#at the very least it serves the same function as 'guy'. it CAN be used as nongendered or referring to a group but thats atypical

[validwarriorcatsnames]

since we don't have a canon way of referring to non binary cats, we can logically assume that whatever word they'd use could be directly translated to human language as "fella". therefore, Cinderfella is valid

Why could we assume that??

[queermasculine]

Maybe a stupid question but one I've asked myself, what's the difference in between a butch and a masc for you ? Is there one ?

not a stupid question! "butch" is an older word with more meanings across time. to straight people it's been a military style haircut, a male name (still a few old guys named butch in the US), and a fairly uncomplicated synonym for masculine. to lesbians, bisexuals and gay men, it's been all of the above, but it's also had a whole host of other connotations specific to us and our own ways of loving/performing masculinity. a lot of the different meanings of butch have faded or fallen out of fashion over the years, but the word has more or less kept its purpose among lesbians, giving it the lesbian tint it has today.

"masc" is a much newer term, and unlike butch, i don't believe it's ever been widely used by the straight mainstream. (not a lot of grandpas named masc out there.) it's my impression that masc first spread out from gay guys on grindr, or at least that played a big part in popularizing it, and it's been used pretty much exclusively in an lgbt context ever since. in that sense it's the word with the more explicitly queer origin, despite having a much shorter history. having risen to popularity in the age of social media, masc carries none of the historical baggage of butch, and as such it's a more open-ended term, implying very little about a person beyond their masculinity. you can see this difference exemplified in google search results: while looking up butch will primarily yield information about the word's significance to lesbians, masc will net you more neutral descriptions, like "a person whose gender identity is masculine, but who is not necessarily a man."

despite all that, masc and butch usually serve the same function (to express the masculinity of the subject) and are used pretty much interchangeably in many contexts. also worth noting is that the lesbian association of butch is not a rule, just an observation i've made about modern perceptions. bisexual women have always used butch (and femme) alongside lesbians, and to this day you'll still encounter gay men – usually older – who identify as butch. so in conclusion, if you're trying to pick what label to use for yourself, i wouldn't worry about it too much. both terms have room enough for you in them.

[gremoria411]

My it sure is nice how, because I clearly tag things, tumblr has no problem with finding my old posts, isn’t it?

Sure is great when you want to return to an old topic, you can easily reference an older post, isn’t it?

Anyway, I was thinking about some of my favourite mobile suits recently, and more specifically how they fight.

The Sinanju and Sinanju Stein (strictly speaking that’s unit 2 above, but the Sinanju Stein Unit 1 only shows up physically once anyways, so I tend to conflate the two) from Universal Century, and the Gundams Bael and Zepar from Post Disaster. The Bael and Sinanju’s are thematically and functionally similar, if not so much visually, since they’re piloted by the series resident Char Clones, Full Frontal and Mcgillis Fareed respectively, and thus have a similar fighting style - high mobility and very flashy, typically dodging with minimal effort and taking out scores of foes near-effortlessly. The Sinanju Stein (Unit 2) certainly could fight like that, but its pilot Zoltan Akkanekan is…… not in a great place mentally, and as such he tends to be more brutish, always pushing the attack and closing ranks with his enemy very quickly (we only see him fight once in the Sinanju Stein before it docks with the Neo Zeong II, so it’s possible that his aggression is more due to the enemy being a Gundam, as opposed to any real strategy). The Gundam Zepar we have even less information on, but since we know both that it doesn’t have any ranged weaponry, and that most of the emphasis seems to be on the shield, we can guess it would want to get close fairly quickly, and would be well-prepared for a reprisal.

And this reminded me of something I mentioned previously when discussing non-Gundam Mecha series - I like when we know the “thesis” of the mecha. I like when we know why they were built and what the in-universe theory was in their construction (Or at the very least, we can guess, as with The Big O). It makes the world feel realer to me, and don’t get me wrong, I love giant robots, but it feels wonderfully cohesive when there’s an in-universe justification. I don’t typically forget the out-of-universe justification “to sell toys” but it feels less “Johnson, quarterly earnings aren’t looking good, make a property we can merchandise things out of” and more “Hey, this guy’s got an idea for a cool show about robots, maybe there’ll be a market for cool toys there?”.

Weird tangent on the relationship between entertainment and merchandising aside, I like Universal Century because it’s got a strong “thesis” - mobile suits were designed primarily as an anti-ship weapon that would engage at visual range, due to the effects of Minovsky particles rendering most long-range weapons difficult to aim. They’re fast, and carry handheld weaponry both for ease of use, maintenance and operability and they’re an extension of “armoured space suits”. There’s even the military angle of “a secret weapon to to win us the war against a foe that could beat us conventionally”, and I’d assumed that, with a few exceptions like Wing and G Gundam, most of Gundam followed that same thesis.

However, I realised that’s perhaps not quite true with Iron-Blooded Orphans (or at least it’d be interesting to consider why it might not be true). The above graph is an illustration of the breakdown of forces used in the calamity war, and how they were deployed depending on the field. Quote: The unit formation deployed against the mobile armors depended on where the battlefield was. On Earth and Mars, the Gundam Frames served as the main fighting units, and they destroyed the mobile armors one by one with assistance from other mobile suits and supporting units. In space, the Dáinsleifs were used as the main weapon, and were assisted by mobile suits, including Gundam Frames, and other supporting units. On the Moon, mobile suit teams like the one deployed on Earth and Mars were also used in addition to the aforementioned use of the Dáinsleif.

So I got to wondering if Post Disaster (or I guess Current Disaster) mobile suits had a different development ethos, since they were deployed largely terrestrially.

Mobile suits were only used during the Middle and Late stages of the war, which implies they were developed during it. The above Rodi and Hexa Frames were developed first, with the Gundam And Valkyrja Frames following in the later stages of the War. It’s also stated that, quote: The beginning of the Calamity War was the result of AI-equipped, self-sustaining weapon systems going out of control. Before the outbreak of the Calamity War, automated machinery was a symbol of wealth and abundance, and humans were actively promoting the automation of wars. With the risk of losing valuable soldiers reduced as the weapons were AI operated, and the introduction of the semi-permanent Ahab Reactor as a power source, mobile armors became the ideal weapon that can fight efficiently and persistently. So, it’s possible that after the Mobile Armours were unleashed, there was a rush to adapt previously autonomous weaponry into something human-controlled, with the Rodi and Hexa Frames representing these early steps. Furthermore, it’s stated that Mobile Armours acquired Nanolaminate Armour, so beam weaponry would presumably have been used in the early stages of the war.

So, could Mobile Suits in IBO be autonomous weaponry adapted for human use, as opposed to the Universal Century’s “Armoured Space Suits” line of thinking? We know that Alaya-Vijinana works best with forms closer to the human form - hence the Gundam Frames being constructed as close to the human form as possible. Another angle might be that of upsized Knights, here to slay the mechanical monsters that threaten humanity.

So it’s an interesting angle compared between the series - in one, mobile suits were built for wars in space, fought between nations. In the other, mobile suits were built to be used terrestrially, in response the threat of extinction by mechanical foes humanity unwittingly unleashed upon itself.

(Also, it’s interesting to look at how common mobile armours and automated weaponry were in the pre-post disaster setting, since I just imagine Treize Kushrenada from Gundam Wing being distinctly unhappy)

[love-triangles-au]

Most def an #extreme geometry question

But I remember a few hcs being popular in the GF fandom including sensitive sides/edges, tentacles, and magic teleport hole?

How does it work in your AU?

Bfhaha a seasoned triangle-lover, are you, anon? Alright, sure, just for you. Time for an anatomy lesson!

