#So now that twitter Is almost over for my brazilian people

[mmalugirl]

.

[swords-of-a-soilder]

Bless you for compiling what’s going on with that ex-bird app. It’s been genuinely insightful for me to understand the thoughts of the kinds of people behind those accounts.

That person trying to cancel creators for associating with Forever (and probably advocating for his lore to be excised from the server) saying “but I can’t possibly give up guapoduo, it’s My Hyperfixation” is very telling. Hypocrisy specifically in the context of “separating the art from the artist” isn’t something I’ve seen before, shockingly, so I guess I get to add that to my Social Media Discourse Bingo. (I had an online friend in 2016 who I was terrified to talk about my interests with because I didn’t know what angry punk teenagers on tumblr had deemed “evil and disgusting”, and even SHE stopped listening to some of her favorite metal bands when she learned they were homophobic, and had absolute turmoil when she learned that David Bowie might have allegedly slept with an underage groupie in the 70s. Her constant, unpredictable rage at seemingly random pieces of media was awful for my mental health, but at least she wasn’t a genuine hypocrite.)

Also that tone of “I’ve had good memories here… but I just can’t handle it anymore.” It sounds like someone whose meaningful but soul-crushing work has finally broken them, almost sounding like someone I knew at the frontline worker job I had mid-pandemic who missed her own birthday three years in a row, got repetitive stress injuries, and then got passed over for a promotion that was given to someone who did a fraction of the work. But the “God willing, I’ll never come back” was followed by “I’m 13” …damn, I got whiplash so hard that I astral projected into a universe where things made sense for a second. Because of course kids don’t have a complex view of other countries’ political systems or cultural pressures. Or the nuances of personal change and redemption. Or that sometimes people are just not online for a few days. And of course a 13-year-old doesn’t understand how dumb and petty they look by trying to ruin other peoples’ careers in the name of Activism (tm) while having a fandom portmanteau username.

“I didn’t want it to come to this but… I’m going to delete twitter!” I hope so, but more for their own sake, honestly. I actually have less anger towards most of them now. Many are kids with a false sense of grandiosity that makes them believe they are the ultimate moral authority, but have very little understanding of how messy people or societies can be. I just hope they can learn one day, and look back on who they are now and cringe. (And then many years after that, have the grace to forgive themselves.)

Oof, sorry for the wall of text.

I’m still not over the whole situation with Forever. I miss his energy, and his accent, and his silly bits with Richas that always dragged on too long, and N.I.N.H.O. (and everything it represented), and how different he and Cellbit are but how they understood each other WAY too well, and how he tried to make people who didn’t log onto the server as often still feel welcome and wanted, and how happy he got when anyone non-Brazilian even tried to speak a little bit of Portuguese. (I was learning, but I’ve barely touched it since.) I won’t lie, it’s affected me far more than I thought it would.

I miss Forever. Thank you for your blog being a little space where that’s okay.

I'm honestly a little worried for the kid (s), not in a "oh I just want the best for" fake bs way just a little concerned tbh. I still don't like them but I don't hate them either, they're a kid.

But at the same time I'm worried for their well being, they have like 5,000 follower on their main Twitter and 28 on curious cat (which is apprantly high for that app )

That's 5000 people (teens or not) waiting for you to tell them how to feel that can't be good for their mental state, not for a 13 yr old kid.

Most of their life was spent learning about the world and their still learning, these are the ages where you're worried about the sun blowing up.

You haven't seen how awful the world can be yet, You haven't seen how much worst it could get you haven't learned calculus yet!

To you the world is only these 13 years and you think if you don't act now everything will be over.

I get it, I had that fear too, most people grown into it and realize just how shitty it can get an settle in choosing their own battles and not letting It consume them, because no one had time for that anymore.

You want to experience the most out of live while you can and the older you get the easier it is to balance.

To me it looks like one of those situation where you'll look back and think "I wish I enojyed my childhood."

Because 5000 people waiting for you to tell them who to bash, 28 people prasing your while admitting they use to hate you.

It can't be good. And if they were to read this they'd probably say "oh you don't actually care you just want to shit on me."

And like, yeah I don't care, but am I saying all this because I want to shit on them? no I'm just pointing out concerns.

Apart from that I fully agree with anon.

[idkimnotreal]

me being angry at random people on the internet on my tumblr again, but...

i once saw an american on twitter, a libertarian/conservative shitposter, who made fun of the fact that brics chose a brazilian (former president dilma) to be the president of their bank. he quoted some random fact about them using us dollars to pay for their debt trying to create a new currency for brics (which is unheard of in brazil btw, what’s actually going on is a planned new mercosur currency) and that it’s doomed to fail because a brazilian leads them.

i’m sure he meant that we have failed to attain hegemon status under capitalism like the us did or something. so we must be dumb. i considered actually replying to him that this wasn’t factually true (i didn’t because i know he’s a shitposter), that we have failed mostly due to the lack of a cohesive long term project our elite agrees for the country, rather than some inability in regards to individuals’ skills or that we’re collectively less capable than americans.

brazil is the only country in latin america without skyrocketing inflation (i mean there’s chile. but anyway is it a country?). that was achieved with plano real in the mid 90s. a dollar was worthy about 1.75 real until whereabouts 2013, when that aforementioned economic elite fabricated an economic and political crisis to achieve their own short term goals (such as en masse privatizations and corroding of worker rights pending for almost a century). the brazilian elite is shortsighted and will agree to see the country burn as long as they can keep their positions (which allowing the country to get richer probably wouldn’t do, since the us has before backed a coup in brazil to benefit themselves, when president goulart sanctioned a law to limit profits of foreign companies leaving brazil, like 2 years later i think, he was couped by the us).

and other than that banks in brazil are the only institutions that will always get richer no matter what, and brazilian private banks are amongst the richest in the world, so it’s definitely not our banking system that’s at fault here. i believe in brazilian science and ingenuity and that most of what binds us to poverty as a nation is the national project the elites have for the country, which is roughly the same since colonial times. a tiny portuguese elite ruling over everyone else, and damn the rest. there have been tries to make the country democratic, and for sure there are several things going on politically in the country. we have a solid democratic foundation in our institutions and in our constitution, yet the elites managed to break through for a while in 2016-2022. and they wrecked a lot of havoc in the process. the economy was in shambles before lula took over (he is sometimes aligned with the economic elites, but not always; dilma was not and was impeached, bolsonaro was but was impossible to control and was discarded; the elites cheered with lula’s election, because he plays the same game as them though in opposite sides so to speak), and all signs point to them being back again in 2026.

now, i understand shitposting because it’s good to be american and live in the imperial capitol (the contiguous us). but i think it takes a level of being shitty to blame other, “lesser” countries’ failings on a supposed inherent inferiority. it’s just one of those things that’s so unfair it makes me angry. but there’s a lot of that going on, i’m an angry person.

[icouldbeluckyagain]

Congratulations 🍾✨🎊!!! I'm very glad you guys got rid of that fascist. I'm not Brazilian so, can I ask why the difference was so small?? it's really concerning that almost half of the country voted for B*lso. Could be because Lulas image was tainted by corruption? maybe they should have picked another candidate to be safer! sorry if the question is stupid (corruption is a big deal in my country so I'm just trying to understand)

have a good night and celebrate safely!

hello! thank you so much, it truly feels like the first breath of fresh air in four very long years. I took some time to answer this because i did have a few glasses of wine to celebrate lol but buckle up because this will be a long-ish answer

and don't worry that's not a dumb question at all. the truth is I don't know. we (as in 50% of brazil) are still shocked and incredidulous that a candidate as unpreprared as bolsonaro had as many votes as he did. he had an awful covid pandemic management, he made fun of the people that were dying, he discredited science and the vaccine, the economy is an absolute mess, more than 30 million people are starving, our diplomacy is basically non-existent, the amazon is getting burned, and so on. so for me, there was no choice other than elect anyone that wasn't bolsonaro.

but here's the thing. yes, pt (lula's party) did have corruption scandals surrounding it, and even though lula was cleared from all charges, bolsonaro's campaingn was all about it in both 2018 and now. that was one of his biggest selling points that helped him get elected in 2018, and while that is still very strong, it's not just that.

bolsonaro's speech is increibly conservative. it's all about fighting corruption (which lol he's got a 53 billion reais - way bigger than pt's - corruption bomb about to explode on him anytime now), his speech is directed to all the religious masses, his campaing has absurd level of misinformation and fake news, he's mysoginistic, homophobic and racist. and unfortunately a lot of people sympathize with that.

but the worst of all is: he's got control over the main authorities in the country (for example, just today - election day - the police was stopping buses for fiscalization on the main geographic regions where lula was sure to have an advantage - fun fact the police director was just yesterday showing his support to bolsonaro on twitter and metting with him a few days earlier lol), which means there is no investigations at all. as soon as his sons started being investigated for corruption scandals, he switched the people in charge for people of his interest. so everthing stays hidden, and the people are blind to all of that. it's truly incredible, and i don't know what happed to people's common sense.

but with all that being said, there is no left wing candidate in brazil right now as strong as lula. considering everything that happened in the past few years and considering bolsonaro had the upper hand (since he was trying for reelection), it's such a big win. so let's celebrate to that. democracy won.

[newtonsheffield]

I'm a twitter girl but your tumblr page makes me so happy I almost forget just how much of a big mess everything in world is right now (cries in brazilian) cause even if I'm feeling incredibly frustrated I just know that I can re-read your posts and that is ✨ casual magic ✨

With that being said, I would really love if you could write something like kathony making up after a fight (yikes, angst trope), they're so adorable that even angst from these two peanuts makes me go 🥰😍🥺

Hiiiii! 

I’m very glad to have lured you over from twitter, even if just for a little while! But ✨ casual magic ✨is not necessarily a phrase I would use to describe my writing process. I am most often found crafting these posts on an upturned bucket sandwiched between the cupboard where we keep the surgical instruments and the stock cupboard in the sterilisation room at work, tapping away on my iPad. That being said I’m very glad that you find this blog a soothing (maybe?), entertaining place to hang out!  And I always love reading your comments! 

Okay! Kathony fights seems to be a very popular prompt at the moment so I’m gonna let a few people piggyback on your post! Sorry! I know I’m the worst! 

Anon Asked: Hi! Thank you so much for your entire Bridgerton and Sons AU universe!! Your updates make my day :) I am a sucker for angst and then make up sessions and was wondering if we could see more of Anthony and Kate's fights (and make-ups), maybe when they first started dating? Hello and I can take no credit for making your day! Anthony and Kate are fully formed people at this point and write themselves at this point. I just post it! 

Anon Asked: Hi.I love Bridgertons and Sons so much.I would really like to see Kathony fighting ( cause I live for the angst ), could do maybe there first serious fight as a couple? Hello! I’m so glad you’re loving Bridgerton and Sons! I’m ridiculously proud of this scrappy little universe that I keep determinedly crowbarring into the world so THANK YOU!

Kate Sheffield’s first fight with Anthony Bridgerton as a couple happened when they’d been together for about 2 months and honestly, in hindsight, it was a little surprising it had taken them so long. Especially given their track record.  Kate could admit, it had been her fault really. She had been feeling ridiculously tense all day, and she had really no idea why. She’d woken up and her teeth had been on edge. She’d sat in traffic, irritated, as the minutes ticked by. She’d been running late, walking quickly through the lobby and someone had walked right into her, hot coffee soaking into her blouse.  “Ma’am I’m so sorry!” The young man had said apologetically, attempting to dab at her with a napkin.  “It’s fine!” Kate had snapped, swatting the man’s hand away from her chest and moving towards the elevator.  “For Fuck’s sake!” She cursed, leaning against the wall of the elevator looking down at the large stain now splattered across the cream silk. Well that was never coming out. Still Kate told herself, not the end of the world, some of her dry cleaning should be in her office, Lucy usually collected it on Friday mornings. Kate sighed as she stepped off the elevator, barely looking up as she stepped out

“I know, I know I’m late Luce. I have been having the most fucking irritating morning.” Kate said irritatedly tapping away at her phone screen. And a decidedly more masculine voice than Lucy’s hummed  “I’m very sorry to hear it, Kate. Anything I can do to help you relax?” Kate stopped, her head swivelling upwards. Anthony was leaning against the reception desk, his hands in his pockets, his hair falling over his forehead, a lopsided grin on his face. And Kate’s stomach clenched a little at the sight of him. She forced her eyes to roll, forced herself to turn and walk away.  “No, Thank you. And surely, a man as busy and important as yourself as something better to do than convince your girlfriend to let you undress her in her office.” Kate quipped, Anthony’s laugh rang out and she heard his footsteps following her. Lucy looked up, her eyes wide as Kate breezed past her into her office with a  “I’ll just be a moment, Lucy.” shutting the door in Anthony’s smug face.

By the end of the day, Kate was really truly  ready to scream. She had three of her most annoying clients, and a settlement she had been managing for months had gone to fucking hell. Kate sighed putting her head in her hands, as a knock sounded at the door. Kate didn’t look up, Lucy had gone home an hour ago. she knew exactly who it would be and honestly, she didn’t want to be around Anthony’s calm patience when she was this irritated. She knew she’d snap at him and he didn’t deserve it. 

“Kate Sheffield and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day would be quite the film don’t you think?”  Anthony’s voice sing-songed across the room to her and Kate felt irritation flare in her chest again.  “Anthony, can you not, please?” Kate said irritatedly, still not looking up from the desk. Anthony clucked his tongue, and she heard his footsteps approaching then felt his firm grip on her forearms, dragging her to face him. An irritating smirk on his face.  “What’s up Katie Cat?” He said lightly, tapping her on the end of the nose. Kate scoffed irritatedly shrugging his hands off her arms as she stood. Snatching her bag from under the desk and marching past him towards the door. Frustration welling in her chest. She knew it wasn’t fair of her, knew that he was only trying to make her feel better, but because she was Kate Sheffield, she apparently couldn’t let him. She grabbed her coat and marched out of the office. Anthony calling out bewilderedly  “Kate, did I do something?”  “No.” Kate said unable to keep her tone from coming out clipped.

“Then why are you  practically sprinting away from me?” He said, and the last shred of her patience floated away.  “Because I just want to be alone!” She practically yelled, turning around hating herself as Anthony’s face fell, flinching away from her a little. His voice was a little stilted when he responded  “Kate what are we doing in a relationship if you don’t want to be around me? If you’re done just say so.” Ad she felt tears prick in her eyes at the despondent tone in his voice, the way he couldn’t even look her in the eye. And she crumbled. She dropped her bag and stepped towards him, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. 

“I love you.” Kate murmured against his neck, and She felt Anthony relax into hr embrace. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me today. I’m just tired and stressed and I don’t know you were just trying to help. I’m so sorry.”  Anthony was silent for several seconds before he said

“I love you too you know. And I know that I can be-” Anthony started a little hesitantly.  “No, Anthony.” Kate cut him off, the hesitant expression in his eyes nearly more than she could stand “You were just trying to help and I snapped at you. You have nothing to be sorry for okay?” Anthony stared into her eyes for several seconds as if to check if she was telling the truth before nodding, letting out a relived sigh.

“I just want to help you, when you feel like this Katie. We’re a team now, remember?” And his voice was so soft and he was looking at her with something like love in his eyes and she couldn’t help herself from standing on toes slightly to kiss him soundly. When they broke apart, Anthony’s lopsided grin had returned and Kate finally felt her irritation ebb away. She tugged on his hand 

“You’re coming home with me, Mr Bridgerton. We just had our first little tiff and I know something else we can do as a team.” Kate said, the corners of her lips tugging up into a smirk as Anthony jostled into her in his hurry to follow her. “And just by the way, I’m not sure I’ll ever be done with you.” 

