#and the people they save will save others

[summertimesadnessirl]

Actually if suicide is illegal anything that makes you happy should be free because the world owes you a living if it will not allow you to die.

If suicide is illegal anyone who consistently does things that give people clinical depression or chronic stress on purpose should go to jail for entrapment.

Abusive partners, abusive therapists, abusive bosses, people who design bad living environments, unjust labor laws, towns that are hard to live in.

If suicide is illegal the world owes you never once wanting to die by any means necessary or they are criminals.

sweet treats should not cost money they should come as complimentary gift for not giving up

[kianamaiart]

IDWTBAMG CHARACTER FUN FACTS

Well, some fun facts and mostly lore or character relationship stuff. Under the cut!

AIKA

Aika became the next Star Guardian at age 13. She’s 15 now

Aika’s want to help people and relentless positivity were part of the reason she was chosen to be the Star Guardian: Guardian of the Stars in the first place. While her love for the job has fizzled out, this aspect of her character still a core part of her.

She’s very kind and gentle person but that kinda goes out the window when magical duties are brought into the equation

Her and Hoshi care about one another but their relationship is currently a bit tense. They’re usually pretty quick to make jabs at one another

She struggled to get used to the platform shoes in her magical girl outfit

She LOVES food. And her eyes are usually way too big for her stomach leading to many a food coma

Aika and her teammates worked in secret for the most part, not really being allowed to “exist in the real world”. Because of this, with the free time she had, Aika would read a lot (she’s actually very book smart)

Aika loves extreme sports and is an adrenaline junky. However, rollercoasters freak her out for some reason

Aika drags Zira into lots of new eperiences. Zira usually ends up appreciating the experiences after the fact 

Aika’s a morning person

ZIRA

Zira is smart but doesn’t apply herself in school

They have a lot of artistic interests, particularly art, music and fashion

She likes the idea of writing fanfiction in theory but writing’s sooooo much work. Any ideas she has just kinda live in her head, causing her to zone out and daydream a ton

While shy for the most part, Zira can be very blunt and isn’t necessarily a pushover

Prior to Aika, she didn’t have a lot (any) friends at school but she’s mostly content doing her own thing

They’d hang out in Miss’ classroom a lot, either to show her Moon Sailor stuff against her will or just to have lunch

Zira loves playing video games and especially loves visual novels

Zira develops a crush on Aika pretty quickly. Aika’s kindness, authenticity and bravery is inspiring to Zira. Also Aika’s the only other person her age to really give her the time of day. And also she thinks Aika’s pretty

She thinks Hoshi’s really cool and since Aika doesn’t particularly enjoy talking about her job, Zira usually goes to Hoshi for magical girl questions. Initially Hoshi doesn’t trust Zira with that information but is really flattered to have someone who looks up to them and is interested in everything they have to say. So they indulge when appropriate.

Zira’s a night owl

HOSHI

Hoshi saved Aika when she was really young and has kept her safe ever since

Hoshi and Aika started off kind of like siblings but Hoshi then became her boss, making their relationship a bit strained and more complicated

Their role as a magical mascot managerial in nature. They make Aika and her team do their jobs, follow protocol, teach them how to use their powers, keep up morale, do timecards, etc.

While Hoshi oversees this team, their responsibility is primarily to the Star Guardian

Hoshi, much like Aika, used to be really chipper and a bit more goofy but Aika’s kinda worn them down overtime

Hoshi’s not a fan of Earth, but in an effort to better understand Aika’s feelings, tries out being a human and doing Earth activities

Hoshi takes a while to get used to their human form. They’re really clumsy in it

They have a hard time making hands for their human form. Their hands are slightly different every time but equally terrifying. They eventually get better at making them though.

