#because like??? it just helps her evolve even more with the folks that are around her

[thefixer]

i don't talk often enough how mia is in a constant state of reinvention and evolution . that no matter how much she takes strides towards normalcy , but the fact of the matter is that she could never have normalcy as long as pandora still exists . so the endgame is always that she will take them down , but what's the cost ? how much more will she loose herself to the cause , or will there just be nothing left to salvage once she's done ?

[lullabyalikpoptarot]

Stray Kids Tea Sessions

Okay, I held off doing this and now that I did this. I can see why I dreaded doing this lol Anyway, kept to my word that I would do this. All of this is alleged, some aren't that wild, but some I just wish I didn't get the messages I get, but fu** it. I am not filtering my readings for anyone, so here it is. Take this with a grain a salt. This is my interpretation of the cards/messages I got. I did not really enjoy doing this, it was kind of tiring. I just did this to test it out and see what I get. I won't say I will not do another group, but it will be a while, until I try another group, because this reading is exhausting, or if I do another group, I will have to do it in segments, until I release another one, so that may take time, we'll see how I feel.

Bang Chan

Things are pretty much handing to him. He has really great manifestation skills. Like, boy seemed to have an easy life. He is pretty much coddled, great loving family environment. He has the power to create the life he wants. Wouldn't be surprised if he understands manifestation and how that works. He's good at manipulating his environment and others around him, doesn't necessarily need to be bad. He's quite shielded and can't cross certain lines or has strong boundaries around him. There is a lack of maturity or a stunted child within him. I think I saw this in his perspective reading. Maybe he wasn't able to be a child. You know how people are stunted, because they never got to be a child, so they remain that way. Balance, fairness and harmony are important to him, so if things are not stabilized, he will struggle. He may come off as mature, but there is a strong inner child there that he hasn't evolved from. But he does try to come off cold, calculated and stern in his decisions. This isn't that wild to me, really, this is all you are giving us lol Okay, I take what they give me.

Lee Know

He is persistent in achieving his goals and moving along in his career. Okay, I see a woman standing in his way. She comes off as like she will help him offer him advice, but she can be brutal with words. She could have beaten him down with her words. He seems pretty defensive around her, like he has to protect his energy and be on guard around her. There is something with water or could be a mixed drink here, so I see in one card, 2 cups of water being mixed together, and the next card, a fish appears out of the cup. I am trying to understand what that means. This is not easy to extract information from this group, so I am struggling here. There is some type of concoction they take or make that help them climb up the pyramid scheme, how I get that is that this card at the bottom has a pyramid on the sand and the person with the cup has their foot on top of that pyramid, so you got to look what you are pulled to on the imagery and come to conclusions as to what that can mean. He's kind of showing me he has to deal with a lot of BS to get to where he is at but will defend it if need be. So, in the middle of this spread there is a man pretty beaten up with a pentacle behind him a bit shattered. This shows me he will defend what he built no matter what. I got even from that cold bi*** referring to the woman I was talking about earlier, like she comes off as trying to help, but she is cold and emotionless and kind of makes things worse. Okay, this one a bit more interesting from what I got from Bang Chan. He gave me some actual tea.

Changbin

He is showing me people or he himself being puppeteered to fit a certain image, okay already got this message before. There are snakes in the industry or within the company. I see him having to be in competition with others. He is showing me whatever desires and creative work he has it pretty much is vaulted. I see them harnessing a lot of their creative energy, so industry folks are not about creativity, but mostly about money, so they focus on work that makes them money. He wants his work to be more creative. They handed him this fantasy or idealized version of what things would be like. He wants things to be more balanced. People to compromise more with the idols. He isn't sharing much about himself, more so about the industry and his struggle as a creative artist, so yeah, that is all he is giving me, moving on. Boy really don't like sharing too much tea about himself. I get it through. I don't push things.

Hyunjin

Well, this industry is mentally tasking and burdensome for him. He has to hide things, which can be a burden to him. I think he hates not being able to express his pain and mental struggles. I see him dealing with depression. The Moon card and 10 of Swords gives me that. His Mom may play a major role in his career, could be one of those Momagers. She may have wanted him to be famous. Umm, getting something dark here of course, but got some blood contract here may have been made, it could between the Mom and company. I just see the 10 of Swords with blood spilled over and knives on the person's back. I can see that as Hyunjin, but than The Empress card, which I see as Mom energy also has blood on some weird dagger next to her spilling into the water and blood contract popped up, so there's that. The Sun and the 6 of Wands gives me Ego, so all he seems to know is to be famous and be an idol. Don't really think he knows who he really is. It was like he was born to be famous. It is like he shines when he is in the spotlight, but behind the scenes he is very, let me say depressed. The Mother card being in the middle just makes me feel she is very instrumental to him being an idol. I wouldn't be surprised if his Mom dabbled in Magic and manifested this life for him. I see her having high standards for her son. I mean as most Asians Mom are, so are we surprised here?

Han

He is also showing me the cutthroat business and how there is competition, and you have to take others out to be on top. Is this with the members or does this have to do with the trainee period, like why are they showing me this? It is like they may always be put against one another. I am getting conquer and defeat and he was able to shine above that and find success. I am not getting great messages from him, it is kind of freaking me out what I am getting, so I didn't really understand why I got the 2 of Pentacles, but the wolf on the card is calling my attention, he looks really creepy and scary to me. And I got the message wolf in sheep's clothing. Ya'll can look up what that means, not saying it. I am not sure he is how he appears. There could be something more sinister to him I am just going to say I don't care, this alleged, ugh this is why I didn't want to do this, His energy kind of creeps me out. Sorry Han stans, but I am not faking what I get. Ya'll can ignore this if you like. I am not going to pretend that I know what this 2 of Cups is, he may have made a pact with someone, who knows. I am not trying to look into that more, kind of done, moving on.

I think that extra protection I have started doing is working, no sickness, but we will see if it continues working for the future.

Felix

He is showing me similar things to his reading. A disconnection, unsatisfied with what people have to offer him, numbness, a lack of emotional connection to the world and others. Something about protective barriers on him. Being coddled, not able to grow up, lack of freedom. This Wheel of Fortune, on the card I see day and night, so this gives me there are two sides of him, a lighter, bright side and a darker side. Once again, nothing new here. He has a strong creative energy. A lot of potential for success. He does have this vibrant inner child in him. I say if he is freely able to express himself, he will thrive, but he cannot, so that is probably where the disconnect comes from. He is stunted and stifled, but there is a light in him that cannot be tamed, or shouldn't. His inner child wasn't able to flourish. There is something about his childhood that they keep wanting to show me but can't fully grasp that. Until that inner child can be freed or expressed. I don't see him being fully happy or satisfied. There is something in his childhood he has not addressed and that will keep him stuck. That is all I am going to share there. I know some of ya'll will be confused, that is all they are sharing. I can't clarify anymore.

Seungmin

There could be something about him wanting to get away from home, maybe step out on his own. Maybe he wanted to face a challenge, maybe he felt coddled at home. This seemed to be his decision, even though he may have been pretty young when he signed. Like in most cases family plays a big role, but he seemed to want to do it on his own. Now, once again similar to Han, there is some pact here. There is some sort of pact, maybe with the company that has to do with water and cups. It is like they make some sort of pledge with water and cups. He is showing they sold them a fantasy, like it will be like this, kind of filling them with hope, but it is not like that. And now he feels like he has to defend himself. Like there are so many obstacles and challenges. Nothing like he thought it would be like. This doesn't seem too wild from what I already learned about the industry and idols, so moving on.

I.N

He isn't showing me anything to crazy, which is what I expected. He is showing me that this is something he wanted as well, wasn't he like a baby when he joined? But he seems pretty coddles and protected. I can see people babying him honestly. He kind of stands on his own. He kind of follows his own inner compass. Although young, childlike and vibrant. He can follow his own guidance and intuition pretty well. He does have a passion or desire to obtain the things he wants. He's not giving me anything wild. He seems just like a normal kid immersed in the idol world, like it is wild how some idols are into the wild stuff, but then you get ones that are just normal, nothing to see here. I adore this boy, he is a sweetheart, but he is too normal that his tea isn't that interesting to be honest. You know what I did get some tea, but wasn't comfortable saying it, but fu** it this is a tea session, and I asked for them to share it, he may like the same sex. I am seeing that. You got the Lovers card with 2 dudes on it and the knight of wands, which could indicate sexual attraction, and he is moving towards the lover's card, remember imagery is important, so yeah, I am interpreting it that way. I am not filtering my interpretations and what I am feeling, so there you go, and I shouldn't filter a tea session lol

Okay, if I do another group. Girlie will need some time, this is not an easy one for me to do, but this group is hard to get information from, so that could be why it was difficult for me. Reading this after doing it. I actually did feel I got interesting messages here, but it is draining to do it at the time.

[ariadne-mouse]

This post discusses addiction & mentions related heavy topics.

The addiction comparison for what Laudna has going on with Delilah is certainly not 1:1. Most obviously, addictive substances & activities IRL are not sentient evil wizards who have found a way to cheat death (that we know of). Put more seriously: in-universe, warlocks exist all over and the relationships they have with their patrons don't necessarily evoke addiction; someone saying they are a warlock does not mean are an addict. But I've seen a couple takes thrown around for why Laudna's connection with Delilah isn't or can't be compared to addiction, and I'd like to examine those briefly.

Let's start with the origin of their entanglement - it's notable, for instance, that Laudna's fusion with Delilah's spirit was not something she chose or was necessarily even conscious of at first; however, equally notable is that not all IRL addiction begins with a person making bad choices to do the addictive thing, such as in the cases of forced drug use in trafficking, painkillers post-surgery, etc.

There is also the point that Laudna would die if Delilah were to be removed, whereas addicts can put aside the object of their addiction. But here there is also grey area: in some cases, unassisted withdrawal from serious substances can in fact kill you. And for another angle, even when it is quit the object of addiction will still exist in the world somewhere; it cannot be completely removed either, and it is the recovering addict's challenge not to engage.

Next is the way feeding Delilah gives Laudna new powers she can use to help the group - and certainly, IRL addiction doesn't give you magical combat abilities! But a substance being abused may indeed provide an effect that the user can leverage to their advantage (stimulants for work productivity, alcohol for relaxation or confidence, etc). Addiction happens because the mind and/or body are getting something in return that feels good, at least in the short term.

I mention these counterpoints not to say it's all a slam dunk, but rather to point out that addiction is a hugely complex issue, both mental and physical, taking many forms. If you want an addiction comparison to apply to Laudna, or not, you can probably find a manifestation of addiction out there that aligns with your argument. Marisha and others of the cast using addiction to describe Laudna's behavior just gives us one (1) possible lens to orient her experience and motivations, and, critically, to envision a way out for her: to fight Delilah with every ounce of willpower she has, to ask for the support of her friends in that effort, and to shove Delilah back into the sub-basement of her brain and keep her there for good. A common adage around addiction is that there is no "curing" it, just the lifelong work of recovery; and similarly, if Delilah can't be fully removed from Laudna, she has been successfully suppressed before and could be again. I think it would be incredibly powerful to see Laudna take that journey! She has agency in her circumstances and she can seize it. Also, she still has responsibility for her actions when they harm those around her; addiction, like trauma, explains but doesn't excuse.

