#Single-acting vs. double-acting

[pddparthi]

Unlocking Power and Precision: A Guide to Hydraulic Rotary Actuators

Introduction: In the realm of industrial automation and heavy machinery, precise control over rotary motion is crucial for countless applications. Hydraulic rotary actuators rise to the challenge, harnessing the power of hydraulics to generate high torque and achieve controlled rotations. This comprehensive guide delves into the world of hydraulic rotary actuators, exploring their inner workings,…

[angelsdean]

seeing a post abt how sam's early seasons anger is justified given the circumstances of his life + childhood trauma, and the post itself was fine, but then there's tags / reactions where people (samgirls / deancrits) will apply such a double standard when it comes to dean expressing any form of anger. sam's anger is good and righteous and makes sense given the circumstance, but then they'll look at dean who has also experienced a traumatic childhood + the trauma of parentification + all the trauma from being trapped in a literal horror show + hell trauma / michael possession trauma and think, "oh dean angry? dean yelling and not reacting properly to his compounding trauma? abuser! villain! controlling! bad guy!" like, everything they say to justify sam's anger and reactions to trauma also applies to dean. and why is it always a competition with samgirls / deancrits? sam does not have the monopoly on trauma / autonomy issues!! and if you think so you're really missing the point of this show. it's the trauma and autonomy issues show! it's the fighting for free will show! it's the, people trying to do their best in a world where it is far too easy to do your worst show! they all (dean, cas, sam, jack, etc) grapple with these issues and experience similar traumas. this isn't the trauma olympics show.

[feroluce]

For some weird reason, I've always been fascinated by how wildly different Sampo operates in the Underground vs the Overworld.

Sampo is present in both places and even in official sources, he's not really counted as one side or the other- now that the theory has been confirmed in-game, he's generally just lumped in with the Masked Fools.

But there really is a big difference!

Probably the most obvious and well known instance of Sampo's...business practices *cough burglary and fraud COUGH* in the Overworld is from the Belobog Museum event. In it, you don't find out Sampo is the main culprit until near the end, because Pela has to set up a sting just to catch him in the act. And that sting is necessary all because the initial suspect they arrested, Norbert, had pretty much no idea of his partner's identity. Sampo wouldn't even speak to him face-to-face.

And whereas Sampo is normally very pleasant and friendly with the trailblazer...when he thinks he's talking to Norbert here, he straight up says that they are NOT friends. Like he really shuts that shit DOWN.

There's also an Overworld NPC, Chavez, who heads the "Dark Blue Scam Support Group." And he. Really really really does not like Sampo fjkdasjklfdj

Chavez clearly wants Sampo caught, and has literally no positive feelings about him. So. Why call it the Dark Blue Scam? Why not just out him by name? Chavez obviously doesn't give a single shit about Sampo's dignity or privacy. But he never once refers to him as "Sampo," and even the pamphlets he passes out make no mention of it. No one in the entire support group seems to know how to identify him or how to refer to him except by his hair color. If the trailblazer says his name, Chavez reacts as though he's never heard it before.

(I've seen people say this means Sampo Koski is an alias and not his real name? But Ray pointed this out, and honestly I agree; even the Fools call him Sampo, after all. I think it's just that Chavez never knew Sampo's name in the first place, and given his immense distrust, immediately assumes it's an alias.)

And then there's his characters stories, where he proceeds to pull off a heist in the Overworld while in disguise as Brughel Poisson the entire time. Literally his own stories don't mention Sampo's name even once.

So anyway, all this shows that when he's up in the Overworld working cons, Sampo is incredibly slippery and secretive about his identity. The only people who seem to know him are Pela, Serval, and Gepard. He doesn't get close to anyone else, and is even surprisingly unfriendly. Nobody knows his name. No one knows his face. He has zero qualms about backstabbing or double-crossing, and even plans for it in some cases.

Meanwhile, down in the Underground, I'm pretty sure literally the worst thing we hear of him doing is scalping tickets in front of the Fight Club. Which isn't even illegal in a lot of places (although it's certainly a dick move).

In Hook's companion quest, a vagrant miner steals Fersman's equipment and tries to sell it to Sampo. Even before the trailblazer and Hook jump in and out the vagrant as a thief, Sampo hesitates to buy it because it sounds like stolen goods, which he doesn't want any part of.

Even knowing that a geomarrow detector is rare and incredibly valuable in the mines, Sampo makes no attempt to double-cross Hook or profit off of her loss, and even tells her who to go to to get it fixed.

And my favorite example of Sampo in the Underground is the Survival Wisdom adventure mission. In it, Sampo starts up a business with Peak, another miner. And like. In wild contrast to all the cons he pulls above ground, Sampo is actually super nice and helpful here.

Just the same as with Hook's quest, Sampo talks to Peak face-to-face, with no disguises or barriers. When the trailblazer finds them, they're just in the Great Mine, no secretive meeting places. Peak knows Sampo, is familiar with him, and calls him by name. It's not even a con! There's nothing illegal going on; it really is just a business partnership. Peak is more than happy with their deal, he's even pretty enthusiastic about it, because thanks to Sampo he can now make enough money to get by while also accommodating his chronic fatigue.

The only person Sampo lies to in this whole ordeal is the trailblazer, who he manipulates into getting Peak's mining equipment back from the vagrants that stole it in the first place. And when it's done, he rewards them with a legit treasure map.

So when he's working in the Underground, Sampo is MUCH more upright and lawful. Part of this is probably to do with his "business" model- Sampo only takes advantage of the wealthy, and poverty runs rampant in the Underground. When he charges Peak an extra 30% (the same percentage he charges Norbert as a consultation fee in the museum heists- Sampo seems to go by percentage instead of a flat rate, which means his prices are more fair for lower incomes) for carelessly losing their supply, Peak literally starts counting out pocket change.

Dude's working for pennies and good will down there dknsmdmd

And you can twist this into a Robin Hood thing if you want- Sampo IS technically working to feed orphans and heal the sick. He says himself he's more than happy to make up the shortfall between the greedy and the marginalized- I mean he says it in the shadiest way possible, but I doubt the people benefiting from his work really care that he's a slimeball if it means they can survive another day. Even the two heists he pulls in his character stories are literally just him stealing absurd amounts of food.

