#base article

[sithextant]

can i just say the idea of maul calling the jedi to say "its palpatine" and fucking off is soooo fucking funny. like obviously they wouldnt believe him. but can you imagine. worst guy obi wan has ever met in his life shows up to accuse his boss of galactic terrorism. and leaves.

[soup-mother]

I know I've talked about this to death but there's a local lefty politician with a trans son, and a she's been interviewed about it and said she was always super duper accepting and chill. except yknow....her son is a real person who exists in the world and can be spoken to and lo and behold it's actually a lot more of a typical "yeah she was kinda weird about it at first but she chilled out" story.

and so even though it gives her a person reason to be pro trans she does still ultimately get taken as more of an authority on her sons life and transition than he does, and she's fine but it's still off-putting hearing her present a very obviously polished down version of the story because it makes her look better as a parent.

[dingodad]

please god i need to know what U think of the whole “jadebloods are all female!” thing because i got into homestuck in 2019 around the time of friendsim and (retching) Lanque so i always assumed they were explicitly intended to be an all-female caste. however, re-reading the comic this year, i couldnt find a mention of it other than virgo and the Space aspect being really feminine, but i think kanayas journey with motherhood is more kanaya-centric than All-Jadebloods centric??

on one hand, it makes sense given that alternia has very real gendered oppression, so what’s better for that than CATHOLICISM?? on the other hand, i always saw kanaya as being transfem coded, because it connects so well with roxy yknow.. homestuck fans love to insist that certain characters just have to be cis women (kanaya, jade, roxy)

(as an aside; was “long hair was butch on alternia” a one off joke? i like speculation about alternia’s fashion opposing earth, lol)

most all of our basis for explicitly gendered interpretation of Alternia comes from act 6 intermission 3, where Aranea tells us that "jade 8loods were also an almost exclusively female caste". so the door has always been open for there to be "some male jadebloods". but it's a mistake to view this as having anything to do with any kind of "biological sex". the whole idea of biological sex among trolls is a smoke screen. the jadebloods' assigned gender at birth is "jadeblood". this is what makes them a feminised caste.

Caliborn doesn't have a clue what biological sex is. Aranea will tell you that there are boy cherubs and girl cherubs, but for your own sanity you need to cast this idea out of your mind: cherub sex takes place between good and evil cherubs - which is determined by their blood - and anything else is just roleplay. Caliborn's attitude toward sexing is that the ones he likes are boys - that's all the thought that goes into it. and that's the mindset we need to be aware of when we delve into understanding troll gender. there are some trolls who have breast tissue and some who don't, but they aren't "mammaries" in any sense, so there's no reason to believe they're actually sexual characteristics of any kind; maybe this is what Lord English chose to base his gender schema on, but the idea that this means there must be "male trolls" and "female trolls" is completely imagined for the narrative convenience of the human reader.

when we read that there are "male-dominated" highblood castes and therefore by implication female-populated lowblood castes, it's not by some coincidence of biology: the highblood castes are male-dominated BECAUSE they are highblood castes. each caste has a role to play in Caliborn's Alternia, and just as the highblooded roles are those of patriarchal domination, the lower castes must take on roles of feminised submission; and in the case of the jades in particular, this means breeding duties. the fact that this also comes with the expectation to wear makeup and pretty clothes is just more roleplay.

so tl;dr what i think of "the all jadebloods are female thing" is that it is very obviously true but in a way more 5 dimensional gender studies way than anyone else tends to mean when they say it

my pet "long hair was butch on alternia" headcanon - which is a joke but in the way all headcanons about alternia should be jokes of some kind - actually kind of relates to this lol. bc i figure that if gendered expectations of female trolls includes working in disgusting underground caverns filled with genetic material, it's going to be practical to keep your hair close to your head where it won't get dirty, in much the same way the feminist image of the short-haired woman became popular in the west during and after world war 2, wherein a lot of women had to start wearing their hair close to their heads to avoid scalping themselves in the factory machinery they suddenly had to start working with. hence kanaya dedicated to her assigned feminine role and wearing her hair short vs. porrim rebelling against it for feminist reasons and thus wearing her hair at a length that would be totally impractical for wading through gene pools.

[larrylimericks]

17Mar25

The formula’s never finessed: Insta moots, dodgy pics, trashy press. The Sun shouts “Exclusive!” Which means it’s conclusive: Strictly business and strictly BS.

[necronatural]

expanding on the horror monster dating sim idea

[angel-fruitcake]

and who tf said i wanted that

[thenotoriousscuttlecliff]

Can't believe this writer is trying to argue the problem with the show is that it isn't treating the main villain like a one-note, simplistic character and this is somehow too confusing because viewers won't know he's the villain despite all the villainous things he does like murder, manipulation, gaslighting, and orchestrating the complete destruction of an entire Elven realm. How media illiterate do you have to be to think exploring a villain's motivation in some way constitutes trying to trick the audience into think he isn't really a villain?

[creekfiend]

incredible article that really captures how I've been feeling about participating in Jewish spaces in the last couple of years. extremely tough read. not rebloggable because I'm not interested in anyone arguing with me about this, lol. we are not allowed to kill people I know this for sure.

