#destruction of the cosmos

[inspectorspacetimerevisited]

Despite the fact that the Inspector claims to have witnessed the creation and destruction of the cosmos at least three times,

viewers have only seen one instance of each, both during the Revived Series.

[toonsforkicks22]

It’s always the sweetest ones…

[gifmovie]

[astroportals]

“From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.

Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”

Carl Sagan

[tequiilasunriise]

Wenclair’s peak dynamic is that Enid would die fer Wednesday, Wednesday would live fer Enid, and they would kill fer each other.

[alteredstatesstuff]

planet impact

[shiningdesignersreflections]

Nikki: Guides of Star

Designer's Reflection: Guides of Star

Obtained: Void Stardust hell event

Rarity: UR (special)

Attribute: Pink/Sweet

Awakened Suit: Trails of Heart

Story - transcripts from Designer's Reflection

Chapter 1 - Apocalypse - Civilization

Chapter 2 - Ending - Origin

Chapter 3 - Aurora - Hope

Chapter 4 - Snowflake - Glow

Chapter 5 - Star Sea - Newborn

Story - summarized

Nikki is once again at the sea of stars. Another attempt to save Miraland from destruction, another failure. No matter what she does differently, the result is the same.

She stands with Leonid as a space shuttle holding the last hope of civilization gets annihilated by a black hole. Leonid tells Nikki that she has already tried all possible star trails, and none of them lead to Miraland's salvation.

But Nikki refuses to give up. Leonid waits with her, and as they wait, they see a vision through the black hole... a memory.

One night years ago, Nikki traveled with her family to find a spot to watch the aurora. She felt so small and insignificant in comparison to the cosmic lights... yet they were so stunning that they seemed to wrap her up, like she could float away on starlight.

Not only that, but Nikki this time finds something else where the memory had been: a camera. An AI from inside introduces herself as Glow, and Nikki shows Glow the starry night sky. Even in darkness and annihilation, there was still beauty.

Leonid listens as Nikki insists she will not give up trying to save Miraland. She'll make her own path if she needs to - a fallen star suddenly glows, creating a new star trail.

He warns her that if she continues on this new path, she'll lose her memories of her past lives. She'll start over from scratch. Nikki knows that her goals won't change, so she will be okay from here on. The two of them part ways... and she meets you at the Gate of Heart.

Connections

-Nikki mentions returning to the Star Sea to save Miraland. In her memories for Star Sea, as well as the Time Corridor event, Nikki goes back in time to try to save Miraland from the apocalypse caused by the Ocean of Memories flooding into the real world.

-Miraland's demise was prophesized by Leonid, in the very first Reflection, Twinkle Twinkle. He tracked the astronomical placement of the stars, and was able to predict their movements and life cycles - all except for one anomaly, and this is why he chose Nikki to carry on his work to find a way to save the world.

-The space shuttle that gets sucked into the black hole is the same shuttle that Glow describes when she was first "born" in her Reflection for Star Beyond Galaxy.

-During the Void Stardust event, we see three of the timelines where Nikki tries to save Miraland: the first ended in starvation in a small survivor's camp, the second was a war that resulted in a child being shot while giving Nikki a gift, and the third is the current timeline, right before the Player finds Nikki in Ideal City.

Fun Facts

-This is the first UR Reflection to have the pearlescent pink color and the animated Awakened card.

-Now, Nikki has two suits based after the sea of stars: Star Sea (the famous purple gown) and now Guides of Star.

[flowercrowngods]

god they’re all. snorting lines. i think i deserve a treat for staying clean and sober at this point

[magnusmodig]

rough childhood headcanon qs / anonymous / accepting !

╰┈➤ 1 . does your muse blame themselves for their trauma?

||. As is ever the case with Thor Odinson, the short answer is still, in itself, complicated. Ultimately the answer is, in my personal opinion, yes , though Thor is an incredibly introspective person, and so he can be self-aware enough of himself and his family situation to see it plainly for what it was. Thor is not a doormat. But whether or not he fully commits to acting on what he's feeling, and thinking based that awareness is its own issue. One mostly steeped in how Thor views himself and partly how he views his own family (specifically: he views them all with blinding rose-colored glasses ESPECIALLY once they've died, regardless of the damage they've caused him).

