremer wasn’t alone. The journalist Parker Molloy compiled screenshots of people “acknowledging that this image is AI but still insisting that it’s real on some deeper level”—proof, Molloy noted, that we’re “living in the post-reality.” The technology writer Jason Koebler argued that we’ve entered the “‘Fuck It’ Era” of AI slop and political messaging, with AI-generated images being used to convey whatever partisan message suits the moment, regardless of truth.

This has all been building for more than a decade. On The Colbert Report, back in 2005, Stephen Colbert coined the word truthiness, which he defined as “the belief in what you feel to be true rather than what the facts will support.” This reality-fracturing is the result of an information ecosystem that is dominated by platforms that offer financial and attentional incentives to lie and enrage, and to turn every tragedy and large event into a shameless content-creation opportunity. This collides with a swath of people who would rather live in an alternate reality built on distrust and grievance than change their fundamental beliefs about the world. But the misinformation crisis is not always what we think it is.

So much of the conversation around misinformation suggests that its primary job is to persuade. But as Michael Caulfield, an information researcher at the University of Washington, has argued, “The primary use of ‘misinformation’ is not to change the beliefs of other people at all. Instead, the vast majority of misinformation is offered as a service for people to maintain their beliefs in face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.” This distinction is important, in part because it assigns agency to those who consume and share obviously fake information. What is clear from comments such as Kremer’s is that she is not a dupe; although she may come off as deeply incurious and shameless, she is publicly admitting to being an active participant in the far right’s world-building project, where feel is always greater than real.

What we’re witnessing online during and in the aftermath of these hurricanes is a group of people desperate to protect the dark, fictitious world they’ve built. Rather than deal with the realities of a warming planet hurling once-in-a-generation storms at them every few weeks, they’d rather malign and threaten meteorologists, who, in their minds, are “nothing but a trained subversive liar programmed to spew stupid shit to support the global warming bullshit,” as one X user put it. It is a strategy designed to silence voices of reason, because those voices threaten to expose the cracks in their current worldview. But their efforts are doomed, futile. As one dispirited meteorologist wrote on X this week, “Murdering meteorologists won’t stop hurricanes.” She followed with: “I can’t believe I just had to type that.”

What is clear is that a new framework is needed to describe this fracturing. Misinformation is too technical, too freighted, and, after almost a decade of Trump, too political. Nor does it explain what is really happening, which is nothing less than a cultural assault on any person or institution that operates in reality. If you are a weatherperson, you’re a target. The same goes for journalists, election workers, scientists, doctors, and first responders. These jobs are different, but the thing they share is that they all must attend to and describe the world as it is. This makes them dangerous to people who cannot abide by the agonizing constraints of reality, as well as those who have financial and political interests in keeping up the charade.

In one sense, these attacks—and their increased desperation—make sense. The world feels dark; for many people, it’s tempting to meet that with a retreat into the delusion that they’ve got everything figured out, that the powers that be have conspired against them directly. But in turning away, they exacerbate a crisis that has characterized the Trump era, one that will reverberate to Election Day and beyond. Americans are divided not just by political beliefs but by whether they believe in a shared reality—or desire one at all.

[raticalshoez]

Heavily based on this post! Please check it out cause it's such a cool analysis of the Canary Curse type stuff!

In this post, op points out how Jimmy's canary stuff still lingers, just in a different form, but the thing that really stood out to me is how his allies seemed to always be doomed to die faster upon being allied with him. I remember thinking, huh, this reminds me a lot of someone else.

Then it clicked that that someone else (or multiple someones) was Grian, and Pearl. I've seen both associated with losing their closest allies, and given that these three are heavily headcanoned to be siblings, I thought it was so interesting.

We all know Grian's curse, which my favorite way of referring to is the Icarus Curse. His closest ally in his alliance tends to meet an untimely demise that is often (unintentionally) by his own hand. Those allies are Icarus, and he is the sun he burns their wings and causes them to fall. He got his curse first, all the way back in 3rd Life.

