#but it's the principle of the matter and does he even fucking read what I'm telling him

[closeted-goth]

new running series. after the events of Saturday evening in which I send him $100 out of the 376 I had available, despite my rent today being 360. telling him that if he doesn't get me at least 90 by today to pay that rent that we're going to have problems. he somehow managed to get me that 90 so I've got ~$6 till Wednesday. I've said this to him on Saturday and Sunday. and now this. he's out of his fucking mind.

[restinslices]

Yo, still waiting for that if Tomas was a sub one (canon tbh)

Cannot believe I forgot. Y’all can boo me

Imma just come out and say it. He's such a whiny sub

There are characters that give me dom vibes but I think them as subs would be fun. There are characters that give me switch vibes. Tomas gives me only sub vibes. I don't detect a dom in there. idk, that's just me tho

So needy and whiny it'd probably throw you off when you see him doing anything other than begging you to touch him 

Cannot handle teasing at all. He's ok with teasing you but breaks easily when you tease him 

Honestly he can't backup any of the shit he talks. 

One of those subs who need attention at all times. Even if you're not interacting with him, he still wants you in the area 

Kinks I think he'd have are barebacking, biting, humiliation (a HUGE one and imma stand on it), breath play, collaring (in private), impact play, sex toys and sensory deprivation 

I just feel like he's a slut in disguise. Where's my proof? I made it the fuck up. I'm doing this for US 

If you have female anatomy he's also getting pegged. IDC IDC 

Humiliation is a big one for him because he knows it's still a safe space. You can taunt him about how he's a slut, write things on him, make him get off with something unusual, ect. but at the end of day you still love him and it's all for fun. 

You can tell when he's needy ‘cause he's extremely close to you. He follows you around normally, but he's right on your heels 

To torture him more you can pretend you have no idea what he wants. He knows you know and you know he knows, but watching him try to ignore how he feels ‘cause he doesn't wanna say it out loud is priceless. 

He also has a tendency to say he can't take anymore but in reality he wants you to keep going. This is a big guy, he can take it. 

There's two good punishments for him; Cockwarming and overstimulation 

Cockwarming because he can't handle teasing. It's so simple but he can't stand it and doesn't know which is worse; when you're inside of him (actual dick or strapon, doesn't matter) or when he's inside of you. Either way, it doesn't take long for him to apologize for whatever he's done and beg you to fuck him already. 

For overstimulation he gets turned on and cums pretty easily so it wouldn't take that much to overstimulate him. 

These two go well together. Cockwarming then overstimulation as a “isn't this what you wanted?”

What would make this better is quizzing him on something. His brain stops working when he's horny so quizzing him on Lin Kuei principles or something else he for sure knows adds to it. 

He knows he knows the answer but his brain is a fog. It kinda puts the punishment in his hands but that adds to the torture. If he could figure this out, then you'd actually fuck him (or you'd stop fucking him if you do this while overstimulating him)

As I'm typing this I thought of another thing that can be both a punishment but also something he enjoys. Dryhumping. Listen to me and listen to me well-

I can see him coming up behind you when you're alone and rubbing against you to let you know he's needy. And if you told him to keep going, he'd cum but it's not what he really wants to do. 

So him being in trouble and being forced to rub against you but not be inside you or have you inside him would drive him nuts. 

Aftercare for him would be showering together, cuddling and reassuring him you didn't mean any of the negative things you said. Especially after an intense punishment, he needs to hear you don't actually think negatively of him and you love him. 

Also reading together depending on the day. Just something really chill to pull him back to reality. 

I just realized he has the least amount of words so here are afterthoughts to fix that

I know I've called him whiny multiple times but I genuinely think sometimes he can't even form coherent sentences. All that comes out are noises 

Tries not to pout but does so anyway 

He can get off just from giving head 

Loves you leaving marks on him as long as he can cover it up. He can't be scrapping and the enemy sees a hickey on his neck

Tries to sneakily break rules. For example, if a rule is “no touching yourself when I'm gone” he'll do it anyway and try to get rid of the evidence. He'll shower, change clothes, clean any toy he used and whatever else he has to do but you somehow always know. 

Tomas is not the best liar and has some habits he does when lying, like tapping his fingertips together so you find out that way or from actually catching him and pretending you didn’t

The type to break rules on purpose if you haven't been giving him attention and then be surprised when actions have consequences 

Will call you whatever title you prefer if you don't just wanna go by your name

Like his brothers, he for sure could just throw you off but he never does. It adds to the fun. He's a skilled assassin but if you said “jump” he'd ask “how high?”

The best sub to have if you want one whos so pathetically in love with you but can be a little shit sometimes 

Even after his punishments, he keeps apologizing to make sure you're not actually mad at him. 

Probably begs you to cum inside him anyway you can

I see him and start tweaking fr

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

This is a meta on Our Flag Means Death episode 5: The Best Revenge Is Dressing Well, Sir Godfrey Thornrose, The scene where he calls Ed a donkey, and so called "race science."

It has come to my attention that some of you apparently do not know what a phrenologist is.

*a note: I'm going to for the purposes of this assume that the guy played by Jeff Lorch is sir Godfrey Thornrose, I do not know this for certain but in my opinion even if he is not Thornrose the same principles still apply to him for reasons I will discuss in this meta.

So lets recap the scenes I want to touch on. At the beginning of episode 5 Stede is teaching Ed how to identify rich people cutlery like they're Barney Thompson and Vivian Ward in pretty woman. Stede bitches at Thornrose for not having enough spoons for Stede's liking. Thornrose responds "My apologies, I hadn't imagined we'd be hosting your kind."

Ed responds "My kind, what kind"

to which Godfrey responds "A rich donkey is still a donkey."

Ed then proceeds to scream at him and then orders Fang to skin him with a snail fork before throwing him overboard. To which Fang presumably responds by either skinning him with a normal skinning implement or forgoing the skinning step and just throwing him overboard, because who tf has time to skin a man with a snail fork.

I've seen some dogshit takes on this scene. I've seen it treated as evidence that Ed is exceptionally violent or abusive or has mood swings or anger issues or whatever bullshit. And I... Do Not Agree. You'll see why.

The next scene I want us to have in our back pocket is the first couple scenes with Gabriel and Antionette. When Gabriel and Antionette introduce themselves to Ed and Stede they reveal that Sir Godfrey Thornrose is a quote "Master Phrenologist." Stede is then expected to study Antionette's head. When he does he introduces his fake craft as "Phrenology, which is the study of the human head." He then takes a wild guess as to Antionette's heritage based on her skull lumps.

Content warning for like real old school racism ahead.

The reason Stede goes for the heritage is because Phrenology is a pseudoscience closely linked to other contemporary race science of the time. It was the idea that bumps on your head, thought to be caused by the pressure of the brain, could be used to identify your personality traits.

Phrenology gets really fucking racist, really fucking fast. Phrenology was used as proof that the white race was superior to other races, and as a justification for slavery and eugenics. Eugenics is the idea that you can improve society through breeding out "bad genes", which is almost universally popular among all types of racists, but the Nazis were big fans of it and there's a direct through line between the race scientists in the 1700s who were into phrenology and modern hate groups and neo nazis. I wanted to use an image here as an example of racist phrenology texts, but it's rough and I don't want to make a cut so I'm just going to link to the wordpress anthropology article I found the picture in, it's sourced and an alright place to start if you're into further reading.

With this information, I would like to use another example, that is relevant to the ethnicities in contention. A French physician who attracted huge crowds with his phrenology lectures, François-Joseph-Victor Broussais, once claimed that Maori people (as well as indigenous Australians) could never become civilized since he claimed they had no cerebral organ for producing great artists.

This is the context in which we need to understand the exchange between Ed and the French captain. I've seen some people claim it's about class and not about race, but Thornrose acknowledges Ed's wealth when he says a rich donkey is still a donkey. It doesn't matter to a man like Thornrose what Ed does or how rich he is or how well he can learn his fucking forks, he's still akin to an animal in this skull molesting freak's racist little mind. If a phrenologist, or even someone who's rubbing elbows with a phrenologist, calls a man of color a donkey they're clearly saying he's an uncivilized animal based on the shape of his face. That's how racists operate.

And Sir Godfrey Thornrose is not just any old racist, he's a racist spreading his ideology to other people, convincing them that people like Ed are inferior, that people like him should be subjugated by white people. He is clocking in for his shift at the racism factory creating more racists.

So basically what I'm saying is Ed should skin him, no quarter for genocidal maniacs. Basically I can tell you're either racist sympathetic or talking out of your ass if you think French captain was fucked up. It was antifascist direct action and I don't want to hear another word about it. I personally believe the only thing you can't come back from is death in terms of being a better person. I also believe that there are situations in which killing someone is more or less fine and you're never gonna catch me feeling bad for a fucking phrenologist when he compares an indigenous pirate to an animal and the pirate responds by doing what pirates do.