So, in order of what you mentioned: yes, yes and maybe, but we have our own spin on them! Well, for Bill, at least. Bill and Venuz aren't of the same species, so they're pretty different. (Note that everything Bill has applies to all Flatlanders*, so, like, Kryptos has the same things going on) * Once again they're not exactly Flatlanders but it's the name we go with (until the Book of Bill comes out, hopefully >:Dc)

Sensitive sides are more just sensitive vertices in our headcanon (edges are still good! Just more pleasant than exciting), and he's gotta be in the mood. Think, like, poking someone's neck vs. kissing someone's neck; same area, but the way you touch it and the intent/context matters! But, the more they're stimulated the more they'll swell, making them kinda smooth out to be less pointy and more squishy. Then they're REAL sensitive

I always liked this headcanon a lot because it feels very alien. Like, yeah, that's probably the exact kinda weird thing a sentient shape would have going on, why not :P I kinda flip-flop over whether or not Venuz also has this because on one hand I like them being similar anatomically, especially in terms of, well, geometry-related stuff, but I also feel like it's so highly-specific that it wouldn't really be a believable coincidence. I dunno, you can decide!

As for the other two, it'd probably be best to just totally lay out how Bill's parts function. I'm still hesitant to post any outright explicit stuff on here (if that's something you guys really wanna see then let me know and I might reconsider) but I'll do my best to describe what he's got going on down there in the meantime

So, Flatlanders are natural hermaphrodites, and they use the same hole on their bottom plane (or angle if tilted like Kryptos) to store both sets; a cloaca or genital slit, basically. This opening is very discreet, essentially invisible under most circumstances, but, as with corners, swells and puffs up a bit when excited. Whether it's situated horizontally along the base like an envelope or vertically like a human's is up to you

The first half near the entrance is just a typical vaginal canal, nothing much to see there, but, deeper down (anchored around what I guess would be the cervix?) are about five prehensile "tentacles" (sometimes I call them "intercloacal flagellum" just to be cute about it). Which set of parts are in use determine their function. They serve to either stimulate their partner to speed up the mating process if being penetrated, or anchor onto their partner and hold them steady if penetrating. I imagine the cervix would probably be able to move up and down to make room in the vagina or extend the tentacles.

However, there's one tentacle different from the rest, and that one IS erogenous. It's thicker, longer, and has an arrowhead tip, but it's just as prehensile. I think this is probably juuust abstract enough to not be pornographic

Oh, and ejaculate is black; just for that extra bit of weird!

The reason I say "maybe" in regards to the "magic hole" is because, like, if we're being realistic, none of this could physically fit in Bill's body (neither could his eyeball). Just one of those kinda things you gotta be willing to suspend your disbelief on xDc Admittedly I don't know the required math to get exactly how dimensions work, but I sometimes wonder if part of his body extends into the forth dimension or something and that's where his organs really are. Or maybe you can only take the "god" out of the "chaos god," not the "chaos". Who knows?

As for Venuz, he's less interesting, probably because unlike Bill he's still from the same neighbourhood as Earth. Just has a genital slit between his legs (situated on the front plane instead of the bottom) that houses a more humanoid penis, though it lacks foreskin and a scrotum so it's pretty minimalist, just a shaft with a head.

HOWEVER, Venuz also has god-powers, so he can have whatever he wants! In fact, he sometimes likes to mimic what his partners are used to, both to make them more comfortable as well as to shake things up for himself, so he'll sometimes give himself some tentacles and have a tangle with his boyfriend. Lots of versatility there!

Hope that sated your curiosity, anon! I have made a visual guide (the images here are excerpts and is written in-character which is why the notes are all "!!" y'know 'cause Bill is always "!!") but once again I'm tentative about putting anything outright pornographic on here; would have to know that that's something quite a few people want to see before considering it Also never sure whether to main-tag these or not...will stick with "not" for now :P

~ Mod Emily 🦇

[duchesskatriel]

I came up with this AU a couple of months ago, and since a moot encouraged me to share with the class I might as well (plus I also wanna draw this AU lol)

I'll call this au Be Born as a placeholder rn lol

SO this au starts right after HMS managed to find a way to end the loop, and they harmonise permanently. Whole basically gains the courage to confess to his crush (still don't have a name for her) and she also confesses her mutual feelings, Blah Blah Blah, they date, yada yada yada, they get married and have a pair of twins.

I also have to say that Whole, whom I will call CJ from this point forward (Does NOT mean Chonny Jash, its a diff name, same acronym) is aware and remembers HMS quite a bit. Most of his memories/knowledge of them has faded since the harmonising was over 6 years ago, but he still remembers a few key details like their roles, some of their names and a blurry image of what they look like.

Soo like the VERY FUNCTIONAL human being CJ is, decides to name his twin sons after two of the voices in his head. Wow, clap for the man everyone whoooo-. The names he uses are Artemis and Apollo. A year later, they have another child whom he names, say it with me! ATLAS WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED AHH. Atlas was born on the same day as Artemis and Apollo so you'd argue their triplets lol.

OHHH this is a normal au there couldn't possibl- SIKE THIS SHET HAS ✨️MAGIC✨️ BECAUSE PLAIN HIGH SCHOOL AUS ARE OVERRATED /J /SILLY /LH

And this is where I ruin the au🧍‍♂️🧍‍♂️🧍‍♂️

OK SO during the time the twins still weren't born, Heart began to wonder what it must be like to live life as your own person, to have a childhood, go school- etc etc (HMS split up into existence when CJ was 18 not too long before he dropped out of college) he starts rambling to Mind and Soul about this, Mind tries to shrug it off as a plain "What if" sanario or daydream but also ends up thinking the same.

This is also fueled by the fact that they spent majority of their existence fighting each other never living an even remotely normal day in their life.

Soul wants both of them to be happy, plus he also starts to get infected with this desire and curiosity. SO he somehow finds out he can cut off a prong of the trident and make it a dagger which he can link Heart or Mind to making them particularly function as a soul.

Soul also wants to be with his halves so he asks for Heart's blindfold and Mind's crown to create a puppet that can serve thr roles of all three of them. Which he names Harmonia (AYO OMORIHMS AU FORSHADOWING?!?!?!)

Harmonia is basically a perfect copy of CJ lol. Soul leaves Harmonia alone to look after CJ with his trident(now pretty much a spear) a crown of a ruler who has stepped down from his throne and a blindfold used to protect its previous wearer from the blinding lights of the Sun.

You can kinda just ignore that part if you want (still on the fence with it but I'll most likely go with it) cus it doesn't really effect the story if you were to erase it. All that happens mostly is Deju Vu

I don't really need to explain which HMS is which kid hah.

I'm now gonna explain the three kids.

First is Artemis, who is TECHNICALLY the older twin (he came out first). Artemis is based on the right brain being not only the emotional side but also the creative and artistic side. So yes... he is an artist. Quite extroverted, still likes his peace and quiet, yeahhhh

Second is Apollo, the "younger" twin (funny because he's the tallest out of the three). Ehh, you know the drill, straight A's student... hot nerd even (JOKE. DONT KILL ME. NO. NUH UH. I WAS JOKING EH) the classic "grades over mental health because" guy. Monotone and deep voice but is surprisingly approachable (unless he put you on his "No likey" list based on first impressions lol).

Last but not least, Atlas, the poor younger sibling who keeps getting caught in the crossfire between his two older siblings. He's more on the athletic side, being hockey team (suggested by randa). The most energetic of the three, as a kid, he often asked his brothers to play with him, which is why the trio grew up to be really close.

Uhhhh some trivia/fun facts to maybe explain their characters a bit more:

• Apollo and Artemis "fight" from time to time but its mostly "YOU FATASS, YOU ATE ALL MY KITKATS" then dramatic pause then "Dad made waffles."

• Apollo's favourite book is No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai.

• Artemis is the shortest of the three and gets flamed by Apollo about it

• CJ doesn't have a favourite child

• Apollo is the one that sits on the front passenger seat of the car, and will die fighting for it.

• Apollo is a cat person while Artemis is a dog person.

• Sexualities

Apollo: Bi

Artemis: Gay

Atlas: AroAce

• Ages:

Apollo and Artemis: 16

Atlas: 15

• Aollo's fashion taste is dark academia

• Atlas and Apollo did karate for 8 years

• Despite this, Artemis poses the most threat to the average bypasser

• CJ's wife works abroad on a cruise. She only sees her family atleast once a year

• Atlas used to have a childhood dog named....wait for it..... DARREL

• Atlas has more then one occasion, forced Apollo to dance Rasputin on just dance.

•Apollo's sleep schedule is so bad he's immune system is absolute trash

• Artemis once forgot to lock his room during a family gathering and came back to one of his younger cousins scribbling on one of his paintings.

