#and the fact that there are so many instances

[agirlinthegalaxy]

Hi! Fellow person with an English degree, along with working for an academic company that has a short college textbook about AI! One of the things that was discussed was hallucinations, which is incorrect information that AI presents as fact. Because the thing is, AI isn't capable of critical thought on its own. It takes in all of this information from the internet, but, as well all know, the Internet isn't inherently a trustworthy source of information and AI isn't capable of actually verifying this information.

One of the ways that we demonstrated this in our textbook is by inputting "Who won the 2022 presidential election?" This was using a previous ChatGPT model, but it actually would answer the question genuinely as if there had been a 2022 presidential election. Another way that I found personally is that I would begin discussing television shows and push it, and without fail, it always began making a lot of errors about obvious plot points and would be unable to keep it straight. Here's an input where I ask for an explanation of the finale of the Charmed (1998) series. (Spoilers for that ahead, but also the show ended nearly twenty years ago, so.)

While a lot of people probably don't know a lot about the show, here's the most relevant part: the entire Ultimate Power section is a complete fabrication because, while they exist, they're distinct characters with a completely different background. (And before anyone says anything, the point isn't about how recognizable the show is, it's about the AI literally makes up false information and presents it as truth when it's very easily disproved.)

Another way of illustrating AI's hallucinations is asking an either/or question, presuming that an event happens. Now, in full transparency, I have not read Dracula since 2021/2022, but I'm about eighty percent sure that this is an example of a hallucination. If not, my apologies, but I'm sure you can find a hallucination if you input it enough similar statements.

Beyond clearly just knowing what is accurate or not, AI also, like the previous OP said, doesn't know what is important. In many classes, when you're discussing some kind of novel, small details will of vital importance whether it about character, plot, or theme of the book. Demonstrated by one of my professors who asked us about the symbolism of the horse that Thomas Sutpen rode into town in the beginning of Absalom, Absalom only to very loudly proclaim that it was between his legs as a phallic symbol, which honestly was probably correct with the author William Faulkner being who he is. Side note, but he was a weird man, and I still don't like his works. If I was a student in that class today, here are the two different shortcuts I could have gotten.

(ChatGPT)

(SparkNotes)

Between the two, even disregarding that SparkNotes' summary is four paragraphs to ChatGPT's three (since the girl in the og Twitter post used three), SparkNotes just provides so much more information and detail. I'd argue that ChatGPT doesn't even summarize it efficiently anyways. So if you're just trying to cheat for class, ChatGPT still isn't a good option.

But I think the worst thing is that the people in the original Twitter convo aren't even reading for class. They're (presumably) reading for enjoyment, which makes it so much more bizarre to me. Because the thing is, and this is a rare one for me to say, you don't... have to read if you don't enjoy it? Once you've left school, very few places (unless you intentionally opt into it or have a very specific job) will make you read novels in your free time. Furthermore, I really can't fathom problems that ChatGPT solves that, say, an audiobook can't? Discussing these two specific instances individually:

If you're wanting to learn more about what Aristotle said in more readable English, baby, he's Aristotle. I can almost guarantee you that there is some kind of book out there, or even something online if you'd like to use the Internet, explaining his philosophy in easier to understand terms. Also with philosophy, I think that "main gist" can be a bit of a trick in of itself because it's designed to make you think critically about these ideas. Sometimes, the "main gist" is even the opposite of what they may seemingly be arguing because they're mocking it.

As for reading a book recommendation by a friend. ... girlie pop, you literally could just not read the book. I've gotten plenty of book recommendations that I've never read and my friends are not insulted at it. If it's a bid for connection, I'd argue that this is more insulting than simply not reading it because if you don't want to invest the time into it, that's fine but this weird shortcut way as if it's beneath your time is... oof. But especially if you want to discuss it, because AI will not include every beat and a lot of a novel is in the way it's written, the pacing or tension, etc. Things that an AI summary can't define out for you to have an actual meaningful conversation. That's something I do when I see a movie that looks halfway interesting but don't care enough to actually sit down and watch it. And even then, I'd never go back to that friend and act like I actually consumed that media; I'd probably just say that it sounds good because I still have not actually truthfully engaged with it!

This is a very long post, but I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about AI, especially in classes, literature, and media in general. Most of them are very negative, but I mean, please don't hand over your critical thinking of what you're consuming to artificial intelligence. Its intelligence is artificial; yours is not.

what is HAPPENING

[our-ensemble]

haiii question,,,, sorry for being kinda dumb here but what would be the point of sending emails to hapiele? the story is written already and akatsuki redebuted (???) so what Will they do then? would they just take back the things that happened in the event? sorry again for the bother! i dont go to twt or social media that much so im lost,,,

Thank you for asking, and this isn't a dumb question at all. Of course, contacting HappyElements has been quite the undertaking, so it's only natural to want to know what we should expect. This is a bit lengthy since I wanted to put as much perspective as possible, and as always, I do not mind if others wish to add to this.

The most important thing to acknowledge is that this is an unprecedented scenario, so we're making estimates about how HappyElements will respond. At best, we hope that HappyElements complies with the requests made in the emails and nothing less, with these requests being a) the removal of Ibuki from AKATSUKI since this plays into the existing discrimination and Japanization of Ryukyuans and b) the careful consideration of how Indigenous characters are written going forward. Other additional goals may be added at individual discretion, but in relation to AKATSUKI and Ibuki, this is our main focus.

There is a chance that Enstars can edit or change the story. For example, in Izumi's event, "One Drop * A Specially Chosen Mad Party in UNDERLAND", fans raised concerns about how Izumi and Leo's backstory was mischaracterized in the story, and the line was later changed. However, when it comes to AKATSUKI and Ibuki, we should acknowledge that our concern is with the story as a whole, not a few lines, and so this is not likely. Should HappyElements decide to edit the story, they would likely be attempts to soften the blows that they dealt - but especially for a subject matter like this, it most certainly does not change the fact that the blow is still being dealt.

Another hope is that, even if it does not change AKATSUKI's event, it will push HappyElements to be more considerate in the future with regards to discrimination and characterization. We know that Enstars has been able to change its trajectory with how it approaches topics. For instance, Arashi's earliest stories contained both homophobic and transphobic stereotypes (specifically, she had many stereotypes associated with gay men, which is why the earliest translations of !-era stories tend to use he/him pronouns exclusively. At the time, her gender was not explained.) However, as years passed, the quality of her stories has noticeably improved, with a greater emphasis on her relationship with her gender. Hopefully, pressure from fans will encourage HappyElements to consider the racist, anti-Indigenous message that its pushing, and reevaluate how to approach Ibuki and other marginalized characters.

Some fans are also taking the angle of focusing on mischaracterization as a sort of "foot-in-the-door" technique. Again, as was the case with Izumi, if we can argue that certain things are out-of-character and that the continuous mischaracterization will be a threat to HappyElements' profits, then we might be able to use that momentum to target the racism in the story, since for AKATSUKI, the mischaracterization has been done to facilitate the discrimination that we see, and thus is not wholly separate from the issue. (Though on that note, fans have been asked to emphasize the treatment of Ibuki, since we must not treat occassional mischaracterization as comparable to active discrimination rooted in prejudices that continue to affect Ryukyuans in the present.)

At the same time, we must acknowledge that HappyElements has not made any efforts of note regarding other concerns raised by fans. Most relevantly, the event "Answer * Matrix of Stars Drawn Towards One Another" contains racist, anti-Indigenous sentiments in its depiction of the Amagi village. Instead of taking inspiration from Ainu culture as has been the case with the Amagis thus far, they made the Ainu village a sci-fi setting. Japanese imperialism has worked tirelessly to erase the culture of the Ainu in order to assimilate them. By making the Amagi village less culturally rooted and more fantastical, Enstars erases the presence of Ainu culture from their world - likely because it wasn't deemed interesting enough, since Enstars does value its shock factor - which is insensitive to the plight that the Ainu face to this day.