Personally though I think it is solely because of Natasha, and Sampo is hilariously well-behaved specifically for her, because she keeps him on a short leash JSKZJMSMSKS

[secriden]

rewatching love sea and i've got some episode 1 mahasamut thoughts:

i'm so appreciative of how much we get to see of mahasamut being an important part of the island community in this episode. its character establishing/quick scenes but we see a consistent thread of kindness, gentle and good humoured interactions, and just overall helpfulness to others. you see him having fun with palm who is younger and clearly loves and respects mahasamut. you see how he knows and cares for different people in very personal ways.

another thing epsiode 1 does a good job of doing is establishing how intelligent mahasamut is both intellectually and emotionally.

he instantly clocks on that tongrak thinks the island/mahasamut is "beneath" him. tongrak is a jerk from the get go, acting as if because he's rich (his focus on how expensive his suitcases are) he can treat mahasamut like crap. he assumes mahasamut can't speak/understand the central dialect and openly makes disparaging comments about his intelligence.

but rather than getting annoyed/offended, he weaponises the prejudice and leans into it to annoy tongrak. he doubles down onto the Southern dialect (even after he reveals he can speak Central). when tongrak whines about not understanding him, mahasamut just repeats himself but slower (such a good allusion to when people yell at you slower and more loudly as if that will magically make you understand English better). he leans into the whole 'small town awed at the fair skin of the city boy' act (masterful depiction of someone weaponising the 'dumb country hick' stereotype).

mahasamut just has such a good handle on tongrak from the start and it really showcases how smart and intuitive he is; like he instinctively knows how to handle this feral cat of a human being that tongrak is (i say this with complete affection).

his handling of tongrak is so incredibly effective and it throws tongrak so off his game that he looses all cool and just blurts out how baffled he is by mahasamut's reactions to him. this tells us (and mahasamut) that not only is tongrak aware that he's being a jerk, he's doing it on purpose because this usually works to drive people away. but it doesn't and never will work on mahasamut and the show lays the foundations of this aspect of mahasamut's character right from the start.

but whilst mahasamut remains unfazed by tongrak's bitchiness (for lack of a better term), we also see that he is not going to be a pushover either (and i love that he never becomes that even after he falls in love; in this, mahasamut's character is wonderfully consistent). he isn't shy about calling out tongrak for his poor behaviour/rudeness. he specifically points out that tongrak's been acting like a spoiled pet (or child).

(this is an aside, but) tongrak's (peat's) fist looks so tiny in mahasamut's (fort's) palm here i giggled. it's just... so ineffective. plus the way peat played it, it looks like tongrak tried to put some force into that hit but mahsamut is completely unaffected. very stoppable force meets unmovable wall. just. hilarious.

but also!! whilst all that is going on, mahasamut is also doing a really good job of taking care of tongrak. when he enters tongrak's room, he first cleans up after the tornado of trash and beer bottles, puts away his clothes properly, then brings tongrak out to get some proper food in him (it's not his fault that tongrak only has a single lettuce leaf; he tried). mahasamut takes him out on the boat to relax him and give him inspiration for his novel. and when he realises that tongrak's genuinely scared and upset and not just being a pain, mahasamut actually treats that with sincere care and concern, apologising and comforting him (in the novel, apparently tongrak slaps him and he still responds only with care and comfort). he's so incredibly gentle with tongrak here.

later in the series we see how much of their relationship development hinges on the the juxtaposition of words vs actions because neither of them put much stock by words (tongrak, because its the tools of his trade and he knows how they can be used to deceive; mahasamut because he never cares what people say about him) but episode 1 does a great job of establish just how good mahasamut is going to be at showing his love for tongrak once he gets there.

[luckthebard]

So this is a very niche rant that is probably only something I've noticed or been annoyed by, but:

The longer Critical Role has gone on and the more changes they've made/content they've created, there's been an increase in weird people who are desperate and determined to prove that changes or content they don't like are "an objective failure" - but often lie or deliberately misunderstand viewership statistics to do so.

There are a few big "facts" I see repeated by people to argue that CR has "gone in the wrong direction" that are just plain wrong, and I think what annoys me most is seeing so many people engage with those "facts" without bothering to double-check them or push back against the certainty with which people state them. An example of one I keep seeing now is "twitch streaming numbers are down" and it's like, yeah, sure, in comparison to when they didn't simultaneously air on YouTube. If you add up the YT and Twitch numbers these days it's about the same as mid-late C2, but people love to act like YT streaming doesn't exist to make a point that "people don't like C3". And I tbh don't care if people like or dislike C3 but why this determination to falsely quantify and validate a personal preference?

The earliest I saw this was an intense agreement on reddit that Exandria Unlimited was a "failure" for CR, "unlike Undeadwood," because viewership numbers were lower. And it was tbh baffling to not see pushback against that narrative, because it's just objectively untrue. Original EXU's VOD streaming numbers are higher than every single episode of Undeadwood, and it premiered literally years later. It also has a lower "drop-off" in viewership (comparison of how many views episode 1 vs the finale has) than Undeadwood, despite frequent claims to the contrary. And don't mistake me here, I really enjoyed Undeadwood, but it actually was a viewership misstep for CR to the degree that they didn't try anything like it again for a while after and significantly changed how they approached marketing and airing miniseries. (A big one being: don't air a long miniseries simultaneously with the main series, it's too much content for most people to invest in during a week.)

(Sidebar, but another great miniseries CR did that didn't get a lot of viewership love is the Elder Scrolls Online trilogy, so I'm going to plug it here. It has some weirdly low viewership numbers on episodes 2 and 3 and I promise you they're both well worth it.)

The other one I keep seeing is "4 Sided Dive has lower numbers than Talks" which is also just not true. Most 4 Sided Dive VODs have nearly twice as many views as Talks VODs (and I'm using the ones that aired directly on the CR channel as a metric here, not the ones re-uploaded from G&S which lost numbers in the change-over). And I'll tbh chalk that up to the fact 4SD airs much less frequently - people are more likely to think it's necessary to watch whereas with Talks if you weren't interested in the guests you might skip a week. I'm not making any claims about the quality of either show, but the use of false viewership statistics to support "one of these sucks" is so rampant and so weird.

All this to say that yesterday I saw a weird viewer-hungry YouTube clickbait video titled "Midst a FAILURE for Critical Role!!" with a truly absurd confidence on what the VOD streaming numbers for the Midst YouTube videos mean for the series mere days after the premier and snapped.

tl;dr, people just make shit up and say whatever on the internet all the time and we hopefully all understand and expect that BUT (and here's the more annoying thing) 9 times out of 10 people just engage with that WITHOUT LOOKING INTO IT THEMSELVES

[quinloki]

Birthday Request Event v2024

"It's my birthday and I'll write what I want to \o/"

Gift Details ♥ Reader Style: cisfem Character: Donquixote Rosinante Vibe: NSFW dubious consent AU: Monster AU Prompt: Writer's Choice (Pliant when horny) Gift Giver: @fanaticsnail

Summary: Winged Naga Rosinante and the unfortunate runaway sacrifice who ran into him (vs being fed to his brother, but I didn't really get into the specifics of that in the story).

Content Notes: dubious consent, pliant when horny, double penetration, monster Rosi got two dicks, mind fuck

This birthday party is 18+, consensual unless explicitly stated otherwise, and BYOB

The cave had not been empty.

You ran through the woods, twigs and underbrush snapping and rustling at your every move. You weren’t trying to be quiet, you were trying to be fast. You needed to get back to the village before what had been sleeping in that cave caught up with you.

