#but calling it the best or even among the best.... no imo

[gizkalord]

my friend once said j/j/k was the most overhyped mid manga/anime she's seen and she's so right tbh

[junietuesday]

ep 45 when hardwon first wields the kingshammer the dwarf king comes out and says "you are human. why should we fight for you? how do you even wield this hammer?" and hardwon says "your guess is as good as mine. but me and my friends are trying to save the world." and in the short rest jake says something like he regrets that he didnt have anything cooler to say in that moment as hardwon, that he couldve talked abt being left at the base of the mountain as a baby, etc., but imo that wouldve felt so much cheaper. bc hardwon's whole deal in the frostwind arc is kind of him grappling w his place among dwarves. feeling a sense of kinship w dwarves, but dwarves seeing him as a foreigner, no matter that he knows the culture and history, that dwarven life is all hes ever known. and so hardwon talking abt being left at the mountain, or spending his childhood at the dwarphanage mining, or all these other things, might have been the justifications hardwon came up w for himself, trying to convince others and himself that hes earned some kind of belonging among dwarves - but despite all of it, he also spent his whole life in irondeep being made acutely aware that hes an outsider in his own home. and so in the finale of the arc, when the dwarf king poses the same question that hardwon has had to struggle with the whole arc, dare i say his whole life, what makes you, a human, think you can call the dwarves your people?, it's So delicious and hits so hard when hardwon finally puts down all his blustering, all his defenses, all his walls, and expresses emotional vulnerability. i don't know. but what he does know is that he has his best friends moonshine and bev, and that they have to save the world together, regardless of what his place in it may or may not be. and in this moment when hardwon admits his uncertainty, but also shows his resolve to help others, is when hardwon is finally accepted by not just any dwarves, but the most important kings in dwarven history.

[naranjapetrificada]

No one but me cares, but I have been sitting on this licherally since the premiere of season 2:

I have decided that Ricky being "a minor prince" means that he's half German (meaning his full name is much more likely some variant of Friedrich/Frederick than Richard), and that he inherited his status from his mother. I'm not a historian but here's my understanding and rationale.

With British and (therefore by extension, French) royalty, a prince who wasn't the heir (or spare even) was more likely to be referred to based on where they were born or referred to by one of their landed titles (which is why "John Lackland" was such a good burn). For example, in the Wars of the Roses, relevant people at all levels of the aristocracy are discussed as being Yorkist or Lancastrian, specifically because of ties to those respective dukedoms (titles held by the respective sons of Edward III, who they were descendants of).

In the Holy Roman Empire, however, there were LOADS of "princes" who were once called that because the only ruler above them was the Emperor. Because of this status, rulers with many different titles and amounts of real power could be considered princes and given "princely" airs. Among the princes were dukes, grand dukes, counts palatine, prince-abbots, princess-abbesses, and at different times a handful of kings (ie Bohemia, Hungary) and other titles besides. Some of the princes were Electors, who had extra privileges and duties within the Empire, but no one would have called the Electors "minor" anything.

(Gods help you if you need to keep all the titles straight but blame it on geography and religion.)

For Ricky to be a minor prince (minor enough to make that distinction) he most likely would have ties to one of the smaller or less prominent states. He would technically still be allowed to grant himself princely airs if, say, his family were part of the Imperial Diet but as counts or something. But there were princes and there were Princes.

During his conversation with Zheng, Ricky mentions something about his father having connections to the British treasury, which is the kind of power that the English aristocracy pretty famously had strong feelings about the royal family not having direct access to. So in this case, I've decided that as much as Ricky is any kind of prince, his father was at best literally any British noble. That would mean he had the title of prince based on his mother's status, which wasn't impossible because women could hold certain titles in the Empire in their own right, or could be a "princess" based on their family's status.

To be clear, this is interesting to me because a) if the 'tism hits hard anywhere it's history and b) this makes Ricky clinging to his status as a "minor prince" extra pathetic imo. Among the brits his status as a minor (German) prince would only sort of matter, especially when he clearly didn't hold that status directly as a ruler of any kind (otherwise ties to the British navy would be extremely sus!). At best it's a courtesy title he might technically be entitled to based on a real title held by his mother, but it just as easily could be a half-German brit making way too much of a title his grandfather held (and that he would have no direct claims to unless maybe there was like, no one else). It doesn't matter in the grand (or not so grand) scheme of things, but it certainly is funnier.

*side note: this is one reason why the children of some imperial rulers in central Europe, eastern Europe, and Russia were called grand dukes and grand duchesses instead of princes and princesses, the latter of which would have been lower on the aristocratic ladder than the former.

[kelpeigh]

A common complaint among sitcom viewers is how nothing ever changes/develops long-term. The function of the unchanging plot/characters is of course is for ease of casual viewing and so re-runs can air out of order without confusion. WWDITS has always loved playing with that problem, pointing out that there's a canon reason for their characters to remain stagnant: they are literally immortal and unchanging. They've said it explicitly multiple times, most notably imo in the s4 finale "nothing ever changes around here".

So I think it was a little spicy for tptb to give that nod to fans with the hypnosis moment. They said, okay, here's the “best possible ending”, see how out of place the idea of happiness and contentment is here? Canon is not the best possible universe, this isn't even the best possible narrative, these characters are circlejerking idiot disasters and they’ll never be good, well-adjusted people, even after the show is over. They even showed us that this very documentary is a reboot and everything is more of the same.

In the series finale, they cranked the "nothing ever changes" to 11 and had Guillermo, the only character capable of real change, freak out about it, only to show us that he won't change in the end either. This whole season he seemed to be over Nandor, the other vampires, and vampirism in general. But now he's brushing Nandor's hair again. He's calling him "Master". He's acting hopeful when Nandor says there’s reasons he’s happy they won’t have cameras on them all the time… Then his final speech about moving on is a fake-out. By doing that fake-out he joined the vampires by accepting that he'll be a silly little guy forever.

You could argue that the only real change on the whole show is that Nandor really truly considers Guillermo an equal now-- and I like how that leaves Nandermos an open door to write further development post-canon. Cool.

Otherwise, characters are dynamic enough to be interesting, but any development gets folded into the multitudes contained within each vampire without disturbing their Set of Most Salient Attributes. Nadja learned human psychology but still can't empathize. Colin Robinson was literally reborn and he's slightly more chummy with Laszlo for it, but doesn't remember being raised by him. Laszlo's new-to-us passion for science is a re-invigoration of an old pursuit (Cravensworth's monster). We've also seen him make the mistake of thinking Nadja needs protection no less than three times this season.

Tl;Dr It’s frustrating that WWDITS wants to have its cake and eat it too, but it’s meant to be frustrating like that. It’s not new. It’s not exclusive to a ship. I get being more than frustrated about it because it feels like the same ship treatment we’ve gotten from a million other shows, but it really does fit here, on the “even when something changes, no it doesn’t” show

what IS objectively horrible that I will complain about to no end is there was no Simon the Devious this season

[charmac]

Which episodes have the best Dennis and Mac ship moments?

I wouldn't necessarily say Mac and Dennis have "ship moments" that you can pick and label as the "best" (other than what would make sense as scenes for compilations/edits?) and I'll defer to @psymachine's answer to a question similar to this: don't watch this show for Macdennis moments/episodes.

I can pretty confidently say that Mac and Dennis (and the show) will be lost on whomever decides to go at it through the lens of "best ship moments". Because what is considered a good "ship moment" for something as fucked as their relationship?

Mac is canonically admittedly in love with Dennis, so it's not hard to pull a ton of "ship moments" from his relentless pursuit: you have attempted kissing, erotic dreams, baby trapping, sex doll Dennis, room trapping...all stellar attempts on Mac's side and all important aspects for their relationship (Gets Romantic being one of my favourite episodes), but those moments are almost all, in the most blatant way to put it, sexual harassment. Sexual harassment of Dennis that was essentially born and grown from Dennis' conditioning of Mac's sex life in the seasons before: making and recording sex tapes for him, teaching him the best way to get sex is through carefully orchestrated systems and schemes made up of lies and deceit, that getting off has very little to do with a second (willing) participant.

Barring their individual personalities and mental illnesses, what ends up coming from Mac heavily relies on what comes from Dennis years before, and what is eventually ongoing between both of them (reaching batshit levels of sex chicken) exists among and within that all. IMO, placing any specific "best" on a moment for them as a ship is almost impossible without reference to everything before it (and an actual understanding of it all).

That being all said, what I would call the best ship moments for the two of them are what's hidden between and underneath the hard punches of their back and forth, the subtleties that are continually ongoing (mostly the ones that lead you to understand that Dennis is in it, even when Mac is on the offensive), this shit that's impossible to pin out of context:

The way Dennis gets even stupider when he's wrapped up in an idea with Mac (Timeshare, for example) and the way he attempts to cut off his outbursts when dealing with Mac's own stupidity (see Frank Retires) (and Recession is great for both of these). The fact that Dennis will push past his own grievances for little reason other than to make Mac happy (Suburbs) and the fact that at the end of it all, he's always going to end up going home with Mac (Divorced.. mm). (For all of this in one shot: Inflates)

And for Mac, in more recent events with Dennis on the offensive, when his ever desperate vie for Dennis' attention and affection is pushed back on in favour of being the Mac Dennis truly wants. The Mac Dennis fell in love with decades ago.