• Artemis dislikes the idea of having kids for that reason

• Artemis was struggling on a question so hard his tutor had to ask Apollo for help because neither could they figure it out.

Yeah that's all for now, CYA

[verytallfox]

THE SOUNDS OF NIGHTMARES EPISODE 4 OBSERVATIONS

CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of suffering and death of children, mention of suicide (none in super graphic detail, but you have been warned)

So tragically the Ferryman does not appear in the latest release directly. However, we do get more of Otto’s further violations of ethics. He’s getting less restrained with concealing his pursuit of the Nowhere and the Ferryman.

We also get a look at what will likely be the fairground in the upcoming third game! That was a pleasant surprise. I’ve seen a few theories that the entity described there, the man in the purple suit and his dummy, are going to be enemies in the game. I could easily see that happening!

I wonder if we’ll meet any of those children while we’re there or if they’re long gone (dead, corrupted, or escaped). It seems like they might have had an idea for how to escape the Nowhere, and I’m wondering if escape will be on the table for Low and Alone. I sure hope so. The kids torn between these two planes of existence could really use a win.

Also, it’s worth noting just how good Noone is at putting the pieces together once Otto comes clean. She states it pretty succinctly: even if he wants to help her, he’s still using her suffering to figure out how to break into this nightmarish world to save someone else. She’s a means to an end. I don’t think she has long until the Ferryman or whatever higher power he serves (more on that in a bit) comes to collect her. Her panic attack and despair were also both really painful to listen to. Poor kid.

Moving on from the episode:

I’ve seen more and more stuff on the mirrors and the theory that Otto is the Mirror Man. Lemme offer a slight alternative that might be connected or the same: what if he’s the hanging figure in the Maw? This is more of a what-if than anything. I’m going on the assumption that Otto will eventually succeed in reaching the Nowhere (which has been shown to have normal-ish looking adults here and there), get trapped, and take his own life rather than be corrupted.

This same argument can be applied to why he might be the Mirror Man: Upon reaching the Nowhere, either through the same means as the children or another supernatural means of entry he’ll find himself trapped. Maybe it will be whatever he uses to enter the Nowhere that corrupts him or maybe it will be getting stuck there for a prolonged period of time. Either way, the darkness wins in the ends.

Both are totally conjecture on my part! If he does appear, it would probably make more sense that he be linked to mirrors than the hanging guy.

Finally, onto the Ferryman! I think he does operate as a fully sapient being and I do think he’s either received or taken (perhaps by force) the power he has. He can move about the Nowhere’s interconnected planes freely. Also going off of another Tumblr poster @queen0fm0nsterz (hellooo, sorry to @ you your idea is so goddamn good), I agree that he wasn’t human to begin with.

I also agree that Otto is probably wrong to assume the Ferryman can’t reach him in his own world. At the very least, if anyone from the Nowhere could cross over it would be him.

I feel that the Ferryman does not control the Nowhere either (perhaps nothing truly does), he simply has access that most other residents do not. So is he as free as the monsters that live there can be, or is he subservient to something else? I don’t think his purpose is limited to the Maw. Honestly, I think it’s a side gig. He might not have ulterior motives but if anything it feels to me like it’s just to pay the bills figuratively speakinf.

I don’t think the Maw or the Signal Tower rule the Nowhere. They both have similar functions, just on different scales and in different environments. But they both exist to feed and feed on those with insatiable desires (presumably), and it feels like there are probably older things than them that exist there.

So in short, I believe the Ferryman has his own agenda and that he may serve something else. I simply just don’t know what that might be.

Anyway, thank you again for your post @queen0fm0nsterz !!! It was really thought provoking and I hope you share more ideas as the series goes on.

Very good episode overall! I look forward to the remainder of the series!

[f0xgl0v3]

Camp Jupiter Ranking Hc

Alternatively: ‘Camp Jupiter: Re-imagined Ranking hc rework thingy?’ Wooo okay, 14 pages later of me trying to get this all formulated I can finally share the fruits of my labor!

Like always I’ll talk about roles that were in the Ancient Roman military, mushed together with concepts from Camp Jupiter and my own ideas, and then still don’t take anything I say like super duper seriously. I’ll also mention the units, which are based on after the Marian reforms(?). I kinda ripped apart the legion..? Nicely, love my guys but I wanted to nerd out a little for the ranks, but I pretty much just switched some stuff around but it’s totally still like the three levels and I still think it’s pretty simple? Or like yeah, I did like metaphorically smush the sandcastle and then rebuild it in my design, but that’s the whole point of it being a headcannon/au/re-imagining thing. Hopefully, uh. I’ve tried to make all of this actually make sense and have function. So, enough of me yapping,

Senior Officers/ the important people

Senior officers get their own little thing. This is where you’d put your like Praetor, Senator, Centurion in canon terms. I’m just calling them senior officers (I did it for note optimization so I wouldn’t pull my hair out while writing) but yeah. There are some new roles; Legion Legate(s), Tribune Lacticlavus(?), Senators, and Centurions.

Legion Legates have effectively taken the role of what Praetors are in canon? I kept the 2 (even though historically there would be 1 legion legate) they would run in pairs (most of the time, though there’s probably exceptions). The legate would serve for 4-5 years, it’s possible for the Senators if needed to remove a Legate or Tribune from power. Legion Legates have to meet the same requirements a Centurion would, and would be voted in by the majority. Like I said really similar to Praetors (just not Praetors because I wanted to move that to the New Rome government.) doing most of the same roles that a Praetor in canon would serve, being the referees during the War Games, directing the legion in battle. They’d also decide what the war games would be that time, form the schedules of the cohorts, call for senate meetings under certain circumstances.

Tribune Lacticlavus, the second in command to the Legates. Generally there acting as a stand in for distributing things like spoils to the cohorts after battles, takes majority of the words from legionnaires and sorts out smaller issues, would run with their legate pair and serve the same amount of time as their legates. Also removed the gender lock on them that the Praetors in canon had. Not necessarily needed (A legate pair can slip past having on and still perform their duties) though it’s very, encouraged to have one? It’s basically odd to have a term where there is no Tribune Lacticlavus

Senators; very similar to canon, elected annually, with 2 senators per cohort. Can run for re-election, Centurions/other lower ranked roles can also be senators jointly (excluding things like an Aquafiler)

Centurions; Elected by the Senate (like canon) 2 serve per cohort, typically have 4-5 year long terms. Though can serve for longer times (*Like Jason for example) Centurions must’ve served at least one year in the legion and performed in a quest to be eligible. This time they get to have their silly special names for differentiating the Centurions. Primus Pilus for the senior Centurion of the First cohort (*My dude Octavian. Uses it too, needs all the respect he can get from his title so maybe people will actually listen to him-) Pilus Priors for Senior Centurions of the other cohorts (Example; someone like Dakota would be the Pilus Prior of his Cohort.) and the basic Centurion for the not senior Centurion (sorry Primi Ordines but I didn’t really want to make this more long than I already made it). Most names for Centurions literally are just to differentiate (Like the Decanus role I’m gonna bring up). Other than being able to pull rank by being the Senior Centurion but that’s about it.

Optio; Optiones(?)/ default Optio Centuriae, are the second in commands to the Centurions essentially. They keep the troops in order, re-enforce orders from Centurions, and generally just like- helping out? Their specific title can change based on what their curated role is (like an Optio being an Optio Valetudinarii; or in charge of the Hospital) but as default Optio Centuriae; there to be aid to the Centurions. Usually each Centurion will bring up one of their friends to be their Optio.

Aquafiler; actually a canon role (Our current camp Jupiter Aquafiler is Jacob!) holds the legions standard, carefully picked by the Senate. A very honored position.

Okay that is the like, important roles that are more than like. Just an extra role? Like a title that aaa, but here are the just. Legionnaire extra silly roles,

Decanus; a title with no power. Decanus is the term for those who commanded a Conterbanum (more info on them later). Saying someone is a Decanus is more of a way to distinguish and make separating the Conterbanums easier (like being in a line of people and having the first person be what the line is referred to as) a Decanus is chosen as a group in the Conterbanum, there is no standardized way and it doesn’t really affect how the Conterbanum works.