Killing Godfrey was based.

[queerdiazs]

snippet sunday ⛈

this is WAY more than seven sentences but sometimes i just can't be bothered to count, especially after the day i had okay

but please enjoy hoa eddie being an absolute fuckin menace

“Actually, Mr. Diaz,” Henry starts, and it’s the tone of his voice, snarky and superior and fuck, Eddie’s encountered enough people in his life with this attitude to know he’s not the one, spent enough time in detention at school to know he’s not the one, but he spins around, anyway, because he’s a glutton, “you have to pay ten dollars for every person that spends the night.”  “Huh?”  “Yes,” Henry plows on, as if he’s clarified something. Eddie’s just as lost now as he was two seconds ago. “Your friend—Buck, I think. You have to pay ten dollars for every guest that stays over.”  That’s stupid. Like, his son is a popular kid, right, and he’s got loads of friends—more than Eddie ever had at that age but hey, his kid is fucking amazing—and now that he has a larger house with an even larger backyard, he knows there’s going to be weekends where his place is full of teenagers. He’s not paying ten dollars a head for Christopher’s friends.  Besides, Buck has his own room at the house. That has to count for something.  “He’s not a guest. My home is his home, too.”   Henry shrugs. “I don’t make the rules,” he says, and Eddie’s pretty sure that’s a lie since his photo is hanging up on the wall behind his chair. “Unless they’re part of the household or a partner, you have—” “He is.”  “Excuse me?”  An idea forms in the front of Eddie’s brain, one his sister’s would be laughing over since they’ve always had a way of reading his mind, and says, “He is. Buck, I mean. He’s my partner.”  “Romantic?”  Eddie makes a noise. “Does it matter?” He snorts a laugh, one that hurts his throat, and shoves his hand through his hair because he has got to get himself under control. What the fuck is he doing? “He’s my—my Buck. He’s mine.”  “Oh.” Henry taps his fingers against the desk. “I didn’t know that.”  “Yeah, well, it’s none of your business,” Eddie bites, a little meaner than he ought to be, but he can’t be blamed. Buck and Chris are waiting at home for him with dinner and dessert, and he’s here, haggling with a stranger over the special place Buck holds in his heart, and Buck’s worth ten dollars, worth ten gazillion dollars, more, yeah, but it’s the principle of the thing. “Now, I’m going home to him and my son. I’ll see you later, Harley.”  He snatches a pamphlet off the desk, turns around, again, and makes his way out of the office, ignoring the flustered call of, “My name’s Henry, actually!” because he’s tired, worked a 12 hour shift without his normal team because he owed a favor to the rookie on B shift, and he wants to go home, needs to go home to relax and decompress and eat some fucking cake, and this little club isn’t going to ruin another one of his nights. 

i was tagged by @hippolotamus, @jesuisici33, @callaplums, @honestlydarkprincess, @wikiangela, and @daffi-990

and i'm gonna no pressure tag @callmenewbie, @eddiebabygirldiaz, @eddiediaztho, @exhuastedpigeon, @try-set-me-on-fire, @ladydorian05, and anybody else mwah

[possessesnightshift]

i'm not an eloquent political speech person so im just gonna be direct about this

americans, please please fucking register to vote and vote for joe biden in november

and before you jump to whatever policy thing or weakness of his to counter this plea, just stop. it doesn't actually matter. trump is worse. trump is fucking so much worse

our job from here on out is not only to hold our noses and vote for biden, but also to convince all of our friends family and whoever else to also vote for him in spite of all of his flaws. yes all of them

we need to make the fucking argument that trump is so dangerous, the country would be better off with a drooling old genocide lover whose mental faculties are drying up faster than the sahara desert. we need biden voters to be keenly aware of his shortcomings and refuse to back down. there's no use in pretending biden is still sharp as ever or has this mass grassroots support (he does not). he sucks. he is probably the worst democratic candidate in the party's history.

don't care. trump is worse. he needs to be stopped from taking power by any means necessary. he needs to be STOPPED.

from a non-republican pov, democrats constantly leaning on the "but the other guy is worse" argument is frustrating as all hell. i certainly hate it myself. but what gets lost in the conversation is that the republicans are essentially so beholden to this principle nobody even notices.

i know plenty of small town midwestern republicans who were embarrassed to admit they voted for trump. they voted for him in spite of his nastiness and blatant buffoonery (not in spite of his racism bc they're likely ok with that) because he was on the republican ticket, and to them any republican is better than a woke liberal who wants to take away our gas stoves and force drag queens to read us stories at bedtime

so yeah i kinda don't fucking care at this point

biden is a laughably bad candidate for the election of 2024. any other time he could've run (including 2020) is completely different than now, when he's just too fucking old. so should we just roll over and let him lose? just for trump to finish his term, be biden's current age, and either run for a third term or just stay in power bc the supreme court is on his side and they've been preparing for this for decades? fuck that

actually i think a rotting, pulpy corpse would make a fine president compared to dumbass donald "reality gameshow host" trump. literally if biden dies the day of the election he's still got my vote because it is not for him

the left has to learn to have the tenacity that republicans have. we emulate the right in the worst fucking ways (e.g. closing the southern border for no reason) but we never emulate their pettiness. we never say 'i hate the republicans so much i will willingly vote for someone i kinda hate to spite their smug asses'

remember when trump used to be a joke? remember when he was a giant embarrassment? remember the memes about his illiteracy and his lack of awareness? (see 'covfefe' for more info) trump may have the means to become a brutal dictator, but he relies on people smarter than he is to pull it off

if trump continues to hype up his project 2025 and his fascist ambitions with the swagger and confidence of fdr running against herbert hoover, what does it signal to the rest of the world for that man to LOSE to a corpse with the stamina of a wet flounder? it could stop the fascist momentum in its tracks by associating it with weakness and incompetence (you talk up all this hype and you lose to THAT man?? i guess you must be full of shit huh)

these are fraught times. there's no way to get out of this without letting go of our ideals of a perfect candidate who responds to the political desires of the people. that candidate does not exist and never will

right now we have not just an opportunity to preserve our rotting democracy for a little longer, but something much more special. we can fucking put an end to the trump experiment once and for all. we can make trump wannabes like ron desantis scramble to dissociate their image from the toxicity of the trump administration. we can turn him back into a joke.

at this point im screaming into the wind. no person who isn't already voting for biden is gonna read this far. but i want these words to be here anyway because i think they have value. 2024, 2028, and 2032 are all going to be pivotal election years. we can't wait around. we have to act NOW.

vote rotting fish 2024. i will plug your nose with a clothes pin if you refuse to do so yourself...

[blurredblu]

My opinion on IDW being canon to Sonic

I watched a video by GamesCage on the topic, who I've been watching a long while on YT before subscribing to him recently on Twitch, and it reminded me of my own thoughts on the matter as well!

But first some preemptive notes because I am entering Sonic discoursespace:

This is just some guy's opinion about a little blue dude! That's it! If you hate it or me personally because of it, I refer you to this image:

I won't ever go into using insulting or uncivil language. But because this is an opinion essay and I got opinions up the wazoo, I'm also not trying to word things in some neutral, disinterested way to appeal to all audiences here

That being said, game-story-wise, we don't fuck with meta-era shit here. I Do Not See It

I'm all for chats and discussions about the topic, agreement or disagreement alike in response to this essay—things just ought to stay civil and respectful. Think of WWSD (What Would Sonic Do?) and the image above

Sonic's morality and what IDW misunderstands of it

Though I respect what the IDW team does (I fondly remember following Evan Stanley's Ghosts of the Future on Deviantart back in the day), I don't prefer their characterisation of Sonic, and that alone is enough to have me a little chagrined as to IDW's integration into the games' canon. I think it's because, ultimately, it detracts from what makes Sonic's character—specifically his morality—unique and appealing to me. Though he isn't nearly as anti-hero in nature as characters like Shadow, Sonic still has moral tendencies that are atypical for characters that occupy the hero role as he's been avowed to have in the games, e.g. being labelled Team Hero with Tails and Knuckles multiple times

To give some sense of signposting, here are the headings of this essay:

Sonic distinctive moral thinking - The games' simple, reactive Sonic - IDW's merciful, principles-first Sonic: on freedom and oppression - Sonic's self-centred in a way, though, right? The mascot problem - "What's your idea then, genius?" – the reader reading this - Why keep things static - Examples of peak Sonic Conclusion