[moss-ridden-owl-creature]

Dude gangggg can y’all help

I think I’ve got some fucked up toxic ass friendship going on rn and I don’t know what to do about it. (it’s super long sorry)

Now let’s call this friend Q (he/they) Now Q and I have been friends for about 4 years now. And for the first 2 1/2, 3 years or so. It was a chill friendship. Pretty close, Yada yada, all that. But in the last year and a half or so, Q has gotten drastically meaner. I mean like genuinely shitty behavior. He’s copied things I do, insults me, and on a few occasions, actually physically hurt me. Usually it was semi-harmless stuff, like on my birthday telling me that I can’t carry a tune in a bucket, and another occasion “[deadname], I love you, but you CAN NOT sing.” Both of these instances were about a year ago. Keep in mind, one of my greatest passions, is THEATER. More specifically MUSICAL THEATER. Like dude! That fuckin hurts! BAD. And keep in mind, both those comments were UNSOLICITED ADVICE. I didn’t ask, want or need them, but the moment I ask “Hey, can I offer you some advice on how to adjust your art you made?” (Anthro art, which I am WELL VERSED IN.) his immediate response was “No. and don’t you dare.” OH? SO I GET IT. YOURE ALLOWED TO OFFER UNSOLICITED MUSICAL ADVICE, SOMETHING YOU AT THE TIME KNEW JACK SHIT ABOUT WITHOUT ASKING ME FIRST. BUT THE MOMENT I TRY AND DO THE SAME, AND I ASK YOU FIRST, ITS A BAD THING? You goddamned fucking hypocrite. Just pick a fucking side dude! I’m so TIRED of it. Or recently, a couple weeks ago, me and my friends were talking about this stupid ass like what character you’d be if you were in this show we all watched and I said who I’d be -a character I really liked- and this bitch really responded with “You’re not cool enough to be around to be them.” Like dude, wtf?? Why would you say that shit?? Or the other time when they said “You’re not my best friend” among other things. But the most recent, and imo, the most serious development, is that Q has begun to actually hurt me. Not in a joking way, in a purposeful way. Now, usually as a joke, if you put your hand in front of my face or if I see you do something that I think is pushing the boundaries of one of my friends, I’ll “bite” you (it’s literally just your hand in my mouth dude. I don’t even bite hard enough to indent or bruise the skin.) and Q has begun to respond by slapping me. Keep in mind, I’ve done this for YEARS, this is not a new thing I’ve done, but him slapping me in response is new, But today was a different story. Today when I did it, because I noticed that my friend he was bothering seemed visibly uncomfortable, I “bit” Q. Q decided to respond by sticking his fingers in the bottom of my mouth, taking his thumb and pinching the skin between the fingers inside of my mouth and his thumb on the bottom of my chin (the area on your jaw where it’s only skin) and pulling. Really fuckin hard. And if you haven’t had that experience. It’s fucking painful. Especially for me, who, for a long time has had dental issues in regards to my bottom jaw and teeth. So not only did this hurt, it could have genuine affects on my physical health. Now, about a week ago. I informed a close friend on mine that I wanted to try and distance myself from Q for these exact reasons. He’s gotten meaner. unnecessarily mean, to point where it HAS ME PHYSICALLY FUCKING HURT. and gods I don’t know what to do about it, because my friend was like “oh it’s probably just a misunderstanding” THIS ISNT A FUCKING MISUNDERSTANDING OR A COMMUNICATION ISSUE AT THIS POINT. Because what I am putting into our friendship is NOT reciprocated. Worst part is, he doesn’t apologize for ANY OF IT. he doesn’t even MENTION IT. And I just don’t know what to do about it. I’m so, so tired of this shit.

[fiamat12]

RE: Prevalence and use of NDAs

In the movie Red, White, and Royal Blue NDA’s are mentioned as a standard course of action for hook ups among politicians and families.

The president’s adult son is found with someone his room and the assistant who is in charge of monitoring the campaign/PR/cleaning up messes says, “I’ll bet you didn’t even have her sign an NDA!”

The implication was that for this high profile individual person, the NDA would be signed prior to any funny business as a standard course of action.

It makes sense to me that actors and anyone else in the private eye, especially those who work for a large production franchise (Like SL/Bton) would be instructed to follow the same precautions to avoid any scandals or public relations faux pas.

We don’t know how it all played out, but since A has already revealed enough to cause a scene in the fandom, and I assume L wouldn’t want to sabotage his own career, I’d imagine something went awry and she either didn’t sign one initially, and then ended up with more information/leverage that she could use to her advantage, and/or she didn’t stick to it or tried to get around it to serve her purposes by using anonymous tips to gossip writers, ghost written articles, and posts that imply things without outright stating them, often which are deleted later to maintain plausible deniability. If they (L&A) started out as friends, I’d can’t imagine them continuing to be friendly unless this was all a subterfuge that she was in on, and if so it was very messily done.

☝️I think you meant public eye Anon but private eye is funnier since Lukola has been so secret lol

Interesting thought on the blind items. I will say the People intern who kept writing adjacent articles of "packing on the PDA" lol seems to be in A's peer group 🤷🏼‍♀️

Imo, I don't think L & A had a relationship of any note, perhaps went on mostly group dates at best. I do agree that he prob. didn't have her sign an NDA, let her into the friend group prematurely and she had way too much info. to leverage about his personal life. Perhaps it isn't anything super scandalous in the big scheme, but seeing as fans were already touchy about Jade and his HBS and even brothel Colin, having A run her mouth just as S3 came out AND w/ him & N newly committed/ expecting, it could've been a PR disaster (which sadly it ended up being anyway).

My partner's take: "She's a vindictive B" (enough said lol)

Comments from the Discord peanut gallery ⬇️

"I can imagine that NDAs wouldn’t have crossed his mind with his friend group at the time since he’d known most of them since childhood. (Well, at least the guys.) I think it has certainly turned into a lesson in trust for all of them as they navigate becoming and living as celebrities"

" I don’t think he necessarily slept with her. Not because I don’t think it’s possible for him to have casually hooked up with her. But instead, because of what he did after that, and that is the awkwardness and disrespect to Nic of letting her be around so much after that. Don’t let your booty call turn up at the London press call or be around at the Valentine’s Day event, etc. Imagine letting her still go on the March LA trip while you're already dating Nic again [about to get engaged!]. He wouldn’t do that to Nic. Instead, that suggests to me that he kissed her a few times and she started to hope she could turn it in to more, but he never saw it as more. I do think he messed up by not getting her to sign an NDA from the start. I think he was modest and naive about the level of fame he was about to achieve."

[puckpocketed]

I dont want 2 belabour the point <- but im gonna anyways .

Their major flaw is the power play. Power-play opportunities don't come around often in the playoffs, and the Kings will need to score on more than 15% of their opportunities to have playoff success. Their 5-on-5 play is among the best in the NHL and will allow them to dictate pace of play and control the game. Facing off against some of the top power plays in the West, the Kings must find a way to produce with the man advantage to avoid another first-round exit.

you cannot craft a “kings power play bad” narrative unless you take the season in and read it as a text rather than one cumulative number spat out at the end!! im sorry!! i do think that’s just poor reporting.

it’s the timing of the pp goals + allowing failed pp opportunities dictate the momentum of the game at 5v5. it’s Q not getting pp1 time for ages, and overusing Kopitar, and having a whole team of mfs who are pass-first, our only dedicated finishers seemingly being Kevin Fiala (who was slumping in the first half of the season), Laffy (bad bounces for like 2 months straight) and an injured Trevor Moore.

maybe the whole season says whatever% (17 at time of writing) but the Kings power play has been 23.4% since tdl and that is for VERY obvious reasons if you just . watch the games . hello. its so dark in here.

LA runs their pp from the point and not one of the flanks. LA does not currently have a dman capable of doing everything they need on a power play

i.e. passing/skating/fakes to open up shooting lanes + the ability to track back and defend if needed + a shot threat from the point

clarke can do the first, not the last two. imo, getting burned by the guy he’s defending on the rush is a glitch in his otherwise solid defensive performance this year. and he prefers wristers over one-timers.

spence can do the last two but isn’t great on the first. he’ll likely never be the kind of dynamic force clarke is. that’s ok long term!!! he is who he is!!! but they did have him running point for PP2 for a while, i think solely because he was a shot threat

doughty is injured and has simply not been very good since he came back, so he’s lost his spot (good on Hiller for seeing it instead of forcing the issue)

enter kempe, who is now playing point for the first unit <- i do hate a 5F pp but it’s working — has anyone watched adrian kempe play defence. it’s as good as you’ll get from an NHL forward forced into that role and more than good enough right now to defend in a pinch

we did not have kuzmenko for most of the season and maybe handedness doesn’t matter for other PP systems, who knows, but it does matter in this one. for flow: kuzmenko is a righty, plays down low/net front

beyond that i think he and adds a lot of movement (puck AND player) to the pp that we hadn’t had before. he’s confident rn and he tries things that other players wouldn’t, the x-factor is THERE!!