The addiction comparison for Laudna and Delilah seems to have mixed reactions from fandom, and that's fine! If it truly just doesn't resonate with you, fair enough - there are plenty of other valid ways to describe Laudna's behavior and circumstances, and not mutually exclusive with the addiction angle either. We don't have to pick only one way of interpreting what characters do (in fact I advise against it), and as the story evolves our frameworks of interpretation may change too. A lens is just a tool for understanding. But for the handful of folks on the two sides of the polarized reaction coin at the moment - those either overly defensive about the comparison or conversely leaning into it in an ugly, mean way - if you think the word "addict" by itself irrevocably condemns Laudna or deprives her of compassion for her circumstances, perhaps consider mulling over how you view addicts IRL.

[this-acuteneurosis]

Can I just say what a wonderful writer you are? It is incredible how things fit in such a way that it makes my brain fuzzy with the good emotions. While I have experienced a certain level of heartbreak from the DLB series, I am guarding myself for more in the future.

I know that Obi x Leia is not something that is in the cards considering the trauma each of them happen to have. I can't help but wish that they would work on their individual traumas and to work on their connection as a romantic couple, which is nothing short of extraordinary work really

Also, I do know you have mentioned that the series won't end with her having a romantic partner or similar, but has this thought evolved as you've continued to write the series?

Thank you for the compliments. :) It always makes me happy to know my story has provoked Feelings in my readers.

As far as Leia and romance, my thoughts have certainly evolved throughout the story, but I'm confident it's going to end where I assumed it would for Leia. Partly because she's just so dang busy. But also because the people who I think have the best odds of breaking through her shell just don't get to spend enough time around her.

I've got a decent idea of what the next arc is going to look like and who Leia is going to spend time with. Given that she still hasn't even begun to try and process her trauma over losing Han, not just generally but specifically their complex, intimate, and romantic relationship, I can't imagine having anywhere near the room I would need to work through that character arc. And, probably more importantly, I don't think it adds to the story. I've hedged a bit previously because I don't want to outright deny Leia healing (and my characters love to surprise me), but I'm confident at this point that, as much as she deserves the time and space to address that particular grief and move forward, it's not going to fit into the beats I have left to cover.

There's a lot yet to come, folks.

[cheesy09]

Hello! I have a question regarding KEY. I am well aware the KEY's info is really scarce in the game so its okay if you don't do this.

During the game throughout, are we aware of the things KEY has done in the past. We did get some clues on his personality and he is actual nice man since he was a great mentor and figure to Kiro. But I want to know what he has DONE because KEY to outside people was a bad guy.

I did go and reread something's to jog my memory but I want to hear what you might think.

Thanks, stay safe from covid!

Hi, nony!! Hope you're having a great day. So sorry that I'm so late with this reply 🙏

Anyways, so far, no. We haven't really been given anything concrete as to what exactly Key did when he was still around, or what his role in BS was exactly... In fact, he almost seems to mock the very notion of being part of the Black Swan Collective.

Even when Kiro asks him about it, in his R&S: Him and His Dream, he gives very vague and cryptic answers about it:

That being said, I will say one thing: There is one major difference between Kiro and Key, and that is, in their ideals.

From what we've got of the main story so far, we've come to realise that there is one major thing that sets Kiro apart from the rest of the characters: what he wants the future to look like. So far, each of the characters' ideal future is as such:

Victor, Gavin, MC: Want a world in which both, Evolvers and regular people can live in peace and harmony. It doesn't matter to them whether there is Evol or not, as long as the world is at peace.

Lucien: Sees a world where Evolution is the future. He believes that in order for humanity to survive, the world needs Evol. And so he probably wants a future where everyone can use Evol.

Kiro: Wants a world in which Evol doesn't exist. As someone whose life was messed up due to the existence of Evol from the very beginning, Kiro despises Evol more than any of the main characters. And as someone who is intimately aware of the dark side of humanity, he truly believes that as long as Evol exists, the world will never be at peace.

This all comes to light in Season 2, chapters 30-33, where Kiro talks about the imbalance of power between Evolvers and normal people. This is the first time where we get a glimpse of Kiro's true goals: to create a future for the world where Evol doesn't exist.

He says that as long as there is power in the world, there will always be cause for strife, whether it be due to hatred, envy, fear, or greed. And Evol is representative of that power. This scene - where Kiro confronts MC about her ideals - is one of my favourites in the entire main story, because now, there is another point of contention between the two of them.

Both of them clearly want different things; MC wants a future where both Evolvers and common folk live together in peace, and Kiro wants a future where Evol doesn't exist at all. While he does see the beauty in MC's dream, he doesn't believe it to be practical or realistic in any way. That being said, Kiro is not opposed to her ideals, so he challenges her to prove him wrong. To show him that a world in which both ordinary people and Evolvers living together in peace can indeed be possible.

And this desire for a world without Evol in it, is also what sets him apart from his master, Key. In Kiro's R&S: Him and His Dream, it's clear that both Kiro and Key are on completely opposing paths. Since Key is a member of BS, he is all for evolution. He wants a world in which everyone will be able to use Evol.

But just the way Kiro is not opposed to MC's goal, Key isn't opposed to Kiro's either, and in fact starts training him to face all the difficulties that he will inevitably encounter before him.

They're each walking their own paths to achieve their goals.

Other than that, one thing about Key that we've learned from the recently released chapters on EN is that while he was still a part of BS, before he went missing, Key helped develop the game known as Odyssey, which is supposed to be some sort of hyper-realistic VR game that can supposedly transfer virtual data into the real world.

This game is supposedly capable of granting regular people the ability to use Evol within the virtual space. Then, using the data collected, the system would then "copy" and "paste" this data onto the real world as a means of giving even normal people the ability to use Evol.

Honestly, I'm not sure how this system really works, or whether it even makes sense, but since it aligns with Key's goal of having humanity use Evol, I guess it makes sense why he would help develop such a game. That being said, I'm not sure how good this plan is, since the simulated Evol that humanity would be using, would ultimately just be an illusion.

Or maybe not? Who knows. I struggle to make sense of this game, sometimes 😔

[popculturebuffet]

The Little Engine that COuld: A Cinematic Trilogy of Train Madness (Commission for Lachey V

Happy new year all you happy people!

This year was rough and i'll get into it more in my best of the year lists but for now let's talk about Trains again. Once again Lachey has asked me to cover trains. Unlike Thomas though this one did have a part in my childhood, it's the Little Engine That Could.

The Little Engine that Could, for those who didn't grow up with this one, is a story that had been passed around some time, evolving and even getting a book in the 20's that didn't stand well as a folk tale about a little engine who thinks she can , she thinks she can.. and she's right. The story got popularized by a 1950 version that's been the standard since by publisher Arnold Munk, who wrote a bunch of stories under the pseudonym Walty Piper, one of many. It's a book I cherished as a kid, an inspiring story of not giving up and trains and the cover always stuck out ot me

So when Lachey asked me to cover the various adaptations of it, I was all aboard. So today we're covering the 1963 short, the 1991 tv special and the 2011 Movie. So get aboard for film strips, murder mountains, and nightmare trains, this is The Little Engine that Could

The 1963 Short

Our first is also our shortest with each version ramping up in length and rediculouness. The initial short is just a 1:1 adaptation of the book, which was a nice refresher for me. The story is simple: An engine gets derailed while trying to deliver the birthday train, a train filled with sentient toys for the children

None of the other trains will help him either because their too old or because if they were an ice cream flavor they'd be pralines and dick, the latter being consistent across all three versions. Thankfully a little engine happens by and thinks she can and despite her size and struggles she perseveres. I'ts a good story about overcoming your limitations. I could pick apart this aseop.. but I won't. While perseverance can be a BAD thing sometimes, see our current political state, it's not a bad thing to teach childern especially onces who might have confidence issues. It's a solid short with a good message and nice narration. Not much to say on it but a good time nonetheless.

The 1991 VHS Special:

The 1991 version is Lachey's faviorite, even having a cell from it and i'm happy to say out of the three it's mine too. This special oozes with charm, having a nice soothing tone to it, bright vibrant animation and and starring voice acting legend Kathie Sourcie as the titular engine, named tilly, a child train whose constantly told no to actually getting to haul cargo by the dickish water tower what runs the train yard.

This one nicely expands things, introducing the other engines first so we meet the one whose old, now cartoonishly sputtering and the one whose an asshole who refuses to help because it's beneath them who looks a LOT like a certain other asshole

It's a nice bit of expansion and needed in a half hour specail without overdoing it. It simply gives the trains more fleshed out versions of thir persionalities; the train carrying the birthday train whose name i'd forgotten is kind, motherly and supportive to Tillie, the train whose too old is a milk train, and the train whose an asshole is a bully to tillie.

The entire world hates tillie in this one. That's not an exageration: the tower screams in a child's face no at her desires, and when she does finally sneak out to think she can, the entire world is determined to stop her. That's not hyperbole. A random eagle screechs at her ot turn back. The winds turn against her. A fucking mountain bellows at her TURN BACK TURN BACK. The entire world wants to make sure she can't.. and she proves them wrong. We even get a jaunty musical number that slaps

Also Frank Welker can fucking belt.. I do not understand why they didn't have him sing for the Scooby Doo Musical. But Nothing Can Stop Me Now is a belter, an adorable song that gets the message acrossed amazingly, written by the same chaps what made the ducktales theme. It's a fucking triumphant song.

And naturally after all the trials it plays again when our heroine wins the day, delvering the birthday train to a kid. As you can see not only are the toys fleshed out a bit, but we actually get a story behind the train: it's a train that delivers a ton of toys and good times to someone on their birthday as before but we now get a kid waiting for it while his sister mocks him because older siblings be dicks sometimes. I have a teenagerdom of being called stalin to prove it.

The 1991 special is a great adaptation, taking the general outline of the book and beefing it up into a charming little specail. 30 minutes is just about the right runtime: enough to flesh out the story but not so much you have to add a lot of weird shit to make this a full movie. I mean there is the eagle telling a child train to go back, but it's the normal amount of nuts. For our next one though....

The DTV Full Length Movie (2011)

So in 2011 unviersal studios said "Quick we need a film to put out on dvd grandparents will buy for their kids not knowing better!' and thus the Little Engine that Could 2011 was spat into the world out of a stygian hole in the sky.

The Little Engine that Could has a BAFFLING array of talent behind it. The cast includes Phineas and Ferb's Alyson Stoner , Whoppi Goldberg, Patrick Warburton, Brenda Song, Jim Cummings, Charlie Schlatter and all around legend Jamie Lee Curtis. All fantastic actors who badly needed a paycheck.

LETC takes the bare bones of the main idea, an engine hauling a cart of toys, and makes it the story of Dream Haulers, trains who deliver dreams to children. A concept that could make a good show for younger children, have trains help solve their problems and such, but here is just a backdrop for a very by the numbers plot: A quirky determined underdog wants to live their dream but THE MAN won't let them, meanwhile a child is bullied and needs to learn a lessson or something so he ends up in a fantasy world but it's a BIIIIGGGGGGGG disaster for that world, so our plucky underdog takes him on a journey home with the help of a bunch of oddballs she picks up along the way. She looses faith after the villian tricks her but finds her courage again after a pep talk and everything's fine.

This film felt weirder watching it: you have big names doing this thing, a weird concept that's vaugely defined, usual so bad it's good stuff.. but the film is so bland. Looking back on it for this review it just.. exists. It was a slog to get through and the more I think about it the less it appears. The voice performances are good for the most part: Allyson Stoner, a veteran from Phineas and Ferb at this point, does a fantastic job, using a similar voice to isabella and giving the train a lot more character than the script, Whoopie Goldberg does her best as the stern yet well meaning control tower.. thing, Jamie Lee Curtis is a clown toy, one of may toys the engine fines because THE BOOK DID IT and has a lot of fun and Patrick Warburton is his usual fantastic self as the train's car/sidekick. He dosen't get to do much but that's more because the film is so paper thin. Every character is just... a bland description. The plucky hero, the snooty bully, the valley girl bully, the strict but well meaning boss, the worn out mentor who causes this whole mess and needs to be saved, the villian, the secondary mentor you find on the quest, the comic relief.