Sonic's distinctive moral thinking

To contextualise my judgement of Sonic as distinctive in his moral thinking, I think there is a tendency in Western media to give heroic characters very merciful streaks. Think Superman or Batman—codes of never killing or always offering mercy, often with backstory or informed moral reasoning behind it. While these streaks are understandable, they appear often and thus don't ring as special or particularly unique to me. Sonic has always been interesting to me because he explicitly does not entertain such clear moral principles. His attitudes embodied in his SA2 theme "It Doesn't Matter," Sonic Unleashed, or the Storybook Series (Black Knight being my favourite), show that he just does what he thinks is right and shows no qualms using considerable force (lethal in the case of Black Knight) if he has to against those he thinks are doing wrong—even against people who he would be friends with, like Merlina. He does not barter or reason; he takes action, moves before he thinks, and follows his heart

The games' simple, reactive Sonic

From my interpretation of Sonic regarding mercy, examples from the games show how he isn't interested in rehabilitating or looking for threats to neutralise like some Miguel O'Hedgehog. These tendencies become most apparent when his friends are involved. A standout example is when Amy protects E-102 Gamma from Sonic, convincing Sonic that he isn't like the other badniks. Another, more indirect example is Gemerl, where Sonic fights and subdues him from causing more harm but Tails is the one who reprograms and rehabilitates Gemerl, who lives happily with Cream and Vanilla with his more peaceful disposition. Sonic doesn't go out of his way to help Gemerl post-defeat, but he doesn't doubt or attack him further after his integration either

At heart, I find Sonic to be a reactive, not proactive, hero. He won't go out of his way to check if the day needs saving—he's not a dutiful guardian doing patrol like Knuckles or a principled fighter for an organisation like Shadow—but if Sonic sees someone in need, he won't just pass them by. And I find Sonic's moral judgements to be simple, instinctual, and self-centred in the most literal sense. They come from his bias towards his friends' judgement and what he believes to be right, regardless of how others may judge his actions. I've only mentioned some examples, but they highlight to me that Sonic is neither healer nor hunter. His main priority isn't rehabilitating or reasoning with his foes—he will do what he feels he needs to do, even if that means destroying something or someone for good. But, as Amy for E-102 and Tails and Cream for Gemerl show, he won't go out of his way to make sure threats are dealt with through violence if his friends vouch for them.

IDW's merciful, principles-first Sonic: on freedom and oppression

In IDW, the topic of him showing so much mercy and espousing freedom as an ideal he thinks everyone, even his enemies, deserves makes him much more merciful and deliberate in his mercy than I like him to be. I want to discuss this by briefly expanding on oppression and freedom, a topic that comes up in Surge and Sonic's fight and Surge angrily questions why Sonic wouldn't just end her. Sonic essentially answers it's because he values freedom for all, including his enemies', because he can exercise his freedom to stop them. It's representative of why I think some fans take issue with Sonic's characterisation because it warps how much Sonic might believably value freedom versus oppression on two flops: on philosophical concepts and characterisation.

IDW's concept flop, to me, shows a fundamental misunderstanding on the nature of oppression and freedom, assuming some inherent ranking of freedom above oppression. The two are different things: freedom is a kind of instrument, a means of doing things, a concept that has no content in and of itself. In other words, you have the freedom to do X; having freedom is only meaningful insofar as it enables to do what you want. Oppression, however, is not an instrument in the same way; it makes far less sense to say 'you have the oppression to do X' or 'you are oppressed to do X' like you could for 'freedom' and 'free'. Freedom, precisely because it is an instrument, enables far more flexibility—both good, evil, and neutral acts can arise from it. Oppression is a state of being with an inherently negative core, predicated on suffering and the oppressed being harmed.

Quick and messy take from me on this: freedom for all and oppression for some is worse(!) than freedom for some and oppression for none. But here's something that has a source, leading to the characterisation flop: according to Sonic Adventure's DX Director's Cut manual, the only thing Sonic hates is oppression (for, presumably, anyone). Honestly, you don't even need a game manual to tell you that. I think IDW writers make the mistake of assuming the inverse to be true of Sonic as well: that the thing he loves most is freedom (for, presumably, anyone).

Oppression being the only thing Sonic hates does not mean freedom is the only thing Sonic loves.

It may be notoriously slippery to insist on consistency in the Sonic franchise (or maybe franchises, plural), but this philosophical gloss on freedom and oppression starts to explain why IDW's characterisation strikes me as inherently contradictory to Sonic's preexisting values. Namely, it shows how IDW commits a false equivalence between the two and assigns it to Sonic. Sure, Sonic likes freedom, but that's different to showing mercy and second chances. IDW ends up conflating the two. As a result, IDW has Sonic care more about the principle of freedom than about the feelings and suffering he knows he or his loved ones have gone through. Put another way, it makes little to no sense why Sonic would prioritise freedom for all, even his enemies, when he has been shown to much more consistently put the most weight on what his friends feel and what he himself thinks. IDW does little to no detectable work establishing why Sonic would have such priorities either

Also, not a real argument—just taking things to the extreme in a throwaway thought—but could you imagine Sonic in the beginning of Unleashed actually considering Eggman's pleas saying he's changed and telling Eggman he...values his freedom? Like. c'mon

Sonic's self-centred in a way, though, right?

How about that self-centred angle, though? Sonic's way of thinking is highly independent—he will do what he thinks is right, first and foremost. It would be easy to claim that IDW's characterisation is just a mindset Sonic just holds in the comics, and that alone passes muster; his brand of ethical egoism admittedly does a lot as writerly cover to justify nigh anything about him. Looks like a hedgehog, smells like a hedgehog; chances are it's our hedgehog, right?

I disagree. One: if IDW is considered canon and yet is just so different to what's appealing about Sonic in the games, then the decision to make IDW Sonic canon, to be frank, kinda sucks. That ain't my Sonic—that's some Marvelised-DC version of him trying to moralise that I don't find compelling, distinctive, or endearing.

Two: even if you try to adopt the angle that upholding freedom for all would just be what Sonic believes to be right, it would still be the same as saying Sonic cares more about philosophical ideals than what he sees right in front of him. He's famously poked fun at Knuckles for being gullible before—why is Sonic himself showing that same gullibility and benefit of the doubt towards hostile enemies or those who have notably wrought so much damage to the lives of those he loves?

The trouble is that IDW builds no meaningful narrative foundations on top of which to stake this claim on Sonic's mindset when the games exist. Like, I don't even privilege the games just because they've been around first and for longer (even though, hey, that is true)—he's just cooler in them. Sonic is no philosopher; he's repeatedly shown it's genuinely not that deep when it comes to his moral thinking in the games. All it is is that he has a good heart. As a result, it comes off as a considerable mischaracterisation to show his enemies mercy mostly in the name of freedom or hope for their change (i.e. lofty ideals) compared to something actionable he can do (i.e. kick their ass and break their tech so they don't hurt anyone he cares about again).

The mascot problem

GamesCage mentions a worthwhile point which he calls the mascot problem. Sonic, as a mascot for Sega, has certain narrative lines he cannot cross or change for good. Like with Mario, there is a clear status quo to maintain; for one, Eggman cannot ever truly be vanquished. However, unlike Mario (with the one exception of Super Mario Galaxy), Sonic routinely has narratives that he and his friends undergo. There has to be this delicate balance that Sonic Team, IDW, and anyone writing for Sonic must contend with as a result. You have to write stories—events and plot where characters grow and change and are affected—but maintain the status quo where many fundamental things cannot change

In other words: how do you explain that Sonic never gets rid of Eggman or his other enemies because he, as a company mascot, cannot ever do so?

IDW does this one way by assigning Sonic an inadvertent little philosopher's cap, which I've already opined is a mischaracterisation. It also just generates another kind of untenable narrative problem that's even harder to reconcile: how do you justify that Sonic, hero with a heart of gold, just lets his enemies keep on going for freedom's sake? Arguably, all that does is dress up the mascot problem but with worse consequences—it makes Sonic less likable. It casts him as someone who essentially ends up condoning his enemies' actions, which has already led readers to question his judgement and whether they would even want to root for a character like that when you have an alternative and contradicting blueprint that the games have already provided for him. Like, my boy embodies direct action and IDW turns it into direct-ish-but-hey-do-what-you-want-who-am-I-to-judge action. Dress it up however you want; it's a nerf on who he is

"What's your idea then, genius?" – the reader reading this

In my eyes, what could work for the mascot problem is falling back on the static nature of the characters that have already been long established. The basic formula is there: Eggman is tricksy, proactive, and two steps ahead, but Sonic is always good-hearted enough, reactive enough, and fast enough to catch up by the end.