Lots of things contributed to the end of season scoring heater LA went on. btb I don’t think a small sample is enough to make a final judgement on whether their power play is totally fixed. it looks good. and that’s bc it is fundamentally different from how it was being run earlier in the season. but amongst those very good games we faced a bunch of non playoffs teams and finally got some shooting luck.

EVEN THEN!!!! i don’t think it’s right to call it our “major flaw” based off the season pp% like it’s v low hanging fruit and such a nothingburger of a statement to make 😭 especiallyyyy given this team does most of their damage at 5v5 and can’t seem to stay out of the box ! <- IS ANYONE GONNA TALK ABOUT THAT

anyways. Bad Article. to ME!!!!

[highdio]

DIO and the Plan for Heaven

I've received a lot of asks for my take on how the "plan for Heaven" in Part 6 relates back to Dio as a character. Some of these included theories and asked whether I agreed with their points. The best way to for me reply is to walk through some misconceptions I've seen repeated about the Heaven plan and at the same time give my own views on how the Stand ability that Pucci enacts in Part 6 can be reconciled with what we know about Dio in canon. Spoiler: IMO the form that the Heaven ability ultimately takes - a universal reset that grants all of humanity knowledge of their preordained fate in advance and down to the micro-level of individual occurances - is not necessarily the outcome that Dio predicted or even desired.

1) The "Heaven" that Pucci enacted in Part 6 is not derived from a subconscious psychological need for security or safety on Dio's part.

This seems basic but I've seen this in comments: the belief that the Stand ability Pucci unlocks through Dio's "heaven" formula relates back to Dio's own need for security and peace of mind. This panel specifically gets talked about, in both discussions regarding Heaven and of Dio's larger worldview:

Of course here Dio is describing "human" needs. Dio doesn't consider himself human and doesn't include himself among those seeking these comforts. Importantly, neither does Araki:

"From perspective of the world in which living creatures naturally prey upon the weak, what DIO is doing is the correct thing. It's out of line with society's norms though, which were created to make it easier for humans to survive. Considered from the worldview of the "Law of the Jungle" [弱肉強食], DIO is acting normally. …People might say I'm anti-social when I say this, but, in a sense, DIO is someone I admire (lol)." (Jump Remix Vol.11 (March 2002), my translation).

Asked to describe his feelings on Dio, Araki heads straight into setting up a direct opposition between "society" - which provides the security, comfort and safety for its participants that Dio describes in the above panel - and Dio, who lives by what Araki calls an "anti-social" code unconcerned with these comforts. It's central enough of a character trait for Araki to say all this unprompted in response to a general ask about DIO.

So anyone claiming that Dio's Heaven plan came out of a need, conscious or not, to allay his own insecurities and for his own peace of mind ignores the fact that Araki wrote Dio with an entirely contrary mindset.

It's also worth considering the context of the panel, since it will relate to a discussion of whether Dio even wants a world where people know outcomes in advance. Dio is describing humankind's need for comfort and security in an attempt to convince Polnareff to submit and to continue to serve him. Araki ties all of this to fear: Polnareff must either give into his fear and resign himself to a comfortable life of submission or he must overcome his fear and reject those comforts.

ofc Dio is playing a game with Polnareff at the same time, using time-stop assisted sleight-of-hand to convince Polnareff that his own body is physically submitting, unconsciously descending the same two stairs. This game, where fear and submission are directly tied to the promise of comfort and security, presents choosing the comforts of society as the weaker, non-heroic path. tl;dr, accepting the security that Dio describes in that panel is a bad thing. Keep this fact in the back of your mind.

If Dio isn't motivated by a need for security, and instead lives according to rules of the natural world, maybe Dio wanted a universe where all of humanity knows its fate in advance for practical reasons, i.e., it would make humans resigned to their fates and simple to rule over?

Again, we need to consider what, exactly, this would mean for Dio.

2) Dio did not intend to create a world where all of humanity became resigned to its fate as a means of ruling over mankind, because this would remove all the pleasure of accumulating and exerting power.

I've discussed this before: Dio actually likes people who take the most arduous path, seemingly rebelling against their own security and comfort. While it is possible that Dio wanted humans to be more docile, this would definitely take away one of Dio's favorite hobbies: subjecting humans to extreme psychological pressure to see how they react, something Dio indulges in regularly. The Heaven achieved by Pucci (a universe where everything is known in advance by its participants) would mean that everything - from that lady sacrificing herself so her baby could be spared in Part 1 to Hol Horse trying to shoot Dio in the back - would be robbed of all dramatic tension. A knowable universe is a boring one. Dio as an immortal would be highly aware of this. And we know that Dio loves a good fight (Araki draws Dio at his most alive and expressive during direct physical confrontation) and loves an opponent who fights back (it's the reason he moves from disdain to respect for Jonathan over the course of Part 1 and the reason he "realizes he likes" Hol after Hol's rebellion). A known universe changes the very nature of "fighting back." When opponents know the outcome of a fight before it starts, combat is reduced to simply going through the motions.

In short, Pucci's universe makes it too easy for a guy who is all about the drama of testing and transcending limits. It would take all the pleasure out of being Dio.

This is where the value judgment I discussed earlier comes in, the one where the comfortable path is also the easy one, and where choosing security means choosing resignation and cowardace. How is it possible then to assert that Dio wants a universe, an eternity, where everything is resignation? It isn't, and he doesn't.

(Here I should point out the obvious fact that the Dio and Pucci flashbacks in Part 6 take place, from a timeline perspective, concurrent with Part 3. While it's surprisingly often that people attribute what they perceive as a difference in Dio between Parts 3 and Part 6 as an easing or maturing in Dio's outlook over time and reflection, there can be no evolution or softening in Dio's thinking between Parts 3 and 6 because there is no time gap. Dio's words in Part 3, if we take them at face value (since sometimes he lies), reflect what he's thinking at the same time he's devising his plan for "Heaven.")

Instead, there's a telling scene early in Part 3 where Dio discusses that "standing at the top of the World" means overcoming fear:

Now consider the Heaven ability that Pucci unlocks at the end of Stone Ocean within the context of this monologue as well as the Polnareff stairway scene. Knowing your fate - the ultimate goal of the universal reset - isn't overcoming fear, it's having the hardship of fear removed. "Fear" in the above passage results from the experience of failure and the reflexive bodily reaction during future struggles to the possibility that one will fail again. When all is known in advance, this fear is removed. The possibility for "conquering" fear that Dio describes to Enya is likewise removed altogether.

Additionally, in Part 6 and while discussing "Heaven" with Pucci, Dio directly states that "true happiness cannot be attained… by being the ruler of the human race," contrasting this with the true victory of "getting to see Heaven." This dialog yet again gives the lie to an assertion that Dio wants universal precognition as a practical means to easily dominate all of humanity.

3) IMO Dio did not know what form the "Heaven" ability would take, just that it would be an OP, transcendent power.

I've talked about this before too but one of the coolest elements to the Heaven formula is how gnostic it is. Some people just ignore this fact, but it's critically important to look at how Araki chose to characterize the "formula for Heaven." 14 cryptic words, the "souls of 36 sinners," a specific latitude and longitude, the phases of the moon. This is esoteric, occult-type stuff. Add to this Dio's own description of how the destruction of his stand will "give birth to something entirely new":

This language is extremely important. It seems the critical detail that's missing from the formula of heaven is what shape exactly the "heaven" ability will take. The outcome of Dio's heaven plan is missing from the formula because that outcome - "whatever is born" - will be revealed through the process. This is precisely why "courage" is needed: this is a leap of faith into the unknown.

It stands to reason that Dio himself would be uncertain what power would be unlocked through the formula. After all, this theme is a throughline throughout Dio's life: Dio constantly does stuff where the outcome is both unknown and radical. Using the stone mask, taking and assimilating Jonathan's body, powering up on Joseph's blood: Dio's pursuit of power consistently leads him to make "leaps" where the outcome is knowable only as "something new" and something transcendent. So it's not just plausible that Dio didn't know what new ability would emerge with the destruction of his Stand, it's in character. And of course, unknowability and the need for "courage" in the face of an unforeseen outcome directly mirrors Dio's assertion in Part 3 that "the one to stand at the top of the World" is the one who "conquers Fear."

4) Pucci has as much a role as Dio in shaping the form that the "Heaven" ability ultimately takes.

If you ignore all of the above and instead assert that Dio had his plan fully mapped out and specifically envisioned a future where he and all of humanity were disavowed of the illusion of free will - comforted by going through the motions of a fate they had already lived through - then Pucci himself becomes unimportant. The character gets reduced to a simple cog or a lackey, carrying out the gruntwork of an absent master architect.

Instead, imo the specific backstory and worldview that Pucci brings to his and Dio's relationship is the key element that shapes the form that "Heaven" eventually takes. After all - this point is not debatable - it's Pucci himself, not Dio, who seems most in need of the comfort, the certainty and security, that a universe in which all know their fate would provide. Pucci's entire backstory is built around the trauma of unforeseen consequence. The reset universe really is, then, the realization of Pucci's own personal "Heaven."