I’m sorry! This was...bad    

[shihalyfie]

It kinda bugs me the countless times i had to correct people because they thought the Brazilian dubs (minus DtM and Fusion) are like the American ones, when the LatAm/Dub are more an adaption from the Japanese one. I remember some interview or article about Digimon (in Brazil) that the Rede Globo (a TV Station) got Digimon to get ratings, and they dubbed directly from Japanese, unlike to Pokemon BR dub which is from the 4Kids/American one.

This explains why when I watch either JP version w/ subs or the BR dub there's minimal changes like names or accents, the rest of the scene or even the whole episode is closer to JP.

But it kinda makes me quite upset when people say "dub" and forget not all dubs are American. And when people keep believing like, every dub followed the American one is quite tiring, y'know... I think it must be the same for SEA English dub fans but worse than my case.

So when i'm referring to dubs I also specify which country i'm talking about -- BR dub or US dub as example.

This is generally why I don't like to assume that someone is working with the American English dub version of things just because they're using the names that came from it, because although that's true in a large majority of cases, there are also a lot of dubs that translated directly from the Japanese script but still used those dub names. In fact, although the high dominance of English in the Western world makes the American English dub a dominant de facto standard for Digimon localization in the West, if we're just counting the sheer number of dubs out there, there are probably more that are closer to the Japanese script then there are based on the American English one. (So far I know of the Israeli one being in the latter category, but I can't think of any others I know of off the top of my head.) The exception is Digimon the Movie, which was directly based off the English script in most territories it was dubbed in (probably for logistics reasons).

This is also kind of what I mean when I say that the American English dub has permeated discourse originally intended for the Japanese version (and things based off of it). The Japanese version of Adventure and 02 never got subtitles until around 2009, resulting in almost a decade where the a good chunk of the fanbase was perpetuating the myth that "the American English dub didn't change much", whereas those who grew up with other dubs were either feeling a little gaslighted from hearing people describing a version of the series they never remembered or getting whiplash ("I don't understand why so many people exaggerate the nonexistent Takeru-Hikari-Daisuke love triangle," etc.), disputes over whether certain things in the series really happened or not, and testimonies from people who didn't know about the localization circumstances and got extreme whiplash as to "why The Movie has such different writing from the actual series". There were people who were basically working from the Japanese version at the time based on one of the non-American dubs and could testify that they remembered a very different series from what most of the English-speaking fans were talking about, but their testimony on the situation constantly got dismissed because the "it didn't change much" myth was so pervasive. Things were straightened out a little more once the Japanese version was subbed and more people were able to see the changes for themselves, but said increase in awareness is going really, really slowly, and I think people really tend to underestimate how much of a perhaps unintentional influence that dub has had on discussion of the Japanese version because of how much it defined discourse for almost a decade. Even recently, there was something circulating on Twitter with an American English dub Davis quote that weirded out anyone who wasn't familiar with that dub because of how incredibly out of character that would be for Daisuke, even to the point of getting comments "well now I understand why so many Americans hate him," but others still wouldn't believe you and would play devil's advocate or accuse you of exaggerating if you brought up how significant that difference was, because of how accepted as truth that myth has become.

[3dnygma]

it’s Grouch time baby!!

So, people on twitter have been talking about international productions of Sesame Street - and I am all here for it! Big Bird even shared a thread on his “bird cousins” that has received many likes and retweets since.

However, Big Bird isn’t the only one with relatives all around so world!! So let’s take a proper look at some of Oscar’s Grouch relatives!!

(Sidenote: I grew up with the German production of Sesame Street, so we’re going to start with the German Grouches. My main source is the English Muppets Wiki!)

1. Rumpel! My favourite Grouch of all time. His Sesamstraße (ger. Sesame Street) debut was in 1989. In order to appease German parents, it was decided that he would be living in a rain barrel instead of a trash can. He also became progressively nicer over time, which I think works quite well with his cute character design. His pet caterpillar is called Gustav!

(more Grouches can be found under the cut)

2. Super-Grautsch! A rare visitor of Sesamstraße with only a handful of appearances. Some neighbourhoods have Super Grovers, some have Super “Grautsches”...to be honest, I don’t know which one’s better. Another German Grouch with little appearances is Grouchella. And Wolf may not be a Grouch, but he very much has the personality of one.

3. Moishe Oofnik (”Oofnik” = hebrew for Grouch)! This fella resides on Rechov Sumsum (Israeli Sesame Street) and has been around ever since 1982. While other Israeli Muppets have been retired over time, this Grouch is sure to stay around, thus making him the oldest Israeli Muppet to endure ever since his creation. I absolutely admire the little details of his fur!! His home is, in fact, not a trashcan but a recycling bin. Before that, he used to live in a broken car.

4. Uncle Yuska! Not much is known about this Grouch, since he only appeared in one episode of the Israeli co-production. However, we do know that he is Oofnik’s unlce. AND that I love his design with all of my heart.

5. Mordicus! This musical legend and his saxophone used to reside in a trashcan on 1, Rue Sésame (French Sesame Street) from 1978 until 1982.  Another production called 5, Rue Sésame aired from 2005 until 2007 - but it did not feature Mordicus.

6. Khepu! This handsome fella lives in a claypot and has been featured on Sisimpur (Bangladeshi Sesame Street) for about a decade. He was recycled from a purple Grouch Muppet that was previously used in the US production.

7. Gugu! His debut was on Vila Sésamo (Brazilian Sesame Street) in 1972. One very notable feature of the (now cancelled) Vila Sésamo is that all of its puppets were built by Brazilian puppet builder Naum Alves de Sousa and not the Sesame Street Workshop, thus resulting in their unique appearance. Nevertheless, Gugu is labelled as a Grouch and Oscar has been renamed to “Gugu” in contemporary Brazilian dubs of the US-American version of Sesame Street.

8. Bodoque! This Mexican Grouch used to live on a pile of boxes in Plaza Sésamo, starting with the show’s creation and ending with his personal retirement in 1995. The show has since featured other, newer characters. 

9. Ferrão! Although similar in appearance, this Grouch is not to be confused with Bodoque. Ferrão resides in a crate of wood on Rua Sésamo (Portugese Sesame Street) and, despite being quite a know-it-all, can also be very pleasant to be around with.

10. Khadoosa! I almost forgot about this fella, since his design didn’t seem particularly interesting to me at first. HOWEVER, what does set him apart from most Grouches is his personality! He actually hates getting dirty and would much rather be surrounded by pretty flowers. Khadoosa can be seen on Galli Galli Sim Sim (Indian Sesame Street).

These are, in my opinion, the most notable Grouches around the world. However, you are welcome to check out some more international Grouches here or add more comments/trivia under this post. Thx for giving this post a read!

[madamebaggio]

Notes! IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

I don’t know how many of the non-latins here will get this reference, but I’m sure Brazilians -such as myself -and if there’s any Mexican around will. I can’t say about other Latin countries, or any of our northern neighbors and everybody that’s beyond that…

Have you guys ever heard about the Mexican band RBD? That’s a good way to start this conversation.

Back in 2004 (if I’m not mistaken) there was this Mexican telenovela called “Rebelde”. It was a remake of an Argetinian telenovela (“Rebelde Way”), and it told the story of a bunch of rich kids in a boarding school. Well, not all the kids were rich, but you get the idea.

From the telenovela came the band (RBD), which had six members, who also played characters in the telenovela.

I was 14 at the time and I was absolutely mad over it. It was great, cheesy and corny in the best possible way. I have many fond memories of the telenovela and great regret that I never got the chance to see RBD playing live.

Anyway, the band broke up around 2009, but many fans still love them (maybe it’s just us Brazilians, we have a hard time letting go of stuff…)

Recently their albums finally were made available on Spotify and it got me thinking and…Well, this is the result.

I’m not saying that this is what happened to the actors after the band/telenovela was over. It was just another crazy idea that popped into my mind and wouldn’t let go until I wrote it down.

So… Yeah.

***

Chapter 1

Arthur was passing by Catia’s room when he heard it.

“You’re such a hooligan.”

He knew the voice, he knew where that sentence came from. Before he even noticed what he was doing, he’d pushed Catia’s door open and caught her watching TV.

He saw himself on the screen, much younger -God, so much younger -talking to the pretty redhead.

“And you’re a brat. So what?”

“I didn’t know you liked this show.” He said, startling Catia.

“Arthur!” She paused the scene, and turned to him. “I’m sorry. Did you…”

“I didn’t know they had that on Netflix.” He spoke before she could finish her sentence.

“Oh.” She looked at the TV like it was guilty of something. “They put it on it last week.”

Arthur hummed his understanding.

He didn’t really mind seeing himself as Michael Rivers, the poor student at High Tower Academy. It’d actually been his first role in TV, many years ago. The show (which was cringely called ‘Rebel Way’) was about an exclusive boarding school, and he was the underdog who fell in love with a rich girl.

Oh yes… They also sang. They made it cool before High School Musical came along. The show wasn’t actually a musical, but his character and a few friends were part of a band in it and in ‘real life’.

The show lasted three seasons -their time at the Academy -and the band still lasted two years after that.

“I can turn it off if you want.” Catia offered quietly.

Arthur shook his head. “No. It’s okay, Catia. You can watch it; I just didn’t know you liked the show.”

“It’s fun in a silly way.” She confessed with a giggle.

Arthur chuckled. “I know. I’m not embarrassed by it or anything.”

He left Catia to her show, and tried not to think about his time spent on it.

His mobile rang; it was Bedivere, his agent.

“Olenna Tyrell called me.” Bedivere told him without preamble. “She wants to talk to you.”

Fuck.

***

Sansa sat there as the hairdresser fixed her hair for the shooting. George was an artist, and he was making amazing curls on her hair.

Brienne was sitting on the couch nearby, checking her phone as they prepared and Sansa was talking about a new restaurant with George.

His new assistant kept throwing nervous glances towards Sansa, and the woman wondered when she’d get the courage to ask what was on her mind.

“Oh Seven, Lindsay. Just ask her already.” George told the girl, rolling his eyes when her fidgeting got on his nerves.

“I’m sorry!” Lindsay blushed terribly. “I didn’t want to bother you, Miss Stark.”

Sansa gave the girl a gentle smile. “It’s fine, Lindsay. What did you want to ask me?”

Lindsay bit her lower lip, clearly worried about saying what she had on her mind. However, she seemed to find her courage.

“I… I’m a big fan of Rebel Way.” She finally said. “I know it’s been a long time and all… But your character, Mia, was my first fashion icon.”

Sansa chuckled. “I’m glad to hear that. I loved her clothes.”

Lindsay seemed excited by it. “I made a uniform by myself when I was eleven.”

“Which uniform?” Sansa asked. “I liked the one in the first season better.”

“Me too!”

“Sansa.” Brienne cut in gently. “It’s a call for you. You might want to take it.”

Sansa frowned, wary of Brienne’s tone, but took the phone her agent was offering her.

“Sansa speaking.”

“Hey, Stark.” Margaery’s sugary sweet voice called from the other side. “We need to talk.”

***

Margaery knew Sansa wouldn’t be happy with the idea, but she’d promised her grandmother she’d do this for her.

Olenna was the only person that could get Margaery to do absolutely anything. She’d hide a body for her grandmother.

It took some convincing, but Sansa eventually accepted coming to the meeting. A part of Marge had wanted to hide some things from Sansa -like who was going to be there -but she knew it was unfair. They’d been friends for a really long time, and Marge wouldn’t risk it just to make her task easier.

She was in a peculiar position: on one hand, she was really happy with her life now, on the other, she genuinely thought that her grandmother’s idea was a good one.

When Marge entered the cast of Rebel Way, she was supposed to be the star of the show. Her grandmother was producing the whole thing, so it was a given.

She hadn’t liked Sansa at first, because it was clear that she’d get a lot of attention too. Their characters -Mia and Rosalie -were rivals for a big part of the show -they only became friends at the end of the second season. 

Marge and Sansa managed to become friends much earlier. Probably because Marge started dating Sansa’s brother, and Robb wanted them to get along.

It was very difficult to say ‘no’ to Robb Stark.

Which reminded Marge…

He’d be there as well.

Oh hell…

***

With the years, people stopped recognizing Robb as Daniel Cross from Rebel Way. He’d been way younger then, and now he had a beard so most people didn’t recognize him.

Some of the old fans still could, and he never changed his name; but generally he lived a pretty normal life.

“Mr. Cross.”

Some people were just fuckers. “Can I help you, Jon?” He glared at his long-time friend.

“Sansa’s on the phone.” Jon informed him, offering his own mobile. “She said she needs to talk to you and your phone is turned off.”

Robb frowned. Sansa was supposed to be in Madrid for a photoshoot. Why would she be calling him in the middle of the day?

Robb’s phone was dead, and he’d forgotten to recharge it, but if Sansa had called Jon looking for him, it should be serious.

Right?

“Hey, princess.” Robb said softly as he picked the phone. Jon waved at him, before leaving the room so they could talk.

“Hello, Robb.” Her voice was warm. “Do you have a minute?”

“For you? Always. Is something wrong?”

There was a pause. “Not exactly.”

“This doesn’t sound promising. What happened?”

“Margaery called me.” She sighed. “Olenna wants to meet with us.”

“What does Her Majesty want with us?”

Sansa took another long pause. “It’s about the show. Margaery just wouldn’t say what exactly.”

Oh shit. Robb did the math quickly in his head. He was almost certain that the show was about to reach its 15th anniversary. If he was correct, this couldn’t be just a coincidence.

“I really hope this isn’t a revival.” Robb joked softly. Lord, no!

“I don’t think it’s about the show, to be honest. I think it’s about the band.”

Robb cursed under his breath. “If it’s about the band…”

“They’re all going to be there.” Sansa finished for him.

“Shit. I’m going to call Theon.”

“That’s why I called you.” She confessed.

Robb sighed. “Thank you for the heads up.”

“Just be ready when you get the royal call.”

Robb snorted.

***

“Thank you for coming, Theon.”

Theon shook the hand of the man. “It’s always my pleasure, Tom.”

“You bring a lot of comfort to those kids. You make them realise it’s possible.”

Theon gave Tom a vague smile. “I’m glad to be of help.”

He waved and started leaving the room. Theon had mixed feelings when he heard things like this. On one hand, he was very proud of himself; it hadn’t been easy to get sober and remain sober. On the other hand… He didn’t feel like a good example, like he was someone any of those people should aspire to be like.

Yes, he’d been sober for almost seven years now, but it had been one hell of a messy journey.

When he reached the parking lot, he was shocked to see Robb there, leaning casually against his car.

“What’s up, Stark?” He called.

Robb looked at him and grinned. “Hey, Greyjoy.” They hugged it out. “Listen… Have you checked your phone?”

Theon was immediately wary. “No. I turn it off during meetings.”

“Right…” Robb cleared his throat. “So you’ll probably have some missed calls.”

“Robb, you didn’t come here to play the answering machine to me. What the fuck is going on?”

“Olenna is calling all of us.” Robb admitted. “Called Sansa, then me… And probably you.”

“Why?”

“Sansa thinks she wants to get the band back.”

“Why?” Theon repeated, this time disconcerted.

“I have no clue, but we’re getting close to the show’s anniversary.”

“Oh shit.” Theon grumbled. “I knew there was something weird going on.”

“What do you mean?”

“You should start checking Twitter.” Theon told him dryly. “Last week they put the show on Netflix. ‘Rebel Way’ is trending.”

Robb groaned. “Now what?”

