#but it feels so. patronizing? i guess?

[stolen-stardust]

maybe it’s just cuz i’m mainly involved in fandoms via tumblr but it’s always so strange when ppl outside of the cosmere fandom/brandon sanderson community are like “ahaha all brandon sanderson fans are cishet white dudes 😂” like. sorry what. what are you talking about. even the first few videos under the booktok tag on tiktok that are from non-white men are recommending sanderson’s books. what’s happening here

[transmascutena]

these lines hit different when you read utena as transmasc

[commsroom]

i think there's something to be said about what exactly it means to be "non-human" in a story that is as much about humanity as wolf 359 is, where even the dear listeners are defined less by their own perspective and more by what they fail to understand and therefore reflect about the human perspective - to the point that they don't even have their own voices or faces or identities that aren't either given to them or taken from humans. they speak to humanity as a mirror.

even pryce and cutter are "very much humans" - pryce defined by her resentment of and desire to transcend its limitations, and cutter by his aspirations to redefine and create a "better" type of human - and find the idea that they might not be human laughable. it's interesting that they have distinctly transhumanist aspirations when their goal is the narrative opposite of common science fiction fears: that we will expand the definition of humanity so much that we'll lose whatever it is that makes us human. pryce and cutter's transhumanism narrows the definition of humanity to the worthy and the useful, as defined by them; "there will still be a humanity; it'll just be our humanity."

in direct opposition to that, i think it's meaningful that the show instead expands the definition of humanity in ways that include lovelace and hera, who in another show with different themes might be considered (in the descriptive, non-moralistic sense) non-human. i will always make a point of saying that personhood and humanity are two often-related but meaningfully distinct concepts, especially when talking about sci-fi and fantasy. i am talking about humanity.

the question of how hera identifies, and what social pressures influence that, is a complicated one. i've talked about it before and i will talk about again. what's important for the purposes of this post is that i think the show considers her fundamentally human. think about her role in shut up and listen - consider jacobi's lion example and the concept of different paradigms - that even things that are close to humans, comparatively speaking, understand the world in different ways. whatever differences hera may have from the others, it's primarily in experience, not fundamental understanding. she shares their emotions, their concerns, their values, their thought patterns. she has an appreciation for music, which the show considers a hallmark of humanity. she fits within the framework of humanity as the show defines and is, in her own words, left feeling "uneasy" about how difficult it might be to communicate with beings who don't. and it's significant that this takes place in shut up and listen, of all episodes, specifically because the way she is clearly and unambiguously included in the show's understanding of what it means to be human highlights the ways she and lovelace are othered by eiffel's careless comments that suggest otherwise.

(i don't want to get too into these details for this particular post, but it's worth noting that hera will refer to 'humans' as a category, often when she is upset and feeling isolated, but has never said that she 'isn't human' - she has never been upset that people are treating her 'too' human. i've seen it said about the line "you need to get it through your heads that what goes for you doesn't always go for me", but that's a frustration related to ability and safety, not identity. far more often, she will refer to herself in 'human' terms - referring idiomatically to experiences or body parts etc. that she doesn't literally have - and is upset primarily with comments referring to her status as an AI. it does not diminish how being an AI influences her perspective and experience, but again, so much of that is in terms of ability that it feels almost inseparable from a discussion about disability.)

lovelace's humanity and hera's humanity are so interlinked and directly paralleled in the text that i think it's impossible to really argue one of them is "not" human without making implications about the other. in desperate measures, lovelace tells kepler he's "not human" and he responds "you're hilarious. on a multitude of levels." later, defending lovelace against kepler's repeated dehumanization, hera very pointedly uses the phrase "that woman." in out of the loop, hera says she's never met anyone who "worked so hard at being inhuman" as jacobi, who says "what do you know about being human?" hera very emphatically responds, "i know plenty." later, defending hera against jacobi's repeated dehumanization, minkowski pointedly uses the phrase "that woman." with the care taken towards language and the way scenes and turns of phrase will parallel each other, that's not a coincidence. it might seem strange to have the "non-human" characters be the ones to express criticisms based on perceived "humanity" (something hera will do in other contexts as well - "we don't have funerals for animals" etc.) but in the broader context of the show, i think it's the point.

so, whether hera would ever call herself human, or be comfortable with that, is a complicated question for another time and depends on a lot of other factors. but wolf 359 is a show about humanity, it includes her within its definition of what it means to be human, and i wouldn't be comfortable definitively saying she's not human because of that. it can't be a neutral statement within the particular context of this show.