Immunes; Immunes are the specialized members of the legion. Medics, engineers, those types of specialized jobs. They still fight but are exempt from basic legionary duty (trench digging and stuff). They play a role in like Conterbanum stuff that’ll come up later.

Probatio; The same to canon. I didn’t change it but thought it was still worth to include them and stuff.

Okay. OKAY. Almost done, it’s taken upwards of almost a week to type this and finally I establish the one last thing, the introduction of Conterbanums!!

Conterbanums are a sub unit in the Roman military made of 10 people (8 common legionary, 2 Immunes) these relate to the Decanus role I mentioned. But like in the Roman military these serve more just for troop like morale? Building that family bond stuff. A Conterbanum is formed of like I said, 8 common legionnaires and 2 Immunes. The immune distribution is most likely with one being a medic and the other being… something? Conterbanum’s are mainly implemented 1) for organization, it’s easier to manage the cohorts and keep records with everyone in these easily recorded groups. And 2) to make Camp Jupiter overall more interwoven, to promote more community and more of a bond between legionnaires, it would probably serve a narrative purpose to like make camp seem more alive, and also does what it did in the Roman military which was like. Comradery (I can’t spell but you know what I mean).

Okay! Okay that’s all, I think. I’m sure. I did a lot of yapping, and I did a lot of things. Generally do I have any issues with how camp is structured? Not really, other than the gender locks on Praetors and like the super duper murky rules I don’t really have anything against it. But for the re-imagining that exists in my head I want Camp to be much more traditional, and much more complex because like something something we first see it through Percy’s eyes and it’d be confusing and whatever.

Also it took me a week just to write this out not to mention the month of cursory research because I’ve been getting sick and recovering then getting sick again all throughout January so I apologize for not including New Romes government system. But I also didn’t want to think about the Roman government system of like Julius Caesar time frames (what I’m generally planning on basing it off of. Just that general time period because it’s the one I’m most familiar with-)

[swarmik]

“SuperCGA” and ATI Graphics Solution and GEM Desktop

8bit guy published a video about SuperCGA cards, which reminded me that this was a topic a recently dug into. I’ve never really worked with CGA/EGA monitors. When we had a computer at home for the first time in 1989, it was an IBM PS/2 Model 20 borrowed from dad’s office. That computer already had an on-board graphics chip that worked with VGA monitors. One year later, my family decided to buy our own computer. It was a 286 clone with an SVGA graphics card and an SVGA monitor able to show 1024×768 (interlaced though).

During the Bytefest (a vintage computer show in Czech Republic), one of the computers I brought there was an early Vienna 286. A friend of mine promised that he would have brought an EGA monitor, so I could try a card I bought just for this purpose – a Trident 8800CS (512KB). This Trident has both VGA and RGBI/TTL (CGA/EGA) outputs and can be switched to act like different IBM graphics chips. Sadly, the Trident card was ignoring the switches and always used VGA timing. It sent the signal always to both outputs but my EGA monitor was not able to sync 640×480 with 31kHz h-sync (as expected). We brought an oscilloscope, even made some modifications to the card, but nothing helped. When I asked in some groups, the only answer I got was that somebody tried the same thing on his Trident 8800CS with the same result.

Anyway, I also had the original ATI Graphics Solution card that was sold with the computer somewhere in 1987, so at least I had something else to play with. This is a very neat card. It has 64KB of video RAM and supports both CGA and Hercules modes. As I shown in the past, it even supports CGA modes on Hercules/MDA monitors using clever timing tricks. The card was used in the Hercules mode for the whole its life as the machine served in an electrical engineering lab for designing electric circuits. This was finally the time for me to switch it into the native CGA mode.

Seeing the CGA modes was not so interesting for me. However, the card supports also non-standard modes that can utilize the whole memory which is four times of what the IBM CGA has. The obvious choice was something that supports Plantronics ColorPlus which ATI supported like many other CGA-clone vendors. Yes, I tried Planet-X3 and Space Quest 3 in 320×200 with 16 colors. However, Planet-X3 is a modern game, and the Space Quest 3 uses a modern video driver to support this card (the original game did not have it). I was more interested in productivity apps. After seeing that GEM Desktop (sort of a Windows competitor) provides support for ColorPlus, I installed the whole bundle.

At the beginning, everything looked just like with CGA – black & white only. This was because the desktop environment does not use more colors there. On the other side, if I moved the mouse fast enough, it was visible that sometimes the cursor was ping instead of black for a moment. Thus, I knew that we were actually in the 4-color mode. After installing office programs, I was finally able to see all four colors in 640×200. Quickly after that I realized that among desktop accessories, there is a calculator that uses magenta as a background color. Anyway, I am happy that I also tried these office/productivity apps. From my point of view, they are gimmick. They look like they support everything but when you try to do something, you get the feeling that they were designed more to present the functionality of the desktop environment.

The ColorPlus had just 32KB of video RAM and my ATI Graphics Solution has 64KB, so it should be able to drive 640×200 in full 16 colors. I’ve checked the user guide for the card and indeed this mode was mentioned there. ATI manual says that there is support for it in AutoCAD, PC Paintbrush+, Lotus 1-2-3, Symphony and Framework II. I installed the PC Paintbrush+ as a bitmap editor can benefit the most from such a mode. The support for this card was built in the software so no extra drivers were needed. After selecting the mode, I was able to get the best out of a CGA 200-line monitor. What I really like, the bundled ATI driver disk contains a small example program to enable this mode (including its source code), so programmers could modify their own programs to get more than what a standard CGA offered.

Original article with hi-res photos: here

[marley-manson]

Ok so this is my controversial mash take, but I feel like a really interesting direction for the show to go post season 4 and 5 would have been to make potter a straight up villain. Basically, the early seasons of the show set up a dynamic where generally everyone was one of the ‘good guys’ except for two (Margaret and frank) and they used their authority (as majors, and also as Margaret knew a lot of generals to cause problems for the camp. The show obviously matured from that, and gave Margaret a proper character arc, but that left frank as the only real antagonist, and even then, a much more cartoonish and watered down one. I feel the better direction would have been to keep Margaret’s arc the same, but make potter the new villain, with Charles serving as a minor antagonist, but mainly a good guy with some questionable morals, as he does in the first few seasons he’s in the show. This would have kind of reintroduced that threat of getting in serious trouble from the early seasons that I felt was lacking from the later ones, where everyone was just a big family and the critique of the military lost its edge. Having potter as so regular army that he becomes more of an antagonist would have been a way to continue that critique, and also would have allowed for more exploration of his character. I say this as someone who loves potter and the later seasons of the show, idk it just popped into my head and I wanted to tell someone

You've come to the right place because I completely agree!

Without Frank, with Margaret softening and becoming one of the guys, with all the representatives of the military in the cast made to be likeable (and even most of those single-episode representatives outside the cast), the show almost entirely lost its anti-authority vibe and military critique to settle into a much less political 'war bad' message.

And like it's not terrible, the later show still has a lot of great character stuff and maybe the refocus away from satire and towards character exploration was part of why it lasted so long. But man I do think that we could've still had a solid balance between character focus and anti-military messaging that would've worked even better, and Potter as an antagonist would've been perfect for that.

Even just as a semi-antagonist, fitting his indulgent grandfatherliness and his army man shit. I could see him being very interesting as a character if he was still often likeable, but also had to be fought and outwitted sometimes. And if the show tackled the tension between having a commanding officer who wants to be your frirend but who can (and does! at least once!) cavalierly send you into mortal danger out of pettiness (der tag). (oh wait - also taking the fifth with klinger)

If the show stayed on Klinger's side during his escape attempts instead of wanting us to root for Potter to foil him in a clever way, and framed Potter foiling Klinger as an antagonistic position that disappoints us and makes us resent him.

If the show actually saw Potter as functionally a warden rather than making a few funny jokes about it. If his petty orders were treated as a potentially dangerous misuse of authority rather than lighthearted jokes. If he wasn't necessarily on the draftees' side, and they had a healthy suspicion towards him.

Generally if the show maintained it's anti-authority sentiment instead of pulling a 180 because it's not as cool anymore as we approach the 80s.

