#and some of those ‘stars’ for all intents and purposes are *literally made of the souls of your dead friends*

[mumblesplash]

hi your sculk post has me frothing at the mouth

What if it WAS warm and comfortable and soft and cosy

What if it also smelled nice, released attaching pheromones like those pitcher plants do, or the goo tasted sweet to lure creatures in

What if it wasn't a smell so much as an absence of the dank musty cave air, and it was a welcome breath of something cosy and comforting that just made you want to curl up and sleep

And then the sculk is soft underfoot, and it feels like it might be wet and slimy but it's actually kind of velvety, in that slightly coarse alive way that a living animal is soft and warm

And you're so tired from mining and exploring and damn wouldn't it be nice to just have a lie down and rest for a bit

And it's so soft and comforting, a bit weird but getting more agreeable by the second

Wouldn't it be nice to just.... Rest your eyes, and your legs.... And everything..... And just sleep.....

OH THE THING ABOUT THE SMELL IS SO GOOD

i really love the idea of it just smelling distinctly like Nothing, or just fresh air, you know that smell when you’re outside on a clear night in the summer and it’s almost-warm but not quite, that’s a smell you’d probably really miss after a long enough time underground

also the sculk does this hypnotic little animation where the little bright parts flicker in waves that could be part of the calming effect as well

but like YEAH the more i think about the more i'm into the idea that dormant sculk would be comforting. sculk not only eats the essence of formerly-living things, it grows in the shape of the places it spreads to. if you think of a more typical concept of an overgrown post-apocalyptic city you probably imagine lots of disruption, trees and vines widening cracks in streets and buildings crumbling, but sculk doesn't do that. your home could be completely eaten and it would still be standing there, you could still walk inside. and chances are that's on purpose

[starry-bi-sky]

I'm slowly becoming obsessed with the childhood friends au and it's mostly bc of something you said in the tags of an ask lol. you mentioned that they weren't soulmates they were something better. that they were two balls of yarn they batted around until they were intertwined, that they chose and continue to choose to be as close as two souls can be.

it's so poetic, the idea that fate has nothing to do with it. they looked at each other and said this is it, that's the one. It makes me think of so many different quotes but here's just a few. Hozier "lay me gently in the cold dark earth, no grave can hold my body I'll crawl home to her (him)" or like patroclus saying that if Achilles were to die that "all things soft and beautiful would be buried with him" and poor Danny grieving so long and so hard because "what is grief if not love perserving?" when you're in love with someone, that person is the lighthouse of your universe and to lose them is to be thrown to a tempestuous sea.

and thinking of their reunion makes me feel a little crazy too cause I see what you've been plotting and it just makes me think of how their relationship is going to be at first. like here's a person that you love so deeply and it's been so long since you've seen them and you've both changed since. will they click back together seemingly effortlessly? attached at the hip for a bit because they're both/or one is scared of being separated again? or will there be some friction for a while while they try to realign their pieces to fit together, to figure out what's different and what's practically the same? "you are a language I am no longer fluent in but still remember how to read"

sorry for rambling, I love them your honor.

🫵 DONT YOU DARE APOLOGIZE FOR RAMBLING I LOVE GETTING RAMBLING ASKS. AND SAME.

There was this one sound on tiktok that I heard that reminded me of them, and I just went and found it, and it goes: "I would recognize you in another lifetime entirely in different bodies, different times, and i would love you in all of this. Until the very last star in the sky burnt out into oblivion." and the first time i heard it i literally thought "this is CFAU Danny and Jason"

AND YEAH THEY JUST. I love devoted characters, i love when characters are so deeply devoted and loyal to each other its like you can't imagine them being anywhere else but at each other's side. That wasn't wholly my intent when I first came up with CFAU last fall, but god I am not complaining about how it turned out. My favorite part of the chapter 1 rewrite is making sure Danny's devotion to Jason was reciprocal.

god those quotes. they're so accurate too. yeah. i thought about this au once in the context of a soulmate au, and just couldn't get behind it. It made their whole dynamic felt cheapened, like of course they're soulmates; it was destined. When no, it wasn't. They made it that way.

(If the two of them were somehow transported to a universe with soulmate marks, they would not have matching symbols. That's okay, Danny and Jason don't need them to be. They'd pick up a tattoo gun or a pen and make their own. They wouldn't call it a soulmate mark, just a them mark.)

("Why should I share my soul with some schmuck I don't know? I want to share my soul with you.")

yeah. their reunion is. ! about as exactly as intense as it needs to be :]. They've both changed so much, and they're both scared of being separated again. Jason purposely stayed away from Amity because he knew he couldn't keep away if he didn't. Being back together again is like having a piece of them returned.

SPEAKING OF QUOTES. Here's one:

I don't believe in the death that you're bringing The reason I'm living is you Wherever you go That's where I'll be Even if death tags along, I don't mind It's still you and me I'll never leave you alone

"Death's At My Door" - The Outsiders Musical

[axkirak]

Special : Phantom Thread│(Qimir x Reader)

Remark : This one-shot is a special chapter from The Curse of Cassandra series. I recommend reading the main series first before reading this one.

Read in Ao3 : here

Pairings:  Qimir x f!reader(SEA Reader)  [The Acolyte]

Content Rating : Mature 18+  Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warning (AT YOUR OWN RISK)

tags/themes : Alternate Universe - Dune & Star wars, Partners in Crime, Strangers to Lovers

A/N : My mind’s still stuck on The Curse of Cassandra—I can’t move on, so I decided to write a special chapter LOL.

This one-shot is inspired by Movie Phantom Thread (2017) and the German folktale Tristan and Iseult, perfectly capturing Qimir and Reader’s toxic relationship—literally toxic, with actual toxin involved 😂

I originally planned a sweeter scene with Qimir caring for the reader during her pregnancy, but it felt too OOC for the dark tone of the series, so I made it a “love so intense it almost kills you” vibe (don’t worry, no one dies—just some playful activity, as couples do. 😏).Think of it as sweet revenge for what happened on Eiram.

Also, I realized my fic doesn’t delve into Qimir’s perspective much, so this chapter is all about his POV.

[Special I ] Phantom Thread

The beginnings of love are often effortless and swift, burning with passion. 

Yet sustaining a lasting, stable relationship is far more challenging—especially when both partners know each other's true nature so well, seeing both the qualities that attract and those that repel.

Sometimes, Qimir finds himself wondering where exactly he and you truly stand.

A tense silence fills the dining room as his gaze rests on you, seated across the wooden table. You offer a soft smile that feels strangely out of place, almost unsettling, considering how rarely you've looked him in the eye before. Most of the time, your demeanor is distant, as though lost in visions only you can see, speaking to him only when truly necessary, like when delivering a warning or sharing insights from what you've foreseen.

Even after Alia, their daughter, was born, the dynamic between you and Qimir remains unchanged. It hasn’t worsened, but it hasn’t grown any closer either.

Qimir understands that he can’t alter what is. He can’t make you open your heart or engage with him sincerely. Yet, coercion isn’t the answer—he’s already exerted enough control. Throughout your time together, he’s been the one in charge, while you simply complied and offered guidance. That was the arrangement set back on Eiram, and it continues even now.

But as time goes on, Qimir increasingly realizes that he’s never truly had control over you. You might appear to submit, but never willingly. Sometimes, you even show a quiet defiance in subtle ways, which he interprets as a form of retribution, rebellion—or perhaps even a kind of love, interwoven with resentment, a strange ritual in the flawed relationship between you both.