For some context on what I mean, by "how Thor views himself", I mean that he is shown to have something of an atlas complex (also known as: superman complex, savior/hero syndrome, codependency). Everything comes down to him. He's the strongest, so he'll do it. He can outlive and outlast, so he'll endure. He's the eldest, so it's his responsibility. So on and so forth very often times coming out as "I will solve this problem for you" statements most notably with Jane Foster. He takes failure personally, especially when other people are at stake, or the collateral. And he will hold himself accountable for tragedies beyond his control at length. In "The Avengers" and a deleted scene in "Thor: Ragnarok" he actively and repeatedly lumps himself in with his family (aka his father and siblings, mostly), and their catastrophic, destructive actions and pasts — both of which are things that thor himself actually hasn't partaken to any large degree (unless we count the failed Jotunheim heist and even that he WAS going to bail on before his temper got the best of his judgement.) He proceeds to call them (his family) "bilge snipe", while using the terms "we" (denotating himself as part of the issue) and proceeds to call the metaphorical bilge snipe "repulsive". He does this again in Ragnarok while telling Banner that "we're cursed to fight amongst ourselves while everyone else suffers for it"), meaning his opinions on the matter have not changed since 2012.

And by "blinding rose colored glasses" I mean that Thor has another tendency to see the good in people, partly in nature and partly deliberately, especially when seeking it out. And he does this especially when it comes to his family, and he will justify their actions by trying to step into their shoes even when it may not always be appropriate. (//gestures at literally all of thor: ragnarok and how he still idolizes his father to an obscene degree thankstaika re: "i'm not as strong as you", and even further back to the way thor speaks to odin in thor 2011 at the end of his banishment re: "there will never be a wiser king than you or a better father". He also idolizes Loki in "The Dark World" with the line "loki, for all of his grave imbalance, understood rule as i know i never will" and to a lesser degree does this with Frigga in the same film "she saved us all, a thousand times.")

From a slightly more psychological perspective:

The long and short of it is that it is much easier to blame yourself for things that hurt you that were beyond yourself. Especially when you can't understand it, or didn't deserve it. Especially when they come from someone you hold in high esteem, and hold a lot of love for. Like caregivers and family. In a twisted way, it grants the guilt-bearer some level of CONTROL over their emotions and their situation that they did not have in the moment the hurt occurred. If you're can blame yourself, then you're at fault. If you're at fault, then you can feel guilty, and if you're guilty, then you can atone. You can actively work to make up for it. ( "By blaming ourselves, we maintain the perception that we’re still in control of the situation and ultimately safe -even when we’re not." - rosscenter.com) This is especially critical in children who go through this sort of parental dysfunction and neglect. And the reason why I think this is not a development saved for his young adult -> adult years is because of exactly what we see on screen.

Thor comes from a family that is just as loving as it is toxic. His father was so good at being a wise king that he completely failed at being a good father. It's something Thor even calls out in "The Dark World" ("I'd rather be a good man than a great king") after speaking on how being king is losing who you are to politics and mind games and war. Odin as a parent, and Odin's overbearing, all-encompassing shadow of a legacy is what Thor's entire character arc was always about overcoming. His mother, Frigga, is by far the most decent of the bunch, but she is far from perfect. To pull from a previous meta on the subject, my opinion on frigga/thor is as follows: " [...] an unfortunate cycle in which [Frigga] spent SO MUCH ENERGY [...] making sure [Loki] felt seen/heard and had “some sun for himself” that she COMPLETELY neglected to see that her other son was in just as much pain as the youngest was [...] And only realized how estranged they had become when it was too late, and she couldn’t reach Thor anymore. (She also died before she could make it right.)"

His brother is arguably the person he was ever closest to (even among his friend group), up until his brother manipulated and betrayed his trust, killed him, attempted suicide in front of him, tried to take over earth as payback, tried to kill him again, rejected him outright, and then got put into jail.