Please keep in mind that Dio did not expect to die and fully expected to be the one to enact the Heaven formula himself. Of course Jotaro had something to say about this, so instead we get Dio's disciple and "trusted friend" executing the formula.

(Add to that the obvious, meta fact that Araki developed the "plan for Heaven" specifically for Part 6. The plan (or even the notion of "getting to Heaven") isn't mentioned in any prior part, and isn't part of Dio's story anywhere prior. In the true "meta" sense (e.g., the real-life production conditions surrounding the fictional work), the Heaven plan is written by Araki for Part 6 and as the major driver of Pucci's story, inseparable from the character. Araki tightly tailored Pucci's backstory around the idea that bad twists of fate sow profound misery and that knowledge of what fate has in store can allay inevitable suffering, the premise of the universal reset. Even Pucci being a priest has obvious synergy with the concept of "Heaven." Without Part 6, without Pucci, the heaven storyline never gets written. And within the story itself, without Pucci the formula to get to "Heaven" is never enacted.)

All of this is to say that discussions that try to link the reset universe and resultant universal precognition too closely to Dio's own personality, his backstory and his philosophies ignore the fact that Heaven was enacted by the gravitational convergence of two individuals who each brought something to the formula. Dio strongly shaped the course that Pucci's life took and Pucci in turn shaped the form that "Heaven" took.

[unicornachos2]

Just reflecting on how well in rain wild chronicles we see the cycles of patriarchy and a specific type of masculinity perpetuating themselves through different characters in different ways, and the different reasons they're called to those behaviours.

Like we start with a few... toxic masculinity spawn points (lmao) and then see how the ripples of their behaviours and ideologies continue through other characters.

We start with the homophobic, capitalist trader society and old traders like Hest's father, who constantly makes remarks about how he must create an heir and makes comments about Hest's unnatural "activities". This man knows his son is gay but instead of finding solutions that work for them all, he berates Hest into fitting in, or at least making an effort to appear to. Hest is already a shitty person, and "pays forward" his frustrations and ideals onto Sedric and Alise. He instills in Sedric his own ideology which is, if he can't fit in one way, he can fit in through another, which is by maintaining and increasing his wealth, and using others to get a leg up in society. When he experiences violence at the hands of Lord Dargen, he again decides he'll pay forward his treatment, and ends up attempting to do so to Alise and Sedric again, but also Davvie. Hest's cycle of fucked up masculinity is limited to a smaller number of people, but we know what the consequences are for Alise and Sedric. What is a relief is that in a very catalyst-like fashion, Alise and Sedric change the "cart of fate" or whatever out of its path so the cycle can't continue.

The other place we begin is Chalced and its duke who perpetuates a culture of slavery, control, and patriarchy. That flows onto Jess who is brought up in Chalced. Then he singles out among the keepers who is most primed to sway to his "logics" in Greft. And we know Greft has been othered his whole life, so recruiting him is easy. Then Greft recruits Kase and Boxter and then Nortel, and then Tats even, to an extent (will never forget Tats essentially telling Thymara that people who're married don't say no to each other and NEVER fucking apologising for that).

What's interesting is Rapskal at that time seems immune to it, bc Jess probably deems him too sweet and simple to make a leader like Greft.

Our third perpetrator of his own cycle, is Tellator. I think Hobb shows us the devastating decline of Rapskal as a character to really bring it home for us the ways in which toxic masculinity reaches even "the good ones" - the seemingly "best" of boys and men. Rapskal probably on some level knows he's different from the other boys, and he's reckless enough to let another man who has the traits of a charismatic, populist leader infiltrate his mind. As soon as the keepers start to notice the change, we see the original lackeys of Greft's cycle immediately shift to follow Tellator instead.

Ultimately I think it's really good example of how men are endlessly recruited into cycle after cycle of patriarchy and control by other men. Like she essentially gives us a demonstration of how the recruitment of incels and the far-right works.

What let me down was the lack of time we spent shifting Tats out of that cycle. Imo by the end of the series he's not free of harmful beliefs about gender and about relationships and we just end with this shallow assumption that Tats and Thymara are all good now and he's improved himself. But he's barely learned a damn thing. I haven't started the final trilogy yet so idk how their relationship will go, but I feel like we needed more time from Tats' POV and for him to spend more time with Carson and Leftrin to allow him to have enough discussions with them to wind back his entitlement and just. Unpleasant traits and ideas. I know this is Hobb World and that might be unrealistic, but we needed more from Tats for him to move "up" enough enough to more effectively mirror Rapskal's downward arc.

THOSE ARE THE THOUGHTS FOR TODAY ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

[fathercharlesoffdensen]

My instinct regarding accusations of 'queerbaiting' is if a piece of media ultimately ends with the queer characters in question in an established relationship, it is not queerbaiting.

"The Finale" of What We Do in the Shadows, in its OG or 'sacred timeline' if you will, ends with Nandor not only assuring Guillermo that he has a place with the vampires (with him) regardless of his mortal status which is in line with Nandor's established love languages; and then, he invites Guillermo to sit in his coffin with him the way a couple might occupy a two-seater sweetheart sofa, and surprises him with the secret superhero lair that nobody thought he was serious about (one of the most delightful recurring tropes of the show imo). Even more obvious is the alternate universe ending supplied helpfully by Nadja's vampire hypnosis wherein a human Guillermo and Nandor are incontrovertibly gay married and in bed together. By all accounts, Nandermo is canon and married and a couple, et cetera, ad nauseum.

Still, for all of the quiet, soft moments between them across the past six seasons + all of their homoerotic fighting and such, it surprised me that the show sort of failed to "stick the landing," as Colin Robinson offers. I doubt anyone expected the flagrant homosexual dance between Blackbeard and Steed in Our Flag Means Death to be so romantically and exquisitely realized, and perhaps this set an impossible standard, but I can't help but wonder what ultimately accounted for the decision to soft shoe Nandermo into "The Finale" vs. allowing them to finally kiss and be married and co-plan the next Staten Island vampire orgy (because somehow they'd figure out how to make it work for Guillermo to be a vampire); essentially all of the 'boring' hallmarks that the final episode intentionally catalogued through meta fourth wall-breaking and that whose absence makes the cheeky nature of said cataloging kind of feel like whomever made the call to end the show as such is laughing at vs. with the fans.

Alas, "The Finale" feels a tad mean compared to the way similar OTP ships are dealt with in Taika media, and maybe it's simply that he wasn't directly involved and Paul Simms was feeling hounded and peckish. Given how antagonistic much of fandom's one-sided parasocial relationship with media makers can be - and unfortunately, be it borne from immaturity or malice or desperation to see a much-loved concept be realized, this is a huge issue among some Shadows fen - I wouldn't blame the writer(s) for going into "The Finale" at least somewhat embittered. Even so, I can't help but read some compromise and disappointment between the lines of a recent interview with Harvey Guillen regarding how Nandermo ends up:

I think that, for the longest time, when I started playing Guillermo, that was the idea behind the character was like, "Are they, will they, does he?" And I think, because they have a little bit of Stockholm Syndrome, you start feeling a little bit of a way, because the only thing you see in front of you becomes like this person you idolize. He really does idolize Nandor, and he really does want to be a great vampire like him one day. And I think, sometimes, those lines can get blurry. So, the way that Guillermo is, I always say, I walk him on a tightrope, and it's like if he falls one way, he could be in love, and if he falls the other way, it was admiration, it was just admiration for this person. And that's a nice tight rope, because it's such a balance that people are always asking, "Will they, won't they?" I think sometimes we have to normalize two male friends being really close and not making it sexual. I think that we don't do that in society. If we saw two best friends who are female holding hands on the playground, we'd be like, "Oh, my God, they're best friends." But if we see two boys holding hands on the playground, all of a sudden, "What are you guys doing? What are you guys doing? Separate them." Because that's not normal in society, that's not "normal," but it is, and it should be normalized, that we can have close friends and not be sexual, it doesn't have to be. We could have close, same-sex friends and do everything like in a relationship, go to movies, talk about your personal beliefs, your struggles, your life, crying on each other's shoulders, and not have to make it sexual. Because I think once we cross that line, people are like, "Well, you might as well be married, why don't you marry them?" And it's like, you don't have to marry them, you could be in love and have love for someone and not have to make it sexual. I think with these characters, we've done a really great job of keeping the audience on their toes of that. Now, will something happen this season that questions that even more, or makes them one way or the other? I guess you'll have to find out.

TL;DR: Optimistically, my 'ideal' ending that I've had lodged in my head for at least three seasons was not, in fact, realized on the small screen, and thus, I shall see you all over at AO3 and/or lurking in the show's Tumblr tags!

[rainbowberriesandcookies]

The Beauty of Rukia & Orihime's friendship and how one removal changed it all (Part 1)

Anyways I'm back on my bullshit and I'm going to try to keep my gushing about Rukia and Orihime's friendship from being RukiHime ship propaganda no promises tho.

But I firmly believe these two have one of the best friendships in a shounen manga. I absolutely hate that the OG anime gutted Orihime's relationship with Ichigo, but in doing so, it also gutted her friendship with Rukia. Even though they met through Ichigo, even with him removed from the situation, their friendship is sincere and genuine.