The human face had caught you off guard, but when the clouds had cleared you realized just how inhuman it actually was. The eyes held you, almost dragging you in, but you’d bolted before he could grab you. The human hands were attached to arms that were covered in scales. Dragon, snake - you didn’t know, but only because you hadn’t stuck around to find out.

The lights of the village came into view before a blur of motion whipped in front of you, stopping you in your tracks. The beast coiled around you, a long snake-like body glinting in the moonlight. The blonde hair on his head was wavy, and golden even in the silver light of the moon. Intense eyes watched you, color and clarity pinning you in place.

You tried to scream, but wide, white, feathery wings snapped open, blotting the village from view and making everything silent.

You couldn’t hear your heart, or your breathing.

There were no more sounds in the forest, and the soft din of the village was gone.

The world had never before been so completely silent.

You could feel the impact of the ground as you fell back and landed on your ass, but not even the sound of a grunt, or the clatter of your teeth, or the soft rumple of leaves and dust could be heard. The beast shifted, coming down to you and tightening his coils.

Relax.

The word comes into your mind, even though you hadn’t heard it. You can feel your heart begin to calm and you’re able to focus on your surroundings better.

Calm.

You relax more, as the strange emotion washes over you. Now that you’re not gripped by fear you realize that this creature, some sort of winged naga, is very handsome. His face is gentle, if not focused intently on you, and his actions are careful.

As the long coils of his tail nudge and move you lovingly, you become aware that he could’ve snapped you up like lightning if he’d meant to do so. He only stopped you because-

- right. You’d been out at the cave to get away from the village. You were supposed to be sacrificed, but your guard had fallen asleep and you’d made a break for it. If you went back now.

Mine.

His? Was this who you were supposed to be sacrificed to? That didn’t seem right.

The tail coils around your arms, but you barely notice. It’s warm. The night had been cold, but the warmth from this creature was comforting. Once, twice, you hadn’t given it much thought until the tail slipped between your legs, parting them as it lifted you up. The tail was thick like his torso. It was almost like being on the back of a horse as he lifted you easily and brought you closer to his face.

The bumps of the smooth scales are an interesting sensation against your skin, and it pulls you out of your calm enough to take note. There’s a warmth that throbs in your body and you struggle against the scales.

The handsome faced creature leans in closer, wings folding around you both. He reaches out and very lightly brushes his fingers up your neck, tilting your head up with a single finger under your chin. This act pulls your gaze to his and you can feel your mind go fuzzy even as your body throbs harder.

Your lips move, but you’re not sure what words you would say if you could say anything.

Kiss.

You part your lips and nod. There’s no reason to over think anything. You couldn’t escape now even if you had the clarity to do so.

His lips are soft, the kiss is gentle. It’s warm, and a little dry, and it takes a moment for you to realize that his tongue is forked, but he’s already exploring your mouth, a hand at the back of your head holding you close. A soft moan flutters against your ribs and you can feel the tail coiled around you tense in response.

Touch.

Of course, you think. You’re already touching me. I’m surrounded by scales, the ridges are sending shivering pleasure through my skin. Why even ask at this point?

The kiss breaks and he leans back enough to look into your hazy eyes.

Please.

You nod, and the coils fall away from you, only the one between your thighs staying, keeping you at an even level with him. Without prompting you pull the thin whisper of clothing you’d been left with off, tossing it aside before leaning back and placing your hands behind your hips, leaning against his tail, effectively offering yourself up.

Large hands grip your body and with the heavier touch you can feel the rough callouses and scars marred along his skin. In the moonlight you hadn’t noticed them, but now that you can feel them, you notice the criss-crossed lines everywhere. The struggle this creature has stood against must’ve been tremendous.

Rough thumbs roll over your breasts, teasing the sensitive flesh. There’s no sound as you gasp at the touch, no sweet song as your body trembles from the building warmth. When his hand moves down to your thighs you grabb onto the wrist still at your chest, holding on as you look down and watch his hand.

You want him to touch you. Every part of your body is on edge for it, coiled and tense and desperate. You’ve never needed someone to touch you more.

His fingers press against your clit as his lips devour yours again. If not for his power your surprised screech would’ve echoed through the entire village. Your fingers claw at his wrist as his fingers work jolts through your body, fingers slipping further down you slit and pushing into your pussy as his thumb worked against your clit.

More.

More, please, more! You nod your head, whimpering soundlessly. Wet slick against his scales is making you feel them more acutely, and his tail wraps around your body again. This time the scales seem to pet your body, bringing you closer to the edge as he moves you closer to his torso. Wet fingers push into your ass, and your body jolts. The strange sensation is so slicked, so careful, that there’s no pain you can sense.

It feels good, it all feels so good, you don’t care what he does, you just want more. Want him to give you more. You want to sob and cry for him, you want to scream his name for the moon to hear.

“Rosinante.” He says in a soft tenor voice.

The sound barely registers as the wet sounds of his fingers leaving your ass is followed by the heated, tapered tip of his cocks lining up with both your cunt and ass. You’d never lain with anyone before now, and this creature was going to claim you entirely.

The sweet stretch was terrifying and relaxing at the same time. More than you knew how to deal with, overwhelming and seemingly without end. Just before you were certain you couldn’t take anymore, thick knots nested against your body.

His name would reach the moon, either as your final euphoric cry of death, or as the first hot gasping breath heralding many more sweet crescendos afterward.

Either way, you were happy, because you were his.

[sunflowerwemadeit]

Because of something that I saw on my dash. As someone who completely coincidentally stumbled upon 9-1-1 3ish years ago (I watched LS first do NOT come at me I love queerness) and have watched it from season 1 all the way through the fifth one at that time? Yeah. I saw buddie happening. Mostly because I saw Buck and Eddie giving each other the one thing they both want- companionship.

Buck's arc from season 1 till season 7 has been about a man who never got love so he doesn't know what it looks like. Even when he came to 118 the house wasn't family yet. Bobby was closed off, Chim was very insecure with Tatiana and we'd seen Hen open the Eva Pandora's box. In short, everyone already had their own family, issues, past that they were dealing with. Slowly they all came together and became the 118 through the first season. In all of it we could see that Buck has only ever wanted to belong. To have companionship so he isn't left alone once again. Not when he has just started to experience what a family actually feels like.

His insecurities made him act like a dick and that's.....a fact. Yes during his probie years because he hadn't really committed to growing. He wasn't even aware there was a scope of growth because he had a set pattern. Of the reckless-casual sex-acts before he thinks-young man (he still just wanted people to stay or atleast not cut him off, hence the whole bobby giving him a kick in the ass to get it together). With Eddie in season 2 because again, of course he wasn't sure of his place in the 118, it was still very precarious for him so he doubled back and hated how Eddie was seemingly able to make space in the team easily when Buck himself had had to fight for it. Because of all aforementioned reasons. So he acted out. Because he thought it was him vs Eddie. But the moment he understood it was actually going to be him AND Eddie, that man folded like wet paper. He got companionship. He let his ego go because it was never about that. It was about feeling he has to fight for his place in the family and so he let his guards down the moment he realised that this competent af kinda closed af man was ready to reach out to him first, who had given him acceptance and saw his good side on his own without Buck having through walk through fire for it.