Suffice it to say that while I think that Thor's issues stem from deep childhood trauma (and only ever further reenforced by the fact he ages so slowly), my dude's got some issues, and blaming himself for past trauma is definitely one of them. (When he can't get away with internalizing it and avoiding it any longer, anyways.) I do also think to a lesser degree this behavior does also count towards friends, just to a less extreme degree. With the main difference being: Thor adores his family. He wants to keep them close to him. He's incredibly protective of all of them. Which isn't to say he doesn't love his friends, because that would be the biggest lie. But friends come and go. Thor will always want to be a good friend, but he wants to be a good son even more than that. And so in cases of conflict with a friend and a peer, Thor will gladly and readily call out his friends for their bad behavior just as readily as he would also dismiss and justify their bad behavior towards himself. (you know like not checking in on him for five years in "endgame", apparently...)

[betadunsparce]

the attribute 4 festival is the easiest festival of all time. earth machine sweep, choo choo, etc.

[saebarantsandreblogs]

Good rich people are rare as Earth-like planets. 1 in one billion.

It's their nature to be self-centered and vain, deceiving, slaughtering, exploring life to their benefit and silly luxury.

Honestly, I would surprised if any super rich person (that's not Dolly Parton, because she is an Angel and helps in everyway she can) moved at least a finger to help the world....

[clownboybebop]

if you’re ever in the position to choose between giving up and accepting defeat, and actually trying to fight the ancient unkillable god that is about to peel apart reality like a string cheese, remember this: scientifically speaking, you might as well give it a shot!

1.there were trees at the beginning of the world! there were trees so long ago that they predate bacteria that causes wood to decay. when a tree fell, it would lie there in stasis and there wasn’t any way of breaking down wood xylem on a molecular level in that way.

2. it seems obvious to say, but wood eating bacteria are literally incapable of comprehending what they’re breaking down. It’s just not information conciously available to a microorganism. they don’t know what they’re deconstructing, where it came from, bacteria have no way to even fathom the existence of a tree as a concept.

3. Regardless of the facts above, the world we live in today is a world where wood inevitably decomposes

it is worth fighting the unkillable god no matter how pointless it seems. it is worth taking the risk even though youre trying to accomplish something impossible. the reality in which you live was also once reality in which trees didn’t rot. You live in a reality that allows for existence before the possibility of destruction. you live in a reality where uncomprehending microbes break down matter that is so far beyond the scope of their comprehension that it feels comical to specify something so obvious. you live in a reality that occasionally allows unshakeable physical truths to be altered with no warning.

It is worth fighting the unkillable god because trees are so old they predate the source of their destruction, and it still did not spare them. It is worth fighting the unkillable god because bacteria rots unthinkingly, because there is room in our cosmos for destruction without comprehension on the part of the destroyer. It is worth fighting the unkillable god because now and then reality retracts the promise of immortality without fanfare, and when that happens there is no mercy for the ancient. the unmaking is not softer for the desecrators ignorance. for all things, existence is endless until the exact point where it ends.

so you might as well try to kill the unkillable god. it doesn’t seem likely, but at the beginning of the world, trees didn’t rot. so you never know! you never know

[inspectorspacetimerevisited]

Based on the fact that Lily returned during ‘Straight Ahead’,

it was clear that Vosdra and the Blorgons were nearing the destruction of the cosmos in ‘The Borrowed Planet’, causing the barriers between realities to collapse.

[reality-perhaps]

I regret to inform I will be fully consumed by this for the next year. Thank you for understanding.

thesandmanofficial The Endless have finally assembled: Introducing Adrian Lester as Destiny, Esmé Creed-Miles as Delirium and Barry Sloane as the Prodigal in the next season of THE SANDMAN. It’s going to be one Hell of a family reunion.