They've known each other for probably a month? And already have a fast and sincere friendship. Sadly, this depth is missing from the anime because they removed Orihime's scene/line of declaring that Rukia was her friend as well in a moment that established the proper basis of their friendship going forward.

Without that moment, everything else that follows loses the emotional investment behind it because their friendship is no longer between the two of them, but revolves around having Ichigo as a mutual friend.

This is going to become RukiHime ship propaganda I have no idea why I even tried to entertain it not being.

Apparently, I have so much to say on the topic it will be continued in part 2 because I refuse to use fewer manga panels to prove my agenda.

Anyways to get started

Even though there was no real reason for Orihime to remember Rukia's name when she joined Ichigo's class, she still does while Rukia doesn't even know who she is.

Even though Rukia is putting on something of an act or character, Orihime goes along with it despite the fact that the two barely even know each other.

But who knew that a bit of an awkward first meeting would have bloomed into a very wonderful and precious friendship? Sadly, we don't get too many more interactions with them beyond this point up until the point where Rukia is taken back to the Soul Society.

That said - Orihime is among one of the people who actually remember that Rukia was part of their class before everyone else suddenly forgot her.

And it would be safe to assume that the two had actually become decently good friends considering...

When Ichigo is doubting whether or not to save her, one of the things Orihime tells him is that she doesn't want her friend Rukia to die either.

Now, when Renji speaks with Rukia while she's awaiting execution, Rukia mentions having been in the human world for two months.

This establishes that within two months, Orihime was at least comfortable enough with Rukia to call her a friend and be aware that she's in a dangerous situation and needs to be helped.

And this is the pivotal moment IMO for their friendship, without it, every other scene involving them loses so much emotional weight and value because it loses a simple but foundational building block.

Now, to jump back to the cover art of Chapter 58 real quick

Rukia is drawn with the other girls in class but as a blank, missing space. It looks like Tatsuki is interacting with Chizuru, with Michiru behind Orihime and another girl with long hair (likely Ryo, but she never had a huge role - but she's the only character I could find with long hair that is part of the Karakura HS) facing away from the group.

Orihime is the only one who looks to be facing Rukia, which also matches with her also being the one who asks Ichigo what happened to her or why she had disappeared so suddenly with everyone else forgetting her.

All of this to say - despite not having a lot of panels of them interacting, it is safe to say that during Rukia's two months, she got the closest to Orihime.

And it also matches with the idea that Orihime is Rukia's first female friend.

Now, someone else has already done a pretty good write-up but I want to do more too with more focus on some of the manga panels.

The only other female character that Rukia seemed to have a close relationship with was Miyako, but even then Rukia describes Miyako as her idol rather than someone who was a friend.

The only other friends Rukia was shown to have were the street rats in Rukongai and they were all boys. However, after just 10 years the other three had passed away and it was just her and Renji left.

So it's safe to assume that up until she met Kaien, after being separated from Renji she didn't really have friends.

And even then, it's less her becoming friends with Kaien and more like an introvert being adopted by an extrovert. That said, regardless it's safe to assume that they had become close.

Kaien's words to Rukia about being her friend for life so long as she's within the 13th division, also mirror how Orihime was the first to establish a sense of friendship between the two of them - something that is lost without that initial scene.

As I mentioned earlier, it seems like all of Rukia's friendships have been with male characters. After all, it makes sense considering that she "grew up" around boys.

But things like that only make her friendship with Orihime more beautiful because she's the first girl that Rukia has actually let her guard down around. Now that I've laid down some of the basis for Rukia's past friendships, let's circle back a bit

Once again, even though they've only known each other for roughly two months at this point, Orihime Is thinking about how much Rukia is going to love the dress that Uryu made after Rukia's execution had been stopped.

When Ichigo had been avoiding Orihime because she was injured by Yammy, the person who drags him to Orihime is Rukia. Even though Chad had also been injured, IMO the reason she drags him to Orihime - outside of the fact that Kubo wanted a scene of Ichigo promising to get stronger to Orihime - is because out of the Karakura gang, Orihime is the one that she is the closest to.

WIthout Orihime having established that she and Rukia are friends, this moment and the gentle looks that they give one another don't have the same emotional weight to them because such a simple, foundational piece removed the bond that they had with one another.

Like - just look at the look that Rukia gives her and for me, this is where their friendship truly starts to get deeper than just knowing each other because of Ichigo.

And because of how Rukia interacts with Ichigo and Renji, without the establishing moment where Orihime considers Rukia a friend, the way that Rukia is so gentle with Orihime gets lost because it can come off like Rukia simply not being "close enough" or "not good friends enough" with Orihime to be that level of rough as opposed to Orihime being a friend that Rukia simply is gentle and vulnerable with.

Fast forward a little bit and a thing I noticed about Orihime when she's talking to Rangiku

The way that she describes Rukia, despite admitting to being jealous, is similar to the way that Rukia had described Miyako. At this point, Orihime's risked her life trying to save someone she had only really known for a couple of months, yet says not a single bad thing about her even when consumed with her own jealousy and insecurity.

Even though Orihime describes Rukia in a way similar to how Rukia describes Miyako, the reason she breaks down in tears is because she feels jealousy and envy towards someone she considers a friend.

Also, how pained she feels also ties back to how the one time she expressed a negative feeling or emotion towards or about someone (Sora), she ended up losing them permanently. Orihime outright says that Rukia is beautiful, and kind and that she loves her for helping to cheer up Ichigo and beats her own self up for how she feels.

Yet, without the establishment that Orihime and Rukia are friends, this scene comes off as if she's jealous of someone that is more like a total stranger who happens to be closer to Ichigo than she is - even though Rangiku states that both of them are important and valuable to Ichigo.

And after Urahara says that Orihime should call it quits because she can't fight and would only hold the others back, the person that she runs into and confines in is Rukia.

Another thing I want to note is that in all the times we've seen Rukia, she's always been fairly rough when it comes to how she handles people. After all, she's been friends with primary boys her entire life and there's only one time when she's "rough" with Orihime.

And it's when she's trying to help cheer up Orihime. But Orihime doesn't "work" the same way that Renji and Ichigo do where you can hit them like they're broken TVs. In this instance, she tries to do what she normally does with Ichigo and Renji but sees that it doesn't work - and not to mention - she's pissed off on Orihime's behalf that Urahara pretty much dismissed her after Orihime had already - from Rukia's perspective - shown that she was willing to fight and protect her friends no matter what.

After all, Orihime had only known Rukia for a couple of months at best but was still willing to risk her life not just going to help protect Ichigo, but to save Rukia as well.

When she sees that Orihime is genuine in her feelings that she'd rather be sad than a burden, this is when Rukia switches to being more gentle - and Orihime is the only person that Rukia is really this gentle with.

I said it earlier but I'm going to emphasize it again - without the establishing moment that Orihime considers Rukia a friend, the level of vulnerability that Rukia shows when she's with Orihime is lost.

Even though she has a close friendship with Ichigo and Renji, Orihime is the only one that she's been shown to express emotional vulnerability with.

And for me, this scene is so important to the value of their friendship. Sadly, because the anime removed the scene where Orihime calls Rukia her friend as well, the emotional weight behind this scene is a lot less than in the manga even though it was a minor change.

Much like how Kaien established that he and Rukia were friends for as long as she was in the division, Orihime is the one who establishes that she's friends with Rukia. While she doesn't directly say it to Rukia, her actions show that she does genuinely care for Rukia as a friend even outside of Ichigo.

This is also one of the few times we see emotional vulnerability from Rukia as well because it was the only way for the two to properly connect with one another.

In the OG anime, this scene comes off as Rukia simply offering advice to someone who is in need as opposed to her being pissed off that someone like Urahara would dismiss her friend and Rukia expressing an emotional vulnerability to someone she considers a friend.

And they resolve to train together.

While watching them train, Ukitake even mentions that Rukia was never particularly good at making friends and that she rarely opens up.

And he even mentions being glad that she's found herself a friend. It's positioned against Hisagi's doubts of "even if that friend is a human?" is it truly a good thing? Because since Orihime is a normal human girl and Rukia is a soul reaper, they'll live very different lives.

Ukitake could have said this about Ichigo, but there's a reason it's positioned with Orihime - because her kindness and compassion is what allow her to properly reach the hearts of others.

Despite the friendship they have, it implies that Rukia hasn't truly opened her heart to Ichigo the same way that she had to Orihime. Yet without the establishment that the two are friends, the friendship between the two comes off as lessened even as Ukitake comments on it.

Even when Orihime can't immediately follow, both girls are confident that they'll see each other on the other side. After all, Rukia already knew of Orihime's insecurities when it came to being left behind or unable to follow her friends, yet here there's neither insecurity or doubt for either of them.

When it is suspected that Orihime is a traitor, Ichigo is ready to call bullshit and throw hands but has to be stopped by Renji - who suggests that they'll go after her.

Here, it's Rukia who questions Yamamoto's decision to abandon Orihime after Ichigo said that there was no way Orihime would have been killed. I think choosing Rukia to question the decision to abandon Rukia as well as having her be the one to say that she can't obey that order is important. Outside of Ichigo, she's also the only one outside of Ichigo who is close to Orihime.