Hoshi doesn't use their human form too much. Most people just assume their Aika's weird pet bird

Hoshi doesn't need to eat but discovers they enjoy the act of eating

ECLIPSE

Eclipse is one of the few humans that know that Aika and the other magical girls exist

He met Aika pretty early on in her magical girl career and he was immediately enamored with her

Since finding about magical girls, he’s obsessively tried keeping track of them, leading him to start acting out in order to get their attention. They only really care because he knows their secret and they play along

He and Devoid made his current outfit together. DeVoid wanted to make it black but Eclipse was set on making it very bright and showy

Eclipse currently resides with DeVoid. He gets on her nerves sometimes but they both do care about each other

Eclipse is a pretty good cook 

Eclipse isn’t particularly hateful but he’s really got beef with Zira for some reason

It’s hard to tell if Eclipse is really in love with Aika or if he just loves the concept of their nonexistent relationship

Eclipse has a lovely singing voice

His real name is Elio

LADY DeVOID

DeVoid was banished to space by a Star Guardian. For a LONG time she lived (unconsciously) as a sort of celestial being that would spit out monsters that the Star Guardians for many generations would have to face. While not ideal it was better than fighting DeVoid before she got to full power.

DeVoid finally wakes up in the present timeline, with no memories other than being banished by a Star Guardian and wanting revenge and knowing that she’s supposed to be able to create monsters. Unfortunately for her, she doesn’t remember how to use her powers. She doesn’t even remember her name, so she came up with “Lady DeVoid”

DeVoid loves human reality TV. Specifically competition shows. She loves how petty and evil people become

Reality TV is where most of her knowledge of humans comes from

Though DeVoid is pretty stoic, her ears are very expressive

DeVoid taught Eclipse how to do his makeup

She really likes Eclipse’s cooking

When she’s out and about she’s usually wearing sunglasses because it’s simply too bright for her

DeVoid does have to work a normal job in the human world and simply goes by “Dee”

People rarely question her appearance (because that’s just rude). But when people do ask what’s up with her horns she just says “it’s a condition” and that’s usually enough for people to just end the convo there.

MISS

Miss loves her job more than anything. She’s a very accomplished teacher and takes a lot of time to make sure all of her students succeed

Miss cares about Zira a lot. Always staying in her classroom just in case Zira wants to stop by for lunch, giving her advice or giving her extra tutoring as needed 

Because of Zira, Miss has become a closet Moon Sailor fan

Though Aika’s just started attending school, she and Miss have bonded quite a bit. Aika’s positive disposition and cheeriness bring Miss a lot of joy

Miss keeps her personal life (not that she really has one) out of work but finds herself opening up a little more than she’d like to Aika and Zira

Miss used to get really antsy during summer breaks, leading her to start teaching summer school to fill the time

Her workaholic nature was the reason for her and her ex-wife’s divorce

Miss has gone on one date since her divorce. The idea of having starting over is exhausting to her so she’s mostly okay just being single

Miss doesn’t really like coffee but she drinks a lot of it out of necessity

Miss has a ton of tattoos

[bubblybloob]

The moment I realized Scarlet Hollow had romance options after thinking the flirting stuff was just for shits and giggles and I had flirted with everyone at least once without realizing it could lead to something more until Stella invited me into her house on day four, that was the funniest shit ever and I’m a colossal dumbass.

[hope-for-the-planet]

Trans person in the US. Bust some of the doomerism for me? Tell me it's going to be okay?

Hi Anon

Usually, I have boundaries for myself about keeping this blog focused on environment-related issues, because there are limits to what I can speak knowledgeably about. But now doesn’t feel like the time for that.

Anon, I will tell you that I live in the US, I am queer, my spouse is trans, and we have two young children. I am sitting right there with you in the fear and grief and every day when I ask myself “is there still hope” I find reasons to say “yes”.

They want us—all of us, not just queer folks—to feel overwhelmed and hopeless, because despair is a tool that keeps people from realizing their power and taking action.

They want us to feel so afraid that we lose our faith in other people and withdraw from our communities, because we are easier to conquer alone.

Do not give them what they want.

Hope is most necessary in the bad times. The ability to imagine a future that is better than things are now is exactly what gives us the power to begin making things better. Our community has been through terrible things before, and they did not lose hope or give up—otherwise we would not be where we are today.

