#about being an ally like WW do

[cyarskj1899]

Shut up!

[mazeyphaedra]

HELIO CHOSE HER, BUT SHE CHOSE CASSANDRA.

Traci Brimall, Vive, Vive // Mitski, Goodbye My Danish Sweetheart // Unknown // Katie Maria, God is made of hunger and I am made of dreams // Ally Beardsley, Fantasy High: Sophomore Year // Caravaggio, Judith Beheading Holofernes // @inkskinned, When I’m sad, I write goodbye letters to the people I care about. Once I’ve said goodbye to everyone, I can go. // Ally Beardsley, Fantasy High: Junior Year // Florence & The Machine, Girls Against God // Hozier & Allison Russell, Wildflower and Barley

[ganondoodle]

saw a few posts talking about ganondorf and while i dont want to uh .. risk having to argue with strangers ... i cant shut up entirely (you know me)

(in my opinion that is probably missing alot or just not as well read as a lot of others since i really just say what i feel instead of knowing what im talking about-)

its kinda hard to really talk about him bc hes so .... steeped into tired old stereotypes and harmful tropes with intentionally so little else, if anything, that you almost always end up playing into them if you just take what canon tells you (and alot of people love defending it too :/ )

to what degree is it really his character and what is literally just some things that were decided he does to make it clear hes the one note evil guy, to justify whatever horror is done to him and overshadow/bury what anyone else has done, to not think about maybe he had a point bc look how much bad stuff he does! if you made him fight for the freedom/sovereignity of his own people against an oppressive hyrule he would be in the right- so ACTUALLY he opresses them violently and selfishly even WORSE and then wants to murder everyone tm that dont bow to him bc thats what evil people do! and hyrule is justified in taking them over in turn bc their rule wont opress them :)

its like a game of trying to one up whatever hyrule did with something more bad tm bc otherwise it gets hard to justify killing him over and over

im not saying hes not allowed to be prideful, selfish or violent of whatever, but you gotta know that all of that IS one of those ways that is supposed to make it clear how evil tm the desert guy is; it doesnt matter what hyrule has done bc look! ganondorf is so much worse! and im sure hyrule had their reasons :)

hes never actually allowed to interact with his own people, hes isolated/alienated from them and their culture constantly, hes their king yet he .... violently takes over "free" gerudo villages (what? what for?? what does "free" even mean? they werent following him? their king?? were they .. allied with hyrule, who are good tm, which means they were living in paradise aka "free"? (bc they are good ones tm bc they rejected their evil one in a hundred year man king ruling violently over only women .. *cough*)), yet hes never seen fighting alongside his own people (the most is them .. silently serving him in what, one scene??) and then he drops them the second he has evil MONSTERS to fight for him instead and orders them to kill every living thing or something bc thats obviously evil, he doesnt even care about his own people! how evil! why would he do that? idk, hes the sole, selfish violent evil man opressing his own people, who are all women! that what they do! and WE need to free them from HIM (and they should be thankful to us for it and try to attone for ever having birthed him in the first place) (or he is the reason tm why they suffered/were wiped out and he is literally the sole survivor of his people, bc he doesnt care about ANYONE but himself)

i dont mean he has to be a goody two shoes character (you can be an ass and still do good/be in the right btw) bc more often than not what that actually means is being allied with hyrule bc those are the designated good guys and being on their side makes you automatically good (eugh) but do you rly want to just ... play along with all the propaganda?

imo, aside from being obviously racist, thats also so boring? does selfish, violent evil man king with no people (bc hes not part of them or fighting for them, hes always presented as the worse oppressor) and nothing else to him that only wants to murder bc ... idk evil? sound interesting to you? (to the point that the ONLY time we were shown literally any sort of vunerabillity, end of ww, that theres people trying to argue he was trying to to manipulate you even there?? what for? why? are you trying to reject literally the one glimpse we are allowed into his perspective qoq)

why do alot of people reject the idea so much to consider he actually cared about them, how maybe that prideful and selfish look is just a facade, or even a fabrication? violence that had to be met with violence, not for any sort of selfish reasons, but for his people and was met with a fight he could not win yet kept fighting on, perhaps losing himself more and more in the process, or a lie told so often that it became reality, if someone has nothign left to lose, if all was taken from them, maybe even blamed on them, why not play into what you where made out to be, you cant convince them otherwise anyway its the reason hes never shown to have done a single nice thing, never seen non angry/smug smiling, how he has no one at his side unless he forced them, how he is not allowed to be human even a little bit, never shown being anything but a boring ass trope personified, hes less a character and more a big bundle of racist tropes that fights you at the end (sorry) while looking epic so trying to meaningfully analyze him just by what we are told and shown in canon will always fall kinda flat or end up playing righ into every shitty trope

that is my opinion :I

[the-glorious-evolution-fanart]

It's crazy how cringe Arcane S2 Viktor is. He's a Machine Herald without the "machine". It's just like calling Mordekaiser as the "Iron Revenant", and taking away the "revenant". It makes no sense at all, and destroys the whole character. It's like making Jhin with his face visible, when everything that makes Jhin himself is the anonymity of his face.

Suffice to say, I'm disappointed, and if they choose to make Arcane Viktor as the in-game one with the VGU & Rework, I'll quit playing Viktor. I don't want to play as another corrupt mage like Brand or Xerath. I want to play as a cyborg man from Zaun. Closest we have is Urgot, but even then, he's not a ranged character. Camille? Again, close range character, and from Piltover. And they're not quite the same as Viktor, who is fully set on prosthetics, and helping people, and being a scientist who builds golems.

It's like Viktor will become a completely different character, and I'll continue to prefer his current LoR version as the in-game canon since I love that version of him right now. Welp, guess the only place where we can play as his original version will be LoR. Such a shame.