Strangely, he finds himself willing to accept it—for those rare moments you offer—a fleeting smile, a soft “I love you,” a kiss, an embrace. Even if it’s only temporary, even if it’s no more than a phantom.

Tonight, the dining table is filled with a variety of dishes you’ve prepared—herb soup, chicken sautéed with an unfamiliar ingredient, and other dishes unfamiliar to him. You explain they’re Fremen dishes, infused with spice.

Qimir does not favor spices, a fact you are well aware of.

He’s certain you’ve done it on purpose, with some intention in mind.

As if sensing his thoughts, you slide a single dish toward him—the only one without spice.

It’s Bocha.

You look at him expectantly, your once impassive gaze now bright with life, seemingly filled with affection—if it’s not just his imagination.

"I made this just for you," you say softly. “I thought you might need a break—a week of rest would do you good.”

It isn’t a suggestion, nor is it a command, but something he has no choice but to follow.

As he stares at the golden, crisp Bocha on his plate, an unpleasant memory resurfaces. You have made Bocha for him before, and his decision to eat it was his greatest mistake in years. Qimir did not expect that you had laced it with a sedative, in an attempt to escape him. He’d trusted you, and trusted himself too much, and the result was a painful betrayal.

But could he blame you for deceiving him when he himself had deceived you just as much?

“Do you trust me, my love?” you ask, as though you know exactly what’s on his mind.

Qimir meets your gaze, wanting to say 'no', but the words get stuck in his throat.

You know his weaknesses, his deepest desires, and you wield them against him. You call him “my love” in that soft, beguiling tone, gazing at him with warm, affectionate eyes. How could he possibly refuse?

He picks up the Bocha, his fingers pausing mid-motion. He doesn’t take a bite, his eyes fixed on your face. “Will you still be here when I wake up?” he asks, trying to mask the worry in his voice.

You shake your head in mild amusement before reaching out to take his hand. Your thumb begins tracing gentle circles in his palm—a gesture of comfort, perhaps even reassurance. "There's no sedative, Qimir," you assure him firmly. "And I could never leave you. You know that."

You’re telling the truth—about the fact that you cannot leave him and the absence of sedative in the boche.

Because he can smell and see it clearly: the boche is stuffed with Yellow Stainer[1]—a poisonous mushroom known to disrupt the digestive system, causing stomach pain, headaches, and nausea. It’s a torment that won’t kill him but is severe enough to leave him temporarily weak and vulnerable.

You prepared this just for him.

Qimir smiles, quiet admiration flickering in his heart.

Finally He’s met his true match—someone willing to bring him to his knees, not with weapons but with something far more powerful: love.

As Qimir takes a bite of the Bocha, savoring its intense flavor tinged with the sharp, inky bitterness of poisonous mushrooms, his thoughts drift to an ancient tale—Tristan and Iseult[2]. He once read it in the Jedi Temple’s library. For a fleeting moment, he envisions you as Iseult, standing before him with a chilling smile, offering Tristan—him—a goblet laced with poison as a reminder of their covenant of death.

Qimir closes his eyes and swallows the Bocha, unflinching, like Tristan drinking the poisoned goblet. Only later did Tristan discover it was not poison, but a love potion.

You watch Qimir intently, not blinking until he finishes every bite. Then, rising smoothly, you kneel beside him. Your lips brush softly against his rough cheek as you whisper words only he could ever understand:

"I want you flat on your back. Helpless, tender, open with only me to help. And then I want you strong again. You're not going to die. You might wish you're going to die, but you're not going to. You need to settle down a little"

Qimir chuckles softly, cupping your face with both hands. His voice is hoarse with fatigue as he pleads, “Kiss me, my girl, before I’m sick.”

Your smile grows, warm and faintly mischievous. Leaning closer, you kiss him passionately, deeply, just as he asked. Qimir pulls you closer, holding you tightly even as his body begins to weaken and sway. He knows it won’t be long before he collapses to the floor, writhing in agony, suffering that could last for days.

But for now, he wants to savor this brief sliver of happiness for as long as he can.

When the kiss finally ends, he rests his forehead against yours, savoring the quiet warmth that freezes time. He decides to speak the words he’s held in his heart for so long. “I love you.”

In this close proximity, your eyes reveal the depth of your feelings for him—feelings you’ve harbored for years. A blend of love and hate intertwined within you, reflected in a gaze he has never fully understood.

“I love you too,” you reply, your voice steady and calm, making it impossible to discern what truly lies behind it.

Qimir isn’t sure whether the bond between them is driven more by love or hate.

But he doesn’t mind, as long as you remain by his side and keep telling him you love him—whether it’s true or just a lie. It doesn’t matter.

Even if it means he must wretch and soon vomit from the Bocha, he accepts it willingly.

Footnotes:

[1] Yellow Stainer is a type of poisonous mushroom. It has a strong odor, similar to ink or iodine, and its effects are severe on the digestive system, causing nausea and vomiting when consumed.

[2] Tristan and Iseult is a famous medieval romance based on Celtic mythology. Tristan, a knight, is tasked with escorting Princess Iseult to marry his uncle, the king. The princess holds a personal grudge against Tristan, believing he killed her fiancé, so she gives him a poisoned drink. Unbeknownst to her, the poison is actually a love potion her mother had given her to use on the king. As a result, Tristan and Princess Iseult fall in love because of it, but their love ends tragically.

[kunosoura]

Thoughts about what makes a good villain!

Hello <3 sorry this took so long to answer but I'm in the middle of planning and executing a move to a different country.

I think the only real crime a villain can commit is being boring. They can be contemptible, stupid, cartoonish, completely detached from reality, or they can be brilliant, dangerous, sexy, literally correct; they can be all style or all substance; the only real litmus test is whether they're entertaining.

Some of my favorite fictional villains and why I like them:

Currently, I'm reading the Crown of Stars series by Kate Elliot, and Hugh is absolutely one of the most contemptible villains I've ever encountered. The first book was genuinely hard to read because of what a fucking monster he is, and Elliot knows how to draw the most out of it - stretching his comeuppance over 6 books because even though he's fucking despicable, he's also unfailingly polite in most circumstances, and a beautiful man of noble though illegitimate birth and high rank in the clergy, so people have a hard time believing him to be as evil as he is even if they've wronged him before. At the same time, Elliot also does a very good job of making sure you never forget exactly what he is, so even when he returns to the people he's wronged acting contrite, you see through it. The ultimate effect is that even 5 books in, I'm hollering at him to kill himself (usually when driving alone in my car), and I dunno if I've ever been that profoundly affected by a literary antagonist before.

Kuja from Final Fantasy 9. He's spoiled, he's beautiful, he's a babygirl, he's pathetic, he's 24 and should have been at the club. I like how he isn't afraid to spam his most powerful spell whenever he's losing. Honestly whenever you see me rooting hard for a villainous sorceress (or occasional prettyboy sorcerer) it's for similar reasons.

The Obligatory Sasuke mention, which is wild because I think everything that I find compelling about him is something you have to read in direct contradiction to Kishimoto's intentions with the series. In a meta sense, I find it super compelling how he's the sort of villain whose motivations unavoidably invoke the fundamental problems in the setting that the tepid liberalism of its core themes and protagonists cannot address, and how that's subsumed into an emotional arc so he can be the redeemed shonen rival in the end.

