#do i understand his function in the narrative? yes and it's necessary

[helianthus21]

feel like every time marius doesn’t have an answer he gets angry

[tarre-was-right]

ROUND THREE: MATCH-UP ONE

Remember, this is NOT about who would win in a fight. This is about who makes the best leader for Mandalore as a whole.

Explanation post

Seeding

Propaganda below the cut! You can submit more on this post and I will reblog it back to here!

SATINE KRYZE

Anon: Satine because she served. Mandalorian fashion week would love her. Manda'slay.

Anon: Satine Propaganda: Was supported by the STRONG MAJORITY, led Mandalore to be in peace for NEARLY 20 YEARS, didn't ban mando'a or armour or any part of the culture like fandom claims, is a good fighter, considered EVERY Mandalorian a Mandalorian and didn't discriminate

@lightsaberwieldingdalek: Satine propaganda: she actually ran a functioning government. Not a mercenary band, or a death cult, or a terrorist extremist organisation, an actual functioning government. Yes there was corruption, corruption she did her best to stop to the point of personally getting in firefights with smugglers, but she took a planet devastated by civil war and by the end of her rule she had schools, public works, and a justice system. - Sure, the rest can run military operations (and we don’t know Satine couldn’t, only that she *won’t*) but can they make the bins get emptied regularly to go to the recycling plants?

COMMANDER CODY

Anon: Propaganda for Commander Cody: - Cody was a student of Alpha-17, who in turn had been personally trained by former Mand'alor Jango Fett, giving him a strong training lineage claim to the title - Cody's service as Marshall Commander in the GAR gave him a lot of the diplomatic, organizational, and military experience needed to govern a planet like Mandalore

@spacetime1969: This man has led more people at once than anyone on this list.

Anon: Cody should be Mand'alor because it would be unspeakably sexy

@cha0s-cat: Cody has experience with negotiating from accompanying Obi-Wan, he leads a massive amount of his brothers already. Can recognize when there is a need for negotiations vs a need for violence. This would balance out the majority of the two factions (pacifists/traditionalists) excluding the extremists on either end. And with the amount of chaos that he has to deal with when it comes to Obi-Wan and Anakin, this would probably be relaxing.

@skykind: - Has resisted fascism and its attendant police/military state at great personal risk (Bad Batch 2.3), which is apparently necessary to successfully govern Mandalore so long as Death Watch is fully armed and also backed by someone more cunning than their usual leadership (Clone Wars 5.15). - Possesses exceptional leadership and organizational ability from his time as one of the highest-ranked Clone officers of the GAR. The Clone Wars and Bad Batch narratives furthermore present him as Obi-Wan’s peer, so he should be interpreted as equally skilled, wise, kind, and unhinged-in-battle as Obi-Wan. Jury’s out on the sarcasm. - Turns to diplomacy before fighting (Bad Batch 2.3). - Has caught a Jedi’s lightsaber mid-battle at least two times (Clone Wars 1.20 and Revenge of the Sith). This is a very useful skill to have as the prospective or current leader of people who keep chucking the darksaber about. - Has returned a lightsaber to a Jedi at least two times. This is a crucial skill to have as the prospective or current leader of people who should stop selecting said leader via darksaber acquisition.

@antianakin: [From the Boba vs Cody poll] So in a very practical sense, if I'm just looking at it with the question of "Who actually has the skills to be a good leader of people" [between Boba and Cody] then the answer is undoubtedly Cody. Cody was trained his entire life presumably to be a Commander in a large army and seems to do that very successfully for three years. He seems fairly humble, has good teamwork skills, he's kind and understanding and merciful, and he's a very skilled fighter. All of this would serve him exceedingly well if he chose to take on a leadership position, on Mandalore or otherwise. - The one downside to Cody is that Cody shows exactly zero interest in Mandalore at all. Cody does not identify as a Mandalorian at any point and never seems like he'd want to, let alone LEAD the Mandalorians. I do not personally see Cody actually being WILLING to lead Mandalore if offered the opportunity, even if he'd definitely have the skills to do so. I feel like if it were offered to him or fell into his lap somehow, he'd just pass it off immediately to the next most qualified person who was interested in it. Mandalore is not his problem or his responsibility and he's not about to change that.