“I’ll be honest… I want to know what the Queen wants.” Theon confessed. “Let’s see if I have a message waiting for me.”

***

“Have you heard? Sansa Stark is going to be exclusively with Versace this year.”

Maggie ignored the gossiping assistants and tried not to sigh.

She couldn’t escape Sansa’s name, since they were basically in the same industry, but it was never easy to hear it thrown around so casually.

Fashion Week was almost upon them, and people had often questioned the lack of interaction between the two former band mates.

Maggie was used to people asking her why Sansa -one of the highest paid models in the world -never worked with Maggie -the rising star of the fashion world.

Maggie wished she had a simple answer to that. She normally said that their schedules never worked out, and she knew Sansa had answered the same a few times.

The truth was Maggie resented Sansa a bit. She didn’t hate the model or whatever some people thought, she just…

Those years working together hadn’t been easy on Maggie. That was it. She wasn’t ready to just get back to it.

Her phone rang and when she picked it up, she saw a strange number calling. She ignored the call and was ready to put it away when it rang again, and Arthur’s name flashed on the screen.

“Hello, Arthur.” She said as she answered it.

“Oh you answered, great.” Arthur let out a relieved sigh. “Listen, Olenna Tyrell is going to call you. I’m calling first to warn you: she wants a meeting.”

“Oh. Slow down.” She asked, her head spinning. “What meeting?”

“A meeting with all of us; the whole band.”

Maggie had to sit down. “You can’t be serious.”

“I talked to her myself a few hours ago.” He told her. “The old witch wouldn’t tell me exactly what’s on her mind, but if she wants to see us all…”

“Are you sure she wants to meet with all of us at the same time?” Maggie pressed, desperate for a negative answer.

“She said that. ‘Get the kids back together’.” Arthur copied -poorly- Olenna’s voice. “Bedivere thinks it’s about the songs, but I think it isn’t that simple.”

“It never is.” Maggie grumbled, massaging her temples.

“Listen, if you don’t want to go, I’ll stand by you.” Arthur said, and she knew he meant it. “We don’t owe her anything.”

“Well, technically…”

“No ‘technically’, Maggie. We don’t need to do this.”

Maggie sighed. No, they didn’t, but she needed to. Some things had to be discussed, some problems had to be solved, and this was the only way she’d get some closure.

She needed to face the music -and the band.

[low-budget-korra]

The first text I made was over 2,000 words so I’ll try to summarize it.

First I'm going to talk about what I think is Bury Your Gays and poor writing of minorities.

For me, Bury your gays is when certain productions kill the lgbt character for the sake of shock value, often in the most stupid ways possible. A famous example of this was what happened to Lexa in the 100. When it feels like the character only died because he is gay.

And for me, poor writing for minorities (poc, lgbt, people with disabilities ...) can be characterized as:

1. Productions that want to portray the image of progressives and put a poc or lgbt character (which are the most common cases) without personality, unimportant, without development ... Character that are just there for decoration

2. When they even create an interesting character but soon create a reason to kill him to shock the audience. Kill them because they are poc.

And for me having a poc or lgbt character (since these are the boxes where I identify with) interesting, important ... this is the word: Important! whether it is important directly in the plot as a protagonist who carries the story or a supporting role with a good role on the story and a good development, it is much more significant than a character forced only for certain productions not to be accused of racism, sexism or lgbtphobia.

Of course, each case is different. I will now comment briefly on Atomic Blonde, The Last of Us part II and The Legend of Korra.

In Atomic Blonde we have the death of Delphine, a lgbt character who has generated some discussions about being a "bury your gays". I don't particularly agree because I believe that if she were a man or straight, she would die anyway. Since the protagonist's other love interest had died in the beginning and he was a heterosexual white man, and because the character of Delphine, despite being a spy, did not belong in that work or life style . Something even commented by herself. She was an inexperienced agent in the worst possible scenario to be one . But i now understand and why some people still think It was bury your gays.

In The Last of Us part II I saw many people complaining about the death of Jesse, Yara and how Lev was just a supporting character. The Last of Us part II .... a game that is not afraid to kill loved characters without any ceremony simply because in that world, one mistake can cost your life. Regardless of gender, sexuality, age, skin color ...

Jesse and Yara played Asian American characters and died. Mel, Joel, Owen ... were Caucasian, cishet characters who died too. None of them die because they are asian american or caucasian, they die cuz that world is fucking ruthless.

And about Lev not being important just because he is an supporting character... First that he is for Abby what Dina is for Ellie, both of them are extremely important support for the protagonists and Interesting characters with their own internal struggles and development. I think it is very unfair to throw this away with the argument like: "ah, but he is not the protagonist so it is not important"

And still about The Last of Us part II we are talking about a game and for those who do not know the gamer community is toxic, full of sexism, racism, lgbtphobia ... And the game developers had the balls for not only make two protagonists women outside the steryotype of femme fatalle or defenseless love interest(still very present in games) and one of them a lesbian, but also introducing an important trans character in a mainstream high-budget game.

People, until recently the only image we had of women in games was that of a busty model running around, made purely to please male players, good and important black, asian and lgbt characters was really rare or just didnt exist at all.

And today we have characters like Ellie, Lev, Kassandra (AC Odyssey), Jill Valentine and Claire Redfield who were reimagined more humanely in the remakes of Resident Evil, Lara Croft herself in the 2013 Tomb Raider remake, Max and Chloe(Life is Strange), Lee and Clementine(TWD from telltale), Marcus (Detroit Become Humam ), Connor (AC3) ... I know, there is still a long way to go until we have achieved the equality and representativeness that we want in the world of games but we are advancing. They may be a baby step but they still are steps forward. We should continue to support this initiatives and demand better representation.

Now about The Legend of Korra ... Reading the comments in the post i get the feeling that people were much more angry with Bryke for being cishet than with questions related to the narrative.

It bothers me the fact that it seems that whoever made the posts (originally from twitter) did not watch avatar or simply watched without paying attention. It was NEVER about Korra needed suffering but about finding Meaning in suffering. And yes, they are two different things.

When in the end Korra is talking to Tenzin, about understand the why she had to go through all that , for them be abble to be more compassionate of others. That shit is real. When you have a panic attack , for exemple, you become more abble to help someone who also suffers from that. Or when some people lose someone for a disease or acident and choose to become a doctor to help others, wanting no other person had to go through that pain... In this case, the person didnt have to lose someone to be a doctor but maybe after saw all the fight that the doctors put in to save someone and the pain of losing someone may have made the person spend the rest of his life saving people. Get It?

And in Avatar, both TLA and TLOK, people have suffer.

Aang: Cast aside by his friends when people discover he was the Avatar. Runaway and lose all of his people. Had to see the devastation for himself and find the bones of his friend and possible father figure. Almost die a few times. For many years had the weight of been the last of his people. And in a part of the journey, lost Appa.

Sokka and Katara: Lost their mother. Their dad leave to fight and possible die in the war. Sokka was only a teen when he was the man responsable for his tribe. Katara had the weight of being the only waterbender of her tribe and be the only one that could calm Aang once he was in Avatar State.

Toph: as a blind kid, her parents think of her as someone unable to do anything. Had to choose between save Appa or save the others in some point of their journey

Zuko: When i start with him?

Azula: oh Boy...

Iroh: Lose is only son. Had to see his brother burn Zuko's face. And Zuko betrayed him, kind of, in the end of book2.

Asami: Her mom was murdered , maybe even in front of her. Her dad was a evil genius. She probably suffered with Korra in those 3 years.

Mako and Bolin: They grow up as orphans on the streets...

I could go on and on, dude, even the cabbage man had suffer from losing his cabbages over and over.

But all of the sudden, Korra now had to have plot armor or else Bryke is wrong and are terrible people.

Everybody loves to talk about how perfect Zuko's arc and development is. Zuko, who was one of the characters who most have suffered in the show. But for him all was necessary, had meaning, perfect storytelling and structure but with Korra.... "She cant suffer cuz she is brown"

And its not like Bryke was making something up outta nowhere just to torture the character. All she face it was a consequence direct or indirect of her actions and actions of other people.

Amon and the Equalists? Aang didnt kill Yakone nor put him in prison for life, just took his bending. Yakone was a terrible father, and one of the reason Amon hate bending (even himself been a waterbender) so much to the point of him do what he did. The same to Tarrlok. He turn his sons into monsters. And the triads only help them, because they use their bending to rob the non benders.

Vaatu? Look up The Beginning epsodes because this one is more complex.

Unalaq? Look, the worst villain of Avatar. But he took advantage of things that happen as consequences of the ending of book1

Zaheer? Direct consequence of that happen in the finale of book 2.

Kuvira? Direct consequence of things that happen in book 3

Again, i could go on and on and go deeper on all that. But this is already getting to big.

But what pissed me off most is ... Look im years in this fandom. As a Brazilian i saw and read stuff from the fandom here in my country and the fandom here in Tumblr. And in those years i read so much about how Korra journey help people overcome their struggles with ptsd, anxiety, depression...myself included. How much Korra was important to lesbians and bissexuals girls, especially girls of color.

And them we have those few people throw shit on all this and "cancel" you for not agree with them...

The Legend of Korra ended 2014, 6 years ago and still is so loved, so important to so many people, for the most diverse reasons.

For a cishet, Bryke did a amazing job creating this amazingly beautiful universe. With the most diverse inspirations, coming from places that are forgotten on western media. But i guess its easier criticize, and cancel them and the show than do what they did.

I know that sometimes we just wanted a scape from our difficult reality but seriously, if you Just want a movie/tv show/book...100% happy, rainbow and sunshine with no suffering at all, stick with the fanfics because even romcons sometimes have their among of "i you make you cry and suffer" kind of shit.

Suffer is present in our life and what a lot of movies/tv shows/games/books...try to do is bring our struggles and our suffering into them. Why? Its easier have simpathy for characters who look like us, characters who had been through the same stuff as us.

Is so difficult talk those things in another language. I always feel like i didnt express myself right. And im really sorry if i offended anyone, it wasnt my intention.

[everarri]

this is my hot take on the Lando situation whether you like it or not 

before we start i’m feel like i need to say that in this blog we do not put drivers on a pedestal except for lewis jk we don’t, yes we can like a driver and still criticize them, cancel culture is toxic and all that tango we hear every week here but things are getting out of hand the way lando has been acting is nowhere near as bad on what happened with max, i don’t know people are comparing the two. but still needs to be discussed 

like i said before i don’t know what kind of third world demon possessed that man but holy mother he is acting so childish, petty and dismissive of everything is like he’s a complete different person from the beginning of the year. “but ana we all change and make mistakes it’s life” i agree my fellow tumblr user but let’s do my favorite segment on this blog:

*game show music playing* whaaaaat if was another driver doing thaaat? *our crowd cheers as the contestants enters the stage*

let’s make up a little story here. actually i got this from twitter shout out to @/albertini_andre for the take. It’s 1993. the best driver in the world reaches 41 wins, brazilian record and world record. young Rubens Barrichello comes and says the same thing about senna... career ended. 

no no let’s make it better let’s make it 2010 here, pretend alonso is the one who got all of the records lewis holds, carlos sainz comes and says “oh i don’t care it’s not the driver it’s the car” EVEN BETTER it’s a seb/charles situation... It’s a Checo/Lance situation... tell me how many people would be trying to excuse their words? and how many would be in front of their house throwing raw egg at their windows?

it’s not about “oh but x driver did something worse” bro if there is an issue we need to talk about it, this is respectful. Yeah he’s frustrated we all been there but it. doesn’t. excuse. anything. everything he said this weekend has been just petty and disrespectful. him more than anyone should know that it’s not just the car that makes a campion. he stays back to help clean up. he goes to the factory. he works with the mechanics. he knows better than this, frustration is not an excuse. 

Let’s look at George for a minute. almost the same age. same generation. same year that he got in f1. drives the worst car on that grid. had his race ruined a lot because of others. has no points for the second year. might lose his seat. and what he does every week? He’s respectful, NEVER blames on his team for the bad results, NEVER make petty comments even when grosjean stamped him in a wall in italy, he congratulates his rivals and his friends for every little accomplish. he should be the most frustrated person on that grid but no he’s the most polite man around.

you know what he’s looking like, a 10 year old spoiled kid who didn’t get his way and now is taking his frustration in everything around him. he has his media team, mclaren did everything to make him comfortable, he knows what anxiety can look like he’s been there but he’s still making snarky comments over lance. 

I don’t think it was worse than what max did and said in any way or form, but it doesn’t make it ok. 

to finish this essay with a bang i’m quoting daddy wolff by what i remeber from the quote “drivers who says he’s winning because he drives a mercedes is the reason why they aren’t driving a mercedes”

mic drop and goodnight everyone

[arcadialedger]

The Harry Potter Wizarding Schools Map: A Rant/ Meta

*takes deep breath

Okay. I am a huge fan of Harry Potter. I even enjoyed the first Fantastic Beasts film. However, I am not afraid to call out Wizarding World canon when it screws up royally.

And, well, the recent map of all of the Wizarding schools is just that. A royally big screw up.

*le sigh.

Where do I begin with how geographically, culturally, and linguistically egregious this is?

To start off, let’s look at a map which makes things more visually easy to discern.

Let’s move West to East, shall we?

The first absurdity is, of course, the size of Ilvermorny. It is ridiculous already to imply that all of AMERICA would fit into one school, and not have one in, well, pretty much every major city. At least a west coast and east coast school. But the fact we’re supposed to share a school WITH CANADA AND MEXICO? Let’s compare the size of the population this school is supposed to cover vs that of Hogwarts, shall we?

Yeah. NEARLY NINE TIMES AS LARGE. There is a blatant lack of understanding of the world outside of the UK here on JK’s part.

The idea that Mexico would not, culturally and linguistically, be grouped in with a Central American school is also ridiculous, which brings me to my next grievance.

The entirety of South America going to Castlebruxos in Brazil. This is absurd enough already, once again, with the population issue. But there’s another thing here.

An entire continent which is entirely Spanish speaking besides one country going to school in the one country that speaks Portuguese. In a school named in Portuguese.

There should, realistically, be a separate Central American school, Brazilian school, and one for general South America. Probably two, actually, one down in Argentina.

Western Europe is fine because that the region JK Rowling knows. Besides the fact that Italy has no Wizarding School. You know, even though the spells in the series ARE IN FUCKING LATIN (Yes, I am an angry Italian)

Let’s move on to Africa. Ah, Africa, a culturally diverse continent with over 200 languages and hundreds of individual cultures— relegated to one school. In Uganda. No Nigerian Yoruba school, no southern South Africa school.

“It is the largest of the eleven wizarding schools, accepting students from all over Africa”—https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Uagadou_School_of_Magic

What’s the population of Africa, might you ask?

BILLION. BILLION. ALMOST TWENTY TIMES THE POPULATION OF THE UK.

Jk, your ignorance is showing.

Now, I’m fine with Russia having its own school. It actually makes sense and isn’t infeasbale.

But the rest of Asia? Is a travesty.

Not only is there no Wizarding School for the Middle East, the cradle of civilization, but CHINA AND INDIA, THE TWO MOST POPULATED COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD WITH TOTALLY DIFFERENT CULTURES, SHARE A BLOODYDAMN SCHOOL.

There should be a Southwest Asian school, if not multiple schools in India. There should be a separate Chinese school. There should be a separate South East Asian school, not grouped in the bloodydamn Pacific.

China and India ALONE account for 2.8 BILLION PEOPLE. That is over 40x the population of the UK, and this apparently isn’t even the biggest school. Did JK Rowling even think this through?