[stringsbasement]

ngl i 100% thought peri would be an antagonist

he's the first fairy in thousands of years, born directly under the lineage of what has to be the most powerful fairy family line in current existence

(cosmo is a von strangle, and also the very reason fairies stopped having babies in the first place. he's incredibly powerful and nobody talks about it for some reason. it's clear peri inherited that destructive potential)

the second he was born, entire fairy species (including his own kin) were out to get him to use his volatile magic for their own selfish goals. he's nearly kidnapped thrice, and almost ends the universe on the same day

the threats keep coming, and he's being dragged to countless adventures that put him at risk. he literally ceases to exist more than once

anyway, i wouldn't be surprised if some form of expectations were placed upon him growing up. maybe not by his family, but he's famous (a teacher described him as such once); in fairy world, he's automatically adored and celebrated by adults and peers alike, which foop antagonizes (and tries to kill) him for

cosmo and wanda would, realistically, of course try to shield him from all this, but no matter what they do, he's inevitably isolated

people either want to use him, put him on a pedestal, or is a universally infamous human godchild who will forget all about him in a matter of years

(cosmo and wanda becoming godparents and learning (choosing) to eventually let go of their kids is one thing, but it can be assumed poof was still a young, underdeveloped child by the time timmy (+chloe, for what it's worth) got his memories wiped

and he sees that timmy's able to live his own happy life without him in it. he lost his brother just like that, and there's nothing he can do despite all his godly powers)

there's so, so many ways he could've gone wrong

thus, my initial thought was that peri was going to be a somewhat petty, "spoiled brat," and him becoming a godparent would be the result of spite or rebellion, which cosmo and wanda would feel entirely responsible for. I HATE MY PARENTS!! yada yada yada

it was a pleasant surprise to see all those clips of them loving each other. and it's not even because i doubted for a second that cosmo and wanda are bad parents, it's just what you usually expect when seeing shows from the 2000s, even if it doesn't make sense

all things considered, i'm very glad they went for the lighthearted silly family trope. not every show needs such conflicts, and showing healthy dynamics are better for kids overall

still, i find it interesting to think about if they'd gone down another route instead. i love me a pathetic cringy villain who tries (fails) to hate the people they love the most

[easthouh]

"Destruction is a form of creation" - Donnie Darko, "Donnie Darko"

When whales die, and their corpses fall into the bedding of the ocean, other animals feed on their flesh and hide among their bones, all dense in nutrients, creating new ecosystems with a wide variety of organisms, that can last for more than 30 years. Their corpses gain a new name - "whale falls". It explains how whales are considered to be a symbol of emerging, of an upcoming change.

Helix Nebula is a planetary nebula located in the constellation of Aquarius. As the dying star in the centre of nebula ran out of it's fuel, it threw off it's outer layers as a gaseous wind and transformed into a white dwarf.

Nebula's striking appearance made it gain the name of The Eye of God. I think it looks as human as whale eyes do.

There's no sound in space, as sounds travel through a vibration of atoms and molecules in medium such as air or water. Space is a vacuum - it's devoid of all matter. This means that the concentration of particles in those regions is very tiny compared to the concentration in our atmosphere. The sound has no way to travel. But scientists sometimes convert other kinds of data into sound as a way of picking patterns. Or just for adding a new layer to experiencing the depth and beauty of the cosmos. F. ex., gravitational waves can be converted into sound. Such operation is called sonification.

The sonification of an Hubble image of Helix Nebula and the sounds of whale songs sound so similar. Hauntingly beautiful. The sounds of life. Sounds of eternal loneliness. Something so piercing and empty in itself. And the magnificence, majesty and power that both of those creations carry, demand to be openly admired with great respect.

   The corpse became nutrients, like the star of a Helix Nebula became a white dwarf. Creation is impossible without destruction. Creating something new demands letting go of something old. To make a painting you are obligated to destroy a tube of paint. Destroy the purity of the canvas. Ripping the finished painting will emerge it into a broken painting, serving a new purpose, under a new name. Like whales that die, become a home and source of energy. And like dead stars become the densest forms of matter - white dwarfs. And white dwarfs will cool down over the course of many billions of years, loosing all their radiation, and claiming a new name of a black dwarf. It wont give light, nor life. Some black dwarfs will become denser and turn into explosive supernovas. While some will only float in peace and eternal silence, with no chance of emerging... 

Comparison of fate of those creations gives a beautiful representation of the ways in which energy flows in nature. How death and destruction are forms of creation. Everything that is dead or destroyed will become something else. Something playing a different role, different purpose. It changes it's form, as it claims a different name.

links to said sounds:

Helix Nebula

Whales