There was a lot of discourse on the Bo-Katan vs. Cody poll, but it was largely "this is why the other character is a bad choice" rather than "this is why my fave is a good choice," so there isn't really a good way to include it.

[greenthena]

Metatron is the Murder Hornet

Hear me out. The Metatron is a bitch no matter what. Way back before the bookshop burned, he was a manipulative twat to Aziraphale, but we only ever saw him as a Wizard of Oz style giant floating head. So when we meet The Metatron's corporation is S2 E6, we assume that this is the man behind the curtain, yes? This is the "heavenly" authority who stands between God and the rest of the angels. Are you with me so far? So tell me, why is he wearing Hell's color palette? Black topcoat over a black (or at least very dark gray) sport jacket. Even his shirt has black stripes. His tie is black with his signature sapphire blue sigil design. You know why? Because The Metatron is a demon. Now that I've probably pissed off about half of the fandom, let's dive in.

I'm going to accept that the corporeal form of The Metatron that we meet in S2 E6 is the man behind the curtain. But I'm wondering if, in the same way that the Wizard of Oz floating head spectacle is just a projection the actual wizard (a two-penny magician from Kansas), the Floating Head Monstrosity (FHM) is a projection The Metatron has rigged up rather than The Metatron himself. Essentially, the FHM is the projected "essence" of the asshat with whom Aziraphale spoke before the bookshop fire, the same one who wanted to discipline Gabriel and strip him of his memories. And if it is merely a projection, like the Wizard of Oz floating head, the man behind the curtain is likely in a different physical space.

If The Metatron can control the FHM remotely that suggests that he (the corporeal form or spiritual essence of the Metatron) isn't necessarily stationed in Heaven. Perhaps he can't even get into Heaven, but has managed to project his presence there to manipulate the Heavenly Host throughout the course of history.

Sidestep along with me while I take a quick detour. I promise it's relevant and necessary to understand the implications of The Metatron's arrival in Soho. (But I'm a demon. I might be lying.) Good Omens relies heavily on mirroring* as a narrative technique. One of the most obvious places we see this structure is in character sets: Crowley and Aziraphale, Newt and Anathema, Shadwell and Tracy, Nina and Maggie, Gabriel and Beelzebub. The character sets function as mirrors of one another (angel and demon, witch and witchfinder), while simultaneously reflecting other character sets in the story (Nina and Maggie reflect Crowley and Aziraphale, etc.) But we also see it repeatedly through plot structure--the pair of 1941 flashbacks in S1 and S2; the way S2 begins with Azirphale moving toward Crowley and ends with him pulling away. My personal favorite reflected imagery in the whole damn show is when Aziraphale shields Crowley from the first rain in Eden and Crowley shields Aziraphale from the celestial hailstorm Before the Beginning.

Alright, let's re-route back to Soho, to The Metatron's introduction in S2 E6 and how it embodies mirrored structure. The first shot we get of The Metatron in Soho in S2 E6 is when he's buying a cup of coffee from Nina. He's not actually identified as The Metatron in this scene, and Nina just views him as a regular customer. Next, we see him enter the bookshop and approach the Archangels, none of whom seem to know who he is. In fact Michael just assumes he's a human, tries to shoo him away, and even asks him, "And who are you?" The Metatron never gives his name; instead he presses the angels, "You don't know me?" He then addresses Crowley, "What about you, demon? Do you know me?" It's at this juncture that Crowley identifies him as the big giant floating head, and Aziraphale, in a rush of comprehension shouts, "Oh, The Metatron!"

This scene's other half is the introduction of Bildad the Shuhite in the Job flashback sequence. Crowley presents himself to Job and Sitis, who do not recognize him. When questioned about who he is, he says to Sitis, "You tell me." Sitis proceeds to identify as him Bildad the Shuhite. Crowley shrugs and agrees to the suggestion. This mirroring of dialog shows us that in both scenarios, there's deception in the presented identity. Just as we can't trust that Bildad the Shuhite is who is says he is, we similarly can't trust The Metatron's identity at face value.