There are 22 official languages in India alone, not including the hundreds of dialects. There are 297 living languages in China. This. Would. Never. Work. Culturally or linguistically.

Then we have the Japanese school, which population wise is fine, but the name is entirely wrong linguistically, as explained by a Japanese speaker on Twitter here.

And lastly the Pacific School. Size wise this is perfectly fine, as including the populations of Australia and the Pacfic Islands it only rounds out to about 28 million people. Including the southeast Asian countries and New Zealand, I’d say it rounds out just fine. But geographically and culturally? Not likely to work. The Pacific Islands are of tribal tradition, with many of the islands having their own language, culture, religion, etc. Just like Native Americans, the nature of TV wit culture would probably mean the Pasifika people don’t attend a big regional school, but smaller individual schools on their islands.

So there you have it. All of my grievances with this absurd map of the world’s wizarding schools. This truly showcases an exceptional cultural and geographical ignorance of the world.

[quietduckpond]

2020, January-July in Review

If you'd have told me what 2020 was gonna be last year I woulda been like what??? The hell kind of drugs are you on??? This stuff is so far out that it'd be considered a completely unrealistic plot for a tv show or book or anything, really. Like, especially recently, it’s almost (but not quite) comical. 

I thought I’d just start listing stuff I knew about, but then I did some research, and, well . . . Sources are at the bottom :) . I’ve tried to keep it to the weird or just plain cool stuff that’s happened, because most of what I hear about is the bad stuff, but I may have gone a liiiiiiitle overboard. Anyway, here's a list of stuff that's happened this year (feel free to add to it, as I couldn’t possibly include everything in a single post).

First off, we have January. Looooooot of stuff went down in January. And we thought that that’d be the worst of it. Ha! Anyway, here it is:

Australia was, like, on fire, with tens of millions of acres burned. (Last source has a visual guide for this. Australia is roughly the same size of the US, for those unaware)

WWIII threatened to break out when Iranian General Qassem Soleimani was killed on orders from Trump

Iran's retaliation strike involved the launch of missiles at two American military bases (further WWIII fears)

Ukrainian plane carrying 176 civilians was shot down by Iran, after mistaking it as a threat

Covid-19's outbreak in China being officially reported to the WHO (despite being reported to Chinese officials as early as Nov. 2019)

China records the first death due to Coronavirus

Wuhan, China, goes under lockdown, impacting 11 million people in terms of travel restrictions, with food shortages ensuing.

Trump's impeachment trial begins

UK withdraws from the European Union (tbh I don't fully understand the deal with this as I don't live in Europe, but oh well)

Next, we have February. Not too much happened in February tbh:

Trump is acquitted by the Senate on both articles of impeachment

Antarctica reaches a record high of 18.2 °C (64.9 °F) as recorded by an Argentinian research station (Global Warming!!!!)

India grants equal rights to women (but only within the armed forces)

Then we get to March:

Italy implements a country-wide lockdown, and is the first nation to do so

COVID-19 is officially declared a world-wide pandemic, after cases were recorded in more than 100 countries

Summer Olympics postponed until 2021

Trump declares a national emergency, freeing up $50 billion to help with the Covid-19

And April:

New York alone receives the highest number of COVID cases than any country in the world.

By this stage there are now more than 1 million COVID-19 cases world-wide

Bernie Sanders endorses former rival Joe Biden for US President

Trump freezes WHO funding

Canada experiences its worst modern mass-shooting, with 18 people dead, leads to ban of 1500 types of assault-style weapons (technically the banning happened in May, but anyway)

Trump suggests to injecting disinfectant or UV light (honestly, how would that even work??? Glow sticks? Swallowing torches???) into the body. (But seriously, DO NOT DO THIS!!!!!!!!!)

Trump claims that COVID-19 originated in a Wuhan Laboratory. (This is not supported by ANY facts, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence even said that the virus wasn’t man-made)

Green house gas emissions drop by a massive 17% world-wide, relating to the COVID-19 pandemic

And May:

World leaders pledge $8 billion to fund COVID-19 vaccination research. The US and Russia choose not to contribute.

11-year-old Brazilian skateboarder, Gui Khury, becomes holds the world record for the 1st 1080° turn on a vertical ramp (tbh I only included this one because I thought it was cool, and I needed something happy to write about)

George Floyd is killed by police in the US, sparks international racial protests and a resurgence of BLM marches

Twitter adds a warning label about the inaccuracies of Trumps tweets

USA surpasses 100,000 deaths due to COVID-19

National guard is brought into Minnesota to quell George Floyd and BLM protests, as well as a curfew

Further protests ensue, well into July, both in the US and internationally.

But wait! There’s more in June! A lot more:

Locusts swarm the Horn of Africa, damaging crops and spreading disease. BILLIONS of locusts

Trump threatens to use Military force against civilians in order to quell protests sparked by George Floyd’s death

Trump orders the tear-gassing and dispersal of peaceful protesters using riot gear and rubber bullets, without warning, for a photo-op outside St John’s Episcopal Church. This was without permission of the bishop, Reverend Mariann Budde. She has said she was "outraged” and that the church was used, “as a backdrop . . . without permission”, and that members of the clergy had even joined the protests the day before.

UK COVID-19 death toll surpasses 50,000

3 Former Police Officers charged with second-degree murder over George Floyd’s death

Former defence secretary speaks out against Trump saying,  "Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us."

First major breakthrough in treating coronavirus COVID-19 using steroid dexamethasone announced by Oxford University

US Supreme Court rules the Obama-era Dreamers Program (DACA), enabling undocumented migrant children ability to study and work, can stay (Yay!!!!!!)

Trump holds his first re-election rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, before being COMPLETELY derailed by TikTok users and K-Pop stars to purposefully orchestrate a low turn-out by reserving seats and then not attending (Honestly, this was so on-brand for Gen Z, absolutely brilliant!!!)

US government data shows African Americans four times more likely than white Americans to be hospitalized due to COVID-19, highlighting racial disparities during the pandemic

The WHO declares the Ebola outbreak in the Congo over, which killed 2,280 people over 2 years

New York Times says Russia secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked forces to kill US and coalition troops in Afghanistan, meanwhile Trump did nothing

Locust invasion labelled 'Swarmageddon' by The Times of India as it reaches Delhi (Yup, the very same one form before, now in India)

Global death toll due to COVID-19 passes 500,000, more than doubling in less than two months.

Arizona reports 20% of tests returning as positive

And finally, July. This has been an absolute trip so far, but here we go:

Australian state Victoria re-imposes coronavirus lockdown on 36 Melbourne (which is in Victoria) suburbs, affecting 300,000 people

The US confirms more than 50,000 new COVID cases in one day

Texas Governor Greg Abbott makes wearing face masks mandatory as cases of coronavirus soar in the state 

Over 160 people die after a landslide at a jade mine in northern Hpakant area of Myanmar

The US officially begins withdrawing from the WHO

Trump Administration issues directive that more than 1 million international students will be stripped of their visas if their courses are entirely online

Kanye West has said he’s now running as an independent for President???? Like, what???

So. Rappers are running for president amid a world-wide pandemic. There was an almost-revolution, a locust plague, the UK just decided to just quit Europe, and TikTok partially derailed a presidential campaign.

This has been a (just-over) half-year review. Might do another one at the end of the year, we’ll see. Sorry for the long post, but I hope you can appreciate with me just how bonkers this year has been so far.

Source, Source, Source, Source, Source, Source

[sebthesnipe]

The Dreamer by Whatwashernameagain an Analysis? Chapter 2! Part 4

All portions:

Chapter 1: Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4

Chapter 2: Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4

The Dreamer

@whatwashernameagain

As always, Spoilers under cut.

 Warning: Mentions of abuse, kinks... other stuff... Idk I’m too tired. 

Jumping right in where we left off. Eva writes about the Dreamer’s organization growing practically overnight and the amount of publicity he had to go through; she talks about interviews, photo shoots, calendars and merchandise. It pulls the attention back from the good vs. evil and the moral debate we discussed in the previous portion of this analysis and reminds us that while Logan and Roman are at opposite ends and fight for morality (whether misguided or not); the organization that was created for the Dreamer is not concerned with those things. No, they are they are there for profit and power; both of which is provided by the Dreamer. This is no doubt exactly what Roman’s father was hoping for when he mutilated and tortured his son into being the ‘symbol of hope’ that he is now.

Our attention is also brought back to the fact that despite his love for the spotlight, Roman is a man of action when it comes to protecting others. It is pointed out that Roman ‘found the publicity work hard to bear at first’ (Whatwashernameagain). After all the time he spent changing himself, putting himself though such agonizing pain, he is found, once again, waiting. The photos the interviews, they are excused by his team explaining that that was how you saved the world in such a media driven society…. Well…. Honestly this kind of pisses me off lol. Because, the reality of it is… That that is partially true. Granted, the cure for cancer isn’t going to be found through Facebook posts… But the publicity can cause enough financial support to fund the research that leads to its discovery.  Take Myllena Braz da Silva and Gabriel Martins, two Brazilian students who despite being a part of a less than booming town discovered a way to make new drugs that cost less money and time which could save millions of lives that are loss due to Zika (and they were High School students at the time!) but because they didn’t present this information in an attractive way or to enough people their work has pretty much been overlooked (“Abstract Search.”). It just goes to show you how much this world relies on the media and dramatizations.

I suppose the thing that upsets me the most is the line: “Chastised, Roman had deferred to their expertise” (Whatwashernameagain). This line is perfect here. After feeding Roman the lines about the necessity of social media despite Roman knowing at this core that he needed to act rather than make money for someone else, he reminds himself that these people know more than he does, that he is lessor than they in some way. It reminds the reader that despite his strength and his morals, Roman is still, at his core, an insecure child.

We are also once again, presented with the contrast between he and Logan. Roman mention Instagram and Twitter; places that are used to display yourself but are not very good means of communicating between him and his fans/supporters. While the Utilitarianist is mentioned using Discord and Tumblr; two social media platforms that are highly influenced by the people who contribute to them. Discord allows direct conversations between individuals and Tumblr allows for messaging, asks, etc. It is a subtle difference but one I quite enjoy.

Roman also mentions the was Logan’s groups ‘doing his dirty work, popped up all over the web like toxic mushrooms’ (Whatwashernameagain). Eva always has a way with metaphors. I think that Logan would have both good and bad things to say about this, however. Firstly, I think he would understand that Roman meant this as an insult. Secondly, he would probably not hesitated to point out to the incompetent man that there are some species of toxic mushrooms that theoretically produce billions of compounds through 1 molecular assembly line and can precisely target cells inside the human body and thusly can offer potential medicinal purposes which can lead to new medicines (“Do Poisonous Mushrooms Have a Pharmaceutical Purpose?”). Afterall many cyclic peptides are already known to be important drugs against things such as tuberculosis Staphylococcus, and even cancer (“Do Poisonous Mushrooms Have a Pharmaceutical Purpose?”). So, once again, Logan maybe viewed as bad (just as this toxic mushroom metaphor is) but he might be the medicine this world truly needs (at least… according to him).

“Tirelessly, he tried to remind the world of what mattered, using bold words to paint a bright and colorful picture of the future he truly believed in. A future of unity. They mustn’t lose sight of what mattered – standing together, fighting the hate the Utilitarianist spread with his extremism that called to simple solutions. To violence. Being kind was harder, almost impossibly hard, but Roman would not lose himself in hate, and he knew his fellow Americans wouldn’t either. Breaking the law and turning to murder would not save the planet, it would turn them into monsters” (Whatwashernameagain).

I would like to say that I only want to touch on this para briefly… but let’s be honest, I am rarely brief about anything. Most of what I am about to say is opinion. I have no facts or quotes to back me up on this; everything is simply my experience. Roman brings to light something I tell people all the time, though I am usually ignored. Actually, the question I get most often when people find out that I use to be Law Enforcement is generally ‘You seem to nice/kind to have been a cop’. I usually counter with a ‘you don’t know enough cops’… But when you really get down to it, I think there is a number of reasons people believe that; though I’m not going to get into the political ones. No, the one I want to focus on is hatred. I’ve seen a lot of it. I’ve seen what a person can do to another in the name of hatred. I’ve witnessed it firsthand… been on the receiving end of it…. Watched co-workers, friends, family… be eaten away by it. Here is the truth: hatred is a virus that lays dormant in us all. It is already a part of us, whether we know it or not. Once it is activated but whatever means… it grows and if we let it, it consumes us… If that hatred is seen by or directed towards another it is possible that the hatred that lies dormant inside them is activated…. From there it spreads… like an epidemic… Only epidemics have a cure… Hatred never goes away permanently. It is apart of us. If it is ‘cured’ the virus is still there, it is merely reverted back to its dormant stage… waiting for another chance to be activated.

I’ve watched it spread and spread… even when I was very little and I told myself that ‘that won’t be me’ but… hatred exists in all of us. So, what’s the ‘cure’ that will revert hatred back to its dormant state? Choice. Roman is right… Kindness is so much harder because it is not engrained in us… it is taught… whether by someone else or self-taught. Kindness is a choice. Happiness is a choice… I mentioned the effect of our thoughts on the outer world during Chapter 1. We choose out thoughts, we choose the effect we want to have, we choose kindness. Don’t the person who treated you poorly, pity them… What kind of sad life must they have lived to feel that it is acceptable to treat someone like they do… Or what kind of emotional baggage do they carry that makes them crave the feeling of hatred over numbness… Pity them… They’ve obvious lived a horrible life. Reach out a hand… Who knows… Maybe you’ll save a life rather than ruining on. You don’t have to forgive them… Some times you can’t… but you can be kind without forgiveness.

This of course, is all more difficult than it sounds and it took me years to manage it but it is true and possible. Hatred can be combatted with kindness. Forgiveness comes in time. Help those that hate you; they are misguided. In the end, hatred harms yourself more than others.

Okay… I think I might need to move on…. Ready for some whiplash?

“Even as Roman got to shake the hand of the president, he felt he was not doing enough. He should be out there, fighting harder.

Even after chasing him for almost a year now, Roman felt those things as strongly as ever. He was right, gosh darn it! How could this irritating man not see the merit of a peaceful solution? Who didn’t want peace?!” (Whatwashernameagain)

Poor poor Roman. I love him so much. The poor baby is obviously still having trouble with patience… or rather not-acting. The first line is a reminder that Roman is never enough for himself. He always has to be better, has to do better. I… can understand that. Perhaps if he ever considers himself enough for his father than he might consider himself enough for himself… but he never will be, will he? Enough for his father I mean…

But that revolution I mentioned at the beginning of Chapter 2 analysis is starting to rear its beautiful head. We see Roman starting to get more antsy than ever. Despite the reminder that he considers his team ‘wiser’ when it comes to these things, it is obvious that those thoughts are starting to wear thin. We see Roman’s exasperation grow with the frustrated tones of the last few sentences.

Though his frustration isn’t just directed towards himself and his team but towards the Utilitarianist as well. Roman has proven (as I covered in the last section of the analysis) that he believes all people are inherently good. So, you can imagine his frustration at the fact that his actions towards Logan lead nowhere. The catch is, we know Logan is good at heart and that Roman is as well; they just don’t know that about the other… Though I think Logan has an inkling.

Finally, we see Roman go against orders to keep his mouth shut and the hero confronts his villain for the first time. The setting could no be more perfect, Eva always does have quite the way of picking the perfect atmosphere for these kinds of things. “The wind created by the rotor blades of the approaching helicopter whipping at their clothes on the roof-top almost carried away his words” (Whatwashernameagain). Chaos is created in the scene by the helicopter making it hard to hear each other. Its really fantastic symbolism for their current state in their relationship and perhaps in themselves as well.