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

the poetry of Bruce losing Jason, his son, and through that having Tim (a mirror, always a mirror) come into his life. of a kid who's never done a thing wrong except for reaching out a hand into the darkness to offer kindness to those the world would call monsters carrying on the legacy of a kid who was killed by the worst monster of all. of that kid who was killed coming back monstrous himself and taking out all his hatred on the one kid who could never hate him back. of a brother who wasn't a brother in time getting a second chance. of a family who hides so much of themselves gaining a child and a sibling who sees them so easily and clearly for who they are. of a kid whose family wasn't there finding himself in a family that chooses, over and over again, to be there. of pain and healing coming from the same place. I'm just emotional about Tim Drake tonight, ladies

[honeybunluna]

Picked up knitting once again. Took me hours to figure out how to get my stitches not to twist. Turns out I need to yarn under instead of yarn over like I’m used to with crochet.

Still haven’t figured out how to do purl stitches, if I do it by bringing the yarn over from left to right it’s difficult to make a stitch but they’re mounted correctly, if I bring the yarn over right to left, it’s easier to make a stitch but they’re mounted incorrectly. Idk what I’m doing wrong, it’s possibly because I hold my yarn like a crocheter, but that’s the most comfortable way to hold it.

[chorus-communities]

one day im gonna write like. a fucking essay on the personal and cultural and like. emotional importance of laika to me and why i specifically named myself after her and all of you will have to read it /silly

[sysig]

But would you tho (Patreon)

[fdragon-art]

Day 17 (30 Days | Homestuck - Day 3) - Patron Troll (Nepeta Leijon)

*AC creeps clawser and clawser, ready to pawnce on furst sight*

=Thoughts=

I may not have intended it, but it seems I've started aiming to do pieces with more perspective playing into them for these 30 days. I wonder if I'll do stretched proportions as well.

The biggest challenge here was definitely the pose. Why so? Because the idea was to make Nepeta look like she was doing that cat wiggle, except cats have a lot more back to do that with compared to a humanoid, so it looks more awkward on a humanoid. I just had to make do.

Despite the trouble I had last piece with the head shape, this one actually turned out nicely. Part of it was just moving the whole eyes up but the other part was shifting the nose and mouth down more (while making them still visible; earlier parts of this piece had the mouth completely hidden). It looks like her head is indeed facing downwards as she looks at you.

Those hands...that's where my energy left me and I couldn't put in the effort it needed. I've been getting better at more complex hand details, but actually posing some of them isn't so simple, especially that angle. I'll be sure to work on them next time, but it was what the piece called for, energy or not. At least it still provided...some...practice heheh

[trashcandroid]

Apparently my mom shares trans memes on her facebook, which is… cool I guess? But she also still posts old pictures of me all the time

[mist-the-wannabe-linguist]

fuck it, becoming catholic for saint jerome and for him only

[sherlock-is-ace]

.

[fallowtail]

i try not to let it get to me but the knowledge i am always going to be The Stupid One in every situation i’m in just…really, really sucks. sigh. oh well. i stay silly :3c

[sweet-milky-tea705]

.

[girlvinland]

Ahhhhh I feel like I’m going to throw up.

[designernishiki]

I will maybe make a bigger post at some point about other characters’ dnd classes but. thought about it. kiryu would be a battlemaster fighter multiclassed into oath of vengeance paladin. end of statement

[dyketubbo]

me when i feel the intense need to be petty about things that have long past