Elaborating on that formula, you have enough of Sonic's existing characteristics to justify why bad things keep happening despite his presence. He's not like Iron Man, who takes it upon himself to leverage his resources and power to look out for the world when no one's really asked him to. Again, Sonic is a reactive hero; he's not a ruthless hunter and he likes his peace and quiet as well as his adventure. He'll do what he can to fight what's right in front of him but may miss the bigger picture or potential traps by going in too fast. That happened in the beginning of Sonic Unleashed and it made sense. Even in Black Knight, you had him try to whale on King Arthur armed with just a decreasing number of chilli dogs. In an extended or episodic storytelling format, this allows other characters to shine—Tails's powers of analysis, Amy's ability to connect with others emotionally, Knuckles' sense of duty—by contributing to plans and helping Sonic because he has persistent, character-defining flaws. Highlighting his non-proactive and chill nature allows for arcs with more breathing room, too, where the characters aren't going up against some world-ending force or they all hang out. On that front, I'd say IDW has done well giving other characters that spotlight

Briefly touching upon Eggman's characterisation and how that might address the mascot problem, his tried-and-true tendencies should be relied upon, too. He is incredibly intelligent but also a massive narcissist—it makes sense that he has his own sense of short-sightedness where he prioritises and secures his own well-being above all else and underestimates the importance or wrath of godly and natural entities he frequently exploits and disrespects. Because of how strong and distinctive Eggman's brand of narcissism and villainy is, it is honestly fitting that he will never change; that alone explains how often he will cause trouble and will never fully succeed. And that also justifies why Sonic will always be the one to fight him. Both have their imperfections and flaws and that has them in a deadlock.

Why keep things static?

Now, this might bring up the question of static-ness. It might seem like an odd solution to mascot problem to just lean into it. Surely, there has to be greater justification or some potential for change for things to stay interesting, appealing, and compelling for Sonic and his stories.

In response, here's my hot take: ya don't need any of that.

Here's a longer version of my hot take: in any given narrative, Sonic is at his best when he does not grow or change. Sonic is already peak. Others may flounder and oscillate, but he remains steadfast with his heart of gold. He is a pillar of strength. He is static. Think of him in the Sonic Adventure games, characters and humans' reactions to him in Sonic X, the knights of the round table's reactions to him in Black Knight, Chip himself remarking that Sonic has such a good heart that not even the powers of a fucking dark primordial god infecting and transforming him can change who he is on the inside in Unleashed. When unstoppable forces come about, lo and behold, he is the immovable object they meet!

Sonic always stays on the move—that's how you can justify all the amazing, different, wild stories he'll go through, because he is an adventurer at heart. You don't need to humanise a character and subject them to point-A-to-point-B arcs to make them enduring, beloved characters. Just because that's a common format for characters and stories and comics to take nowadays doesn't mean that it's a good fit for Sonic. He's never been one to do something just because everyone else is doing it anyway. I, no joke, think Sonic should be treated like a mythical folklore figure, never-changing and transforming the lives of those he meets before breezing on by—and what figures are more enduring in our consciousness than those of mythology?

And, to refer to IDW, there isn't any need to wax philosophical on top of that. Like I've repeatedly said so far, Sonic is no philosopher (and saying this as someone who did philosophy for undergrad, thank fuck for that). Leave the philosophising and podcast soundbites and video essays to the fans—in fact, I'd even wager the simplicity of Sonic's premise and character, or, hell, even the dissatisfaction that can come from that, is why his fandom even thrives (but that's definitely a separate topic).

Examples of peak Sonic

I forget which interview this was, but Sonic's characterisation was inspired off of Bill Clinton (aged like milk I know; this was before his scandal with Lewinsky), from the idea that actions speak louder than words for him. Obviously, Sonic does get in his quips with his friends and enemies alike, but he's not supposed to be Marvel superhero about it and isn't actually a massive braggart. Even the first episode of Sonic X shows his confidence and demeanour so well—he doesn't need to moralise or talk your ear off for you to know he'll fuck you up. And that's just so much cooler than what IDW accomplishes with their version of Sonic

Like, consider my beloved Murder of StH, which the IDW team had a considerable hand in! Sonic—while recognising that the train is more advanced than other badniks, exhibiting personhood and consciousness—still has the sole objective of destroying the train. Everyone shines and, granted, the format has it so that Sonic doesn't really appear till the end, but he's characterised pitch-perfectly there, instilling so much hope and forward momentum not only in his gameplay but in the heart of the player. Honestly, his late contribution arguably echoes Sonic X, where he often disappears or does his own thing, too

Even in a game or storytelling format where he should be front and centre, you could even explore some big themes with Sonic precisely because of his mental and emotional fortitude! The Storybook Series are so stellar in this regard—you got Sonic helping out Shahra, domestic abuse victim, on dealing with sadness, and him helping Merlina with existentialism and death of all the fucking things. And he doesn't flap his lips about it; he shows it through his actions. He's the protagonist but not in a traditional sense—he's the support and passing through and being unfathomably fuckin cool about it. Any lessons he ends up teaching you is not because he's out to teach you—it's because he's just living his own way and, wouldn't you know it, you just happened to be around for the ride

Conclusion

I'm not excited about IDW Sonic being considered canon because he comes off as an overeager philosopher's take on him when game Sonic is fuckin goated with the sauce. Though the story ideas and arcs in IDW seem cool, Sonic is the heart of the series, and if he's off, then the whole thing ends up a little wonky for my tastes.

To be clear, I don't have issues with different iterations of Sonic as some blanket rule—if the writers do the work to establish why and in what ways Sonic in a particular story is different, then that's just plain fun. Movie Sonic, Sonic Prime, and Sonic Boom are all examples of that. But, above all, the kind of Sonic I adore (and there are in fact many kinds) is the one who you meet and your life is irrevocably changed for the better as he hangs out for a while but never for long. In pivotal moments in the comics, IDW Sonic misses the mark on that for me

Though Sonic Team are making clear moves to integrate all the iterations of Sonic as canon regardless. I do wonder if that, as a move in itself, is the meta-narrative equivalent of Sonic Team changing game-mechanic tacks every game after '06 and Unleashed—a well-intentioned but misguided way to try to appease everyone which I've always thought is the most anti-Sonic thing you can do, but that's just the mascot problem in corporate as opposed to story form.

I was fine with Sonic Twitter just saying 'Everything is canon' as a non-starter – I'll just see how they do what they're intending to do and if I don't like it, then I always got an AO3 account handy

[whinlatter]

thoughts about wolfstar? you're now the one i go to for any hp related thoughts

omg this is VERY nice of you but i'm pure flop on marauders thoughts, they're all extremely half-baked, so best left to others. here my half-baked wolfstar thoughts offered sheepishly and apologetically!

the thing is - i quite like the idea of wolfstar. to be honest i was sort of imagining a sort of wistful wolfstar vibe to how i wrote lupin in orchards in the aftermath of sirius' death. but i think the wolfstar i like is quite a specific version of it that's increasingly hard to find in fic searches so i don't often go looking for it (which is pure laziness on my part). my interest in canon coherent characterisation limits me here - i think there's such a strong case for wolfstar as a pairing written in ways that attend to the very clear dynamics (and timelines) that canon makes plausible (including in AUs, where actually characterisation matters more, not less, than in 'canon compliant' fics, because it's the reader's only anchor). there is an intensity and an intimacy to what sirius and remus share in the marauders and the significance of a boyhood spent together in their adult lives, a literal physical proximity of them living together as adults post azkaban as two men who have such complex feels towards themselves and especially to their bodies, including an overlapping self loathing, and they're both characters that can very plausibly read as queer-coded in rich and interesting ways. and then, of course, there's an inherent narrative shape to both of their canon arcs (the tragedy, delicious). these are just some of the dynamics in a potential romantic relationship between the two of them that can make for really rich and interesting potential to work with in fic writing.

the trouble i find with a lot of wolfstar, less as a matter of principle than what actually gets written more often than not, is that the stuff i personally find rewarding and interesting as a writer/reader is work that bears some relationship with the canon text (even if - especially if - it's to pull it apart and expose its flaws and complexities). a queer reading of the relationship between sirius and remus in canon is absolutely plausible and can be deeply compelling, and, as queering HP as a text remains a powerful fuck you to its author whose reaction to the ship was errrr quite homophobic, still really important.

but. challenging the text means having some sense of the characterisation of the essence of these characters as rendered in the text, and canon is clear about certain aspects of sirius and remus' characterisations that limits my enthusiasm for a lot of wolfstar that has sprung up in recent years (especially in and around ATYD, which i'll say more about in a minute). the truth is that canon strongly suggests that sirius cares much less about remus than he ever does about james (dropping @saintsenara's excellent manifesto for why unrequited prongsfoot is canon, also the rec for one of the best fics i read last year that @ashesandhackles put me onto, empire builders by shecrows, a gorgeous complex funny angsty prongsfoot fic that's not not canon compliant timeline-wise). it's also clear that the marauders as a friendship group functioned as a group of three boys all working towards james potter as the de facto leader, each with their own complicated feelings and levels of loyalty and devotion to james that undoubtedly shaped, and limited, how the other three felt towards each other (especially after james' death). the kind of wolfstar lore that's sprung up in the last few years, especially from marauderstok, of roadman remus the romeo of gryffindor tower that young sirius is wildly and hopelessly in love with, and is desperate to reunite with after azkaban, is a version of wolfstar that's sort of compelling as an original story but, for my taste, bears too little relationship to their core canon characterisation to be really up my street. a wolfstar with really fucked up power dynamics that plays with sirius' idolisation of james and remus having to play second fiddle? delicious. or even unrequited/onesided wolfstar from remus to sirius - yum. but the rest, i struggle with. by the time they've left school, remus thinks sirius is the spy and sirius thinks remus is the spy. that is not giving soulmates, in my mind. but as with most of these things, i'm very open to being proved wrong.