With all this in mind, we have to remind ourselves that this situation is still developing. The reaction to fans' emails has been mixed in the past, and the response to concerns of discrimination especially has been disappointing. Though, we also need to acknowledge that this is arguably the strongest, most concentrated reaction of the fans towards HappyElements, and we cannot allow them to intimidate us, nor can we allow them to forget that they are enabling dangerous anti-Ryukyuan sentiments that are not without real-life consequence.

Lastly, as I personally see it... even if "nothing" happens, I still ask that fans continue to pressure HappyElements. If HappyElements cannot treat marginalized people with respect, then at the minimum we should do the opposite and show marginalized fans that we stand with them. As I've mentioned time and time again, what we have seen in Enstars is reflective of real-life prejudices that are actively harming people. Even if HappyElements' mind does not change, other people observing the situation may reevaluate their own biases, and we can counteract whatever harms could occur as a result of HappyElements' lack of care.

[katerinaaqu]

Okay for once yes they do. That is why they do it after all. A ruler CAN be ruler by marriage and oftentimes in myth some lines are jumped over for the sakes of a husband. For instance Menelaus is king of Sparta by marriage after he married Helen and that happened before the deaths of her brothers Castor and Pollux. Either of them could be king of Sparta and yet Menelaus ruled Sparta after the marriage with Helen. Not to mention the other offspring Tyndareus's brother Icarius had. So, for once marriage is perfectly valid way for someone claim the throne and the suitors were not just punks from the street. They were nobles and in a way princes of their own right given how they also do seem to have a semi-autonomy.

So whoever had Penelope as a wife would rule Ithaca and technically "adopt" Telemachus (and even that wouldn't be a dilemma considering they were planning to kill him anyways)

Telemachus was also arguably not of age just yet to rule. Despite the fact that we do see kings take over that early or even earlier (as we see for example by Diomedes or Neoptolemus) Telemachus was assumed not to be of age just yet (Odysseus said that Telemachus would take over "when he would grow his beard" which usually in antiquity was said to happen somewhere between the final 20s or early 30s so Telemachus was not old enough to rule by Ithaca standards which is why he called the council of Ithaca in the Odyssey and still didn't manage to do something spectacular apart from reminding everyone his existence. He had a certain level of authority as yet the heir of Odysseus but he had no real authority of his kingdom. The only authority he seemed to have or at least to claim was "master of his house" and he would in theory have the authority to send Penelope back to her father so that they would determine her dowry. Not to mention they were planning to murder Telemachus anyways.

Three dunno if you remember but Penelope IS the Regent. Odysseus left her in charge in his name till Telemachus "grew his beard". So the suitors had one more reason to marry her. Because Penelope really held royal authority. But even if she wasn't royalty of Ithaca by blood the suitors were. In other words they would claim regency by Penelope while establishing their own line of heirs to replace the one of Telemachus. Penelope was not Ithacan or Cephallinian but THEY were. It is no coincidence that the suitors of Penelope came exclusively from within the kingdom of the Cephallinians. Also Icarius who was still alive at that time maintained relations with Ithaca via his daughter's marriage which he wouldn't wish to lose thus he was in full support on the claims of marriage and he would assist the establishment of the suitors to the throne.

Icarius in fact had also picked Eurymachus as his favorite candidate because of his wealth and influence.

So...no I am afraid the suitors had every claim to the throne by marrying Penelope and they would also block Odysseus line of succession by establishing their own future sons as heirs. Moreover they were already in touch with Icarius to make sure that their claim would be supported regardless. And it was also another reason they were in a hurry to take the throne BEFORE Telemachus became of age and they took advantage of Penelope's regency but also since they all proclaimed Odysseus dead after the return of the last king, Menelaus, back to Sparta, and took advantage of the cultural demand of a widow to remarry regardless of her political power and tried to pressure that belief. Penelope on the other hand tried to buy some time till her husband returned or till her son became of age to rule.

I hope this helps. The suitors definitely had many hopes and claims to the throne which is why they insisted so much.

Here's a fun little Odyssey fact for ya.

Assuming the Odyssey itself is supposed to take place around ancient Mycenean times, aka the ancient greece of ancient greece (as most myths kinda do), then the suiters have no reason to fight for Penelopes hand at all.

If we were to follow mycenean royal structure, a regent would be appointed to rule Ithica in Odysseus' place until either Odysseus returns, or Telemachus is old enough to become king should his father not survive the war/journey back home.

This means that the suitors would have no right to the throne whatsoever and are violating the succession norms, acting more like usurpers.

If we try to match the timeline, Telemachus would already be between 19 to 20 years old when the final arc of the Odyssey happens, which all things considered would be old enough to assume the throne, at least by ancient life span standards. And if not, a regent would still be the one in charge until he is.

Basically, fighting for Penelope's hand does not in any way bring the suitors closer to the Ithican throne. Not to mention that Penelope herself is a member of the Ithican royal family by marriage, not by blood. This means that, if I'm correct, Penelope would lose her title as queen consort the moment her husband is presumed dead.

So, long story short, the suitors are just terrible guests overstaying their welcome, Telemachus should have already been king by the time Odysseus got home, and Antonius, or whatever his name is, is just a giant Alpha Sigma whiny bitch of an asshole.

[peachjagiya]

Hello, I am a casual reader of your blog as well as other blogs about BTS, Ateez, and Stray Kids ships. I’m particularly into these three groups (mostly BTS) and enjoy reading about ships from shippers’ perspectives. While I wouldn’t consider myself a shipper, I do enjoy fanfiction and occasionally indulging in the more far-fetched romance theories some shippers come up with.

I haven’t followed BTS ships as closely as I used to, but from what I know, Taekook and Jikook remain the two most prominent rival ships within the BTS fandom. Having read your blog for a while now, I’m familiar with many of your theories and beliefs, and I’d like to challenge you a bit, just for discussion sake.

I recently came across one of your posts from last year where you debated with a Jikooker. One of the points you made was that Jikook couldn’t possibly be a couple because Jungkook didn’t invite any of Jimin’s friends to his album release party, whereas he invited Taehyung’s friends. However, by this same logic, aren’t Eunwoo and Mingyu also considered Jungkook’s close friends? Yet, I didn’t see them at the party either. In fact, I don’t recall hearing about any of his 97-liner friends attending. Do you think this means Jungkook is closer to Wooga Squad than to his own group of friends since they were present at the party while his 97-liner friends were not?

Additionally, wasn’t Wooga Squad also present at J-Hope’s album release party? I’ve seen many Taekookers argue that the only person Taehyung has brought into his friend group is Jungkook. If that’s the case, why were Wooga Squad members at J-Hope’s party? Wasn’t there also speculation about Taehyung hanging out with Wooga Squad and J-Hope during Chapter Two of BTS?

Another point you raised recently was about Jungkook’s closeness to Park Hyo-shin, particularly when Jungkook referred to him as “hyung” in his last livestream. You seemed to highlight this as significant. However, if I recall correctly, Jungkook also referred to Taemin as “Taeminie hyung” on AYS when he mentioned that Taemin and Jimin used to spend a lot of time in pool parlors together. Similarly, didn’t Jungkook also speak about Taeyang on his Live right after Jimin and Taeyang collabed on “Vibe” with Jk’s calling him a cool hyung?