Inspector Javert is a favorite because he forces the audience to separate legality from ethics; past that, he's also just a really good examination of the sort of person you'd become if you gutted everything that made you human and replaced it with legalism.

Cersei Lannister from the ASOIAF is a great example of a book letting you into the internality of a villain, showing you they're a complete wreck of a person, and it not doing anything to soften the blow when it comes time for them to ruin things for everyone again.

Death from The Seventh Seal is one of my favorite cinematic depictions of personified death. He isn't gentle or comforting like some depictions - he's underhanded, merciless, and for all his affability, relentlessly pursues Block such that his inevitably end claims the lives of just about everyone he loves, as well. It's nightmarish.

my boy SHEEV. Maybe the purest example of "it's good as long as they're fun". His inclusion in TROS is NONSENSE but I don't mind because I will literally never say no to more palpatine screentime.

Goku Black from Dragon Ball Super is great for the sole purpose that, when he's on the scene, a character you care about will die.

Those are a scattered selection of some of my favorites. I wish I had a more compelling analysis for who was in or out, but it really does boil down to don't bore me and there are a lot of ways for a villain to be compelling. Thank you for the ask ^_^

[punkbxt]

the people in charge of nutrek dont care about the ideals and premise of star trek and star trek: picard is its biggest tell. its a story that would have been much better if they hadnt brought back legacy characters but also would have been much better had it not been written at all because nobody wants more space cops

the moment picard decided to wash his hands clean of the romulan android situation was the moment i knew that oh this isnt the picard everyone has come to know and love. at his core who he is someone that would not let anyone die if he could help it. like thats his thing if he has the power to help he will!! and yeah sure thats shown in pic too but he literally was like ‘fuck you federation im not gonna help u ignore the romulans cries for help’ when he fr coulda just asked for forgiveness after helping with the power he had as a respected captain or whatever he is. something EVERY oldtrek captain has done time and time again

and yes! characters and their ideals change over time but not fucking like THAT

pic takes a tragedy, a genocide, and takes the romulans, a species that has for the most part always been the enemies of the federation and makes them easy prey. it makes them evil except for those that defected or disguised themselves (look up white passing and what it was actually for and why its a thing). and to put it into more understandable words:

lets say the federation is usamerica (bc for all intents and purposes thats literally what it represents) and that the romulans represent people of color and jews. pic serves for us on a platter that the genocide was just another thing that happened and “its okay they died anyways. romulans have never been on the side of the federation and never wanted to be anyways so no loss” this is what the federation believes

pic has been severely affected by white supremacist and antisemitic ideology and like while yeah science fiction is used to discuss and challenge the oppression we experience today, youd think a franchise that has always preached about diversity inclusion and acceptance would finally get over mass genocide of a “lesser” race as a form of storytelling. its uncomfortable and not in a way in which it makes you think but in a way that shows that even hundreds of years in the future vitriol prevails and it fucking sucks. its harmful towards people of color and jews when even in science fiction we cant escape that someone out there wants us dead

we’ve had enough of white supremacy and antisemitism taking a lil seat at the table to cause ruckus there are 100% other things that could have created and interesting dilema. the federation is literally on some cristobal colon shit n the more nutrek that gets made the less star trek holds up the ideals of diversity inclusion acceptance and love that it preached from its inception. we are instead given a narrative that yeah no matter how long you fight no matter how hard you fight you will NEVER win because systemic racism always wins in the end. its a tired and weak narrative and just goes to show if you dont have any other engaging stories to tell just stop telling the stories and stop ruining characters by making them do things they absolutely wouldnt even stand for

we r stuck with characters that suck up to other characters just because of their legacy and the writing when everyone deserves to be way more mad at picard. sidenote all of the genuine progress that has been made in television with diversity and representation has gone like 20 steps back when it comes to portraying people of color bc not ONE from the main crew passes the paper bag test (again ive only seen season one) which further goes to show white supremacist ideals subtly shining through

the point of star trek is that there will be a better more welcoming loving kinder future than the present and the past. and yeah theyve never been good at portraying that exactly because hope cannot exist without despair. but if you do not learn the mistakes of the past you are bound to repeat them and clearly these writers have not been studying the source material

hope this helps idk man i just b saying shit sometimes sorry if some stuff is repetitive

[ocpotluck]

No offense but literally people are gonna just pick mutuals and friends and that's okay, but if you're mutuals and friends are not participating then you're doomed unless someone is really nice and includes you. Also the Pride Challenges are just... Why can we not have simple straightforward challenges anymore without all the fancy blurbs etc. I just spend all my time trying to interpret it.

Hello Anon,

As of recent years, we've only ever had the same people join the exchanges. At this point, everyone's already 'considered' mutuals. No matter what we do, no one else wants to join or attempt to join. This has been going on for four years. We created this blog after the Maddie ordeal because they purposely shut us out of the blog we used to have called ocgiftexchange where I and another admin were the only ones who did the work while Maddie promoted everything.

We remade this blog in hopes of bringing more happiness and comfort to those who wanted those without judgement or limits. When we started, we had many people who participated but due to anon hate, many have reached out to us to say that they wished to no longer join because of the remarks that been said. Some have even been pushed off from Tumblr which is a horrible thing because as I said, we made this blog to be a small positive corner of the oc community. We may not have a huge following, and sure it's manly mutuals that join but it isn't our fault. We try to accommodate, but no matter how hard we aim to please, we seem to fall short in someone's eyes. And that's a very real life lesson, so we move forward.

I'm personally going to health issues so next month of June is going to be hard for me and the other admins are working their 9-5 jobs that require them to head to bed early at night and still need to make time for their college courses. We just figured since it's been the same people that been joining in for the past years that they could choose any three of the participants that they'd like to edit for. But even that is just a mere suggestion of who'll they'd like to gift for, it's no guarantee. We're still matching the people but they just get a say.

I also cannot speak for Pride Challenges blurbs. I don't write them personally, the only one I ever wrote for was for the Star Wars challenge. I solely run ocpotluck.

Some people prefer the more lengthy summaries to help them get an idea of what to do and how to do it because they need references, and that's not a bad thing. Some people naturally have a hard time understanding things so the blurbs help reduce those slight frustrations. However it can be hard for others to understand the text and try to decipher the meaning, but it's all up to interpretation.

I didn't mean for this ask to go on and on, but I just wanted to clarify a few things in a well respected and mannered way. This has no ill-intention or was supposed to be read in a passive tone or anything. This is just a simple reasoning behind our exchange and mission of ocpotluck.

Thank you.

[accio-victuuri]

CPN : Candies from Sunshine By My Side ( filming wrap ) ☀️

I may miss some minor candies but that’s just how it is cause people may interpret things differently. It’s just so nice to see new content from and XZ, and the fact that Sheng Yang is so cute! can’t wait to meet him!

some things already discussed previously:

night light fake rumor

same sun emoji used

disclaimer : everything below is cpn, speculation and interpretation that is very bjyx bias. if you’re not into that then please leave.

━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━

I wanna start with ZZ’s general aura and disposition during the wrap, and how happy he was. It’s really nice to see him be among a group of people that seems to dote on him and that he can be comfortable with. You can probably see some double standard talk going around, that yes, during CQL wrap, he was also happy — however, in the last day, there were moments that they both looked sad. Also the airport photos of GG next day where his eyes were swollen — from crying probably. Add one of the CPNs that they both cried when the filming ended inside their car. So yeah. As much as I see him happy, it brings me back to the bittersweet ending of CQL. I won’t add any video/photo evidence of this anymore because it’s a well-known fandom CPN.

