#certain traits

[sparrowlucero]

drawing a dragon is a high stakes operation that nets you the exact same pedantic comments as dinosaur art but for a totally made up animal

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

I know those eyes.

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[idkaguyorsomething]

a support group for people with “unconventional” daemons. jeff with his flounder he has to carry everywhere in a huge tank. lois with her poison dart frog everyone is afraid to touch. sam with their elephant that’s the reason they can never go higher than two stories in most buildings.

[bennetsbonnet]

Much has been made of Mr Darcy's "confession" to Elizabeth that he does not converse easily with strangers. It is repeatedly used to support neurodivergent interpretations of his character. And I suppose that when taken at face value, a character confessing that they do not easily converse with strangers and struggle to catch their tone or appear interested in conversation can absolutely scream AUTISM! (I say as an autistic person myself)

But this line is often taken in isolation. When considered in terms of the passage in which it appears in Chapter 31, it appears far less of a smoking gun than may initially be suspected. After some discussion about Elizabeth and Darcy's prior acquaintance in Hertfordshire, Colonel Fitzwilliam asks Elizabeth for information about Darcy's behaviour there. She readily supplies it:

'Pray let me hear what you have to accuse him of,' cried Colonel Fitzwilliam. 'I should like to know how he behaves among strangers.' 'You shall hear then—but prepare yourself for something very dreadful. The first time of my ever seeing him in Hertfordshire, you must know, was at a ball—and at this ball, what do you think he did? He danced only four dances, though gentlemen were scarce; and, to my certain knowledge, more than one young lady was sitting down in want of a partner. Mr Darcy, you cannot deny the fact.' 'I had not at that time the honour of knowing any lady in the assembly beyond my own party.'

What Darcy leaves out here is that it was he himself who chose not to be introduced to anybody. As we learn from the description of his behaviour at the Meryton assembly in Chapter 3:

Mr Darcy danced only once with Mrs Hurst and once with Miss Bingley, declined being introduced to any other lady, and spent the rest of the evening in walking about the room, speaking occasionally to one of his own party.

Anyway, Elizabeth correctly does not buy his excuses. Not only does she respond with a cutting sarcastic remark, but she tries to bring the discussion with an end by speaking to Colonel Fitzwilliam:

'True; and nobody can ever be introduced in a ball-room. Well, Colonel Fitzwilliam, what do I play next? My fingers wait your orders.'

But Darcy does not get the hint and continues conversing with Elizabeth rather than quitting while he's ahead. However, I don't believe him to be missing a social cue here. Rather, this is an exceedingly conceited man who cannot conceive that anyone would not want to speak to such a Superior Being as he and more-so, is determined to defend himself from a perceived slight against his impeccable character.

Then we come to the passage containing the oft-cited line which allegedly contains proof of his neurodivergency:

'Perhaps,' said Darcy, 'I should have judged better, had I sought an introduction; but I am ill-qualified to recommend myself to strangers.' 'Shall we ask your cousin the reason of this?' said Elizabeth, still addressing Colonel Fitzwilliam. 'Shall we ask him why a man of sense and education, and who has lived in the world, is ill-qualified to recommend himself to strangers?' 'I can answer your question,' said Fitzwilliam, 'without applying to him. It is because he will not give himself the trouble.'

Once again, Elizabeth does not buy his excuse for even a single second. She's fully aware of all the advantages a man such as he will have received in society (opportunities not open to women, might I add!) and draws attention to that fact. It's a brilliant, cutting line from her and she really set that one up for Colonel Fitzwilliam to deliver the knockout blow.

Not only do we have the testimony of Mr Darcy's cousin, that 'he will not give himself the trouble,' to appear cordial to strangers, but we have evidence from Wickham too. Although after this statement, Wickham quickly goes onto misrepresent Darcy's kindness to the poor, which contradicts Mrs Reynold's later testimony, I do believe Wickham to be telling the truth (for once!) here, when he tells Elizabeth in Chapter 16:

'Mr Darcy can please where he chooses. He does not want abilities. He can be a conversible companion if he thinks it worth his while.'

Which, again, demonstrates that Darcy is capable when he wants to be. That is the crucial point. Autistic people fundamentally lack the ability to understand social cues, they cannot turn it on and off as they please because they are snobs.

So, now we come to the infamous line about Darcy's supposed social struggles, and I hope that I've provided enough context to the line to make you see that it should not be taken at face value:

'I certainly have not the talent which some people possess,' said Darcy, 'of conversing easily with those I have never seen before. I cannot catch their tone of conversation, or appear interested in their concerns, as I often see done.' 'My fingers,' said Elizabeth, 'do not move over this instrument in the masterly manner which I see so many women’s do. They have not the same force or rapidity, and do not produce the same expression. But then I have always supposed it to be my own fault—because I will not take the trouble of practising. It is not that I do not believe my fingers as capable as any other woman’s of superior execution.'

