#and that it's the source of a lot of cool powers in both cases

[kateeorg]

Between the gods discourse from Critical Role and the Force/Jedi/Sith discourse from The Acolyte, I'm just like... even fictional religion is stressful to talk about, man. Really interesting, sure, but the implications and different factions and multitude of things to consider just make my head hurt and I need to stop looking at it and take a break.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

What did you think of kataras character arc if you exclude all the shipping wars?

Did you like it

I think it's pretty good, and I like her character a lot. I'd say she was the best written female character, and one of the best written characters in general, and that's despite her not being my favorite on either category.

There were a few issues/inconsistencies, namely her going from not being as good as Aang at waterbending then suddenly she's a master, or her stealing from the pirates yet getting on Toph's case for "cheating a cheater", but overall I'd say the show handled her well.

I like that they allowed her to be one the kindest characters, yet don't shy away from making her assertive, proud, strong-willed, stubborn and even mean sometimes (because children be like that) and that is so satisfying to watch, especially compared to bullshit like the Netflix version that is fucking TERRIFIED of giving the characters any flaws, to the point of stripping them of any agency or emotion.

Even her being both a fighter AND a healer ties into that duality. If you mess with her, you're fucked. But if you're nice to her, she'll be nice to you. And if you're in trouble, even if you're are a stranger, she'll help you because she can't wrap her head around the notion of just letting an innocent suffer. And as a bonus she commits ecoterrorism and helps deliver babies. Girly can do anything! How could anyone NOT love her?

We see her compassion ties in with her morals and convictions in MANY episodes (Imprisoned, Jet, The Avatar State, Crossroads of Destiny, The Painted Lady, The Puppet Master, The Southern Raiders, etc) as a result it feels like we really KNOW Katara, to the point that it's super easy for me to forget that she's a character because she's just that believable. I don't see a list of traits or just necessary actions that move the plot forward, I just see Katara being Katara, reacting to and influencing the world around around her.

As for her arc, like I said, I do think it was strange how she went from struggling to do some basic stuff to being able to hold her on in a fight against Pakku so fast, but once the show settled on "This girl be strong as fuck" they made damn sure we didn't forget it and they were smart to tie that in with her being a super inspirational figure (and to also have continue to learn new things even after being considered fit to be the Avatar's official teacher, so it made that incosistency a bit less distracting).

Pakku calls her master and Aang calls her sifu, we see her doing lots of cool moves in fights, and she's powerful enough that Hama's bloodbending doesn't work on her, she literally held up the rain and parted the seas and, oh yeah, she brought the Avatar back to life. No fucking wonder the messiah of this story took one look at her, fell in love immediately, and said the SHE gives HIM hope. It IS pretty difficult to give into despair when you're friend is that awesome, and goddamn, it'd be hard not to simp.

I also love that the show lets her be smart with HOW she uses her powers. Even in the second episode, when she's struggling with her bending and accidentally freezes Sokka instead of their enemies, she's smart enough to think "I just have to do the exact same motion, but to the other direction", she can work with her mistakes. She uses her waterbending to lift up a piece of the floor to defend herself from Mai's knives. She even uses her own sweat as a source of water before meeting Hama and being made to think of "Oh yeah, nearly EVERYTHING has water." Her last battle move in the show even was a mirror to her struggling to freeze her enemies at the start of the series, with her luring Azula to the right spot to freeze them both, unfreeze herself and slowly chain her, showing us how using her powers effortlessly has become second nature to her.

But THE episode that shows us the key role Katara plays in the story is "The Desert." Appa is gone and can't fly them away, Aang is too emotionally distraught by Appa's kidnaping to be of any help, Sokka is high as fuck, Toph can't "see" or use her bending as much because she still struggles to use sand the way she uses Earth, and we know for a fact that Momo doesn't understand a damn thing that's going on. The responsibiliy of keeping everyone together and then getting them out of there fell entirely on her shoulders for that episode, and she handled it like a pro. And at the end, when Aang is going nuts with grief, Katara is the only one not cowering before his power and can bring him back to earth with just one look.

The show could never work without her. The creators even said she's the heart of the story. That's why her voice is the first one we hear in every episode. She introduces the audience to this world and is the one to welcome us back each time. We learn her backstory before we even see Aang, that's how central she is to the plot.

And just like her introduction was handled perfectly, her send off was the same. She is reunited with her dad, who is very proud of her and knows her mom would feel the same way. She has helped save the world, and now she can finally be a kid again. She is free from the war. Free to go home with her family, travel with her friends every now and again for FUN instead of on a mission.

And yes, she's in a relationship now, with the guy she has clearly been in love with for a while. That romance IS one part of her arc and I celebrate it because there's nothing wrong with wanting love. I was cool with it even back when I didn't care for Kataang as a ship and didn't think it'd last - because I already cared about Katara and had seen the literal YEARS of foreshadowing, set up and development for it.

That's why I don't mind it when people ship her with her someone else - but get furious when Zutara shippers claim ALL OF THAT doesn't really count as her being treated with respect, both in universe and by the writers, because she didn't up marrying Zuko and becoming his girlfriend and future wife. Like it was all for nothing unless she kisses an emo boy and/or end up being a ruler, despite never having any interest in ruling anything. Like Katara's character and arc, all that she is, all that she overcame, accomplished and was rewarded with is irrelevant if the romance is not with the "right" guy. ONE part of her arc not being what they would have preferred RUINS her for people COMPLETELY.

And they have the nerve to call themselves "the REAL Katara fans"? What a joke. They can ship whatever they want, but they better put some respect on her name.

[cerastes]

Was thinking about the hypothetical Arknights action game stuff from awhile back again, what enemies/story characters do you think would make for some sick boss fights?

Oh, I like this one. Just to name a few:

Patriot: The first that comes to mind is Patriot, as an enemy that would push the game systems of an action game to its limit. In concept, I like to imagine it in the way the true final boss of Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon goes: You have your playable character, which I would like to say is Amiya for this case, and your big damage opportunities come from interference ran by Rosmontis clashing with Patriot and Rhodes Island Snipers and Casters barraging him by Elysium's instruction. Patriot is also perfect to load a ton of mix-ups onto by virtue of him being able to do both gigantic, slower attacks and barrages of quick lunges. He could be a setpiece boss and a straight up skill check boss in equal measures.

Bishop Quintus: Yeah, man's Yamcha as far as bosses go, BUT in the context of a character action game with tight movesets and mechanics, a gigantic tentacled boss that can spawn more and more tentacles from everywhere in the arena, has laser attacks, and was explicitly Devil May Cried for a while by Specter when she was literally air comboing it by leaping from falling rock to falling rock as she unleashed a Sexy Smokin' Style kinda beatdown on him? Yeah I would very much love to control an Abyssal Hunter in a fight against this thing.

Faust: Hear me out. In the context of a full on high impact high speed action game, Faust would be heaven to fight. Between the ability to shoot a hugely powerful bolt, the ability to turn invisible, the turrets, and imagining him hoping around for a stylish mix of melee and ranged combat, yeah, I'm a believer. I like to imagine a scripted part of the fight where he hides and starts charging a truly massive shot, with the Arts humming from the sheer power. In the arena, there's also a lot of his snipers to run diversion and make it harder to find him. Normal people will find him and hit him out of the charge. COOL people will find him, taunt to trigger a MUCH faster charge, and then use a counter to catch the supercharged shot and return it to him a la Nero Buster counters in DMC4.

Full Power Big Ugly Thing & Eunectes: Remember Full Power Big Ugly Thing? No, not the one running on emergency fumes and jury rigged power sources, the actual fully geared version, powered by the airplane engine? The one that sent Gavial flying into the sky Team Rocket style? That one, that one should be some sort of secret fight. An actual brickhouse of immense, unfair power, only for the gamerest of gamers to cut their teeth with, punctuated with a final, high impact duel with Eunectes herself as the burning wreck and the originium fires make for a makeshift ring.