The exception to this.. is the most obnoxious character in the movie and sadly our Co-Lead, Richard. Richard is memorable.. because he won't shut the fuck up and won't stop complaning the entire film. He starts out being bullied, with the film giving the old cliche you should stand up to your bullies. That always ends well and surely dosen't still get you a cup of punch in the face. I'm not saying don't stand up, but the film treats it as a weakness of richards for not going back to get his grandpa's pocket watch they take. That he's cowardly. Him avoiding telling his grandpap is a bit but in fairness Richard probably dosen't want to have to bury the bodies. So he hops on a train which rusty, little engine's mentor played by Jim Cummings who tries his best, who taking a nap doesn't notice a child on the train which shatters the barrier between worlds and forces the little engine to take the long way. Just as a quick aside before I gripe about a fictional child... Rusty himself.. is a weak character. We're supposed to WANT him to get his job back, as little engine does.. but he's tired, falling asleep on the job and his negligience causes their tunnel to collapse. All the control tower does is demote him to moving shit around. She doesn't even fire him... if i'ts possible. It's sad.. but even Rusty admits this was his fault. Granted everyone ignoring his backup plan to go over the mountain as an ass saving lie is stupid, and they shoudl've at lest sent someone to scout to see if it was possible. But i'm giving too much credit to a film that is trying for the youngest audience possible as an excuse to fart out crap.. whcih it isn't. I mean i've reviewed 5 seasons of Thomas and Friends at this point: it may be bonkers due to things they didn't think through, but boy you can just feel the love and effort squeezed into every frame, the creativity, the pomp.

Here it's just a lifeless film that plops a troubled boy into it because ad executive law states if you make something with a girl protaganist kids won't love it.. which makes me giggle uncontrollably when I think the most popular younger ages show today not only has a female lead, but actually you know tries. But back in 2011 you had to staple a penis onto a project to get it made, and thus we have Richie who just whines the whole journey. now granted he is right to be a little sore, he's in another universe because he went in a train car to mope. No one would handle that well. But the way he just complains or whinges about the dreamland they pass through being "girly" and asks where all the superheroes are. Richard spends the whole film just not shutting up and only occasionaly lightneing up and is only really useful when there's either no other choice or it's the climax so he has to be. His character development is also weak as he just .. grows a spine because he went on a life threatning adventure?

It may also be because he threw pies at nightmarish simulcra of his bullies. Yeah this film suddenly takes a turn in the last act as for no decsrinble reason we get a proper antagonist. The bullies are just the setup and normally it'd just be the other trains and the tower doubting the engein..which really is enough. When she goes for their help they mocker her like assholes. The only notable one is Brenda Songs, who dosen't have a name, and even then she's just a typical airhead/brat character way bellow her va's paygrade and talents. Song hadn't done amphibia yet but she'd done enough suite life to show she had comedic chops that are never left out to thaw here.

Instead we get THE NIGHTMARE TRAIN, an evil train that tricks the engine into giving her it's cargo and plans to uh.. run around with it, do stuff. He delivers nightmares and.. is never brought up before this. He is intresting, the idea of this oppisite numbers, his plan to only deliver nightmares, he's a little creepy.. but like the rest they just don't do much. We just get the bully hullcinations because it's all production could afford and a chase scene once the little engine is encouraged by patrick warburton to go kick this man's ass.

So everything wraps up okay and this film... it.. sure did happen. That's about it. This film is bonkers but not enough to be so bad it's good, has a cast way too good for it. It exists and that's about all it does and it's questionable if it even does that well. Thankfully the perfect adaptation had only been made and as ravenous for IP hollywood is, this mess hasn't been attempted again. Maybe some day we'll get a tv show, a thomas and friends like affair. But for now i'm glad we got the terrible dtv half assed phase of adapting this joyous book out of our system. Remember i'm pulling for ya, we're all in this together.

[blackjackkent]

Onward into High Hall!

I seem to recall being told that we'd have another chance to change up our party before the final fight, but I'm almost tempted not to. It feels like a nice bookend to have Lae'zel with Hector here at the end, just as she was at the beginning, especially given how their friendship has evolved over time.

There are a bunch of terrified civilians running everywhere. I particularly feel for this unfortunate one:

Who ran straight into the fire surface, set himself on fire, burned all the way through his six hit points, and died in front of us for no reason. :( Lots of dead Absolutists, mind flayers, and other civilians around here too.

Report from the climb up!

An absolutely bangin' and very dramatic soundtrack.

Some city watch folk who were pretty freaked out by Orpheus's presence but who Hector convinced to join them and help rather than fleeing.

A long-rest-in-a-box restoration chamber like we saw on the Nautiloid and in Moonrise.

Several dead ends which we have to get around by jumping around on pieces of shattered rampart.

More winged horrors. They're not very difficult to fight thankfully and everyone keeps one-hit-KO-ing them. The team is clearly so pumped full of adrenaline that they're even more of a battering ram than usual.

Fighting as Orpheus (he's attached to the party for now) is making me realize the benefits of going full worm; as a mind flayer he can use actions and bonus actions interchangeably, which is very cash money of him. His abilities, which are per turn with no other restrictions like spell slots that I can discern, are also insane:

Starting to think maybe the Emperor had a point. :P

Reaching the upper level courtyard of the Hall we start running into a lot more enemies.

Per @zenjestrr's advice, our current strategy is repeatedly summoning the more cannon-fodder-y Friendship Buff mobs to help clear the field; the main goal right now is to keep our primary party and our big heavy hitters (Aylin, Buddy, Yurgir, etc) in good shape for the final fight.

Once again the game manages to replicate a key D&D table experience - the feeling of knowing there's a big boss somewhere up ahead and trying to figure out how to ration your resources so you're not tapped out by the time you get there.

At least to begin with, the courtyard isn't too scary. As usual, Hector and Karlach are juggernauting away at the front line and Lae'zel is slotting in perfectly alongside them just like Minsc did. Team Single Target Damage is on the case.

Jaheira is holding down the backline and not looking as squishy as she used to which is also great. I'm wary of using her too much because most of her AOE and powerful stuff is all high level spells that I don't want to burn. I'm spending some of her actions on summoning our mobs of friends, which pleases me from an RP perspective because of the four of our team she is the hardened experienced fighter and I like the idea of her kind of directing the battle.

I'm probably playing a little TOO conservatively with my abilities here, actually, but I'd rather be too careful than not. I didn't use the long-rest-in-a-box before so there's also the possibility (I think) of running all the way back there and tapping it before we reach the brain, but I'm not sure.

It does amuse me that we keep getting gold and trash loot drops here because there is zero point to it anymore I think.

At first the courtyard seems like a bunch of small isolated fights, but as I have Hector start running towards an ogre near the center of the field, the WHOLE PLACE lights up in a battle with [counts rapidly] TWENTY-EIGHT ENEMIES, including the ogre, several mind flayers, and a spectator. FUCK.

Maybe time to start using those big spells after all, Jaheira.

This isn't quite as scary as it looks because we really are powerful as shit at this point. Hector continues to be completely terrifying, Karlach is too, Lae'zel has three attacks on a turn (or six with action surge), Jaheira can set out a Haste pool for everyone to run through, Orpheus's illithid skills are upsettingly good, and we have a LOT of friends who are (I hate to admit) expendable. But that bar full of enemies too big to fit on the screen is stressful.

Oh this is going to be very scary on Tactician though I bet.

One of Zevlor's Hellriders casts Flame Strike on a big crowd of goblins which I would be much more on board with if HECTOR WAS NOT DIRECTLY IN THE MIDDLE OF THEM. Flashbacks to the last time Hector being in the middle of a fireball was considered an acceptable cost; it wasn't much fun then either. He does manage the save though so this time he takes no damage because he is badass, and the Flame Strike kills five enemies, so...worth, I guess.

This battlefield is also ENORMOUS and difficult to maneuver on, lots of high ground and curbs that mess up pathfinding.

So exciting to see Zevlor back in his element again, having found his paladin conviction once more.

One of the Hellriders did get dominated by a mind flayer, which led to this upsetting exchange:

Eventually victory! Gods, what a long fight. But we actually did quite well; everyone except Hector still has some of the temporary hitpoints we got from Ravengard, and we didn't lose any of our guest combatants. :D (And the one that got dominated is back safe. <3 )

Onward!

[spotsupstuff]

i was kinda slacking with art last night, taking a lil surprise break i guess, but here's some stuff i wrote down about Sparrows for myself to clear my idea of her up a little better

Positive traits: • physical strength. can pick up quite a lot of stuff without much sweat. an Iterator puppet on her back while the umbilical arm is pressing down is a little out of her range of capabilities tho. that red asshole. • capable of wielding weapons such as spears, swords and guns (in the name of protecting the farmlands against the fauna). and then farm tools As weapons. she is a very formidable opponent to big ass bugs with a shovel in the ring • very empathetic → this ends up with her viewing the Iterators more as people than most Ancients in her lifetime. it creates her main character goal/motivation in life: helping them be happy (or at least, Euros and the other two constructed Anemoi. since she's too quiet about it to make an actual lasting impact on the bigger scale) • very nice singing voice, can keep up rhythms. her education on That is rooted in the family getting together and singing folk songs and such. this is where she picked up guitar. violin/fiddle happened in school to help her destress

Negative traits: • helpless introvert. unless she gets to know a person in an easy manner, she will be incredibly awkward around them. professional work meetings with Ales' Houses are always a fucking nightmare. Boreas is a good example of her getting to know someone in an actually pretty easy way! the whole rivalry- throwing middle fingers at overseers and the closing of doors in her face- made her actually comfortable with the guy (much to Boreas' dismay). it reminded her of playfights she grew up with back home. this is why she is able to bark at him even when she's scared of him • extremely low self-worth/self-esteem as result of the class system. her position forced her to think of herself as expendable • she worries a lot about being good to those she loves. while that isn't normally bad, she is willing to offer herself up in ways that is... Uncomfortable and Concerning. she overthinks the stuff. • doesn't have the spark of a fight (unless it's against like. animals). she's more likely to take the bullying and injustice than defend herself. she got bullied a lot in school

Interests/what she likes: • movies, she likes making references to them. much to Euros' dismay • she fuckin LOVES instant noodles. ate a shit ton in the techie school during test months and now she's fucked up about them • really enjoys listening to Euros telling her about what it's like to be an Iterator and the silently evolving Iterator culture • genuinely enjoys tinkering away on things. that's how she ended up with a pair of five fingered Iterator hands on her table. that and Euros' sad look when he realized he can't join her in her enjoyment of musical instruments

Misc.:

• Sparrows is the kind of person to give a soft kiss to her mom's cheek before going anywhere. she helps out in the kitchen and plays with her smallest siblings to give her mom n granda a break. she isn't the oldest kid in the family, probably like... 2nd or 3rd oldest (out of like bopping 10), but she wants to be responsible and make "the time it took to raise her worth it". is gentle and loving with her granda, but isn't afraid to glare at him with hands on her hips when he's being mean out of conservative mindset • she has no idea what to think of her late father. she chooses to love him and look after his grave when she's around just because she was raised with kindness and because mom still looks sadly and longingly at the thing • most of all her farm array district's denizens know each other very closely. they are either dear friends or feel very family-like. so Sparrows isn't socially awkward there at all. this place took "it takes a village to raise a child" to heart • very good with children! she often approaches the distressed ones in the village when the parents can't figure out how to calm them down themselves and talks with them/plays a little/explains things to them. at least One time she hurriedly stopped a kid from taking off "that itchy nasty" rebreather mask by holding their hands, explaining why that is dangerous and when the kid was on the verge of tears, she picked them up and spun around with them until they started feeling better • she doesn't really think of the lower circles' lifestyle as unfair. maybe that is just a coping mechanism- being blind to it while she lives there. having a scarred back because of Raindrops won't scare her as much if she just accepts it as the norm • her shortness bothers her • dying scares her even though she knows she will wake up the next day. even after she dies for the first time (in Zephyr's insides), she's still terrified of it and never really grows numb to it. still, her lacking self-worth means she's very self-sacrificial • she doesn't hold it back when she needs to cry. even when she tries to though she kind of sucks at it • got her name when her mom stepped outside while holding the freshly born her during a misty morning. three sparrows (whatevs would the RW variants look like) sat on a wire, chirping away, painted in shy light of the few sunbeams that made it thru the fog. Sparrows herself added the second half of her name later when she picked up the guitar, but prefers it when she's only called Three Sparrows or Sparrows. she loves the name given to her by mom a lot • she fumbles with stuff a lot and might come off as clumsy. this almost entirely disappears when she goes off to work on Iterator related stuff. oh the power of hyperfixation. she becomes a problem solving Beast. Sparrows in sysadmin mode is incredible • unlike Euros, she doesn't actually mind techno and other modern music stuff at all! actually listens to it often while working away at him • once she found a good song with rhythm that matched Euros' thunderous heartbeats and one day when she went to check over his heart, she played it with the intention to have the heartbeats as an outside bassboost. she jammed out quite a Bit. as a Phone Operator, Euros picked it up and got all pissy about it. he frowned at her with crossed arms for the rest of the damn day • dear heavens above she SUCKS at the whole religion thing so badly. she isn't even sinful on purpose a large amount of time, she just don't click with it • i think like every sin is mentioned in here being committed by her Except the second one. so the burning question: has she fucked with the funny calculator? yes. yes she has. they are both very smart and figured stuff out. this is as much as anyone's gettin about the second sin committing for them, from me, on Tumblr Dot Com

[nokingsonlyfooles]

Brigitte Empire! She's just done a big move to escape TERF Island, and YT (and associated donations) are her only source of income right now. Listen, like, and reply to her video (you don't have to read the YT comments - though most aren't too bad - just say "hi") to help her out with the algorithm, and give money if you can.

And, while I have your attention, how DOES one differentiate between a nice, civil protest and a lawbreaking riot?

Well, is "one" an ordinary human being without a badge - press or police/security?

Like these BLM folks right here?

...Then your input is not required. Sorry. You don't actually get to define whether you're here to be heard or to break shit and ruin it for everyone. You have no authority over your message, and we do not believe you when you express your intent, especially if there's any (I mean ANY) property damage. Human lives are more important than some light vandalism and broken windows, you say? Well, lalalalala, 'cos we're not listening.

But if "one" does have a badge...

Aha! Behold, a miscreant!

Yes. Take that, you... you building-haters!

...one is allowed, nay, expected to put the proper framework around this chaos of, uh, human beings asking for human rights with their (theoretically) protected right to protest.

And this framework is subject to change!

...like, a lot of change. Within a single human lifetime, MLK goes from commie threat to conservative icon, and the protests he helped organize go from "tut-tut, so uncivil" to a triumph of nonviolent resistance. Gandhi and his tactics have gone through a similar rehabilitation/reclaimation.

And Stonewall? It's gone from a riot to a protest to a riot, with an ever-evolving cast of heroes, villains, and participants. Brigitte up there steered clear of who was involved and what their motivations may have been, and I suppose I will too, because we're all very attached to our own personal mythology. We all want to have been there, and there's some backlash and othering for people with queer identities that aren't part of the mythos.

I will say, though, that the man-o-sphere-centric film Buck Breaking sure did cough up an interesting interpretation for us. (Don't bother to watch it, I didn't, I just read/listened about it. It seems painful.) To the brain trust behind this propaganda piece, Stonewall was a BLACK riot - with no queer folks involved at all, certainly not any Black queer folks - and we STOLE it from them. I'm not gonna take that apart either, F. D. Signifier already did, and his experiences give him a better viewpoint than mine.

A riot is defined, and fueled by the police reaction in the moment, and afterwards, the media and politicians will carve it up however they see fit. Generally speaking, contemporary sources tend to err on the side of the police, and slowly get more revisionist as time passes. If the cops don't want you where you are, they will come up with a reason to remove you, provoking one if necessary. (See, my earlier post today, responding to efforts to make it more difficult to protest in the States.)

Cops are trained to parse any disturbance (even a bunch of kids singing patriotic music at the Capitol to score cheap points for the Republican House Speaker) as a threat, and they will minimize or remove it. A protest that does not cause a disturbance is not an effective protest. Thus, ANYTHING can be a riot. And, once the cops fire a few chemical weapons into the crowd, it sure will look like one. That's nice for any newspaper photographers who happen to be in the area!

This is why, when I talk about violent protests, I say the violence happens, like a rainy day or a sneeze. Speaking as a bleeding-heart lefty progressive (I don't show up for shit like January 6th), most people aren't looking to hurt anyone, they just want to be heard. If you do look like you're just there to start some shit, or you bring a weapon, someone will take you aside and ask you to go home, or at least leave that shit in the car. People with obvious weapons make a suitable excuse for the police to start some shit of their own - and we'd all rather not be pepper-sprayed or gassed, thanks. But if the cops want you gone, they are able to turn up the pressure until someone snaps, and then they'll start doing damage and making arrests anyway.

The first Pride was a riot, and a protest, and the participants repaid police violence against them with violence against the police. Police do their violence on behalf of the State, so we tend to overlook it, or spread the responsibility around until everyone is a little bit complicit. (We live in a democracy, right? Right?) But the truth is, a riot can be self-defense. It just doesn't look like it in the papers, because systemic oppression doesn't photograph very well.

Nothing about what's happening is "civil." "Civility" is not what anyone is after, here. What they want is silence. Silence just lets them keep doing whatever the hell they were doing, while pretending we're all OK with it. If you raise your voice, they will do whatever they can to shut you down. They lie, they cheat, they wound, and they kill.

Well, you can't make any noise if you're dead. So first, stay alive. And then, if you can, yell your fucking head off. Don't quiet down no matter what label they hit you with. If you're lucky, one day you'll be a triumph of nonviolent resistance too!

[msommers]

intimacy, friendship, fate for maeve, riya and meredith!

this time i just forgot to hit post whoops. thank you alana!! xx // oc asks: relationships edition

Intimacy: Is your OC the type of person to engage in long-term relationships, or are they more casual in their intimacy and affection? How do they feel about intimacy and relationships in general?

MAEVE — the thing is that maeve could engage in relationships outside of the long-term, but there would be nothing casual about them given that It's Maeve. any partner of hers is going to be spoiled with affection, attention and goods lmao. 90% chance she's gonna write something about them. i’ve written essays on maeve's feelings on this subject, so to keep it simple: she's in love with love, intimacy is her middle name, she collects relationships like pokemon, and would probably perish like a fish out of water if she was starved of these things.

RIYA — her history has definitely been more casual, there have been one or two people that she'd mess around with sporadically over multiple years, but even then it was just for reliable fun and victor was the first time she entered anything of the Committed type. i don't think she consciously noticed her views on intimacy evolving while with him, but they did and those changes will become more apparent to her now that all she can do is sit with the memories. she'll start to understand there's a difference when it comes to Romantic intimacy and that’s going to be something she misses whenever that it becomes relevant.

MEREDITH — i don’t know if she’d be able to handle a casual relationship. meredith's friendly and relatively open to folk, but if she lets somebody approach anything near intimate then they've been Chosen, y’know. she doesn't want anything fleeting, she needs loyalty and consistency and dedication. she'd sooner take intensity over casualness tbh. she takes comfort in the intimacy that comes from relationships, in knowing someone wants to display affection for her and knows how she'd like to receive it.

Friendship: What's your OC like as a friend? How are they at making new friends? What are the most important friendships in your OC's life?

MAEVE — she's steadily racked up an egregious amount of friends through the years due to her charm and being such a goodie good. that type of person in the group who can go "i know a guy" about nearly anything. i won't give names because all of her friendships are equally valued in her heart (i lied, grey's her most treasured friend 💜). she's kinda the dream friend?? she'll pay for any of your outings, is the kindest shoulder to cry on, is incredibly attentive to your feelings and needs, will bend over backwards to help you whenever necessary no questions asked, etc etc. just don't ask her to help make the holiday dinner the friendship will be ruined just let her host the party

RIYA — the friend who's there to gossip or get petty if you need that energy. happy to include you in her expensive activities because she likes spoiling people close to her. always ready to throw down for you even if you don't necessarily ask for it. riya's either very good or very bad at making friends and that depends on the type of crowd she's in, because uh. she's not everybody's cup of tea. her most important friendships are those with her family members, and now the warden squad for obvious reasons.

MEREDITH — she’ll go on whole ass quests for her friends, feels like that explains a good deal itself. everybody needs that one friend who will defend you in encounters, go to the ends of the earth for you at a moment's notice, and be unafraid to call you out on some nonsense you're pulling lmao. she's superb at making friends, that charisma and insight will take her a long way if she's not speaking to a baddie (derogatory). alistair, nathaniel, leliana and teagan are her most important friendships probs.

Fate: Does your OC believe in destined meetings? True love, soulmates, hearing the bells? Have they ever experienced this?

MAEVE — cannot be stated enough how deeply she believes in it all lmao true love's kiss being magic, people finding each other through fate, having multiple soulmates, you name any sappy trope and she's a believer in it. of course she's experienced these things because maeve's living a fairy tale 90% of the time and it's what she deserves. anything with ilya is the prime example but she's been given multiple soulmate related things bc i myself (and other enablers) like to spoil her 🥰

RIYA — she for sure believes in those things just because she believes in destiny overall. umm. i don't think there's any like #canonevent that has occurred with fated moments so far that,,,but if you think about it,,,,if you squint. kinda wild how riya ended up in the company of a supportive dreamer mage 🤔 exactly when she needed that kind of aid 🤔🤔 kinda sussy. (she’s gonna find a reason to think so many things are destined, people are gonna hate it)

MEREDITH — she’s more of a butterfly effect kind of lady, i think. actions have reactions and consequences that all lead somewhere in the end. it wasn’t destiny that had her marching around ferelden during the blight, it was just highever being the first domino to fall. true love tho, that she can get behind. you don't have to be written in the stars to find somebody who will become your other half with plenty of trust, time and effort.

[crimsonscloud]

welcome to where i fixate entirely too hard on liam jelco, a character that the killjoys fandom is either not fond of or forgets entirely. you're gonna be seeing a lot of his name around this blog. yes, he is That Character for me.

this examines the plot threads jelco's connected with, makes a few theories, and explores why none of this ultimately went anywhere (and where it could have gone.)

strap in, folks, because we'll be here a while.