Again, Elizabeth is not buying his excuses for even a single second and tells him if he feels like that, maybe he should put the effort in. She has seen him in numerous social settings and been thoroughly unimpressed with his behaviour which, when you consider his rudeness to her at the Meryton assembly, she has every right to be.

So, what do I make of the line?

Well, I think it's abundantly clear that Darcy absolutely can speak to people when he wants to. Perhaps, in his mind, he struggles to make that deeper connection and make friends easily. But making friends is not always easy, it's a process you must invest time and effort into. If you do not do that, it stands to reason that you will struggle. Plus, if you hold others to ridiculous standards (as Darcy does) without recognising and fixing the flaws within yourself, you're not going to have deep, lasting friendships.

While this quote may appear to be a moment of vulnerability where he does confess a fault of his, which is astounding given his pride, personally I do not think it was not a soul-searching exercise. It was to make Elizabeth stop grilling him. It was self-serving. Although, I don't think he's entirely lying. Darcy is veeeery careful with his words and though this statement is not considered and perhaps comes out rather abruptly, it doesn't necessarily follow that it isn't true. I can imagine that it is probably something he's felt for a while, yet it is a rather desperate attempt to defend himself from a woman who sees right through him.

I think perhaps Darcy does realise that he isn't as naturally gifted as other men he knows (such as Wickham, Colonel Fitzwilliam and Mr Bingley) when it comes to forming acquaintances. However, he looks outwards and turns that bitterness against the world rather than looking inwards, reflecting upon himself and improving his manners which would be the correct thing to do. Thankfully, he later does this, but it took him twenty eight years...

In addition, Darcy appeared to have been under the illusion that he could coast by on Pemberley's reputation... which has always worked... until he met Elizabeth. For perhaps the first time, he encounters a woman who is not awestruck by him and his reputation and delivers the rebuke that he always needed.

So, while personally I'm inclined to believe there is some truth to his statement, as Mr Darcy is many things but he isn't a liar, I think it is said in desperation. His feeling stems from him knowing what he should do, but he can't be bothered to enact it... rather than any inherent social deficiency stemming from being neurodivergent.

Although, even if he does struggle socially, it's still no excuse for the rudeness he displayed to Elizabeth! My main issue with neurodivergent readings of Darcy is when they are deployed to defend his behaviour, when they attribute his rudeness to any potential neurodivergency and when they excuse his laziness. That is an awful message! Autistic people who struggle with social cues often do not, nor should they, go around insulting others. They should and often do put plenty of effort into being considerate and polite. In fact, I think, if anything, a love of rules makes us more likely to have good manners, rather than the reverse.

Ultimately, I'm not sure this line makes Mr Darcy the sympathetic-poor-sweet-innocent-shy-boy-autistic-representation that people want him to be. In fact it makes him look even worse, if anything. On matters such as these, he is every inch the conceited proud man he was widely believed to be at the Meryton assembly. Luckily, Elizabeth is an incredibly smart woman, who doesn't fall for it and immediately calls him out on his behaviour in a way that he has never experienced before. As she should!

[trixxedheart]

It is amazing how the "people that love and uplift transwomen" website will instantly fucking maul a transwoman if she even remotely insinuate that using radfem rhetoric harms trans people

[canisalbus]

You’ve most likely answered this before but what breed exactly is Machete? I’ve been trying to figure it out for a while I’ve thought maybe a saluki but the ears arnt right.

In theory his breed is fictional Podenco Siciliano, but he's not a purebred example. Out of existing dog breeds he looks closest to (and is related to) Ibizan Hound.

But sometimes I see Silken Windhounds that also kind of remind me of him. They just don't have the characteristic bat ears.

[ronanlynchusurper]

declan lynch is the type of guy to despise workplace gossip and drama but enjoys going home to retell it all to jordan while she paints. he maybe even ends up eavesdropping and subtly pressing for answers in a disinterested way just to get conclusions on certain theories him and jordan come up with.

[dykedvonte]

I think the reason Benny designs are so varied and hard to pin is because some people remember the line that says he’s pretty and lean into it hard and others completely disregard it, do a 180 and make him like a Sopranos character.

It’s like he’s either someone’s uncles that laughs too hard at his own jokes while slapping you or random twink number 6. God bless those who have figured out how to merge the two.

[ballad-of-the-lamb]

Thy Ballad, I have a question for thee. What inspired you to make the designs for the cat and the lamb? I've not really seen many who puts the lamb as a more muscular force, while having the cat more of a stick figure that looks like he can't compare to the lambs lift

i like big bitches

[gwyns]

anyway gwyn isn't one dimensional. she's snarky, fiery, kind, compassionate, energetic, selfless, charming, smart, understanding and an endless inspiration to people who need to find the strength and courage to pull themselves out of dark places

[aubris-fox]

everytime i see someone label common general autism experiences as "autistic women/men things lol" i want to bash my head in. i get so uncomfortable and pissed.