FrostNova: Legitimately, I think FrostNova would make That Moment in an action game. That Moment, That Boss, the one everyone remembers. Her skill set and aesthetic is supreme, the way ice can be used for both style and gameplay, alongside the actual emotional beat of throwing down with FrostNova as her life literally evaporates. Creating ice weapons that break with each attack just to have another one ready for the next swing, diverse moveset, dangerous at all ranges, highly mobile due to sliding on ice, giving the player high mobility as well (I love when boss gimmicks also can be used by the player in some way), there's just SO much one could do with a FrostNova fight, it'd probably my dream fight if done with love.

Endspeaker/Amaia: The concept of an ever-evolving boss with multiple forms has so much potential, TOO much potential, it's hard to fill those shoes, but if you do, imagine. In my dream of dreams, each phase/form of Endspeaker would grow resilient and even develop specific counters to your habits, in the shape of better dodge maneuvering against specific, high usage moves, and even counterattacks if you use some too much. The best way to go about this boss is to actually use your whole moveset, and even then, you want to ration specific parts of it depending on the phase. Plus, the latter forms of Endspeaker/Amaia are legitimately wicked looking and I think would look eerie and breathtaking in motion, with all those flowing parts constrasting with its sharp, long claws.

[tblsomedoodles]

Hey, I was just thinking about something to do with your Seer Twins AU that actually makes a lot of sense. I know that Donnie sees the good in his visions while Leo sees the bad, but what about if they need to connect two partial visions together to make a complete vision or something like that. This is where, what I'm calling the bridge comes into play. This third person, who is also born at or around the same time as the seers, has both the yin and yang marks on them, but can't use that part of their powers on their own and it won't even show up on scanners unless they're near one of the others while they're having or are about to have a vision. That being said, they can help the other 2 when they have waking visions weather by just being there or protecting them with their extremely powerful abilities. I think you know where I'm going with this. I can see that Mikey is the bridge for Donnie and Leo, and they don't realize it because the yin and yang symbols that he has are in his spots that have subtle swirls to them anyway. With this theory, Draxem originally scanned Mikey when one of his brothers either was about to or was having a vision while he was around, but the next time he scanned Mikey that wasn't the case, and Draxem just assumed it was because of his extremely powerful Ninpo. With this theory as well, the counsel doesn't know about the bridge thing, and just thinks some of the visions are extremely vague.

Also I can see Leo and Donnie getting charms of some sort, in the good future timeline, that helps them control their visions better.

First of all, this is very cool. and i like it a lot. Mikey having having a role in this that no one has figured out? And a little symbol that just looks like a spot with a color variation? Fantastic and adorable!

I will like to add some things to this. Like

Mikey wouldn't be able to see the visions he helps with, like at all. He's assisting but is not fully part of it.

Since the twins' standard visions are broken up bits of visions kinda scrambled around, if Mikey just being close by helps stabilize them so they can see them more linearly. (the twins don't have to be together at the time either. This is just something he passively does to either of them. Meaning Donnie's blueberry pancake vision was probably quite a bit less jumbled/more clear than he's used to having just b/c Mikey was there.)

I think it would also be cool that if he's actively helping them while they're together that, like what you said, they both get a full image of what's happening. But also like, i think for the twins, it would be more like a lucid dream than a vision. Like, normally they're just watching what's happening with flashes of feelings from whoever they're watching from. But like, if it's assisted like that, they're more aware in said vision and can possibly watch from a third person perspective rather than a first.

I also really like the idea that though that's something this third can do, it's not their main thing. I think this third is there to help if needed, but mostly is there to protect. Since Seers (especially newly come into their powers seers) are quite vulnerable during their visions, they would need someone to watch over them during that time. They're given a giant mystic source with powerful mystic abilities to go with it.

I don't think he'd need a second source like Leo and Donnie, i think his one would just be compatible with the twins enough to augment the twins abilities.

i think it would be kinda neat too if Mikey can't sleep while one of them is having a vision. Like the second one of them slips into a vision he's awake and alert and, especially early on, has no idea why. A few minutes later, he gets tired again and goes right back to sleep. Whether it's limited by distance or not, i'm not sure at the moment. But i do like this since, his job is to protect them during visions so he mystically gets woken up to do that.

Like you said, it's not something the Council would be aware of b/c of the subtlety of it. (plus, even if they did know, I think they wouldn't like the idea. They see themselves as 'protecting' the seers so i don't think they would like the idea that they already had a naturally assigned protector.)

Anyways, that's all i have time to rant about right now. But i do really like this and it's given me quite a bit to think about while i'm at work tonight lol.

Thank you!!

[witchyleehibernates]

The Outsiders Elemental AU

Everyone can control one element/everyone has an element related power. Pony controls fire, Johnny controls earth. Ponyboys weakness is water. Ponyboy nearly died because of the drowning and his reaction afterwards is much more severe.

Sodapop controls air, Darry controls Earth, Steve is fire, two bit is water, Dally is fire.

Bob could control fire, Randy earth, Cherry fire, Marcia water, and currently I don't know about the other Socs. Chet gives me air vibes though.

Some elements just do not mix well; fire doesn't really play well with others in a lot of cases (Ponyboy is always bumping heads with Steve, and Steve is bumping heads with everyone, Dally is bumping heads with everyone, Johnny is a calming presence, Sodapop is a calming presence, ECT...)

When Ponyboy and Johnny got jumped at the park and they were drowning Ponyboy, there was even more fear because water will hurt Ponyboy *more* than normal. Even though he loved swimming growing up (it was a bonding. Activity between him and his brothers). He now has a fear of it. Ponyboys heart stops both at the fountain and it stops at home.

Ponyboy and Johnny fought with the Socs long enough that the gang had found them (Darry and Sodapop were shell shocked that Darry had hit Ponyboy and it took them a bit to snap out of it. Darry fucking freaked, horrified at himself, and Sodapop called Steve and Two-Bit and the four of them went looking for Ponyboy (and Johnny when Two mentions he wasn't at the lot). Ponyboy was entirely in the fountain and drowning and Johnny was half way out of it, coughing crying and reaching for Ponyboy who was fully submerged. His heart stops ones here but they bring him back.

Two-Bit pushes the water from both of their lungs, begging them the entire time not to die on them. He also carried Johnny back to the Curtis house where most of the gang holed up for the night. Ponyboy wakes up while at the fountain and all he could say was that it was the girls boys, the Socs from the drive in. Two-Bit barely understands but he gets it when he mentions the girls and drive in: Bob and Randy had come for revenge.

Dally was called the next day and the entire gang holed up at the Curtis residence, Darry, Sodapop, and Steve all calling out of work for the day. Ponyboy is entirely unconscious for two days before his flame flickers out (of which only Steve and Dally could see) and his heart stops. The two had been taking shifts to watch over Ponyboy at all times, with Dally through the night and while Steve was sleeping or at work, and Steve in the morning and evenings so Dally could get some sleep. They can see Ponyboys flame flickering through his shirt (where his heart would be) and only they can see it (it's like something just under the skin is glowing). His flame went out when they were both awake which caused his heart to stop (the flame is like their life source).

Dally saves his life by sharing some of his flames with him (fire users have a way of saving each other should they need it. But you absolutely need to care about the person you're saving as it bonds the two of you magically. Dally and Ponyboy become brothers through a magic flame).

Essentially, since 'the flame' acts as a life source, Dally is sharing his life with Ponyboy.

Dally had to blow some of his fire into Ponyboy while thinking of his favorite memory with just Ponyboy(his first week part of the gang he and Ponyboy were hanging out while Dally waited for Two, Steve, and Soda, and Ponyboy yold him that he was really cool and tuff while handing him a picture he drew of Dally with the gang, all of them had their element surrounding them to some degree. This picture would get replicated by turning into an actual photo a couple days later), and it gave Ponyboy a new flame to live off of. (Dally had to lean over and blow the fire into Ponyboy's mouth... Or maybe he blew it into his hands and lowered it into Ponyboy's mouth... probably the second one).

If Dally dies Ponyboy grows weaker and weaker and will die himself. That usually takes months to happen; i.e. if Dally dies, Ponyboy gets a very slow death.