The whole plotline of "Piltover-Zaun becoming one against Viktor's and Noxus' armies" makes me cringe so hard, you have no idea. Weren't we supposed to have an animation series about Piltover and Zaun? When did it become about "Noxus vs Piltover and Zaun"? But I liked Jayce. He's become Giga Chad, basically. Sure, doesn't fit his S1 character, but which character stayed loyal to their S1 versions? I didn't like S1 too because it didn't set up the base for Viktor becoming the Machine Herald at all (not into robotics, no comment on human emotions, etc.), or for Jayce to be an arrogant guy who's very hard to work with. No, instead we had their "better" versions. It makes me so angry. 😭 I'm not even starting with what kind of abomination they've turned WW into. He's supposed to talk. Not act like an animal %90 of the time and just speak one word the whole season.

Swain crows and Mel allying with LeBlanc was cool, ngl. Doesn't make a lot of sense as to why Swain doesn't move a finger to stop Ambessa and her army whatsoever, but whatever. Also what was the "subtle foreshadowing" they did on the last episode? Geez.

Ambessa fighting scene is literally what happens in every movie: the guys who are shooting all the time suddenly stop and let the main character(s) kill them. What a classic.

Betrayal wasn't expected but didn't surprise me.

Viktor model is just outright cringe. Mask looks ridiculous. Hair looks ridiculous. Cane? A whole another level of ridiculous. Voice not at all Machine Herald's. Human face still visible under Reddit Upvote button, disgusting. Halo of runes(?) behind his head, forced Biblical stuff. Has magical husk slaves like Evelynn in LoR who has the ability to fly and infect, apparently. SUS. He also has gone to the full "people shouldn't have control" mind-set, which I don't appreciate since even the Convergence Comic Viktor at the start was hating the cult, blaming them for twisting his ideology for their own sick beliefs. His third arm just looks like a horrid monster from S.O.M.A. game, but in a really bad way. Also wow, Viktor now apparently has the power to telekinesis.

Wow, apparently Caitlyn is such a powerful and lucky(!) character that she can fight while being stabbed by a dagger. Wow. Not plot-armor at all.

I appreciated how Ambessa's men literally do nothing to help their commander, which should have happened since Noxians use any and all means necessary to win. They used Singed's chemical weapons during the invasion of Ionia. Guess they forgot about their own principle: "Guile" 💀

WW can teleport now?! Wtf. Also impenetrable skin. They're really going for that "Shuriman Ascended WW", huh? Everyone can fly now, apparently.

Wow, galactic god Viktor. So cringe. Old Viktor. Viktor paradox. How worse could it have been?

Aaand, "happy" ending because why not. 💀

Jinx using herself as a bullet? Now that's a first. Was Jinx's death supposed to be sad? Sorry, I was cringing over every other thing wrong with the act that I couldn't find it in myself to feel bad.

What I didn't understand is how did Orinna came to be??? Hello??? Can we get an explanation please??? Because she's not the Orianna we know at all.

NOOO THEY'LL DESTROY NOXUS NEXT!!! NOOOOO 😭😭😭

^^^ it's over.

Orianna got injected with Viktor's and Warwick's blood I guess, so now she has 3 dads!

[padfootastic]

He probably can't hold a job down because he is constantly ill - the frequency of his absences would definitely cause suspicion after a while as well, especially if he wasn't willing to say what was wrong. I don't think wizarding Britain has any concept of employment law or employess rights.

nah you’re probably right and @acupofsolace mentioned the same as well. it’s also the no. 1 reason given in fics too. but idk, just…something about it doesn’t sit right w me ykno? like, i would get it if this wasn’t set in such a magical, fantastical world. but that it is, my mind just would not let me accept such a mundane, boring, reason for it haha like, when magic is capable of so much, it just seems like a lazy way out, at best ykno?

but i do agree that there probably wouldn’t be anything like labor laws (which takes me to an absolutely fascinating experiment of communism/socialism in the WW?!?). and that would definitely have adverse consequences for the most vulnerable in society, bc others can deal w those barriers. but werewolves can’t. so they’ll end up being the first line of defence. but i do wonder how much the average employer would know about moon cycles and lycanthropic behaviour (it’s kinda like smokers and their habits; i always have deodorant, gum, and sanitiser with me which is v telling but my parents have never found out that i smoke, put me in front of another smoker or ally, tho? they catch me at first sight. i think the average wixen might be more like my parents than the other side but that could be me haha)

if i do take this seriously, though, i can think of many jobs that do not have to be affected by his lycanthropy. in fact, the ones where ‘regular leaves on the full moon look suspicious’ would even be possible would be like a. storefront type job, or a 9-5. but if you take some of the more eccentric options, like say a potions maker, enchanter, arithmancer etc etc (basically anything w freelancing potential) OR something like, gringotts that canonically takes non-humans, then i feel like this reason starts to fall apart a bit

which takes me right back to my confusion about his condition lol like his secrecy was most probably like a double edged sword but it did give him the freedom to sort of navigate society & choose life on his own terms, to a very large extent, but he never seems to do that. just. baffling.

[aboutzatanna]

My ideal Justice League Dark Sentinels of Magic line up:

Wonder Woman/Diana of Themyscira (leader)

Zatanna Zatara (co-leader)

Blue Devil/Dan Cassidy (muscle)

Nightshade/Eve Eden (transport)

Amethyst of Gemworld (Gemworld rep, also muscle)

Aqualad/Garth of Shayeris (Atlantean rep, mystic knowledge)

The seventh spot would be a rotating spot that could be filled with someone like say, Enchantress/June Moon, Captain Marvel/Billy Batson, Deadman/Boston Brand, Zachary Zatara, Etrigan the Demon/Jason Blood or Zauriel.