I also just remembered how much of a jiejie collector XZ is. LOL. If WYB collects geges, then XZ collects jiejies. That’s what I noticed with his interactions towards his co-star. I think she’s another jiejie who is now doting on XZ. 😂😂😂😂

Moving on to the other CPN clues, starting with some usual fandom symbols that we see. I love adding those to every post because it shows how consistent they are. for example the logo animation of XZS where GG talks about the Moon. like how many times did we make a CPN between them connected to the 🌙? these might be hard to spot for new turtles or those who aren’t into cpns.

sunflower, the legendary fan given by wyb, red heart, apple watch — need i say more? for the drawing, i’m not sure if ZZ made it but the wink did it for me cause he usually does that. i mean, even WYB’s black panther was winking. sooooo… The 10:05 is a given, but the 10:23 is a nice one cause we’ve been associating him to 23 ( Ai Zhan / Love Zhan ). I have also been thinking about this number because for XZS lantern festival game, they are giving away 23 desk calendars. so specific.

this imagery from the vlog compared to WYB’s single video is just so similar. the sunshine allowing plants to grown. whether that me be literal or metaphorical. how they view the world is so hopeful 🤍🤍🤍 and this is why they get along so well. there is really no way they wouldn’t be close, even if they didn’t end up playing WWX / LWJ. I believe that somehow, they would find their way to each other and still have the relationship we think they have. 🌱

and yes, we know that this was part of the filming process. at the start, XZ planted it and during the course of the shoot cared for it and watched it grow. but the similarity in their message to people and to the world. I can’t. this is some next level coincidence and connection.

The use of words that are same/similar to the captions of Hidden Blade’s weibo account is next. It’s one of those things that I think XZ is purposely fucking with us. It’s not like you can claim that he copies HB, because they do not own those captions on their posts. it’s just words. However clowns will know — what are the chances that he is using the same/similar? Mister eloquent himself who also has a team that does his videos. It all seems intentional.

• “plant your own sun” / and then HB is always putting suns on every 100 million they get in the box office. the intention in XZ’s words is like, do it yourself. like a person works hard to get their success. similar to what happened to HB, they have very little backing and it’s because the movie is actually good that it’s getting the recognition.

• 春回大地 the return of spring. It’s from a chinese idiom which means that spring returns to the earth. It is described that the severe cold has passed, and warmth and vitality have come to the world again.

• 逐光而行 follow the light / 与光同行 walk with the light.

there is also a cpn going around about the sound you can hear from the radio. I am the last person to verify things like this but can you hear wuming? 💀💀💀

but I think the correct explanation is, what it’s actually saying is “how do you rate it?” ( or something like that ) and because of the sound manipulation, you can sort of hear wuming. this is not the first time XZ puts things that he purposely wants us to mishear. lol.

that’s all for now. i am still waiting for an actual trailer from this drama + one & only so we can have proper FMVs of Sheng Yang and Chen Suo. The AU / Parallel world Yizhan pairing to rule them all 😂😂😂

-END.

[brw]

not to bother more people but like... ive said it before and i will say it again; there's nothing wrong with an evil hank. i do think he absolutely has dubious morals, dubious ideas, dubious motivations that could be exploited in ways to make him the worst possible version of himself. it's what makes him an interesting character–that there are so many ways he could be evil, so many events in his life that would be a villain origin story in any other characters' history, and yet he remains someone who tries to think about ethics, that makes his friends laugh, who is considerate and kind and likes to play music and quote shakespeare.

the thing isn't that hank is evil, it's the fact that hank is just unbelievably , cartoonishly evil. he's not a convincing character anymore, because every evil aspect of him is so greatly exaggerated he genuinely feels like a star wars villain more than anything else. wherever as before, while Hank was questionable, even at his worst moments you could always empathise with him or at the very least understand where he was coming from; he's clearly torn up while doing shit for the illuminati, or while he's working with dark beast in endangered species, or when he's teaming up with supervillians to cure the legacy virus or when he's faced with his consequences in all new x-men. even during ivx, when his reasons were bogus, you at the very least could understand where he was coming from from an ethical perspective even if it was fucking stupid.

And every time where Percy has had an opportunity to display an understanding of Hank or even like reference anything that might be consequential or interesting or impact him, he just doesn't. Like it does feel like there's zero consideration into how a character like Hank would actually evolve into an evil character, which Dark Beast did. Dark Beast was interesting because despite being a clearly and overtly evil person, he also had emotional draws even he hadn't managed to rid himself of; one of the most interesting comics with Dark Beast is X-Men Unlimited #10, where he's unable to kill Hank's parents after hearing about their genuine love for their son.

I'm not convinced if asked Percy would comfortably name who Hank's parents actually are. And it's unfortunate because it ends up feeling like Percy has a shockingly naïve idea of what evil people look like despite the actual content of his comics. That they're clearly and overtly insane, cruel, sadistic, literally making torture stations in space or killing their closest friends and are overall easy to hate and easy to dismiss as being nothing like yourself. And no, not every villain has to be a deep nuanced portrayal of corruption and how even those with the best intentions can become warped and lead astray, but Hank was once a nuanced character. He was interesting, once.

What made Hank so interesting again, was that he could have very easily been evil the moment he became blue and furry, but wasn't. He became an Avenger and when that didn't work, applied himself to the Defenders. He was kind. He made friends. He played the guitar and was deeply upset when he couldn't anymore when he became catlike. Like when he says in New X-Men #117, the reason he avoids violence is because he believes in other, better, bigger things.

Again. I do think Hank can be morally questionable and dubious and do incredibly unethical things in the name of the greater good.... but he is also someone who loves his friends and that doesn't stop being a factor. Evil shouldn't be a supervillian who will literally shoot some of his closest friends in the back and use their bodies against their will and break a submarine in half condemning men with families and children to death, we don't need that. It doesn't serve any purpose than a cartoonishly caricatured antagonists for heroes to take down. What makes a morally dubious Hank interesting is the fact that people can still at least understand where he's coming from. Understand his thoughts and motivations and when done well even relate to them. That he could still be loving and caring and funny and kind and still do horrible things, because being evil doesn't miraculously remove your ability to make jokes.

It's just frustrating. Because I feel like the only thing the increasingly ridiculous feats of evilness do is just make it more and more likely that the next status quo will just reset Hank rather than deal with all that unless they just want full on Cassandra Nova deranged villain. And it's annoying because there are so much potential here but instead that's being ignored in favour of the shock factor and it's frustrating because I do enjoy the darker side of Krakoa–but there's no believability in making a bunch of clones to make up for your team, who will probably end up turning on themselves in like an issue for again, shock factor.

Anyway I'll get off my soap box but basically I think Hank would be more interesting as an actually morally grey character rather than all out evil, or at least an evil person you can understand and share motivations with. Instead he's literally just cartoon character villain with a little more blood and gore than usual.