When it comes right down to it, The Metatron is a pretty sketchy character. During his S1 interaction with Aziraphale, our angel doesn't even know who he is. The Metatron has to introduce himself as the Voice of God, a go-between, if you will, whom Aziraphale, in all his ageless time in the universe, has never even met or heard of. Dodgy? You betcha. When we see him in the Gabriel trial sequence during S2, he's just one of the several floating heads overseeing the progress of Armageddon Round Two. We're able to gloss over the fact that he's presented as a floating head fairy, because all the angels appear as floating heads in this sequence. However, unlike Uriel, Michael, Saraquel, and Gabriel, we never see The Metatron interact with the other angels in anything resembling a corporeal form.

So with this evidence, let's return to mirroring structure as a narrative device: a Clue to point us to the crux of the deception that The Metatron is performing. But to get there, we'll need to look at the reflected plot beat for context.

At the end of S2 E5, Crowley needs to get into Heaven to access information about Gabriel. Problem is, since he's a demon, he can't just waltz into the Heaven-Hell-evator and go to the up. He needs an angel to escort him, so he tricks our beloved Inspector Constable Muriel into arresting him: "I'm a demon with knowledge of a crime against Heaven. I demand that you arrest me!" Crowley uses the art of deception to sneak his way into the Heavenly hive.

Once in Heaven, when Muriel starts to fret that she's been tricked and will get in trouble for bringing a demon into Heaven, Crowley tells her, "Angels are like bees, fiercely protective of their hive if you're trying to get inside. Once you're in....I mean....is it even faintly possible that an unauthorized demon might be just wandering around in Heaven unescorted? Bees." Muriel then worries over Crowley's outfit, telling him he looks like a murder hornet, so Crowley changes into his most wonderful and excellent angel disguise.

Still with me? Have a gold star to match Crowley's nail polish.

Crowley's gambit to get into Heaven is a clever tactic, no doubt, and necessary for the final beats of the narrative. But I believe it's also there as the first half of a mirrored plot point that we will see play out in S3. Ya see, Crowley's not a murder hornet. He doesn't infiltrate Heaven to plunder their proverbial food stores or to destroy the hive. He does his quick bit of reconnaissance and is on his way. I think Crowley's ploy ultimately functions as foreshadowing for the real murder hornet: The Metatron.

To get his full essence into Heaven, his spiritual body and not just his projection, The Metatron needs an angelic escort. That's why he's so insistent that Aziraphale joins him on his journey up to Heaven. He needs an angel--one he perceives as an easy target--to break him into the hive. And Aziraphale fits the bill. He's vulnerable, having been implicated in the business with Gabriel, which could earn both him and Crowley extreme sanctions, being struck from the Book of Life. So The Metatron coaxes and manipulates Aziraphale to accompany him to Heaven, implicitly reflecting the way in which Crowley manipulated Muriel into arresting him and accompanying him as his Heavenly escort.

Do I still believe that The Metatron manipulates Aziraphale in order to divide the angel and the demon who, when working together, can produce miracles of un-paralleled power. Oh, hell yes! But that's not something only Heaven would want to mitigate. The sheer miracle force Crowley and Aziraphale manifest when working together is a threat to any oppressive structure that wants to consolidate power, and that certainly includes Hell. The fact that The Metatron realizes he can separate the angel and the demon in the same stroke as infiltrating Heaven is icing on the cake.

So there ya go. That's all I've got for today. Is The Metatron a Demon? Honestly, I don't know. But it's too interesting a theory for me to leave it alone.

*Please note, I'm intentionally using the term mirroring rather than chiastic structure to make this analysis. I deliberated for a while, but decided that it'd be a little loosey-goosey in this situation. So, yes, I am aware of chiastic structure and it's use in Good Omens, I just don't think this quite matches up.**

[steven-has-exploded]

ive yet to really see anyone else point this out but i think fyodor is going to end up being one of the most gut-wrenchingly unstable and sympathetic (to ME atleast) characters in bsd. what i perceive as foreshadowing for this has all been pretty vague, but thats really only further ammunition considering the way asagiri likes to write via throwing the wildest shit at us out of nowhere at 50mph and expecting us to deal with it. how did i first come to this conclusion? harukawas eye thing

this is going to be long please proceed with caution if you read slowly or just not at literal supersonic speed. rant under cut u know how this works

for those unaware or who have since forgotten the exact details, here is the image explaining harukawas thing with eyes, click to read;