Phantom Stranger, Madame Xanadu and Doctor Occult will do their usual exposition thing.

Dr/Fate Khalid Nassour will be a part of the JLA or JSA as their primary magical ally. (My larger DC plan is for each member of the Trinity to have their own signature team and this would be WW's).

As for the team itself, there is a lot of potential here with Diana and Zee with their warrior and magician dynamic. Diana is familiar with the Greek side of the magical world but Zatanna would have a better understanding of the bigger picture. Blue Devil and Zatanna are both performers so there is an interesting dynamic there, at the same time Dan and Even are both hardcore Catholics meanwhile by all indication Zee was likely raised Catholic but isn't that into the religion. Amethyst and Eve both have such extreme contrasts in both appearance, personality and history, any interaction between them will likely be hilarious.

Garth is such an underrated, under appreciated character. He's one of those DC characters that seemingly floundering with no direction to go in. However, Obsidian Age really endeared me to the character and also the idea of Zee being a second mentor to him.

Just as WW would have more specialised knowledge about Greek mythology, I imagine Garth would have more esoteric knowledge about Atlantis which even characters like Zatanna wouldn't be privy to.

He would be the team's second sorcerer and also his youth, vulnerability and sense of uncertainty makes him ideal for being the heart of the team.

That's it. Let me know what you think.

[amelikos]

I couldn't help but notice the similar visuals for Amethio in HZ023 and Spinel in HZ016 at the end of their respective episodes. Except Amethio is facing a sunset (which means he is going into the night and deeper in the dark in a way), while Spinel is facing a sunrise (which is more hopeful, the dawn of a new day, a new beginning).

Anyway, I am really interested in how Amethio and Spinel keep contrasting each other in many ways. I feel like they defied my expectations of their characters given my first impressions of them, and as of now, they seem to be going in opposite directions than I would have initially thought for them.

There is the fact that their main partners Pokemon are opposite in compelling ways. Despite his initial introduction as someone taunting others and not being above using cunning means to get what he wants, Spinel is the one out of the two who has the friendship evolution Pokemon. Blacky is known to evolve through happiness and friendship. While Amethio's main partner Pokemon is associated with grudges and resentment according to its dex entry. It's not that Soulblades evolves through dislike or resentment though to be precise, it's just that it stands out to me that its dex entry talks about Soulblades as having the "lingering resentment of a sword wielder who fell before accomplishing their goal", which is not really a positive thing (if you ask me, this may be what awaits Amethio ww someone who is going to fall before his goal). So, Spinel is the one associated with love through his main partner, while Amethio seems associated with regrets. (And there is also the fact that while Amethio doesn't hesitate to send Soulblades to battle, in fact Soulblades was the first Pokemon of his we've seen battle, Spinel is more reluctant to send Blacky to battle and apologizes when he does so. We've seen both Pokemon instinctively protect their trainers though, so they are both similar in that regard!)

Either way, in today's episode (HZ023), Amethio is going in a more ominous direction as he decides to steal Terapagos. Amethio started off as being more of an antagonist with principles (always faces his opponents in a battle, doesn't like the idea of taking hostages, etc), so I thought he'd be likely to become an ally of sorts to the main group eventually (I still think he will), but he may take the long road to get there? The teaser for the upcoming episode shows that he is going to face Friede in a battle (so he doesn't seem to be going against that principle of his at least), but the fact that he is mentioning stealing a Pokemon indicates that he is going deeper in shady stuff. There really seems to be something that keeps him tied down to the Explorers for some reason and that pushes him to be stubborn about showing results. While Spinel, with the way he was initially introduced, I thought he'd be more likely to be more devoted to the mission but he hides information for his own benefit and curiosity and seems to have less ties to the organization than initially thought as he mentioned that what he is doing is merely his job (and while Spinel likes a job well done, he didn't seem frustrated after the Explorers meeting, unlike the way Amethio was after he was removed from the mission).

Anyway with the current arc reaching its climax, I am curious about the direction characters will take, especially Amethio. Will he go deeper into the shady direction, will he have some kind of positive turn to his progression? I am looking forward to getting some answers.

[seabreeze2022]

Danube River Cruise, Part 4

Still in Budapest

Still doing walk about. So much to see and do in Budapest. This is their “Funnel Cake.” This is common street fare.

It is dough wrapped around a metal form and then turned over a charcoal fire. As it cooks it is periodically moved closer to the heat. Two different shapes. The one becomes a cone and can have ice cream placed in it. Mine was the “classic”, which is tube shaped, with Nutella chocolate smeared on the inside. They forgot the coconut on the outside. I think they all go through a sugar bath after cooking.

We were looking for this “Street Market” which was next door to the little food truck stop where I bought the funnel cake. The Street Market was not a Farmers market which we were expecting. Save your money on a “Bad acid trip” and visit this place.

Multiple bars and a couple of open air shops. Two floors of what you would expect to see in an opium den. A cross between Bourbon Street and Key West. I am sure it is wild at night.

This is the “Great Synagogue” in the Jewish District. Surprisingly we only saw a handful of Hasidic Jews in the district. Second largest synagogue in Europe. Lots of history and not all good. It did survive WW 2 fairly unscathed. But its people did not.

This is inside with our English speaking guide giving his talk. Very ornate. All men had to wear a yamaka. So they gave us a paper yamaka with a bobby pin. With my short hair, I more or less balanced it in place and held it on when outside in the wind. The bald guy really had problems.

This is a reminder of the Jewish hostages held in Palestine. We have seen much graffiti starting in Zurich and here of “Free Palestine” with some fighting back by the Jews. It has now been a little over a year of captivity for the hostages.