Honestly I feel like Henry was framed as more of an antagonist at times than Potter has ever been, like in To Market To Market, or Cowboy, or Love and Marriage, which is honestly kind of bizarre lol. The closest Potter comes to an antagonist role is Dreams (ideal portrayal of Potter tbh) and Wheelers and Dealers, where his tendencies to give petty commands and throw his weight as a colonel around are at least thoroughly mocked by the narrative, rather than treated as loveable quirks.

Like ultimately I'd love it if Potter's characterization stayed basically the same, and the only difference was how the narrative framed him, and how characters react to him sometimes. Like April Fools should've been psychological horror. The Price should've ended with Potter's accidental propaganda campaign sending the Korean kid to his death rather than ~redeeming his cowardice~ lmao god I hate that episode. Hawkeye Get Your Gun's climax should've been properly dark rather than mitigated with drunken humour and they shouldn't have found a compromise - or if they did, Hawkeye should've been troubled by it afterwards, second guessing himself. The Korean Surgeon's ending should've felt darker, rather than 'fair enough colonel, what can you do, good luck at the pow camp.' etc etc.

And sometimes they should have to successfully defy him and scheme behind his back the way they did in the early seasons. And maybe sometimes Potter would have to be a source of potential danger who could have Hawkeye court-martialed. And if Potter was still everyone's "friend," in a way, man that tension when he's framed as an antagonist would be SO interesting to dig into. But every time we get close to something like that it's just treated as a light joke, rather than a source of real conflict (eg the aforementioned ordering Klinger to accompany him into danger for no reason but pettiness in Taking the Fifth) and it's so disappointing.

[bnhaobservation]

How much do u think Enji and Touya loved each other? Do u think Touya still loves Enji? (And the family too ig)

Let's start from the easy part, with the premise that, of course, this is my opinion and my understanding of the story. Different people might have different understanding and opinions. I'm not Horikoshi, I don't own the truth.

The Doylistic approach first.

Since this is a story targeted to young people that aims to a happy ending and to transmit positivity and so on, I'll be very surprised if it were to end with Touya not loving his family and this having no hope to be fixed. The message would be that the situation can't be saved, that once you screw up there's nothing you can do. Which is realistic but it's a bad lesson to give to youths.

Shonen manga generally prefer to drive home how, with hard effort, you can overcome even Nighteye's predictions of the future, how there's always hope and nothing is the end.

So, of course, since the whole Todoroki family is putting an effort in saving Touya and wanting to reach him and Touya has a sympathetic backstory that basically tells us he became a Villain (and not a Hero as he originally wanted) because his family screwed up, it would stand to reason that the story would reward all this by confirming it's not too late for them to be a family, a functional one.

And, of course, the same applies to Enji, as the story is likely meant to drive home how, despite all his mistakes, he loves his children very much.

Likely, to a Japanese audience, this is meant to feel even more hammered, as Enji is also one of the good guys and therefore needs to love his kids, never mentioning Enji is also the one that, in Horikoshi story, who is meant to be used to discuss of the family as Japanese people view it.

It's highly unlikely Horikoshi would want to promote the image of parents who don't love their children to young readers, more likely he's just interested in showing how parents can make mistakes but, despite them, they love their children and, eventually, (if they stay alive) they can even fix them (so as to get in line with the positive and hopeful message of the story).

The Watsonian answer now.

Touya's feelings (and Enji's as well) are complicate and complex.

Generally, when we talk about "love", we talk about the one of the pure and selfless kind, the one in which you care about someone and wouldn't hurt that person and prioritize that person's need or, at least, consider them as equally important as yours and so on. In short of the one we would call 'true love'.

Actually the definition of "love" is just that 'you like someone/something very much' where the definition of "hate" is 'you dislike someone/something very much' and the one of "indifference" is 'you feel nothing for someone/something'.

Why all those definitions?

We'll get at them soon.

Let's start with Enji because, again, it's simpler.

Enji loved his children. All of them. However in the past his love hadn't been of the 'pure' type, because it had been tainted by selfishness. When interacting with his kids, he has always prioritized himself, his wants and his needs.

He had them so that HE couldn't feel negative feelings, when he didn't know what to say to Touya he dumped him on Rei so HE wouldn't feel uncomfortable, he ignored Fuyumi and Natsuo because HE was busy with his own Hero ambitions, he forced Shouto to train because HE wanted Shouto to fulfil HIS ambitions.

So, even though he loves his kids, for most of his life he had their needs taking a backseat compared to his own, which is... kind of like the ultimate sin in a parent, as we expect a loving parent to always PRIORITIZE his kids.

Enji doesn't, and, in this, he's helped by the culture he lives in. Japan is a country who for centuries strongly believed in what Enji did, kids being viewed as something that existed to serve the parents' ambitions, needs, whatever and nothing else some things Enji did were, for years, presented as something absolutely natural and acceptable for a parent to do in manga and anime.

I've talked in reply to another ask to how in manga/anime they used to depict the idea of tough love and how Enji is probably one of Horikoshi's attempts to subvert that old trope (there are others through the manga).

Now there's a problem that come with being selfish.

Caring about yourself is important, but stretching things too thin is wrong.

There's a nice Aesop's Fable "The Horse and the Donkey" that discusses this (interesting enough it seems in the English version the fable is called "The Ass and the Mule" with the Horse being the Ass litterally and figuratively).

A donkey and a horse travel together with their master but the donkey is overburdened so he asks the horse, who is carrying nothing, help in carrying his load. The horse refuses so, when the donkey dies, the master put all the load of the donkey on the horse PLUS the dead animal's skin.

The horse in the story didn't wish for the donkey to die, he had no ill will toward the donkey he just... didn't want to give up his own comfort. It was so nice he could travel unburdened by any load... why should he care about the donkey's problems?

And this works just fine for him, until the donkey's problems became HIS problems because he had refused to help the donkey.

While the story isn't meant to be a perfect mirror of what Enji did, it shows well the consequences of selfish behaviour.

Out of his selfish behaviour Enji causes his wife to be hospitalized, Touya to 'die' and his children to reject him as a father.

If he had left his comfort zone a little and cared about them more things would have gone differently... PLUS he gets the donkey's skin, aka Touya coming back from death to return with interests all the pain and the damage he suffered psychologically.

Enji's arc is one in which he tries to overcome his previously selfish behavior, in which he starts spending his nights thinking no more at what he can do to get rid of his envy for All Might, but at what he can do for his family, the family he loves, because he has realized his previous behaviour with them was wrong. And this includes his behaviour with Touya, the child he has mourned when he thought he was dead and that he can't fight not even when Touya attacks him.

Shouto fights Touya but Enji can't. He doesn't lift a finger against his son, his behaviour contrasting sharply with how he was with Shigaraki. As far as Villains go, Shigaraki and Touya are the same, and Enji was more than willing to murder Shigaraki but he won't do the same with his child.

Since however he doesn't know at that point how to save him, how to stop him, he thinks he'll die with him even though he admits he never thought about dying before, he wanted to LIVE and atone but instead he's willing to die with him so that this time Touya won't be alone, dying a quite horrible death being burned alive.

So yes, Enji, for most of his life, acted in the wrong way with Touya. Even now what he's doing isn't the best he could be doing, but it's the best he could think of. There's love and it's finally he's trying to express it in the right way, leaving his comfort zone and doing things FOR HIS CHILDREN'S BENEFIT instead than thinking solely to himself.

It's of course a story, so it makes things simplers and, despite this, there's plenty more to say and I've just summarizing the whole thing as overwise this reply would be a 60 pages meta, so don't take this as all that there is.

And now we switch to Touya who, instead, is a more complex case.

Touya started by loving his family and, specifically, his father, very much. When he can't train any longer and feels Enji is ignoring him, he's desperate for his attention.

While from Enji's perspective Touya is disobeying him because he keeps on training, for Touya's perspective he's doing all that to make his father proud, to make his father see him again.

Then he burns himself alive, spends three years in coma and, when he finally comes home, he snaps under the belief his family has conveniently buried and forgotten him and comes to hate them all.

Even heard of the proverb "the greatest hate springs from the greatest love"?