(with that said, though, i think the subculture and lore that's built around wolfstar is really astonishing and often extremely compelling, i think ATYD is obviously a huge accomplishment and deserves its flowers for launching such a phenomenon, and there's masses of quality writing and art and general creative talent coming out of wolfstar spaces that it's hard not to be continually impressed by. also some of those tiktok edits absolutely slap. that remus-centric animated noah kahan one. unreal)

[soon-palestine]

I'm looking over the New York Times reports on Tara Reade's testimony of Biden raping her, and it is astonishing just how depraved these scum are. They went back decades to her college records to question her credibility. They talked to her childhood acquaintances. Utter insanity

whenever a fact adds to Reade's credibility, the NYT immediately frames it as questionable and to be dismissed. She told her story to someone during the period it happened? That guy is pro-Trump now, so that's meaningless, ignore it. Just utter shameless propaganda

hey New York Times what are the politics of the Israeli woman you just gave a 4000 word profile to mustering every resource at your disposal to turn into the most credible trustworthy person in human history? What are the politics of those "doctors" she told her story to? Tell us

you spent paragraph after paragraph detailing Tara Reade's entire political history from when she was in college to the present as if it mattered to her testimony of Biden raping her. What are the politics of Amit Soussana? Not a single word on that. Are her politics this:

the NYT poured over Tara Reade's blog posts about politics and Russia and totally irrelevant topics to make her appear as a crazed pathological liar. That was their job. They destroyed her life intentionally. They ripped it apart. But Amit Soussana was painted as a Holy Saint

she's a lawyer who understands the plight of Palestinians when bombs went off, she loves people, she feeds stray cats, she gives to the homeless. She's actually the reincarnation of Jesus. So every word she says is 100% pure fact about those dirty backward Palestinian animals

this may work on your depraved genocidal liberal base, who gleefully participated in the public lynching of Tara Reade, looking into every inch of her life from when she was a baby to present to frame her as a liar. But it doesn't work on those who aren't in your genocidal cult

no one in the media class will bother to give Amit Soussana the Tara Reade treatment. And remember, Amit comes from a genocidal systematically racist apartheid society where dehumanization of Palestinians is ingrained in the very culture. So she actually must get that treatment

that is the standard the New York Times and all the good liberals have when it comes to every other racist apartheid society where lurid genocidal atrocity propaganda and allegations against its victims are rife, except Israel, as I detailed here:

as I said in that thread, unlike the New York Times, who intentionally fabricate genocidal atrocity propaganda as has been proven with the Gettleman, Schwartz, Sella hoax, and destroys people like Tara Reade, I will actually be principled and apply the same evidentiary standard

the most depraved part of the NYT pouring over every inch of Tara Reade's life, from blog posts to interviewing 100 of her passing acquaintances, neighbors, they actually got one of her neighbors from decades ago to smear her, is that Biden actually is a pathological liar:

do you know that Biden lied about how his wife and child died, blaming a "drunk driver" even though he wasn't at fault at all, just so he could have a good "dramatic" story to tell to the press? He destroyed that man's life. But the NYT finds him credible

most importantly, WHAT THE FUCK DOES ANY OF THIS HAVE TO DO WITH TARA READE'S TESTIMONY THAT BIDEN RAPED HER? Nothing. The NYT set out to destroy her, to annihilate her life. But with Amit Soussana they've turned into BelieveAllWomen again, and you're not allowed to question her

I'm sorry NYT, you're the actual rape apologists and deniers. In fact you are the most depraved rape deniers in modern history, not just for Biden, but also Bill Clinton and other Democrats. You are the most depraved scum filth rag that has ever existed in human history

[beatriceeagle]

“Beauregard could be lying, of course, or exaggerating. It was possible.

"Why did you ask about Kamordah?" Beauregard said. She always sounded brusque, but right now she was slipping towards something more like "combative."

"It's what I was reading about today. Dalis Feredon presented the story… differently than I expected."

"Oh." Beauregard's voice evened out, and she turned away from Bren. "I'm from there, you know."

"Kamordah?"

"Yeah. My father was very into the Empire, and so were most of the winery owners, but if you sat in a dive bar on a bad night, you'd eventually hear some real fuck-the-Dwendals talk. Some people never really got over it."

If she was Kamordahn, she was hardly an unbiased source. But then, the Empire's story was that Kamordah had annexed not only willingly, but at their own request—if that were true, they'd have no reason to be bitter.

And it did seem, didn't it, that the further the history got from the Empire, the more likely it was to agree with Beauregard's story.

What did it matter? If Kamordah joined the Empire willingly or at swordpoint, it had no bearing on Bren's situation. He was not Kamordahn, and however the annexation had happened, it had happened, and would not be undone now.”

i loved bren researching, reading a “traitors” work, and slowly realising that maybe everything ickythong said wasn’t true. also really appreciate learning more about exandrian lore! it’s one of my favourite things in fanfiction – suddenly learning new things of the source material

DVD commentary under the cut!

Beauregard could be lying, of course, or exaggerating. It was possible.

"Why did you ask about Kamordah?" Beauregard said. She always sounded brusque, but right now she was slipping towards something more like "combative."

"It's what I was reading about today. Dalis Feredon presented the story… differently than I expected."

I had put a lot of thought into the relationship between the Zemni Fields and Rexxentrum for previous fics I'd written, but this was my first time digging into the history of the Marrow War. There's a lot of lore there, and obviously I focused in on Kamordah because of its connection to Beau, but I could've done ten chapters just on all the various atrocities of that era. I've got to shout out @road-rhythm here, because her deep dives in our conversations about Empire history and lore very much informed this section.

"Oh." Beauregard's voice evened out, and she turned away from Bren. "I'm from there, you know."

"Kamordah?"

"Yeah. My father was very into the Empire, and so were most of the winery owners, but if you sat in a dive bar on a bad night, you'd eventually hear some real fuck-the-Dwendals talk. Some people never really got over it."

I'm a little obsessed with the chip that Beau has on her shoulder about the Empire. Obviously the Empire sucks in a lot of ways, but one of the things that's interesting to me about early-campaign Beau is that she hates the Empire even before she is fully aware of all of those ways. She hates it foundationally. When Caleb asks her how she feels about the Empire in episode 18 (which is funny in its own right, since by that point she's initiated several conversations with him basically by saying, "Hey, we're both Empire kids, right? It sucks, right?") Beau is incredibly vague about what her actual issues are with it. But she sure does mention that her dad was an Empire man through and through.

To go slightly off-topic, one of the reasons that I think that Beau and Caleb work as a partnership is that when they meet, Beau is all fight and outrage and no direction, and Caleb is pure direction but has lost his principles and will to fight. Caleb gives Beau a productive target for her rage; Beau gives Caleb will and perspective.

All of which is just to say, I think that Beau's feelings about the Empire are very wrapped up in her feelings about her father, which are necessarily wrapped up in her feelings about Kamordah, which is why asking about Kamordah feels like poking a vulnerable spot at the moment.

If she was Kamordahn, she was hardly an unbiased source. But then, the Empire's story was that Kamordah had annexed not only willingly, but at their own request—if that were true, they'd have no reason to be bitter.

And it did seem, didn't it, that the further the history got from the Empire, the more likely it was to agree with Beauregard's story.

What did it matter? If Kamordah joined the Empire willingly or at swordpoint, it had no bearing on Bren's situation. He was not Kamordahn, and however the annexation had happened, it had happened, and would not be undone now.

It was an interesting balance to try to strike here: I wanted to show the beginnings of Bren unlearning propaganda, but one day at the library is not going to undo a lifetime of jingoism followed by years of intentional conditioning. So I thought of this as a snapshot. Bren learns some new information, and because he is who he is, he thinks through it very deeply—but he's human, so we also see a lot of the cognitive dissonance and protective measures that his brain throws up against challenges to his belief system.

[sapphire-weapon]

Not to rattle the cages, but for all of their so called, "sexual tension", Leon and Ada have a startling lack of intimacy. Everything they find out about each other most likely is learned from reading sterile, impersonal dossiers and not from any meaningful conversation.