Darry was pissed that no information was given to him before Dally did this. And it was because of Steve that this came out to the rest of the gang; he and Dally were fighting about telling Darry and Sodapop about what the fire thing meant. However Sodapop is just thankful that his baby brother is going to live (which Darry comes around to after he calms down from the scare of Pony dying and anger of Dally not willingly giving important information). Darry has a flames anger, while Ponyboy has an earths calmness.

Ponyboy's nails are permanently black and the tips of his fingers are blue from the drowning and dying and being brought back. Sometimes he'll pain his nails to at least block out most of the reminder of him nearly dying, even if his fingers being blue doesn't let him. Sometimes he'll let Johnny paint his nails too, because it helps Johnny just as much as it helps Ponyboy.

Bit about the magical brothers; the two always knows where the other is. They also always know how the other is thinking. Or if the other is craving something, the other knows it. There have been a large number for times Dally shows up with jollies or dum dums for Ponyboy because Ponyboy was craving them *bad* and not telling anyone so he didn't seem childish. He hides this by getting Johnny's favorite candies too so Ponyboy doesn't feel and about any of it (he thinks Dally is compelled to do it, when really, Dally is perfectly capable of ignoring Ponyboy's cravings, he just wants to also take care of the other to an extent... With our Darry being reminded of Dally also being Ponyboy's older brother now).

Cherry finds out what happened to Ponyboy through Marcia who found out through Two-Bit (this AU he didn't through her number out, he took a chance and actually called: waters are empaths, they can feel others emotions). Cherry is horrified that Bob would ever do something like that, and when she sees Ponyboy at school and his hands and how easily he tires, and Dally is always next to him for a good four months. Two-Bit is usually on the otherside of Ponyboy too, and Johnny's there(and Steve because while he and Ponyboy 'hate' each other and always bump heads, he cares about Sodapop's kid brother), Cherry's feelings are all mixed up and she doesn't know what to do.

Randy only asks Marcia if the kids made it okay. Marcia is frosty to him but confirms they are alive. Randy is horrified that there was a long time that wasn't even a hope for them. His horror is what Marcia softens at as she explains what happened; leaving out hugely personal things obviously (like the flames). Randy is horrified and cries and he ends up no longer drinking. He works to improve himself so that kids nearly dying never happens again. However this goes down sorta poorly with Bob. They don't talk for a week. Randy makes it through fine but it nearly wrecks Bob.

Bob one night tries to take it out on the Greasers (because Randy was honest during their fight) and it nearly kills Johnny and Two-Bit. Two Bit ended up okay on his own, but Johnny ends up in a similar state to Johnny after the near drowning. Darry ends up saving his life in a similar way that Dally saved Johnny's. Johnny's got a magical older brother now. Ponyboy is completely okay with that (if someone is a sibling and becomes a magical sibling with someone, it sorta implies the siblings are also magical siblings to that person). Dally makes a sour face but also, the thought of Johnny dying panics him more than anything.

[allwormdiet]

Insinuation 2.9

And now everyone is cool and nothing is wrong :)

Y'know, obviously the actual violence involved in the bullying, both physical and social, is like the chief source of harm for Taylor, but I think what's almost equally terrible is that it's made her into her fourth-worst enemy after the main trio, scared of being disliked and trying so hard to find ways to justify not bowing to others

Also, I don't fully know enough about Alec to say, but low-key I get the sense that Taylor just doesn't like him that much, which is a little funny but also a little sad

Yeah, like, he's a little immature but this kinda feels like her interpreting his words in bad faith

This is kinda cute? Alec is being a bit of a brat, yeah, but Brian is immediately charmed by someone else who automatically did a Responsible Thing and Taylor clearly flourishes with his attention. I'm sure they both think they're the token sane ones

Maybe it's just me but I think Alec's power can be pretty busted. Like that's a great way to get an enemy to score an own-goal if they're not careful with their weapons, or if they're on a flight of stairs.

Also think I'm getting a marginally better read on his character through this chapter. He does seem to be earnest, or at least trying, the sarcasm comes off as much of a front as Brian acting like an adult or Lisa acting smug.

Rachel speaks up and it's just to defend her dogs, this is relatable

Also smart call on the infosec tbh

Also also, lmao Taylor's still mad and not shy about that, very telling that she's still thinking of Rachel as Bitch

Makes sense that Rachel has to be careful about what dogs she can use her power on, it only takes one beast like that to go off the rails and cause a whole world of hurt that she didn't mean for. Five bucks says there's a story to how she learned that one.

Sweet But Heartbreaking: The Hebert Family Story

Few things, semi-conflicting in my head but I'll talk through it all anyway

I like the Undersiders and know that they're broadly good kids, or at least trying to be good kids, but I don't think they're so upright that they're above doing crime that would cause harm to others, even if it's "just" financial loss and a scare

And it's interesting to me that as much as Taylor likes them, as much as Taylor yearns to be on this team with them (to the point where she'll tolerate Rachel), she still sees herself as in some way apart from them, even better than them, because she's a hero. Or going to be a hero at the least.

Wonder how long that attitude can hold up

Current Thoughts

I like seeing the Undersiders play off each other more, and I like seeing Taylor slide into a niche alongside them. Had I the power I would make the next *checks notes* twenty-eight arcs just about them all being friends and having adventures, but I do not, so. Reality will ensue at some point, I imagine.

I think it's a little easier to see Taylor's exact problems with more people to bounce off of. She's got this ongoing struggle between needing to belong, needing to fly under the radar, and needing vindication for what she's been put through, and it's given her some bad habits. The self-loathing is a major component, but as I'm looking at it I think her swiftness to dismiss others as less-than-her could just as easily be a byproduct of Emma's tender mercies as a lot of her other bad habits. All of Winslow High has either participated in her suffering, or else stood by and did nothing about it; is it any wonder that she feels alone in a crowd, that she's so harsh in how she views others who provide any reason to doubt their intentions towards her? Rachel is obviously an extreme case but she even raised her hackles a bit with Alec back in 2.7 and what he said could barely count as teasing.

Little shocked that this arc is over already, but I guess it's longer than Arc 1, so maybe I'm just getting wrapped up in the flow of the story and getting thrown by the interruptions. Interlude next, then my meditations on Arc 2

[sporesgalaxy]

Real curious about trigun but I got three questions:

1) what's up with the Christian vibes?

2)the blond guys (plants???) have trans vibes, actual coding or just an accident? (fine either way just curious)

3) what's the plot? Space cowboys?

Anyways Millie is cool, (I once mistook the girl typically next to her for that guy from genshin impact)

1) Christian vibes are why I want to lock myself in a room for a month and emerge with a 3 hour video essay about Trigun very very badly right now.

Trigun spends a lot of time exploring Forgiveness, Mercy, and Redemption, which are famously also the themes of Jesus' wacky adventures in the New Testament.

But. You know how in the old testament there was like a bunch of Divine Wrath and stuff? And it feels really incongruent with the forgiveness in the New Testament sometimes. And also for many centuries Christians have cited God's divine acts of wrath as justification for incredible acts of cruelty against their fellow man? You know how that history of cruelty and punishment is, at this point, just as synonymous with Christianity as the Jesus Forgiveness stuff?

Well Trigun is about how the Jesus Forgiveness stuff is better. Not because Jesus said so but because of the enormous OBSERVABLE positive impact that forgiveness and redemption can have. Positive impact that wrath and retribution rob all parties involved of the chance to witness.

Trigun tells a story which demonstrates this in largely secular situations but underscores both the forgiveness and the wrath with divine imagery. And since both the forgiveness and the wrath are equally visually tied to the divine, symbols of divinity cannot be considered synonymous with perfection, unerring judgement, nor inherent rightness or goodness. Divinity becomes simply a symbol of power, and power is a double-edged sword as well. The power to do good is also the power to cause massive harm, and in many cases people will treat power pessimistically out of an understandable will for self-preservation.