That's his case.

So now it's just hate?

No, the problem is that in Touya's case love and hate or, if you prefer 'odi at amo' are the two faces of the same medal, his hate existing solely and specifically because his love also exist.

"I hate and I love. Why I do this, perhaps you ask. I know not, but I feel it happening and I am tortured." [Catullus 85 by Catullus]

If he could stop loving his family, if he could feel indifference toward them, then what he perceived as rejection wouldn't hurt and wouldn't push him to hate them.

You might say Touya loves his family but hates so intensely the way they handled him he came to identify their behaviour with his family.

He's not just trying to punish them for what they did, he's still trying to force them to look at him, only now instead than positive attention, he's searching negative attention.

It's something children do, in children getting the attention of adults is a PRIMARY need (and with attention I don't mean just the adults watching over them but also showing interest in what they do and giving them emotional care), if this need isn't satisfied there can be psychological consequences which can be pretty severe.

Touya is destroyed, physically and psychologically by his family's neglect.

Sadly, one of the maladaptative strategies to cope with neglect is to try to force the others to pay you attention, we see often in children who are neglected, how, when they realize that by behaving well they don't get attention, they resort to the opposite method, they misbehave to get you to look at them.

Touya becomes the opposite of what he wanted to become, if before he wanted to be a Hero, now he becomes a Villain and destroys society (which he views as complicit in the neglect he suffered) and tries to do the same with all he thinks his father hold dear.

The root is still the same, he wants his father's attention, he wants his father to finally look at him because Enji's indifference (and his family's indifference), the indifference of who he loves, kills him emotionally (and it almost has physically), but things had gotten so warped and out of control in order to have the attention he needs, he tries to kill them all as he can't see any other way for them to finally look at him and be with him.

In real life it would require a lifetime of therapy to unpack all this because, of course, his behaviour solves nothing, this doesn't really make him feel he's being seen, that his family is with him (never mention you can't go around destroying a country but we're talking about Touya's feelings for his family here). He needs genuine positive attention, attention that's given to him freely and unconditionately and out of love, and not because he forced their hand by 'misbehaving', or tried to humour them by making them proud.

He basically needs to feel loved because he's part of the family, not due to what he does or doesn't do, what he can or can't do.

And because he has this need, we know he loves his family, and because this need doesn't get fulfilled, he also hates his family and the two feelings are inescapably tied together and exist together. And yes, it's very warped because this is what happen when two hugely contrasting emotions exist in such a fierce way inside a person. Love and hate are often emotions which are tangled together in one way or in another (for example in Shouto and Natsuo they are in a very different way) but in Touya's case they aren't just tied together, they overlap. It's madness.

The other option for him would be, of course, for him to finally let go of his family, to get indifferent to them. In that case his hate would also eventually die with his love, because what he perceives as his family's indifference toward him wouldn't hurt him anymore, which would result in him not hating their indifference anymore, and so the hate inside him would have no fuel any longer and would die as well.

Honestly though, I don't think Horikoshi will go for this endgame.

The most likely solution to have a positive ending is for Touya to finally realize his family is sorry and not indifferent to him at all, that he doesn't need to kill them and himself to be with them.

Again, I've oversimplified the whole story because here we would need a 6000 pages meta for how complex the whole thing is, so please, forgive me if I didn't dig into it as well as the whole topic needed but the reply would have gotten too long if I had.

Again, all that is just what I think, I don't pretend to know the truth.

Thank you for your ask! I love to talk of the Todoroki family!

[dontpetmeibite]

Ravage, how did it feel seeing Tarn perish at Megatron's hands for...literally ripping you in half? Or at least a version of you, I should say.

I know that wasn't the main reason, but I feel like it was what drove o'l Megs to go "fuckit mode" and kill Tarn like the mistake he was.

I have actually not seen that, and I don't want to. Is this the manner in which you normally ask people you've just met about their traumatic experiences?

If I put myself in the position of that Ravage, seeing that incident, I think it would piss me off, because it would have been better for me if he'd chosen to do that before I died, not after.

But I don't know. And I don't know what any of those people went through, whether it was the same as me or not. I mean that Ravage was still using he/him pronouns and maybe he liked them, maybe he was a masculine person instead of a person who didn't want all her enemies to know she was a girl until the war was over.

Here is what I do know based on what happened in my own timeline.

Megatron was subjected to a partial "personality adjustment" on Messatine. At first I didn't know that and I was pleased to see my amica finally accepting that we were not going to be able to go to Iacon and politely ask the Senate to vacate the premises and allow us to craft a functional and just government without giving a few people Rossum's three shots.

But it just kept getting worse and worse. Soundwave and I were never accused of treason or taken out and shot because Megatron loved us as people, but he also stopped listening to us when we said we thought things were going too far.

Then we had

(yes glit I borrowed your gif)

and at the end of it he went Autobot and abdicated and abandoned us and that totally aided the cause of peace because Galvatron and Soundwave coming to blows was not anything that anyone could have ever seen coming given their respective personalities, and I ended up on the Lost Light for reasons and you know.

After I left the LL, Megatron got attacked by a rogue mnemosurgeon who could fuck with people's brains without touching them and mysteriously recovered the pacifism of his early youth. Which would have been very convenient for that guy (seriously, fuck that guy) if Tailgate hadn't ruined his day by dropping a shuttle on him.

Shortly after this completely normal and unforced moral 180 Megatron tried to bash his brain into a wall and told his doctor that he'd never been happier with a huge grin on his face. Because that's not suspicious or anything.

So far as I can tell the only purpose my death served in that timeline was to make Soundwave utterly miserable (and result in him ending up with that idiot Cosmos) and make Megatron get up off his aft and blow up the guy he turned into a raving mad serial killer at least partly on purpose with antimatter. But I don't know. I didn't live that life.

Charlie, Marissa and Miko told me that this is called "refrigeration" when it happens to female human characters in stories and that if I were a fictional character they would be pretty mad about that.

My point is I'm not judging anyone here in this scenario because Trepan and Sunder both fucked with Megatron's head and in the intervening time period Megatron fucked with Glitch's head and made him into Tarn, although I do not think we can blame all of that on Megatron because the guy was the commandant of Grindcore at one time, while my brother was there, so.

Our history is enough of a sideshow in the timeline I'm actually in. Would I be glad to know I was avenged? I guess so. But on the other hand if I died because of his fucking vow of pacifism and he didn't keep it that's not exactly wonderful either. And on the third one (good thing I have four paws) maybe it's really the fault of all those needlefuckers who thought they had the right to open up his cranial vault and redecorate!

I'm not blaming a Megatron I never met for the exigencies of a situation I was never in. Megatron is my amica, Soundwave is my conjunx, Tarn did horrible things to people in my universe too, I just wasn't one of them. and it didn't happen.

My point is, you're asking me how I feel about people I don't even know that are actually NOT the people I love the most in this universe. They look and act a whole lot like those people but I have no idea if they're the kind of people they were in my own universe.

I mean I could also say "Minimus Ambus needs two whole sets of armour so that nobody catches him impersonating a vertebrate" which is a thing that I actually said in my own universe once.

But if I did say that, I would be talking about the one in my universal stream. And that would cause no end of needless offence, because there could be five different people reading this post who are also named Minimus Ambus, but none of them did any of the shady shit the Ambus brothers I knew in my own universe did.

Or maybe they did but since I don't know them I'd possibly rather not know.

[variousqueerthings]

Can I be a teeny tiny bit terrified

ghosts! mysterious creatures! misty forests! psychics! good ingredients, it's "Hide"

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 10/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 7/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 6/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 6/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 8/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 9/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 6/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 9/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 6/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 6/10

FULL RATING: 73/100 (if I can count….)

this one's a bit hard to rate, because I don't strictly think all of these needed to be very high, but there were definitely things -- more related to pacing than anything -- that could be improved upon

OBJECTIFICATION: there are three ladies in this episode, Clara of course, Emma Grayling, and the witch-ghost (who is actually a time traveller/spacefarer called Hila) all of whom are chill. Honestly feels like we're beating the curse of the Kissogram at this point!