And the only quality time they did have with each other took place completely off-screen and it's not even entirely clear what happened because it was only referenced in a single blink-and-you'll-miss-it throwaway line of dialogue in Damnation. (I'm willing to concede that it's likely they banged, but it's also just as likely that Ada blueballed him and ran off, because her follow-up question of "You're angry with me, aren't you?" doesn't make sense if he actually came LMAO But that's beside the point.)

But... at the same time... I don't think it's that simple. There's more to it than that.

God, I'm really about to make a case for Aeon, aren't I? Damn my dedication to this series's canon. Let's think of this post as the Aeon haters' guide to understanding Aeon, because it's fucking canon whether we like it or not. Goddamn it.

To start off, there's a difference between knowing someone well and being intimate with them. I've talked in the past about how intimate Luis's death scene was in RE4make, and Leon and Luis knew barely anything about each other at the time of his death. But that doesn't take away from the intimacy of the scene.

I feel like a similar principle applies to Leon and Ada.

Ada was with Leon throughout the majority of what was objectively the worst night of his life. Nothing else comes close to Raccoon City in terms of what it did to Leon -- no matter how much greater of a threat he faces logistically, it's still not as bad as what happened to him in Raccoon City. So, Ada knows Leon in ways that no one else in the series does.

Claire got a glimpse of the old Leon -- arguably, the "real" Leon -- but that's all it was. A glimpse. They weren't together long enough for her to really get to see what made him tick or to understand the perspective he was bringing into the city with him -- but Ada got to see all of that. And there's an intimacy to that all on its own -- especially when you consider that, after RE2, Leon starts building walls around himself made of machismo and bad one-liners that eventually wash away beneath a sea of liquor, which then dampens and darkens everything around it.

But no matter how fast he tries to run from himself, or how many walls he tries to put up, or how hard he tries to become someone else, there's still one person in his life who has seen and remembers who Leon S. Kennedy really is, and her name is Ada Wong.

He's allowed himself to be weak in front of her, to fail in front of her, to get frustrated and angry and overwhelmed around her -- and there is a real intimacy in that kind of vulnerability. And not once has she ever judged him for it or held it over his head or tried to harp on him about how he's changed -- because, to her, he hasn't changed. She can see through all of those new defense mechanisms he's put in place and knows that the core of who he still is is still intact. So, she silently allows him to work through whatever it is that he needs to work through while still trusting that he'll always be who he's always been -- and that's pretty fucking powerful, honestly.

And that's why he feels like he can't let her go -- because he's afraid that, if he does, he'll be letting go of the very last piece of himself that's still alive and holding on from before all the trauma set in.

The sad reality of the ship, though, is that that's not true. If Leon were to let Ada go, he wouldn't be letting go of his old self. Because, while Ada has seen the old Leon -- has met and known and spoken with him -- she is not what's keeping the memory of the old Leon alive; she is not the actual bearer of his legacy. Sherry is.

Even though Sherry wasn't around Leon nearly as much as Ada was and didn't get to know him the same way, that doesn't matter. What Leon doesn't see is that he didn't give up who he was because of Ada. He gave up who he was because of Sherry. He did it for her sake -- to save and protect and take care of her.

That's why he almost breaks down and cries when he sees her for the first time in RE6, when he's never done that when reuniting with Ada. It's because Sherry is carrying with her so many of the pieces of Leon that he left behind in order to properly fill the role of a federal agent. Doing what he did for her makes him more of a father to her than William Birkin ever was, and Sherry knows this. That's why she didn't think twice about following in his footsteps and jumping at the opportunity to become an agent herself -- and, to do that, she trusts Derek goddamn Simmons when she really shouldn't have, but she does it because she's still carrying the old Leon's optimism and trustfulness and faith in humanity. Again: she's following in Leon's footsteps, and the old Leon is the only Leon she ever really knew. Even if she didn't know him nearly as well as Ada did.

I think, on some unconscious level buried deep within his psyche, Leon knows this -- but it's a reality that's too painful to face, so he doesn't. Instead, he projects all of that shit onto Ada, because it's easier that way. Besides, he's been doing it for so long already, so why stop now? There's comfort in the familiar, and Ada is nothing if not familiar.

But, to go back to what I was saying earlier about Ada trusting that Leon will always be who he's always been -- that's also why he believes in her in RE6 when no one else does. Part of it is his projections about his past self and all that bullshit, but there's also an element of... "she would do the same for me." Because she has. She's been doing it for years.

And in that specific regard, there is a real maturity to their relationship that doesn't really get enough attention or praise from the fanbase. The whole "sexual tension" thing is stupid, and you're right to point it out in your ask as being stupid, because Leon and Ada's relationship isn't about sex -- and it shouldn't be! And that's why that line in Damnation is so fucking pointless and stupid AND I HATE IT lmao Leon and Ada's relationship is about two people who accept and trust each other without judgement, even when they really shouldn't.

NOW.

WITH ALL THAT BEING SAID.

EVERYTHING I JUST WROTE OUT IN THAT HUGE WALL OF TEXT IS ONLY APPLICABLE TO THE OG STORYLINE. THE REMAKES DO SOMETHING VERY, VERY DIFFERENT WITH LEON AND ADA. And honestly, the massive changes to their relationship are really the #1 major reason why I believe the remakes are a completely different timeline of events -- because so much of what I just said is not fucking true for the remake versions of Leon and Ada. It's just straight up not true.

Remake Leon does not accept Remake Ada for who she is (he literally asks her to fucking change, for god's sake!! LMAO), and he definitely does not fucking trust her. RE4make basically erased the canonicity of Leon/Ada as a romantic relationship. It's not there anymore; it's no longer a canon romance; it's gone. If it's anything still at all, it's one-sided unrequited Ada having fallen for Leon, and him not being able to get away from her fast enough.

But that doesn't mean that their relationship is lacking in intimacy.

We've talked before about how Remake Leon is touch-starved as fuck -- and touch seems to be his love language. And while Leon is greedy and sneaky with the touches he steals from Ashley in RE4make, none of those little touches that the two of them pass back and forth come anywhere close to Ada's touches in RE2make.

The scene between them on the shuttle is very intimate -- and not just because she kisses him. It's the way she sits so close to him, the way she leans into him, the way she keeps a hand on his knee and gently caresses it with her thumb. It's the way they both speak in more hushed tones, the way she tries to be soothing with the tone of her voice. It's how she kisses him -- close-lipped and gentle, meant only to ease his anxiety and quiet his mind (and also get him to shut the fuck up for two goddamn seconds. god I respect her so much for this LMAO).

And not just that scene, but it's also present in the way she patches him up after he gets shot. We don't get to see it, but if you look again at Leon's bandages? She had to strip him the fuck down in order to do that LMAO home girl was sitting there unbuttoning his shirt and going "this sucks he's unconscious this isn't even fun. pain in the ass." And when he wakes up? Sure, she's gone, but he definitely knows that she had to have been all up in his business in order to do what she did -- and she left her coat behind with him as a fucking blanket and I'm sorry but that's so cute. IT'S CUTE. I'LL ADMIT IT. But it was probably a moment for him of "Wow. She really cares." -- because, again, touch is his love language. AND BOY DID SHE DO THAT A WHOLE FUCKIN LOT.

So, basically.

What I'm trying to say is.

Leon and Ada's relationship is poorly written and poorly executed and I hate it for a myriad of reasons, most of which involve the fact that it limits Ada's character and waters her down to a really unnecessary degree, but... I can't bring myself to say that there's no there there. Are they the hot and sexy spy vs spy ship that the director of Damnation desperately wanted us to believe they are? Absolutely fucking not. Is the ship predicated on only semi-resolved sexual tension? Also fucking no.

Does any of that actually matter...? Again... No. It doesn't matter. There is something to it. Even if they are still mostly strangers to each other, knowing facts about each other isn't what's important about their relationship. It's knowing who the other is at their core that's important.

At least, in OG.

In Remake, Leon can't fucking stand her by the time of RE4. And if anyone tries to say otherwise, they're fucking delusional.