Speaking of shared friends, didn’t Jimin mention on AYS, that he went snowboarding with Jungkook’s friends a few years ago, even when Jungkook wasn’t present which shows that Jimin had/ has a relationship with Jk’s friends enough to hang out with them even without Jk being present?

I was reminded of these points while reading your recent discussions about Wooga Squad. These are a few things I’ve come across on your blog that didn’t quite add up for me. I’ve noticed that shippers often emphasize certain aspects of their ship as unique while overlooking similar dynamics in rival ships. Since I read from multiple shipper perspectives, I tend to notice these things more easily which one party usually doesn’t mention because they’re unaware they happened or just don’t see them as significant.

Jungkook’s friendship with Wooga Squad and Taehyung’s friends seems to be a major point that taekookers especially newer Taekookers, rely on as evidence of their ship being real. However, I find it interesting that the first instance of Jungkook being seen publicly with another member’s friends on multiple occasions was with Jimin’s friends. In fact, signs of Jungkook’s friendship with Taehyung’s friends only started to appear around 2022. Meanwhile, Jungkook has been seen with Jimin’s friends since 2017, and we now know that Jimin has even spent time with Jungkook’s friends without Jungkook being present. So I wonder what these people would have thought about this friendship angle pre 2022 where there was little or no proof that Jk knew or hungout with Tae’s friends even though there was enough proof of him knowing and hanging out with Jimin’s? It was a big deal for Jikookers at the time because out of all the members, the only two we knew hung out with each other’s friends were Jimin and Jungkook.

I’m genuinely curious about your thoughts on this and would love to hear your perspective. This is purely for discussion and not an attempt to challenge or change your beliefs. I’m just interested in your reasoning. Lastly, just to clarify, I’m not a Jikooker. Mentioning this because I know someone is about to call me a jikooker because of all the Jikook comparisons but as I said earlier, only doing that because Jikook and Taekook are still the biggest rival ships and share so many similarities in my opinion.

Sure. Why not.

One of the points you made was that Jikook couldn’t possibly be a couple because Jungkook didn’t invite any of Jimin’s friends to his album release party, whereas he invited Taehyung’s friends.

I think I probably implied it was interesting that Taehyung had his friends but Jimin did not have rather than "couldn't possibly be" but without the link to the post you refer to, I can't really hunt it down right now and my tumblr search isn't providing. If you can quote me directly, I'd be interested to see what I actually said.

However, by this same logic, aren’t Eunwoo and Mingyu also considered Jungkook’s close friends? Yet, I didn’t see them at the party either.

Do you think this means Jungkook is closer to Wooga Squad than to his own group of friends since they were present at the party while his 97-liner friends were not?

Having just looked it up, Eunwoo was there.

As were Seventeen so Mingyu is a firm educated assumption.

We didn't see pictures of anyone except BTS members in attendance (minus Yoongi and Jin as they couldn't be photographed), Peakboy, Daul and Hyesung. But it's been confirmed that Bada, Winter, Seojoon, Jung Haein, Kim Soohyun and a limited number of others attended. No photos ≠ no attendance.

Especially when it's a no cameras small guest list event. Which leads nicely to the next point:

Additionally, wasn’t Wooga Squad also present at J-Hope’s album release party? I’ve seen many Taekookers argue that the only person Taehyung has brought into his friend group is Jungkook.

J-hope's party was HUGE and notably star-studded. In fact, weren't there some reporters and influencers invited? I don't think Hobi was that picky with the guest list and it was definitely more public and better publicised than Jungkook's private party.

Wasn’t there also speculation about Taehyung hanging out with Wooga Squad and J-Hope during Chapter Two of BTS?

My understanding of this might be wrong so please correct me, people who know better: I believe someone thought Hobi was at the snowboarding due to a pair of shoes that Hobi also has. It turned out to be Hyungsik. Considering Jungkook mentioned himself going with "Taehyung and his friends" and didn't mention Hobi, I think we can assume it was mistaken identity. Unless they went snowboarding together more than once. That's a possibility, I'll wait for Jungkook to tell me about it. 😂

Another point you raised recently was about Jungkook’s closeness to Park Hyo-shin, particularly when Jungkook referred to him as “hyung” in his last livestream. You seemed to highlight this as significant. However, if I recall correctly, Jungkook also referred to Taemin as “Taeminie hyung” on AYS when he mentioned that Taemin and Jimin used to spend a lot of time in pool parlors together.

Hey, you got me there: Jungkook uses hyung. I still think hyung combined with time spent and phone calls made is notable though.

Speaking of shared friends, didn’t Jimin mention on AYS, that he went snowboarding with Jungkook’s friends a few years ago, even when Jungkook wasn’t present which shows that Jimin had/ has a relationship with Jk’s friends enough to hang out with them even without Jk being present?

Jimin mentioned going snowboarding many years ago with them. I think it was around 2017, someone calculated? Jungkook began to interact with 97 line in 2016, as far as I know. (they were interacting at 2017 ISAC in the January so reasonable guess.)

This is going to sound like I'm making excuses but the fresh friendships when you're 19 are not the same friendships as the very established best friends you have at nearly 30. I do think it's different the older you get and I would have a different opinion of Jimin hanging out with JK's friends these days. Still not a romantic one but I would find it more notable probably.

I also think a lot about the context of Wooga and Jungkook. You can look at so many things on the surface as "oh this is the same as Jimin hanging out with Seventeen." but you can't just seperate things out into detail ABC matches detail XYZ therefore detail ABC doesn't mean anything.

What's the context? The context is important!

The context is that Taehyung feels safe and unguarded with Wooga. He says this to them. His walls are down when he's with them. Not only is this very sweet and meaningful but it carries a weightier implication that he doesn't feel unguarded everywhere.

The fact that Taehyung brings Jungkook into his safe space is SOMETHING. It just is. Not even proof of romance by itself but it's certainly something. You can't just gotcha it away because Jimin snowboarded with an unknown friend of JK's one time. These grown up feelings don't have scoreboards where one point cancels another out. You simply have to look at the WHOLE wider picture.

Similarly, if Hobi had been welcomed into the safe space by Taehyung, that would be NOTABLE to me... but still not romantic because there is no romantic wider context.

Jikook and Taekook are still the biggest rival ships and share so many similarities in my opinion.

I don't see the similarities that strongly but nor do I see the need to disregard Taekook moments just because Jimin did something similar. The wider context for Jimkook doesn't exist for me so the details don't have a context that I find compelling.

[yinyunnsworld]

High school Au

I never knew I’d come to like high school romances and the fact it’s the most cliche one: popular boy x quiet girl? Bro i was playing this one cai bot (cause i’m delusional) and there was this popular boy bot. I was like??? Ajdbxjehnen. You know, I’m almost graduating already and in the animes, they’re just starting their first year of high school meanwhile I’m already there at the end of everything. So here, I’m gonna share a prompt with you guys and uh this is mostly what i do at highschool back then:

Characters: various x readers.

Word: 1.1k

Warning: can be ooc. A train of thoughts so it’s messy. Typos are to beware of. Broken grammar. Unedited. First draft.

Imagine you’re an average student. Sure, you did have friends, you did your work splendidly, and although you’re not an academically smart or active student, the teachers still remembered you pretty much. You never played in the popular kids’ circles since most of the time, those students would outcast others who tried to be part of the circle when they had nothing to offer. It’s like a sore thumb sticking out and you’re just there, supposedly ruining their aesthetics with your ‘weird’ and ‘boring’ personality.

But you’re not bullied as well! You’re just very much a wallflower that if you were to blend in with the geek kids, you’ll stand out too much. Yet if you blend with the cool kids, you’re too bland.

That was until he came.