PLOT-POINT: sooo Emma is kind of mainly there to be psychic/empathic -- she does feel feelings about it, and to be fair, the other guy isn't a super fleshed out character either

Clara has some feelings about being very scared but still quite brave, so she doesn't feel emotionally vacant from the episode + she gets this cryptic warning about the Doctor from Emma (he has a sliver of ice in his heart), which at least gives her a bit of POV

but there's still that annoying overhanging "Clara is a mystery" which is the whole reason it turns out they're there, even though it only comes up at the end + we do get a bit of how Clara might feel about the concept of ghosts, as she questions the Doctor about how they see people -- both living and dead at the same time, all the time: "to you I havent been born yet. And to you I’ve been dead 100 billion years. Is my body out there in the ground? To you I’m a ghost… we’re all ghosts to you. We must be nothing."

it gives the idea of her being introduced as "a mystery" a tad more depth, because in some ways all mortality is a mystery to the Doctor

Hila's interiority is on the whole less explored, which I think is a bit of a shame, because this episode has a bit of pacing drag here and there, which could have been used instead to give her a bit more depth

COMPLEXITY: this is another thing related to the pacing, although it doesn't annoy me much, I will bring it up! for pedanticism! there's a mystery about a ghost that's actually something bleeding through from a pocket universe, so they go there, bring her back, the Doctor is stuck there and it's oooh the creature there is spoooky, and then that kind of takes awhile, and then right at the end we squeeze in the actual plottwist, which is that there are two creatures trying to find their way back to each other

there's a lot of travelling forwards and backwards in time with the Tardis to first discover that Hila is the ghost, which in itself isn't bad + gives the quite neat interaction about people seeming like ghosts to the Doctor generally, but then once they're in the forest it's made out to be creepy in a way that doesn't quite pay off, and spends a looot of time on, comparatively

and there's never enough time given to looking at the creature, until the very last shot (which! I do love!)

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: soooo Clara is "just" an ordinary girl, confirmed. and Clara is getting some insight into how the Doctor might see mortality, and having some kind of feelings about that

COMPANIONS MATTER: yeah, she's very proactive! so proactive in fact that she calls the Tardis a cow, twice! it made me gasp, I tell you, but actually an antagonistic relationship with the Tardis is quite a fun change (also possibly slightly related to her being a Time Anomaly - the Tardis isn't a fan of those, canonically)

anyway she strongarms the Tardis into helping her help the Doctor, which is quite fun. also this little interaction, when the Doctor asks her to accompany him ghost hunting in the spooky house:

The Doctor, after she's willfully not engaging with him: Im giving you a face. Can you see me? Look at my face Clara, giving in: Fiiine. .. dare me! The Doctor, grinning: I dare you. No take-backsies

it's very siblings energy, I enjoy that she's not just running into everything without caring of the danger. sometimes you're scared!

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: the Doctor gets this one wrong so many times, it's a running gag. one more win for the "just some guy" Doctor fans!

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: there's a fair few Easter Eggs to both Classic!who and Nu!who in it, which is fun if you know what to look for

“SEXINESS”: SIMILARLY ARE WE FREE OF THE CURSE!???

INTERNAL WORLD: a tad rockier, big spooky house, interesting backstories to the characters, check, then pocket universe of spooky forest, cooolcoolcool, but there's something a little sparse about it for me. Nitpicky, but this is the rating to nitpick with!

POLITICS: mmmmm I guess don't judge a book by its cover, and sometimes the spooky alien is actually just not someone you're used to seeing. otherwise kind of a simplistic episode on the whole, although I like the link between the young woman who describes herself as an "assistant" and her many times great granddaughter who's a space pioneer

(although, I've gotta be honest, there was a moment where I wish we could have cut out the guy and made this a lesbian cross-time romance instead, it would have been great and focused the episode a little!)

FULL RATING: 73/100 (if I can count….)

the biggest best thing of this episode is the cool alien design, and also the space-faring woman who is thought to be a ghost, and these are unfortunately the bits we get the least of. but that's not to say this episode is terrible

it's a very fun little episode, with more bits between Clara and the Doctor exploring their dynamic, as well as Clara and the Tardis! (not enough companions have a lot of feelings about the Tardis in my opinion, if I were travelling in the Tardis I'd be cooing over her 24/7)

anyway, another strong contender in the second half of the season!

[spinningbuster98]

Mega Man Zero 2 Ending: In Mother's Light

Zero 2 has probably the hardest final levels in the series....which is why I like neutering 2 of them by using the two Cyber Elves that can instantly eliminate every enemy in a level!

Elpizo is pretty underwhelming as a final boss: his first phase can be a bit tricky but his final form is basically just a big target

Also Elpizo is...often not highly regarded as a villain and...yeah

He’s basically a better Sigma, sharing many of his ideological points (fun fact though: when Elpizo mentions a “world only for Reploids” that is most likely a reference to Iris) but with a more believably sympathetic motivation rather than just “I caught the evil virus lol” (also an optional npc conversation that I show even points out these parallels)

My issue is that we don’t spend nearly enough time with him pre-villany to establish him as a genuine good guy, in fact as soon as we meet him he’s already kind of an arrogant ass who’s way too sure of himself. Plus his final turnover where he understands too late that he’s been a fool happens too quickly and then he leaves just as quickly, almost like an afterthought.

The devs once mentioned that Zero 2 exists mostly as setup for Zero 3 and in this sense I guess you could argue that Elpizo was a sort of filler villain kinda thrown there just to have one. Being squeezed right between Copy X and his interesting parallels with the real X coupled with his potential implications of what X could have become without Dr.Light’s morality testing, and Dr. Weil and his....everything, it all really serves to further paint poor Elpizo as just a third wheel

Also X’s body has been destroyed

The very same body that we’ve been controlling throughout the X series, giving it power ups and weapons?

Gone for good

X is, at least physically speaking, dead

And no, the franchise won’t (fully) backtrack on this, he won’t just repair himself: the last and greatest creation of Dr.Light has officially been destroyed.

Speaking of X though: let’s talk about him

So ever since the first game we’ve been shown that X has become a Cyber Elf.

This game shows us that his consciousness has definitely been seperated from his physical body

The question is though: how did his consciousness become a Cyber Elf?

The series never truly answers but, for once, I don’t believe it’s really necessary: in this very scene we see that the Dark Elf has the power to turn Reploids into Cyber Elves. Since X had to use himself as part of the sealing mechanism for the Dark Elf it can be assumed that X’s current predicament is a consequence of having been....I guess in close contact with the Dark Elf? Which resulted in his mind being seperated from his body and turned into a Cyber Elf. I also believe that external materials confirmed this to be the case

I’m okay with this

What I’m not ok with is how certain materials decided to connect the Four Guardians’ origins with this

So the origins of the Four Guardians are never explicitly talked about in the games, they’re only ever alluded to in their character bios in Zero 3, which state that they were made from X’s DNA (a concept introduced by the late X series but never explained by the games themselves of course: basically it’s a part of a Reploid’s programming that contains all the important info on how a Reploid functions, much like how a human’s DNA contains all of their important genetic info). Apparently, according to the developers themselves, this had always been the intention, to the point that initially they wanted all 4 of them to be colored blue to further drive home the connection

Now all external materials of the Zero series mention this aspect of their origins

However there was one specific piece of material, namely the Zero Collection Japanese Timeline webside from 2010 (which is no longer up but you can read a translation on the wiki), which added another point:

it stated that, after sealing the Dark Elf, X’s psyche was shattered into 5 pieces: one is the one we talk to while the other four were used to make the Four Guardians

I...hope that this was just the website making shit up and isn’t actually canon because I don’t like it

First off: This is never alluded to ANYWHERE else, not in other materials and certainly not in the games themselves. They only ever state that the Guardians were made from X’s DNA

Furthermore: what does it mean for X himself? Is he an incomplete being? Is the X we talk to even the real one? Why doesn’t he seem more....upset about this?

But beyond all of this: would you really be able to tell?

It’s one thing to have the Four Guardians be essentially clones of X in a way but to have them actually be pieces of X’s personality?

None of them resemble him in the slightest! Especially not Fefnir and Leviathan!

