#category: ramble

[phoenixkaptain]

Canon straight ships in Star Wars always crack me up like

You have Mutually Obsessed and Making That Everyone Else’s Problem (anidala)

Or maybe you want Roguish Princess and Rogue Turned On By That (hanleia)

Maybe even a little “I’m Trying to Kill You, Stop Daydreaming About Being My Best Friend” (lukemara)

And over there in the corner is Only Considered Normal In Comparison to the Given Competition (obitine)

And outside, not even apart of the conversation: Actually Normal Human Beings Who Just Love Each Other With Little to No Murder Being Involved (Bail&Breha, Owen&Beru)

[pro-sipper]

I know that all DNIs are inherently flawed and pointless anyway, but what are some common criteria or addendums that make you doubly disregard them? (Besides the obvious...) I'll go first!

Fandom bullshit listed over things like "racist" or "homophobic"

You can just tell they're putting something on there because everyone else has it on theirs, but they have no idea what they're talking about

Acting entitled to know every follower's exact age, gender, sexuality, race, religion, and country of origin or risk being blocked

Calling fans of a particular media freaks/bigots/losers, followed by "current moots excluded!"

Overabundance of censoring that does nothing but make sure their talk of sensitive topics gets past every filter

"Basic DNI criteria"

"Etc"

[moonsinkfoxgirl]

every time I hear about a speedrunning cheating scandal in a video game that's basically ''this runner adjusted rng values so instead of grinding for 50 days to get the luck required for a world record he only needed to grind for 10'' it really makes me think that maybe speedrunning games like that is stupid, like getting the world record at having the time to waste to play the lottery most often, what's the damn point if that's the key skill

[abs0luteanarchy]

when people use dance as a metaphor for gabriel and v1’s fight. careful steps with music in the clash of weapon against weapon. im gonna be sick

[nhoirr]

MAN. I HEADCANNON PM! DAZAI DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO LOVE. like, he knows love. The structure of what it is, a simple stature but thats only the view from the outside. when he finds himself trapped inside the complex labyrinth love was — he was at lost for where to go. no routes in his mind could pave a path, there was no logic working in this maze. as if it were different from everything he'd ever known.

I headcannon Dazai does not know love, but merely the theory it is. He knows how to seduce yet he does not know what it is. he just knows it's something that helps him to manipulate, to take control of the situation.. but within those strings, he finds himself no longer the puppeteer — but he, was the puppet he was playing all along. he never knew the dangers of what love could do, until his heart became what was being played as a price to be payed. it started off as a thrill, then an annoyance, and then a constant looming — the feeling of his heart tightening in his chest. truthfully, he never knew anything.

And that made him fear it.

but you knew everything, how to love. and what's beautiful, is the fact that he melts within your embrace. he learns what is right, he learns love — what it means to love and be loved. he finds out with you that in all dark corners, love is still beautiful. That within this dark maze, you were the one who pulled him out and into the light, you who spoke of love so beautifully. there came an enlightenment to him, that you were the one — the one he's been waiting for all his life, his answer.

but PM! Dazai Osamu was but a man — fearing the unknown, for the feeling of lost once you slip away from his fingers. Dazai Osamu fears the day you would ever be snatched away from him, if he'd ever awake with you beside him in the morning, and the next, and he regrets; he regrets knowing love, how beautiful it is. because you've shown him why life is worth living, and if that — you, were to ever be taken away..

I woke up with an insane dazai brain riot help

anyways I'll come back to this I swear hold on—

© nhoirr — don't copy, plagiarize or translate!