I think that it is written from the perspective of a Jewish objector and if that's you you will find it especially meaningful and in some ways reassuring because it's hard not to feel alone when surrounded by people who are constantly excusing Israel's actions. but I think that gentiles would also find meaning in it probably. happy Hanukkah! 🫠

[reasonsforhope]

The bison.

I know this seems like old news to a lot of people but Americans slaughtered the bison to further the genocide of the indigenous peoples (who are still here) and despite that the bison have been reintroduced.

they have returned to their native grazing grounds, the ecosystems where they have returned are flourishing for it. and to top it all off it was the peoples this government tried so desperately to erradiacte that brought them back.

the day I heard Bison had been reintroduced to the plains I sobbed like a baby and began to choose hope.

!!!! The recovery of the bison is something I've been following and it's been such a source of hope and and sign healing for me!!

Especially tribally managed reintroductions and herds!!

Really impossible to understate how much of an ecological and and humanitarian and ethical tragedy and atrocity is finally beginning to be healed

[sierrabravoecho]

Brienne of Tarth + Blue colour symbolism

[da-janela-lateral]

To be part of something big.

[remiruen]

the WORLD TOUR !!

[macdenlover]

i can't believe there's gonna be an overarching through-line to the season. i can't believe the gang's inner turmoils and motivations are part of a cohesive story despite how drastically different the episodes will be. in way that's subtle enough to not change the structure of the show at all. i didn't think sunny could be elevated like this especially this far in

[lilithofpenandbook]

Imagine the reason Severus Snape agreed to join the Death Eaters wasn't any of the reasons everyone else had of hating muggleborns and muggles and agreeing with Voldemort's ideaology

And it wasn't because he wanted to lash out and hurt people because he was hurting like the other bitter kids

And it wasn't because he was forced into it like other weaker kids

Imagine it wasn't for any of those reasons.

Instead, it was for knowledge.

Severus Snape, the boy who invented curses, hexes, and spells. Severus Snape, who knew more of those in his first year than any of the seventh years. Severus Snape, who rewrote text books.

He joined the Death Eaters because he was tempted by knowledge. Knowledge of dark, forbidden magic. Knowledge of terrible, frightening power. Knowledge of things he had never had the chance to learn.

Imagine it was Lucius who approached him, knowing that Severus was a genius who wasn't satisfied with what Hogwarts taught and wanted more, wanted the freedom to explore and learn and experiment in ways that shocked people. Or perhaps it was his housemates, who decided that, poor he may be and impure his blood is, Severus was a formidable weapon to whichever side he ended up on, and they decided to convince him to join them before Dumbledore asked Severus to join him. And they promised Severus he would be free to experiment and learn as he pleased without the limits Hogwarts had enforced.

And he agreed, and became Voldemort's most precious student. He was but a boy, the youngest of the Death Eaters, yet his talent was equal to Bellatrix Lestrange herself. The two were of the most talented that Voldemort taught and he couldn't help but notice the small boy who was equal to an adult, who could grow to become the most powerful wizard to ever live. Unfortunately for him, the boy's heart was too gentle, too tender to be put on the field just yet, and his tongue was too smooth and his mind too sharp for he easily slipped away in times of action. He was a scholar, a poet, an artist. Not a soldier.

No matter. Voldemort could wait. Eventually the boy would become a man, a man with a brilliant mind but no heart, if he was encouraged to seek knowledge even at the expense of others. It was Voldemort's own fault to assume a great mind would cancel a great heart.

And so Severus Snape sold his freedom, his goodness, for the pursuit of knowledge.

Only to sacrifice it all when the knowledge he shared was the thing that put the one he loved in danger.

[heavenssins]

“kingdon will never happen beca-“ FALSE!!! it is actually happening in my head rn! 🫶🏻

[worthyprnce]

✶— merlin · [falco columbarius]:

a small species of falcon

✶— gawain · [celtic]

name with celtic origin, meaning battle hawk, white falcon, little falcon or white hawk

✶— falcon

in medieval times, falcons symbolized power, status, nobility, love, daring and mystery. in late medieval courtly literature, falcons were associated with daring, mysterious and catastrophic love.

✶—tulip [tulipa]

"I declare my love for you"

✶— honeysuckle [lonicera]

devotion, affection

✶— cornflower [centaurea cyanus]

"hope in love"

✶— ivy [hedera]

fidelity, attachment

[I don't know exactly what I wanted with this. I did this mostly for myself, just because I couldn't stop thinking about this little parallel between merlin's and gwaine's names. I made gwaine's falcon with white and lighter colours because I wanted to represent the other meaning of his name, white falcon, but I made sure to let the top of his head gray/blueish because that's what a male merlin falcon looks like. also, gwaine's not albino, at least it wasn't my intention, but it's okay if you want to interpret it that way. I noticed I used colours that would make him look like he's albino only when I finished this lol but all I wanted to do was differentiate the two falcons and make that reference to gawain's name meaning.

anyway this took me a good amount of 19 hours and it crashed my app and phone. I lost my original canva but thankfully I had saved the art in my phone in time. it was a fun experience, I've never drawn feathers like this, so it was a bit challenging but I like the results :]