I'm wary to refer to Pearl's as a curse as opposed to an unfortunate pattern given that it hasn't been around for nearly as long, but I think Pearl's started in Double Life when she won. Ever since then, Pearl's been trying to make sure anyone in her alliance wins, as long as it's not her. Yet she tends to always outlive said allies, and she's always distraught about it. With limited research, I have learned that the moon is associated with not only being a guide and aprotecter, but is also connected with the concept of death. I don't think I would call Pearl's "curse" the Moon Curse cause it sounds a bit silly to me, but the description of a guide and protector failing to guide and protect the ones she wants to is just so bitter to me. It also doesn't help that she was seen as a bad omen in Double Life already, adding more salt to the wound.

Now, I don't wanna say Jimmy's the last one to develop this dooming others trait because as the other post states, Jimmy's been dooming his allies to die earlier ever since 3rd Life, but I think the full extent of his curse has only ever been fully realized in Secret Life and honestly, Real Life too because in my heart that season is real (pun not intended lol). People would always think that Jimmy's curse would doom him specifically, a curse that would cause death to catch him first, but of course a canary in a coal mine doesn't have to stay there. Again, the post linked goes into detail about Jimmy's side of things, but when I read it, I came to a realization that all the Skyblings are really just connected with the concept of death.

[blueiscoool]

Ancient Ceiling Reliefs Uncovered in The Egyptian Temple of Esna

The reliefs were buried under millennia of dirt, soot, and bird droppings.

Conservation work on a 2,200-year-old temple in Egypt has uncovered 12 reliefs representing Babylonian zodiac signs, as well as depictions of stars and constellations that the ancients used to measure time.

The images were found carved into the ceiling of the Temple of Esna in Luxor, which was completed around 250 C.E. and dedicated to the Egyptian god of fertility Khnum. They were revealed by a restoration team, made up of archaeologists from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the University of Tübingen in Germany, which cleared away millennia of dirt and bird droppings from the temple’s surfaces to unveil the 12 astrological motifs that are unusual for a site of worship in Egypt.

“Representations of the zodiac are very rare in Egyptian temples,” said Christian Leitz, a professor at the University of Tübingen, who explained that the Babylonian zodiac was probably introduced to Egypt during Ptolemaic rule between 305 and 30 B.C.E.

“The zodiac was used to decorate private tombs and sarcophagi and was of great importance in astrological texts, such as horoscopes found inscribed on pottery sherds,” added Daniel von Recklinghausen, a Tübingen researcher. “However, it is rare in temple decoration. Apart from Esna, there are only two completely preserved versions left, both from Dendera.”

Zodiac signs aside, the restoration effort further unearthed a trove of other reliefs, including illustrations of the planets Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars.

A host of deities and fantastical animals were also found, such as a snake with a ram’s head, a bird with a crocodile’s head, and yet another snake with four wings.

Additionally, researchers discovered some previously unknown inscriptions, which had been covered by soot and inadvertently preserved. Analysis is currently being carried out on these new finds.

Restoration on the Temple of Esna began in 2018, and has involved the cleaning and recoloring of the monument’s surfaces. Along the way, the team has logged finds including a colorful fresco made up of 46 depictions of Egyptian goddesses Nekhbet and Wadjet, as well as painted inscriptions that detail royal titles and caption the constellations carved into the temple’s ceiling.

[ka2ki2]

Chrysos Heirs

people who play both hi3 and hsr are WINNING rn

anyway. i've determined likely flamechaser parallels for a majority of the chrysos heirs. most of them do not actually look like their flamechaser counterparts, which makes me think they're not direct expies but merely parallels.

I also sprinkled some minor analysis of what little lore we have on these guys. Amphoreus is massively inspired by greek mythology.

watch this before reading!

Aglaea = Eden (both associated with gold)

Eden owned the Elysian Realm previously, but at that time it was called the Golden Courtyard

Eden is also called the Bearer of the Gold Signet

Aglaea is called the Goldweaver

You're not going to believe this-- Aglaea is named after the Charis called Aglaea.