The Jewish faith forbids bodies to be buried near the synagogue. Yet there are over 2,000 bodies buried in the courtyard here. All were killed and left in the street at the end of the WW 2. Allied forces quickly buried these here in mass graves. Only half have been identified. It is also forbidden in the Jewish faith to exhume or move a body. So they are a grim reminder of what has transpired in the past.

From the Jewish synagogue we visited St. Stephen’s Cathedral. I need to specify it is St. Stephen Cathedral in Budapest. We visited several others with the same name in different cities. The largest Cathedral in Budapest. I would like to formally post my objection to the building of such tall Cathedrals. I can not get them in the photograph without it warping the image. I also have to strain my neck to see the spires and the ceilings inside.

Pictures just do not do these houses of worship justice. So much symbolism and artistry everywhere.

The Cathedral is named after King Stephen founder of the state. He died in 1038 and was later Canonized.

Before heading back we stopped by for a pint of Guinness. Which reminds of us Neil and Beverly and our trip through Anglesey, Wales.

Having a traditional Hungarian dish of pork knuckle. I can highly recommend it for meat eaters in the crowd.

Desert of caramelized strudel.

This is the after dinner drink of the local moonshine “Palinka”, no open flames please.

Next morning we toured the Parliament Building. It is so big you can not get it all in the photograph from street level. You will see the whole thing lit up when we depart on the ship the next night.

This is looking back at the front door. Unfortunately there are very few places where we can take photos inside. We saw the gold Crown studded with gems, protected by two soldiers at all times.

This is equivalent to the Senate floor. With students receiving a lecture at the time.

This is a monument of 60 pairs of shoes. Symbols of the 15,000-20,000 Jews who were required to remove their shoes, prior to being shot and their bodies dumped in the Danube. This happened during 4 months in WW 2. The shoes were considered valuable at the time.

After checking out of the “Hampton by Hilton” we took the subway to the ship. Budapest boasts about it being the second oldest electrified subway in Europe, opening in 1896. The strange thing is after buying your very small ticket above ground and riding the subway. It is not until you try to leave that you have to find the very small paper ticket in one of many pockets. Two very tough looking women, probably prior East German border guards, caught the women behind us.

We find our ship Avalon Illumination (warned: don’t call it a boat) at Dock 6. The cruise line is Avalon, which has been in tourism for 100 years. They supply us with an app that gives us all the information we need. Including the time and quickest way to find the ship if we are walking around town.

This is our sea cabin. We drop our bags and head back into the city.

We cruise through the large market two blocks away. Food stalls are on the first floor. Souvenirs and such on the upper floor. I buy some pork rinds.

Nancy finds a man with a chicken. He would not answer which came first, the chicken or the egg.

These are small pastries filled with different fillings. Walnut paste was the classic. It was a bit dry but very popular. The meat shop next door had every part of a duck on display.

This shows just how big the market is. So many people selling the same souvenirs or food, you wonder how they survive.

Back to the ship for our first night onboard. We get our safety brief and meet the Captain and crew. In an emergency we are all supposed to meet on the top deck. The Danube is so shallow there is a good chance the boat would sink to the bottom and we would still be 10 feet above the water drinking our beer and wine.

Nancy and I passed up the tours that the ship set up since we had already toured the city for two days. Instead we did a walking tour with a local woman who was passionate about history. The walking tours can really get into the specifics. This courtyard had just about all the architecture styles: Baroque, Gothic, neoclassical and neo-ugly. The far building was bombed and replaced with bland architecture, which our guide aptly labeled as neo-ugly.

This is the last day of us walking 5-7 miles a day with quick stops by the hotel room. Tours on the cruise are much less. Definitely trying to walk off as many calories as we can. So much to eat and see!

This is the “Chain bridge.” The chain refers to the links between the vertical columns. The chains are like huge bicycle chain links. Very ornate and the only bridge from Buda to Pest for years. Originally open in 1849 and one of the largest bridges in the world at the time. The bridge was destroyed by retreating Germans in 1945 and reopened 1949.

Back to the ship for our embarkation at 5:30 and sailing upstream to Vilshofen, Austria.

They dock up to 3 boats side by side. This is the bow of a second ship tied along side. We left first. So they untie from us and they move back and out a little. Then we untie from the shore, and pull ahead. They immediately retie to shore at the same dock. These guys make it look easy.

[hollow-keys]

I saw Wonder Woman #2 today and I decided to read it out of morbid curiousity, so mamma mia, here we go again:

I read Tom King's Wonder Woman so you don't have to, round two (link to round one here).

First off, framing. Yet again, this issue is narrated by the Sovereign, but this time it's narrated to someone. And that someone is Trinity, Diana's daughter that Tom King created. She gets no lines and she doesn't appear on panel, but given the Sovereign refers to Diana as "your mother," there's only one character it could be. First of all, this is Diana's book, it should be told from her perspective. We get no insight from her, nothing from her perspective, she shows even less emotion than in the last issue. This is not the treatment Tom King gave Batman. Second, I do not care about the OC daughter. I do not want to hear about her.

But on to the actual story. So, it starts with Diana on an open field being approached by Steve Trevor, who is acting on behalf of the US government and is telling her to stand down because she can't win.

Look, I didn't think I'd ever complain about Steve Trevor, incredibly basic WW supporting character, being mischaracterised but. Isn't he meant Wonder Woman's staunch friend who pretty much always takes her side? Hasn't he seen Diana in enough battles to know she doesn't just lose? She's fought gods, armies from outer space, the forces of Apokolips, why does he think the US army is beyond her? He's underestimating her for no reason.