But power is neither inherently good nor bad-- power ultimately reflects the flawed and fallible person weilding it. I could go on but this is really long so I'll stop lol :)

WAIT. Divinity = Power, Angels are the symbol of Divinity, Angels are messengers of God, Communication and connecting with others is emphasized, Communication = Power = Divinity ok I'll stop for real tee hee

2) I don't know if the trans coding was intentional, but HOLY SHIT is it THERE.

Most blatantly, Vash and Knives are Plants, and every other Plant we see is referred to as a woman/has female secondary sex characteristics.

Also Plants visually resemble angels, and it's common belief angels do not have gender like humans do since they are pure and holy beings. I couldn't quickly find a source for that, but I know that Alchemy has some emphasis on hermaphroditism as, like, the holier form. So I guess by that logic you could also say they're intersex but I'm veering off topic.

Thirdly in the 1998 anime they gave the child versions of Vash and Knives long hair that ended up being cut off in ways that symbolized important developments in their identities. Knives example is what I have on hand lol. It just smacks of transgenderism.

3) DEEP SPACE PLANET FUTURE GUN ACTION!!!!

Wacky space cowboy Vash the Stampede roams the space desert planet where humans are barely hanging onto survival using the tech of their spacefaring ancestors! He can shoot with perfect accuracy, and is wanted for DESTROYING AN ENTIRE CITY, but is a staunch pacifist?! How odd!

What's Vash's deal? What happened that made humans unable to go back to space? Why'd they land on this desert planet that sucks to live on? Learn this and much more in TRIGUN!

[sheydgarden]

Question: I am ethnically Jewish, though not culturally (complicated family history). I read your book on the roots of Antisemitic origins of Solomonic magic and wanted to ask:

If working with the Ars Goetia as entities themselves may be problematic: could reframing and restructuring the paradigms to re-imagine the listed demons and create new demons to work alongside be a better solution? I do enjoy the recent demonological work I’ve started but seeing some of the origins, it makes me wonder if my workings could be adjusted by basing my rituals in values I personally have and reframing it away from the work found in Solomonic Texts.

You had said in your Zine you yourself had worked to strip the Antisemitism from the Solomonic Imagery and parts of the practice and I was wondering if you had any advice on that process because I do find it fulfilling to ritually work alongside entities like this but am wondering how to do it in a better way?

hi! i'm gonna answer this one publicly so that i have something to refer folks to here when they ask me this same question (which i've gotten before), hope that's cool! also, apologies for the length of reply, but that's what happens when you open this particular box with me, haha.

i'm just gonna give it to you straight (and this is my opinion, of course, i know there are plenty who disagree with me! but you asked me) - i don't think there's anything you can do to "Solomonic" magic to render it not antisemitic. the antisemitism isn't a nasty veneer you can scrape off to get at some good stuff underneath - it's baked in. the entire premise of a book about a "powerful Jewish magician" who worked with Christian demons (who themselves are just a mish-mash of names & concepts from various cultures) is antisemitic. in the case of the Lesser Key specifically, we're talking about a book most likely written & distributed by Christian clergy (that's who had access to the education & tools required!) who were at the same time actively contributing to Jewish genocide. it's the foundation of the thing.

when i talk about my sigil artwork that uses grimoire-inspired imagery, i'm talking purely about holding onto an aesthetic, a visual language of lines. i can take out antisemitic visual signifiers easily because i'm only working with an image out of context. i don't think it's possible to remove antisemitism from the concept or the practice of Solomonic/ceremonial magic, at least not without completely altering it at its core - and then why bother basing anything on it at all? (i'm a Jew, not a western occultist, so i haven't tried)

i think really considering what exactly it is you've been getting out of this might make things clearer for you in terms of how you want to proceed. if it's the "Jewish" flavor, there's a whole world of actual Jewish folklore & mysticism, complete with demons of our own - you mention having Jewish ancestry, but not being culturally or religiously Jewish, so i would definitely recommend making a connection to Jewish community & learning a lot before you dive into any kind of Jewish spirituality. if it's just the concept of calling on entities via ritual work - why these? why not your own inventions? the demons listed in the Lesser Key were pretty much invented during the Renaissance, even if some of their names come from older sources. occultists combined, embellished & invented them to fit into a Christian theology, using a faux-Jewish origin story in order to lend them both more credibility (in a time when Jews were literally equated with demons!) and some spicy exoticism. i'm pretty baffled as to why so many folks still want to base a spiritual practice on that, beyond the fact that they're considered cool and/or sufficiently edgy if you grew up Christian.

if i'm being more blunt here than i was in the zine, it's because we're solely in "personal opinion" territory, and my honest opinion is that whatever folks find enjoyable about ceremonial magic could be better put to use in a framework that leaves Judaism alone entirely (and either honestly calls itself Christian - which it historically is - or creates a new cultural/religious system to operate under). i hope this was helpful - thanks for taking the time to read it!

[sunshinemoonrx]

since you've taught me so much already. top 5 characters from historical literature (i love the guys i've heard about so far)

Helllll yeah. Okay so a lot of these are gonna be "all right here's a pretty famous guy but did you know he was originally different and weird!" Folklore time let's goooooo

Honourable mention: All of Medieval Welsh Lit

This is a catch-all I'm using to stop all 5 of these entries from being this because I gotta cover places like Turkey and Ireland. There's still a couple dw. But there's so many more like Rhiannon, world's most magical snarky part-time ponygirl; Macsen Wledic, who everyone wants to be their ancestor, or wait this is a reflection of the historical would-be Roman emperor Magnus Maximus; Mabon ap Modron, world's specialest boy who does fuck all Oh Wait this is an ancient deity who was syncretised with Apollo? Neat! Okay actual entries Go

5. Robin Hood

This is a prime case of "in the original version..." I'm actually a big fan of the earliest medieval Robin Hood ballads we have, they're very fun bouncy little adventures and the middle English is just comprehensible enough that I can alternate between reading the original text and the translation. Did you know that it took a couple centuries for Robin to be turned into an exiled lord (to make him more palatable to a noble audience when they started making plays about him, he originated in songs and performances at country fairs), and he was a commoner fucking with the king before then? And that despite how much a "modern twist" it seems, Marian (who might have started as an unrelated character with her own adventures) beating him in a fight actually pre-dates the nobleman thing!

4. Battal Gazi

The absolute lad. A pulp adventure style hero from medieval Turkish epics sourced from the Byzantine frontier. There's a real cowboy adventure vibe to these. And they got made into a series of campy adventure films in the 50s! And he defeated one HUNDRED Romans with EACH swing of his sword and EVERYONE clapped (for real I'm pretty sure he kills Charlemagne in one of these)

3. Taliesin

The secret main character of medieval Welsh literature and poetry! An actual historical poet of the 6th century who became so famous that later medieval writers would write legends about him having magic bardic powers, write poems in his voice...which makes it hard to figure out what he actually wrote! But what can be sorta confidently attributed to him mostly consists of praise poetry for the north-British king Urien Rheged, which is...maybe a little romantic? He always ends them with

"And until I fail in old age,

in the sore necessity of death,

May I not be smiling,

If I praise not Urien."

Which is nice. Urien is the sneaky other subject of this--he's also a really interesting guy halfway between history and legend, subject of a whole bunch more poetry and hegemon of his while region. His son, Owain, possibly fought in the famous battle of the Gododdin, was written as the leader of hundreds of giant magical ravens, and finally got absorbed into continental Arthurian legend as 'Yvain'

2. Cai the Fair

Speaking of Arthur! I'm a big fan of the original version based in Welsh folklore, a wandering warrior prior to his transformation into a chivalric king. Similarly, some of his knights started as companions of the original version, and my favourite is the counterpart of Sir Kay. In later and mainstream Arthuriana he's the jackass who exists to get clowned on to show how cool Lancelot or whoever is, but this is actually because he started off as Arthur's best guy, so in anime rival tradition, showing him up is an easy way to establish your cool new OC. The original Cai can grow giant, has both heat and cold powers, can survive underwater for weeks...he slays all kind of giants, fights a giant cat, and then he does one giant slaying in a slightly sneaky way and Arthur (who is sometimes called a "frivolous bard") sings a mean song about him and he swears never to help him again. Oops!