[sllowshow]

jameson and orla :)

how did they meet? it's not incorrect to say through their siblings dating, but they weren't technically introduced by zoë and monty. while maybe it was their being together that had made jameson follow zoë on instagram. it was fate, something bigger than all four of them that compelled him to check his instagram stories while he was waiting in a fortnite lobby, and get his first glimpse of her: a picture of orla and her sisters, at the beach, all tagged. she sat on the edge of their picnic blanket, sunkissed with curls peeking out from beneath her hat. he shut his xbox off after a minute or so of scrolling through her grid. it was simply time to lock in and slide into her dms posthaste. and he's got the game of a man who's too dumb to care if he sounds cringey. the rest was history <3

who is more affectionate in public? in private? probably jameson for both. i think he's kind of touchy and like will not be stopped just because they're in public versus private. within like reason (although i'm sure her parents would disagree. sure they've probably seen more than they'd care to one year after the sun went down at aaron's famous fourth of july party.

who is the bigger romantic openly? secretly? i think orla both. i think jameson claims loverboy status but like. i dont know i feel like his love is very of the moment if that makes sense. but orla's got a more romantic view of like the world at large. like she's got the heart for beautiful spring days and fresh fruit and im maybe too high to be doing this. it's okay.

who is more likely to plan something big for valentine’s day? not to immediately pull a Both but both.... i think they get excited about planning stuff like that together. like orla's researching restaurants they can try and get a seat at, jameson's all excited to take her roller skating or something corny like that. like i think they loveeee a good date night. and trust they're all well documented. these people have the most massive digital footprints.

who is more likely to initiate hand-holding in public? handholding specifically? probably orla. i think that feels sweetie and fun and her style. jameson's more inclined to like arms around the waist or shoulders.

who is more likely to make huge declarations of love in front of other people? i don't think either of them would like particularly struggle with that kind of thing. but i do think jameson is one of those guys who gets wasted and feels the need to give a speech about the girl who changed everything. so do with that what you will.

who developed a crush on the other first? jameson he was simply down bad from square one. because he's been generally stupid and impish in the past, i think they were a pair that raised some brows at first, but she literally held all the power there babey.

who is more likely to send cutesy texts to the other? orla. jameson lacks the reading comprehension. but again i cannot stress enough she is adorable.

who spends time reading their zodiac compatibilities? orla again! mama's in tune with the universe. she's keeping an eye on what the stars have ordained. jameson will proudly claim he is aries, the bull.

who tends to get sick more often? who is better at taking care of the other? jameson gets sick more often which works because orla is better at taking care of him. he's well intentioned but ultimately would need to be like. explicitly told what she needed in the way of care when i imagine she'd already have the perfect soup in mind from the first sniffle.

who believes in soulmates? they both do and i mean it. i think in their own ways they share a very similar philosophy and part of that is having always believed their was someone they were meant to be with, someone that makes them a better version of themself, someone they can share life with. like corny on purpose what they believe. and i think its beautiful that they found each other.

who cooks the dinner, and who washes the dishes? orla cooks ^^ jameson has never eaten this many vegetables before in his life. its overwhelming sometimes. he will wash the dishes tho.

who does the majority of the driving? jameson simply insists that is his job. and she's his darling passenger princess.

whose family do they celebrate more holidays with? orla's. the hanna's have a massive gravitational pull. but for real, i think like the reids are decently close but definitely not as tight knit as the hannas and their web of family friends who all want to celebrate together. i think for a number of holidays, they're happy to invite his parents to join them as well, but i think they've staked the claim on hosting.

do they have any personal holiday traditions together? they're matching christmas pajamas people and they're gonna stay in those pajamas for as long as physically possible whenever they're celebrating. its that, cookies from the hanna family baking sesh, and cartoon christmas movies all day.

if they get married, what was the wedding vibe? summer wedding. ceremony maybe even on the beach. i think she wore some gorgeous drapey gown and he probably didnt wear a jacket or maybe even a tie. twinkle lights at the reception energy. i dont think they really stressed on it much. like i think they were mostly just excited to be doing it and having a party with all the people they loved so the details didn't matter as much.

how did they decide what to name their child(ren)? i think jonas and emmeline were both proposals from orla. i think jonas pretty closely aligns with jameson's sesnsibilities, but he is the culprit behind calling her emmy.

[demadogs]

Hi! I'm warning you beforehand of the long ask incoming.

I just wanted to say that I agree so much with your post on why season 4 is better than season 3.

Also I'd like to add that while I preferred volume 1, I think the people who dislike volume 2 so much are exaggerating a bit. Sure the monologue threw us all at first, but we've already figured out how it was necessary for byler's development. Most of the complaints I've seen are related to the 2 days time skip and the ending being rushed. But they have already stated in multiple interviews that it's supposed to feel that way. This ending is like in star wars (in that one movie where everyone loses at the end, I don't remember the name sorry). You're supposed to feel disappointed and like everyone has lost. They said tons of times that the end of this season will tie directly with the begging of season 5, so those things that weren't addressed due to the time skip will most likely be addressed in the first episode of season 5 (and it makes a lot of sense because the finale was already 2hours 30min long and addressing of this quickly in some additional 10 minutes is worse than giving it it's proper time within a whole new episode). For example, we didn't see reactions to Eddies death but it's already confirmed that it will be important for some character's development in the next season (specially Dustin's) so they didn't "skip scenes of mourning Eddie" they just saved them for the future to give them the proper time to be better addressed.

Also, Eddies death was necessary and inevitable, I'm sorry. Not only for character development, but also because if he survived, there's no way they could have convinced the agents and the FBI that the Earthquakes were Vecna's fault and not his (him sacrificing his own life was literally his way to escape jail because otherwise he would already be sentenced).

And finally, while killing main characters can be a good thing if done properly, the people who complain the loudest about this seem to ignore the multiple interviews where the Duffers said that they are not interested in being Game of Thrones and that they are more concerned about giving every character a happy ending. You may personally not like this choice, but it's not like they didn't warn you about their creative intentions (it's their show at the end of the day and they can write it however they want).

It's important to remember that it's an unfinished story, like a book divided in 5 chapters, with only the final one missing. Would you rate the book before waiting and reading the final chapter? Because I wouldn't. I'm sure once we get the final season we'll fully understand the choices made in previous seasons, and only then will it be the right time to give an honest opinion about the whole thing.

i agree with all of this. i remember some time in july i posted something talking about how right now i hate the monologue but i really really hope one day i love it. and thats kinda happened now. seeing it in a different lens makes me appreciate how much thought they put into everything and s5 will only increase that.

and i agree about eddie. i loved him and i cried and didnt want him to die but ive never thought that it was a mistake to kill him. and i wouldnt bring him back if i could. he served his purpose as a character. there are a lot of characters in different shows that i LOVE but i also love their death scene.

[sociallyawkwardjustice]

Man I’m always up for ace/aro head canons and it’s awesome when writers actually intentionally portray a character as ace/aro - BUT.

When a major film has an otherwise obvious hetero couple miraculously not hook up, this is always my first question:

Is it an interracial couple?

Because here’s the thing; head canons are one thing, racist bigoted studio intent is another…

A lot of the time platonic hetero relationships in media just ~happen~ to be interracial. I’m not saying those characters NOT hooking up is by default racist. I’m just saying, what’s the more likely intent by the actual creators/producer/studios?

Sometimes I see glib praise of this kind of characterization without the slightest consideration that maybe, just maybe, certain platonic hetero dynamics in fiction are racially motivated and should be judged as such, instead of welcomed warmly as supposed ace representation?

It’s just giving too much credit to an inherently, systemically problematic industry, y’know?