(also, just in case, heavy spoiler warning for seasons two and three, for people who are just starting and have yet to watch those.)

introduction.

a recap for those of you that don't remember him: officer liam jelco appears in the second season of killjoys, and in six episodes total counting a brief appearance in season three.

he is introduced in wild, wild westerley, sent to oversee company operations after old town was bombed in the previous season and to manage the containment fence that keeps the town walled off from any outside help. he is also apparently recognized as interim governor, based on a line in johnny be good where he is addressed as "governor jelco". jelco meets the killjoys when he sends the rac a warrant for several escaped prisoners from westerley, and they use the warrant to get back into old town. at the end of the episode, he reveals that his actual responsibility is to teach old town a lesson and to punish them for their rebellion against the company.

we later learn that this is actually much more complicated, and that he has a much bigger role to play... if only canon had let him, that is.

part one: the hullen conspiracy.

the hullen are the driving force behind the show's evolving myth arc. their motives for invading the quad are unclear at first, but it's eventually revealed that their sole interest in the quad is its plasma. they want to use the plasma to make soldiers. these soldiers would then be handed over to aneela, who would use them as part of her army to conquer the quad and eventually other systems. heart-shaped box reveals that there are multiple hullen already in old town, seemingly hiding... or waiting for something.

the hullen also have a longstanding deal with the nine ruling families of the system. delle seyah alludes to this when talking to pawter in johnny be good, claiming that events have been in motion before they were even born. khlyen confirms that the deal was made centuries ago in how to kill friends and influence people, and that the events in old town are the beginning of a handover of the system from the nine to the hullen. the nine chose to trade lives for money over time rather than getting assimilated immediately.

in heart-shaped box, johnny learns from artura senbek (a company engineer) that the company set up a containment fence in the town of greenwell, then observed the effects on those inside. the sick, old and very young died in a single day, and the survivors were taken away. we aren't told where, but we can infer that they were most likely taken to be turned into hullen.

we also don't know how long ago the greenwell experiment happened, but since senbek was sent there and she says she was thrown into old town afterwards for asking too many questions / was also the one who put the containment fence controls in jelco's office, we can assume it happened recently and that it was before old town was bombed.

senbek and johnny's conversation also tells us that the engineers who built the walls didn't even know what they were really building, just that they were ordered to. when asked, senbek says that the technology came from "somewhere else." full metal monk clarifies that this "somewhere else" was arkyn -- the same moon where we know the hullen have facilities to make more hullen, and where aneela first began the experiments to turn other hullen into slaves centuries earlier. season three's the wolf you feed also places the creation of the red 17 program, or its precursor, prior to when the hullen's deal with the nine was made. also, the computer that controls spring hill's security systems is described as looking "like the tech on arkyn, just newer."

coincidence? i think not.

in full metal monk, pawter realizes that the containment fence is part of a technique the company developed when the quad was first being colonized, referred to as "execution eugenics." the process goes like this: set up the wall, then introduce a contaminant to kill off the weak, leaving only the strongest stock behind. greenwell was an early test of this program, and old town is next. earlier in shaft, she discovers files in jelco's office revealing that the company plans to take the program to every single town on westerley.

why is this important? by this point, we've learned from sabine in heart-shaped box that only some have the stuff needed to survive the mental and physical transition. the company doesn't want to take chances, so what do they do? they cull the herd. the weak are killed off, the strongest survive, and the survivors have a better chance of living through the process.

pawter and johnny suspect that the contaminant is in a shipment of "special" company rations they learn are being brought in, but fall under the effects of the wall's mood controls before they can investigate further. jelco confirms their suspicions before killing arune, pawter's political ally she brought in for support, and framing the two for it.

"oh, and you're right about the rations, so good for you. but it's about so much more than that."

there is indeed more, but we'll get to that in a minute.

part two: the nine.

in talking about jelco's involvement in the conspiracy it's also important to note his connection with the nine. in shaft, pawter's father tells her that jelco is operating under orders from the nine, and a scene in full metal monk shows us that he's specifically working under delle seyah. other episodes in the season show us that delle seyah is both aware of and is helping mastermind the hullen takeover of the quad.

what's interesting about the scene between jelco and delle seyah is that it gives us a glimpse into what their working relationship looks like. he's noticeably hesitant to move the plan ahead of schedule, a reluctance he shows nowhere else. it's even apparent in his body language. he's tense and seems almost nervous in front of her; she's much more calm and collected than he is and implicitly threatens him if he can't keep johnny and pawter from interfering.

"they want to know what the wall is for, show them." "that's ahead of schedule, no? do we have authority?" "i'll worry about the schedule. you worry about me if you don't make this problem go away."

(look at him. he's got anxiety.)

this scene tells me that for all jelco knows about the conspiracy, he isn't really in direct control of any of it, and is still ultimately a pawn in a larger game. he has to follow her orders, and anything he does or tells anyone else to do probably came from her first. we can also see this in johnny be good, where he berates a few scientists in a manner that is reminiscent of how delle seyah behaves towards him in the above scene.

"as i'm sure you can appreciate, we're on a strict timeline here, and it's fools like you that are slowing us down. no more excuses. you do realize that i can very efficiently demote you."

bit weird coming from the same guy that seemed hesitant to speed the timeline up.

his dynamic with delle seyah also adds a layer to the method he uses to deal with johnny and pawter. you'd think that since he's armed and has caught them unawares, he'd just kill them too after shooting arune to get them out of the way permanently, right? but he doesn't. instead, he frames them for the murder and says he'll pass the evidence on to the remaining heads of the nine. blackmail material. not his usual style, but who do we know that loves blackmail? delle seyah kendry, that's who. i'm certain she told him to do it this way on purpose, with the added benefit of getting rid of another potential obstacle since arune's family was previously killed during her coup in season one. killing two birds (or three) with one stone.

also speaking of that scene, we aren't shown how jelco knew about pawter setting up a meeting with arune. arune makes it clear to her that he's taking a huge risk to meet with her in the first place, and they're meeting at the royale, which tells me pawter didn't exactly go the legitimate way to set the meeting up. we saw how trying that worked with jelco earlier in the season. pawter might be seyah now, but there are limits to what even she can get around, given jelco's own position and the backing he has from her opposition.

jelco also points out that arune used pawter's entry pass to get in and that he knew pawter was already in the building. this makes me think he probably followed them at a distance and waited to make his move until he was sure they didn't know they were being tailed. then he waltzed in, knowing the wall was making everyone too doped up to care that he brought his (armed) entourage with him, had them dispose of arune's bodyguard, got close, and took him out.

sneaky bastard.

part three: a cog in the machine(?)

johnny be good is a good episode to look at here because it reveals some interesting things about the scope of the company's plans, when combined with everything discussed in part one.

dutch and co. break back into spring hill, with dutch planning to kill him after the containment fence is shut down. right off the bat their plan hits a few snags; the compound has apparently been left unguarded because it's in the middle of a "system wide changeover." changeover to who? it's not said in the scene itself, but we know later on that this refers to the hullen.

and then it turns out jelco doesn't even have the clearance to shut down the wall by himself even if he wanted to. he was never given it... but delle seyah has it, and she's not interested in giving it to pawter. the fact she has it and he doesn't is weird but it makes sense combined with the scene i mentioned earlier; he's following her orders and is working on her timeline, whether he wants to or not.

then we get to this scene.

"what the hells is going on? those beds, the plasma?" "how should i know? i'm just a cog in the machine."

for a cog, jelco sure as hell seems to know a lot, and he knows it.

we already know from shaft that the company's plans for westerley extend to every town on the moon. but this conversation is the first time dutch is hearing about that, and she puts together what the audience is starting to realize: more walls in more towns means more labs. more labs means more hullen. the company is making an entire moon of hullen. and jelco would be at the center of it.

"it's a whole new program. i set up the wall, deliver the rations, then i move onto the next town. the next wall, apparently."

this implies that, had the use of the containment fence in old town been successful, jelco would have been kept in charge of the program for much longer under delle seyah's direction. this also means that he would have a lot of authority over the project, but only as much as she would give him. as he says, he and everyone else involved are just middlemen. that's not just him saying that -- he's really referring to how the power structure of the conspiracy works. remember how i mentioned the engineers weren't told what they were building when they built the containment fence? and sure, jelco is more powerful than most "middlemen" are, but he's still right.

and then we get to what is, in my opinion, the most interesting part of what he says.

he claims that there is more plasma than what's in the labs. when prompted by dutch he tells her that westerley is "just the beginning" and that "there's more [plasma] than you could possibly imagine." he says he'll tell her where it is, but only if she spares his life. after some hesitating, she accepts.

at first glance, this might sound like a convenient lie he invented to save himself. except... later events show that it isn't. there are indeed other plasma sources in the quad, and in the rest of the j star cluster. the plot of how to kill friends and influence people, which directly follows johnny be good, is about finding one of these sources. season three confirms that there are more than even that, and that the hullen are spread across systems due to there being so many.

starts to make you wonder how much jelco really knew, if he knew about that. since the show goes on to prove he was correct several times, i don't think it was a lie or a lucky guess when he said it. he knew and was counting on dutch realizing he was necessary.

just look at his expression here. he's not waiting for her to shoot him. he already knows she's not going to.

part four: the disappearance of liam jelco.

i want to preface by saying none of this is intended as a mean spirited jab at the writers or even others in the fandom. it's just my opinion / observation.

this is where we get into one of the biggest questions i still have about the way the show was written.

why doesn't any of the above actually go anywhere?

to answer this question, i took to consuming pretty much every bit of behind-the-scenes content for the season i could get my hands on. interviews, twitter discussions, reddit comments, all of it. and none of it had anything approaching a satisfying answer.

what i did find surprised me.

jelco is often written off by the fandom as something of a joke or forgotten entirely, and i think part of this stems from how the writers treated him. after reading archived interviews and such, i got the sense that michelle lovretta never really intended to make him into a complex character the way that she did with other antagonists in the series. i think that she viewed him as more of a plot device than a character in his own right, and never intended to round him out at all beyond sticking him in the protagonists' path as an obstacle whenever it was relevant.

but picking apart his role in the myth arc has led me to believe that he could have been more. the groundwork is plenty there already, there's just no payoff.

the show stopped perceiving him as relevant, and so did the fandom.

an interview lovretta did after the airing of heist, heist baby also got my attention. in it, she says that jelco was originally written to be killed. she doesn't give any specifics of who or how, but she does say that johnny be good was the episode that his planned death scene was shot for before reshoots were done, giving him a more unclear fate so that he could be brought back later. in the aired episode, he vanishes suddenly after being left aboard lucy offscreen.

what this tells me is that fancy lee was his intended murderer. supporting this is the weird vague-ness of fancy's dialogue at the end of the episode when dutch realizes jelco is missing.

"i let him go, but we had some fun first."

what does that mean?

and why would fancy choose to let him go? doesn't that seem a little out of character to anyone? no clear answer is ever given, by the characters themselves or by anyone working on the show. the only indication we're given as to what happened is the fact fancy is seen cleaning blood off of his blade at the end of johnny be good, and jelco reappears with a scar on his face that looks like a knife wound, suggesting it was the result of a fight with fancy offscreen.

in the same interview, lovretta also partially credits adam barken (writer and co-exec producer for the first three seasons) with creating the storyline that jelco was given after his death scene was cut. this "storyline" occurs largely offscreen and is contained within an episode that feels largely disconnected from the rest of the third season.