so. fyodors eyes are usually very light, which a few other people have pointed out is probably due to the fact he genuinely believes his goal of ridding the world of abilities is following gods will; almost everything he does is a necessary evil to acheive the idealistic dream of a world without abilities. he understands his actions are wrong, but you cant go through with a goal such as that without doing morally reprehensible things in the process. anws so as user wildflowerteas pointed out his eyes are extremely dark after hes resurrected

now, could this just be signifying that fyodor can now continue doing his fucked up little deeds via his functional immortality? yes. but asagiri doesnt seem to write that way and i need an excuse to defend fyodor because im insane

asagiri generally doesnt write characters, especially important ones, as subscribing to one specific side of the moral compass. sure, there are characters that are more morally good or bad or gray than others, but not every one of their actions is as such. characters arent straight heroes or villains in their actions, and sometimes not even narratively; fitzgerald did everything for his wife to finally be happy and see her daughter again, dazai still trained akutagawa the way he did despite knowing it was abusive because his circumstances couldnt allow him to change before oda died, et cetera

so, lets interpret it another way. fyodors eyes being dark after resurrection may not be a reflection of his sinister personality, but rather the way he views and experiences his own countless deaths. he is purified in death and tainted when hes brought back; at peace in his last moments and destroyed when hes alive again. so what conclusion did this realization bring me to? fyodor is a suicidal maniac and hates his ability hear me out Please

in hindsight it seems really obvious to me now; what other reason could have spurred him on to try to desperately to erase abilities if not because he himself despises his own? his ability is truly the purest act of cruelty someone can experience when driven to the point he has been; it lets him bask in the calm of death, the comfort of everything finally ending, the solace that hes going to be finally rewarded for his actions by god. but only for a moment. once that moment is over, hes torn back into the world of the living, in the body of his own killer, the corpse of his last vessel staring him in the face as if to mock him for what he could never have. it deprives him of the human right to even die. what kind of person who claims to love all humanity wouldnt want to free the world of abilities, if others' have caused them as much pain as his has to him?

okok i apologize for making u hear me wax poetic about an anime twink version of fyodor dostoevsky but if youre still not convinced, which is ok i can see why this would be very insane to someone who isnt obsessed with this guy, i want you to just imagine for a moment how living with that kind of power would effect you. while we dont know fyodors exact age, we can assume that hes been alive for at least about 500 years due to his ability. fyodor isnt some kind of immortal being that has a conveniently human form, he is an actual human being who was first murdered presumably just in his twenties based on his appearance, who then had to slowly come to the realization that he will experience small spots of death before having to continue the same cycle of immortality for forever. human beings cant grasp the concept of infinity; our brains arent wired to deal with the idea, because everything in our own lives comes to an end. fyodor will never experience that. even if you view him as plain evil, pure and simple, no human being wishes to have their brain broken by the hands of infinity. and yet thats what fyodor is experiencing

[thedrarrylibrarian]

Several people have been kind enough to let me publish their thoughts on fandom, community, and queerness to celebrate Pride in the Library. Today's piece is a conversation between @academicdisasterfic and his boyfriend, @saintgarbanzo. If you missed it, @saintgarbanzo organized a fundraiser to help support @academicdisasterfic with funds for top-surgery. This fundraiser has met its goal, and is referenced to throughout their conversation.

In this conversation, @saintgarbanzo is chickpea in bold, and @academicdisasterfic is rooney, in regular text.

chickpea: ok baby. let's talk about the gift economy in fandom. it’s something that's part of our politics but many of us struggle with feeling like our worth is tied to our production, even in fandom. has your fundraising experience changed your understanding of those concepts for you?

rooney: Short answer: yes.

Long answer: I think part of what drew me to fanfiction in the first place was a complete divide from capitalism. It’s such a relief in this world of productivity culture. I started writing purely because I loved it and I never thought anyone would read my fics. But then people did, and that meant everything to me. After this fundraiser, I truly understand why the gift economy is so imperative to fandom. People are doing me a favour by donating to my surgery, reading my fics, or writing fics that I love to read. It still feels overwhelming to have as much support as I did. I haven’t processed it at all, I can’t actually fathom it, and I initially had this dread about how I was never going to be able to repay the fandom for what it did for me - it’s not true for all trans men, but for me, this surgery will save my life. But fic saved me too, and I know the same applies to many. When I thought about it like that, I realised that I would do the same thing for anyone here, and it would make me happy to do it. I’d never think they had to pay off that debt. The difference between capitalism and the gift economy is that one is about power and competition, and the other is about the cyclical nature of community. Debts don’t exist, because we don’t give from a finite pool of resources. We give to each other from an endless pool of infinite possibilities.