Roman is born from chaos. His misguided aspiration for his father’s love. The work that defines him being nothing more than a payload for said father. His fight to follow his team while ignoring the growing need to physically act. The good he wants to do by basically doing things that might not be what we would consider good or for good (mostly because its pretty much all for profit, not that Roman knows that).

Logan may not be born from chaos but he /is/ chaos. Logan is a great example of doing bad things for good reasons… Which in and of itself is fairly chaotic. Not to mention with every act he sends the world through another wave of chaos as well. His entire goal is to turn the economic world on its head in the first place… talk about chaos.

I love that the first line Roman ever speaks to the villain is “Why must you be so impossible?” (Whatwashernameagain). Fairly simplistic words, not much to be impressed about? I would disagree. The words are spoken with such informality that it is almost as if they knew each other, and in a way, I suppose that they. They’ve been meeting for over a year; fighting for over a year.  They may not have spoken but they knew each other enough by now… at least that is what it felt like. No doubt when your world revolves around someone else, whether good or bad you feel like you know then. Logan is probably the only person in the world that knew Roman or that Roman felt like he knew even if they hadn’t spoken. Logan, at this point, is the closest thing to a friend that Roman has.

In the same paragraph we also see Roman’s sass returning, lightening our lives once more as he claims that Logan would be the cause of his death; that “He’d kill him with exasperation” (Whatwashernameagain). The way Roman almost curses but catches himself is also so wholesome. A gentleman would never lower himself to such language, of course.

And Logan, usually so cool and collected is pulled into Roman’s frustration. We see Logan’s struggle to keep himself in check and yet he indulges in himself, in such a human reaction. I’ve mentioned it before, but I’d like to point it out once more; Roman is a symbol of Logan’s humanity. Logan does his best not to feel regular emotions, he prefers to think of himself as a computer rather than human; the only time we really see Logan’s composure break is when he is facing Roman. Roman brings out these emotions in him; brings out the human part of him. We see that again here when Logan is unable to keep from replying.

“You cannot be serious. How dare you refer to me as impossible, you simple fool?” (Whatwashernameagian)

Once again, the words are simplistic and familiar, though they are spoken by Logan this time. The familiarity is there just as it is with Roman, despite the fact that he is insulting him. Once again it is possible (probable actually) that Roman is the closest thing Logan has to a friend. He does, after all build an AI to keep him company (along with doing his calculations).

We also see Roman try and be Logan’s conscious as well, which might be needed; after all computers don’t have a conscious; lecturing him about kidnapping and setting things on fire and worst of all ‘drowning [Roman] in frying fat!’… Though I don’t think there would be very many people upset about seeing Roman all oiled up… I know I wouldn’t. The reader’s attention is pulled back to Roman’s team members as Eva mentions the ‘ever-polite voice in his earpiece’ that was trying to get him under control; once again showing the difference between the team and Roman, himself.

The two men continue to argue bringing up a few valid points. Logan points out Roman’s ‘selfish’ thinking, which though we know, as the reader, isn’t exactly accurate it is understandable to believe that that is where Roman is coming from. He also points out that Roman is nothing by a monkey for the press and won’t be the one to bring about the revolution the world needs. Logan’s POV is accurate: Roman is acting as a monkey for his team and that on his present course there will be no revolution if he continues to follow them… Foreshadowing anyone?

““You- you unbelievable, impossible, infuriating villain – how could you dare to- I am attempting to save the world! You are trying to destroy it!” He’d howled, flailing uselessly with frustrated energy.

His righteous claim seemed to rile up the terrorist even more. Taking a few steps towards him over the cement that was starting to heat with the flames beneath them, he jabbed his finger at him” (Whatwashernameagain).

First off, I find it absolutely adorable that Roman is stuttering with his insults. I’m sure his opinion of Logan being unbelievable, impossible, and infuriating will never change. In fact, I would bet on it. They already sound like a married couple. I love them so much!

Looking beyond that, I really love the imagery here. This interaction is going to be the foundation of their companionship (if there will be a companionship which I am certain there will be); like the cement that Logan is crossing. In fact, the imagery of the cement heating with the flames beneath them can be a nod to a number of things. First it could represent the world around them burning and neither of them able to pay attention to anything but the other (which I am just ruined for); or it could be the heat of their passion for good, both extremely intense, both dangerous, both destructive in their own way (Logan physically and Roman’s political/economically).

Their argument continues, each calling the other stupid. We see Roman’s view on good vs. evil once more (which I’ve already covered; not to say it repeated… no the inflection on it is simply to remind us that Roman is a three-dimensional character who cares deeply about the subject). We see Logan losing himself to the humanity Roman brings out in him. We also see (which is my favorite part of the argument) Logan’s accusation about ‘selling topless calendars’ and the ‘heeled boots’. Why is this important? Well, Logan is a busy man he wouldn’t pay too close attention to what Roman’s next public exploit would be… Yet he knows about the topless calendars? I would put my money on the idea that he examined them… ‘for research purposes’ of course. As for the heeled boots well… We already know Remy’s opinion of dat ass… Heels only improve it 😉.

“The villain’s rant was interrupted as a sneaker hit his head from above. His supporters were exasperatedly waving at him to climb into the helicopter they had been screaming over before the police managed to arrest them, just as Roman’s operator had frantically urged him to free his leg and catch the man standing mere feet from him” (Whatwashernameagain).

Once again, we see the stark contrast between the hero and villain here; or rather… the similarity. Logan’s followers are urging him to leave the hero and move on, as he should have done in the first place. Eva compares then to the person on the other end of Roman’s ear piece. Both of them are a sense of reality that these men should be focused on rather than one another and yet neither seems to be able to pull themselves away from the other without an outside influence. They are both utterly hopeless and I love them.

Also #savetheworldtopless and #justpathologicallyevil should totally be a thing! Only #savetheworldtopless should be pictures of all different shapes and sizes of people in superhero poses either topless or like sportsbras/binders etc. basically how they seem themselves or how they want themselves to be; and #justpathologicallyevil should be full of adorable pictures of like cats and things doing mischievous things… I love these!!!

As for Roman’s operator quitting… good riddance. If that’s all it took, then he def wasn’t cut out for that job. Besides, not letting my baby speak is a sin against all mankind.

I’m so excited for the next para!

“Roman felt guilty for getting into an argument and behaving unprofessionally, but somehow, he felt like it had also gotten him closer to understanding the other man. He wasn’t a faceless monster but a person one could talk to – if a truly irritating and rude one – and people could be changed. Roman was good at convincing others of his position. His bright, attractive smile, warm and sweet manners and his polite reasoning had brought plenty of people around. Despite the continued threat of an escalation between the Utilitarianist’s supporters and his opposition, most people still liked Roman” (Whatwashernameagain).  

This chapter has spent a lot of time ‘villainizing’ Logan (with good reason) the point of view of the Dream and its team is meant to paint Logan in that light; and thus far Eva has done so very effectively. Here, however, we see Roman reconsidering these points. For the first time Roman is looking past the mask and at the man behind it. It is not that he does not see Logan as a villain but rather he sees him as a human as well. That’s Roman for you though, caring about every human even the ones he considers bad or ‘evil’. I suppose this is a first for Logan as well. People don’t tend to look beyond the Utilitarianist to see the man underneath… they’re not suppose to either but here Roman sits seeing a man that can be swayed, a man that struggles with the good and the bad as we all do. Once again, we see Roman focusing on the individual once more.

“He brought the idea up at a team meeting, believing he’d finally found a way to work more effectively. However, he was turned down gently. They gave him to understand that he had misjudges the villain and that his attempts to negotiate with terrorists could have disastrous consequences. Chastised and feeling like a child make a dumb suggestion at the dinner table, he gave up. Still, despite his best intentions, he wound up arguing with the other again and again” (Whatwashernameagain).

Once again, we see how Roman’s team mistreats him; though they do so, subtly. We see Roman’s attempt at a solution that actually has some merit and may work and yet he is treated like the child they see him as and cast aside as if he didn’t have any weight on the matter. His intelligence is constantly insulted (though not obviously enough for him to feel offended). His goals do not align with that of the teams and therefore are inconsequential. However, Eva points out that the unlike how it was before (Roman making a suggestion, the team shooting him down and he dropping it) the arguments seemed to continue… perhaps this is because Roman is getting more confident? Pushing his boundaries? Leading himself to revolution?

“Their rivalry came to a crescendo when one of their fights once again distracted both of them. He had no idea why this man managed to make his blood boil this much with his talk about superior logic and necessity. Necessity his ass. (Roman would of course never say such a thing out loud, but still.)” (Whatwashernameagain)

This says a lot about Roman. His attention on Logan is continuously growing. He is paying more and more attention to the man as a person and not just as a villain. I mentioned before that Roman probably sees the similarities between Logan and his father but there are a few things he addresses with Logan that he would never say/do with his father. Here is perhaps the only man he is able to interact with (though perhaps not under the best circumstances) that is not pushing his own agenda on the man or putting him down. Someone he can actually argue with without being chastised by the other for the act. He is treated as an equal even if they are name calling one another and that is a big step for the hero; most of the people he deals with always treats him as if he is some child that needs to be seen not heard but Logan… Logan will indulge his passions, argue his points, allow him to be the passionate man he is. To Roman, Logan is an outlet for his passions and allows him to express himself as he truly is, not as his teams wants to be. It is no doubt a refreshing change.

During one of their arguments a pipe bursts over Logan’s head and without pause or consideration Roman rushes to save him, injuring himself fairly badly in the process; to the point that he needed immediate medical attention. Of course, he could heal very quickly but Logan doesn’t know this. I bring this up for two reasons.

Firstly, imagine what this means for Roman. Roman is driven by passion. He cares deeply for every living soul and he views Logan as a misguided person whose heart can be changed. So, when that person’s life is on the line he doesn’t think twice before jumping in the way to save him. This of course is going to cause a lot of issues with his team and perhaps the public but to him a life is a life and Logan’s is perhaps the closest person to him at the moment.

Logan on the other hand doesn’t really consider the individual life too important. It isn’t to say that he doesn’t care for each life in and of itself but if a single life lost would save countless then he wouldn’t hesitate to pull that trigger. To him, it is only logical. He knows that he has endangered and killed a number of people and it would be logical for Roman to allow him to die to advance his own agenda. So, when Roman saves him it no doubt takes a few minutes to process it all. No doubt he had to recalculate all of their interactions. Up until this point he had viewed Roman as nothing but a puppet for political/economic gain and yet… he had saved Logan… For no other reason than to save a life… He perhaps sees Roman’s truly pure intentions for the first time (no doubt cementing his opinion that the guy is an idiot). Logan in return drags Roman from the building and delivers him to an ambulance and we get to see the wonderful gift that is protective Logan… One of my favorite flavors!

Of course, our progress must have some repercussions; which means right on cue Roman’s father appears. Two years has past since Roman became the Dreamer and we’ve barely heard mention of the man. He tends to show up only when Roman does something wrong or if it is advantageous to him; which only cements the image that he’s a no-good money sucker that Roman is better off without.  In fact, apparently Roman hasn’t seen the guy in months, which brings out the hero’s denial: “Roman understood he was doing important work, though. It was alright. . Sadly, his father had not been as pleased as he had so desperately hoped.” (Whatwashernameagain).

Denial and rationalization all over again, though I’m going to avoid the Freudian jargon as best I can because this section is already going to be so very long. Eva always has a way of pulling at the reader’s heartstrings with such simplicity and it is truly beautiful. With her last line, mentioning Roman’s desperate hope, my heart breaks. He still wants his father’s approval so badly that it hurts him. He truly is a child at heart when it comes to his father… The poor baby.

The conversation that ensues reminds the reader of the trauma that Roman has gone through to be the man that he is… To be what he thought his father wanted him to be… What the world wants him to be. We see his father’s anger as he demands an explanation and Roman’s immediate instinct to draw his knees close to his chest, curling up on himself as if to protect him from his father’s wrath or the emotions he brings out of the young man. Now it is possible that Roman’s father never laid a hand on him (honestly, I would be surprised if he had. That would mean he actually cared enough to beat the boy and I doubt he ‘wasted his time’ with that.) and this is just an instinctive reaction most people have when faced with emotional distressing situation. Though there is no proof of physical abuse we are already aware of the emotional abuse the man has put his son through, which can be just as bad.

We also see Roman hiding his pain ‘like he’d learned.’ Learned where? Learned during the countless horrific experiments and alterations he endured to become what he thought his father wanted him to be; just to find out his father still viewed him as practically worthless? Or was it before hand? Before all this? Either way when Logan finds out that the sorry POS of a ‘father’ treated Roman so horribly… I hope he gets what is coming to him (though I realize Roman will probably keep that from happening)!

“The rebuke hurt sharply. Swallowing, Roman tried to explain his reasoning he’d never thought he’d have to defend. The place was filled with people who were supposed to support him, yet he felt entirely alone” (Whatwashernameagain).

Roman’s father chastises him for letting Logan live and I think that Roman’s illusion of who is father is may be starting to crack a bit. At Roman’s core ever SINGLE life counts; it is one of the many reasons he became the Dreamer in the first place. But his father doesn’t give a damn about anyone else’s life but his own. As long as he’s making money that all he cares about. We also see Roman finally beginning to realize that despite the fact that he is surrounded by people that he has known for two years now, who are supposed to support him… he /is/ entirely alone.

“This would have been the perfect opportunity. You need to decide if you have what it takes or if you weren’t the right choice after all. Next time this chance presents itself, you let this god damn terrorist die instead of spreading his filth from a luxury prison.” His father had barked at him before leaving him alone to fear losing everything he’d bled for. Everything he’d become. Without the Dreamer, he had no idea who he was” (Whatwashernameagain).

The contrast between these two are as apparent as ever, here. His father is lecturing him to do exactly what Roman is whole heartedly against. He wants Roman to let someone die. He wants Roman to ignore the very core of his being… he wants him to be something Roman can never be and equivalently kill someone. The thing is, if Roman straight out refuses his father everything he has worked for, everything he fights for daily would be stripped from him. The fear of losing something you have worked so hard for is devastating. But it’s a bit more than that for Roman. He has changed everything about his life for this. His physical appearance, the way he lives, everything… I don’t think he realizes this because he would never think something so dark about his father but… If the Dreamer persona is stripped from him Roman would not get to roam free… His father has put in far too much work to create him, he knows to much, he is too much of a liability. No, Roman would either be locked up or killed if the Dreamer was ever taken away from him.

But that also begs the question, can the Dreamer be taken away from him? The Dreamer is a concept, an ideal of what Roman wished to be. Sure, they can pull him from the spot light, take away his team, hide him from the world but as long as Roman’s beliefs are the same and he has the will to keep going then the Dreamer is eternal. The problem is that Roman still lacks the self confidence to realize this. He believes that he is nothing but an over glorified child without his team. Once he realizes this is not the case… Well… Viva La Revolution!

We do see the beginning of these thoughts in the next para however. Roman is starting to question his team and his father. “Was this really what the Dreamer was? He’d tried too hard to keep the peace and catch the Utilitarianist when there were other things he could be doing. They’d told him to leave the crime fighting to the police. His image was the most powerful thing about him” (Whatwashernameagain). He is questioning everything which is good… Well, good in the long run; honestly for him, its no doubt terrifying.