Though I honestly believe that if either version of Ada learned more about who Leon was in the day-to-day, she'd probably like him a whole lot less. Leon, shave your face and stop drinking and why are the fucking Beastie Boys playing in your car when you're driving to work and holy shit are you really watching Casino for the third time this week oh my god

[drdemonprince]

fredy dboer is always like "I dont understand why so many of my subscribers are pro israel!! i dont understand why so many of my subscribers think i'd be anti abortion! i dont understand why so many of my subscribers think i'd be anti trans people!!" and its like. my brother. at a certain point the projections people place onto you are a reflection of what you have trained them to expect. youre the guy who talks shit about leftists and identity politics. turns out most of the people who want to hear that and feed off of it are not marxists or whatever, they are conservatives. and with your critiques no matter how sincere they might be you might not actually be improving the left you might be comforting and entertaining a ton of conservatives!!

the same principle can be applied to me and the projections people make of me that i find frustrating, too. like. why do so many bland white hand wringing liberals come to me expecting them to sign off on their inaction and privileged comfort. well. because im a white academic who does fuck all and sometimes writes comforting bromides. thats my fault! i have had to notice that and let it actually sink in for me, and then take steps to alienate that portion of my audience as much as fucking possible. freddie does the alienating the people who deserve to be alienated bit, but i dont see as much of the self reflection or philosophical course correction on his part. i dont think he really contemplates that he might have been doing things all wrong. hes too outraged at the existence of mad pride disability justice twitter to question his impulse to lash out at the left, for one. he really feels like offended and harmed by the existence of people who are anti psychiatry.

some day he'll probably write a scathing take down of my perspective on neurodiversity and it will be like 35% correct, i just know it, and 65% poorly researched generalizations about what the disability justice movement even is based on a few low-note twitter posts. he can be so shrewd and he can also be so impulsive. i guess thats why i keep returning to the well, because i recognize myself in much of it. and because reading him helps me to mentally simulate what some of the critiques of my own work would be... and, i think maybe a little unlike him, i am all too comfortable contemplating that i'm completely fucking wrong and a dumbass

[autobot-ratchet]

MTMTE 12-13

MTMTE 12

still so cute that Tailgate's happy place is movie night

damn they really just cut right to the aftermath of the battle like “oh yeah btw Rewind's injured and Swerve got his face blown off. Just to let you know. Okay back to the present”

Drift is in his element, look at that smile, you go baby, slice those dudes up

gfdjks poor First Aid is so done with Chromedome's fussing, give the guy a break he's just worried about his husband

also yeah god this is the first time we get to say explicitly that they're married, isn't it? I remember being completely fucking floored by that the first time I read it, like “wait what do you mEAN THEY'RE ACTUALLY TOGETHER??? LIKE IN THE ROMANCE WAY?!?!?” like I had picked up on the queercoding vibes but then the comic was just like “yeah coding-schmoding, they're queer” and I simply could not believe that shit lmAO

also btw Cyclonus is injured too. Just fyi

I've made fun of Tailgate for embellishing his past accomplishments but damn does he do a good job of stringing Rewind along lmAO kid's a pretty good liar under enough pressure

I love how they show us that horrifying panel of Swerve's fucked up face without context and then later the context turns out to be “yeah he just accidentally shot himself in the face.” he looked down the fuckin barrel of the thing god lmAO

I love the concept of innermost energon so much. For a race that's constantly morphing and changing to give away the one part of themselves that always stays the same no matter what, the fuckin romance of it all

I love Tailgate trying to gas up Chromedome by constantly trash-talking Dominus just on principle alone lmAO “Oh that's Rewind's ex? Fuck that guy he's got nothing on you” “Tailgate he was an incredible person” “Incredibly cringe, maybe”

sorry I am now distracted by the idea of Tailgate using the word “cringe,” that wasn't nearly as much of a thing when this comic was coming out but he absolutely would, holy shit

ooohhhgdjhfs Drift recruiting Chromedome for The Overlord Thing while he's at his lowest and Rewind's incapacitated is so slimy, he really does have to do all the dirty work for this project huh

Cyclonus immediately goes back to help Tailgate clean up, he's making progress, we're getting thereeeeeeeee

I think this is the first time (of many) that Cyclonus looks at Chromedome and Rewind's relationship and is like “...........huh.” Like, he definitely uses them as a framework for his own relationship with Tailgate and wants what they have, even if he doesn't quite realize it at this point

Ah, right, I forgot that Whirl helps Rewind jump his spark out of guilt for nearly killing him alongside Cyclonus lmAO

And Cyclonus protected Rewind.... nnnnNNGFHSDFNgsdf *points at Cyclonus* HAHA YOU HAVE FEELINGS... YOU CARE........

MTMTE 13

I like the implication that this isn't the first time Drift has grabbed Swerve like a football

also love Cyclonus calling Drift too young, both of you are old as dicks

I will never be able to think about the bit where Swerve asks Drift to be his roommate and Drift is like “no thanks, in my off time I prefer to be alone in a state of heightened isolation exploring the limits of solitude” without thinking about that vine that's like “sorry dude I can't go do social event, I'm busy” and then it cuts to him in his room alone, drinking a can of beer with one hand and playing jock jams on a keyboard with the other, this one, this is the vine

I fucking forgot Swerve was still here, I thought they closed the door on him lmfAO they really just had that whole conversation with the door wide open

I'm still so sad we only got the good holomatter avatar generator after Ratchet had used his old one, not to mention everyone whose avatars we never saw. Every day I wonder what Drift's avatar would've looked like

Magnus shoving his way between Swerve and Tailgate, making Tailgate scoot three entire seats over

“I think the program is struggling with human gender- Do I look like a 'Mary Sue?'” ah-HAH *slaps knee*

Aww, I forgot Magnus's avatar is Verity, that's so sweet. I didn't know who Verity was the first time I read this, but now that I do it does hit different lmAO

fuckin rip Magnus. Fhdksjkl I just noticed Rewind recording in the background, you can see the light of his camera on his silhouette

“Why do I get the impression that you can't remember your worst enemy?” nnnnnnNNNNNGGHH

drunk Magnus is cute

“Where IS Chromedome?” “Oh, he's, erm... I'm sure he told me...” NNNNNNNGGHHFFGHGHFGH

“Savor this feeling, everyone. You never know what's around the corner.” yEAH, YOU GUYS SURE DONT...

Cyclonus teaching Tailgate to sing in old Cybertronian... Tailgate said earlier in the issue that Cyclonus was the only link to his past and that was defs on purpose so that this could be Cyclonus's moment of realizing that Tailgate is much the same for him

aww Swerve, buddy... I mean to be fair I would've done the same thing in Blurr's position, Swerve comes on a little strong, but oh man. Swerve's not a bad guy, he's just unbearably lonely but Blurr never could've known that

oh right this is the first little written blurb we get hell yeah

Rung quietly marveling at the miracle of Cybertronian physiology like. That's YOU!!! That's more you than you could ever know!!!!! He doesn't even know that he's the originator of all that!!!!!!!!

it is still so funny that Rung regained the ability to move by getting so sick of Swerve's shit that he subconsciously mustered the power to move his arm so he could shush him

mmmmphphgndfm one of the only things Rung remembers during his recovery period was the smile Skids gave him when he corrected the mispronunciation of his name... SKIDS IS REAL SWEET........

gfdjk the gang watching Cyclonus browse a gift shop like they're ethologists and Cyclonus is a species of animal they've never seen before

godjdfska Magnus trying to make a joke and failing harder than anyone ever could is still so funny.. HE'S TRYING OKAY........ Also, absolutely hysterical joke to be telling to Rung specifically

God Rodimus is such an ass lmAO “What is wrong with people” he asks the therapist, genuinely. Simply solve mental illness, why don't you

ooh, get him, Rung, stick to your guns, attaboy

God. Watching Rodimus lie through his teeth about investigating the voice Rung and Red Alert heard... I mean, it was never going to work out, bringing Overlord onto the ship, it was a doomed endeavor from the start, but seeing all these moments of Drift and Rodimus trying to keep it under wraps is just so bitter lmAO They did their best, their awful, awful best

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

What if the world of Twilight was just a simulation in The Matrix, with vampires being something the robots made up?

Which characters take the red pill to learn the truth, which take the blue pill to forget, and of those who do learn the truth, who cares enough to fight the robots?

(I'm particularly interested in Aro, Carlisle, Edward, and Bella having the rug pulled out from under their idea of reality)

I was going to say, that's a lot of characters anon, but alright let's do it.

Aro

Aro curses everything, he's been feeding fucking computers for 3500 years and put so much effort into it. Worse, he killed his sister over this nonsense. Turns out there was no need for her to die, none of it was real, and he killed her anyway over an illusion of a world.

Well, there's only one thing for it, Aro's signing up to fight the robots. While in the Matrix universe, they're in the illusion in part because mankind didn't due too hot and even if they didn't the earth is a toxic wasteland that can barely support life without the machines using them as batteries, it's the principle of the matter.

He gets out all his friends that he can and does... uh... not give them an option.

"Well, Caius, there's a red pill and there's a red pill. You'll be taking the red pill, of course."

Aro despises not having his gift and being a vampire but you win some and you lose some. And every time he enters the matrix he gets to be super powered again, so that's a minor win, even if he has to watch out for Agent Smith.

Carlisle

I imagine he also takes the red pill.

Carlisle's used to having his world turned upside down at the drop of a hat. He already went through this once, becoming a demon, and that was a personal crisis.

While this is terrible in its own way, I can't see him choosing to be ignorant.

Of course, unlike Aro, while he tells his family he gives them the option of staying or going and... well, that's an adventure in and of itself we leave there I think.