And more importantly, because she is the title character, why doesn't Diana seem to care that her long time ally is being a coward?

And why does Diana care about the soldiers wellbeing at this point? Why is she trying to get them to go home with no consequence and no hint of anger about how her or her fellow Amazons have been treated when they've already made their stance quite clear? People are dead! They've already made their decision, you already tried to extend them mercy. Now you fight. The thing about Diana is that mercy is always her first port of call, but when the other side has made their choice she meets them and she does have anger about the injustices they've committed. Here, she just doesn't seem to care.

Also, Diana's nihilism about the ways of men, that they will always "crash upon the rocks" is at odds with her optimism. She knows that humanity contains multitudes, some crash, some don't.

Anyway, the whole issue parallels her fight against the army with flashbacks to her final fight on Themyscira to prove herself worthy of being the Amazon's champion and Wonder Woman. This parallel makes no sense to me. Those fights were completely different.

One is against an army to defend herself and her people from enemies who want them dead, the other is against an ally in a tournament, a battle where no one's in real danger. Or at least, that's how it should be. Usually when this moment is shown, it's a good faith tournament to find out who the most qualified person to serve as champion is, they're all allies who respect each other. Here, the opponent is shown to be hateful towards Diana, genuinely seriously injure her and there's no sense of camaraderie between them.

While Diana and her opponent are trading barbs before their fight, the other Amazon gives her a chance to surrender. Diana responds "Honour is won with swords, not surrender," which is incredibly out of character for her. Yes, there are cases where Diana would consider surrender dishonourable, but it's not an absolute rule. She believes in compassion and peace, which means surrender is sometimes the right course of action. The framing of it as an absolute here does a disservice to her.

Steve Trevor would not fucking say that, Amazons do not fucking act like that and the last panel makes no sense. It's said by present Diana but only makes sense as a continuation of past Diana's sentence. present WW just said "To tell me who I am." with no words before that. To parallel these conversations, present Diana talking to Steve would have had to have said "Neither you nor anyone else has ever earned the right..." in the fifth panel so the seventh panel made sense for both sides. The composition here was thoughtless. Yes this is a nitpick, but details matter. Where are the editors? Sidenote: her mask is ugly.

Anyway, then we get these choice narration boxes from the Sovereign.

It's just. So bad. I want to make it clear that at no point is the Sovereign framed as an unreliable narrator, despite being the villain who's diametrically opposed to Diana. This just appears to be, Tom King's genuine take on things. I would ask if he understands that you cannot believe in peace and do nothing in the face of violent status quo, but I don't have to. Of course he doesn't. And of course he calls her an idiot while he's at it. Remind me, did he ever call Batman anything like that?

We then get more pathetic "Of course I want Diana to win, I'm still gonna serve with her enemies though" Steve Trevor. I should make it clear tho that he's not actually fighting against her, he's just watching the fight and updating Sargeant Steel.

Anyway, then we get a bit of narration that says:

"Infantry. Be it conscripts or... Well it's always just conscripts. If you can't do it from afar...Or with haste... Then get the grunts to rush in close and kill and die in what you will tell their children was a patriotic mission."

Tom King, stop processing your war trauma here. Any one of these soldiers could have stood down, they chose to enforce a genocidal policy. It's on them. Stop framing them as victims who were taken advantage of, they're grown adults who chose to be there.

Anyway. Another caption box from the still-inexplicably-narrating-this Sovereign:

"...And prepared to meet the onslaught of angry men with the grace of a princess born and proven."

I ask this again, did he ever treat Batman like this? Does he ever emphasise Batman's grace and frame him as being above anger? Why does Diana need to be like this?

And now for an unnecessary Macbeth reference.

"For some time the missiles rained down. No man of woman born could have survived such a salvo. But of course. She was neither a man nor born of woman. She was Amazon. Forged first of clay. Then steel."

I don't think this reference makes sense considering the line in Macbeth is a prophecy, a warning that Macbeth missed. But here it's a measure of power. She's powerful enough because she's not a man of woman born, which makes no sense because that has nothing to do with power. I'm nitpicking. Again. I know. But the Macbeth reference is such a shallow attempt at being badass. And as a sidenote, it should say "She was AN Amazon."

"Potty train." "A pup." God this dialogue is so bad. Amazons do not fucking speak like that.

Then Diana smashes a tank with another tank and there are cartoon stars on the impact sight. This is meant to be a serious battle, why are they there?

"Many people lie about your mother. About her family, her origins, her abilities, her wants her needs. Every tale of the great Wonder Woman provides us with more insight into the teller than into their supposed protagonist. They faithfully project their own fears onto her with the aspiration that her legend can ease their daily panic."

So close to self awareness and yet so far. It's so ironic.

"Men in the field, I admire your courage! I honor your service and your loyalty! I do not wish to harm you! But if you proceed... I will... Over and over... Drop a 55-ton abrams tank on your pathetic little heads!"

Again, why does she not seem to care about the violence they've committed against her and her people? Why does she continue to respect them and wish no harm upon them? Where's her sadness, her righteous fury? And the bit where she says she'll drop a tank on their "pathetic little heads" is so out of character and it's such bad dialogue. When Diana makes threats, it's not like that.

Anyway, y'know the flashback fight? Yeah, well, the issue ends with the reveal that her opponent is the Amazon that committed the massacre which kick started this whole thing, which is such a cheap retcon it makes me roll my eyes.

After all this, I think I put more thought into this post than Tom King puts into any of his writing. I hope the next issue isn't bad enough that it inspires me to do this again. I'm tired.

[wastemanjohn]

Happy WW China! Are there any friends/allies of the Winchesters you think they’d ever disclose their relationship to, or do they’d keep it a secret from everybody all the time always?