chickpea: i had that same realization. initially the only way we felt comfortable asking for help was by offering an exchange, but then the exchange wasn't really necessary. everyone just offered up their resources–money but also their time and talent and attention. i go back and forth between feeling guilty/indebted and trying to remind myself that this is how communities are supposed to function and i can feel grateful without feeling guilty. 

you talked about fandom's resistance to capitalism being an initial draw. what about its queerness? my first fandom interactions were very much based in fandom being a safe place to explore queerness. i want to hear about the relationship between your gender realizations and this community.

rooney: You know, I didn’t even think about it in that way - it was more, “I need a queer space, I want it to be a creative space”. It was so apparent to me, even before I knew I was trans, that whatever community I invested in had to have queerness at its core. Back in 2010 when I was figuring out my sexuality, fandom and shipping on Tumblr became really important to me, so I already knew it was there and when I started to explore it, that’s when a lot of gender stuff happened.

I think so many trans people have a more nuanced relationship with their body than is portrayed as the mainstream trans narrative of just being born in the wrong body. I worked very hard before learning I was trans to love and respect my body, and I’d never call it wrong. But reading about queer men fall in love was truly a lightning bolt moment. I’d always felt like an outsider in sapphic spaces - I’m bi/pan/whatever so I do really love women and femmes, that was never the issue - but I realised that I wanted my partners to be perceiving me differently, that I wanted to be treated as a queer man. I think the transgression and fight against purity culture in fandom was so crucial to it - the feelings of displacement and disconnection aren’t articulated the same way in published literature. One of my first fandom friends was @softlystarstruck who writes amazing trans characters with a variety of bodies and sexualities and genders. That sort of representation, of bodies coming together in all those different ways, specifically in sex, made me feel like there was hope - that transness and pleasure aren’t incongruent but born of the same instinct. We have to desire the things that will bring us joy.

chickpea: i love you

rooney: i love you too baby

chickpea: i love that you talked about displacement within queer communities. we've all seen and experienced queerphobia and racism, the demands for productivity, toxicity, discourse that's both helpful and harmful etc. you're someone in fandom who i really admire for the way you acknowledge and navigate the problematic parts of fandom while still focusing on building community in a healthy and joyful way.

can you talk a little bit about being a trans man who consciously decides to stay in hp fandom?

i’ve definitely struggled with my participation here and your fundraiser has brought up those arguments for me again, because we've harnessed this really material and transformative help for you as a trans person, that was carried pretty much entirely by this community.

rooney: Ooft, the big question. 

First off I have to make it clear that I completely understand trans people who don’t want to engage with the HP fandom, because it’s a fucking hard moral and ethical quandary to navigate. But also, I don’t think anyone, including other trans people, should judge those of us who find the inherent transgression of fandom empowering and freeing. That’s my go to answer.

I understand the ethical problems of HP and its fandom. The series is just flagrantly racist. It’s heteronormative, homophobic, and all around “ethically mean spirited”, as Ursula Le Guin so eloquently put it. But it’s still something that I loved, and more importantly, the fandom is so strong not in spite of the series' flaws, but because of them. The more broken it is, the more there is to fix - and we’ve put in Desi Harry and Black Hermione, we’ve written whole essays on why Wolfstar is canon, we’ve taken terrible things like “house elves love to be enslaved” and written complex, thoughtful interpretations of the relationship between oppressor and oppressed. We’ve fucked with it all. Some hasn’t gone far enough, particularly in regards to the way we think about and portray people of colour. But overall, we’ve improved upon something without a single cent from that work going to J.K. Rowling. I find people in this fandom have had a much deeper understanding of the problems in the series for the longest, because we examine it so critically and closely.