He's also a bit gay with it--he's often paired with Bedwyr (source of Sir Bedivere), they love questing together and swear by each other, Cai was heartbroken when he died...

1. Cú Chulainn

The BOY. My GUY

The central hero of most of the Ulster cycle, you may know him from Fate. But the Fate version is less weird and less anime than the medieval version!! This Cú is a weird little trans-coded twink with three-coloured hair, seven-coloured eyes, a bunch of named special moves and an epic duel to the death with his boyfriend.

He's such a fucked up little guy! He's the perfect product and also the perfect victim of the glory-obsessed warrior culture he exists in, he's driven to destroy himself and everyone around him by a constant terror of not being the best at all times, he's so...arrrrrgh. he's the guy!! He's an extremely bad person to be clear. I love him. Sometimes he gets so worked up into a warrior's frenzy he generates a flaming aura that can melt snow and has to be dunked in cold water to chill out! I have like three writing projects in the works that are basically "Cú Chulainn for lesbians". Highest honour I can bestow

[fryingpan1234567]

🎶drabble drabble drab-ble, drabble drabble drab-ble, it’s two in the mor-ning—🎶

they’ve consumed my brain. Timkon Thought™️

~ It’s no secret Tim Drake doesn’t like sleeping. Enough nights of insomnia, dream demons, and fear gas will do that to a person. But there are just some people who take it to a whole different level.

Tim goes to school during the day, works when he doesn’t have school, and patrols all night long— he’s known in the Batfam for staying out the latest of them all, often until the sun begins to rise and he has to go home to get ready for school. The only time he doesn’t do such a practice is when Conner visits, which fortunately is often, because Tim’s siblings get concerned when he hasn’t slept in over a week.

But still, even with Conner around, it’s a fight to get Tim to sleep at all. One almost nobody wins.

It’s late when Tim hears the living room window slide open, soft footfalls landing on the rug there. He’d be concerned, normally, if only for the fact that he’s already in his pajamas and would hate to have to fight without a mask, but he knows who it is. Maybe that person knows the sound of his heartbeat, but Tim knows the rhythm of his existence and no Kryptonian powers can match that.

Exactly as expected, Conner pokes the slightly cracked bedroom door open with the toe of his boot not long after. Tim was already in bed, but nowhere near sleeping. In fact, he had a near-full mug of the strongest coffee he could possibly brew sitting on the nightstand next to him, the laptop in his lap the only source of light in the room.

Having none of his boyfriend’s shit, Conner flicked the light on. Tim blinked hazily up at him.

“Hey,” he managed, slightly leaning forward and silently pleading for a kiss. Kon obliged, but flicked him in the forehead as he pulled away.

“Why’re you up?” he asked instead of answering the greeting. “It’s like two in the morning.”

“Uhh…” As Conner began stripping out of his patrol gear and unceremoniously dumping it all on the floor, Tim’s attention returned to the screen before him. “Couldn’t sleep.”

Conner threw a shoe at him. It bounced off Tim’s shoulder. He didn’t even look up.

Kon sighed in defeat. “Didn’t you just get back from patrol, though?”

“Mm. Just a minute ago. Nothing exciting.”

They both lapsed into silence, the only sound in the apartment being Krypto’s snoring in the corner of the bedroom and the clicking of Tim’s laptop keyboard. Finally, freshly ready for bed, Conner flipped the light back off, plopped down next to Tim, and promptly flopped over in front of him.

Tim peeked over the top of his screen.

“Uh… hi?”

“Sweetheart.” Conner’s voice is muffled from the blankets. “Put the computer away.”

Tim snorted, keeping his gaze on the work before him as he took a loud sip of his coffee. It was already cooling down, and cold coffee is nasty, so he drank more of it to avoid dealing with it.

“Sorry, love,” Tim said softly as he set the mug back down, poking at Kon with a socked foot. “I have too much to do. You should go to bed, though.”

Like a curious puppy, Conner suddenly popped up and peeked over the top of the screen for an upside-down view of what Tim was doing.

“Well, what do you have to do?” he asked rather pitifully. Tim smiled at him.

“I’ve got, uhh, two papers and a presentation for school, a stack of pitches to sign off plus schedule a board meeting later this week for Wayne Enterprises, and then… sixty-seven cases Oracle sent me to deal with, looks like.” Tim squinted at the painfully bright screen. “And… I’m pretty sure that says three hundred missed text messages, but I could be wrong.”

“Jesus Christ.” Conner flopped back down again. “Can you put it off for tomorrow? I want cuddles, Timmy. Cuddle your poor boyfriend for once.”

“Hey, I- I cuddle you lots,” Tim protested, typing away with ease. “Like, too much. Jason told me he’d shoot me if he caught us making out in the library again.”

Kon barked out a laugh, startling the dog awake. “That was a bit more than cuddling, though.”

Tim kicked him off the bed.

Just as Tim started to worry, Conner crawled back up into the bed, this time moving to his side. It took the time of him worming under the covers and getting sufficiently comfortable before he spoke again, looking up at Tim’s coolly illuminated face. He was pretty, like always, even when sleep deprived and bathed in blue light.

Kon’s sigh dragged Tim out of his trance, finally looking down to face him. An involuntarily affectionate smile pulled at his lips at the sight of his boyfriend all sleep-warm and snuggly.

“Please just try to sleep,” Conner said softly, absently tracing patterns on Tim’s lower back. “If you really can’t, I’ll leave you alone.”

Tim hesitated. There was a lot of work to be done, there was no arguing that. But… wasn’t there kind of always a lot of work to be done? Maybe some sleep would improve his problem-solving skills, even if only slightly.

Picking up on the resolve, Conner gently closed the laptop for him and pulled him down, pushing it down to the foot of the bed. Almost immediately, Tim yawned hugely, nuzzling into Conner’s shoulder and inhaling deeply. Without the computer screen, the room was comfortably dark.

“Better?” he whispered, brushing Tim’s dark hair out of both their faces.

Tim sleepily smiled up at him. “Yeah.” After a moment, he added, “Thank you.”

“Anytime.”

It didn’t even take twenty minutes before Tim tried to worm his way back out of Conner’s arms to resume his work, but fortunately, Kon was absolutely expecting that. His grip tightened enough for Tim to let out a surprised squeak and freeze, absolutely not expecting his boyfriend to not be awake.

Conner cracked an eye open. Tim blinked up at him guiltily.

“Nice try, sweetheart.”

“Kon—“

“Nah, I don’t wanna hear it. Sleepytime.”

“Conner—“

“Sleepytime, Timmy.”

Sufficiently and effectively stuck, Tim huffed in exasperation, admitting to himself that he may have to give up. Luckily not in the worst of places to be.

It didn’t take long before Tim actually did drift off, the quiet thrum of Kon’s heartbeat acting as a lullaby. He didn’t even have nightmares.

Until he woke up, that is. The worst of the worst.

The perfect amount of sunlight filtered through the curtains, warmly filling the bedroom like a wake-up call in a fairytale. Conner was awake before Tim, absentmindedly scrolling through his phone. Tim was still asleep on his bicep, like how they’d fallen asleep.

Kon noticed him when he shifted to stretch.

“Morning, sunshine,” he teased, watching as Tim did a full cat stretch, pillow kneading and everything. It was his favorite part of his boyfriend’s morning routine.

“Morning…” Tim trailed off with a yawn. “Hey, what time is it?”

Conner half shrugged. “Eh.”

Tim looked around for his phone before remembering he’d left it in the kitchen the night before.

“No, serious, Kon.”

“It’s, uh…” Conner squinted at his phone. “It is. Eleven-thirty. Almost.”

“WHAT—“

Before Tim could react much more than that, Kon promptly rolled on top of him to pin him to the mattress. Krypto poked his head up from his bed at the commotion.

“Absolutely not, pretty boy, you’re not going anywhere,” Conner declared gleefully. “That was much-needed rest and I think you should have some more of it.”