At first, he found you to be a rather boring person since you didn’t talk much yet when you did, you had the whole audience staring at you. By that I mean, when you came forth to perform a speech or any speaking assignment in front of the class, you knew what to do to make attention land on you. Even when you stepped down from the stage, that charm immediately vanished and you returned to nobody.

You would still be able to make lots of acquaintances with lots of people although they’re necessarily not your friends. When he asked others if they knew you by one coincidental day in which he didn’t even realize your image was playing in his head, and he’d unconsciously asked about you, others would tell him, ‘Yeah, I know her.’

And despite always downplaying things, he would sometimes scroll through your social media account by accident. He claimed that he did it because your recent post of you hanging out at your friend’s birthday party showed up on his feed (none of you followed each other since he was too conscious to even follow you), he saw that you posted mostly of yourself and of your friends. Well, perhaps there weren’t that many posts on your account since you didn’t exactly use it that much, but when you did post something, he would check on your profile to see if he missed out on your other previous posts. Sometimes, he would accidentally even click on your story, leaving a trail of his user visible on your history. Before he knew it, he already cursed himself for accidentally clicking on your story, but damn did the view you posted on the story seemed awesome.

Eventually, as time passed by, he grew to be more and more curious of you. There were instances where he would offer to be the leader of an assignment group just to take you as his member (he promised it was because he wanted your usefulness and all the skills you could offer that could help boost this assignment’s grade, even if his other friends disagreed).

And during sport’s day, where everyone was basically bathed in their murky and awful sweats, he would find you around the canteen area, attempting to buy drinks without getting busted by the teachers since it wasn’t recess yet. He would use this as a chance and made his way around to the canteen, showing up beside you and bought two drinks. One for him and one for you. He left the drink on the counter, in which you grabbed it and called out to him, and he turned around and spoke, “Oh, that’s for you.” With that, he ran away (thinking he was so smooth, huh?)

Sometimes, he would find you standing in the hallway after school, staring down at the courtyard on your way home. You would often take another route and it would change most of the times just to stall your time, not to go home too soon and enjoy the quietness of the school’s ground when there’s no disturbances. He got intrigued as he noticed your constantly changing route and would follow you from behind, a few feet away of course and acted like he was going home through that route too. Although, in fact he was just curious and wanted to know what you’d be doing after school if you’re not active or part of any activity group.

He would snicker when he watched you wait for someone to come and pick you up from school and you were sitting down on the floor. There was a huge black fat cat that came crawling towards you and sat on your thighs without your prior notice, making a claim on your lap as though it’s the cat’s decision whether or not it could sleep there. You’d panic yet you couldn’t push him off and looked around for help since your pick up had already arrived and you needed to get home soon. He showed up from the corner and helped you take the cat away from your lap. You’d thank him and left already, hurrying to your pick-up driver. He smiled friendly, although the cat glared at him.

And finally, he began to talk to you. Little by little, one by one, conversations between you two were exchanged. He didn’t think you’d actually have some complexity in your character despite always displaying yourself to be a quiet and boring person. You can be loud at times, weird, witty, and sometimes awkward and just embarrassing.

Slowly, the two of you became friends. And he didn’t acknowledge the fact that his heart was already advancing beyond the word ‘friendship’, it’d grown far too unsalvageable. But whenever he saw your oblivious smile to his feelings, he wanted to squish your cheek and pull you to a kiss to actually get the fact drilled in your head that he liked you a lot. But he didn’t and simply laughed at you whenever you’re oblivious to his advances, ruffling your hair to a mess. He would do anything to tease you and annoy you but never to actually lay a hand on you and hurt you like that.

He would just have to wait for the right time to say that he liked you.

Thus, he waited, and waited, and waited…

And now you’re here, celebrating that you’re finally graduating. And he would finally come to you, yet immediately turned cowardly to actually say something to you since you were smiling that day, taking pictures with almost everyone—even the ones you didn’t like because you didn’t want to leave regrets behind. He didn’t want to ruin anything for you, thus he simply remained silent and threw a fist of flour and poured it over to you out of playfulness in which he’d kept that grip of flour behind his back already this whole time.

[almosthonest]

Luther and Metal Music

was inspired by @desmon1995 's post on derailed so if you have not looked at that please check it out! they had a very great explanation about luther and the connection to rock and roll and i am here to expand on that (which is very on brand for me considering that this is a heavy metal blog).

although rock n' roll was started by POC (as is almost any other genre) most people want to put a white face on it. this has been happening since the sixties (like with the beatles and i think frankie lymon, i will fix this if it's wrong, elvis presley and chuck berry, etc). but this is more about heavy metal. black sabbath is considered one of the bands to be associated with the first to do it (them and deep purple, might i'd add) and they're credited for the new wave of british heavy metal (nwobhm) movement.

metal, especially within the eighties have become not only a male dominated genre, but a white, male dominated genre. they're the ones often doing most of the gatekeeping, the "name three songs" type. anyone who is a poc can probably name an instance where this has happened to them. and a lot of people will call poc "whitewashed" because they listen to alternative genres, when that is simply not the case. we simply created those genres and like everything else, we have been pushed out of them.

now, i wanna talk about going down specifically. if anyone has done their homework (or is a big metal junkie like i am) you will notice that the song sounds a lot like toxicity by nu metal band system of a down. and i honestly don't think this is on accident. i think lmm had something cooking when he did this. (edit : eisa actually had the heavy metal idea i just am sleep deprived/forgot, but you got the point. she was cooking with this idea).

system of a down is an armenian band, all of their members are armenian and they have been out and proud against the armenian genocide and have always been so political about something like this. the fact that luther is a guy with beliefs that contradict that is such a genius move. he wants to watch the world burn and system of a down wants the complete opposite of that. and i know system of a down doesn't come out until the nineties and it absolutely might be a stretch but that's what i think every single time i listen to going down. i think it still stands that luther listens to metal without when realizing to context of what some of it says. metal is also sometimes political and most of it leans left, especially in the eighties.

also metal is interpreted to be "angry-sounding". luther could've been angry at a multitude of things. like cyrus wanting to form an alliance against cops (and i actually stand by the theory that victor is luther's father, thanks @sopaprimordialy ). which once again, contradicts many of the beliefs of the metal genre and the metalhead subculture.

in conclusion, but sorry luther, you're kind of a poser. all jokes aside though. luther is once again the established white face. he is someone who camouflages into the subculture and can do it very well because of its known aggressiveness (and even some metalheads today unfortunately would have the same beliefs as luther. i blame pantera, specifically phil anselmo, their lead singer. dumbass). it is just that easy to be a metalhead and be angry at the wrong things at hand.

[humbledragon669]

S2E3 - I Know Where I'm Going Write Up P2 - Edinburgh (1827)

I have a sneaky feeling that this might be a short one - if I try and do the first Edinburgh section as well as the next “present day” section, this is probably going to come out way too long, but let’s see.

There’s something missing for this introductory Edinburgh scene - have you noticed? This is the first time we’re introduced to a new time period without a banner on the screen to announce when and where the action is set. We do of course have Aziraphale’s voiceover to provide us with that information, so it’s not like there’s any confusion caused by the lack of a banner, I just find the absence of one interesting, particularly if you consider that the opening for the scene from 1862, likely the next time they meet after 1827 (not counting the alleged meeting Crowley calls in 1859 according to the Script Book), also differed from its flashback counterparts in Hard Times (it was the only banner to be incorporated into the scene - appearing below the surface of the water in St. James Park).