The mythological Aglaea basically runs errands for Aphrodite, which would explain why HSR Aglaea bears the Coreflame of Romance.

HSR Aglaea is from the city of Okhema. In greek thought (plato I think?), Okhema is an intermediary between the body and the soul. I did as much research as I could and the best I could figure out is "it carries the soul through rebirth". SORRY IF THAT'S WRONG-

HSR Aglaea has the "divine authority of mnestia". After lots of research, I think mnestia can be loosely translated to Remembrance, so perhaps that's the Amphorean way of saying she's a pathstrider of Remembrance?

Aglaea's drip marketing references the myth of Prometheus, where Prometheus stole fire from the gods and returned/gave it to humanity.

Tribbie = Vill-V (multiple 'selves')

Tribbie is called the "three-faced messenger"

We see Tribbie adopt multiple personas in the video. She can even take multiple forms at once

Vill-V has partitioned her personality into 8 different segments

Anaxa = Su (both associated with knowledge/enlightenment)

Anaxa is said to have "enough knowledge to refute faith, and to stir up a torrent capable of slaying gods."

Su is called the Enlightened of Bodhi, Enlightened One, and other similar titles.

These two have lots of physical similarity

Anaxa's namesake has some interesting connections with Nous actually

Hyacine = Griseo (both Asleep)

In the video, when Hyacine is on-screen it says "let the sky become the slumbering cot from which she wakes".

Due to the 8th Honkai Eruption, Griseo fell into a deep sleep.

Could be named after Hyacinthus

Mydei = Kalpas (fire in battle)

In the video, Mydei is seen in a post-battle poise surrounded by fire.

Kalpas is constantly surrounded by fire during battle.

Both characters constantly seek out fighting/strife.

Mydei is likely related to the greek god Deimos

One of the unnamed people has a mask too though, but these guys are too similar in aesthetic and personality

Cipher = Pardofelis (...come on.)

Cat girls.

Same eye and hair color

Castorice = Aponia? (butterfly theming)

Castorice is pictured with butterflies both in the video and in the twitter art. These butterflies look highly similar to the butterfly motif in Aponia's design

Aponia is very strongly associated with butterflies. Her dress is patterned like one and she has butterfly wings in her ult

Both seem to have devastating levels of power

IDK about the greek origins for this one. Castor? Kratos (who is actually a child of the Styx)?

Phainon = Kevin (deliverance)

Yeah they're both related to deliverance. They literally outright said deliverance in the video, and Kevin bears the Deliverance Signet.

Also they look EXACTLY THE SAME

Also both seem to be the 'leader'

In mythology, Phainon is the star of Cronus/Saturn (cuz they thought saturn was a star)

Cyrene = Elysia (...COME ON.)

They look identical and have almost the exact same personality

i have yet to figure out the two unnamed ones, Hysilens, and Cerydra. nor can i find their name origins... the closest i found, after ages of digging, is this for Hysilens

the remaining flame-chasers are Kosma, Sakura, Fu Hua, and Mobius. only one of the unknown people seems to be male ("unknown 2"), so that one's probably Kosma.

And yeah that's the culmination of me losing my mind for the past 6 hours. lucky you, you didn't have to watch me try and fail to decipher what the 12 titans might be connected to. (greek titans, 12 olympians, and HSR aeons all didn't line up easily waaaaaa)

here's the failed attempt to figure out the aeons if anyone else gets ideas from this

OK thanks for reading. normally I post my loredumps in discord servers with my friends. this is my first time posting it anywhere abfiushdliueh

[genericpuff]

saw this pop up on /r/UnpopularLoreOlympus and I-

Full analysis post that inspired this post can be read here, it's a good read, go check it out!