[etirabys]

I don't have a near-age sibling but some social feedback seems ideally delivered via indelicate roasting by a near-age sibling when you are in your teens. It feels easier to take "you don't shower and that's why no one likes you" from a sibling than parent or friend. Easier to deliver as a sibling, too

your parent gently saying "you should shower more" – ignore it. what do they know about the realities of your existence...

your friend says it (also nicely) – mortifying and weird, much likelier you'll take it to heart but you'll visibly feel terrible about it for a long time, which they didn't want, and now they're even more reluctant to say things to you (or anyone really)

it doesn't get fixed so your future first partner has to say it – god. might as well die

your annoying sibling – "fuck off" + slink off to shower a few hours later

[the-moon-files]

I was thinking about the language barrier's reader a bit and thought that the inclusion of certain types of jewelry on reader looked odd to Hylians was really neat! So I looked around to see what types of jewelry Hylians could wear and the most I see them wearing are gold necklaces, bracelets, and the occasional jewel earring. Which isn't a very diverse jewelry set, but it is interesting. It got me thinking if the reader wears more gothic or alternative types of jewelry like studded rhinestone belts or spiky chained collars or even an industrial piercing on one if their ears. It can also add to the group's suspicions since they're timelines are a lot more fantastical and dark/gothic elements are more see of as apart of the evil side. They could've thought that reader was a spy or smthn! Thoughts?

-✒️

This is so fucking late - IN MY DEFENSE.

I graduated college last year, moved several states over this year, am still taking a class for certifications, and then got hit by Hurricane Helene not even 6 months after moving basically right in its path. Its been a lonngggg year you guys.

So sorry abt the inactivity frequently, please try to understand, i do this in the little free time i have between work and class, and even then i have other hobbies i like to indulge in for my own mental health too lol,

so i want to have fun and chill with you guys when i can

Anyway onto the ask

☆

So true ✒️ anon, fun headcanons here, im so excited someone noticed that kinda obscure reference! I had noticed that abt most Loz games too, that theres usually very specific jewelry, like gold bracelets/necklaces, or only jewelry thats diff is specific to things like fairies/tribes of ppl/etc.

I dont have much thoughts tbh, u thought of more stuff than i did lmao

Love alt reader reactions (i use that as an umbrella term tbh, like covering any non-mainstream style)

Bro they def would think ur a spy 😭

Like, wild's out here like "guys i think the Yiga members arent even hiding it anymore 🤨"

(Sorry i mention wild alot, ive yet to play other loz games 😔 dw chat i just some of the switch versions for early winter presents)

Okay but to slingshot in the other direction bc i finally had a Thought in my empty head

If u had like silvery jewelry or like very clean (pearls/beads/etc.)

Lol what if they mistook you for like a minor deity/spirit?

Bc those are some of the individuals i can think of in a few loz games who get jewelry at all/get unique pieces

Or if we're going by Guide!Reader, these silly hylians are like "oh yes, mmhm, makes sense, no wonder u have strange jewelry"

Do you think Legend would be jealous?

Do you think Legend would lowkey steal stuff trying to see if they have magicks lol

Waving around like those chunky silver gothic looking rings like "Shadows, or something! Uhh, invisibility? Ugh, Hyrule, help what's other sneaky shit Ganon's better monsters do??"

Out here looking like Kaidou Shun from Saiki K LMAO

thinkin ur apart of Dark reunion ahh 😭 LMFAOO

Ok ok ill stop making fun of Legend, he's just so Easyyyyy

Hope that was at least somewhat fun ideas for an answer!!

Peace out ✒️,

🌙

[angelwiththeblue-box]

taking 18d20 psychic damage seeing this on my screen

[suzyandthefox]

Thinking about how Extreme Cuddling is actually the pinnacle of unconditional love.

This applies to all forms of extreme cuddling but I'm specifically thinking about Unaware extreme cuddling.

Imagine a pred swallows a tiny prey on accident, maybe they never even met before this, maybe the pred never saw them.

But as soon as they notice them in their stomach, they're extremely careful and gentle, trying their best to help, protect, comfort the little scared creature they unknowingly trapped.

As the pred tries to figure out what to do, they wouldn't stop trying to comfort the scared prey, promising them that they're going to let them out and perhaps even apologizing.