When you start to feel like all the light is being blotted out, turn off the news, put away your phone, and go get in touch with something you love. Go outside and look at the sky, talk to a friend, listen to music, do some small thing to make something better even if it’s just cleaning your kitchen or picking up some litter around the block or returning an extra stranded cart in the grocery store parking lot. Remind your brain that you have agency to make positive change in the world through your actions.

I know it is really hard to pull out of the darkness sometimes. I know there will be days that hope seems like a foolish, naive thing, that despair and distrust seem like the only rational options. But hope is what keeps us alive. Hope is what allows us to save each other.

I wish I could give you a specific article or other source to reassure you that everything is going to be ok, but things are still too in flux day by day. I can tell you that people are already fighting back, in big and little ways, all over this country and the world. These orders and bills are being pushed by a loud but small minority—this is not how the majority of the country feels about trans rights.

Make a plan for staying safe. Reach out to your community. Find music, activities, podcasts, movies, whatever helps you feel uplifted and take mental breaks from dwelling on the news. If you can, find ways to get involved in making things better in whatever big or small way feels doable for you--it may help push back on the doomerism more than you think. And my inbox is open if you need to talk.

I wish I could invite you over for dinner. I wish I could look into your eyes and tell you that things may get hard for the next few years but that does not mean that your life can't still be full of joy and beauty and fulfillment in spite of that.

I’m right there with you. Let’s make it through this together <3

[homunculus-argument]

Hey, if you're learning to speak a new language and you frequently talk with native speakers, it's good to clarify what level of corrections and constructive feedback you'd prefer. Because there's a whole sliding scale of people who want their grammar and pronunciation to be immaculate and who will feel embarrassed if they find out they've been obliviously making the same mistake every time this whole time, and there are people who are perfectly happy with just being able to communicate coherently enough to be understood, and who will get annoyed about having their words corrected - and there's no telling which group anyone belongs to, unless you ask.

And on the other side of the fence, to the native speakers in this situation: Ask your learning friends which end of this scale they land in! It might not occur to them to specifically let you know any more than it would've occurred to you to ask. This will save so much time and bother for both of you.

[interruptingmooshroom]

I love this topic! Some More News (both a podcast and a YouTube channel) has a great video on it if you’d like something to listen to while you do your chores around the house.

Things that are weirdly similar between these two and you should not ignore:

-Rose to power through economic promise to the point many people, especially in a time of crippling financial hardship, looked past the whole antisemitism thing. (OP’s got this one!)

-Had a failed coup, where he pardoned everyone who was prosecuted as one of his first acts when he finally rose to power.

-Focused on demonization of various minority groups in particular to further his agenda, even if he supported/gave no shits in the past (Often in order to “protect the women/children”, “Promote good values”, etc). Granted, this is p common for fascism in general.

-Openly Pro-Genocide. I mean, we have detention centers already. What do you think the natural endpoint and best method to save money will be? Do you think the fact we have prison slavery won’t bleed into this?

-Both are performance artists, very charismatic populists who win people over and form a cult-like fan base. Hitler did not rise to power alone.

-Touched on a bit earlier, but both figures rose to power in times of economic crisis. When capitalism is failing, be it an outside factor (paying for WWI), or an internal one (capitalism failing as the US empire is losing grasp), ideals such as fascism is allowed to rise. People are desperate and want answers, fascism is the cartoonish hot woman that convinces them it’s a great idea to commit genocide.

-Both used religion as a method of radical thought. Be this to oppress a group of people (women and minorities, mainly) or for a basic rallying cry. You can argue trump might not be as diehard as Hitler was, but the use of religion is still there. This is not me saying religion is bad and wrong, it’s to say fundamentalist viewpoints of religion (or lack there of) is used as a justification for horrible actions.

-Both rely greatly on misinformation. Mein Kampala jumpscare, I’m about to quote hitler. “the great masses of the people … more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a little one, since they themselves lie in little things, but would be ashamed of lies that were too big. Such a falsehood will never enter their heads, and they will not be able to believe in the possibility of such monstrous effrontery and infamous misrepresentation in others.”

-Rich people love em. Granted this also is common with fascism, not just these two.