"that's totally to adam barken's credit, along with of course writer julie and the actors themselves. last year we shot jelco's death scene in 209, but also shot a version where we could leave it more open ended (the version we went with in edit). that's because adam was really excited about the thought of what jelco might do next. he pitched out that jelco might run back to borna, make a deal for her protection, and eventually fall in love but have to work at wooing her. we've had that in our back pocket ever since."

the wording here tells me that neither barken nor lovretta ever intended on using any of the elements previously established with jelco. when he reappears, absolutely nothing is mentioned of anything he told dutch, which, oh by the way is the very reason she didn't kill him and that he's still alive to marry borna in the first place. it's like everyone, in universe and out, just forgot that was a thing all of a sudden... except that the writers didn't just "forget". they either didn't see the potential in exploring that again or didn't care. it's frustrating.

what would have been nice to see instead was a scene where they talk about that, particularly as the killjoys are about to go to war with the hullen. elaborating further on what he knows about the plasma would have been a good way to bring him back into the fold while keeping him relevant to the direction the show was taking. he could've stayed a recurring character without losing his importance, and this also would've paved the way for him to have more compelling character development in a similar vein to other antagonists, like delle seyah.

the groundwork is right there, but no.

what we do get is a jelco who (poorly) plans a heist to steal something pretty for his wife, panics when the consequences of his actions come for him, and admits that his wife punches and yells at him but still stays with her even when d'avin is literally trying to tell him hey, that's an abusive relationship and you should leave. it leaves such a bad taste in my mouth now whenever i see someone in fandom talking about how "fitting" it is for him (and i admit i used to be blind about that too, but my feelings about it have changed since.) it's such a far cry from the "prickly and charming, but also dangerous" type lovretta initially said she characterized him as all the way back in wild, wild westerley. it isn't fitting at all.

they spared jelco from being killed off, realized they didn't know what to do with him, and instead of capitalizing on any of the things that were previously established with him, they created a new story that ultimately resulted in him appearing for a single episode, being turned into a joke, and then being discarded, never to be mentioned for the rest of the series.

what a waste of potential.

[symbolsought]

More  stuff  I've  been  thinking  about !!  Regarding  Toshi's  mother. I  don't  think  the  two  of  them  were  insanely  close. Not  because  there  was  any  resentment  there  but  much  like  Toshinori  is  now,  his  mother  was  a  huge  workaholic. She  spent  most  of  her  time  working  and  leaving Toshi  on  his  own  because  Toshi  was  a  'good  kid'  who  'never  complained'.

 She  often  praised  him  like  this  but  the  relationship  was  still  a  little  distant  as  a  result. She  also  liked  to  tell  him  he  looked  so  much  like  his  dad,  though  he  started  wondering  as  he  grew  up  if  she  meant  that  as  a  good  thing  given  she  often  seemed  sad  when  she  said  it.

 None  the  less  Toshi's  "neglect"  in  his  youth  is  the  reason  he's  always  been  very  self-sufficient. His  childhood  largely  consisted  of  him  looking  after  his  mother,  perhaps  more  than  she  looked  after  him. He  would  get  up  for  school  every  morning  and  make  breakfast  for  them  both  so  his  mum  didn't  have  to  stress  about  it  and  could  focus  on  her  work,  and  he  would  make  dinner  for  them  both  when  he  came  home  from  school  of  an  afternoon  for  the  same  reason.

 The  office  building  his  mother  worked  in  was  totally  destroyed  by  during  a  villain  attack. She  was  among  the  causalities. He's  not  sure  he  ever  came  out  of  the  shock  of  it,  but  maybe  this  was  also  because  of  the  'distance'  that  had  already  been  between  them,  so  it  turned  out  losing  her  wasn't  some  huge  adjustment  and  he  met  nana  pretty  soon  after  that  which  helped  a  lot.

 Regarding  his  dad,  Toshinori  doesn't  know  much  about  him  other  than  that  he  was  American. His  mother  didn't  talk  much  about  him  but  she  told  him  he  died  before  he  was  born. To  be  really  honest  Toshi  always  had  a  quiet  fascination  surrounding  his  dad  and  what  little  he  knew  about  him. One  of  his  earliest  memories  was  when  his  mother  stopped  at  a  kiosk  and  he  found  a  comic  book  from  America  on  one  of  the  stands.

 A  that  time  he  could  hardly  even  read  it  properly  but  he  instantly  he  thought  about  his  dad  from  America  and  asked  his  mother  if  he  could  he  have  it.  She  was  in  a  rush  and  knew  he  barely  ever  asked  for  things  so  she  just  said  yes  and  he  was  very  happy. It  kept  him  quiet  for  a  few  days  and  she  ended  up  getting  a  new  one  every  week  on  their  daily  commutes  until  he  got  older  and  would  get  them  himself  on  his  way  to  school.

So  needless  to  say,  Toshi  had  a  lot  of  comic  books  as  a  kid  and  his  fascination  with  his  dad  is  what  evolved  into  his  fascination  with  America.

You  could  also  say  Toshi's  thing  with  trying  to  befriend  and  care  for  almost  everyone  around  him  stemmed  from  being  a  bit  of  a  lonely  kid  growing  up. Despite  how  friendly  and  approachable  Toshi  has  always  been,  he  never  really  had  that  many,  if  any,  close  friendships  as  a  kid.

 In  his  later  years,  this  has  a  bit  more  to  do  with  keeping  folks  at  a  distance  due  to  his  life  as  a  one  for  all  user,  but  as  a  kid  he  was  always  considered  a  bit  "weird"  by  other  people  and  this  wasn't  just  because  of  him  being  kind  of  "different"  as  the  "quirkless"  kid  because  it  wasn't  really  too  unusual  back  then  not  to  have  a  quirk.

 Instead,  this  was  more  due  to  things  like  his  bubbly  demeanor,  flighty  impulsivity,  and  honestly  sometimes  just  seeming  a  bit  out  of  touch  /  dreamy,  and  maybe  even  a  little  disorganize.

Never  in  a  truly  "negative"  way  as  Toshinori  was  never  classed  as  any  kind  of  'delinquent',  oppositely  he  was  often  considered  a  'good  kid'  despite  these  'faults',  but  these  were  all  traits  that  still  made  him  seem  a  little  off  or  "crazy"  to  people.

In  fact,  it  can  probably  be  said  that  Toshinori  might  actually  have  undiagnosed  ADHD. His  impulsivity,  poor  time  management  skills  and  struggle  with  any  kind  of  'paper  work'  has  continued  into  his  adult-hood  and  caused  some  struggles  in  his  day-to-day  behind  the  scenes  as  a  hero.

Thanks  to  people  like  Sir  Nighteye  and  even  Naomasa,  Toshi's  been  able  to  get  away  with  being  late/sloppy  with  the  paper  work,  but  he  still  doesn't  manage  his  time  the  best  and  is  still  as  "impulsive"  as  he's  ever  been.

[mysterioustomjenkins]

On the flip side of Shield Hero... ironically enough... Reincarnated as a Sword actually does have the main characters despise the Slave Trade. While they aren't actively going around, toppling markets left and right if they don't have to, any time they run into a slaver...hoo boy. For anyone who hasn't seen this series in any capacity (Light novel, Manga, anime) and want to experience it with no spoilers, stop reading here and scroll past for now.

So in this Isekai, the protagonist is...well the title explains it. He becomes an incredibly powerful, sentient sword (who had to work for that power level and can still be threatened thankfully). He's powerful enough that he even has telekinetic powers so he can move himself, not even needing a wielder until...he falls into a forest that drains mana, preventing him from moving so he then actually becomes an inanimate object who can only telepathically call someone for help which takes a while. Luckily for him, he eventually does get someone to help him when a young slave girl (a black cat girl) runs into him when she needs to fight a giant creature, frees him so he can defend her. The protagonist then frees her from the magically bound slavery, gives her a true name and effectively becomes her teacher and father figure, wanting her to reach her goal of evolving as beast folk in this series can evolve but black cats never have.

So that's the main goal, grow enough power to evolve and the two certainly get a lot of power... but whenever they run into slavers (or blue cats, enemies of the black cats that sell them to slavery), they show absolutely know mercy unless circumstances force them to. Fran (former slave girl) is remarkably vicious and has no qualms hacking off people's limbs and decapitating them, but if she needs to interrogate you, she can fully heal you from that so she can just mutilate you and heal you so you can experience the process all over again... and she can also heal sanity so you can't even break during this process. This is how she deals with slavers in her world. I imagine the only reason she's not toppling whole trades is because she's not old enough and strong enough to effectively do it and she wants to evolve first but she does not ignore the slave trades when she encounters them like Naofumi and Raphetalia. To be fair, she is from this world and is a victim of it, I don't think the sword would have cared initially before having his adoptive daughter be a victim of it but neither protagonist likes nor tolerates any slaver when they come across them... which is more than I can say about Naofumi though this post explains why he does pretty well, and Rudeus who straight up buys a slave at one point to give to one of his friends.

Why do Japanese isekai stories take such a blasé attitude towards slavery?

It’s a thing I’ve noticed: the MC will often come across slaves and slave traders, and instead of being outraged or horrified, they just go “… all right then.”

If anyone has an example proving me wrong, please share.

[wiitchkins]

Hello!!! okay obviously your knowledge of and taste in fashion is INCREDIBLE, we ALL know this, it is ELITE AND SUPERIOR - my question is, what's your background in fashion? what influences do you consider very important in your art? you mentioned in your most recent drawing of marinette that guo pei's couture is some you really like, so you clearly Know Some Stuff about fashion!! p.s. your art is *waves hands around* i would let it eat me

Ahhhhhh!! Thank you thank you thank you this means so much to me to hear! As for my background in fashion…

I am sorry to say I actually have basically 0 actual background in fashion aside from watching almost every season of project runway as it was airing (dropped off a few seasons after Tim and Heidi left) and a long standing appreciation of fashion as an art form.

I’ve never been particularly fashion forward or stylistically adept and I would say pretty much up until I started college I was pretty. Unstylish. Anti-stylish? In my own wardrobe. Nowadays I actually mostly present in way that leans more butch and I do have a defined style I’m both comfortable in and actively enjoy, but it’s very very different from what I like to draw and design.

As the internet evolved it became a lot easier to find stuff and for the past mmm five or so years I try to keep up with the seasonal runways, a lot of which you can find literal photos and recordings of on Vogue.com. Couture is… deeply fundamentally different from “ready to wear” in that it’s often simply unwearable in everyday life, but I think the way it emphasizes certain shapes, forms, and movement is, simply put, absolutely fucking sick (it is however not without its problems as in my experience mmm some Couture fashion folks can be extremely pretentious and intolerable 🙄 not to mention the space itself is highly inaccessible, favors certain features/body types/skin tones, and is inherently classcist, etc etc)

To keep up with what’s currently “fashionable” (as in what people are actually wearing) I honestly just scroll through Instagram to see who’s wearing what and going through different tags and knowing keywords for what different groups elf describe as helps. “#streetwear” is gonna give you a different feed than “#it girl” is gonna give you a different feed than “#office fit”. I also like to scroll through instas and tumblrs that are literally just interviews and photos with random people op finds out in the world- you see personality in how things are put together in specific. What makes a look personal to them? What is practicality and what is fashion, and how much of each does each individual desire? I don’t think everyone is the same kind of Fashion Forward (or even is fashion forward) and I think it’s fun to find different niches and mix and match while still applying design theory Ive learned elsewhere. Even a character who is specifically Not Fashionable is that way in a specific sense, and could still have an appealing design. Also studying fashion at all gave me the ability to draw fabric which is a huge skill.

Without saying too much about my actual job, I am not a character designer at the moment, but I do think having this general knowledge of costume design and vested interest in keeping up current fashion (both ready to wear and couture/runway) is extremely important in my profession and wish it was more emphasized as I think it would be. Very helpful. The character design in Apple TV’s/Skydance’s Luck drives me absolutely bonkers because it sucks so much and the main characters looks like an old navy ad circa 2010. The same could unfortunately be said for our fav girl Marinette. She’s allowed to be less aggressively Fashionable because she is in fact a child, but I’d love to see a bit more attention to detail and understanding of what teens wear nowadays, let alone what they were wearing even 5 years ago. Her look was a tiny bit dated when the show was first released, but it’s even more egregious now. Not that they’re going to change it anytime soon but they had an opportunity in the movie to at least play with proportions since the jacket’s.. cut I guess and pink capri jeans are the most egregious. Maybe I’ll do a redesign that keeps the general idea/pieces in tact… idk. God. Please character designers learn fashion.