But consider the fact that the one person that ignited the flame that pushed him to ask such question is the very person he is supposed to be rivaled with, the person he is supposed to allow to die. Logan. Roman is many things to the villain: his hope, his humanity, his source of emotion and irritation, his light. But Logan are certain things to the hero as well: his hope, his reality, his sense of questioning, his window into the social world… His proof that everything is no as black and white as he once believed, his chance at a relationship that isn’t riddled with abuse and deception. The irony behind this should not be overlooked. It is so beautiful.

Roman goes on to compare himself to Superman and Wonderwoman which I just adore! That is so very Roman! He points out that Superman couldn’t concern himself with petty thieves but Wonderwoman most certainly would. I love this for a number of reasons. Firstly, we already knew that Roman read comic books, but this really pulls the image of baby Roman sitting under the covers late at night with a flash light pouring over the pages of every type of comic (well at least DC comics). Secondly, despite the fact that Roman good up with such a heavy emphasis on society’s view of masculinity shoved down his throat one of the greatest heroes in his mind is Wonderwoman! I love it! I love it! I love it! The comicbook version of Wonderwoman is a fantastic role model for anyone! Much better than Superman in my opinion! I mean the writers themselves are fantastic! There is actually an entire scene in which Diane is seen nude during an issue and the writers never exploit this. Context: Diane sleeps in the nude. Someone wakes her and they talk while she takes her time dressing. That is it. It is not drawn in a way that sexualizes her or implies anything of the sort. It is simply written/drawn as nothing more than a person dressing and I really appreciate that… though I suppose I am getting off track.

We can also view the difference between implications of comparing himself between Superman and Wonderwoman and the Masculine and Feminine views both represent. Superman is no doubt the way his father would prefer him to aspire to be. Superman is perhaps the most masculine image one could manage to conjure. He is strong, indestructible, not concerned with trivial issues, uses his strength and power to win and always gets the girl. The image of a man. Wonderwoman however, is a bit different. She is strong and practically indestructible sure, but she goes about using her abilities a different way. Instead of fighting all the time or causing more destruction she tends to outsmart her opponents when she can and shows care and compassion to all creatures. Superman focuses on strength and durability; Wonderwoman focuses on skill, training, knowledge. She is not concerned with romance or power; she just wants good for the world; just as Roman does.

We also begin to see Roman work out some of the things we have mentioned, on his own. He begins to question why Logan would save him? Perhaps he questions if the man’s intentions may be better than he had originally given him credit for. He can’t seem to shake his concerns with his own work. The concerns lead him to question his team more and more:

“His doubts wouldn’t leave him alone until eventually, he chose to do what he was most afraid of. He went against the advice of his team.

He’d been sitting around for months, while the Utilitarianist had been busy attacking the Hong-Kong Stock market. Roman quietly wondered why he was never dispatched to other countries to help. His nemesis had stopped limiting himself to the States long ago” (Whatwashernameagain).

It is obvious that there are a few reasons why Roman’s team keeps him in America. Perhaps the most prominent reason is the fact that the people who control Roman are in America and make most of their money from his exploits there. There is no reason to help those over seas if there is no profit for it. Yet, Logan is not bound by these rules. Logan is attempting to save the world and to Roman his goal is to take down Logan. So, once again we see just how much Roman’s team is holding him back and the excuses they use to hide their real intentions (‘Perhaps his team was worried he’d upset someone by remarking that the conditions of those workers truly were less than glittery’ (Whatwashernameagain).).

A situation in Mexico is brought to our attention, Eva does a fantastic job (as usual) to describe the severity of the scene and a new character is introduced: Virgil!!! We see right away that Virgil is a little different than the rest of the team. As Roman’s new operator we he hacks into the bank’s database and gets Roman a floorplan (no doubt against the advisement of the rest of the team). This already sets him apart from the others. For the first time since Roman became the Dreamer we see someone finally working /with/ him rather than discarding his intentions and thoughts. Finally, we have someone to help our wonderful and beautiful boy! The best part is that might be the boost Roman needed! “This was the right thing to do, he felt it. He had to breathe new life into the idea of the Dreamer. He had to be a proper hero again” (Whatwashernameagain).

Of course, when he pitches the idea to his team he is immediately shot down, discarded like the child they saw him as. Only this time, things were handled a bit differently: “Instead of the usual, fatherly patience and kind amusement at his misplaced enthusiasm, he was told off curtly. Without results, Roman was losing their favor” (Whatwashernameagain). Roman has been acting more and more independently which implied that they were losing control of him as an asset and that no doubt caused some tension between his team and their higher ups which was no doubt taken out on Roman.

“Feeling unsteady, he shuffled onto the cold light of the corridor of their underground base. Despite his terror of losing the place he called home, the reporting about the children held hostage would not stop replaying in his head. He’d been told watching the news would only upset him and he should rather rely on the updates they cut together for him, but he was starting to think he would only have found out about the situation far too late when irritated reporters would have asked him where he was when the children were shot. He couldn’t let it come to that!” (Whatwashernameagain).

This para gives me life! This is a dawning of a new age! A new Dreamer! A new Roman! We start out with him defeated (not surprisingly); fearful on his thoughts because you know he’s thinking of going to Mexico anyways and that could cause him to lose his home. The catch is, this has never been his home; it has been the place he has been used and discarded but it is the only ‘home’ he’s ever really known. Sure, before he became the Dreamer he had a different ‘home’ but it is all the same thing. He was ignored unless useful there just as he is here. Still, if its all you’ve ever known, losing it would be terrifying…. Being alone in the world, with nothing to your name… it’s a horrible reality.

Still, he obviously is not letting this go. The news of the children being held hostage is something Roman can’t forget. This is not surprising at all. Roman is a sheltered person. He is not use to seeing such things on the news. In fact, the next sentence reminds us that the only information that he is aware of tends to be the information fed to him; to help control him. It is horrible. But it also causes him to be more sensitive to these kinds of things. I can’t remember if I brought this up before so I will do so again here. The majority of us that open ourselves up to television or social media become desensitized to it all.

For instance, the average 18-year old observes approximately 6,000 acts of violence on television and in movies in one year (Browne and Hamilton-Giachritsis 2005; Center for Research Excellence 2009). Desensitization has been studied primarily as a consequence of exposure to violent video games (e.g., Anderson et al. 2010; Carnagey et al. 2007), so less is known about desensitization to violence encountered in real life or on television and in movies. Despite the many commonalities between real-life and media violence and their effects on adjustment, these two types of exposure to violence rarely have been studied together. It has also been proven that the more desensitized to violence that we become the more violent we become in turn.

Of course, this is just a information about desensitization in regards to violence which includes things like the bank robbery, children being held hostage etc. Consider this: How many times have you scrolled through facebook or some other social media platform and saw a post about a missing person or a shooting or something similar? And how many times have you ignored it and continued to scroll? The truth is, the more you see it the more you ignore it. But what then? Well, then we’ve become part of the problem, haven’t we? By not helping we become the ignorance that is wrong with the world. So, next time you see one of those post… share, reblog… who knows maybe you’ll be that one person to get the word just far enough for them to be found/saved. Don’t let your desensitization get the better of you.

But once again I’m getting off track. My point was, for someone who is not expose to as much violence or horrific deeds as the typical American, something that we consider small (like a bank hold up) can be traumatizing; and poor sweet Roman has been sheltered from these things for some time. Sure, he has seen some really bad stuff but its all what they want him to see… all being fed to him… this… this is different.

Desensitization aside, this para is the stepping stone into Roman’s rebellion! We see him question his team, perhaps not for the first time but close to it: “he was starting to think he would only have found out about the situation far too late when irritated reporters would have asked him where he was when the children were shot” (Whatwashernameagain). Then we see him immediately rebuke them (at least mentally): “He couldn’t let it come to that!” (Whatwashernameagain). Roman is finally growing into his own. He is finally beginning to that that step and begin thinking for himself! This is character development!

Now, enter Virgil Stage Left! Virgil appears just when Roman needs a good kick in the but to get him moving, much like Remy did when Logan needed it as well. It is a good reminder that even when we are struggling whether with the outside world or with ourselves there come a point in time where we could do with a bit of companionship. Humans, after all, are social creatures.

The great thing about his appearance is that with his sense of sarcastic remarks Roman is immediately defensive, preparing to defend his ‘honor’ but we wee him pause as he notices Virgil’s disappointed posture. This is another small contrast between Roman and Logan that I love. Though we don’t actually see Logan reading people’s body language I get the feeling he would be very bad at it. He doesn’t exactly surround himself in situations in which it is required. Roman however, no doubt is trained to read other’s body languages. Yes, I mean formally trained though his emotional abuse has no doubt conditioned him to study it as well. A person who is used to being degraded or yelled out over analyzes every twitch, every smile, every shift of the eyes. Every movement is considered a countdown to the next time they will be abused, it is truly an anxious existence. This of course is just scratching the surface of the trauma Roman has been through but it is brought up in such a subtly beautiful way that really gives testament to Eva’s skill, as always.

The slump in Virgil’s shoulders no doubt screams at Roman just as most postures do. He is not a stranger to disappointment especially from his team. This time though he realizes its different. Virgil isn’t necessarily disappointed in what Roman has done but what he hasn’t done; which is quite heartwarming. Virgil is upset because Roman is not following through with his plan despite his team’s refusal. He /wants/ Roman to be who he is… Which may be the first time Roman has ever experienced such support. The first time someone has shown true untainted support for /him/ not what/who he is supposed to be for them. There comes a time during the cusp of every revolution that a straw breaks a back… A shot is fired…. War breaks out… Perhaps, Roman has finally found his straw in Virgil? Perhaps all he ever needed to begin his revolution was the support of a single person to be who he was.

““No. I’m not backing off. I’m taking a running start.” He’d promised, before striding down the corridor and grabbing a startled Virgil’s wrist on the way. He still needed that one.” (Whatwashernameagain). It seems like a beautiful partnership has begun. I have a feeling this dynamic duo is going to cause a lot of trouble for more than just Logan.

Eva also uses a comparison of Roman sneaking out of the facility to breaking out of prison; which I feel is a very good analogy. The facility is in fact a prison for Roman. He is not a free man in any sense of the word. Even his personality is held captive behind those walls. I also mentioned earlier that Roman’s father would never allow Roman to be free. Roman is too much of a liability. He knows to much. This is one of the many reasons why he is to be locked away until it is time for his media appearances. He is sheltered from the real world just like any prisoner, only allowed certain activities that limit his interaction with the public. He is monitored constantly. It is very fitting.

“The armed robbers were no match for the quiet, cat-like stride of the trained hero. He caught one after the other, knocking them out with ease. This was far simpler than fighting a man like the Utilitarianist” (Whatwashernameagain).

‘Cat-like’? You mean like a certain villain that purr-fers to wear the mask of a feline? Speaking of which, it seems that Roman can’t get the man off his mind even when he’s in the middle of another dangerous mission… and does that almost sound like… admiration?

The next scene shows Roman being as heroic as ever as he carries out a pregnant woman and other out of the building and I have to say Roman+children=my heart exploding. Its just so pure and wonderful and the way she just tugs at his costume just makes me weak.

“Roman barely managed to calm them. He hadn’t been greeted with such honest joy in so long, he was utterly baffled by their adoration. When he finally managed to speak, his voice was thick with emotion.

“Fellow citizens of the world, I have realized that the time for borders is behind us! In these frightening times we must understand that our differences are mere illusions, stand together and give each other hope. Our love and belief in each other shall prevail over evil!”” (Whatwashernameagain).

Roman just made a seriously hard move. Roman is faced with real genuine joy and appreciation; something he probably has never experienced. His team probably pulls him away from situation where he would get the chance to; of course, they would to simply avoid him saying something that wasn’t scripted. This is probably the moment that he realizes that though his team treats his opinions and intentions as bothersome the public sees them as he does: a chance to change the world.

We also get to see Roman take that final step over the edge of the cliff that he has been teetering on for some time now. We see him finally choose to step out into the nothingness where he expects to plummet to his doom; everything that he has worked for stripped away from him. But as he speaks to the world, as he watches their reaction, we don’t see him fall; we see him fly! And because of this, and the elated reaction of his new partner-in-crime we see him swell with pride.

“Finally, he was what he was supposed to be.” (Whatwashernameagain).

This line… This beautiful stunning line says everything that we knew but it also says more. It says that Roman has shed his father and team’s control on him. He has cast aside the image they are painting of him and breaking out into his own. Shots have been fired and there will no doubt be a fallout but for now… It is official, the revolution has begun!!!

“The atmosphere in the underground compound changed. Roman felt the shift, the tension around himself clearly and suffered it with disappointment. It was like being home again. A child whose childishness was barely tolerated. Quiet and shy and feeling unwanted” (Whatwashernameagain).

This reinforces the image Eva has been painting of Roman’s childhood. He compares the new temperament of the compound to his childhood home and the abuse he experienced there. It is the same disappointment, worthless undesirable feeling that his father had caused him to feel for so long. This no doubt would cause the man to be triggered. The only question that remains is, is he strong enough to move past it?

“Despite the repeated attempts to impress the importance of following his team’s directions, he planned and executed more mission with Virgil. He was his one saving grace. Since he was actually starting to make a difference, the two men felt more at ease with each other. Though they were mostly bickering with each other, Roman had found someone to rely on. His fluttering nerves around the moody man calmed, allowing him to fall back on the safety of the Dreamer’s personality less and less. They were a team of two now, instead of the pride of the Conglomerate. It was alright. He was one more person than Roman used to have” (Whatwashernameagain).

Roman is making leaps and bounds in his warpath (I use warpath as a metaphor, this is a revolution afterall). He has taught himself that a single man’s genuine acceptance and affection (not to mention affirmation) is far more valuable than the faux appreciation of a crowd of individuals and this is partially due to Virgil’s support. Now, the two of them argue and fuss but let’s face it between Virgil and Logan this is the only form of true affection Roman has ever experienced. It is only logical that Roman now associates the bickering and affection. The coldness his father shows him, the lack of attention at all has been pounded into him over the years making something as simple as the attention enough to argue with him far more heartwarming than it should be. In fact, the arguments and the moodiness of Virgil seems to calm Roman as he interprets it to be a platonic sense of caring that comes with the smaller man. This will no doubt reinforce his attraction to Logan later as well.

Logan was once considered cold just as Roman’s father, perhaps reminding the hero of the man he aspired to be loved by which no doubt drew him in in the first place. Yet, as they grew closer and Logan began to show the attention Roman longed for, though their arguments and even care when Logan returned the favor of saving his life. With Roman’s interpretations as they are now it is no wonder that he would turn to the man that has shown him more affection than anyone else in the world when he is finally broken and bruised.

Over the next few paragraphs we see Roman surprisingly taking the bait that the Utilitarianist had laid out for the world, working unintentionally, with Logan. We also see his team step up just about the time they are able to profit from it (surprise, surprise). Of course, poor innocent Roman misinterprets this as support, but it is not necessarily a bad thing; at least not yet.

Naturally, as soon as the team steps back in Roman reverts to his old habits; becoming discouraged, calling himself an idiot and generally being self-deprecating. He then resolves to listen to his team more carefully and follow their advice once more. Honestly though, I love the contrast between the team and Virgil. They are like two sides of Roman’s subconscious…. Almost like those angels and devils that pop up on each shoulder in the cartoons. On one hand, Roman’s team pulls him back to his father where his self-conscious and cautious. While, on the other hand, Virgil pulls him towards the light where he is proud and triumphant, confident and bright. The issue is, if he continues to stand in the middle being pulled in two different directions, he may be ripped in two… and if that happens it is possible, he wont be able to be put back together again.