Happy WW Spike! ❤

I feel like this is something that probably changed with time. Something that was very secret early on, something they both probably thought they'd take to their grave and went to great lengths to keep on the down low. But they probably never hid it as well as they thought. I think people knew. I think Bobby knew for sure (but I've talked that to death lately ). Really though, they got mistaken (or indeed clocked) for a couple everywhere they went early seasons and beyond. And if you keep trying to hide something but people just figure it out anyway - even if it's awkward and no one really talks about it -are you going to keep expending all that effort in hiding it?

And that's not to say I think they started being overly explicit about it, or telling people upfront, "I'm Sam and this is my brother Dean and he really likes it when I eat him out." But the more codependent/insular they got too and the more out of touch with any degree of normalcy whatsoever - I feel like over time maybe they'd start to care less about people knowing. To me it's pretty much canon that Crowley knows lol (and is jealous because he wants to bang them both) and I feel like Charlie probably had a strong inkling too. And people know they're insane about each other - would they be really so surprised that such insanity extended to fucking?

And idk. Late seasons wise I don't think they would have told Mary explicitly. But I think either Cas would have let it slip in his oblivious innocent way, or she would have worked it out for herself - and what could she really do? It's not what she envisioned for them - but was any of it? And in the grand scheme as well, it's still better than her husband sleeping with her son right...

[girl4music]

@rezmacro If a gun is in a public place at all, it’s already a danger because anyone can access it and use it. So treating every gun like it’s loaded is honestly smart because it means you’ll stay away from it. That’s anxiety and it’s useful in situations like that. Your comparison of this to treating every Harry Potter/Wizarding World fan as a transphobe doesn’t work because that’s not smart. It’s still an anxiety but it’s not a rational one. The danger alarm is far less likely and less immediate than the occurrence of a potential loaded gun. Always treat a gun as if it’s loaded if it’s in a public setting and you don’t know who else is around but don’t treat who else is around as the wielder of it.

In other words : don’t place a prejudice on someone in the effort to escape from or avoid a prejudice on you or on someone you love and care about. But assess the situation calmly and rationally and be wary about the content in the environment. It may not be safe.

In using this ‘gun’ metaphor in a way that makes sense. Consider the fact that trans people are only assuring the possible ‘gun wielders’ are allies to them.

It always depends on the circumstances how to act and react, this is true. But anything is an anxiety trigger to a marginalised group of people that have to have their guard up every time they’re in a public environment. The internet is a public environment.

Trans people do not know whether they’re stepping into a safe space not even in the LGBTQ community. So what they doing is treating their stepped in environment as hostile, not who is in it. Then they’re asking who is in it to hold up their hands so that they know for sure that they’re not dangerous to them.

Because then it doesn’t matter whether the gun is loaded or not. They’re clearly not going to shoot.

Asking a person to hold up their hands is not a big ask because they’ll do the same if you’re wielding a gun.

The intention in it is: “I am not dangerous to you.”

When you’re a marginalised, often targeted person…

You have to treat any public environment as hostile.

You even have to treat the content in that public environment as potentially hostile too ‘cause it can be.

You shouldn’t treat other people in it as hostile. But you can fairly ask them to hold up their hands. From that, they know they’re safe to walk where they do.

That’s all they’re doing.

It’s a small and fair ask.

Just try to see this from their perspective. If you were a trans person and you stumbled into a person’s social media site where the owner of it had a Hogwarts crest in their bio, you would be immediately anxious about engaging because that Hogwarts crest represents a celebration of a piece of media originally created by someone who now openly despises you and wishes you would be extinct from the planet. You’d be scared. So, you, fairly ask this owner of the blog to either take it out or replace it with some form of support for you because then YOU KNOW you’re safe to engage here.

See… Asking someone to hold up their hands is a way of asking them to show that they’re not hostile to you.

They’re not going to hurt you even if they do possess a potentially ‘loaded gun’ in the form of a HP/WW sign. They may not intend to shoot that gun, but you do still have to judge as to whether they will or won’t because you don’t know. You can’t know until they make it clear. Unless they make it clear. The anxiety of being in danger is still there - rational or not. But these people are not asking for Harry Potter/Wizarding World fans to completely disregard the franchise and even change the way they engage with it. All they’re asking them to do is to make it clear that they don’t hate them and that they won’t hurt them if they engage.

And that’s not an irrational action to what could be a dangerous situation for them, is it? Not when you see it from their perspective. They’re not calling anyone who is a fan of Harry Potter/Wizarding World a transphobe. They’re not placing a prejudice on them. They want to know that they’re safe to engage with and their removing of a symbol that represents something that can harm them from their bio is a way of showing that person that they need not be afraid.

[aijee]

AAAAHHHHHHHHHH haaaiii this is a very lengthy message because I have so much to say and I hope you take time to read.

so I found in defense of the side character through twitter recs, and I've been looking for actor!mg and writer!ww for so long, it felt like fate.

and then I read it in one sitting because I could not put it down (on epub because there was also a power outage in my area). I slept at 4am because I just can't sleep thinking about what could happen next.

your writing is very similar to that of my favorite books, and I absolute loved the parallels between the jaechung couple and minwon. PLUS THE WW SHIP TRAIN WKEJDIDKDOE SURPRISE AFTER ANOTHER I WAS SEATEEEDDD!!

Jun being the lovliest man (even with their confrontation scene I think he was still very lovely), Soonyoung being my fav ride or die bestie in the med field, Chae being our fav workplace ally, Jihoon peptalker, and the absolute genius that is CEO Jeonghan, just from the side characters I'm already super enthralled, but how you wrote Minwon and the progression of their relationship is my absolute most fav part.