Anyway now that I’ve written an essay here’s some stuff I’ve liked and have been thinking about recently:

Guo Pei (as I said, Spring 2019 rules, but Spring 2017, 2018 and Fall 2019 are my favs)

Zimmerman Fall/Winter 2022

Heaven Gaia Spring 2022 Couture

Clio Peppiatt x Annie’s Ibiza current collab collection

Lawrence Basse (all her work tbh)

Zuhair Murad Fall 2022

Tran Hung Fall 2017

Alexander McQueen Menswear Fall 2022 and 2018

Christian Dior Resort 2023

Janelle Monae’s Pre-Dirty Computer Era

Thierry Mugler (his entire body of work tbh but rn I like Resort 2021)

Hawwa (@hellohawwa)

Jarvis Aivali (@jarvisaivali)

This is not to mention my love for pre-colonial Filipino textiles, 1920s butch lesbian fashion, charro suits, whatever the look is called with the giant oversized floral button shirt and the jeans is, bright colorful floral/and or embroidered suits, ami thompson’s knight and princess characters, and the catholic met gala specifically.

[mcmactictac]

Hello hello I was randomly thinking about this as I was at work and I’m finally getting a chance to write it this is gonna be a long one folks buckle up today we’re talking about the hunger games, and specifically the “love triangle”

I’ve watched/read the series throughout various points in my life and my opinions have always changed slightly as I grow older and gain more knowledge. I personally see Katniss as aro/ace, I think it makes sense for her character. I’m not really qualified to talk about that but I have seen some people in that community do a wonderful job explaining it. So with that in mind I’m looking at this through a more practical lense, who compliments her personality and needs best.

Now I have always stood by that at the very beginning of the series, Gale and Katniss made sense. They were on the same wave length, they survived off each other and made good sense. If they had actually decided to run off before the games, they would have worked. But as soon as Katniss comes back from the games, it all goes to shit. Because she’s no longer on that wavelength with Gale. He doesnt understand and he never will. And during the games Peeta was the person she “survived” off of. Yes she carried them but they were in it together for a while you know?

Now she doesn’t really trust Peeta yet. I mean yeah she likes him, she put in the effort to help him but she doesn’t have that connection she had with Gale at the start. And you have to keep in mind that the games were really not that long. Katniss and Peeta hadn’t spent that much time together before the games ended. So although they are intensely bonded out of trauma and necessity, once shes out of that situation she tries to detach. But you can’t go back to how it was before. Suddenly you’ve killed people and you almost died and you lost people and it’s intensely traumatic. Katniss never wanted to show off, it was all about practicality and survival. And you come back different than before, with the guy you spent so much time with interpreting your actions wrong. He wants conflict. He invites it for the “greater good”. Katniss really doesn’t want to cause more fighting. She has already fought enough. And Peeta is the only other person (besides Haymitch) who knows what the games are really like. And her and Peeta will always share that burden together.

Like Katniss, Peeta never wants conflict. He’s smart and he can get what he wants in other ways. Without him admitting his crush on Katniss in the first book, he likely would have died. He can get closer to what he wants without hurting people. He only volunteered in the Quarter Quell to protect Katniss, not because he wanted to go in and prove something. He fully intended to die so that she can live. He’s fiercely loyal and understands in a way no one else ever could. Even after mockingjay, at his core those qualities are still there.

Gale is a raging fire full of heat and passion, Peeta is the gentle warmth of a fireplace. Gale leads with practicality and Peeta leads more with his heart. Gale is the sharp sting of wind on a winter morning as it freezes your skin, Peeta is the warmth of natural sunlight in the summer. For a long time, Gale guaranteed safety. But after the games, that wasn’t true anymore and especially after Mockingjay with Prim. Gale is 100% responsible for that. In a war situation, it’s a good move. A really really low blow, but effective and he knew that. He spends so much time wrapped in his anger and his determination to do what’s right he loses his empathy along the way.

Katniss wants safety. She doesn’t want to fight, she doesnt want to run anymore. Gale can’t give her the stability, the safety, the comfort that she so desperately needs. But Peeta can. He’s going through the exact same thing. “Choosing” Peeta promises stability snd understanding. Not having to fight. Just enjoy the peace and simplicity. Peeta makes sense because Gale is never going to understand her. She’s always going to feel isolated around him.

Peeta understands. He’s connected to her through their history, and they grew and changed together. Gale and Katniss grew apart as Peeta and Katniss grew together. At the end of the series the only “choice” for her is Peeta because she doesn’t trust Gale anymore. He isn’t safe, he isn’t the more peaceful life she wants anymore. He evolved and wants something different, and their values don’t line up any more. Peeta provides the soft warmth and compassion she needs.

That being said she doesn’t NEED anyone. But she does a shit job taking care of her own mental health, and Peeta would be able to help her with that in ways Gale can’t. Post everything, Peeta is a better support than Gale, despite Peeta being unstable himself.

That being said I was a Gale fan the first time I read the books like years ago but the older I get the more it’s like. They’d never work. They aren’t the same people they were at the start. After Katniss comes back from the first games they were never going to work because Gale was always focused on moving the revolution aspect forward, and not on the fact Katniss was in severe mental distress.

Katniss is perfectly capable of providing for herself, but she needs someone to support her emotionally as she works through her trauma. Peeta is the only person who can do that by the end because he’s the only one who understands and that she trusts. That’s all!!

[earthstellar]

Transformers Analysis: Folklore and Folk Magic in the Mines of Kaon

thinking about Miner Megatron again, as always. here we goooo 

So I've been doing some folk magic, as I usually do, and it got me thinking:

Surely, the lower class/caste bots wouldn’t feel welcomed into the more organised Cybertronian temples etc., or might even be outright banned from joining in shared spiritual spaces or rituals. 

So it’s time to teach y’all some working class magic history and how we can apply that to Cybertronian spirituality: 

Working Class History: Casting Spells on the Job (Just Call it Prayer so the Boss Doesn't Find Out)

Here's a quick history of rural Appalachian folk magic, for some context:

1) The Christian Bible has been used for spellcasting all up and down the rural East Coast in the USA from day one of colonisation.

In Pennsylvania you have Hexenmeisters and the Pennsylvania Dutch practices, for a well-documented example.

2) The working class has done spellcasting with the Bible from the very first day shitty bosses started

This is for several reasons, but primarily because Bibles were common and cheap, you didn't have to know how to read in order to follow along with or change the lyrics of popular hymns and prayers to fit your own needs, and it was very easy to sneak what is essentially localised witchcraft under the radar when it just looks like you're reading the Bible to everyone else.

Catholic materials were used a lot for this, because they were often provided for free by any local churches, and a lot of working class people in Appalachia were Italian (Roman Catholic) or Eastern European (Eastern Orthodox Catholic), which meant there was no shortage of all sorts of votive candles and the like to utilise for what we would now identify as spellcasting.

It's important to note that it wasn't called spellcasting outright by anybody; Sometimes it was called "hexing" or "sweet talking", among other terms, but if you called it spellcasting it was heavily frowned upon.

A lot of people were uncomfortable (and are still uncomfortable) with verbalising it or identifying it as such due to stigma from the more mainstream religious communities or their own religious backgrounds, and of course, historically if the boss found out that all the workers hated their jobs so much they were doing fucking witchcraft about it, it would not have ended well for the workers.

So, stealth it is. And that's why there are so many specific folk practices in a lot of historically working class rural regions/communities-- Not just in Appalachia, but similar things happen in similar communities around the world.

What does this have to do with Megatron?

Everything we know about the lower classes on Cybertron, the lower caste members, and the mines/industrial regions in Tarn and Kaon suggest that a similar folklore likely existed within these working communities.

And any local folk practices likely developed for the exact same reasons that this type of folk practice developed in the real world:

Workers are fucking miserable, "mainstream" religion isn't satisfying their spiritual/emotional/social/material needs or concerns, and close-knit people in small communities spending most of their time together naturally start to sort of do their own thing based on their collective situation.

People get desperate, there's nowhere to turn and nothing to do, so spirituality becomes a lifeline in that it builds solidarity and creates a more appropriate sort of support system.

For example: If we aren't allowed time off work to mourn our friend who was killed by heavy machinery, and we aren't allowed any time to process that or deal with it or take care of each other, then we will invent a ritual that allows us to grieve on the job.

This was, and still is, a common thing.

Which brings us to...

St. Barbara and the Mines + Solus Prime

St. Barbara's backstory can be summarised, roughly, as such (based on the version of this story that I know; keep in mind the details can vary):

She was kept isolated from others by her father, who became furious that she refused an arranged marriage. When she fled, he chased her; She ran into two people working in a field, the first who helped her, and the second who gave her path away to her father.

She was captured, and brought to a prominent local figure (the title varies based on different versions of this story), who had her tortured for escaping and disobeying her father.

However, when imprisoned, they tried to kill her again and again, and every morning she was healed. Fire intended to be used to burn her would cool the second it got near her skin, and daggers used to cut her would go dull when brought near her.

Snakes thrown into her room intended to bite her would then die the instant they went to approach her, and ropes intended to be used to bind and choke her would spontaneously fray and snap before they could be tied.

Eventually, she was condemned to beheading, and a special sword was used to cut her head off, which finally killed her.

Her father is the one who beheaded her, and as divine punishment, he was hit by lightning-- A single bolt that lasted so long that his entire body went up into flames, and his ashes disappeared.

Her gravesite became a place of veneration, where people prayed for protection and safety.

She became known as the patron saint of all people with dangerous jobs or jobs where the bosses don't care about the worker's wellbeing or safety, for obvious reasons: Nothing but the hands of her own father could ever harm her.  

(The imagery of St. Barbara being slain only by a special sword is very reminiscent of Solus Prime being slain only by a special sword...)

Workers, especially those with particularly dangerous or shitty jobs but also just anyone working class in general, can interpret this story in several ways which can make it additionally relatable:

Her father = A controlling and aggressive boss who abuses or neglects their workers to death.

The field workers = A pro-union worker (a helper) and an anti-union worker or scab (a betrayer).

So you can see how St. Barbara became immediately adopted as a common worker's saint, and was used in a lot of regional working class folk magic practices (where such folk magic developed within local working communities).

And this is still going strong as a tradition; Crossrail tunnel borers in London consecrated the drilling site in the name of St. Barbara in 2013:

"Several hundred contractors and senior management attended the St Barbara's Day ceremony at the Thames Tunnel (pictured) which will link Plumstead and North Woolwich when completed. The site was so large, that sound engineers put in place an amplification system for the ceremony." - Article here. 

"As a long-standing tradition, one of the first tasks for each new tunnelling projects is to establish a small shrine to Santa Barbara at the tunnel portal or at the underground junction into long tunnel headings. This is often followed with a dedication and an invocation to Santa Barbara for protection of all who work on the project during the construction period." - Article here. 

And here's a related example of a worker's prayer for St. Barbara, from here: 

So this is very much a tradition that is still going strong, and it isn't just Catholic workers who engage with these types of things!

To accommodate more diverse groups and communities of workers, folk practices (including what eventually becomes folk magic) increasingly develop even further away from any one specific religious origin, in order to become more inclusive for the majority of people who can be from all kinds of different spiritual or cultural backgrounds.

Hence, more folk magic is made-- And I believe something like this could absolutely have evolved in a similar way in working communities on Cybertron.