[too-many-rooks]

Slow Horses, S04, E02, 'A Stranger Comes to Town.'

[sonknuxadow]

crazy how ive been seeing people absolutely losing their minds over the way amy is written in the generations remaster and how she was character assassinated and her crush on sonic was removed and im playing it right now and the literal first thing she does when you free her from white space is call sonic cute which is nowhere close to what she said in the original. wtf are you people on about

[sha-brytols]

i think it's really ironic how, in my experience, most anders fans will talk about the shitty way anders treats fenris (and merrill) and like.. see him as a whole character with both positive and negative attributes (crazy i know), while a lot of people who hate anders for some reason also echo the way he acts towards the two? the whole "fenris calls anders an abomination all the time" and "merrill is ditzy and dumb" coexists with "anders is an evil terrorist" and i just dont get it lmao

there definitely used to be a very vocal group of anders girlies who were super incredibly weird about fenris in a way that i think makes aversion to his fans understandable but it's incredibly funny to me when this leaks into the actual character discourse to a point where it's like incredibly obvious you're just basing your opinion off of like a caricaturized version of the character you made up in your head. it's like we're having actual blood wars and these characters are our sworn lieges or something it's very funny.

[rainbowolfe]

Something I think gets glossed over about the Hymns of the Unholy is that they are, in fact, hymns. Just spoken/sung over metal instrumentals.

What makes a hymn a hymn? Well, in classical hymns there are only verses, no choruses. And that's exactly what we're dealing with here. That's not speculation either.

In an interview with Howard P Johnson, he talks about how one of the challenges with writing these songs was that its just a series of verses. Each section referring to a character or telling a part of a story. So to make it all sound good together, each verse had to have a really strong part that sounded like a chorus, even though it wasn't.

Another trait is that the lyrics and the music are created separately. And that applies too. Both Howard P. and Matthew K. Heafy mention a couple times that this was the case. Pick Up Goliath wrote most of the tracks while they were still looking for a drummer.

Finally, classical hymns use modified-strophic form, which the composition does. (That's why there's so much repetition)

So it's actually an important detail that different sections of different character's melodies are used to make up each track. I forget which one, but in one of the interviews, it's pretty explicitly stated that Pick Up Goliath followed the melodies established by River Boy very closely because each melody is meant to call upon a certain character/characters.

It also means all these lyrics are intended as scripture, so someone heard Kallamar beg for his life and fucking immortalized it in their bible. X'D Justified crash out, ngl.

Overall, it suggests that each song is about the mini-bosses as much as it's about each Bishop. Also since there's different melodies even within their themes, that would suggest that not even the Bishop's themes are just invoking them.

And like. Speaking of Kallamar. His section in Pestilence, where it uses a direct quote from the game? It, oddly, is the only part of Pestilence that doesn't use the melody from his theme. It stands out because if you listen to the instrumental, either Kallamar or Saleos is playing at all times.

There's a metaphor in there somewhere.

Something, something, being drowned out or overshadowed by something that's not yourself.

The entity being addressed in each set of hymns is presumably the one in the title. There's lots of observations to be made about the hymns, like the aggression and entitlement one of the speakers has over Death, or what an awful time Kallamar (Saleos?) is having, but one really catches my eye.

And it's that Conquest is (was) a God of Death. I know you hear me, God of Death. I'll crush the Crown until there's nothing left.

I pull up to the function with a poem about how I'm gonna kick your ass. And then i fucking LOSE. ily not-Shamura.

[velvetwyrme]

Do the bugs still have powers? Like could Skywarp still teleport. Bc I’m thinking about the absolute chaos some of the bugs could cause. Thundercracker technically has like sonic boom projectile powers that like never get featured in media I think too. Screamer might not have special powers but he sure makes up for it through sheer force of will.

Tiny metal bugs are already a menace, now imagine there being a small chance with every bug that they’ve got unique power mutations.

Mirage being able to go invisible. Hound just straight up able to make holograms. (You think they’re over there? Wrong they’ve gotten into the pantry and are eating your food.) The poor sucker who takes them in would have the worst time keeping track of them.

i was also thinking about this recently, and i dont have a definitive answer but ITD BE REALLY FUNNY IF THEY DID.

Skywarp being able to teleport would make him SUCH a menace. good lordy. like even if he's got limits (limited range, runs out of energy quicker etc...) you can bet that he's gonna cause So many problems.

im not sure if TC's sonic boom is a fanon thing or tiny canon detail that made it's way through the fandom (like Sunstreaker being an artist!!) but I still really like the idea of it regardless. he'll break your nice glassware if you aren't careful 😂

!!! CYBUG MIRSGE AND HOUND... 🥺🥺🥺 you're so lucky they're polite. not polite enough to not come and steal your snacks but they're better than Skywarp.