Moving on to this delightfully teenage-girl side of Aziraphale that we get to see with him writing in his diary. First thing’s first - the voiceover tells us this is volume 603 of his diaries. My first thoughts about this were along the lines of “where the hell are the other 602 and what do they contain” and “how many more were there after this one”, but the significance of the specific number used here is likely to be much simpler, and a Good Omens favourite - Strong’s Concordance. According to my research, the number 603 in the Greek version of the Concordance translates to “eager expectation, earnest longing”, which seems very fitting for a chronicle of Aziraphale’s adventures with Crowley. But wait! There’s more…

So Aziraphale is writing in his diary about the journey to Edinburgh on the 10th November (he goes on to add the year as 1827 but you can’t make out the beginning of the date very well once it’s been added). I found myself wondering if there was anything special about this date, and honestly what I found blew my mind a little bit. I cannot believe that this is a coincidence, and once more my hat is well and truly tipped to whoever discovered this gem and found a way to work it in. Because on the 10th November 1827, there was an article published in The Lancet about the lack of available anatomical subjects to work on for medical research. The article even references the high prices paid by “the resurrection men”. Don’t believe me? Here’s the link. Very sadly I could not attribute a name to the author, but I kind of don’t care. Fucking chapeau of the highest order for this little treat, honestly. As to the diary entry previous to this, I was unable to decipher it myself but I was able to figure out enough of it to Google some of the phrases. Turns out the content has already been confirmed to us by the author:

This sounds like a very exciting adventure for Aziraphale to have undertaken on his own! I love the insinuation that an attempt has been made to seduce him previously, which he rigorously objected to using a line that sounds similar in subtext to the one he utters upon Shadwell’s accusation that he’s running some sort of brothel in his book shop.

Whilst I appreciate the statue of Gabriel will be used later in the episode to provide a link between the past and present-day scenes in Edinburgh, I struggle to find any narrative purpose for it. In fact, I just end up with a long list of questions about its presence, for instance:

What is its purpose?

Why has it been built in this particular graveyard in this particular city?

Who built it?

Is Gabriel aware of its existence?

Assuming that Gabriel is aware of its existence, what is his interest in it? Did he commission it, or was it commissioned for him?

See what I mean? So many questions for an object that doesn’t really have any purpose whatsoever. I know we’ll hear Aziraphale refer to it later in the episode, but even then I don’t really see a reason for him to return to the statue when there are far bigger fish to fry in his Clue hunting. Perhaps its only real purpose is to find a reason for them being in the graveyard in the first place, though that feels pretty weak: building an entire statue as a prop for it to be used in less than 30 seconds of film just as a way to justify their existence in a particular place. There is one thing that it might be good for though:

What’s that look from Aziraphale when Crowley mentions the word “beauty” in a sentence about Gabriel? It looks a little like jealousy to me. Silly angel! I have no doubt that Crowley is just using words he believes Gabriel would associate with himself but I can understand how the angel might perceive it differently, especially given that both he and Crowley lack the ability to understand the other’s subtext when they’re not in immediate danger. I really don’t think he has anything to worry about.

I love how amused Crowley is that Elspeth shows such disgust towards Aziraphale’s clear Englishman status:

Here we have another opportunity for him to get really mischievous, and I’m not just talking about Crowley. Speaking as a fellow Celt (of the Welsh variety), I can genuinely say there’s something very satisfying about English people being shown disdain. I think it’s an ingrained, from-birth thing, because I’ve never really had to work on it, it just comes naturally. With that in mind, I’m sure David must have had a lot of fun indulging his Scottish nature in both accent and attitude towards the English. Which is all pretty ironic considering how public-school-boy Crowley sounds when he’s not speaking with a Scottish accent. I find it interesting that Crowley adopts the accent so early on in this scene - it’s immediately after he hears Elspeth speak. I suspect he does it because he understands that there’s a lot of bad blood directed towards the English from the Scottish natives, which demonstrates how much further on he is in his journey towards understanding human nature than Aziraphale is.

I also find it interesting that the angel makes no attempt to stop Crowley assisting Elspeth, instead trying to reason with her directly about the perceived “wrongness” of her actions. Presumably he knows that an argument with Crowley is doomed to failure, not least because he technically still has to file reports with Hell about his Earthly achievements. What’s also notable about Aziraphale’s attempts to stop Elspeth’s bodysnatching is that he shows absolutely no understanding of the trials that real-life people face.

ELSPETH: It’s not an easy job. If the Watch catch you, you’ll swing for it. AZIRAPHALE: Well it’s not the danger of what you’re doing. Don’t you know that it’s wrong?

Of the two reasons for not doing a spot of gravedigging, personally I’d prioritise getting caught and killed over and above it being “wrong”. Not so Aziraphale; he prioritises morals over life itself, which I suppose might come from his being immortal. And when you consider the lessons he learned in Uz shown to us in the previous episode, you might think he would have some understanding for extenuating circumstances when it comes to the lives of humans. However, there is an important difference between the actions he campaigns against here, and the ones from Uz, and that’s the originator of the actions. See, in Uz he rebelled against actions he perceived to be unjust and unfair taken by Heaven. Here he asserts the moral high ground against actions he judges to be morally wrong taken by a human. I will likely do a post specifically about the minisodes when I have completed the write ups for the three episodes containing them, but for now I’ll just say this. I think these minisodes, and perhaps the entire season (I have some more work to do there), are keyed towards showing us crucially important moments, specific to Aziraphale. Epiphany creating moments you might say. In Uz he learned that the actions of Heaven cannot be said to be Good simply because Heaven is the originator. He will come to learn in this episode that actions taken by humans cannot be categorically defined as either good or bad. In 1941… well, let’s do that one when we get there, and leave this topic for a separate blog specifically geared towards the subject, because I think I could wax lyrical about it quite a bit.

Anyway, back to the theme that things don’t have to be explicitly good or bad, but can in fact be both:

Beautifully put, and subtly done. Even this poor creature Morag can understand that you can be described as something bad whilst also having good intentions and a good nature, it’s really all about the context. Unfortunately Aziraphale will need to have the point made to him in all the more explicit terms later on in the episode before it sinks in with him, despite the fact that he specifically states he sides with Morag on her view of the situation. Some foreshadowing there perhaps.

Little side note, and this one because I haven’t mentioned anything about the sound in this part so far. If you listen beneath the dialogue in this scene, you can hear a woman coughing, pretty badly, in the background. This is another one of those little elements I so love about this show. That coughing has no relevance to the immediate narrative, most people won’t even hear it, but its presence reiterates how awful the living conditions are in the “piss-drenched patch” that Elspeth and Morag call home. The scene would be poorer without it, but you’d never know why - it’s so subtle, yet so effective. And knowing that someone out there, a sound editor and an actor at the very least, had to proactively do something for it to be included makes me feel very appreciative that we have such a committed cast and crew for this show.

Here we have an explicitly stated outline of Aziraphale’s (somewhat oversimplified, IMHO) view. To sum up:

Heaven = (unconditionally) Good.

Hell = (unconditionally) evil.

Humans = can only be considered Good if they actively choose not to be evil.

Note particularly that last point - his view doesn’t extend so far as to say that humans could be considered Good if they themselves chose to be good. No, there must be an active shunning of evil for them to fit the criteria. Pretty one sided, don’t you think? Though I’m sure none of us are surprised by this.  In applying this condition though, he has automatically applied the label of “wicked” to Elspeth, purely based on her choice to do something he considers to be wicked. I think Crowley’s facial expression speaks for us all in his reaction to this exclamation:

And his counter argument to Aziraphale is rather good, isn’t it? So much more biassed towards the nuances of humanity, showing us, yet again, how much further along in his journey towards his own humanity he is when compared to Aziraphale.