-Generally people understood these two as funny. They were laughed at, not to, but AT. They were stupid, silly little boys. Even some of these people who laughed at Trump/Hitler will be extremely supportive of them. Do not be fooled by a bumbling moronic Nazi, it is still a Nazi.

I’m tired, and this is a rlly short list. Uh… enjoy. Add your own if you’d like. I think the biggest similarity is that they both have unique hairstyles that are def gonna be unpopular post-whatever the fuck they’re doing/done. You know awkward that caterpillar named after trump’s hair will be in like 50 years?

Also like Elon literally hailed hitler twice in Trump’s honor what are we doing here? Even if you think for some reason Trump isn’t a Nazi, he very clearly furthers goals of and enables Nazis, you’ll notice this has the same effect as if he were a Nazi and actively doing Nazi things.

Yo, correct me if I am wrong please, but didn't Hitler rise to power because he promised to fix the German economy and people really liked that so they looked past everything else he was doing??? Like exactly what's happening in America right now???

So many people said they voted for Trump, put a truly evil person in power, because he said he'd fix the economy, and a little voice in my head is going, "Isn't that what happened with fucking Hitler??"

But I've seen no one point that out so maybe I'm miss remembering???????

[chthonic-kids]

bioshock 1 grabbed me by the throat and said "greed and ego are the death of man when backed by unchecked power and influence. we are defined by our connections to each other. we are at our best when we provide for and take care of each other" and i could not help but fall in love

[drizzledrawings]

Only you

[lgbtlunaverse]

I've seen a good number of people ask a question along the lines of "why do characters like Falin and hate Laios when they're so similar?" and i've also seen good analysis on the differences in how the touden siblings carry themselves that would, despite their shared traits, make a person gravitate to one more than the other.

But i feel like we've overseen one very central thing here.

People don't like Falin

Like... the average person in dungeon meshi doesn't like Falin. She was deeply ostrasized by her home village, in magic school she had zero friends before Marcille and the others generally saw her as strange and a bit offputting.

Characters like Namari and Chilchuck like her well enough but not necessarily more than any other member of their party, including Laios. Neither Kabru nor his party think much of her. The canaries don't give a fuck about her. Toshiro's retainers don't see her as anything else than the weird foreign girl their boss has a crush on.

The reason we think everyone loves Falin is because, despite all the indifferent side characters, the 2 most important and central characters of the story are Laios and Marcille. Who are NOT representative of the average attitudes to Falin! But necromancy georg number 1 and 2 are our main eyes into the story and they love Falin so much that it colours our perspective of the whole world.

The only side character who qualifies as liking Falin and not Laios is Toshiro (at least at first, as he ends the story on much better terms with Laios) and that says a lot about his character, with him drifting to the quiet Falin precisely because of her oddness but being both uncomfortable with and deeply jealous of Laios' much more open expression of that oddness. Because he's a repressed guy from a culture where etiquette is incredibly important.

But like I said, that's a specific aspect of him, not to the world at large.

Because there's also people that click more with laios than with Falin.

Kabru, for one, who is initially distrustful of laios but clearly also deeply fascinated by him and drawn to him.

Minor spoilers, and you don't have to read too deeply into this, because I don't think Kabru particularly dislikes Falin or anything. But it's interesting that when he talks about his distrust of the toudens in ch.32 he's talking about them both. But his big friendship declaration in chapter 76 is aimed squarely at Laios, he doesn't say "you and your sister" he says "you"

And Senshi!! He instantly clicks with Laios, well before he does so with anyone else in the party– who he also becomes friends with, it just takes a bit longer– specifically because they bond over their shared special interest in monsters!! Senshi is kind towards Falin and cares for her wellbeing, but he also... doesn't know her. The reason he is even here, helping to save her, is because he and Laios bonded over monsters and he wants to help his new friends out!

Of course, the theme of neurodivergent isolation is very present in Laios' story. I'm not denying that. He does turn people off, without meaning to and unable to fully understand why! But so does Falin. And just like there are people who like her despite of or even because of those traits, there are people who do the same with him.