If they, for a reason, weren't able to immediately let them out, then they try everything possible to keep the tiny safe inside them,

How this process would make the pred inevitably fall in love (Platonically) with the precious thing they're keeping alive within them.

The prey would be frightened at first, but then they would feel and see the attempts of the pred trying to protect them,help them out of this predicament.

Eventually they would trust the pred with themselves, they would start to see their current place as a warm, gentle home.

They talk to each other, they know each other, they learn about each other.

Eventually the pred would finally let out the prey, excited to finally see the sweet little presence they held in their depths, excited to finally hold them in their hands and touch them.

A relationship would've been formed, a relationship built on pure trust only, a gentle, sweet type of love that could only happen by going through an ordeal as this one.

It would be something more than a parental love,more than a romantic love, it would be a love like no other.

[selkie-tea-tin]

‘Danmei is mlm fantasy written by and for straight women’ is a lie. It’s written for transmascs and lesbians obviously.

[cdroloisms]

Cdream be like: You can't put yourself in the Prison anymore bc of the woke >:(/lh

That man is a mess like it's facinating how messy his vision of reality is for others and himself

it is fascinating fr, and does remind me of how we'd talk a little bit about how his perspective may betray what kind of environment this guy might've been in pre-dsmp. the stick-up-his-ass about rules and rule-following, the neuroticism about conflict, and the ease with which he jumps to punishment as being the appropriate response to people who cause problems (a perspective that, quite evidently, to a certain extent, does apply to himself, doesn't it?) all seems quite indicative of someone who lived in an environment where punishment being the natural consequence of stepping outside the lines was generally something that went unquestioned. of course, this is speculative, and it's not that a #tragicbackstory is necessary to explain what the fuck is up with c!Dream, and it's hardly about justifying the choice to abuse a teenager into behaving, lmao. but while exile served his goals and exile was a lot of petty, spiteful cruelty for petty, spiteful reasons, i do think there's something to be said about how clearly c!Dream hadn't expected c!Tommy to respond quite so severely to exile and how he thought he would be "fine" with potatoes in the prison and the language he used both about exile and his own early prison stay about shit like "getting better" through punishment. of course, punitive justice as a norm is kind of ingrained in our own society (just look at the rhetoric around deserving in this fandom, lmao, which speaks more than well enough for itself) and of course that reflects onto the dream smp as well, considering how many of the characters talk quite freely about the idea of punishment/deserving/what have you, but few characters are quite as obviously a stickler for rule-following as c!dream and exile and then prison are uhhh definitely on the more extreme end of things. anyway. just some food for thought

[picnokinesis]

Thoughts on Different Types of Representation in Doctor Who (and how fandom responds to it)

So I watched Rogue last night and - okay first, oh my days, absolutely ADORED it, this is definitely my favourite episode of this season, it was just so much FUN and it hooked me right from the start. And then the queerness! I was actually thinking to myself whilst watching it how wonderful it was because it felt like a queer story in a way that wasn't like, showboating about how progressive it was? [editorial aside: this is not comparing it to anything in particular, just a general observation]. The characters were just queer, within this wild and wonderful sci-fi story, but also their queerness wasn't the Only Character Trait they had and their story didn't resolve around their queerness, but their queerness was crucial to the plot in a way that was just lovely to see - and as a writer myself, it's personally the way I love to see our stories being told.

But then I made the mistake of going into the tag - always a foolish thing to do, because for some reason everyone loves to praise this era by criticising the previous era (as if it hasn't been criticised enough...like we know most of y'all hate Chris Chibnall for committing no worse crimes than Moffat and RTD before him...we know). And I found a couple of folks talking about how this episode alone did more for queer representation than the entirety of thirteen's era, whiiiiich at first really Peeved Me Off - like didn't these people understand how important Yaz's arc (especially Eve of the Daleks) was to a LOT of people? But then I was like 'well actually this is interesting', right? Because I think there's two very different kinds of representation going on here - and they're both very important in different ways, but one tends to get lauded as brilliant rep and one always gets put down as not good enough, or even bad rep. And what's the main difference? Whether the characters have a gay kiss or not.