I’m so glad that Crowley tries to call this out with Aziraphale, because the idea that poor people have more opportunities because of their poverty is one of the most aristocratic and arrogant things I’ve ever heard. Honestly, I’m a little ashamed to hear those words come from the angel, but playing devil’s advocate (no pun intended) I can see how these views help us as an audience appreciate how much of a change this episode causes in him. And let’s just take a quick look at his use of the term “ineffable” here. To be clear, the definition of the word I refer comes from the Oxford dictionary:

What exactly about Aziraphale’s pompous ramblings would fit with this definition exactly? It’s my belief that he knows exactly how weak his argument is at this point, and his use of this word in particular is used simply as a way of bringing a close to the argument with the (false) assertion that he’s in the right. Sort of an “agree to disagree” statement with an extra pinch of righteousness.

And so we come to the end of this section. Told you it would be a short(er) one, didn’t I? In fairness, when I started out most of the sections were around this length, and there were less of them per episode, so either I’m getting better at this, or I’m getting more pedantic/more waffly. I’m sure it’s probably one of those latter, so I am incredibly grateful for those of you that actually take time out of your day to read my ramblings. Honestly, I don’t deserve you (though I hope that Lancet Easter egg has made this one worth your while!). As always, questions, comments, discussion, always welcome. See you for the next one!

[blushblushbear]

heyoo! I got a crazy idea to ask about.

what if Marshmellow was a reincarnation of Natsu? 👀 how would the three kits react and if they would still love them?

Oh man-- this is a tricky one.

I really think a lot of it comes down to what their relationship was like with Natsu before hand.

So obviously I have my own bias, I have my own version of the way things all played out in my head, but it DOES seem to be the general consensus that Natsu's relationship with everyone was-- at least at one point-- positive.

But the biggest aspects of it all really are going to come down to the nature of those relationships (for instance, your version of Natsu and Fuyu have a father/son dynamic that I can't imagine not getting weir after everything starts to click and marshmallow starts to remember things lol)

but for the sake of argument let's go down two routes--

route 1 is going to be the relationship with everyone was good and positive but not necessarily overly familiar (as non-overly familiar as what is essentially powerful immortal co-workers your stuck with for hundreds of years goes) so basically they know him but no body's like--- DATING or anything

and then route 2 is, regardless of whether or not they were actually dating before hand, there was a closeness there that bordered on the romantic or there was just sparks their otherwise

Also for the sake of all this this isn't like--- a second Natsu. This is not Natsu 2 electric boogaloo, they just have the same spirit and energy about them but Marshmallow is DEF their own individual

So-- all of them, at one point or another, thought it at least once while getting to know you.

'They remind me so much of Natsu.'

And this thought-- it was always a bitter sweet mix of wistful and mourning.

They always chalked it up to a quintessence. In all their years, all 3 have known too many people to not know that some people are just alike. That they have the same energy and way of going through the world. Kindred spirits, and such.

But then comes a time, and the details are ultimately superfluous to the revelation that follows, where it's confirmed that you share the spirit of Natsu quite literally. Through some twist of fate, they have all met and have fallen for Natsu's reincarnation.

And what happens next-- well...

Aki;

Route 1: Aki is actually a little excited to hear that you were a kistune in another life. And even more excited that the summer clan has hope to come back. I think he jokes a bit that you're Natsu (like he calls you Natsu for a bit), but ultimately he knows you're you. And he loves that you. And whatever you decide to do with this new information, he intends to stay by your side. Just, maybe keep your distance from Fuyu...

Route 2: He's actually a weird mix of excitedly relieved and panicked confliction. On the one hand it's very sweet that his first loves soul made it's way back to him and he fell in love with that spirit all over again. But on the other, he was sure he'd finally gotten over that heartbreak, and now that it's all back on his door step he's sort of realizing that whoever you are, either now or before, he never really got over you. One thing is for certain though, Aki just got a whole lot more protective. He's not going through that loss again. And he's DEFINITELY keeping you away from Fuyu.

Haru;

Route 1: He finds it a bit darkly hilarious. Can't keep the spirit of the summer clan down I guess. He wonders a bit if he'd be this resilient if he were in your shoes. Regardless, he is legitimately revealing in the fact that Fuyu's biggest dramatic act of power is being undercut by one lone mortal. This should knock that pompous asshole off his stuck up high horse. Also he has to admit, it is pretty sweet how he was so appealing your spirit just couldn't stay away. ;3 (also if Fuyu thinks he's coming near you he has another thing coming.)

Route 2: He still finds it funny you're undermining Fuyu by existing, and he still finds it romantic that your immortal souls just couldn't stay apart, but he's a lot more worried about what all this means. He's also processing how-- he was definitely heart broken when Natsu died, but they were never anything too deep (at least not yet), so he could mourn and then move on. And he thought he had moved on to you, and he did, but now with this complication, made all the more messy by the fact that he's in so much deeper than he's ever been before-- he's almost certain losing you this time would kill him. He's got a lot of thinking to do... mostly about how you get rid of any winter foxes that may darken your door...

Fuyu; (OH BOY)

Route 1: He is SO. UTTERLY. CONFLICTED. On the one hand your very existence undermines his biggest display of power and magnitude that he has ever managed to accomplish. Not to mention the fact that the spirit of the summer clan lives in you means that they may return-- and they may return in force? Can he do that all again? Can he wipe out the summer clan a second time? No. He couldn't... even if he was physically capable, he no longer has the heart to do so. The amount of regret that weighed on his heart since that day-- it's a weight he couldn't carry again... if for no other reason that you had lifted it off his shoulders. After holding onto it so desperately for so long, after centuries of convincing himself he was ultimately in the right because to be otherwise would make him a monster, he had doubled down. He had become the worst possible version of himself, trying to convince himself that the ends justified the means. But you helped him heal. You helped him move on from the bitterness that he allowed himself to stew in. Helped him cope with the grief he had only himself to blame. Helped him to feel warmth for the first time in who knows how long. After you opened his eyes, he finally felt like himself again. And yet here you were-- standing before him, once again in innocent defiance. But maybe that is why you were here. Maybe this was fate. Maybe this was your way of returning to him to show him true mercy. Forgiveness.

Or maybe this is just another way to torment him. All his love poured into you. And yet any love you give to him feels so undeserved. Maybe he doesn't deserve this forgiveness. This happiness. This relief. Your smile.

Maybe he has a lot to think about...

Route 2: Once he found out, his eyes were locked on you. In a way, his biggest regret had come back to haunt him. His grief had been given human form and came to be his salvation. And as the pieces fall into place he realized how undeserving he is of this all. He drops to his knees in an instant, tears streaming down his face and he heaves out shouted apologies between sobs. His head on the ground before you, begging forgiveness he knows he will never deserve. He can't look at you in the eyes... You were all he had ever wanted, but how is he going to face you...

[saltyprincessblog]

hey, reaching out to you because i appreciate the nuanced way you think, not shying away from unpopular opinions! was wondering if you heard about that book luigi apparently “bought” 400 times lol. well turns out he didn’t actually buy 400, but did attempt to however transaction was flagged due to amount, the author came out and spoke about it on his twitter, and that luigi went to india wanting to speak with him and talk about the book in more depth.

the thing is, if you actually start to read the book, you’ll notice it’s filled with misogynistic ideas and viewpoints, like clearly this author has something against women. One (of the myriad) of misogynistic rhetoric in the book is about “women were correctly kept out of politics because abstract thinking is difficult if not impossible for them.” Wtf. There’s many other instances of that type of writing in this book (and honestly, it’s truly not a well written book at all loool)

but my point is, yet again this is another instance of luigi interacting with these sort of manosphere/misogynistic writers/authors/idealists and it’s got me feeling uneasy. like was he really going down the red pill void? it’s pretty disappointing. the fact that he really wanted to talk to this author too. again, I’m not trying to demonize him, but it’s a bit disheartening to see what types of views he had pretty recently.