In conclusion: "Average person loves Falin and hates Laios" factoid actually statistical error. Average person is neutral on both Falin and Laios. Georcille, Laiorg and Geoshiro, who live in the dungeon and think over 10,000 Falin-loving thoughts a day, are statistical outliers adn should not have been counted.

[anarchistabsol]

This is pretty good advice, but it seems you didn't read your own source. The doctor being used as a source for information says multiple times that there is no true, perfectly safe way to bind. He also says that there are not any medically created nor regulated binders. So commercial binders like these are often all people have.

Towards the bottom:

With that in mind, and so little other research available, Dr. Ng says there’s no data that says conclusively whether it’s better to use commercial binders over other methods.

“We should look at commercial binders as a potential tool but approach them like other health and wellness products that aren’t fully tested — like, for example, vitamins and supplements, which aren’t regulated,” he says. “Binders might do the job and provide a desirable outcome, but they’re currently not regulated, so we just don’t know yet whether they cause long-term problems.”

I think that's a much more nuanced and better way of saying things in general. During the "how to safely bind" segment, Dr. Ng says a myriad of things to address safety issues. The most important (imo) are the ones along the lines of "get breathable binders, because the alternative traps moisture, which can lead to bacterial infections," and "dont get binders which are too tight, as they can worsen breathing conditions, and cause rib/shoulder pain or injuries."

The moral of the story isn't "dont buy binders from Amazon, they're guaranteed to not be safe." It's "research the company and options available before purchasing your binder."

In my experience (buying for my boyfriend), Tomboyx was high quality, but very loose. Alternatively, gc2b was a very average experience, not completely flattening his chest, but at the same time, saving his ribs from damage. We have yet to try other larger brands like WIVOV or something, but making blanket statements like "Amazon binders are unsafe" is really not helpful. Binding can be so important and helpful for trans men, although I'll let someone more qualified say their piece on that. I feel as though I'm unqualified.

Hey, PSA for younger/newer transmascs:

Tumblr has been showing targeted ads for "FTM binders" off Amazon. They look like this:

Do not buy these.

A binder is a piece of medical equipment. If you use one incorrectly, or use a poorly made one, you can really fuck up your ribs. This article from the Cleveland Clinic talks about how to bind safely.

A $14 binder is guaranteed not to be safe. There's a reason reputable companies charge more- sometimes a lot more. They have to carefully design binders so they don't crush your ribs or make you sick.

You know how everyone says Don't Bind With Duct Tape? Don't bind with Amazon binders.

[what-am-i-doing-in-this-fandom]

the werewolf stan is amazing btw thank you

No, thank you!!! In fact, here's more just because you sent this ask (and probably the other one too, I love you)!!!!! More!!!!!!!!

They are liars <3

Part one is here!! ;P

Part three is here!! 'cause I can't control myself 😔

[greencarnation]

"ukraine invasion" vs "israel-hamas war" hm. something something wording and western media bias and propaganda

[kodasea]

Son of Gondor

[fuzzehlogic]

This is why I will always support corporate pride.

People who think it's pandering never grew up knowing what it's like to be the only gay person you know, to hear others use 'gay' synonymously with anything they think is stupid, to see the only representation you have on TV as the butt of all jokes or murdered - I can go on but it's depressing and it's real. That was in the early 2000's. In Canada, gay marriage was only made legal in 2005. I cut out and saved a newspaper article that day, because it didn't seem real that I could actually marry my girlfriend and sponsor her to immigrate here and live together as a family, since gay marriage wasn't legal in the U.S. until 2015. Progress only started in the past two decades, but we're STILL fighting.

What's worse is that we're fighting with ourselves by gatekeeping what little representation we've fought for and earned, complaining that "the representation we have isn't inclusive enough so companies/shows/etc. should just stop," or "that's too much rainbow merch it's clearly just for profits." Well. Guess what? If the message we're sending is that we don't want representation, the ones who end up winning are the ones who want us erased.

It's not perfect by any stretch, but it's not going to get there without our community getting normalized. We need to keep fighting for more representation, not less.

[palarien]

sketched this out at jury duty actually

[egophiliac]

(looks at upcoming card releases)

I'm in danger :)