And Eddie? He was a single father with a kid with CP, had just moved into a new place because his parents were suffocating and ableist and who was running, just like always. Found this man who loved kids and despite acting out and being less mature was so ready to just. Try and make it a little better for him. To drive him to the school after a 7.1 earthquake. Both him and Shannon unfortunately never had anyone else to even just be present while parenting. Both of them have been alone for so long and Shannon ran away too and then it was his turn to take care of his kid all alone. And he was, but not for long.

Because Buck was there. To help him out with Christopher and all the red tape bullshit and just someone who loves to fix things or make it better for others was there lending a hand to Eddie without any suffocating or scary implications/expectations. Buck was just there for him. Buck also gave Eddie the easy acceptance he's never gotten from anyone else his whole life.

So yeah. As someone who has watched since season 1 and saw Buck's (and everyone else's) growth and development arcs, buddie makes a lot of sense. All they've ever wanted was companionship and acceptance and they found it in each other, quite seamlessly if I do say so myself.

And yeah I don't conform to the romantic love is completely different from platonic love bullshit because it isn't for me. So it's not even about that. It's about Buck and Eddie just finding it so easy to love each other and be there for each other. And continuing to build and maintain that relationship together. They understood each other and forgave each other and were just always present. They didn't let the other feel lonely if they could help it. It's about companionship. And Buck and Eddie constantly giving the other the feeling of belonging. So yeah.

[that-ari-blogger]

How One Scene Tells A Story (Pulse)

For an action adventure series, the fight sequences in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power have been rather underwhelming. The series has been carried by its cinematography, and for the most part, everything else has been above par, but I still find myself unimpressed by the majority of the choreography.

Animation is a medium that quite literally allows you to show anything you can picture. If you can draw it, you can animate it. This allows for more fine tuning of expression within complex movements. Shonen Anime is known for taking advantage of this, but the fights in She-Ra have mostly been relegated to static characters flailing at each other while the camera movement covers the cracks.

This doesn’t destroy the show at all, but it’s something I noticed, and something I want to point out. Because the biggest reason for this is that in media aimed at kids, there are things you aren’t allowed to show. Most notably. Adora has a sword, but the show isn’t allowed to show her actually stab someone with it.

The reason I bring this up, is that I want to show off how the series gets around this wall, and how it cheats in order to create a few scenes that are genuinely incredible.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD

I want to clarify what I’m doing here.

Choreography is not a measure of quality. The correlation between good choreography and good television is just the relationship of good craft with itself. A good scene can involve anything, and one aspect does not make or break it.

I run an analysis blog, and I am specifically commenting on how the fights have not given me much to work with in that regard, with a few exceptions. For the most part, there have been generalised combat that is exactly what I mentioned earlier, with what I will call “set piece sequences”, which is where all of the character acting has gone.

However, I have found the majority of these set piece sequences to be lacking. Yes, there is action there, but its never really that revealing.

Case and point, Adora vs Catra Double Trouble in The Valley Of The Lost. This sequence boils down to characters standing still while trading identical blows and missing or parrying, then finishing it off with something clever. And this is actually a really good example of why what I’m saying doesn’t matter, because what you remember from that sequence isn’t the combat, it’s the tree that rises up behind them, it’s the shot of the bridge, it’s the dialogue. I am talking about a really small element of an overall picture.

I also want to clarify that complexity is not as important as people online say it is. Good art is defined by how much of an emotional response it evokes from its audience, not by how intricate it is. For my example of this, Glimmer and Shadow Weaver vs Catra in Moment of Truth is my single favourite fight sequence of the entire series, and its really simple.

Catra stands still with a whip while Glimmer and Shadow Weaver teleport around and the camera whirls around them all in a way that gets more impressive the more you know about what’s going on behind the scenes. Rotating 2D objects is really difficult to do.

The emotion of Catra’s spiral is what sells this moment, as well as the unease of Shadow Weaver sapping Glimmer’s strength, symbolised by that vice like grip she has on her wrist. This scene hits you like a truck and is genuinely scary. It even ends with a demonstration of the cost of victory through Shadow Weaver’s needless abuse of the defeated Catra.

Notably in that one, the characters never make contact with each other. There are no blows that they are sent reeling from, its barely a fight, and this is a recurring thing.

This is a part of the series’ rating regulations. No graphic violence, keep realism out of the picture, etc. etc. I would argue that the series plays extremely fast and loose with these specific two rules, but that’s just me.

The way the series circumvents the guidelines is multifaceted. First, most of the enemies are robots, which can be slashed apart in as many creative ways as you want without anyone stepping in. Second, for the organic mooks, Adora’s sword is now mysteriously blunt, and Bow’s arrows are all suddenly nonlethal. So, if you get hit with either, you just fall over and you’re fine. It’s ok, but I’m lukewarm on this at best. Then there is the school of implication.

If you want an example of this, watch the season one finale, and take note of how many blows actually connect on camera. Because for all the ones that are dealt, the camera only shows one or two of them. The rest are from the victim’s perspective as the projectile hits the camera itself, then cut to a reverse shot as they fall away.

Alternatively, the screen cuts to black as claw marks appear in red on that background. Technically, there was no violence on the screen, but we all know what happened.

Enter Pulse, actual the subject of this post.

“Oh, it’s you.” “Who else would it be?”

We open with quite possibly the best example of Glimmer’s impulsiveness and dramatic irony in the series. Catra effectively tells Glimmer there is a spy, and she misses it because she is so focused on her objective.

And the fight begins, a few tracking shots follow Catra here, positioning her as the underdog as she evades Glimmer’s magic. We now have a dynamic set up, slow and strong vs fast and evasive. Also, Glimmer is straight up out for blood here. Usually, it’s the villain who rocks up out of nowhere to try and kill the protagonist. I wonder if there’s some symbolism there.

The explosion masks a shot transition to the destroyed boxes, revealing what’s inside, as we get a lull in the fight for a moment.

We get shouting and needling. Psychological warfare is a part of the fight, and giving the moment space to breathe allows the audience to get ready. The first skirmish set a vibe, then pulled back to let anyone who isn’t ready for the next step to back out now.

“Guess you don’t know everything.”

I want to point what Glimmer does when she gets truly angry. Throughout the series up until now, Karen Fukuhara has played Glimmer as a fairly loud, extremely expressive character. But for one line, she goes quiet.

I love it when string emotions change a character’s entire demeanour, and sometimes that means a quiet character starting to shout, sometimes it’s the other way around.