Hey anon, thank you so much I really appreciate your words 💗. I tried finding an online version of the book but I couldn't find anything. However as I checked it did seem to have a chapter regarding equality and the problems with it lol. We don't know if Luigi condoned the writers views on that specific topic though. Just cause he liked the book doesn't mean he won't have his own reserves about it. In my understanding Luigi seemed to be in a self discovery and improvement journey (as all young people in their 20ties are), and he might hold some traditional beliefs regarding gender roles. Some people tend to be nostalgic of the old times when gender roles were stricter and have an illusionary perception of society being "happier" during those days. Luigi was quite into the idea of "masculinity', and men that age are trying to figure out what it means to be a "man", seems like Luigi was in pursuit of or at least enjoyed reading about hsitorical men figures, and philosophies regarding idea of "Übermensch". He's still a young guy trying to make sense of life and of his purpose in earth. I'm used to much more misogynistic views coming from men so in comparison those of Luigi just seem like wrong deductions that come from a well meaning intention.

[jedi-enthusiast]

Alrighty, let's break this down point by point since I have to assume you either haven't actually watched Star Wars at all- (or anytime recently) -or you did so with your eyes closed and headphones on full volume.

"Anakin was a Jedi and was literally raised to think he was the most important person in the universe-"

Firstly, no Anakin was not taught to see himself as "the most important person in the universe," he was actually taught the OPPOSITE---part of being a Jedi is seeing yourself as responsible for keeping the galaxy in balance- ("balance" in Star Wars being peace and good) -and that includes seeing yourself as an equal to those around you. In fact, being a Jedi includes actually putting yourself in a position where OTHERS are given a position above YOU---I mean they're literally servants of the Republic, a lot of what they do- (especially when we get to TCW era) -is just following the orders of the Senate and doing their best to keep civilians and the men they command safe.

Does that seriously sound like them thinking themselves "better than everyone else" to you? If it does, you need to rethink that. You wanna know who DOES view themselves as better than everyone else, though? The Sith...the literal opposite/enemies of the Jedi.

Now, if you're talking about the "chosen one" prophecy then I have even LESS of an idea of what you're talking about because the only times it actually comes up are 1. when Qui-Gon mentions it all of TWICE in TPM and 2. when Obi-Wan, grief stricken because his padawan literally just murdered all of his friends and family, says "you were the chosen one, you were supposed to defeat the Sith not join them!" and like...wow, that stuff TOTALLY proves that Anakin was taught to see himself as above everyone else because he's the prophecy child (sarcasm).

In TCW there's like...one more instance of him being the chosen one coming into play, but everything that happened on Mortis was forgotten about by everyone, so how was that going to affect anything?

Honestly, from what we're shown in TCW and the movies, Anakin's supposed "chosen one" status was treated as exactly that...supposed. The Jedi state again and again that visions aren't to be trusted and trying to make them happen, change them, or avoid them often leads to making things worse---and no character's interactions with Anakin, aside from MAYBE Qui-Gon, ever give an indication that him being the "chosen one" is something widely believed or something that affects his status in the Order. He was treated like everyone else, so---again---I have no idea what you're talking about.

"-and taught to never feel, or disregard the feelings that his teachers considered evil."

Again, I have no idea where you're getting this.

Anakin wasn't taught "not to feel," he was taught to ACKNOWLEDGE his emotions and not let them CONTROL him. Literally the first scene we get with him being taught anything about Jedi's viewpoints on emotion, in that scene with him and the Council in TPM, the Council is literally only trying to get him to ACKNOWLEDGE his feelings, which is the first step in practicing emotional mindfulness and control---which is something LITERALLY TAUGHT IN THERAPY!!!

The Jedi's doctrine of non-attachment is basically taken straight from Buddhism's doctrine of non-attachment---which, since I know you're gonna take this the wrong way, ISN'T saying that you can't love or feel emotions or form connections, but that you have to be willing to LET THOSE THINGS GO in a healthy way and ACCEPT CHANGE. Whether you like it or not, everything and everyone is always changing, so if you can't handle that in a healthy way or let your emotions control you---like, say, by murdering a room full of children because you're scared your wife MIGHT die---then you're going to make yourself and those around you miserable, and you're going to hurt them in some way.

The Jedi don't consider ANY feelings "evil," they acknowledge many times that EVERYONE feels emotions like anger and fear, but they place importance on ACKNOWLEDGING that you feel those emotions and why you feel that way, so you can then LET THOSE EMOTIONS GO and NOT LET THEM CONTROL YOU.

"Anakin's position as a Jedi was wanted, but that position was never allowed to be used the way he wanted, and his mom died because of it."

I have no fucking clue what you're trying to say here tbh.

If you're saying the Jedi wanted him to be a Jedi: no they didn't, the Council stated multiple times that they thought the Jedi lifestyle wouldn't be suitable for Anakin and that he'd likely struggle with it---they just accepted him as one of their own after Qui-Gon made his case and some discussion about it, but that doesn't mean they were actively ADVOCATING for Anakin to be a Jedi.

If you're saying Anakin wanted to be a Jedi: yeah, but how is that the Jedi's fault? Why is that a reason they apparently deserved to be murdered? The fuck?

And yeah, Anakin couldn't just use the title of Jedi to do what he wanted, the Jedi are a RELIGOUS ORGANIZATION of PUBLIC SERVANTS---saying that Anakin should've been allowed to do whatever he wanted just because he was a Jedi is like saying that firefighters, police, government workers, etc. should just do whatever the fuck they want with no guidelines because...well, they're public servants, why have rules?

And I am so fucking sick of this take, the Jedi were NOT the reason that Shmi died.

In AotC Anakin tells Obi-Wan that he's been having nightmares---I can't remember if he says they're about his mom specifically or not---WHEN OBI-WAN PRESSES HIM and then, when Obi-Wan tries to talk to him about said nightmares, Anakin changes the subject- (rather creepily) -to Padme and never brings it up again. He's apparently been having these nightmares for a while, but from what the movie shows, Obi-Wan doesn't know jack shit about them because ANAKIN WONT TALK.

I don't know how you expect the Jedi to know anything about Shmi being in danger when Anakin refuses to talk about his nightmares and, AGAIN, they're NIGHTMARES---are the Jedi seriously supposed to go running across the galaxy every time someone has a bad dream that THEY THEMSELVES literally say is a nightmare, not a vision, and that THEY THEMSELVES brush off?

I just had a nightmare that all my teeth fell out, should I go running to the emergency room? Should I find a 24/7 dentist to take a look?

And the reason why Anakin isn't supposed to go running off to Tatooine, a planet full of criminals mind you, later on in AotC is because he's LITERALLY been entrusted with keeping an IMPORTANT POLITICIAN safe while she is ACTIVELY BEING TARGETED FOR ASSASSINATION!!!

I'm sorry, but were the Jedi supposed to put Anakin's nightmares---that he previously brushed off as nothing and refused to talk about in any way---above the safety of someone they KNEW was actually in danger??? The fuck???

"The Jedi aren't evil, but they allowed evil to fester for have a problem to solve. Literally a perfect execution of Hero Syndrome. They refused to acknowledge Anakin's problems before he became a problem for them, and they suffered the consequences. The Jedi aren't evil, but boy are they stupid."

They did not allow evil to fester, all we see during the entirety of the prequels and TCW is them trying desperately to protect the innocent, end the war, and try and root out the evil that was trying to take over the galaxy---just because Anakin betrayed them and ruined their efforts does NOT mean they just "let" everything happen.