Even though she apologizes to Ichigo as she's taken away, she is also the only one who knows what it is like to be taken away against your will and to have those around you powerless to save you. She's the one who apologizes to Ichigo because she can't do anything to save their friend.

I fully believe that if Yamamoto hadn't taken precautions, Rukia, Renji, and Ichigo would have said to hell with orders and not just because she's Ichigo's friend and wants to help him, but because she's Orihime's friend as well.

All of those shortly after establishing that Orihime is the first friend Orihime's actually made - or at least made in a while and this is further supported by Rukia's fight with Aaroneiro.

Even as he guilts Rukia using Kaien's body, she resolves that no matter how badly he makes her feel, she won't let him kill her until she knows that Orihime is safe. As she laid impaled by Aaroneiro, she recalls a conversation she had with Kaien.

One of the things the Hueco Mundo arc has revolved around was the idea of "The heart" and what it actually means. I'd have to do a separate post on how Orihime specifically represents that, but I'm going to focus on the "heart" between Rukia and Orihime.

Kaien tells her that "The heart" exists outside of the body and that it's the bond forged between friends. All of this going on affirming that Rukia and Orihime have a "heart" AKA a bond between them.

And simply put - what does all of this mean without the establishing moment that Orihime considers Rukia a friend? It makes the care between the two come off as one-sided on Rukia's part even though in the manga, much like how Kaien did - Orihime is the one who adopted our little introvert Rukia.

Just like how Orihime didn't go to the SS just to protect Ichigo, but to save her friend. Rukia didn't come to Hueco Mundo just to support Ichigo, but because she wanted to save her friend. Yet without such a simple, but pivotal moment, it comes off as if she's not truly there for Orihime.

To be continued in part 2 because TIL Tumblr only allows 30 images per post.

[sapphilleansam]

what is achillis? is it like greek gods stuff?

warning : yap ahead!

OH MY GOSH SCREAMS!! SONEONE IS FINALLT ASKING ME ABOJT ACHILLES I THOUGHT THIS DAY WOULD NEVER COME

okay so to answer your question he is kinda greek god stuff, he’s a demigod

some stuff more about him before i get into his full story!

- he is the best of the greek warriors

- central character of the iliad, tbe epic poem detailing the trojan war by homer

- described as having a “mane” (he is fair haired, the word describing his hair is translated multiple ways), being tall and being incomparable in terms of strength, visibly so.

- he is known for his stubbornness, being full of pride, being noble, and his rage.

_ ^ the first line of the iliad is actually about his rage! i’ll get into that!

i’m about to yap a LOT so i’m going to put a cut

achilles was made as a result of two possible tales -

1: zeus and poseidon were fighting over her hand in marriage until the fore-thinker, prometheus, says to zeus thay there is a prophecy, that thetis will give birth to a son greater than his father. becuase of this, they both withdraw from teying to marry thetis and force her ( brutally ) to marry peleus.

2: zeus is making advances on thetis, and thetis (having being raised by hera) rejected him. zeus was not happy and said that she would never marry an immortal.

so that’s how achilles came to be!! and when he was born, thetis dunked him in the river styx to make him immortal, but he was vulnerable in the spot where she held him (his left heel)(which is where the term “achilles’ heel” comes from!!)

^ about this! in sources prior to the achilleid, written in first century CE/AD, none of this is mentioned. in fact, in the iliad he is described as facing vulnerabilities other than his heel and in some paintings depicting his death he is also shot in the torso!

but even if the river styx thing isn’t true, she covered him in ambrosia (in greek terms, the drink of the gods), and was about to set him on fire to burn away the mortal parts of his body and make him a god! however peleus came and was like erm what are you doing! and thetis was super mad and abandoned both of them, retuning to the sea

peleus then (and i literally can’t find any sources telling me when in his life, but probably around right before the war because after this he goes to war) sends achilles fo mount pelion to be taught by chiron, a centaur, supposedly one of the greatest of them. after or on pelion, thetis told him of a prophecy, that he was either going to die young but have a lot of glory OR live long, but no one would remember his name.

he chose to get glory! BUT… before he could go to the trojan war… thetis decides to hide him on skyros (a small island), and he is disguised as a woman! he lives among the women as one, and he began a relationship with one of the women (deidamia) and she gives birth to two sons, neoptolemus (soemtimes called pyrrhus) and oneiros. but then odysseus comes to get him for the war and sees through his disguise, there are two different ways this could’ve happened:

1- odysseus comes to skyros and pretends to be selling stuff, and among the goods he is selling there is a spear! achilles grabs the spear (remember, he is the best of the greeks in terms of fighting) and odysseus knows it’s him

2- odysseus is still coming to sell stuff and there is still a spear among the goods, but instead there is trumpet alarm thingy that goes off, and while all the women flee achilles gets ready to defend and his disguise is revealed

okay so now he is going to the trojan war! he is the commander of the myrmidons, the army of phthia!

in the cypria (an epic from the epic cycle, which tells us of the events of the trojan war before the iliad), achilles restrains the greeks from returning home and sacks a bunch of cities that neighbor troy and they get briseis!!

okay now… we are on the events of the iliad! which imo is the best source of sfuff about achilles! the central theme of the iliad, dare i say the iliad is the story of, achilles’ wrath/rage. the epic starts off with the line “sing, o muse, of the rage of achilles” (depending on translation it says something different but the first line says something about his rage everytime)

it starts off with achilles withdrawing from the war, due to a conflict with agamemnon (king of the greek army), the very quick summary of the conflict is that agamemnon had to give up his slave girl and took achilles’, briseis. achilles is SO upset that he stops fighting in the war, prays to his mother that the trojans will begin to win so agamemnon will need him back and they do begin to win! so hard they are literally in the greek camp on the beach! and when odysseus, ajax and pheonix come liferslly begging him to come back and offer him a bunch of stuff AND BRISEIS BACK he still says no and prepares to leave troy! what a little diva!

but then… patroclus… patroclus was achilles closest companion (gay lover /hj) and they grew up on phthia together. achilles taught him everything he learnt on mount pelion and they were really close!!! and patroclus is very upset about what achilles is doing and is like.. “if you aren’t gonna fight can i go fight in your armor so they think i’m you and we push the trojans back” and achilles allows it and while patroclus pushes back the trojans, hector (prince of troy, probably the best warrior in the trojan army) kills patroclus and steals achilles’ armor that patroclus was wearing.

and achilles starts TWEAKING TBE FREAK OUT! he refuses to eat, he sobs and sobs and irs acruallt really sad! and thetis tries to comfort him and she gets him new armor, made by hephaestus! and the next day achilles finally goes back into battle…

he kills a lot of men in rage but what he’s really looking for is hector. the river god scamander is upset however that achilles is staining his river with the blood of the men he kills, and achilles litersllt starts trying to fight the river god 😭 but oviosuly he would’ve died so hera and hephaestus restrain scamander and achilles goes to kill hector…

achilles chases hector around the walls of troy 3 times, until athena is like hey guys! and disguises herself as hectors dearest brother (not paris i think his name is dephobus something like that) and tells him to stop running and fight! and when hector realizes the trick he’s like well i gotta fight now! and after missing achilles with his onyl weapon he’s like “please give my body back to my family for my funeral and treat my body with respect) and achilles is liek nope! (he actually says soemtjing very profound imo and it’s very interesting but it’s a long line and i don’t have it memorized)

achilles then kills hector and drags his body around on the back of his chariot. they then hold a funeral and funeral games in honor of patroclus, due to patroclus coming to achilles in a dream and asking for the proper funeral stuff.

then priam (king of troy) comes and asks for hectors body and achilles lets him take it! the iliad then ends with the description of hectors funeral. it does not describe achilles’ death or the fall of troy.

achilles ends up being killed by paris, the person who took (possibly? she could’ve went on her own [very unlikely imo] or with influence of the gods as well) helen, which led to the whole war. paris kills achilles because achilles falls in love with a trojan princess (polyxena) and if achilles and polyxena got married paris would’ve had to give up helen. paris shoots achilles with a divine arrow, in the heel or in the torso.

so that is a summarized story of achilles! he’s my goat my king my eberything!

[thats-the-teen-spirit]

Linkin Park - From Zero - Album Review

Well, a few months ago I didn't think that I would write such a review but here we go. So Linkin Park announced their return in September followed by a tour and an album, to everyone's surprise. The new singer after the great Chester Bennington's passing was announced to be the former Dead Sara vocalist, Emily Armstrong. The announcement was followed by many controversies which I'm not gonna touch on in this review, I'm just here, purely for the music, so take all my opinions with a grain of salt.

From Zero (Intro)

A very short, barely even 20 seconds intro is a Queen-like gang vocal/choir harmony followed by Emily asking about the name of the album. It sounds like they recorded her first reaction to Mike's idea for the album name, which is - as Mike mentioned many times throughout the promotion of the album - a double entendre. From Zero means from the ground up, a new beginning which is definitely true for the band after losing a beloved former member and a friend, but also From Xero which was the first name of the predecessor band of Linkin Park. It's genius if you think about it, and by the short and cut end of the intro Emily realizes this as well.