It’s worth noting what it was that got this reaction from her.

“Using your own friend as a decoy? Wow. Didn’t know you had it in you.”

Glimmer has a black and pink morality. She views ethics in terms of alignment, those who agree with her are the good guys, those who don’t are the bad guys. Catra’s mild suggestion that the world is more complicated than that infuriates her.

So, Glimmer appears in front of Catra, outmatching her in manoeuvrability, and once again goes for the kill. Cut to a close up of her face, hidden behind holy light, then a reverse shot of Catra looking up in terror.

The use of colour and light in this sequence is actually really interesting. Here, it screams “be not afraid!” in order to cast Glimmer as angelic, giving off light to shine down upon Catra. But the light isn’t coming from Glimmer’s own radiance, is the readying of a spell. Suddenly, that angel has shifted into “say your prayers, chump”.

Impact frames separate Glimmer storing the magic and turning it into a beam, but also serve to sell the force of the blow as Catra evades it and it turns on you. You feel like you are part of the set and you are collateral damage that Glimmer does not care about.

This scene really doesn’t show Glimmer in the best of lights. Pun very much intended.

The falling shot has a stock background that implies motion without having to actually show it, and the perspective on the whip is a really nice animation detail. But notice how many different shots we are running through in quick succession. They create a sense of instability and dynamics that the first little skirmish didn’t quite have.

Even the simple act of falling has four different angles before Catra hits the ground. The two above, then one of Glimmer’s face, then the whip wraps around her foot. We’re changing quickly and constantly moving, even when the camera is staying remarkably still within shots.

This explosion slows all of that pacing down. It’s a long drawn out shot of Glimmer fallen from grace, insignificant in scale in comparison to the damage she has just done.

It’s notable that Glimmer outclasses Catra in all physical aspects, but Catra is smart, and uses her opponent’s strength against her. The damage that is done to this place was done directly by Glimmer’s recklessness.

Glimmer now has to contend with not being the biggest threat in the room, and now she has to think quickly as well, we have more dynamism as the fight resumes and the characters are both suddenly dodging an unbiased third party while also trying to kill each other.

Side note, this is my answer as a GM to how fights in certain TTRPG systems feel samey. I have a table, I get a player to roll on it once a combat round, and there’s a chance for something to change. Half the time, nothing happens, but sometimes something catches fire, or a ceiling cave in, or luck itself shifts. These changes always affect both parties, but they mean that certain areas are off limits or similar effects, meaning tactics have to shift.

Notice the colour here as well. Almost everything is a shade of red, the colour of danger and anger, as the dominant power is now that fire. Everything is trying to get away from it.

Also, the camera now won’t sit still. I will remind you that it is animated, you can’t get a handheld style when there isn’t an actual camera in animation unless you create it yourself, intentionally. But that’s what’s happened, everything is shaky, everything is unsafe.

I like the little touch that Catra’s ears prick before she turns. She hears Glimmer approach, then turns to face her. It sells the feline senses.

The red is matched by a blue for a moment as Glimmer appears from behind Catra, and pay close attention to who’s perspective this fight is taken from. At the start it was Glimmer, then they share the spotlight, now Catra is just trying to survive while Glimmer appears out of nowhere like a horror movie monster.

We have contact. Except remember what I said about cheating? Glimmer’s beam was established as being able to cut metal, but this is just a minour explosion caused by energy sent through another object. It’s second hand. But its enough. We see the reaction, and crucialy, we see the follow up.

The camera really shakes as Catra collides with this wall, selling the brute force of the strike. But other than that, she’s fine. She doesn’t appear injured by it. The cinematography here is working in tandem with the choreography to back up where the animation isn't allowed to go.

“Where are you going, Catra? Not scared of some sparkles, are you?”

Glimmer’s just talking here. Talking and walking. She’s not shouting or running or being overly expressive at all. She’s just speaking, menacingly.

Anyone else notice that Catra is standing in a different place between shots? Like, she’s about a metre and a half to the right of where she’d need to be to press that button. Did the two just stare awkwardly at each other as she shuffled to the left? I know it doesn’t matter, but it's funny to me.

I’ve been waiting for one of these the entire fight. This is a Dutch Angle, the horizon is diagonal, it makes the audience feel unbalanced, and adds to the unsafeness. Up until now, the scene hasn’t needed one of these, but now it has use for one.

The tilt exaggerates the perspective and makes Catra look even smaller by comparison.

Still with the Dutch angle, but now we’re looking upwards approximating Glimmer’s perspective. Key, however, is that this thing doesn’t fit on the screen. It’s too big for even the camera, and you are too close to it.

The music surges with emotion in a way I can’t quite explain, and we cut back to the surroundings twice to remind you that this place is still on fire. Then to this:

Catra has won, she has activated her trap card and can easily just run. So, she offers Glimmer a choice, save the forest or kill her, and I want to stress the decision Glimmer makes.

Glimmer’s first instinct isn’t to save anyone, it’s to kill her enemy. If Catra hadn’t got herself trapped, Glimmer would have either killed them both, or kept trying until she was caught in the explosion.

Catra gets lucky in this fight, several times. She should have been killed had it not been for things falling on her in just the right way. But she’s also smart, and she needs credit for this.

The key theme of Glimmer’s arc is stubbornness and impulsiveness. Here, it almost caused her death. But there’s something in that.

I keep going on about how tragedies subvert themselves in this series, and here’s one of those. Glimmer finally gets over herself and starts thinking things through, she has a problem she can't punch, and she comes to a conclusion that lets her fix that problem without anyone getting killed. She avoids the tragedy at the last possible moment.

We’re starting to see a lot of that in this series.

Final Thoughts

The word of the day with Glimmer is hubris, the idea that she thinks herself to be infallible. The black and pink morality is what it says on the tin. There is evil and there is Glimmer. In her mind, that is how the world works.

Next week, I’ll be covering Protocol, and the return of Light Hope. It's an episode I have mixed feelings about, so stick around if that interests you.

Previous - Next

[nikethestatue]

Nike, I honestly can’t believe what I’ve seen today. Of course I’m so excited about the SJM interviews that just keep coming, with all the mentions of elain, fmcs, mates and fate vs choice, and all of that good stuff. I’m surprised she even went that far on the mates question. She could’ve easily just said yeah if a couple are going to be mates, I also make sure they go on a journey together… instead she expressed her interest in wrong pairs! At the same time, I’m honestly really… shocked at Gwynriels doubling down. It actually has unsettled me how stupid some people are acting. Not saying that to be mean or funny. I guess I just sort of got used to them being a presence in the fandom, as much as one can get used to it :) but seeing them take the “kiss” part of SJM’s quote so literally, seeing them come into anons to fight about it. Seeing them twist what SJM said to fit their narrative is just… astounding really. I didn’t expect them to give up after this interview, but seriously. To double down this hard is concerning. If SJM’s words aren’t getting through to them, you’d think they’d at least be a LITTLE conscious of the fact that every single publication that interviews SJM has mentioned Elain, mates, the bat boys being love interests to fc’s, or all of the above. I’m just surprised. Today has confirmed for me they won’t ever accept elriel. It’s like you said, even after they get their HEA, they will still theorize Elain will die. I just want this nightmare to be over

I think it was the first wave of disbelief. It was harsh. Like they had this whole fantasy side story concocted where there would be training, and secret library trysts, and House of Wind Gang, and sorting out Illyria and whatever else. Gwyn was shadow mommy, Az was shadow daddy, they were gonna gave shadow babies with her extra super pliable bones.