“nO—“ Tim shoved ineffectively at his boyfriend’s sides, trying and failing to haul him off. “I have— school—“

“We’re skipping.”

“But work—“

“Call out. I’m serious. You’re staying here with me and you’re gonna like it, He Who Never Takes Care Of Himself.” To aid his cause, Kon smushed a kiss into Tim’s forehead until he stopped struggling with a grumble about something that sounded suspiciously like Kryptonite. “Okay?” he added hopefully.

Tim seethed for a moment, but sensing there was really only one answer, his anger deflated almost immediately.

“Fine,” he relented. “This will not become a regular occurrence. I have things to do, asshole.”

“We’ll see, sweetheart.”

Tim skipped the next day, too.

~ not great, not proofread, whatever honestly

have a good day/ night/ 4am🥰

[mxmaneater]

How do you see Gortash as queer coded?

Oh, it would be my genuine delight to explain.

Alright, so I have several lines of reasoning, so I’ll start with the low-hanging fruit first.  

Gortash’s obsession with his appearance

Okay, so we all know about Gortash’s eccentricities when it comes to the way he looks.  He wears an ostentatious villain coat, bedecked with golden bits and bobs, matching pants, and a matching shirt (that he wears provocatively low and can’t seem to ever lace properly).  He also clearly styles his hair, which given its length, takes a non-significant amount of time each morning. 

Now.  Am I saying these things on their own make him queer?  No, of course not.  The assumption that gay men take more care with their appearance is a stereotype, though I would argue that there is a subset of people for which this is true.  However, stereotypes also form the context for which we interpret characters and situations, and that social context is very real (even in cases when a stereotype is not), which is why I don’t discount these details either.  

Additionally, when it comes to the Netherstone, Gortash could have easily stuck it in the middle of a suit of armor like Ketheric and called it a day.  But as a politician (and someone who likely doesn’t see a lot of combat), I get that a suit of armor wouldn’t be his first choice.  Nonetheless, the option he goes with (and presumably takes the time and effort to craft and construct himself) is the pair of gauntlets, which are essentially ornate jewelry.  Jewelry that’s functional and dangerous, yes - but also needlessly beautiful.  And he really only needed one of them, but - again - his attention to detail with appearances drove him to build a matching set to become part of his Signature Look. 

Cool.  So let’s move on to:

Gortash’s political career

Alright, so I like to view Faerun as a fairly equitable place in terms of gender distribution in positions of power (at least compared to reality).  From what I can find on forgotten realms sources, it seems like the Council of Four was composed of 2 men and 2 women (at least until Stelmane is murdered); therefore, I think it’s not a stretch to assume that power is pretty evenly divided.  Great - love that for Baldur’s Gate.  Which it was true out here as well.

Even still, that means that 50% of the high-ranking government officials and patriars that Gortash is charming and manipulating as part of his rise to power are men.  As a devout follower of the God of Tyranny, I find it hard to believe that he would just pass up on the opportunity to use sex as a form of manipulation with men, when we have canon evidence that he uses this tactic to gain power with women (hello Lady Jannath).  Why would he - someone who views ascending in power as a holy mission - suddenly be squeamish when it comes to seducing (both literally and metaphorically) the other 50% of his targets?  

Also, like I mentioned earlier, although Faerun may be a veritable gender utopia, the social contexts that influence us in reality don’t suddenly go away when we boot up bg3.  The writers of the game as well as the consumers - us - are very much bound by the social contexts within which we operate, meaning that certain character traits can be queer-coded for us, even if they wouldn’t necessarily look that way to someone who lives in the world of the game (if they suddenly became sentient and engaged in discourse).  

What does that mean?  Okay, so we live in a society that is highly patriarchal and run by men (read: politicians as well as all other highly influential positions of power).  Within these circles, men are forced into “compulsory relationships” with other men (because remember, women don’t hold the clout they desire, and therefore don’t matter) in order to exert and obtain power; relationships such as “male friendship, mentorship, admiring identification, bureaucratic subordination, and heterosexual rivalry” (Sedgwick, Epistemology of the Closet) characterize these spaces.  Now, as Sedgwick - one of the mainstays of queer literary theory - explains, men enter into these “male homosocial” relationships because they must if they wish to gain power and ascend the ranks; however, the very necessity of these close, male relationships (to the exclusion of, or in superiority to relationships with women) also puts men in the dangerous social position of making it easy to become too close with other men and therefore jeopardizing their access to the very power they sought.  This is the foundation of her argument about forces that keep men in the proverbial “closet.” 

Okay.  So back to Gortash.  Gortash is not driven by fear of stepping over that line - he seems utterly unbothered by professing his connections to whoever he views as influential, regardless of gender (see: default Durge, which I’ll get to later).  He is not scared of stepping beyond this larger, societal “closet” that most men get defensive about in order to protect their relative power.  Sure Faerun is less homophobic than our reality, but again, the coding of these characters doesn’t change drastically based on the in-game setting, because it is ultimately people in our reality who are interpreting and interacting with the game and its characters.  

Also, I make a distinction between Gortash being “queer-coded” and not “gay-coded”; if anything, examples from the game would have me characterize Gortash as bisexual - if he even conceives of sex as an identity factor and not just a means of gaining power over someone, which is a big assumption.  I definitely view him as someone who thinks more along the lines of the latter - and wouldn’t it benefit him, in that case, to be an equal-opportunity manipulator?

This is getting long, so I’ll jump to my final point: 

Gortash’s devotion to the Dark Urge

Whether you read the past relationship between Gortash and the Dark Urge as sexual/romantic or purely a business dealing, the fact remains that Durge is the one character Gortash views as his equal.  And yes, you can customize Durge’s appearance and gender, etc, but the default origin character is male, so a certain amount of “canon”, I believe, can assume at least the possibility of a male Durge.  Gortash - the Chosen of Bane, who loves nothing more than domineering over others - wants to willingly share his Empire with Durge, once he’s conquered the city; that is not a level of devotion that you could expect Gortash to hold for anyone but his “nearest and dearest.”  

And from the letters you can find, it’s apparent that Gortash specifically sought Durge out - tempting him with information about Bhaalist artifacts that had been “stolen” and displayed in a museum in order to form a connection.  This, combined with his desperation to regain Durge as a partner in Act 3 (to the point he’s weirdly forgiving of insult and refusal), offer queer subtext, if not text-text, confirming his particular interest in Durge as a person.  After all, he only “tolerates” Orin, who, despite her own eccentricities, is only trying to accomplish the will of Bhaal, just like Durge presumably was as well.  In fact, most of the characters dismiss Orin as just some “crazy bitch”, which I find hard to believe isn’t rooted, at least partially, in sexism - especially since people forgive Durge very easily for similar crimes.  (I could write my own dissertation about Orin, but I’ll save that for another time).  

In conclusion, there is enough queer-coding between Gortash’s appearance, habits, career, known manipulation tactics, and special relationship with the Dark Urge to at least make the case that he isn’t super straight.  Even without the letter in which he wrote his penpal Franc that he loved him for bringing “wet, slithering malice” into the world.

[dynamic-k]

hi i unfortunately lost my question list in all the tissue and random paper from doodling in online lessons-

NOOOOOO

devastated rn

wait i didnt know tumblr dark mode existed

wot it took moving an entire country away for dis??? /j /silly /not-srs

Okayyyyyyyyy... This is for Super Sticks by the way!

Would Purple be able to fly from tech or powers? If tech, would it be from King or RGBY?

but also i thought all of RGBY were going to be able to fly????

Would RGBY have similar fighting styles like in AVM?

Like- would Green use the fishing rod and tend to move around in battle a lot? Would Red use his animals?? WAIT THE BEE CREEPER- ...seconds eel???? sorry im still holding onto that idea i will sell my soul for it- Would Blue continue chugging drugs? ...does Yellow get a staff?

Hold up does King even make his staff?

I'm going to say that's enough questions for today :D

Forgot to mention, I'm back i guess. So uh- Hello! havent been here for a while ;-;

Have a great week in case I dont ask another question in that time!