Also: “Roman had sworn to himself to help him feel more accepted in the team. He’d never wanted anyone to feel as isolated as he had most of his life” (Whatwashernameagain). It is possible that Roman is so adamant about Virgil feeling accepted by the team because he knows exactly how it feels to be isolated and alone. He knows how it feels to be cast aside and be considered worthless or idiotic. He knows how horrible it can make you feel, and he wants to make sure that no one feels that way especially someone he cares so deeply for like Virgil.

The next para moves on to talk about the Utilitarianist and the LGBTQ+ community and honestly the imagery is lovely! Of course, Logan would be an icon for the gay community. The Utilitarianist is known for his radical beliefs that stir huge movements around the globe. It wasn’t that long again that the simple act of two men kiss was considered just that: radical. I won’t pretend to know a lot about the social movement; I don’t. I may be LGBTQ+ but I was never a big part of the community until recently. I grew up in small towns. I didn’t even meet someone like myself until high school… So, I’m still a bit lacking in a lot of information that could be gained through that social outlet (I’m serious, a friend of me had to explain a lot of terminology when I first moved into the city… I may not have had physical flash cards like Logan’s but I def had mental ones). Still, I know enough about Gender Studies in literature to help support my argument here.

So, for those of you that don’t know what Gender Studies is; it is a literary theory that is devoted to analyzing gender identity and representation (including but not limited to women, feminism, gender, politics, men’s studies, and queer studies; often combined with the study of sexuality (“Gender Studies”). Why do I consider Gender Studies as ‘radical’? Consider this: Doctoral programs for women’s studies has existed since 1990 (Joschik, Scott). The Women’s Rights movement earned them the right to vote in 1920 and they were considered radical and despite their achievements studying literature that was written by women or had strong independent female characters was not considered an acceptable enough form of study to take a doctoral program (not even a degree) in until 1990! That is radical! What is worse, is the first doctoral program for a ‘potential’ PhD in Gender Studies in the U.S. wasn’t approved until 2005 (Joschik, Scott)! And it wasn’t until 2015 that Kabul University in Afghanistan (Afghanistan!!! Not the U.S. which is full of idiotic bigotry!) was the first to offer a master’s degree course in gender and women’s studies (FaithWorld)! It almost makes me ashamed to live here. In a world where two women pushing a baby stroller in the background of a Disney movie is cause for outrage, I’d say the LGBTQ+ community is ‘radical’… at least in the eyes of America. So, it is no wonder that the Utilitarianist is an icon for them especially after his rescue.

(Sorry for the rant)

Moving on!

“Because Roman had saved him and because he’d now acted on his behalf, following his direct call for action, a lot of people had started imagining them to be more than they were. They were publicly ‘shipping’ them.

Roman had been beyond horrified and humiliated as his sympathetic team had put together a dossier of the things people on the internet thought he’d do” (Whatwashernameagain).

Okay, there are so many things wrong with this. Not Eva’s writing of course, she is always so talented! No, everything that I consider ‘wrong’ is meant to be so.

Firstly, though there are plenty of people that will disagree with me and I respect that, shipping (even if its real people) is fine: Forcing your ship or view point on another or insulting their tastes or hating on them for it etc etc. Is very very wrong and I try not to judge but I’m pretty judgy about this. Hate asks/messages/notes/WHATEVER is horrible and though you may not be a horrible person if you do these things, you’re pretty darn close in my opinion. Everyone has their tastes: Some people like apples, some people don’t. If we were all the same we would never advance as a species.

I am not claiming Eva is hating on anyone. How could she be? She is legit writing about her own subject matter lol I really like the irony of it actually… Its almost like breaking the fourth wall without breaking the fourth wall. But I’m getting off topic again.

Here we see Roman’s team taking an extreme to try and pull him back by the reigns. The know he doesn’t receive any other content than what they feed him and their going to use this to their advantage. So, the decide to use the most angsty, kinkiest parts of the fandom’s ships and expose them to the poor sheltered and innocent man. Imagine if we had never heard of tumblr and then were suddenly shoved into the deepest darkest pits… Sure exposure therapy is known to work but I’d be pretty repulsed by it too. Luckily most of us managed to dip our toes in first and move away from the shallows one step at a time here on tumblr so we didn’t have to go through what poor Ro-Ro is. Now, its common knowledge that we’re all a little demented. Lol XP

“He’d been unable to keep looking at the pictures and horrible, humiliating stories published for all to see. How could he allow this to happen? This was what people saw in him after he’d allowed himself to be experimented on, cut apart and be put back together and worked so hard to give them something to believe in?” (Whatwashernameagain).

Let’s pick this apart a bit, shall we? Why would Roman really be this horrified? Sure, he was sheltered and then suddenly exposed to it but it’s a bit more than that. Here is a man that is supposed to hold up ‘American Values’ and be the image of masculinity. That is what his father wants him to be, that is what he has suffered to become. He is supposed to be the strongest person out there and yet he is being depicted in such compromising positions… In positions of submission, of servitude. He has no idea that that kind of position can be a symbol of trust and freedom because he is not taught to believe this. He does not know what a healthy relationship is.

Then there is also the symbolism of it all. Roman is the hero; he is the light; he is the good. Logan is the villain, the shadows, the evil in the world. These images show the good bowing to the bad. They show Roman losing. Losing the one thing he has suffered and fought for, for so long. They show him the possible failure he is so terrified of. To Roman, these images hold one of his worst fears. /That/ is why Roman is so disturbed by them.

We can also view this another way. Roman is taught that the only way he will win against the evil in the world is through the public’s support. He relies of the world to boost him, to come together in unity. He believes that with their help he is invincible. Yet, the public is the one who created these stories and art. The public is the one the imagined his failure. Roman is fueled by hope and faith and yet these images could be taken as a loss of those things. These images represent the publics loss of faith and hope in Roman… At least, that is one possible view point of the man. Either way, it is devastating.

*******

I would like to add here that @mariniacipher has added some input here that explains this in more depth and is beautifully done. I asked permission to quote them here and they have consented:

“Honestly, I have just one thought like, about your analysis of the line "The Utilitarianist would see it and think-" 

I think there's a bit more behind this, and that Roman's team had a deeper reason to show roman that art: Because roman is, to them- as far as we know- a naive boy-turned-tool, and he's already strayed from their commands twice. Once to save the kids in Mexico. This could be seen as him following Logan's agenda in some way. He's definitely seeing all people as equal, instead of following his team's "America First" mindset, which is already risky to them. And then, the second time he "deviates", he directly follows Logan's intel as well as his call to action. Add to that the Logince interactions you already pointed out, their respect to each other in those arguments, and they've got a genuine risk of roman completely leaving their range of influence, in their minds at least. Which brings us to them showing roman the unsavory pieces of art of himself and Logan. You already pointed out a lot here, but I think it also served to pervert the beginnings of the relationship between roman and Logan.

Before, they both just wanted to defeat one another, but also both wanted to help the world. Now, Roman's team is turning this dynamic in something altogether different, or trying to: it turns it sexual, and into a power play/fight. They present Logan not as a person who just wants to defeat roman, but beat him, humiliate and hurt him- because that way, they destroy even the thought of roman defecting, or escaping their influence, because there's no one to run to.In my opinion, they only want roman to have the team, and no one else- showing logan in the role of- to roman- a pervert and even a rapist serves to keep roman isolated and loyal.”

@mariniacipher makes some very valid points here, all of which I agree with. They also provide a great example of how Reader Response is suppose to work in the sense that every reader experiences a work differently and they see these things slightly different. This truly made my day. 

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

******

Once again, the devil on his shoulder has struck… But where is the angel in purple? Knocking on his door, just in time to save the day!

““Hey. Um, so I saw the dossier.”

Roman groaned, hiding his burning face. He’d never even looked at porn, so seeing himself pictured on his knees, the villain’s hand in his hair, about to- oh god. This was out there. The Utilitarianist would see it and think- irrational fear of things he hadn’t ever considered the other capable of mixed with the humiliation and made Roman tremble” (Whatwashernameagain).

First off, ‘He’d never even looked at porn’… Christ on a cracker, Roman you truly are sheltered you poor poor baby… Though that does beg the question if he is even too modest to…. You know what… Never mind. Lets move on… This is an analysis not a fanfic after all…

‘The Utilitarianist would see it and think-‘ OMG Roman I love you! Even when you’re horrified and shamed the only person you can concern yourself with is Logan?! This is fantastic! We see just where Logan stands now. Before, the person Roman would probably concern himself with is his father. That’s not the case now though. Logan has become more of a priority than dear old Dad and with good reason. In fact, Roman’s father hasn’t been mentioned in some time which gives us a sense of visual in Roman’s mental shift. Our baby is growing. -sniffle- I’m so proud.

Virgil of course, tries to explain to Roman that it is not what he thinks. Roman then states that he believes Virgil thinks him not smart enough to understand and my anxious son puts him in his place as he should! Virgil has no shits to give!

“You’re much smarter than they make you believe! They just want you to stop thinking for yourself!” A frustrated growl escaped Virgil. Pulling uselessly on the powerful man’s shoulder, he tried to get him to look up” (Whatwashernameagain).

He calls the team out on their shit! He explains that Roman is only seeing the kinky stuff and goes on to explain what shipping is really about… Which makes me wonder if the man ships them as well… I wouldn’t put it past him the little angel.

“”It’s about liking two people and rooting for them, despite any opposition. People just care about both of you, even if you’re on different sides. It just shows that most of them aren’t as black and white as they all say. They aren’t the perfect, traditional families on the cereal boxes and they aren’t the masked activists throwing Molotov cocktails either. They’re just people who like some of both of your positions and they like you and him and what they like most is the idea of you two burying this feud and stop fighting. They want what you want, when it comes down to it, dude. For the arguing to end and people to just get along. I’m not making this up, look!”” (Whatwashernameagain).

This is really beautiful, and I feel privileged to be able to read it. Eva gets it, she really does. There are a few sentences here that I really want to point out though. For example, ‘It just shows that most of them aren’t as black and white as they all say’. Virgil is referring to the fact that most people aren’t just good or evil. The majority of people have done good things and they had done bad things… That is human nature. Everyone has regrets. Roman lives in a state in which he is required to see things in black and white, but the world doesn’t work like that. Very few things are so cut and dry. Virgil see this and he sees that Roman doesn’t. At this point Virgil has moved from shoulder angel to practically Roman’s conscious. He truly is a wonderful friend.

Roman, no doubt, doesn’t really stop to consider people in their daily lives. To him its always the people in the most dire of situation that he focuses on. I doubt he’d know how to handle someone if they just past him on the street. Of course, he is trained to think like this… He knows that he is trying to protect people’s way of life but never stops to consider the way they live their life.

‘They’re just people who like some of both of your positions and they like you and him and what they like most is the idea of you two burying this feud and stop fighting’. This feels like more foreshadowing but I’m going to bypass that because we’ve already discussed it. But it is a fantastic representation of both Logan and Roman and a reminder that nothing is black and white just as I mentioned previously. Logan is a good man doing bad things for good reasons and Roman is a good man doing good things for bad reasons. The Dreamer is an apt name… Roman’s ideas of good and evil are so fantastic they deserve to be in a dream. Luckily, Virgil is there to help guide him back to reality (once again pulling on the comparison between Remy and Virgil).

The next few paras are filled with such wholesome and beautiful images and art work that you really need to go re-read it (if you haven’t already. Its just so warm hearted and I love it. Also, I can’t draw so if someone wants to work up some art on the image Roman describes about the glitter in his hair and the dipping Logan I will gladly share it EVERYWHERE!!!! (just link it to me K?)

Also, the argument with the wall of pictures and Roman’s wall of postcards and pinatas gives me life…. My chest aches with it. I can also really appreciate that Eva describes the works of the two arguing so often. Obviously, this would be understandable because the two are on opposite sides but also Roman’s association with affection /is/ arguments which no doubt only reinforces Virgil’s point that these are wholesome and good when Roman sees the two of them arguing. I just love it so much.  

There are so many that Eva lists…. …. …. Honest opinion: At this point, she’s just indulging herself… I approve whole heartedly LOL XP.

It is also possible that these are real fan arts of Logan and Roman and though I don’t have the time to look them up at the moment you bet your sweet IQ that I will be after I get this posted!

In all of these images there is one striking similarity that I must point out: Roman and Logan are depicted as EQUALS. Why is this important? Roman had never been treated as an equal by anyone until he met Logan and Logan began to take the time to argue with him, treating him as if he were worth changing his mind. His father doesn’t even bother with that (yes, I know that I’ve already covered this). The point being, it is very important for Roman to feel valued and equaled, that is one of the reasons why the images provided by his team were so disturbing and that is also one of the reasons why these images are so inspirational to him.

““I don’t understand.” He muttered, glancing at his own tablet, filled with data carefully compiled for him.

Virgil’s gaze was worried.

“I guess there are things they’d rather you don’t see, for whatever reasons. Maybe you’ll let me double check the info they give you from now on, man. I get unrestricted internet.”

“Oh. I didn’t know the internet here was restricted.” Roman muttered softly. His head was buzzing. He huddled closer to Virgil, gazing at the images without really seeing them. He felt like everything he knew was shaken in its foundations” (Whatwashernameagain).

Virgil my sweet sweet baby boy, you’ve done it! You’ve finally gave Roman the realization that he needed! Finally, Roman’s eyes are open to just how manipulative his team is and how damaging that can be. Finally, he is seeing what is going on! Now all that’s left is to win the revolution and kick them to the curb!

This is not going to be easy of course. Everything Roman believes and everything he thinks he knows has been affected. His trust has been shaken. Whatever road Roman is about to walk down, it is not going to be easy for the poor man.

******

I apologize for Part 4 being so long, but I’ve limited myself to 4 parts per chapter and it has been quite difficult.

As always, I want to thank Eva for writing so beautifully and being so supportive of my ramblings.

I would also like to remind everyone that I don’t proof read these because I am surprisingly lazy when it comes to my own work.

I also LOVE hearing from you guys so plz plz plz drop me an ask or a message if you feel up for it. I promise I don’t bite unless you ask me to. <3 I also love questions and theories so hit me up with those too!

Be sure to leave Eva some love on AO3 and tumblr as well! She is incredibly nice and always fun to talk to! Also, if you haven’t already read her other work (like KHS) I highly recommend it.

For now, I will be waiting with bated breath with the rest of you for The Dreamer Chapter 3! ^.^ Until then, I hope to see you all around! <3

           “Abstract Search.” Full Abstract, https://abstracts.societyforscience.org/Home/FullAbstract?AllAbstracts=True&Category=Any+Category&FairCountry=Any+Country&FairState=Any+State&ProjectId=4987.Pocket-lint.

Anderson CA, Shibuya A, Ihori N, Swing EL, Bushman BJ, Sakamoto A, Rothstein HR, Saleem M. Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in eastern and western countries: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin. 2010;136:151–173.

Browne KD, Hamilton-Giachritsis C. The influence of violent media on children and adolescents: A public-health approach. The Lancet. 2005;365:702–710.

Carnagey NL, Anderson CA, Bushman BJ. The effect of video game violence on physiological desensitization to real-life violence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2007;43:489–496.

Center for Research Excellence Video consumer mapping survey. 2009 Retrieved from Center for Research Excellence web site: http://www.researchexcellence.com/research/research.php.

FaithWorld (26 October 2015). "Kabul University unlikely host for first Afghan women's studies programme". Blogs.reuters.com. Retrieved 2 November 2015.

"Gender Studies". Whitman College. https://archive.is/20121212181127/http://www.whitman.edu/content/genderstudies

Jaschik, Scott (10 November 2005). "Indiana Creates First Gender Studies PhD". The last decade has seen the number of women's studies PhD programs grow to at least 10 – most of them relatively new. Last week, Indiana University's board approved the creation of a program that will be both similar and different from those 10: the first doctoral program in the United States exclusively in gender studies.