So I just thought I'd share some of my thoughts and feelings on this, and why I think both these kinds of rep are equally important! To be clear from the get-go though - this is definitely not me ragging on anyone who likes more about one than the other (in fact, I think everyone likes one more than the other). This is merely a personal essay about it and the frustrations that comes when people in general do lift one up over the other. I'm gonna put it under the cut though, because it might get a bit long!

So, back when Eve of the Daleks aired, I remember having a lot of conversations about the representation in that episode - in particular with a very good friend of mine, who is a lesbian. And we realised that when it came to rep, we both actually wanted pretty different things. I'm aroace and genderfluid, and so a lot of what I saw in how thirteen was written - especially in terms of her gender (or lack thereof), and also her apparent lack of attraction (at least, in how I read it) was just incredibly affirming to me. I've never EVER seen a character on screen that I could see myself in both in terms of sexuality and gender. Whereas my friend saw things quite differently - thirteen was a lesbian, and they wanted to see that kiss between these two characters, because for them too, it was so rare to see that, and, in their words, they wanted to have their cake and eat it too. And we both realised that the reason that queer representation can feel so intense and important is, simply, because there isn't enough of it. We're all desperately reaching for the same small portion - and none of it is ever going to please everyone, or resonate with everyone. The stakes are too high.

So then, when there wasn't this dramatic romantic ending to Yaz's story, when there was no queer kiss, I was very sad for my friend, who didn't get that representation, but so painfully relieved for myself - because I got mine. So then it sucked a lot to see a lot of people getting really angry that this wasn't queer representation, that this was even homophobic - I even had someone tell me that aromantic representation in this regard was always going to be homophobic, because no-one would ever write it to be aro rep, and would instead only ever write it to avoid writing a gay kiss. And the thing that got me the most was that, REGARDLESS of whether they kissed or not, regardless of how you read either of the characters, there was one thing that was certain:

Yaz was queer. In text. Her emotional plotline centred around her realising that she was attracted to the Doctor (who was presenting as a woman - although, again, I don't think she really identified as such). The fact that she and the Doctor didn't get together by the end does not erase that fact.

They didn't kiss - but so what? Are queer people only queer when they're kissing someone of the same gender, or having gay sex? Are queer people not queer in their day to day lives, when they're not doing any of those things? Are queer people not queer when they're not dating? Are queer people not queer when they're trans, when they're ace, when they're aro, when their queerness doesn't resolve around attraction to the same gender?

And, to be honest, I think a lot of my feelings around this stem from the sort of exclusionist rhetoric that we saw a LOT of towards the ace/aro community back in 2012 that we still see now, that we're seeing towards the trans community now, that we're still seeing towards bi people, for pete's sake. It's this in-community infighting, pushing each other down to try and get up to the top, to keep all the "resources" for "the people who really need it", and it causes a serious amount of harm - but the truth is (and to bring this back to doctor who) that it all comes back to what me and my friend were discussing. We're all scared, all desperate to be seen - and when we are seen, it's the most incredible experience and the idea of losing that (or having someone else undermine it) feels inexpressibly awful. Having the thirteenth doctor...I suddenly realised this is what all the straight cis white dudes get all the time. She was like me, and that was indescribable. And then losing her - and having RTD not even be able to have a man wear her clothes because he was too worried about what the tabloids would say to be able to show a gnc person on tv...and then constantly described her as The Woman Doctor for the next entire episode - that hurt. A lot.

I've spoken to other friends who felt so seen in the character of Yaz - those people who realised they were queer later in life, those who fall in love with people and it doesn't end up going anywhere, those who don't get the whirlwind queer romances that people often call 'good representation'. Myself and many of my aspec friends have felt so seen in thirteen's almost entirely romance-less arc, and myself and my trans/genderqueer friends felt very seen in the way that thirteen's character would have been exactly the same if she'd been a man - the only difference was how the other characters around her interacted with her. Gender was something that happened to her. And when I watch episodes like Rogue, even though I don't relate to that representation, I just feel overwhelmed with joy because I know how important it will be to others that I care about. I think my sadness then comes from the fact that the way Thirteen and Yaz were written are just as important to me and many people that I know, but because they didn't kiss, it's not considered queer enough. Am I not queer enough, then? Are my friends not queer enough?