And then stuff began to leak, firstly the bonus chapters and it's like, oh shit. None of this is how we thought it was gonna be!

And then it was the magic bean, and there is no need for Gwyn anymore at all.

And then suddenly it's Nesta, 'taking Gwyn's role' of hanging out with Azriel.

And then it's 'The Cauldron is corrupted' and maybe it's not making perfect 'bonding' choices and there IS something weird about the Elucien bond. And then SJM starts yakking about bond vs choice and suddenly, Elucien is not looking too good at all (never did, but it's just d.e.d. since yesterday), and if Elucien is looking bad, then Gwynriel is looking even worse, since Gwynriel was wholly dependent on Elucien to happen.

And now there is no 'Azriel book'. And no Azriel book means no Gwyn joining him in Illyrian redemption or whatever else.

It was a tough day.

Now they are throwing everything in the pool to see what sinks and what floats. 'It's Helion and LOA's! bond' SJM was talking about. (what bond?) 'The interrupted kiss means she is not gonna write Elriel' (nevermind that every couple had an interrupted kiss). It's a lot of confusion and rebranding.

But it could've all been so much easier.

A moment of silence for Gwynriel might be in order.

[fruitbasketball]

wnba recap 7/7

moment of silence for how good paige madison looked at that storm game bc ever since i seen that tennis chain i’ve been acting stupid

okay now time to lock in

atlanta dream vs connecticut sun

um exactly the outcome that is expected. didn’t even let them SNIFF a lead damn 😭 smoking them the whole game 💀

that being said - haley jones girl. 21 mins for 5 points and 3 pfs. baby. what would tara say??

bench production was okay. HENNY MINUTES don’t y’all dare play with her please bro 🙏🏽

omg db was ridiculously efficient btw. 7-11 fgp and 7-9 3pfg DAMNNNNN GIRL

also shoutout at for a slight little triple flirt - 7 points, 9 assists, 7 rebounds. LIV minutes bro 2-9 from the field is crazy liv bro please 😭😭 you too nai bro what the fuck is going on in connecticut

anyway uhhh good win! could’ve been better!

dallas wings vs. las vegas aces

aight we got a repeat of last year’s playoffs and it ended very similarly to last year’s playoffs! which is to say dallas got blown the fuck out.

this team is frustrating to watch. their post work is sloppy, and it’s clear that rike is overcompensating and chucking shots up MORE to make up for the fact that sa is out and maddy siegrist is out too.

that being said, natasha howard had a great game, and rike shot 4-11. lord i can’t do this anymore 💀

every single one of the vegas starters with a ridiculous +/- btw. +21, +26, +27, +22, +19 like hate the game not the player bc that’s a fun ass team to watch icl to y’all.

i only watched part of this game, and it was the part where dallas actually had the lead?? tf?? but then a’ja dropped a 28 point double on their heads and shit was wraps obviously. she also hit 3 three’s btw. if anyone was wondering. and she was 3-4. light work i guess 💀

good game kate martin - if anyone knows what that tech was for pls lmk!

chicago sky vs. seattle storm

LOLLLL admins were being sooooo messy about this 😭 “emphasis on you THOUGHT” good fucking bye

is it really a sky game if angel reese doesn’t get her double double??

yesss dana evans and diamond deshields give us nothingggg yesss!!!!

a double double for nneka, double double for ezi, and no minutes for nika muhl! none for nika muhl!

i kick my feet at everything jewell loyd does i love her so bad i could just faint but JORDAN HORSTON. call urself a lady vol one more time. 33 minutes without a single field goal made is ridiculous. do better.

phoenix mercury vs. los angeles sparks

TASH. CLOUD. 30 PIEEEEEEEECEEEE ‼️

KAHLEAH. COPPER. 25 PT DOUBLEEEEE ‼️

yeah nuff said about this game they were supposed to win (good game dearica) and they won does anyone know where dee went tho

god bless the phoenix mercury and their fine ass starters 😮‍💨

[writingquestionsanswered]

In the mountain chart (the plot chart in which there is rising action, a climax and then a falling action) the climax and resolution is a very short time as compared to the rising action that is, there's a big build up and then a short climax. But doesn't that make the climax appear too short and quick in comparison? How do I write it such that the climax doesn't feel too hasty or rushed?

Rising Action Length vs Climax

Here's the thing...

In story structure, we have sections of events and then we have the events themselves.

The "rising action" is a section of events, but the climax is an event unto itself. In other words, the "rising action" is made up of a bunch of events (which is why it's so long), but the climax is just one single event.

Remember: stories revolve around a conflict. It may be an internal conflict (inside the protagonist's heart and mind), an external conflict (in the protagonist's life or world), or both. The rising action is made up of a series of events that catalogue the protagonist's pursuit of a goal that they hope will resolve the conflict. The climax is the moment when they try, once and for all, to do just that.

Now, because this is a single event or moment doesn't mean it's over in the blink of an eye. In The Hunger Games, for example, [spoilers incoming!] the external conflict is the Hunger Games themselves, and Katniss's goal is to win, which means being the last survivor. But, of course, this goal is complicated by the fact that she at Peeta form a friendship, and there's no way she's going to unalive her friend in order to win. Luckily, the rules are changed by the gamemakers at the last minute, so both Katniss and Peeta can win. Since Katniss's goal is to win, she and Peeta must be the last two standing, so the climax begins when she and Peeta must face-off against their final competitor, Cato. [Again, spoilers incoming...] When the three of them are chased to the Cornucopia by wolf mutts, Cato threatens to unalive Peeta, which sets off a chain of smaller events that leads to Cato's demise. But now that it's just Katniss and Peeta, the gamemakers decide to rescind their rule change and make Katniss and Peeta face-off against each other. Now, technically, if Katniss were to eliminate Peeta, she'd still reach her goal (survive the Hunger Games) and therefore resolve the conflict, but this would be antithetical to all of the character growth she's done through the story. Winning wouldn't be worth it at the cost of her humanity, so she and Peeta prepare to consume poisonous berries so that nobody wins and nobody loses their humanity... a double-barrelled F-U to the Capitol. And, it works. The gamemakers quicly declare them both winners, so Katniss reaches her goal and the conflict is resolved.