But I imagine the weirdest part for him would be leaving the matrix and discovering he's still human. He's always been human. He no longer thirsts for blood and can eat food.

The sad part is that the food is awful because earth is a desolate wasteland. So, he's effectively still on the cardboard animal diet.

Edward

Edward chooses to leave the Matrix and will never admit he regrets that decision. Edward wants to be a man who can face unpleasant truths about himself and the world head on.

However, what he finds is that he's an ordinary human, that he's not a hundred years old, that he can't read minds, that everything he thought made him important was a lie.

Edward's purpose, his very sense of self, has been yanked away from him and I can't see him handling that well.

I imagine Edward is tempted more and more back into the Matrix, wondering if a fake life is any worse than a real one, especially now that he knows the humans he killed were likely not real (they were real, Edward, you die in the game then you die in real life).

Deep thoughts are had on whether it's better to live in a flawed, dismal, impoverished reality or a fantastical dream.

Bella

Bella, like Edward, thinks she's a red pill kind of girl. She said yes to vampires, didn't she? However, Bella's even less cut out for the truth of earth than Edward is.

Here there's no vampirism to help her escape from being human, there's no material wealth of any kind but only terror and starvation as she's hunted by machines, Bella has no special gifts here of any kind and the Cullens she's with are miserable and depressed and all people she doesn't truly know given she was living in an illusion.

Everything Bella gave up humanity for isn't in this place.

Bella pretends to love it though, and to power through, because if she doesn't then the Cullens and Edward will hate her.

[soulsxng]

GUYS, I CAN NEVER TELL WHAT MORAL ALIGNMENT THIS LIL' SHIT (Eluvias, my lovely little problem child) IS. I'm putting the rest under a read more because I know it's gonna end up super ramble-y.

So first, the way I look at the alignments is loosely this: - Good = Would save someone in trouble without promise of reward. - Neutral = Would leave someone in trouble to their fate. Might intervene for reward. - Evil = Would harm/kill/otherwise detriment person in trouble. and then: - Lawful = For principle - Neutral = For necessity - Chaotic = For impulse

And I can never tell if he fits best as true neutral, chaotic neutral, or neutral evil. Which...look, I know that technically no character should fit perfectly into an alignment. Different situations, and pressures, and whatever else could always make a character act outside of that alignment after all-- if they didn't, it would make the character kinda flat and predictable. (Plus, examining what would make them act out of that "norm", how they would do it, and how they would react to it afterwards is one of the most interesting parts of writing a muse imo)

But with Luvi, it always just feels like he decides how he's going to react to everything on a whim. Which...immediately points me toward chaotic. But good and evil don't really fell like they completely fit him, so I always sway towards chaotic neutral.

Except that he has done and will do some really fucked up shit. Sometimes just because he felt like it. Other times because he felt it was what he had to do, or even because it was what he should do in that situation.

And sometimes it's a little frustrating when I write him, because I feel like he can come off so all over the place at times that I worry that he doesn't come across as a consistent muse...like he does whatever, because...well, whatever. Which wasn't the case when he was still in Elyki.

Noticing that is what made me realize that it's because of that, that Luvi is so unpredictable now, though. Even if Zahine spoiled the hell out of him when he was young, he still grew up under very strict rules. Pretty much everything he did was heavily regulated. (With Zahine, it was for Luvi's health and wellbeing at a time when he was very frail and weak. With Mattias later on, it was just because Luvi was a tool that was potentially very dangerous to everyone in Elyki as well if he wasn't...essentially "holstered properly")

Now that he's away from that, he's suddenly bombarded with choices that he's never had to make before. He wants to be nice, and good-- partly because that's what he views his older brother and Zahine as being, and partly because he wants to make friends. (and then not have to worry about feeling like he has to or wants to hurt them)

His upbringing with Zahine taught him more that he needs to watch out for himself, and that-- while he should be cautious of others, he shouldn't hurt them unless he actually has to. That, as long as it won't detriment him, he should help people in dire need, but to generally let those in lesser need take care of their problems on their own. Kind of a good/neutral bordering.

But his upbringing with Mattias also taught him that...essentially, the lives of others that he doesn't know shouldn't ultimately matter to him. And that if he wants or needs something, he should just take it, regardless of how he has to get it. That if someone slights you even a little bit, or even if you just don't really care for someone. They annoy you? You can get rid of them.

And so really, he's just caught in this really confusing limbo where...kind of like a child that's just trying whatever comes to mind, seeing what happens from there, and deciding "Wow, that worked out pretty well!" or "That went really poorly..." from there.

Io and Zai try to help him with all of this, because they know he's overwhelmed, but neither of them can (or should, since that was a bit of an issue in and of itself; Luvi's obsessive nature definitely didn't help any of this) be there to hold his hand all the time.

Anyway, all of this is pretty much to say that I don't think I can put Luvi in any alignment, at the moment. He's got too much learning to do.

It also makes me wonder if Io was ever that way too, but I honestly don't really think he was. Not only was he old enough when Zahine went missing that he remembered a lot of the things that Zai stood for, but he was always especially defiant with Mattias. So while there might have been a little bit of figuring things out in that manner when he was taken under Pythius and Rhezar's wings, it wasn't anywhere near what it currently is with Luvi.

[chuthulhu-reads]

[ID: A page from Trigun Maximum. The first panel is just a little close-up on Leonof the Puppetmaster, his mouth visible for the first time as he stares at Vash in confusion. The second panel depicts Vash, almost entirely silhouetted with light highlighting his shoulders and the edges of his face. One eye is visible out of the shadows, a steely expression on his face as he says "...Isabel." The following three panels are chaotic, showing Leonof twisting and contorting his own body as he snarls until his gums are fully visible while screaming incoherently in ways I won't inflict on your screenreader. End ID.]

Look. If you've seen almost any of my other posts you may have noticed that I vibe heavily with Vash the Stampede's philosophy of kindness and second chances. I literally work at an addiction support facility. A lot of people who are dealing with addiction and withdrawal are not their best selves at the minute, and some people are also just cunts even when they're stone-cold sober, and it doesn't matter because the whole point of the service is to help anyone who needs help with addiction, regardless of whether they ask nicely, and to treat people with kindness and dignity because people deserve kindness and dignity, no matter what. I truly believe that.

...But also, sometimes, you're kind to people not just because of your principles, but because they are trying to elicit a particular reaction from you and they will not fucking get it. Sometimes you're kind and it's principled but also you are not unaware that you might be fucking with the person you're being kind to just by being polite and patient. Vash wants to try and bring Emilio back to himself and stop him from hurting anybody else, but from his own experiences with memory loss, I think he knows that dragging up the memories that Emilio has repressed so hard will be agonizing, and that remembering Isabel will hurt him. And he does it to be kind, and to stop Leonof, and to hurt him, and I think it can be all of them at once. Yes wheeling in this projector every time I read Trigun is a hassle but I'm going to keep doing it anyway why do you ask

[aggressivewhenstartled]

Ho lee shit, Twitter.

Side note: Get ready for a crazy mishmash of links for all of this, because this was wild enough I wanted a wide array of sources.

So apparently Elon Musk got in shit for being nice to Russian propaganda machines, and is trying to ‘Well actually’ his way out of it by calling the BBC, NPR, and other public media "State-affilliated". When folks complained, he amended it to "state-funded," which isn't exactly an improvement. In case you're not sure why these labels matter:

So then NPR basically decided "You know what asshole? Fuck you. We get more interaction with your competitors anyway," and broke up with Twitter.

What in depth research and planning went into Elon's decisions, you ask?

He just wanted to be fair! "The operating principle at new Twitter is simply fair and equal treatment, so if we label non-US accounts as govt, then we should do the same for US".

Even though Twitter’s policy already cited NPR and the BBC as specific examples BY NAME of media this label does not apply because they have independent control over what they publish.

If you're the type who checks citations, you might notice I actually, for real, cite Fox News, holy shit. Go to the article and read and marvel, because look. When Fox News is carefully, factually supportive of NPR in a dispute, the other side should maaaaaybe take a good hard look at themselves.

And to be fair, Fox does have a...less supportive article with a title about how NPR "quit twitter in anger" that says NPR isn't independent because they didn't cover a story about Hunter Biden's laptop in 2020 I guess?

Didn't get them special treatment from Twitter, though.

Maybe it's because even in the bitchy article, even Fox points out that NPR doesn't really get a lot of funding from the government.

Nah, I'm kidding, it's because Elon fired or lost everyone who had any knowledge about any of this a long time ago.

But hey! He chatted with the BBC about it and decided it was super useful to get feedback on what they could do better! You know. After the fact. On an interview? In which he also got whiny about people saying there was more hate speech on Twitter recently because nuh-uh, prove it. But he did change his mind about the propaganda thing!

In all of this, though, credit where credit's due. There's one thing Elon has gotten absolutely, completely right.