We need more episodes like Rogue, like The Parting of Ways, like Praxeus, like The Doctor Falls, because they are unquestionably and unapologetically queer, in a way that can't be avoided. We also need more episodes like Eve of the Daleks, like The Haunting of the Villa Diodati, like the rest of thirteen's era where the representation is an undercurrent throughout the whole story - but also undeniable, in a way that Yaz's story arc is, even if it doesn't end in a kiss, even if it doesn't end neatly and happily. Personally, I definitely would love to see more stories focused on aromanticism and on transness (especially ones that are written by trans people for trans people, rather than by cis people for cis people), but that's probably going to be down to people like me and other writers that I know actually getting into the script writing industry - and that depends on the people who are already there letting us in. One thing that I've always appreciated about Chibnall is that, after leaving Doctor Who, he began a programme for training up new showrunners with ITV, because: "showrunners are the gatekeepers and too many of the gatekeepers look like me."

Anyway, I probably have more thoughts that I've forgotten, but that's generally the gist of it. I think the more we fight over whether rep is 'good' or 'bad', relating to whether we see ourselves in it or not (rather than 'is this genuinely harmful or unhelpful', which I think is a more crucial question) the more the waters get muddied. We have different needs and wants, and no single episode is going to represent every facet of our community. But each episode, each story like this is a step in the right direction - and even rep that isn't perfect (I have thoughts about The Star Beast, for example) is still extremely positive and important, and definitely something that should be celebrated, even as we keep looking to the future for what we would like to see done differently, done better. And some day, I hope, there'll be so much queer rep, it'll be so normal, that those stakes won't feel so high anymore. It won't feel like everything hangs on how a certain show or storyline or episode is written. We'll all be seen. And that will be absolutely fantastic.

[tallymali]

my tags on that last post about ppl being incapable of doing something unless enough other people are doing it that it becomes a named thing. ive been thinking a lot about how that kinda goes the other way specifically regarding abuse in kink and polyamory. like ive seen so many people think they are obligated to put up with being mistreated just bc its a thing with a name. like its a thing thats considered Normal in a certain space so if you’ve got a problem with it then you’re Not Normal. so many people reaching out for help in abusive situations ask “is this normal?” and it always makes me anxious bc..sometimes the answer is yes? but that doesnt make it good or okay for everyone?

[aegagrusscholarship]

familiarity, the lack thereof, and the only way it could have ended.

the thing is, ultrakill is a very diegetic game. near everything, from the style meter to the bottomless arsenal to the shitass graphics themselves, are explained in some way by some in-universe fact.

so, what with violence and the implication that V1 was designed to counter earthmovers

what with 7-4 and the fact that it is a culmination of this implication

i wonder. when V1 looked up at that earthmover, did it know, with whatever passes for instinct in a machine, exactly what to do? and if it did, then, how is this conveyed to the player?

diegetic as the game is, how does it engineer a situation in which the player, themselves, knows exactly what they have to do?

the biggest factor, i think, is the fact that the earthmover's health bar appears the moment you lay eyes (or camera, or whatever) on it, and it does not leave until you have finally killed this colossus.

but this factor is much more subtle than it appears at first glance. yes, big honkin' boss healthbar on screen for the entire level, what more to it. there's a good deal more, it turns out.

first off- this is the shortest leadup by far to any bossfight in the game. you slide through a single vent, and you are greeted with benjamin right out in the open. even P-1, devoid of any other hazards as it is, gives you a long trek down the spinal staircase before you reach the flesh prison. 7-4 has none of it. you enter the level, you enter the stage, and there you have it. you know exactly what you are up against right from the outset, and it's not quite a feeling of familiarity but it tells you exactly what you have to do. which is the point of this all, isn't it?