Pacific Rim was cute, but would the leads have not kissed if they were both white? A big international blockbuster NOT bringing the main characters together romantically does have precedent - providing of course that those characters are not the same race. Friggin’ Star Wars, literally Finn at first shows interest in Rey but who actually gets to have a nauseating semi-romance with her? Main white guy Kylo-Ren. Also female character of color Rose shows up with the apparent sole purpose of falling in love with Finn…

At least the Pelican Brief starring Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington was made in like, the 90’s! That movie infamously had obvious chemistry between the mains, but for ~~some reason~~ their relationship remained a bit ambiguous.

Again - I am 100% PRO platonic hetero bros and ace/aro representation in media! But I’m always skeptical when the supposed examples are almost ALL interracial dynamics in high profile blockbusters.

TLDR; let’s not call rather obvious racist dynamics positive representation for ace/aro/platonic relationships…

[goatilocks13]

Post from Roadrunner guru, Monte Connor, about Death Metal legends Obituary:

"I first heard the band as a tape trader in 1986 on their two-song demo under the name Xecutioner. Both songs, "Find The Arise" and "Live Like The Dead," were officially released on the 1987 compilation "Raging Death" on Godly Records, a label formed by my close friend and future Blabbermouth founder, Borivoj Krgin. Somewhere along the way, "Live Like The Dead" was, I assume, mistakenly shortened to "Like The Dead." Other bands featured on the now legendary compilation were R.A.V.A.G.E (later to become Atheist), Sadus (who I would later sign to Roadrunner), Lethal Prescence, and Betrayel. The cover art illustration was done by future Toxik drummer Tad Leger.

Borivoj, with his partner Marty Eger, started Godly solely with the purpose of releasing this compilation. There were never plans for it to be a real label, but when the band entered Morrisound Recording with producer/engineer Scott Burns in 1988 to record their 8-song debut album, they talked Borivoj into releasing it, and he even helped them finance it. But in the end, Borivoj was simply not interested in continuing the label and just wanted to find the best home for it. I was brand new to Roadrunner at the time, having started in December 1987, and since Borivoj and I spoke ten times a day, I knew what was going on and jumped at the chance to release it. Part of our deal with the band included reimbursing Borivoj for his time and investment in the project ($2,000 in total). I normally would not reveal such information, but a picture of the agreement is in Gehlke’s exhaustive tome.

Once Borivoj was out of the picture, I told the band they needed to change their name, as it read awkwardly, and there were already issues with other bands named Executioner, hence them jettisoning the "E" to begin with. As history tells us, they came up with a classic metal name for the ages. My other demand was that the band go back in to record four more songs to bring the mini-LP to full album length. Today, you know those four songs as "Suffocation," "Intoxicated," "Deadly Intentions," and "Blood Soaked." I grouped them all together on the album because it was quite easy to hear they came from a different session, and I thought this would make it less obvious. The guitars were not as wide-sounding and were panned more to the center. The four songs never sounded quite as ferocious to me sonically as the original eight. And the rest of history… "Slowly We Rot" went on to become one of the greatest death metal albums ever made and sounds just as incredible today as the day it was released.

Prior to the album’s release, I would literally sit every visitor to the Roadrunner office down in front of the stereo and blast "lnternal Bleeding" and take delight in watching their jaws hit the floor when John Tardy roared in. I then took further delight in shocking them as I explained that there were actually no lyrics other than an odd line or two or a random song title that could be heard. Yes, John was really just grunting and growling and using his voice as just another instrument. Some would call it "scatting," but that implies it is random and not thought out. Not only was it planned out, grunt by grunt, but John performed it live just like on the album. The bottom line is that no one sounds like John Tardy, then or now. And the way Scott captured him in the mix on this album, and focused on his voice, is just brilliant! He really made John the star of the show. I love all the reverb, delays and various effects he used. I don’t think any Obituary record has John sounding quite as terrifying, over-the-top, and magical as he does on "Slowly We Rot." And the guitars are absolutely slashing as well. Bear in mind that this was the first metal record Scott Burns ever produced, and it is this album that led me to hire him to produce Sepultura’s "Beneath The Remains," at which point his career exploded. Let me just interject here and say that Scott is the nicest and most humble being you could ever meet. He is pure gold, and he was such a huge part of my early career.

Now onto the artwork… The now famous image of a body slowly decomposing atop a sewer drain on some Brandon, Florida, side street, while rats nibble at its feet, was immortalized by artist Rob Mayworth. Prior to hooking up with the Tardy brothers, Mayworth had been creating tropical t-shirt designs related to the state of Florida. Since the cover was painted sometime in late 1988 and predates Roadrunner, it originally featured the Xecutioner logo, also designed by Mayworth in the same style as the final logo. When I had them change their name, Mayworth simply drew over the original logo and updated it to "Obituary." Where is the original painting today? No one knows. It is lost to the annals of time. As for the rest of my time with Obituary and the rest of the albums that followed, that will have to wait for a book that may or may not ever come.

Fun fact: Mayworth's original cover idea was a close-up of an electric guitar with a bony, skeleton-like hand holding it while wearing a silky glove. The Tardy brothers shot down that idea in favor of the iconic final concept."

[jcmarchi]

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes Review - Laser-Focused Epiphany - Game Informer

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-laser-focused-epiphany-game-informer/

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes Review - Laser-Focused Epiphany - Game Informer

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes’ setup is bland compared to the others in the puzzle genre. You are a bespectacled woman carrying a clutch who walks with incredible poise into a mansion with little understanding of why you are there or what you are doing. The lack of context doesn’t matter, though, because the game immediately showers you with an incredible sense of mood. You may not know why you are petting the dog in the courtyard, checking every door, or reading every scrap of paper you come across initially, but you want to be there and see everything the game has to offer. And if you’re like me, it morphs from a want to a need that keeps you up entirely too late, pointing your phone’s flashlight at a piece of scrap paper already overflowing with notes incomprehensible to any outside observer.

[embedded content]

To speak too much about the game’s story would betray its intent, but know that while initially, the plot seems amorphous, it is all leading to something, I promise. Disparate news articles, books about lunar cycles, typed monologues about the nature and purpose of art, and incomplete film scripts all paint emotion about what happened in this hotel/mansion, but its final moments surprised me at how sharply it pulled everything into focus. What begins as effective but seemingly abstract tone-setting poems all make sense in the final moments, and I was impressed by the satisfying slow burn of the narrative.

The game’s puzzles are the stars of the show, and Lorelei is overflowing with them. The ultimate goal is to explore the house and open every door, find every document, and unlock every lock. Sometimes, that involves reading to find a year that can be used to open a four-digit padlock. Sometimes, it involves entering a 32-bit horror video game and making it crash so you can take note of its error message documentation.

Like any good puzzle game, the conundrums are based on a core idea but expanded exponentially to lead you to solutions you never considered. In Lorelei’s case, it is primarily simple math. You will need a calculator (and one is provided in-game), but you won’t be doing much more than adding and subtracting and taking copious notes. The puzzles consistently made me feel smart without ever going off the deep end in a way I admired. I certainly got stuck – extremely stuck on a few occasions – but when I finally arrived at a solution, I never felt cheated by the puzzle itself.