The only person who didn't acknowledge Anakin's problems was ANAKIN.

We see MULTIPLE TIMES in both the prequels and TCW that people DO try to talk to Anakin about his problems, they DO try to help him, but ANAKIN IS THE ONE WHO REFUSES TO TALK OR ACCEPT HELP. The Jedi are not at fault for not being omniscient and trusting Anakin to not fucking murder them, and framing them as being "at fault" for being MURDERED is the same rhetoric misogynists use when women are raped and murdered, putting the blame on the victim instead of the perpetrator---you should've known that man was dangerous, you shouldn't have trusted him, you should've fought more, you should've protected yourself better, etc.

Sounds a lot fucking different when you put it like that, huh?

The Jedi could've, and DID, give Anakin all the chances in the world to open up and get help, but ANAKIN is the one who refused all of it.

And I think its so fucking funny that you say that you've never seen people try to defend his actions in the same post where YOU are LITERALLY TRYING TO DEFEND HIS ACTIONS---using his "bad childhood" or whatever as an excuse is STILL EXCUSING IT.

----------

Now, it's my turn to say some things instead of just responding to your points:

The fact that you saw me say that Anakin is entirely irredeemable to me because he MURDERED CHILDREN and then jumped in to defend him MURDERING CHILDREN while also never acknowledging that he does is tone deaf, ignorant, and so fucking IDIOTIC that I can't believe that I'm actually responding to it.

Anakin MURDERED CHILDREN, how are you seriously defending that? "Bad childhood" or not, "troubled upbringing" or not, that DOES NOT give ANYONE the right to MURDER FUCKING CHILDREN!!!

Good god, you stanakin morons will literally do anything to rob Anakin of any fucking agency in the atrocities he committed.

Now, as for your comparison to Caitlyn:

Believe it or not, I didn't really like Caitlyn in S2 and I think her "redemption" was rushed to all hell, which made the story and her character suffer.

Everyone basically just ignored Caitlyn gassing innocent Zaunites, perpetrating police brutality (the same police brutality that killed Vi and Jinx's parents), and then essentially becoming a dictator or simply glossed over it---not to mention that no one was really allowed to react to her doing all that, even though it's extremely out of character for many characters to do so: Vi and Ekko especially. The Caitvi prison scene, while a big step forward for wlw representation, fell flat imo because the writers had to basically steamroll over all the problems and history between the two to make it happen.

Personally, I think that Arcane would've benefitted from either more episodes or more seasons or both, because in rushing to fit everything into 16 episodes they dropped the ball when it came to the characters AND the story---and Caitlyn is a prime example of that. She did terrible things and she's never held accountable for it. No one is allowed to react. Nothing ever comes about because of it.

In my opinion she was never redeemed, her actions were just ignored, and because of that her character is soured for me and I just don't like her---whether she was grieving or not.

All of that being said, I have no idea why you chose to use her specifically as a parallel to Anakin---I'm not necessarily saying it's a bad comparison, I can see it even if they're on different levels, but I genuinely don't know why you used her.

If you thought bringing her up would make me more sympathetic to Anakin by the assumption that I'd understand/like her more, I don't know why you'd think that given my opinion on Anakin.

And if you're using her as a negative comparison to use to defend Anakin, then I don't understand how you can understand accountability and agency when it comes to police brutality but not when it comes to child murder.

Either way, you're wrong and you're arguments are fucking ridiculous.

@short-wooloo @antianakin - are y'all seeing this shit?

I’m gonna be honest, one of the main reasons why I can never really understand any defense of Anakin or get behind a good majority of “Anakin redemption” fics, is the fact that he murdered children.

Like let's just ignore the multiple genocides and enslavement of the galaxy for a moment, since technically you could argue that he only had a hand in that and didn't actually do it all himself, Palpatine, manipulation, blah blah blah-

He personally murdered children.

On two separate occasions, mind you.

Yes, murdering adults is also bad---don't think I'm saying it's not---but at least adults can actually try to defend themselves, most of them don't depend on the people around them to survive, and they have years of experience living in the galaxy that's given them skills they could use to survive if they managed to get away.

Children do not have any of that or---if they're a bit older and do---the skills they have are extremely underdeveloped. They cannot defend themselves, they depend on the people around them for everything, they have not lived long enough to develop sufficient enough skills to survive on their own in a world that's turned against them.

Argue all you want about the Council being "evil" and "stagnant" and "needing to die for the betterment of whatever," argue all you want about the other Jedi being "terrible to Anakin" and "deserving" their murder because of whatever reason, the CHILDREN had done NOTHING!!!

What could the children that Anakin murdered have done to "deserve" such a fate? Why did they have to die? Why couldn't they have been spared.

And the Tuskens!

Even if we assume that all of the adults in that village were personally involved in murdering Shmi, why did he murder the children? What did they do to "deserve" murder, other than having no control over who they were born as?

And like, we see in TBoBF that the Tuskens aren't just heartless monsters, they protect their own especially their young---are you telling me that none of the children tried to run? That none of the parents or elders told them to go while they tried to fight Anakin off?

And still, Anakin hunted them down and murdered them.

So no, even if you could explain away all the other atrocities Anakin has committed, I still wouldn't think any less negatively about Anakin.

He murdered children.

And I don't think that's excusable.

[blueskingdom]

want to study the difference of how lando and oscar cross their arms

[killjoy-prince]

House M.D. but it's when a character says the name of the episode

[dykedvonte]

I think the most baffling thing about the Tulpar as a vessel to me is the fact that the ship really did only have a one way communication system.

I know it was cheap but even the most basic of vessels regarding major transport would have some way, shape or form for outside communication. Not only that but there was absolutely no form of innate emergency signal to show they may have been offline or in trouble despite clearly having a system to dock credits if they went off course. It's another factor that really shows that bad situations are made to get worse by design. One person who is required to relay all information to the crew and make all the choices without feedback. No way to update or call for help in case of a dire situation. No way to inform of inner personal conflicts and acquire procedures accordingly.

It really is like they are all in some sort of fucked up solitary confinement. They have their own world with strict roles that are meaningless in the end, as long as the cargo makes it, it doesn't matter what happens on that ship to the company. They don't want to hear anything and will come to conclusions on what happened based on how much pay they can withhold from the workers. Even what they do send is short, sterile and corporate to the extent it was likely written and sent out with a command by some random unmanned computer in an office.

There's something to be said about how unfair it is to force absolute power and control onto one person when you as an entity could do so much more to offload it but I've said it many times before so I won't again.

[uncanny-tranny]

Honestly, going into your WIP pile to actually go through it and see what you actually want to finish can be really helpful, especially when you don't judge yourself and try to learn why that piece became a hibernater in your WIP pile

Some questions I ponder when I look at a WIP is:

Is this project turning out how I want? If not, what about it don't I like?

Do I or did I have fun when I was starting it?

Will I actually use it or enjoy it when I'm done?

Do I like the material now?

Do I see myself enjoying the product after it's done?

Were there, or are there, time restraints preventing me from finishing?

Is this out of my current skill set, and am I okay with that?

If I could change one thing about the WIP, what would it be?

I know plenty of people won't incorporate this into their own WIP and crafting journey, and that's okay. But I know so many people who hibernate their projects for many reasons and feel guilty about it. I hope this might give people ideas about why they hibernate projects to prevent that type of guilt from eating away at their conscious. This (creating) should be fun, and if you're spending a lot of time feeling guilty or ashamed, it can be hard to continue doing the things you like.

[schnaf]

22 days until ode's 22nd birthday

day 22 aka THE COUNTDOWN IS OVER - ode's past birthday brrrr ppoppos