7-4 is also... not a bossfight! it is a full level! it is a full level framed as a bossfight. the health bar frames this full complete level as a bossfight.

and on one hand, this is not new news. on the other hand, i think this is the crux of it. the thing is, most bossfights are near-to-entirely new. you do not know how the boss acts. you do not know their attack patterns. you do not know their capabilities. you are learning something new. levels, though, you have done a thousand times over and so the player knows how they need to play through this bossfight in a way that is not quite present with any other boss in the game.

the content of the level is new, of course, because that's how it goes. but you know the motions. you have done this for two acts prior, you know the motions. you know exactly what to do.

also! this level does not exist in a vacuum. what i am saying is this: the rest of violence layer shifts its storytelling and its tone and even its graphics. it is something completely new in contrast to the rest of the game. 7-4, though, returns to environments and graphics more akin to what you have experienced before, bringing you back to familiarity and again knowing what to do here in a way the rest of violence hasn't let the player experience.

one more thing about this level: it plays directly into expectations. which is something that the rest of the game actually does not tend to do.

the game, at base, is just not a typical FPS. it gives you movement like a roguelite or a platformer, it takes guns you expect to know the mechanics of and goes utterly wild with how far the archetype can be changed.

in a smaller scope, here is a comparison of the earthmover and the corpse of king minos as two separate colossal bosses foreshadowed in similar ways. and i mean, minos's bossfight isn't unprecedented in other works. but i think the thing that matters here is that you are not, in fact, the underdog as is the case with so many other bosses of its ilk. riven of many voices, destiny 2, similar bossfight similar scale. you are hiding from her you are a fireteam of many you are triumphing over a dragon larger than life. project gestalt, madness project nexus, you are pulling out every stop you can to take down something so far over your head (both literally and metaphorically). corpse of king minos- V1 looks up, stands its ground, and parries his god damn fist.

and the thing is, the earthmover plays into a different expectation, but it's playing into an expectation nonetheless. you look at this thing and you climb it and you dismantle it from within, like you have done in many games prior. you know what your goal is from the moment you see that healthbar and you hook onto the conspicuously placed hookpoints that tell you- you will climb this machine; you will fight your way up to whatever its core is and you will kill it. you play through the entire level with this expectation and you get exactly this expectation. you destroy its core and it begins a countdown, and so very many games have countdowns before the collapse of whatever level you have just beaten, and you know exactly what you have to do.

i don't know. i love diegetic storytelling. i love this level.

it's just familiarity, i think. this level runs off familiarity. it gives you, the player, things and tropes and designs you are familiar with. it signals to you that you should know what to do, and it lets you do exactly what you expect to do.

if i were any more cheesy i could absolutely end this by restating something about the only way it could've ended, but uh. i am not that cheesy. this time.

aw crud now i don't know how to end this oh well goodbye then

[aquickstart]

one thing that's been talked about here and by creators and is obvious but still important to articulate (to me) is that oliver is not envious of the cattons because they are wealthier than him, necessarily. it's not about the money. or it is, but in a way that everything in life is about money: no matter how much you have, you kind of always want more, because want is a very strong driver. he's not coming from a place of poverty or any financial need at all, and he is not genuinely burning with the anger at the rich as a working-class guy constantly overpowered by them. there is no righteousness of the oppressed in his motives; sure, he "knows how to work", but to me—and this is, again, personal interpretation—the more important part is that the cattons "made it so easy" for him to take everything from them. it doesn't matter where oliver is coming from, ultimately (which is why he is so pointedly an upper middle class kid, quite comfortable, not a struggling genius he paints himself to be). for oliver, and for his audience, what matters is what he wants, not why he wants it; how badly he wants, how deep inside his own desire he is.

in short, it's not that the cattons had something he didn't have. it's just that they had something he wanted.