Pharmacy Times, https://www.pharmacytimes.com/news/do-poisonous-mushrooms-have-a-pharmaceutical-purpose.

Rivkin, Julie. Literary Theory: a Practical Introduction. Wiley-Blackwell, 2017.

Whatwashernameagain. “The Dreamer - Chapter 2.” Hello Guys Gals And Non Binary Friends, 8 Sept. 2019, https://whatwashernameagain.tumblr.com/post/189407228487/the-dreamer-chapter-2?is_related_post=1.

[furiousocelot]

Our own media lies to us.

The reality is that our own media hides the manifestation that have been taking place in Brazil, and when they talk about it, they spread lies. Currently our biggest source of real information has been TikTok, because even networks like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter have been censoring the main oppositions against the future president.

[Translation: SBT, Globo, look at Globo, eh Globo, Record, damn it, TV, nothing, Gazeta, nothing, Band, nothing. Then look here, Jovem Pan herself, nothing. Then you see here, look, the only one that is still showing, half-assed, criticizing, ok? Criticizing the move. CNN, Globo News. Anything. Oh, look at their business, oh. Now, look how Brazil is now, which they are not showing. Nobody is showing, look how it is.

-people singing the anthem-manifestations-

I swear. What do you think the traditional media is on our side? My friend, my friend, you need to open your eyes, I'm going out today, I don't know about you, but I'm going to the street today.]

Even Tucker Carlson, at Fox News Tonight, of November 02, 2022 talked about Brazil elections. About how much our own media lies to its own people, and how it even has a little finger from the USA.

They are trying to control us from all sides, but my people will not let this censorship, this lie, go that far.

I don't know about the Biden part being involved in all this shit, but the rest is true, we have no right to question absolutely anything right now, so far 34 Twitter accounts run by Lula's opposition have already been censored, accounts and expenditures bank employees of previous governments, from the Lula government from 2003 to 2010, were censored, the media itself was censored and now they want the people who remain in the demonstrations to be judged and arrested, congratulations that way, there will no longer be a Brazilian population to govern because more than half will be in jail.

Lula's campaign asks the TSE to take action on alleged fake news in profiles.

The PT coalition asks the TSE to cover Twitter for taking action against these 34 profiles, which have been frequent targets of PT actions in the Electoral Court because of misinformation.

It's funny, they ask to censor profiles that spread "lies", but they are the party that invents the most numbers, like during the first debates, where the candidate Lula said that there are more than 31 billion people starving... what? Comrade, the world has only 8 billion people, where did you get those other 23 billion people?

if you go to the BNDES website, the federal government bank, you will see that they censored transactions from previous governments to Cuba, on the website itself they are considered "secret", and this is not new, anything that could harm the PT candidate (Workers Party).

ATTENTION: the presentation of the BNDES Aberto content was adapted to the requirements of electoral legislation, which limits institutional communication actions until October 2, 2022 (which may extend until October 30, 2022, in the event of a second round of presidential elections).

In 2012, the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC), to which BNDES was subordinate, decided to classify financing contracts for the export of engineering goods and services to Cuba and Angola as “secret”, on the grounds that who had strategic information.

But you can say: "But Lula only governed until 2010", yes, but who took over after him was his successor Dilma Rousseff, also from PT. After she almost lost to Eduardo Campos, if he hadn't been in a plane crash.

About the media I already have a post on the subject.

Moraes authorizes PM to unblock highways and arrest protesters

Minister of the STF also determined the imposition of a fine of R$ 100 thousand per hour to those who disobey the judicial decision.

In a new decision, this Tuesday (1st), Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), ordered the Military Police in the states to act immediately to free the highways blocked by protesters protesting against the results of the elections.

And right now at 5 pm, November 04, 2022, on the channel La Derecha Diario, an Argentine channel is going on a Live proving the fraud that occurred in the elections, why on an Argentine channel? Simply because the TSE forbade any news on the subject.

Please see, and remember, do the L.

[locally339]

feeling like i should at least explain this shitty ass drama I've been in for the last who knows long before NuggetB0iYT comes after me with his gang or whatever you want to call it. more or less, this just feels like someone trying to milk the fuck out of things that aren't even worth riling up anyone over in my opinion.

for all i know this happened a few months ago and my memory is often foggy over things like this so this is as much as i can remember clearly about what happened to me, my friends, and even my boyfriend.

i was on discord, in my boyfriend's server (we weren't dating yet) and i was just hanging out with some friends. the server was always nearly quiet due to Nugget spamming mute on literally anyone he could, but we eventually moved on from that.

for what i know, SpacyQuaser5617 was his favorite to harass. almost daily i could see Nugget talking about things like how Spacy is a baby or how he'd like to hurt him. nearly pushed him to suicide but in the end, Spacy was still alive, and everyone eventually moved on from that (now that im thinking about it i should have tried to help Spacy before he blocked me for whatever reason)

I was in a bad mood at the time and nothing was really helping to calm me down or whatever so I dm'ed a few people, and then I went to the server I usually went before it was deleted by Nugget.

Spacy's 1 week mute had finally expired, and he actually got to speak for a minute. all he says before probably being muted again was something like "i'm back"

Nugget is online and just responds with "welcome to hell"

all I said in response to that was just 8 simple words, and thats what set off the ticking timebomb.

"well, with you here, I can see why"

and I ended up getting backlash after backlash for that. random dms from random people that were most likely alt accounts of him and his friends, and some of the people i knew well weren't spared the backlash either. I swear I saw a channel celebrating one of my friends getting really sick as well.

sometime when I started dating my current boyfriend, videos started surfacing about him harassing someone in perfect English.

it was obviously sketchy with some of the claims.

1. the harassment claims were weird because he was speaking proper english, correct grammar and everything despite him at the time not knowing English that well. (he is Brazilian)

2. the rule 34 accusations seemed more like an inside joke that went too far instead of something to be taken seriously. (if anyone really has any proof William Cat draws rule 34 could you please link here? the one image he has on rule 34 doesn't count since it doesn't match any of his artstyles.)

3. him forcing a relationship on two people that i have looked up countless times and don't show any results. maybe they do exist but there was no proof that i could find of this being real so for now this stays debunked.

there is a few more things i would like to point out, for anyone really looking for some proper dirt on Nugget, but i can't prove too much as usually when he does this kind of thing, it's gone before i can screenshot it.

he has posted NSFW art of bob x opheebop in a server with mostly minors.

he has (if you already haven't gotten the hint) harassed multiple people over and over again, me being one of the victims obviously.

and he has drawn some questionable art of characters, minor characters. (i only have one image but if you ask around there might be a few more people who have more proof than i do)

one more thing to address, he has attempted to try and resolve this, but all he said was the equivalent of that he's black and i'm not.

do whatever you want with this information. if you're gonna take my side, go ahead. if you're gonna take Nuggets side, all i can say is good luck defending someone who's only excuse of why he should keep doing things like this is that he's black. there's a lot more to be addressed, but that's all i can remember. you can dm me on Twitter for the proof. till then i feel like I've said enough.

Locally_Blob is my Twitter username. dm me and if im awake i'll show you the proof.

this probably won't go anywhere as always, but i don't really care if it does anymore. I've tried again and again but it always just vanishes from whatever i post it on. so thanks to whoever keeps spam reporting it to make it disappear or whatever is going on just to protect someone who really needs a wake-up call at this point.

if Nugget can expose my boyfriend for things that happened half a year ago, i can expose Nugget for things that happened half a year ago.

locally339 signing off. goodnight.

[kathleenseiber]

What we know about Ivermectin: correlation is not causation

Unlike the huge amount of high-quality data we have gathered on vaccines (5.6 billion doses and counting), the available data on Ivermectin is a dog’s breakfast – despite the fact that millions of people around the world have used it to treat COVID, especially in poor countries.

The hope that Ivermectin could vanquish COVID was seeded from Kylie Wagstaff’s lab at Melbourne’s Monash University. Knowing that the drug had anti-viral effects, they decided to test it against COVID using infected monkey cells growing in a dish. In April 2020 they published a paper describing how, 48 hours after dosing the monkey cells with Ivermectin at a concentration over 10 times that used to treat parasites, virtually no virus was detectable.

Credit: Cosmos Magazine

There was almost nothing around to treat COVID patients in April 2020. Given the horrific rising death toll in South America and India, and that Ivermectin was already widely used as a medication to treat diseases caused by parasitic worms like river blindness or scabies, the WHO kept an open mind, as they did for other cheap off-label drugs like dexamethasone and hydroxychloroquine.

But the WHO made it clear that Ivermectin should only be used in the context of a trial – drugs can make things better or worse. Indeed, thanks to trials, we now know that dexamethasone helps COVID patients; hydroxychloroquine makes them worse.

But in places reeling from the pandemic, particularly across South America, there was a massive uptake in the use of Ivermectin, sometimes officially sanctioned by local or national authorities as in Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, some states of India (Uttar Pradesh), Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

June 2020 alone saw Brazilians purchase 12 million packets of Ivermectin – a year’s worth of the drug in a single month. It didn’t seem to affect the death rate. One Brazilian scientist observed, “the shape of COVID curves did not exhibit any modification when comparing groups of treated and untreated people from the same area”.

On the other hand, Zimbabwean doctor Jackie Stone trumpeted the success of Ivermectin, because after its use was authorised in Zimbabwe on 26 January 2021, death rates fell from 60–70 per day to zero by 2 February 2021.

That sort of correlation is intriguing. But it’s famously fallible – the “correlation is not causation” conundrum. You can show that drownings increase after ice cream consumption but it’s not because a belly full of ice cream cramps your muscles. It’s because both events are more common in summer. Statisticians refer to summer, the sneaky third wheel, as a confounding variable.

You can show that drownings increase after ice cream consumption but it’s not because a belly full of ice cream cramps your muscles. It’s because both events are more common in summer.

The fact is COVID death rates fluctuate and researchers have yet to figure out why.  Zimbabwe was back up to over 100 deaths per day in late July, and then down to 19 per day in September. As Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, an epidemiologist from the University of Wollongong, put it: “Merely correlating news reports of Ivermectin use with later declines in mortality as if those two things are realistically connected; it’s not science in any meaningful sense.”

Meyerowitz-Katz’s blog on Ivermectin is a great source of information. So is this August article from Liam Mannix in the Sydney Morning Herald.

With so many people taking Ivermectin in some countries, it became hard to do placebo-controlled clinical trials.

Those that were done were often small – just dozens of people – and “observational”, meaning the doctor prescribed the drug to the patients and watched to see how they fared. If a drug has a large beneficial or adverse effect, observational studies should pick it up. But observational studies do poorly with small effects and can’t accurately measure their size. Without a concurrent matched control group who are not taking the drug, you can’t zero out the turning of that hidden third wheel.

Most of the observational studies aimed to see if Ivermectin could be used to treat patients at home and prevent them from progressing to severe disease. Some showed benefit in terms of lowering viral loads and quicker recovery times. Others did not. One of the few statistically significant placebo-controlled studies from Colombia showed no effect of Ivermectin.

A few of the studies weren’t just compromised by being flawed: they were possibly fraudulent. Taking advantage of the desperation for answers, some researchers sought to make a name for themselves in the dodgy world of online pre-prints. These are papers that have yet to clear the hurdle of peer review and their findings should be treated with caution. In the case of Ivermectin, two pre-prints that showed a significant protective effect of Ivermectin were later retracted; one from the Chicago-based data company Surgisphere and another from researchers at Benha University, in Egypt.

To try to read an overall signal from the many small studies, researchers have collected them in what is known as a ‘meta-analysis’. But it all depends on which studies they picked. Some meta-analyses showed a net positive effect (particularly if they used the retracted Egyptian data). Others found no conclusive effects.

The most reliable of these meta-analyses was a 28 July Cochrane review. This international organisation specialises in adjudicating medical controversies by deploying independent statisticians and medical experts to sift out and analyse credible published studies. Their review concluded: “We are uncertain whether Ivermectin reduces or increases mortality compared to no treatment.”

It’s easy to understand the desperation of people turning to Ivermectin in 2020. In 2021, it’s harder to fathom why people in the US and Australia – who have easy access to vaccines – would opt to bet their health and their life on it. Merck, the company that manufactures Ivermectin, is certainly not pushing its use for COVID.

A recent alert from the US CDC noted a 24-fold increase in Ivermectin prescriptions from pre-pandemic levels, as well as cases of people using veterinary products. It noted: “Overdoses of Ivermectin are linked with low blood pressure, confusion, hallucinations, seizures, coma and even death.”

“Overdoses of Ivermectin are linked with low blood pressure, confusion, hallucinations, seizures, coma and even death.”

The FDA took to Twitter to convey the dangers: “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.” It warned that “taking large doses of this drug is dangerous and can cause serious harm”.  Australia has followed suit, with prescriptions up 3-4 fold leading the TGA to take the extraordinary step of banning its off-label use for fear of depriving people who need to use Ivermectin to treat parasites.

One of my vaccine-hesitant friends who is keen on Ivermectin pointed me to the trials being done by Sydney doctor Thomas Borody. Borody has treated around 25 COVID-positive patients in home quarantine, some as young as 16. He says most recovered without being hospitalised, though one died. Yet we know 90% of people do recover without being hospitalised. These do not strike me as good statistics upon which to be making life-and-death decisions. Nor is Borody claiming that Ivermectin is an alternative to vaccines. It is, he says, “another string to the bow”.

To find out how well that string plays, we’ll need to wait for the results of large placebo-controlled clinical trials currently underway.

These include the Oxford trial known as PRINCIPLE, another at McMaster University in Canada called TOGETHER and one at the US National Institutes of Health known as Activ-6.

These trials focus on repurposed drugs like Ivermectin that are cheap and readily available. A key goal is to find the ones that will stop home-based patients from progressing to severe disease.  

So far there are two: the inhaled steroid budesonide and (surprisingly) the anti-depressant fluvoxamine.

PRINCIPLE has shown budesonide shortens recovery time by three days in some patients. And preliminary results from the TOGETHER trial showed that fluvoxamine was mildly effective, reducing the relative risk of getting worse by 30%. 

In August the TOGETHER trial showed Ivermectin had no statistically significant effect.

The other trials have yet to report – but don’t hold your breath.

“The evidence so far doesn’t point to a large effect, if any at all.  To detect a small effect you need a much larger sample size – hence it will take a long time.”

Oxford is loathe to predict when they will have their results, but after badgering head investigator Christopher Butler, he guessed it might be in the first quarter of next year. The NIH apparently won’t have anything to say till 2023.

That seems absurd, given the epidemic of people taking the drug in the hope it will work.

Carlos Chaccour, an infectious disease specialist at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health who works on Ivermectin for malaria control and has tested it in a small trial for COVID, helped clarify the situation for me. “The evidence so far doesn’t point to a large effect, if any at all.  To detect a small effect you need a much larger sample size – hence it will take a long time.”

YOUR COVID TOOLBOX: This article is one of a five-part series where Cosmos editor-at-large Elizabeth Finkel hunts down all the facts and figures you need to understand COVID-19 vaccines.

Elizabeth Finkel: A letter to my vaccine-hesitant friends

Are COVID-19 vaccines experimental?

The rollout: The danger of vaccines vs the danger of COVID

Adverse reactions: Guillain Barre, TTS and the fine mesh net

What we know about Ivermectin: correlation is not causation published first on https://triviaqaweb.weebly.com/