Now my natural reaction to not assume the worst (shocking, I know) is that what Rachel's actual intention behind making Leto a sun god was due to her being Apollo's mother and her clearly having a stronger relationship with him rather than Artemis. I'm abiding by Occam's Razor here, it's the simplest answer and it keeps my brain from getting too riled up right off the bat LMAO

There's a lot of emphasis put on Apollo being the god of the sun in LO, despite the fact that Apollo is one of the MOST prolific gods in the Greek pantheon, Rachel only ever really focuses on him being god of the sun with some loose references to him also being the god of music (as we see with him playing his lyre). There's really no real referencing to him being the god of medicine though (aside from that scene of him condom-bandaging Persephone's hand in Episode 22 ?? which is silly now in hindsight because she's a fertility goddess who can heal herself but ok lmao and the fact that Rachel established him as a LITERAL DAD with his doctor son Asclepius which ... just feels weird to have in LO tbh) and there's absolutely no referencing (from what I can find or recall) of him being a protector of the young, god of prophecy (for some reason he just magically gives Kassandra the ability to read prophecies... just so she can read his prophecy ??) or archery. Like, he's shown doing a lot of these things but they come across more as just side hobbies or extensions of him being Artemis' brother (like his archery) rather than aspects of his godliness or domains that he presides over. It's just like yeah, Apollo can shoot arrows and bandage people's hands I guess LMAO

All that said, I can see Rachel deciding to make him primarily the god of the sun and then going "oh! let's make his mom a sun god! then she could be a common enemy for both Persephone and Hades!" because Hades doesn't like sun gods yadda yadda.

But... we know Rachel has used front page Google sourcing in her comic before.

(literally the 'source' was copy pasted from a 2004 study guide for Princeton.edu. And we KNOW this was taken right from the first result because it just says 'www.princeton.edu' with no slug attached, which is what showed up back when we first looked into this, the princeton version was deadass the first result with this definition word for word. She didn't even remove the typo where there's no space between Xenios:"Zeus !!!).

And while a bit more into sus territory rather than outright confirmed like the xenia thing above, there's the whole Metis / Métis theory, that has us wondering if Rachel seriously googled "Metis" on its own and accidentally used Indigenous Métis cultural depictions in her version of Metis, the Greek God.

The fringe in her outfit, finger wings, and dark orange/red color really got my attention the first time I saw her design years ago, because she set off so many, "Wait a minute, is that an Indigenous woman???" bells in my Mi'kmaq/Cree brain LMAO And not even in a bad way, but now it feels a little :/ because of how much her character has been assassinated and how clearly accidental it was for her to look like that.

Of course, there's still a more likely explanation that her design was based on this vase:

But IDK y'all. That vase is very distinctly orange while the character itself is depicted in dark garbs and with light skin, so Metis being distinctly red-toned with finger wings and fringe?

While the Xenia thing is definitively copy pasted from the first search result on Google (literally there's no denying that at this point, Rachel's REALLY bad at doing research and then pretending like she was being smart by sourcing it from a university website... completely ignoring the fact that that website literally hasn't been updated since Rachel was working on The Doctor Pepper Show) the Metis and Leto depictions are definitely a lot more up for debate as to what 'research' Rachel did and whether or not they got confused with something else during her searching.

And really, the whole thing with Leto being a "sun god" doesn't make sense really when you think about it. Why is Leto a sun god? It's not even like you could argue there are "some versions" of the myths where she's a god of the sun, or other translations out there, or whatever vague source that could be used like what has been used for other gods like Hades and Persephone. Leto is not affiliated with the sun in any shape or form. Remove Apollo, her eventual son, who didn't exist when she was born and given the title of 'sun god', and it quickly falls apart as to why she would be a sun god in the first place.

She is a goddess of motherhood though, and that's NEVER mentioned in LO. If anything, Rachel makes her a terrible mom on purpose. Because god knows we can't have anyone in this comic be a good mom except for Persephone and Rhea (who are literally just carbon copies of one another). Basically the only thing Rachel gets right with Leto is the fact that she's a Titan and that she had Apollo and Artemis after sleeping with Zeus. That's it.

Unfortunately, unlike the xenia thing, there's no outright proof of what Rachel's reasoning was behind these designs or sources. So I'm not gonna accuse or outright state it as fact that Rachel confused Metis for Métis or ripped the idea for Leto being a sun god from an anime, because the odds of that being true in any way are fairly low.

But they're never zero.