The climax in The Hunger Games takes place over a single chapter, and this is fairly typical. It's usually a single scene, or a few related scenes, but it isn't a section unto itself.

Now... having said that, the whole third act is sometimes thought of as the climactic section, but when looking at a story structure template, the point labeled as the climax is always the specific climax event.

This was my very long way around of saying that this is why the climax appears short compared to the rising action. Again, the rising action is a series of events that make up the rising action section, whereas the climax is a single event during which the story's conflict is resolved once and for all.

If your climax feels hasty and rushed, it's likely because you haven't adequately fleshed out what this event needs to be... this event wherein your protagonist tries to resolve their big problem once and for all. You may want to pop over to my Plot & Story Structure master list to review some of the relevant posts. ♥

Happy writing!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

Please allow up to two weeks for a response. ♥

[sometipsygnostalgic]

Nintendo 3d rendering vs Sony disc size

The Nintendo 64 and the Nintendo Gamecube both had better 3D geometry than the Playstation and the Playstation 2, but the Playstations were able to have much more music and textures than the Nintendo consoles. They were also able to have more 3d objects in a space at one time. Infamously you could fit all the top 10 N64 games on a single Playstation disc, and then more.

The N64 models looked solid despite their low polygon count. It had this weird double anti-aliaising effect which made images look blurry. However, textures were very, very limited, and the cartridge could not fit much music or fmvs.

The playstation had worse geometry and even had the "wobble" effect on most games, due to its Z-buffering hardware not being used. However, it was able to make up for its weaknesses.

It used textures to elevate the look of its 3d models, and replaced backgrounds with detailed 2d textures in games like Resident Evil and Final Fantasy 7.

It also used pre-rendered videos and lots of music, things missing from the N64 entirely.

Games that use pre-rendered videos on other platforms, like "Star Wars Episode 1: Racer," had them removed from their N64 ports.

This image seems to be taken from an emulator. I'm having a hard time finding images captured from the original devices. However, you can see that the ps1 has a "wobble" effect and the n64 has lower resolution textures.

These issues ended up carrying over into the PS2/Gamecube generation.

This is Mariokart Double Dash. It's a very good looking gamecube. Its geometry is simple and it only has 16 tracks, but it's more than playable today, and still looks good when upscaled on an emulator.

This is San Andreas. While the game is graphically impressive, you'll notice that the models for vehicles and even the UI look worse when compared to Gamecube games.

However, San Andreas was able to fit so much more information on the disc than any Gamecube game.

Instead of being limited to 16 race tracks and 16 racers like Double Dash, you have an entire open world to explore and dozens of cars to choose from. You have a hundred hours of things to do in this game. There is hours of music that you can listen to in the cars.

That's why San Andreas was never ported to Gamecube - the game requires 4.2gb of DVD space, whereas the Gamecube's DVD-R was never larger than 1.4gb.

To be honest, I have no idea what black magic Capcom used to port Resident Evil 4 to Gamecube.

When the Nintendo Wii came out, it retained the Gamecube's power for the most part, while offering DVD space of up to 8gb!!! Finally it could have things like music and voice acting.

However... the PS3 and Xbox 360 were already on their way, and the standard definition Wii was far from their ballcourt.

In the Wii's early days, the PS2 was also still in a lot of hands. So developers who wanted to make games for Wii ported them to PS2, and vice versa. Both consoles ended up having lots of "previous generation" versions of games, like The Force Unleashed, which ran better on Wii than the PS2 by a small margin and had different features like motion controls.

[artbychromo]

so... ace-sabo roleswap AU? (I saw one too many ASL drawings of luffy & sabo laughing tearfully while a transparent ace smiles in ghostly benevolence. now I'm side-eyeing myself like, "...you good?")

au where ace goes missing when asl are kids (after picking a fight he shouldn't have) and is presumed dead... sabo doubles down on watching over luffy and sees him through to the day they both leave

I didn't really firm up anything about the AU, except I think it'd be interesting to see how the brothers' themes would change... like

maybe Sabo's story would explore freedom vs. isolation--all the years that sabo was looking after luffy on Goa and desperately avoiding capture by his parents, he was itching to run away... as much as he loves luffy, sometimes being on the same island as his parents made him feel like he couldn't breathe

his time with the RA gives him a taste of what real freedom is like. a part of him is still trying to reconcile his love for his brothers with how it burdened him at times; after all, threats against them were part of the reason he was captured when he was younger

the climactic moment at marineford;;; would be him finally seeing how it's all connected--how his dream and luffy's and ace's all fed into each other, how the love between them gave him the strength and passion to get up every day. akainu's taunting sabo that weakness and sentiment is all the revolutionaries/pirates know, and compared to the order and stability of the govt, no single one of them will ever stand a chance--"you're like a tiny drop of water against the flames of justice" as he goes after luffy

then sabo can loosely reference one of my favorite cloud atlas lines with "what's an ocean, but a multitude of drops?" as he saves luffy, knowing that this small act of love will billow out a millionfold and he finally feels both free and connected

i guess?????? i don't know

and then

ace's story would still focus on self-worth & love, but give way more emphasis to the idea of unconditional, inherent worth

in the fight that left him separated from L & S, he was trying to sacrifice himself protect them by rushing their attacker and throwing them both over a cliff into a stormy ocean. it knocks him around and nearly drowns him--he clings to a log to float but still winds up passing out from a blow to his head

after drifting ace is found... by the whitebeards? somehow? but when he wakes up, he doesn't remember much about himself. only a feeling like someone out there needs him to protect them, he just doesn't know who

the only thing he can really do about it is beg the WBs to help him get stronger... whitebeard's heart goes out to this kid, who apparently made his entire identity about his family

he tries to subtly teach ace the idea that he doesn't have to be needed by someone to deserve to live/be a part of their family, but it never quite gets through to ace, who's got some sort of allergy to acknowledging his own self-worth (it's really bc he has nightmares about all the terrible things he heard as roger's son)

and then... 8 years have gone by, and ace is looking at a familiar face in a newspaper. he's devastated as he remembers--he knows who needed him now, his family, and he's already failed them

he still feels the need to go find luffy, though, and with WB's blessing he tracks down the strawhats... sick to his stomach the whole time, wondering how luffy will react to such a worthless older brother

[insert the art at the top of the post :) ]

luffy's immediate, unwavering joy at seeing him and learning he's safe makes it all finally click for ace--that he's loved no matter what. or, to quote another fav story, "I'm loved now, but when I wasn't, it didn't mean I wasn't worthy of it."