Where I did occasionally feel cheated was when I would sometimes hit literal walls where I had parts one and three to a puzzle, but simply couldn’t find two. At least 3 hours of my approximately 20-hour playtime was spent aimlessly wandering the halls looking for anything that would help me take the next step, only to discover I had missed a prompt on a wall sconce that would open a secret passage. That moment felt less like I couldn’t decipher a secret lock as much as I never saw the lock in the first place. In those moments, I was frustrated with Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, but to its credit, I was so immediately enamored with the game that I knew I wanted to finish it from its opening moments.

I don’t know that you can consider yourself a successful puzzle game if you don’t hit at least some confusing barriers that feel impassable. Finally overcoming those hurdles is what makes the genre so compelling, and Lorelei and the Laser Eyes finds that successful balance of making you feel smart more often than it makes you feel dumb. Couple that with a mystery worth unraveling, fourth-wall-breaking commentary, and unexpected reality-bending moments sending you to bizarre places, and you are left with a fantastic puzzle game that I already wish I could play again for the first time.

[keikakudom]

This design is not 100%, as it doesn't have his new hands/exterior anatomy added yet but.

Here are some thoughts I have about RR!AU Vox's design:

Main stuff: - First off, his bowtie: personally. I found this a massive honor that I've deemed Vox to be the one to keep the bowtie in RR!AU because i'm on a mission to GET RID OF ALL OF THEM/change them into different types of "bows" or collar accessories. There's literally so many different types that exist, i'm mad that literally 7 characters in HH have a bowtie....The bowtie also has a snake eye pattern in the middle, taken straight from Lucifer's demonic form. (I love Vox with a tie so much. I think Canon vox should wear a tie. But for the purposes of RR!AU where his fakeness/showmanship is at the forefront, I thought the bowtie made more sense) - His fuckass hat and the silly wi-fi signal symbols: It's corny AF. RR!AU Vox is corny. I guess I altered Vox's personality to be more in line with what I see his canon design as. - Swaping red with yellow: Wanted to distance him design-wise from Alastor as far as possible. Alastor did not pay rent, and was evicted from RR!Vox's mind. This is also because of the vague "royalty" themes I'm going with since he's contracted to Lucifer and contract sharers/holders usually get a bit of influence from their designs overtime, I like to think.

The other stuff: - His "contract" eye: I actually don't know if i've mentioned it here, but I liked the popular theory that people who have their souls owned have black scelera/eyes(ex: Angel, Husk, Vox's Assistant, Travis, Melissa, etc.). Vox is a special case in which he can use his display to hide it. He only "puts it down" to those he's closest with(so just the Vees, really) but I imagine he's still insecure about it.... - His white coat: I noted in the Alastor design breakdown post that I wanted him to have this "nice guy facade(coat) and darker/evil true intentions(his suit)". But also a big inspo I thought about when designing Vox was that I wanted him to look like those retro 50's prom outfits. I don't really know why, but that's a reason why his coat is almost a pure white. The black lines on his bowtie are there for a similar reason, i wanted that retro-ish old school charm. - His suit: Not much really. I do like his canon vest but also I needed it to make sense for my sanity(was it a suit vest? Was it a sweater? The world may never know). - Circut lines: just me wanting to keep the cool arm lines in his canon design and then deciding to put it everywhere for his "brand"/The Reset Resort. I think it makes sense since he's trying to be more "orderly"? Appeasing? Something like that. - Antenna(on top of his head): Vaguely resembles a halo. The 3 spokes on the left were supposed to be closer to actual TV antenna, but you can sometimes draw them as stars/long sparkles for that ✨️halo✨️ look, i guess. - Headset: wanted something cool to make him less bald + continue with the thin gold/curly themes somewhere. It was actually trying to resemble a snake/snake eye at some point but I dont think it looks like that at all so. It is what it is.

Parting thoughts:

- Generally, he's supposed to look very "Art Deco" with some futuristic/sci-fi elements.

- Ive thought about redesigning parts where he aligns with canon a lot(Hat, Wi-fi signals, Collar/Bowtie) to make it a more original design..... but ultimately, this is a canon-adjacent AU and Vox is the main character(Charlie should be too but LOOK AT MY BLOG. It's vox, everything is vox). It is of the highest honor that he mirrors his canon self in a far-off way.

Full design notes

(and I'm contemplating on turning the RR!AU into a fic....Instead of continuing with comics I already have planned

+ Pros: I can work on it anywhere

Cons: I must write on a regular basis)

[shibuyashotos]

Energetic VGM

When it comes to video games, a soundtrack certainly helps to capture the intentions that developers have with the games they are creating. Whether it's to illustrate the feeling of a certain character or to play into the overall tone of the game or scenarios within the game.

For Example: "Speed Star," Shun Akiyama's battle theme in Yakuza 4, does a rather perfect job of conveying the coolheaded, smart mouthed personality of the CEO of Sky Finance and Kamurocho's Lifeline.

So in regards to this post, I invite you to read through and listen to some songs I think best conveys an "Energetic" Feeling. Now bear in mind that not all songs are going to be "high octane" as much as they might be more "lively" or "enthusiastic" or even conveying a sense of being determined. For convenience purposes, I am putting a break here.

Teknopathetic (e-Pop 'n Disco 80s Mix) - Ollie King

Of the many soundtracks that Funky Uncle Hideki Naganuma has worked on in his career, many people certainly know him for his work on Jet Set Radio, Jet Set Radio Future and Sonic Rush. However, Naganuma has also worked on the Sega produced skateboarding arcade game Ollie King. Connecting JSR and Ollie King is that Naganuma has remixed some tracks from the former, such as the one I have chosen here. Teknopathetic was already a high energy techno track in Jet Set Radio Future, so the remix takes that energy into a more funky direction for the comparatively grounded Ollie King.

Moving on.

Challengers - Dragon Ball Z Budokai

For a man who was proven to have plagiarized a LOT of music in his career, former Dragon Ball Composer Kenji Yamamoto has some rather fantastic taste in music to steal from. Now, Challengers in particular is probably one of the more iconic songs from the DBZ video games, the song that I guarantee almost everyone thinks of when they think about Budokai. It's high octane, it absolutely fits as fighting game music and undoubtedly captures what it felt like to watch Goku and Frieza have their legendary battle on Planet Namek, aaaand it's also literally just note for note Hunting High and Low by Stratovarius. When Bandai Namco published the Budokai HD Collection in 2012, the soundtracks for Budokai 1 and Budokai 3 were completely replaced and their new soundtracks came frankensteined from Budokai Tenkaichi 2, BT3, BT Tag Team and Ultimate Tenkaichi. Additional note: I absolutely do not tolerate plagiarism of any kind. So while I find Yamamoto to have fantastic taste in music, I hold no respect for him personally.

Now Onward, to the next one. The final one for this post.

The Palace That Was Found - Sonic and the Secret Rings

Now admittedly, there are a LOT of sonic songs that could easily be here as well. Far too many for me to list. Now I'm going with the theme of Evil Foundry from Sonic and the Secret Rings because I think it's a rather fitting song for the topic. It's quite a bold song that mixes the motifs of the 1001 arabian nights with the headstrong heroics of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Side Note: Many also know this song as the intro song for youtuber Cobanermani456. I for one think that if anyone was gonna rock a place, it was certainly him. Great Guy, wish him the best in the world.

So those were just some songs I thought were pretty energetic. If you've made it this far and want to share some VGM you think is energetic, I wholly encourage it.