Cybertronian Spirituality: The Primes, The Knights, The Titans

My personal theory/headcanon, and there is not much in canon to support this particularly so please keep that in mind, is that given the average type of manual labour working environment in Tarn and Kaon (dangerous, dark, and deep), it would make sense for the legendary Titans to become worked into some kind of folk practice.

We have this concept of the Titans as these giant and very particular beings, which reminds me somewhat of the Jewish Golem of Prague, in that the Titans are made from raw materials in some kind of mystical or cosmically spiritual manner, then eventually ally themselves to at least one respective Prime who then acts as a director of their actions to achieve victory over cosmic evil(s).

The Titans then go forward and act as guardians of Cybertronian life by combating the origins of these cosmic evil(s) as protectors of their respective polities and regions and eventually colony worlds, called into action by what is essentially a metaphysical and possibly outright spiritual pull of the need of their Prime(s) and later on the needs of the Cybertronian and colony world populations in times of threat or desperation.

These details are peppered throughout canon and vary based on media/franchise, but most recently Titan lore was covered again in IDW’s Optimus Prime series, issue 10, literally titled Origin Myths. 

What is interesting is that while the Golem association could be reasonably made, you could also reasonably say that the Three Original Titans (Metroplex, Chela, and Metrotitan) could be associated just as easily with the Catholic concept of the Holy Trinity. 

Lots of different interpretations could be applied to this stuff!

Class Stratification Within Cybertronian Religious Institutions

No matter how you may interpret it, we know that the Titans have a similar mystical presence in Cybertronian history and cultural lore to that of the Primes and Knights, and it would make sense for those spurned and disparaged by "mainstream" spiritual practices (which were likely just as stratified by class and caste as everything else was on Cybertron during Megatron's youth) to go ahead and create a folk practice based more around Titans.

This is because the Primes would like be associated directly with their oppressive rulers and upper classes, and the Knights, who are said to be the first Cybertronians to come from the Well, thusly represent a very high class onto their own which may have repelled working class bots who were very likely sick of essentially worshipping those venerated in their class stratified society solely due to the conditions of their creation; The Knights were "born with silver spoons", essentially, and it's hard to sell that to people who suffered due to the conditions of their own creation.

Therefore, the Titans are the other most likely Cybertronian figures of historical lore that could reasonably be adapted into a sort of folk religion for the working classes and lower social caste bots.

The imagery is strong, and relatable: In Megatron's case, the manual labourers and miners all have large frames compared to the average Cybertronian, they all toil invisibly and in relative silence, and they are kept away from the end products of their labour and yet without them, Cybertron planet wide would instantly struggle to sustain their raw material demands. 

They are critical workers, yet many of them have no names/designations; It is noted at least once in canon that some Titans are so old or so little known that their designations are not recorded. Yet without these unseen/unknown Titans, it could be the case that cosmic evil could have achieved victory.

While the Titans are critical, they are largely a mystery and unknown in any real detail. They do not normally engage with average Cybertronians, and when they do, it is usually indirectly-- Even though their actions actively impact the lives of nearly everyone.

And though the Primes and Knights are generally never physically present, at least not within living memory, there is real and physical proof of Titans. I feel like that aspect alone may well appeal more to people who are very physically oriented; We also see a stark realist mentality from many of the lower class/caste bots, who are sometimes realistic to the point of nihilism (which is part of why Megatron's writings were so revolutionary, in that they re-introduced hope to people who had previously concluded that there was no realistic possibility of ever rising up).

The Titans being a known, tangible physical reality may well have endeared them as a more interesting folkloric or spiritual focus to this particular cohort of bots.

Just like with St. Barbara in real life, you can see how the Titans may have been interpreted in certain ways by the lower class/caste working bots which may have made them more appealing or more easy to structure into a framework of sorts for their own practices within their local cultures.

A Little Meta: There's a Lot of Various Religious Imagery in Transformers

Like with all media, especially Western media, inevitably some Jesus sneaks in there.

Which usually sucks, because it can be alienating for literally anyone who isn't familiar with Christianity in some way (as some references or parallels are inevitably not going to be as obvious or even detectable at all to people who didn't grow up with all this sometimes very specific shit, resulting in missed thematic elements and so on due to no fault of the viewers but rather the tendency for Western shows to overwhelmingly be written and designed by primarily Western white middle aged cis straight men who tend to throw some Jesus in there when there should not necessarily be any Jesus in there, but I could yell about this all night).

Transformers as a franchise altogether is not immune to this; As with all media, it is made by people, and people are influenced by their social/cultural upbringing, and that includes religious influences.

We could read some of this into the TFP/Aligned Continuity, in regards to the idea of the Thirteen Primes and how that concept is interpreted in TFP.

Transformers Prime: Alpha Trion is Essentially Paul the Apostle

The TFP Primes resemble both the Apostles as well as various Saints, and especially the Fourteen Holy Helpers; These fourteen Saints in particular are elevated above the others in many cases and contexts-- Similar to how the Primes are held up as elevated over other Cybertronians and other figures in Cybertronian history and presumably within certain Cybertronian spiritual practices as well. 

For example, Alpha Trion is strongly reminiscent of the Christian figure Paul the Apostle, who was a writer/scribe known for documenting early Christian concerns of faith in his letters, which became extremely important to theological historians in regards to determining early Christian discourse and attempting to create a timeline of early Christianity.

His letters are included the New Testament in thirteen (!) sections called epistles, which are archived forever in various iterations within the Christian Bible. 

Now, let’s take a look at the symbolism, using the TFP main illustration of Alpha Trion as featured in the Covenant, and a popular Icon image of Paul the Apostle: 

Beard, cloak, book-- Even the pose they are in here is very similar, look at the feet and the way they are both standing. Even the halo of Cybertronian glyphs around Alpha Trion’s head resembles the gold filament of Paul’s halo. 

And much like Alpha Trion's questionable ability to write/re-write history and determine events through some kind of cosmically divine power of foresight, the timeline of Paul's letters will likely never be fully verifiable, and of course, there are so many translations and interpretations of these letters along with the rest of the New Testament that while key points remain fairly consistent, there is still no "true" version or exact outline of events or discussions as recorded by Paul-- Primarily because in at least a few cases, Paul's letters are the only allusion to certain events or conversations.

This is extremely similar to how Alpha Trion states outright in the Covenant that he himself doesn't know if what he writes is actually factual anymore, or if he has changed things so many times to try to construct a more favourable narrative of actions and events that reality itself may have been warped by his Quill, either forwards or backwards in time...

You could also argue that Alpha Trion is presented as a God-like figure in TFP (especially when he appears to Optimus in the form of an echoing voice and shimmering spectral figure in a vision caused by what is essentially the equivalent of a holy relic), and Orion Pax would then be comparable to Jesus pre-Crucifixion, with his reformatting into Optimus Prime post-Matrix heavily resembling Jesus in the eyes of his followers post-Resurrection.

The main cast of Autobots in this comparison would then roughly correspond to the Apostles, of whom there were twelve, with Optimus then making Thirteen... And of course, canonically, Optimus is the resurrection of the Thirteenth Prime. 

You can also see visual similarities in the depiction of Thirteen in the Covenant; It reminds me heavily of the Divine Mercy image of Jesus: 

Both have their right hands raised, their chests emitting a holy/cosmic light. 

I'm just saying, it is totally possible to make connections between fictional lore/spiritual figures and real world ones, and TF is loaded with content that can be re-contextualised in this way. 

(I also want to point out at this time that it is not my intention to offend anyone with any of this analysis; I am writing from the point of view of someone who grew up with folk spirituality, and I am also a Quaker Attender, just so you are aware of my own personal background. I would love to hear any other interpretations of any spiritual imagery in Transformers media, because there’s a ton of possible ways to read into this stuff!) 

In Conclusion: Cast a Hex on Your Boss by Calling Upon the Titans

Just for fun, as someone who has actually done folk magic for my entire life, I've adapted a hex against bad bosses to fit this headcanon. I think this is something that lower class/caste bots would absolutely engage in; It's common in real life as well.

The original I'm basing this off of was actually something I found in one of our old family Bibles before I moved out, and was written in Girard, Pennsylvania sometime between 1920-1930. I believe it was written by a relative of mine who worked either on the farm or on the railways.

Remember that folk magic like this is for and by working class people, so there are no fancy supplies needed; Don't ever buy shit to do magic, you can do it with anything laying around you. No need to spend money.

If you have a shitty boss, please let me know if you hex your boss with this. I always encourage witchcraft, fictional or otherwise.

Here's what you do, if you want to actually try this:

1) Using any old paper that you have lying around, cut it roughly into a square (doesn't need to be perfect.) It doesn't matter what type of paper it is.

2) Grab any pen you like, it can be any type of pen, any type of ink.

3) Draw a square outline on the paper, making a border on the page. This can be big or small as you like, and you can decorate it if you want; Just leave enough space to write inside the square.

4) Fold this paper into a square, any way you'd like as long as it's a square, and take this paper while it's still blank to work in your pocket.

Carry the paper with you for at least one full day at work. If you can, place it in a chest pocket or a pocket where the paper will be fairly close to your body.

It doesn't matter if the paper gets dirty or smudged or torn; In fact, that's even better.

(Some people who do variations of this spell in real life even use the paper to wipe dirt off their hands etc. throughout the day, to really get the energy of a work day settled into the paper. As long as it can still be written on, you can do this if you'd like.)

5) At the end of the work day, take the paper out, and write the following:

Where I have put [X], the word "Lord" was in the original version of this hex which was in my family Bible, but to contextualise it within the fictional headcanon lore here, you can replace this with the word "Titan". (Or you can replace it with anything else that may be appropriate as well, if you would like to actually use this hex!)

"Give us pay for our work, or the poor will plea to the [X] against you, and you will be struck down, cast down.  

If you do not give to those who give to you, you will be cursed coming in, and going out.

Just as the [X] can raise you up and lead you to prosper, so too can the [X] turn away from you, and you will be left to have your walls destroyed, your fortress ruined.

Us servants will rejoice, but you will cry out in anguish, you will be put to shame.

Without the toilers, the land is made desolate, the haunt of jackals.

[X], turn your gaze to us, we labourers of all kinds, see our tears and our sweat.

Lay curses upon those who use their hands to hold us down; Kept below water, our tears lost in the flood.

Raise the waters, and surge the shores of their ill-owned kingdom; Bring forth to their memory that the [X] stewards the land, and that all among the land are equal in spirit.

The [X] will cast fury upon the unrighteous and conniving, cast rage and stand among us mightily, each motion casting winds against the oppressor who weakens like fractured stone under the onslaught of rain.

The [X] will make a storm from our anguish, which brings us higher, raises us from desolation. Our tears, become the rain that withers the false tower looming high above us.

Our hands will raise from our tools and duties, and offer high praise to the [X], who guards the disparaged and lowly, who enacts justice against those who have done wrong against us.

Let us be brought high, and those who revel in our struggle, may they be cast down."

6) You may flip the paper over once the ink is dry, and on the back, put three Xs in the upper corners of the paper. You may also add three more XXXs to the centre of the paper, where the crease in the paper is from folding it.

7) Re-fold the paper, and put it in the bottom of your right shoe. If this is too uncomfortable, carry it in any pocket on your right side.

You can also place it in your wallet for safe keeping, as your wallet contains money and possibly a work ID or something similar, which are all tied to work and working.

And there you have it! Fuck shitty bosses, both fictional ones and real ones. Join a union, do some witchcraft. 

This post was long as always, but I hope it's interesting to someone out there! <3 Thank you to anyone who actually reads through all of this! <3