-R

NOOOO THE LOST NOTESSS :O U n U I despise it so much when that happens siergwgjwjeoqele

..EHEHEHHEHEHHHEHEHEH "Dark" mode-

-

You have an incredible tendency to ask just the right questions at the right time, right at the moment I happen to be thinking and brainrotting about it- XD

Alright- So-

Since I did kinda already share --in that other post-- a light basis of what the CG in Super Sticks would be able to do, you know... I might as well elaborate a bit, yeah? XD

Top secret paper, there you go, have fun reading through the blur.

okay okay

I'm not thaaatt mean- XD

I know what is written there and I'm still having difficulty- XD

[I can catch "All have wings", and everyone's names..]

Anyway- Uhmmm

Blue gets illusionary tech [hologram projection stuff, teehee] and leaping armor to jump significantly higher and farther than normal. [+wings]

Red gets flash teleporting; armor that temporarily can alter his very code to move it short distances away, and multiple burst teleports can be done in short succession of each other. Plus extra strength in the form of power punching armor-ey gloves. [+wings] (He does get ahold of dizzy suppressants later to aid with the occasional nausea side effects).

Yellow gets hard light properties: Can create hover platforms, a sword, shielding, and hard light ammo that he can fling fast and far distances. It requires a very powerful source of energy to function, which ends up being a gem in a garage sale that will be found and utilized at one point in the near future. It looked like a lamp decoration jewel and was sold cheaply. Yellow also gets cool googles with many different functions. [+wings]

Green gets durable, very long, coils of string stored in dual arm guns. There are capped sticky ends so when he shoots the string out, the rounded end will catch ahold of a surface and like a grappling hook he can climb and latch onto things. He also gets coded blades on the same arm guns. He cannot use the shooting string and the blade at the same time, they are only interchangeable since both are stored and swappable in the same gun. He may use one gun for shooting string and the other to hold a blade, however. [+wings]

The entire point was to give each quadruplet a main weapon, obviously a set of wings, and then a backup mode of transportation as a fail-safe in case there is wing malfunctions or failures.

These powers may be altered slightly as I get closer to the point of the plot where it is officially stated and explained..? Perhaps? But this is what I have come up with for now. :D

I also want to play on the Team Effort part of the Color Gang's journey in putting together their upgrade costumes.

Blue in his mini-bedroom laboratory, crafting dizzy suppressants for Red. Someone besides Yellow locating that garage sale gem that powers the hard light tech.

Everyone gets a major opportunity to assist in the full-scale construction of their hero-ing equipment.

It's not all just "Yellow builds everything and his siblings kinda assist him", no. They really work together to bring Second's birthday gift to its completion.

I can't share everything that happens, but this is where you can expect the story to go. :D

Now Purple-y Wurple-y over here, is gonna be a surprise. >:3

You needa wait and see until I get there in the plotline, before you know all of what he can do. U v U

I will say that it is King's tech, though. :D [Purple, much like the CG, does not retain any legit genetic superpowers and instead has upgrades to rely on]

Honestly, it is really funny you mentioned Green and his fishing rod when I have string shooters for his upgrades- XD

Red would NOT use his multitudes of cute, little, fragile animals, for fear of them getting hurt- :O

No Beeper. [The collective fandom name for Bee-Creeper]

There is no eel YET, but there may be, I have not decided.

XD With how excited and attached you are to the eel, I just might I just might- Honestly it'd be so cute for Second to end up with an eel pet~

Blue will indeed enjoy his bitter fungus several times over in the future, if naught but for the comedics~ It's not drug-like or alcoholic in my AU, though. Just tastes bad to most sticks.

There will be no staffs. Not for Yellow, nor for King.

:D You also have a great day!

You've already made mine epic with your ask! :3

[thewhumpcaretaker]

OH RIGHT!! what was Nikandr and Iosef’s relationship like? how did they meet? ^_^

OKAY YESSSS I've been excited to talk about this!!

Wholesome stuff:

They met through Iosef's friends, some of whom knew Nikandr and were selling him weed. They smoked together and talked about life and then ended up hooking up without thinking.

Iosef really panicked that first morning when he woke up in Nikandr's arms. But Nikandr calmed him down and helped him feel like this was nothing to be ashamed of.

They did a lot of things together after that. Gaming together, going shooting, just hanging out on some random rooftop and watching the stars.

Nikandr also taught him a lot of martial arts skills.

This is another instance of why Iosef should've known who John was but he was just that dense about it. Nikandr was always talking in general about the people at the Tarkovsky who wronged him as a kid but Iosef never put together who that was, lmao.

Nikandr in general was a source of guidance and comfort for Iosef. He was there for him when everyone else was ignoring him, and was always really sweet to him. He included Iosef in his plans, trusted him with assignments, and didn't blow up at him if he made a mistake.

And Iosef gave him the same thing - exactly the kind of support he'd been needing. He looked up to Nikandr and listened to his ideas seriously without laughing at him. He genuinely thought Nikandr was cool and talented, and wanted his dreams to become a reality.

Toxic stuff:

Nikandr was one of the many people who was a bad influence on Iosef. He reinforced that it was cool to get into fights, to want to be rich, to want to be the powerful one.

They did bicker a lot. Fighting over nothing - video games, where to eat, stuff like that.

They had a really big age gap, because Nikandr is around the same age as John. Kirill tried to convince him that it was a red flag for someone in their 40s to want to date him, because they were probably immature. In this case, he was right.

Kirill in general really disapproved of the relationship and it made him exhausted to deal with the two of them. Iosef tried to tell Kirill that Nikandr was just a friend and he never admitted to anything more, but Kirill could tell by the way Iosef talked about him.

Viggo never knew. Completely oblivious.

They broke up over something really little and stupid because they triggered each other's trauma. Iosef accidentally said something questioning Nikandr's abilities, and that made Nikandr feel like a failure. So he just stopped answering his texts and ran away like he always does. And of course, Iosef can't stand feeling neglecting by someone who claims to love him.

After like two weeks, they ran into each other in a bar and Iosef dumped him. It was a big, messy fight and would have turned physical if Iosef's friends didn't hold him back. The breakup in general was messy - they blocked each other and vague-posted about each other and were both just a wreck.

After that, Iosef tried to bury his feelings for guys again. It was just a one time thing, a mistake.

Image Sources: 1 2 3

[you-cant-fuck-megaman]

so, as mentioned before, 30XX is a lot of fun. (i'm going to get back to updates soon, this game has simply siphoned my soul and now i am a child again experiencing the entire spectrum of megaman emotions at once.)

but one thing that's really starting to annoy me is the story. or rather, the complete lack of it. i guess it's true to the source material, given that the story in megaman isn't really all that great either, but at least it's straightforward before we hit the zero series. you know what you're doing, you're a little guy about three apples tall and there's a bad guy sending out robots you have to shoot. then you hit the zero series and it's just someone forgetting their meds and thinking Mechanical Violator Hakaider was a good movie (it was ok) then you hit ZX and fuck it we Kamen Rider now

point is, it's all pretty firmly straightforward shit. we know what's going on, there's an evil scientist destroying things with his robots. stop him. pls

30XX doesn't really tell you squat.

spoilers below, in case you're a moron like me and you're deeply emotionally invested in the story of megaman-alikes.

the opening tutorial cutscene features ace dying to wake up nina, who just says there's work to do. and then you hop out, shoot a robot, and end up in a space station base where a tiny lesbian tells you there's work to do. also ace is ok, you can jump into a capsule to turn into him. either that or nina is the fastest transitioning icon in media but go her i guess (go him??? idk how trans-ing works) you jump into the levels, shoot the bosses, and see a tall lesbian that tells you she's doing work and that you can't stop her work, and then the second largest cock i've seen comes out of the interdimensional hole and you mount it and you fight AU tiny lesbian and Alpha 1.0 pre-transition Nina and Ace in there.

what the fuck?

what am i doing? why am i here? what is happening? what the fuCK IS GOING ON???? WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOR?????????