I have plenty more to say but maybe I'll comment them on ao3 once I reread the fic (probably right now). I'm just very glad that I found your work and I can't wait to read the others sidhdidjdksks. anw hope you're doing well😊😊

My goodness, this is so sweet of you! IDOTSC has a very special place in my heart for being my first attempt at really planning out a story with multiple coinciding storylines. Plus the actor/writer/film industry AU is something I'm also always craving, so it's a win-win. I'm very glad you enjoyed it! Putting the SVT characters in their roles was a big part of the fun, for sure.

I'd love to know what "favorite books" you're referring to! I'm a sucker for learning what people enjoy reading. I may not get and read the full books tbh, but I do enjoy poring through whatever is on the internet about those readings for some reason haha.

Thank you so much for such a kind message. :) It warmed my heart to reread this (considering how long it's been since your message was sent hahaha)

[papirouge]

New zionist brain rot I read today. 1) African Americans who have never been to Africa cannot say Africa is their native land because Jews cannot claim Israel is theirs. 2) Israel is justified in bombing innocent Palestinians because England did the same thing to Germany during WW 2

1. That's one stupid argument if I ever saw one because claiming being "native" of a land =/= weaponizing it to pursue a colonial projects aiming to own back those lands. Anti Zionists main grievance isn't about Jews claiming to have lineage to population who lived on those lands (although it's true that a significant amount of modern Jews may not -i.e conversion- and it's very embarrassing to see Jews denying this basic reality) ; the problem is what they do with this. Unlike Jewish Zionists, Black Americans don't act like they "own" part of Africa because their ancestor got snatched from it. Africans American don't go to Africa to kill, deport and segregate Africans BECAUSE they allegedly lived there before, like Zionists do/advocate for.

2. typical "what aboutism" that doesn't make any sense. First of all, WWII was between ARMIES that could pull out against each other in term of military & economical power. Palestine doesn't have any. The Waffen SS was (one of) the most powerful army in the world back then, that did a lot of damage to the Allies and managed to achieve significant milestones (invading & bordering countries) beforehand. None of this is remotely comparable to the threat the Palestinian resistance movements actually represents for Israel that *may* justify such brutal retaliation (like the Allies did against Germany such as the destruction of Dresden)

That being said, I find fascinating how those Jewish Zionist, that embrace a very peculiar racial & religious superiority complex ("we are the Chosen people" "we are a civilization of priesthood", level themselves up to goyim levels to gloss over their moral shortcomings once i becomes convenient LOL Babe, i though yall were the most moral army in the world, why you be looking at those goyim peasants behaving? why can't you do better and show us the light? aren't you supposed to be the God Chosen people supposed to show Humanity how Godly people behave...? 🙃 because last time we checked, yall were the most heartless, demonic & ghoulish people we ever had the displeasure of interacting with.

....sorry but God was absolutely right to call them out in Revelations 3:9 because there's something absolutely satanic in their behavior. I'm Christian though, so I'm hopeful the lots of them will repent

[t1gerlilly]

WWIII

I read that a guy who works with predictive models ( the kind insurance and other industries that need professional risk models use) has said that the likelihood of WW III has risen to 50%, as several local conflicts (Ukraine, Israel-Hamas) threaten to spread and entangle larger players, primarily the US and China.

I thought about that. I thought about how worried I’ve been about the Israeli response to the attack by Hamas, because I lived through what happened in the US after 911 - my country went crazy. Like, became infinitely suggestible to our politicians worst and bloodiest plans, out of outrage and fear. We’ve inherited generations of trauma and our reactions are neither proportional nor rational.

And I’ve been seeing the domestic reaction to Hamas posting of murders of families, parading the dead and tortured bodies through the streets to cheers, the kidnapping of children. I’ve been worried about my Palestinian coworkers, just reading the company group chat, hearing what’s being said.

Many Americans have been through terror attacks or have served on the military and both sets of people are reacting out of those experiences with a lot of anger.

Like, I know that terror is part of Hamas’s goals. But I’m not sure they realize the reaction they might get.

There’s 199 hostages, apparently close to 150 of them from other countries. Hamas wants to use them in negotiations. I’m guessing they’re looking at potentially years (similar to the Iran hostage crisis) and international pressure to get what they want.

They’re used to dealing with Israel, who will release thousands to get one person back. People have been throwing out lots of accusations about Israel, like “genocide”, in order to make it a symmetrical set of philosophies. But that’s bullshit. Israel controls the water supply. If they wanted to commit genocide, they had plenty of opportunity to do it in ways where they wouldn’t have to risk any of their people - just give up on their souls.

Plus, this isn’t REALLY a conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis. It’s not even just between the many Arabs states who have refused to help the Palestinians, except by arming them. Jordan has them in refugee camps for over fifty years. Egypt kept them penned in as much as Israel.

But it reaches beyond that, to the sins of anti-semitism and the guilt of conquering powers after the last world war.

And that’s the thing. Israel has skin in the game. They’re a small country, with their back to the wall, and very few allies. They know that all-out war will ultimately destroy them.

But other countries? Like the US? We don’t have those constraints. Biden is sensible and clearly working behind the scenes to try and keep the Israelis from making some of the mistakes the US has made. But next year? If Hamas manages to drag out the hostage negotiations and kills Americans publicly? To cheers?

If Trump is in charge he’ll want to drop nukes. Full stop. It was everything the military could do in his last term to keep him from bombing Iran. If given the political cover of public executions of American hostages… he’ll do it, damn the consequences.

Not to mention that Gaza is about to move over from a horrific humanitarian crisis to a scene of mass death. And there’s no way that kind of tragedy doesn’t fuel more extremism. How that reverberates throughout the world can’t be good.