Besides, if they truly ARE seperate pieces of X’s soul shouldn’t they have more....I dunno reservations about going around killing innocent reploids, taking orders from a Copy of their original self? (and they MUST know that he’s a Copy, Harpuia certainly does since he knew that Elpizo was going for X’s original body in Yggrdrasill)

Like In said: I hope that this was something that they made up out of nowhere and isn’t actually canon. After all, as we’ll see later, the devs have never been...completely consistent with the lore of the Four Guardians

As far as I’m concerned whatever the makers of a franchise may be canon officially (as long as it doesn’t explicitly contradict what’s on screen), but what happens on screen takes precedence over stuff that’s only in external materials, especially stuff that’s no longere even openly available

The in game text only says that they were made from X’s Dna and that’s what I’ll stick with for now

[darkmaga-retard]

The Passion of Patrick McKenzie

Hank Oslo

Sep 03, 2024

I found this in the tenderloin, can I keep it?

Patrick McKenzie is about as close as you will get to a “good guy”. Traditionally this would be the statement you make before you twist the knife, but in this case I find him a genuinely admirable personality. I would describe him as primarily a popularizer of how certain otherwise opaque institutions actually function, on both a principled and mechanical level, with a main audience of autiste engineers who would be otherwise be tempted to excessively defer to such institutions’ self-descriptions (“I’m sorry, but due to equity concerns we can’t negotiate compensation with new hires”). In this capacity he has done a lot of good, in mostly a sort of benign technocratic way.

So it is interesting when he tells this same audience of autistes, in what he (grading on a curve) perceives to be a polite and near-Straussian manner, that the State of California waged a race war against them for most of 2020 and will do so again the instant it is politically expedient, because that state government has a plurality of incompetents and deranged race communists running the show.

I am certain McKenzie would disagree, at least for social purposes, with my characterization of his words (after all, the real problem with the vaccine race war was that it was racist), and my inferences from his broader textual conclusions about the way the vaccination effort and COVID policy generally were administered. Nevertheless. There are more and less lurid ways to describe a system where, for instance, it was official government policy to intentionally limit vaccine distribution to whiter neighborhoods and then to establish an internal passport system so they could not use doses that would otherwise be dumped in the trash. The invective version seems fair when that policy was explicitly described, in official communications, as being motivated by a desire that whites should die at least as hard as any other posited population slice - even if saving their lives was free. McKenzie notes all this very dryly, in the run-up to describing why even the efforts to serve Underserved Populations failed miserably, but he does note it.

[mediaevalmusereads]

The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil. By Stephen Collins. Picador, 2013.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Genre: graphic novel

Series: N/A

Summary: On the buttoned-down island of Here, all is well. By which we mean: orderly, neat, contained and, moreover, beardless.

Or at least it is until one famous day, when Dave, bald but for a single hair, finds himself assailed by a terrifying, unstoppable... monster!

Where did it come from? How should the islanders deal with it? And what, most importantly, are they going to do with Dave?

***Full review below.***

CONTENT WARNINGS: gore

OVERVIEW: I'm going to be honest: I picked up this book solely because the title made me laugh. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I at least thought it would be somewhat whimsical with such a silly title. Part of my expectations were met; this book is, in many ways, silly and whimsical, but it's also a reflection on order versus chaos, fear, and difference. I had a lovely time reading, so I'm rating it 4 stars.

WRITING/ART: Collins clearly is having a lot of fun with both the writing and the art in this book. The prose is metric and occasionally rhymes (or makes use of assonance), making the whole book feel like a poem. The art is also very clever with Collins playing with shapes and manipulating the panels to create forms that match the story's message and function. The total effect is that this feels like a very playful book, and I was happy to be taken along for the ride.

PLOT: The plot of this book follows Dave, a normal guy who lives in the "tidy" world of Here. In Here, everything is neat and ordered - totally predictable and nothing stands out, all as a buffer to keep chaos at bay. But when Dave suddenly sprouts a beard that just keeps growing, suddenly Here is thrown into chaos as they try desperately to cope with the tidal wave of Dave's facial hair.

I very much liked Collin's focus on order and chaos, using untamable facial hair as the subject for an exploration of the themes of this book. It was silly and whimsical enough to feel non-threatening, but sincere and heartfelt in its examination of how fear holds us back.

The main reason this book gets 4 stars from me instead of 5 is I think Collins could have pushed the message a little bit more. As much as I enjoyed myself, I was hoping for a bugger punch towards the end. But that's an entirely subjective criticism and shouldn't be taken as an indication that this book isn't worth your time.

TL;DR: The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil is a silly and sincere examination of order and chaos, fear, and the benefits of standing out. With clever artwork and a story that's not too threatening, this graphic novel is a charming read for just about anyone.

CHARACTERS: For good reason, there aren't a lot of stand-out characters in this book except for Dave. Most characters are nameless and more or less look the same, and that's by design so that Collins can create the de-individualized world of Here.

Dave himself is easy to like because he's just a normal guy who finds his comfort in routine upset by his beard. His attitude is somewhat detached and naive, but it serves the story well and I chuckled at his attempts to manage his facial hair.

[thevalleyisjolly]

Yes it can be uncomfortable to watch but man do I like the Time Lord Victorious arc. It directly confronts and brings into light the paradox of the Doctor - that our beloved protagonist, someone who has made a stand time and time again for kindness and forgiveness and love, is not only capable of but willing to commit grievous abuses of power for selfish reasons. That's the point, that the same Doctor who has done so much good in the universe is also the same Doctor who has before and is again willing to use that power in self-serving ways.

Arrogance is a recurring character trait with the Doctor across most of their regenerations. Again and again, they swan into situations, issuing orders and telling people what to do like they're the ultimate authority. The difference is that up until now, it's usually worked out - the bad guys are defeated, at least some people survive, and the Doctor's course of action was proven mostly right (or at least partially justified) in the end.

Time Lord Victorious sets up a situation where it can't work out, where there is meant to be no happy ending. In such a situation, the Doctor's values, which are normally aligned with his personal limitations and which together justify his sense of authority, clash with what he knows he must not do. He values life. He cannot save their lives. He's always been able to save something before. He can never save the people that really matter to him. Why can't he? He knows what is best - he's always known what is best before. If someone knows what is best and they're capable of making it happen, well, why not? These people, these brilliant people, are terrified, they're going to die. He can hear their screams. He's always been able to save something. He can save them. He should save them. Isn't that what the Doctor does?

We see the qualities which usually make the Doctor a hero equally enable his worst aspects. A commanding presence and leadership under pressure makes him a natural figure of authority in a crisis, and equally feeds into his own sense of importance. Compassion for life leads him to show mercy and go to great lengths to help people, and also serves as self-justification for the actions he takes in that process, to the point where the appearance of compassion supercedes actual care for the people involved. His contempt for oppression and bullies inspires him to fight for people's freedom everywhere; it also reaffirms that he is outside anyone's power and can do whatever he likes.

Yes, Time Lord Victorious is uncomfortable to watch. It's one of the Doctor's worse moments, the time when some of their most unappealing aspects surface and the Doctor chooses wrongly. But I think that's also what makes it so important. We are forced to confront the notion that the Doctor is not inherently good. The same qualities which have shined through positively in past good deeds are the same qualities which he now abuses for his own self-centred reasons. Like any other living being, the Doctor is capable of both great good and great bad, and they have to constantly make the choice to do the right thing. Sometimes they succeed. Sometimes they succeed but they do not do so kindly or wholly willingly. Sometimes they fail. Sometimes, as Time Lord Victorious makes viscerally and uncomfortably obvious, they fail very badly indeed.

While I understand characterizations of Time Lord Victorious as the Doctor's "dark" side, I don't think it's meant to function in that sense of "Oh, this is the Doctor's hidden villainy." Rather, I think Time Lord Victorious brings to the forefront the power that the Doctor has always had to commit great deeds, both illustrious and terrible, and then the Doctor's conscious choice in this instance to actively wield this power in the wrong way for the wrong reasons. He was tired of feeling powerless and small and wanted to have things exactly his way, just for once. No more losing people because he was holding himself back. After everything he'd seen, everything he'd been through, he wanted his reward and if nothing in the universe was going to give it to him, he'd make it happen himself.