[themildestofwriters]

In the first schism, the Orthodox Jedi denied the Legions of Lettow (I'll call them the Lettowites for short) when they requested the opportunity to study the Dark Side. The Lettowites said "OK" and left the Jedi Order to make their own. The Jedi saw this and then declared a war against the Lettowites, going as far as to convince the Republic to back this war. The Lettowites thus were destroyed.

In the second schism, nobody knows who struck first — was it the Orthodox Jedi, or those who wanted to study the dark side? Whatever the case is, I cannot blame them from going "Last time the Jedi struck first; let's do it our way, this time." I abhor war, but I can't blame them for deciding to fight for the freedom. This led to a hundred year war, which is useful because it means none of the Jedi Exiles were around for the start of the second schism, so I can safely take their disposition out of my view of those who started the second schism. None the less, the Jedi still said "these people who created monsters with the force and perpetuated a hundred years of war are going to be someone else's problem because we don't execute our prisoners — we let them die of natural causes."

Now, the interesting thing about the Sith these exiles find is — most of the major issues the Sith suffer are the fault of literally everyone else. You'd expect the Sith to be the reason why Korriban is such a hell hole, except it's not their fault: invaders from space came and the planet was scarred by that war. Those invaders also caused the diasporic Sith to splinter from their, for all intents and purposes, fairly stable 200 year unification under Adas. Then, the next major conflict comes with the Exiles deciding that they're in charge now. In fact, outside of people saying "oh, yeah, the Sith were pretty evil, yo," before the Exiles came, the worst things to have happened to the Sith were outsiders coming to fuck them over. Even when the horrible, evil problem is themselves, they dealt with it themselves. Dathka Graush, whose name I HC as being the origin of the title Darth (kind of like Caesar became Tzar), who was a literal Lich King and despot, was dealt with by the Sith themselves (probably because he was such dick.

And after? Like, sure, we get generically bad stuff. They're conquerors and whatnot, but even then — when you get real evil fuckers like Anddendu, the Sith dealt with the problems. For as evil as the Sith are made out to be, they absolutely recognise when there's an absolute git causing problems, and they deal with it.

Dathka, assassinated. Andeddu, exiled. Naga Sadow, exiled. Vitiate, Imperial Enemy No. 1. Oh. And speaking of Naga Sadow, the Empire was being actively manipulated by that fucker into thinking the Republic was genuinely going to fuck them over. He actively lied and cheated the system to get into power, and the Empire was split by his machinations. This is not the case of the Empire wanting to conquer — a sizable number of Sith were fine with the status quo at the time (i.e. not conquering). Some bloke simply decided to lie to everyone and convince them that the credible threat was a genuine threat, and thus the war started.

Thus the Empire went to war. For a year. On, like... a handful of planets. Like. I need to emphasise to you how pathetically small this war was in the world of Star Wars. This was barely five episodes worth of The Clone Wars, which tore half the galaxy apart over the course of four years. The "worst" that happened was Coruscant briefly seeing some space combat, which is bad, but even then... only one a thousandth of the forces the Republic was actually facing existed. The rest were illusions.

This is all to emphasise how ungodly horrifying the Republic's counter invasion was. Like, a few planets were hurt by the Empire, and the Republic responds to that by going to every Sith controlled planet and systematically destroying any Sith presence there, culture and all. The Jedi themselves admit that the counter invasion was a mistake, and it was — it was a major over retaliation that I can only assume was spurred by the battle over Coruscant, because we never see such violent retribution before then.

And thus begins the 20 years of the Empire wandering space in exile before settling in old forgotten territory to rebuild.

Y'know... prophecies of messiahs with countless claments (with at least one creating their own version that is so different it might as well be another religion), decades long exiles led by a saviour figure, a religion that has an ethnic group assosiated with it, an ancient abjad script, an ancestral holy land frequently assosiated with the desert, frequent invasion and occupation by foreign forces, the religion itself being outlawed by the prevailing government, cultural artefacts being stolen, desecrated, or otherwise misused, frequent attempts by foreigners to claim themselves the "true x," a hereditary priesthood that has since fallen out of fashion, one of the central locations to the people having a name starting with the sound Zio-, survival for thousands of years despite countless attempts from outsiders to destroy or assimilate them... I've said this before, but, for an always chaotic evil organisation, it's really fucking weird how many parallels the Old Sith have to the Jewish people. And if the Sith are Jew-coded, and I'm not saying they are, it's just really weird how the lore lined up, but then what's up with Darth Bane, his love of drinking blood (soup), and his shadowy cabal of Sith who go on to secretly run the Republic and also the Banks, steering it toward a new world order through the use of war and murder that also has a space laser?

Well, no. I shouldn't say Cabal, because there's already a shadowy Cabal controlling things as of SWTOR.

Anyway, I have no idea what the point of what I just said was, but I very much approve of more nuanced takes on the Sith, because, while we can freely dunk on the likes of Sidious, the Old Sith were still a people. A culture. There deserves to be a narrative where the Old Sith can be as good and bad as any old human can be, while still being Sith. The fact that the Newer Sith are all assholes just enriches the narrative, creating a story where the Old Sith suffered under the agonies of active colonisation by outsiders looking to twist a culture and religion into a tool with which to commit violence. It started with the Jedi Exiles and completed by the time of the New Sith Wars. From there on, the Sith were Jedi and random strangers who saw the Sith Order as a tool to control and destroy what they couldn't control.

Love and the Legacy of the Sith

There is something inherently faulty about the narrative when the story it attempts to tell may make sense at a quick glance from a purely superficial point of view, but when looked at more closely strikes such a dissonant chord against the entirety of human experience that it cannot possibly be accepted as true. 

Stories speak to us only in so much as they can be accepted as true, with a reasonable suspension of disbelief. For example, I can accept a story as true that involves flying by pixie dust and a boy who never grows old, even though those things obviously don’t exist. But my suspension of disbelief is much more difficult to allow when I see a story that insists that the only way the hero can save his people is to murder them. Our human minds usually see “saving” and “murdering” as two things that cannot possibly be congruent if they are referring to the same object.

And so I bring up the supposedly incongruent concept of Sith who are capable of love. I’m not speaking of “true love” or “romantic love” or some other fantasy nonsense, but the concern for the well-being of another person, regardless of their own feelings and opinions towards you, and regardless of whether you receive anything from the act of loving them.

The Sith are depicted – as a superficial, dualistic narrative naturally requires – as being cold, heartless, needlessly cruel, and prone to violence by default. And down to the letter. Every single one of them is depicted as ultimately being this way. Of course they are, they are the prescribed villains in this scenario, and as such must be assigned as many of the traits collective society has deemed undesirable as possible. Even if it flies in the face of everything we know about basic sapient emotions.  

But what this type of black-and-white narrative fails to realize is that our human experience precludes anything like that from even existing. Anyone who actually pays attention to their day-to-day lives and the behavior of the people they encounter within it will notice that no one, not ever, is simply Evil For Evil’s Sake. No one is so one-dimensional that they have such a shriveled inner thought process solely dominated by “I am Evil, therefore what can I do today to expound my Evilness.”

Such a mindset at the core of a belief system does not gain such steadfastly loyal adherents, survive thousands of years despite heavy persecution, and return again and again to the forefront of public attention as the primary rival belief system to the popularized Jedi fanaticism.

But the story (rather ironically) has already told us, emphatically, that the true core of what drives the Sith is the belief that strength is developed through conflict, and the power to develop that strength comes from passion and emotion.

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