UH anyway this is sappy and longer than planned. sending this out into the world acting like i don't care about it when in fact, now that i spent this much time on it, i care very much

[lilliths-httyd-blog]

the double standard for people with adhd is so real like. the moment we act on our impulses a little too hard it's "think about the consequences of your actions" and "why didn't you think before you act??" as though our impulses are something we can easily control.

but then when it comes to forming habits, it's totally different. see, non-adhd habit forming is like "this is the stuff i can just do. i can do this stuff reliably, on time, all the time, on total autopilot. not a single thought leaving this brain".

vs adhd habits which are "this is the stuff that i can be reliably expected to remember to do. i have to think about what I'm doing, remember what i need, and plan my actions out accordingly, but i can still do all of these things on time, all the time, every day. for someone with adhd, the ability to remember to do something is a huge achievement, so remembering to do it on time every day is insane. i am putting a lot of mental effort into this and it does tend to take up some spoons so i have to allow for that"

so, we adhd fuckers are generally putting a hell of a lot more thought and mental effort into our habit-forming. we're thinking about our actions, what's necessary, what needs to be prioritised, how long things will take, and generally just thinking about our actions more. y'know, exactly what they've been asking us to do (and holy shit we're actually remembering to do it for once).

but suddenly we're being shamed for it because apparently we shouldn't have to think about it at all. apparently habits are the one time where our impulses are allowed to kick in, but only if your impulse is to brush your teeth. it should just come naturally. apparently us thinking about our actions is a bad thing now. which is it, barbara?

[bleachbleachbleach]

five comfort characters, five tags

Thank you for the tag, @fractoluminescence! I made a new post because this got long, but the original meme is at this link, and @fractoluminescence's cool responses are at this one, if you'd like to read everyone's (I recommend!).

I had a difficult time developing an answer because I got too in the weeds about what the definition of “comfort character” was, rip. It turns out there are a lot of definitions, ranging from characters you find cozy, to characters you find relatable, to characters you look up to, to more elaborate definitions that attempt to articulate those distinctions between a character you love and a character that you would sink to the bottom of the Marianas Trench with.

I’ll define “comfort character” as that thing that begins by delineating, say, a show you love so so much (Haikyuu!!—my soul for a volleyball) vs. a show you want to be fannish about (Bleach. BleachBleachBleach, even. BLEACHBLEACHBLEACH, even), and then refines further into characters you love (my eternal Soi Fon era) vs. the characters you’re in the Trench about. Because while I probably think an above average amount about Soi Fon, and love seeing her on my dash, and do want to write for her once I alight upon some idea that sufficiently connects my headcanons about her to 1) actual canon and 2) a Story, she is not who I:

think about every single ding dong day;

regularly revel in in daydreams;

both consciously and unconsciously filter my lived experiences or relationships through, such that they become doubled; they find translation, in an act of both processing (growing distance from, or increasing intimacy with) the experience and in tugging at the character themselves, growing them into something that proceeds from their canon or offers an opportunity to entertain new and additional dimensions.

I think the key elements here are:

the alwaysness of this—the readiness to be in the soup at all times;

how personal the engagements are, which I think is sometimes to do with the relatability of a character (proximity to oneself) and is sometimes personal to… the character? Like, the intimacy of wanting to both crystallize one’s understanding of a beloved character by stress-testing their concept, and to spin them out, break them from what is canonically known just to see how much depth they have beyond that and in how many ways they might be known.

…Which, now that I’ve written that, is... just my definition of “blorbo” and not “comfort character,” but maybe the terms are synonymous??? who knows—AS THOUGH BLORBO HAS A DEFINITION AND ISN’T WHOLLY MEME-DERIVED TO BEGIN WITH. AS THOUGH ANY OF THESE THINGS HAVE PRESCRIPTIVE DEFINITIONS.

Anyway, all of that is the appeal of writing fanfic, to me, so it technically extends to anyone I’ve had occasion to write. But that’s within the specific action of writing a story, or preparing to write a story, or thinking about writing a story.

If we’re talking “always” and unconsciously, readily, blorbo-ily, whether there’s a story or not, then #1-3 are and have been for the last four years:

Hitsugaya

Hinamori

Matsumoto

They are who I am most inclined to give things to, or translate things through, and am most interested in defining/destroying. <333

There are probably use-cases/concrete examples that should go here, in addition to the somewhat woowoo definition above, but part of me is shy, and another part is like, those are what the stories are, and another part is “those two parts are the same part...” and yet another is “those two parts are the exact opposite of each other..."

So instead I'll no-pressure tag @confluencechimera, @recurring-polynya, @afinepiece, @bendingwind, and @unohanadaydreams!

Below the cut because it's not Bleach-related enough: I promise I’m not trying to be evasive/coquettish on purpose, but I don’t think I can get myself to put my thoughts about my lifetime character for this on Tumblr, because according to me, organizationally, that’s not where they go. So I’ll skip him. I’m also one of those people where my idea of comfort is to lean into the negative and feel comforted by the experience of being joined in misery by others, rather than go the cozy route. In that usage my comfort “character” is Law and Order: SVU because it’s like 800 episodes of people having the worst day of their lives and/or people on absolutely depraved sprees, depending on which side of the story you focus on. But also that show is deeply unserious, pleasingly formulaic, and has infinite rewatchability. So let's say those are responses #4 and #5!!

[dig-jules]

the thing about star trek tos is that it's so good conceptually. it'll set up a really captivating ethical dilemma. it'll have a premise that could be so politically bold. but every single time the episode takes the most revisionist route possible in how it "deals" with the conflict.

i.e. "Let This Be Your Last Battlefield". a fairly good, albeit very simplified, representation of the oppressor touting peace (as a means to stabilize society by instilling submission from the oppressed) vs. the resistance of the oppressed through necessary violence and disruption of the status quo.

but of course star trek decides to denounce the oppressed's methods as the reason their society is completely destroyed. and they have kirk make some grand speech about how great it is to take a moderate approach and always try to compromise. kill yourself

exact same thing happened with "The Cloud Minders" with them setting up a class divide premise but then doubling back and is like "oh no the people forced to live in the mines and do unpaid labor for the rich people in the clouds just have a biological deficiency built up from exposure to minerals that makes them really angry so lets just solve the anger issue and they can be normal functioning citizens in the mines again!" "and maybe we'll ask the people in the cloud castle to maybe give them better wages too and maybe come up to the castle sometimes!" it is LITERALLY THE IVORY TOWER

let's see, similar acts of cowardice happen in

mark of gideon

dagger of the mind

conscience of the king (kind of though this could be justified by kirk's internal struggle)

the omega glory

plato's stepchildren

Patterns of Force (this one gets praised ALL THE TIME about being anti-fascist but literally they punch like one nazi and then the resolution of the episode is them being like 'people can change! let's leave all the existing government officials in place and just tell them to be nice to the people they committed genocide against from now on! they were just mislead it's not their fault!' like i would think kirk would be a little more resistant to just fucking letting them be considering how ready he was to arm the populace in A Private Little War?)

the writers also have this issue where they can't stand to see societies not "progressing" by basing the value of their lives on innovation and capital. so places like the tribe in "The Apple" somehow become things to be fixed by western notions of progress? but yeah just go settler colonialism right?