2. The Emptiness Machine

The first single and the song that started the return. The video and the song are both great, though it left a sour taste in some fans' mouth, expecting either a Chester-imitation or someone completely different (rumors were Amy Lee and Deryck Whibley). The Emptiness Machine opens up with a modern beat and Mike's rapping, he even sings the first chorus hinting at something new to come. The second verse starts with Emily singing and while at first I thought she lacks the power Chester had, by the end of the second chorus she proves her place is right among the boys. The lyrics are about an abusive relationship to someone or something which left people thinking about Emily's past (imo the lyrics definitely fit into Linkin Park's past catalogue as well). The passion of the last chorus and the "I only wanted to be part of something" bridge will leave you wondering though: how would this song sound with Chester?

3. Cut the Bridge

Already a non-single with a choppy hard rock riff and octaves, Mike starts rapping and you realize this is definitely a Linkin Park song. In my personal opinion this sound would have fit into The Hunting Party as well as this album. I'm not the biggest fan of the chorus but it's a fun song that might get a few headbangs at concerts. Emily definitely carries this song, the bridge melody by Mike is... not the best, a little jarring and does not fit his vocal style and range. We'll hear a few moments like that in the coming songs.

4. Heavy Is The Crown

Heavy Is The Crown was the second single and the anthem of this year's League of Legends championship which gave to already one of the biggest bands of the planet some extra boost of publicity. If I had to describe this song with old Linkin Park songs I would say this is a renewed version of Faint with the breakdown of Given Up. The beat and the melody throughout the song is very Meteora-era and the "THIS IS WHAT YOU ASKED FOR" breakdown pretty much calls out the fans who wanted a nu-metal banger. It's like they knew their return was controversial and they have to do the maximum nostalgia factor to appeal to the same audience that once loved them. Emily shows her real power in this one, letting out the beast and hinting at what's coming.

5. Over Each Other

A pure Emily song and the third single. Mike is not singing nor rapping in this one, and in the video we see Emily being in a relationship, breaking up and fighting with her girlfriend until the story takes a dark turn when she fakes her own death to get away from her now ex-girlfriend. It's a very honest and upbeat song that really arrives by the second half. The lyrics show a burnt-out relationship that seems to be over soon. This one I cannot even imagine with Chester's vocals, which is the first and the last time this happened during this album. The instrumentals in the second half are (in my personal opinion) very much Minutes to Midnight-like, almost as if Rick Rubin produced this one as well.

6. Casualty

Undoubtedly the heaviest one on the record, there's barely any clean vocals, (even Mike is shouting for most of the song) and there's even a hardcore punk beat in it. This is basically like their song Victimized was on The Hunting Party instead of Living Things. The guitars and drums are filled with rage and in the bridge we hear a new sound from Emily which is very In This Moment/Maria Brink. I didn't expect a hardcore song by Linkin Park but in 2024 even that could happen.

7. Overflow

After a very lengthy intro the song arrives to a space-y, flowy verse which is reminiscent of Deftones and I.O.U, the song Mike recorded with Chino Moreno off his solo record, Post Traumatic. The chorus keeps up the same slow pace and by the bridge I figured that this song would be very fitting to A Thousand Suns. Which is possibly the only song on this record that I can say this about. Like a more modern version of a medley of that album, strange sound and it's not gonna be my most listened song but I think it will find its audience.

8. Two-Faced

Ever wanted to hear a Meteora/Hybrid Theory song sung by a female singer? Well, here you go. Imagine if Figure.09, A Place for My Head and One Step Closer got together on a drunk night and had a lovechild. The verses are also very much like Nobody's Listening, another song from Meteora. The breakdown is so much fanservice to the HT fans that it's almost exactly the One Step Closer riff (even the turntables are there). This will be one of my favorites for sure, it gives me that Cure for The Itch for a old-new HT sound. The fans who can get over to be ready for the new era of the band and only love the first album will be happy to hear this one.

9. Stained

Another song that is hard carried by Emily's vocals, I swear it's like they're doing this on purpose. Mike is one of my favorite songwriters and musicians but man, is he boring in this song. This is the first song where I felt like it's a filler. Chorus melody is alright especially in the last one where it's much more epic, but the verses, the instrumental and the overall vibe of this song is very forgettable. If I wanted to be really harsh I would say, this one is a more pop-ish song of One More Light got rerecorded with a different vocalist and distorted guitars.

10. IGYEIH

IGYEIH or I Gave You Everything I Had is another heavy banger. The riff is very nu metal, reminding me of Burn by Three Days Grace. It's another one that Emily is carrying on her back, her performance is 110% again. Mike's "the clock keeps tickiiiiing" call-ins are very much forced, and in my opinion lack chemistry with the rest of the song. The yea-yea-yea-s by Emily are also somewhat forced before the chorus, the buildup and the breakdown are great though. It's not as mid as Stained but I honestly expected better from the riff.

11. Good Things Go

Probably my favorite song of the album, straight up. The modern rap beat and Mike's work on the rapping and the wonderful vocals by Emily make this composition a pleasure to listen to. Some people I saw online compared it to Leave Out All The Rest, I don't think that is true. While this is a ballad of some sort having very emotional lyrics, it's an unfair comparison to LOATR. The delivery by both Mike and Emily is amazing though and the buildup is one of my favorites of this year, it's both relieving and cathartic. This is this album's take on Good Goodbye and this one undoubtedly wins both the message and the delivery battle.

Overall I'm not gonna lie, I expected more. Upon the second listen I realized that I lost recency bias already. Some moments turned out to be probably the worst in their catalogue while others were highlights of this year's musical journey for me. The singles are definitely the stand-out songs, though Good Things Go and Two-Faced are up among them. Emily carried most of the songs as I mentioned many times before and it's clear that the band's intention was to make the audience love her as much as they loved working with her, even if this effort cast a dark shadow on the rest of the bands' performance.

7/10

[ranahan]

i've been pondering how mando'a-as-first-language speakers might tend to parse [θ] and [ð]... we know <x> = <sh> thanks to ryan kaufmann (which i'd say must be canon enough since traviss didn't contradict it) and [f ~ p] and [z ~ s] from Traviss, (and maybe <vh> = [f] at least dialectally a la Vhett -> Fett, but I'd prefer to think that's more a matter of Basic speakers parsing [ɸ] as [f] than [ɸ ~ f] being widespread in mando'a) but I don't think we have any data on how they'd tend to parse [θ] and [ð]. I like the idea of th-fronting where [θ] becomes [ɸ] and [ð] becomes [v ~ ʋ] (Kiwi English is allegedly developing this phenomenon), but since mando'a phonotactics don't seem to allow [ɸ] outside of a syllable-initial position (of course since vhe- words are the only example we have of <vh> the data is a biiit limited, but if we assume it's true) I do wonder how likely mando'ade would be to parse, for example, the [θ] in "cloth" as [ɸ], or if they'd be more likely to parse it as [t] or [s]. Tho I do also like the th-fronting bc I wanna distance <vh> from <f> as much as possible :') Not a cipher! 🗞️

On the other hand I'm a bit charmed by [θ] -> [s] as well, mostly bc I associate it with the Askie pronunciation of ת‎, historically [θ] which has in different regions either remained as such or become [t] (Modern Israeli) or [s] (Askenazi). But then the lack of [z] for [ð] (since [s] and [z] are not readily differentiated among mando'ade) makes it less ideal imo. I mean ofc they could be mismatchy, it's not like [ð] and [θ:] were replaced with other sounds neatly and evenly in Finnish (and there's that variation across dialects, which of course would be a thing among mando'ade as well--) But yeah, [ð] could be, if not [v ~ ʋ], then [d] or even [ɾ] or [l]... for obvious reasons I find the idea of the [ɾ] realisation pretty charming :')

anyway, uh, thoughts?

(yes i am thinking abt this bc loan words mostly)

(also. while generally i prefer [f] -> [p], ~kevhe [or whatever final vowel would be best...] for caf is much nicer than kep, lol...)

I’m afraid your ask is going to be better thought out than my answer!

I did think about the same thing, then thought about the option of ð being loaned as dh in Mando’a, and then got hung up in determining what the heck Mando’a phonology even is, and what do the dh etc. spellings stand for. And then never really got back to loanwords.

But now that I’ve found an answer that satisfies me, I do have a whole bunch of things I’d like to loan to Mando’a actually, because I for one don’t buy that a language of an empire, itself a creole (if you subscribe to that headcanon), does not have many loanwords. You know that joke about English mugging other languages and riffling through their pockets for loose vocabulary? I think it would be more realistic for people to make similar jokes about Mando’a, and how Mandalorians plundered half of the galaxy and half of the dictionaries too. (Yes, this is the hill someone else will die on.)

Anyways, yes I do have thoughts. Sorry this is going to be very long and rambling because these are more of immediate thoughts rather than something I’ve formed a considered opinion on.

Like you, I’ve also noted that vh only occurs in syllable initial position in the Mando’a dictionary. But! There’s a Mandalorian world called Ceravh, which as far as I can tell comes from Traviss. I’d give that even odds of being Mando’a or being (perhaps a Mandalorianised version of) a native name of the colonised world, which could indicate that Mando’a could use syllable-final vh in loanwords at least.