So I guess I do understand why the risk of WW III has risen so drastically in predictive models.

[barmans-fault]

Omg i love this post 💖❤️

Let me just add something to the list:

1. Electricity

'call me something noone else calls me'

like what Allie? The little diamond? The little prince? The boy? (And lately - the wonder? Although i can imagine this nickname has also existed long before miles wrote a song about it)

'love like locked horns'

first of all, our little autistic mr. Factual Accuracy Turner surely should have known that it is two *male* deers who engage in this activity? Could also be interperted as Alex and Miles arguing since they've got different approaches to their relationship (Miles wants it to be open and public, Alex wants to keep it secret)

'be my ebb and flow'

ok and the literal meaning of ebb and flow is: "a recurrent or rhythmical pattern of coming and going or decline and regrowth". Just the way milex relationship has always been, don't you think?

2. Fire and the Thud

This one has been discussed miltiple times but let me just add:

'you showed me my tomorrow beside a box of matches'

a match normally starts a fire, a flame, and what was the name of Miles's first band again?

'am i snapping the excitement if i pack away ghr laughter and tell you how it feels?'

Alex and Miles both have admitted on more than one occasion that their relationship wws established on laughter and sharing a sense of humour. Alex said Miles is the one who makes him laugh the most. So is it Alex being nervous that getting those serious feelings in the way of their light hearted young love and confessing to Miles that he has truly fallen in love with him to the point of no return will hurt Alex?

And the last verse is just a fucking confession.

'in the jostling crowd you're not allowed to tell the truth and the photo booth's a liar'

what truth are you not allowed to speak? You're a successful rockstar dating a beautiful lady who is also a successful tv presenter, you're a poster couple of british celebrity culture so what's the truth to be hidden here? What photos are not true and why does the photo booth lie if all you show the public is true?

'there's a sharpened explanation but there's no screaming reason to enquire'

explanation for what exactly?

I like to think of it as an explanation for what Alex is feeling. Explanation for falling in love. But there is no point in asking since even though he does always rationalise his feelings (hello autism) and is perfectly capable to explain them to himself/others, he is resigned to the fact he has fallen hard and there is just no point in thinking about it since there is no going back?

Or, alternatively, it couls be an explanation for a friendship with a certain someone that many people including journalists have described as 'being in love'? The explanation being you are just two Northern lads who are mates and write songs together? But noone is asking since the public sees the perfectly heterosexual image of you both?

'i'd like to poke them in their prying eyes with things they'd never see if it smacked them in the temples'

I like to think of this as him talking about their love. The love that is pure and beautiful, it is a connection of their two souls entwined, something so rare and wonderful it's even hard to describe or comprehend. However the media and the public do not care - for them it is just another cause for a scandal, another reason to dig into dirty laundry. They would never see the purity and delicacy of this connection. They would only see (or rather make up) dirt and filth and an opportunity to get some hype from it. The beauty of this love, even if explicitly showed to them, would never be seen since the media/crowd are not able to perceive and comprehend such love and level of connection.

I am also pretty sure 505, The Jeweller's Hands, Secret Door, and even That's Where You're Wrong (i will post my analysis of this song later) are all very Milex. I am also sure Knee Socks is Milex too (Mean Streets being Miles favourite movie at the time and Be My Baby being his favourite movie soundtrack that he explicitly talked about in the interview? And later Miles writing about 'a king and a queen' in see ya when i see ya? A coincidence? I don't think so. ) So yeah, our little prince Alex is not the most heterosexual of lyricists, let's put it that way 🌈♥️🐵💕🐢

Alex and Miles’ songs we have actual proofs are about each other :

Golden Trunks

Arabella

My Caroline

The Dream Synopsis

Evil Twin

Little Illusion Machine

The Element Of surprise

Shavambacu

[sassypantsjaxon]

Underrated hetamyu moments, in no particular order

Germany sweeping up France's flowers and bullshit

Italy and Japan briefly imitating each other for no reason after the axis made their alliance, as well as Germany being both confused and impressed by it.

Japan's confusion every time China offers him a panda

China telling Japan he can't argue with him because the music has already started

Honestly all the puns and fourth wall breaks in gw.

China sitting on Germany's lap and glaring at Japan

One of the performances of the fruk wedding song, where England just kind of shrugs like... okay?

Also the fruk wedding song, when England tries to say France isn't cute, but then Juri is very cute and Daisuke starts cracking up

Every thing else in *that one* scene in ww distracts from whatever the hell everybody's doing with Taishi's props, but I've seen three performances and every time somebody's messing with it and I need to know why

"The far east is that way"

"Nyah!" "Don't nyah!"

"We'll handle this the same way we would for Italy: there's a pretty girl over there" "There are no beautiful women here!"

"Barbara? Who's Barbara?"

Italy indicating he smells something and Prussia immediately checking his armpits

Italy freaking out about Austria and Austria just being like👍

When everybody's fighting over which side Italy should join for ww1 and England just kinda... screeches a couple times

Also Austria offers to teach Italy to play violin, except he doesn't actually have one, so Italy joins the allies, and Austria gets a violin for all subsequent hetamyus.

France and Company blowing kisses and making Austria gag

France acting like he's going to die if he can't touch Japan's butt and everybody but Japan going with it

Austria trying to kill Holy rome with a box rou almost succeeding in killing Yusuke with the box

When Okki just kinda... hits the floor and wiggles across the stage to offer England some alcohol

"This isn't snow, it's grated cheese!"

Germany getting mad at Japan and telling him to leave, only for Japan to awkwardly remind him this is my house

Spain dragging Romano to France's party and then trying to get him play along and wave his flag with everybody else

How excited Yuta got when he finally caught his stupid little tomato

Japan's little green elephant watering can