the cursory idea is that you have to find the data terminals to learn what's going on in the world, but near as i can tell the tall lesbian isn't actually an evil scientist destroying things with her robots, because the world is already dying and so that's different because but it seems the more i get into things, the more lost i'm getting

characters will just randomly appear on the ship and i'm just expected to accept it. who is Delta, outside of being a dashing, charismatic, sexuality-threateningly handsome cool guy who likes a challenge? who is the scrap salvager, outside of maybe being Vika from 20XX? tiny lesbian says that if i vouched for them then they're all right to havE AROUND BUT I DIDN'T VOUCHE FOR THEM I HAVE NO CLUE WHO THEY UFCKING ARE!!!!!!!!!!

i suspect it's because of the expansion in scope in trying to make a bigger game. there's not really a lot of ways to really justify the plot of a roguelite, there's only so many methods you can explain away death and rebirth happening in-universe. last time i asked my doctor about the cycle of samsara he just told me "you have to wake up, the accident wasn't your fault". in 20XX, you're just a pair of flash-cloned experiments doing experimental runs. and that's really all the context you need; you have a setup, a goal, an antagonistic force, and a reason to do things there's the question about how the game world continues after you win the game and destroy everything and escape the space station, but i didn't say it was perfect. but it was good! it made sense!

meanwhile, 30XX seems to be about multiversal collapsing and each run is a separate world disparate from each other. there's too many worlds and each world is trying to share in the same place because the infinite universe is actually finite. and nina was demonized after 20XX because of her super-power because despite Sharp and Flat both being idiots they were actually, like, super-geniuses that made the strongest robots ever. (these are the same guys that mass-produced buzzsaw hamsters) oh, and everyone's already dead??? man this sure is some tonal dissonance from how fucking goofy everything is. not three minutes ago i saw the universe's second-largest cock plunge through time and space. midgard? more like midhard hah hah hah hahhhhhh

at the end of the day they're focused on the gameplay instead of the story. and that's perfectly fine. admirable, even, for a megaman-style project. a lot of megaman fanstuff creators (myself included) tend to masturbate text out with forces rivaling the niagara falls. oh baby, expand that wordcount. it's good to see something that just wants to focus on jumping and shooting instead of trying to write the next masterpiece exploring the nature of the human condition. but i'll admit it's a little underwhelming. i liked nina and ace and i cared about what they were doing, and 30xx doesn't seem to be willing to really flesh them out.

oh well, time for another run! 9/10 game tbh

[matan4il]

Hello!

I saw your post where you spoke about the 911's cast and writers being aware of Buddie, and the explicit support from some of the cast for Canon!Buddie.

I am quite new to the fandom and so I was wondering if there were any links you could source for this? I am genuinely curious :)

Funnily enough, I started 911 after loving LS, and saw a lot of buddie content on 911 blogs. I figured it was typical queerbaiting (tumblr 2012 era was ✨️ traumatising ✨️ and so resolved not to ship them.

But then I watched the show and yeah…there were definitely interesting choices made that make Buddie such an intricately beautiful ship. It's a slow burn to rival all slow burns :fire:

Needless to say, I'm now 100% on board!

Hi lovely Nonnie and welcome to the fandom! :D I hope you enjoy everything about it and I am so glad to hear you're on board! *hugs*

Okay, for links... TBH I mostly remember things as they happen, I'm less into saving links, but for you I made the effort, I traced my own steps (who knew I actually remembered where I yelled about certain things two and a half years ago? The power of Buddie), and found the source to the stuff I had in mind when I said Ryan, Oliver, JLH and Gavin have all shown support for Buddie. Her we go...

Let's start with Gavin! Obviously it was explained to him in age-appropriate terms, so take that into account, but still, look at how pure his response is (interview from Oct 2021):

And then they went and they filmed the lasagna scene in 601. You can't tell me that doesn't mean anything!

Now Oliver and Ryan have both expressed support for Buddie more than once, for example you can find my post showing how they were the ones who named our ship! In terms of official interviews, they've mostly given answers that are noncommittal but supportive, stuff along the lines of making sure they don't raise fans' expectations (in case it doesn't happen), but also letting us know they do like the enthusiasm for Buddie, and would be cool if 911 went that way. So most are kind of... let's say diplomatic. I will, however, throw in this live that Ryan did where at first, he had a few answers of that vanilla sort (encouraging the shippers, not promising anything, leaving room for Buddie to happen, but also leaving room for fans who don't want Buddie, and sort off summarizing with, "We'll see what Tim writes"). But then he got a question about Abby and I don't think he could help it, the Buddie shipper just jumped out of him, which I love. I edited and uploaded it to YouTube for you, since stupid Tumblr only allows me to directly upload one vid a post here:

Lastly, but maybe my personal fave, in May 2020, a gay fan of JLH uploaded to his personal IG account a video that he asked her to film with a message for his husband's bday. Here's the relevant part of the vid which I've edited and uploaded for you, where JLH is basically being all of us:

BTW, this is also a reply to the Nonnie who sent this ask:

I know about Ryan, Oliver and JLH but when did Gavin say anything about that?

I hope I managed to answer both of you! Have a great day, and as always, here's my ask tag.

[drstonetrivia]

Chapter 213 Trivia (Part 1)

I guess things were going too well for too long..?

Gen's drawing of Senku here was probably inspired by very early chapter cover images. I don't know why else he'd be holding an exploding container.

We've now got three interpretations of Whyman: the generic one, Luna's, and now Gen's.

I like how Gen's has arms and legs coming out of the skull!

Finally! The Kingdom of Science can watch Dr. Stone together!

As long as someone animates it…

Kenjiro Takayanagi of Shizuoka University is considered one of the main pioneers of television, succeeding in displaying the character イ (i) on his Braun tube display in Dec 1926. Over the next few years, he improved the image allowing more detailed images such as human faces.

By 1939, Japan's first television station began broadcasting from NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation). After the war, Takayanagi Sensei's work was used as a foundation for other televisions and related industries around the world.

If everyone thought working on a second cell phone after they'd spent months making one was bad, they're not ready to hear about what they'll need to make for television broadcasts. (Senku also never changes...)

I didn't realize how big their other boat was. I guess things made in the USA really are bigger?

The Perseus not being the biggest ship anymore makes me a little sad :(

SAL 9000 is a reference to HAL 9000, the AI antagonist from Space Odyssey. It stands for "Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer", so in this case it might be "Senku programmed" or even "Sai programmed"!

The "NES" (actually the Famicom again, both in the drawing and Sai's comment in the Japanese version) and SAL 9000 don't have the exact same specifications:

SAL 9000 is specialized for math operations and thus has a longer word length (16 bits vs 8) which allows more significant figures in the numbers. They've also got more RAM (SAL has 16 kB while the NES has 2).

The downside is that because they used parametrons, their clock speed (how fast they can do calculations) is slower than if they'd used transistors.

The large amount of ROM they've also got could imply that they have several built-in programs. Xeno's work, perhaps?

CRT screens only reach a maximum diagonal length of around 40 inches (~101 cm), as a larger screen needs a larger tube, and the thickness of the glass increases with size to handle the vacuum without shattering making it very unwieldy with the added weight and thus not worth manufacturing for sale.

Senku's here is obviously much, much bigger. Possibly even world record; the biggest CRT screens made were 61 inches (~152 cm) on the diagonal.

SAL 9000 has both air and water cooling, probably used depending on what's better for individual parts. Normally you only need one or the other.

It'd be good if they could get the carbonated water maker in there and ferment some alcohol faster too using the computer's heat…

SAL 9000 also has 3 phase power like modern power transmission. They're AC power sources, phase shifted by 120° so that at any point in time, their sum is 0. The advantage to this is that you don't need return lines for the current, so you can use half as many cables.

The games shown are inspired by Tetris (featuring Ishigami Village and Roppongi!), Pacman, a combination game of Gyruss and Tempest, then another combination game of Galaga and Asteroids.

The transmission towers can only be headed towards the dam, so we have an approximate direction for where that is! There's a few rivers nearby in modern Tokyo, but over 3,700 years they've probably changed a lot.

(Next part)