But anyways, another option I have thought about is that a word-final φ could get loaned as v. Even if Mando’a doesn’t allow a syllable final φ, the voiced counterpart v is very common in that position. So e.g. caf > kav. Or heck, how about h? > kah. Idk how sensible h would be, it just popped into my mind as something that could sound similar and is allowed in the coda.

Another option of course is that Mando’a could insert extra vowels into loanwords, like e.g. te reo Māori which basically keeps all of the original sounds and adds vowels until the word conforms to te reo phonotactics. So e.g. caf > kavha or kevhe or whatever the vowels would be. There’s this quote, which has a different context, but be used as a precedent if you wanted? “Pronouncing terminal consonants varies in songs. They often become extra syllables. For examples, tor becomes to-rah and tang becomes tan-gah to maintain rhythm and meter.”

On the other hand, loanwords, especially old ones, could also be subject to Mando’a’s habit of contraction. Which tbh seems as much fanon as canon to me in that canon shows some contraction and elision (especially in compound words), but fanon has observed that pattern and taken it as a licence to go an extra mile. I kind of love that kind of an emergency and it’s what got me interested in Mando’a in the first place. I digress, but I’m trying to say faithfully borrowing every single sound is not necessarily the way I’d go for Mando’a. Maybe borrowing syllables as the closest equivalents would feel better? Idk, maybe I’ll try a couple of different approaches with some test sets of loanwords and see what happens.

I do generally like f > p, but… Idk, the results don’t always compel me? They don’t sound unlike Mando’a, but also not exactly like Mando’a either? I mean kav feels more like Mando’a than kap to me. Same for vhervhek vs perpek (although for obvious reasons, perpek does appeal as a curse). But on the other hand, fan > pan vs van vs vhan? Not much of a difference. And Fi > Pai, Felucia > Pelucya/Pelusha, even Falleen > Palin/Paliin do sound good to me. This is probably because while there are words that end in p (like kotep, taap), they are pretty rare. While words ending in v or beginning with a p are a dime in a dozen.

I agree that Vhett being spelled as Fett is a transliteration from Mando’a to Basic, and not necessarily indicative of how Mando’a L1 speakers would adapt loanwords from Basic to Mando’a.

Re: θ/ð, I’ve previously considered t/dʰ, but I like both s and th-fronting better! Those would be the closest fricatives, wouldn’t they.

Mando’a doesn’t seem to have /z/, which seems to be an allophone of /ts/ rather than /s/, if you go by Traviss’s recordings. Or maybe it’s an allophone of /s/, if you go by some comments. Heck, maybe it depends on the dialect. So perhaps you could go with s/ts, or level them both as s? I guess it would depend on whether z gets loaned as ts or s?

Or go with th-fronting (θ > ɸ, ð > v) in syllable initial positions, and for the coda, either voice the θ > v, or add an extra vowel after it, or allow φ in the coda for loanwords. I think that at least for dialects that realise <v> as [β], th-fronting sounds really close. I like it!

And since some Mando’a dialects seem to have [b ~ v] (or perhaps more likely [v ~ β], or maybe some dialect has /β/ which is heard as /b/ in some others…), after making the rounds in Mando’a dialects, a loan word might even end up with ð > v > b.

Full disclosure, I also like how either would make loanwords a little less immediately recognisable. But on the other hand, loanword phonology is also affected by the speakers’ understanding of the donor language, which might bias e.g. /t/ over /s/. Idk though how much we need to nitpick realism in an artlang though. Enough to ground it, not so much the art goes out.

And then we of course have the loan words Traviss picked from English:

besom /ˈbiː.zəm/ > besom /ˈbɛ.sɔm/

Bergen /ˈbəɹɡn/ > birgaan /bɪɾ.ɡaːn/

TAB /tæb/ > taab /taːb/

hyem /jɛm/> yaim /ʝaɪ̯m/

charva /ˈt͡ʃɑːvə/ > chaav’la /ˈt͡ʃɑːv.la/

chebs /tʃɛbs/ > shebs /ʃɛbs/

scran /skɹan/ > skraan /skɾaːn/

scunner /ˈska.nɐ/ > skanah /ska.nah/

(Geordie) way aye /ˈwaɪ.eɪ/ or (Pompey) weee /wiː/ > wayii /wa.jiː/

dinny /ˈdɪ.nɪ/> dinii /dɪ.niː/

jack /d͡ʒæk/ > jag /d͡ʒaɡ/ ?

(I’m not counting mhi and kando from that linked post, since they—or at least kandosii—are pre-Traviss Mando’a.)

Bit of a guess at the pronunciations because I’m not a Geordie and Traviss doesn’t do IPA, but I’m getting the feeling that the vowel qualities don’t match up that well. I might have loaned Bergen as *bargen or *begen instead. Besom i > ɛ I can excuse as levelling the vowels to the same height, which seems like something Mando’a is prone to. ɛ > aɪ̯ is interesting. But generally, I’m not sure what I’m looking at here? Maybe just artistic licence?

Of course if actual historical loans, we’d have to consider that those words might’ve been loaned from a dialect or at a time when the pronunciation differed from modern/RP pronunciation. Plus I at least like to think that Mando’a itself has many different dialects, so I’d be willing to excuse a degree of artistic licence and inconsistency, especially when it comes to vowels which are more fluid to begin with. Afaik it’s also not weird for natural languages to exhibit even considerable variation in loan word adaptation.

Ch is loaned both as ch and sh. Syllable-final r seems infrequently loaned (birgaan) or not (chaav’la) or loaned as h (skanah)—perhaps this reflects the (non)rhoticity of the dialect from which the loans came from, because Mando’a does have syllable-final r’s. Otherwise the consonants in these words seem unremarkable.

Talking about r though, I think there are some words in Mando’a where n > r in certain environments (or at least that could explain some etymologies). I guess it wouldn’t be too much a stretch to extend that to d and maybe ð. You can hear [kote], [kode] and [koɾe] or the Republic Commando OST. Imo this is simply the effect of singing on pronunciation (I was a trained singer once upon a time, I could go on about this), but Traviss seems to have taken it as t and d being interchangeable, or /kode/ being the archaic pronunciation and /kote/ modern.

Also as an aside, I kinda want to work out the phonetics of Huttese, because clearly Huttese (or trade/pidgin/creole Huttese, whatever they speak as a lingua franca in the Outer Rim) has lots of Basic loanwords, and I think that many Basic loanwords would probably arrive to Mando’a via Huttese rather than directly from Basic.

tldr: You have seem to have thought more about this than me. Do you have more thoughts? I’m not sure how much sense my reply made; it was bit of a brain vomit. I’ll probably go read some things and come back to this later with hopefully more sense, but I wanted to reply now because I’m not sure how busy I’ll be in the near future.

P.s. you wouldn’t happen to remember where you read about <x> = <sh>, [f ~ p] and [s ~ z]? I mean I remember reading some of those same things, but it was at least a year ago and I don’t seem to have saved the source (whoops). I can probably look up the source myself if you remember where it was. Might it have been this forum thread? “So, Xaga might have been "Shaga" (incorporating that "sh" sound the Mando like) and Zuka could've been Suka.”

[simplegeneral]

Oh! What about king Canyon? Scarlet must have tolerated him if he was able to live 20 years and have multiple children with her. She could have killed him after the first princess was born

I haven't thought much about Canyon, but tbh, the excuse that Scarlet found him boring and thus got rid of him in the arena is kinda of lazy imo, but I suppose I have a few thoughts about him.

I talked about how Char was humble and a popular king, so take all that and make the inverse for Canyon, his egotistical and careless behavior made him extremely unpopular among the skywings.

Although his marriage with Scarlet was forced and simply almost a contract signed by queen Firestorm and his noble family, since nobody actually expected that at the day of her very marriage, Scarlet would overthrow Firestorm and actually become queen.

Canyon used his position as king consort to simply get the things he wanted. Where Char humbly cared for his subjects, Canyon saw them as nothing more than pawns to be used and discarded whenever he felt like it.

If Scarlet was a psycho, Canyon was not much better, as egotistical behavior with power do not mix well for everyone else.

Despite this, Scarlet kept him around because overall, it was necessary, her first daughters were trying to overthrow her, and she didn't felt like marrying again, especially as her reforms and militaristic culture were proving unpopular among the skywings.

She needed a scapegoat to restore any semblance of popularity, so she did the best she could think of, to put Canyon in the arena and give the masses the entertainment they desired by watching their hated king die by the talons of much more competent dragons.

A general went on to fight him, a rival of his, ever halted by the fact that he was Scarlet's husband, now had full permission to murder him, and so he did absolutely proudly and was hailed the champion of Scarlet's arena, which impressed even the queen.

He is unnamed, and I am not the most creative with names, so call him whatever, after murdering her former husband, publicly announced his intention to the watching public and Scarlet that he saught to marry her and become the king the skywings demanded.

Faced with two most perfect opportunities, one to appease the skywings and another to get a more fitting husband, Scarlet accepted and the ceremony had begun in the same day.

This general and now king of the SkyWings was the father of princesses Ruby and Tourmaline (different dragons in my AU since there's no masks) and still rules with Scarlet, as his military competency was well rewarded with the coming sandwing succession war