No one’s perfect, but we’re all trying - at least, most of us are - and we’re doing things that make the lives of trans people and other marginalised people better. And I’m a trans person who can attest to that, and I know you are too. Universal maxims like “any engagement with HP is transphobic!” don’t even begin to understand what fandom is, what it does, and why it exists. (Those universal maxims also tend to be hugely influenced by Western morality and the legacy of Christianity)

And yes - my fundraiser, and how this community came together to support a trans person in need, really shows all of it in a tangible way. The people here are here to support and uplift those who need it.

chickpea; i often fall into the trap of feeling like if my resistance doesn't transform my oppressors then it doesn't count. i’ve written posts about racism in fandom and a lot of times i still approach it from the position of like, how do i make this palatable, if i just say it with the perfect tone then it will be more approachable and i'll like, convert the racists. i write it with the idea that i have to reach the unreachable. but over and over what i see is that those posts strengthen the people already on my side. and i think it's the same when we're talking about the effects on queer people of engaging with hp. like, a lot of times the argument is that our silly little stories don't translate into real resistance, because people think of "real" resistance as legislative changes and boycotts, as efforts that transform and educate or punish oppressors. and our trans fanfic isn't convincing any terfs that they're miserable pieces of shit. but it bolsters other trans people. it supports us as individuals in this community. i think that the emphasis on whether or not hp fandom engagement translates to "real world" resistance focuses too much on that idea of reaching the unreachable people. we're here and we're doing it for each other, and i *know* it's effective because every queer person i've met in this community has a story of being strengthened by a fic, or a post, or an illustration.

i want to bring it back to joyfulness  in fandom. how has it encouraged you to cultivate more joy for yourself and others?

rooney: Honestly, I think that idea about remembering who we’re actually doing this for is so important. And also I believe we can plant seeds for change through joy. Because here’s the thing - change doesn’t originate from someone signing a piece of paper enacting legislation. That’s an important part, but that person enacts legislation because they represent their communities. Communities who believe joy is possible are stronger, because they have something to fight for. Joy is essential to resistance. I want to reach my community with my words and make them strong. And perhaps then those sentiments will reach further, because we will feel supported by each other and capable in our own lives of challenging bigotry and violence, knowing we are not alone. I am convinced that is how change happens. 

But I don’t just want to be happy so I can fight better. I want to cultivate joy because I deserve it, because I’m a person. Transphobic rhetoric dehumanises trans people, and that disconnect from our humanity can be internalised; perhaps we don’t feel worthy of indulgence, frivolity, the whimsical and beautiful and luxurious parts of life. Fuck that. Every human deserves access to joy. Treating myself cruelly will not change anything about me - depriving myself of joy when I fuck up doesn’t make me fuck up less the next time, and it doesn’t help the people affected by said fuck up. But treating myself well, indulging my creativity and dreaming and desires, actually does change me. It makes me better to the people around me, and better to myself, which means I have more energy for others and myself, which means I give more - it’s the gift economy, it’s cyclical. 

So fandom just makes me happy because it does. I love watching these dumb boys in love. And rather than try and analyse that or judge it, I let myself accept it, and go with it, purely because it’s joyful and life affirming and connects me with the world in a new and beautiful way. It’s really just the power of storytelling, I think - it calls to something primal in us. Maybe it reminds us that we’re humans in this world that wants us to be more like machines.

Fandom makes me joyful because it reminds me of my humanity, I think. With every fic I read or gorgeous artwork it’s like I’m accessing this part of my humanness that I have to keep segmented and separate from my work life, my life where I have to so much of the time be productive and disciplined. Here, I feel all of my flaws acutely and deeply, and all of my wonders, and it’s soul deep. How wonderful to be a human and to feel so keenly - how preferable to a life of trying to stay in the boring, lonely middle.

chickpea: your soulful intellectual rigor is very attractive

rooney: i think that’s my favorite thing you’ve ever said to me.

chickpea: a lot of times i have to frame my self-care and creative work in terms of resistance because that's the only way i can allow myself to have it. but you are so fundamentally right. cultivating joy isn't only for the collective, it's for me. i need to think about pleasure and joy less as a fuck you to the people trying to crush me, and more as a gift. giving yourself that gift of joy really does give that gift to others, and that's such a beautiful, community building action. 

thank you for the reminder that being in community is about engaging with our humanity. it's a perfect conclusion to our whole discussion. humanity is gorgeous and gross and so is fandom and stories are reflections of that, and those reflections are so special to so many of us.

thank you for letting me trick you into processing your feelings. 

rooney: for the record i encourage all of your attempts to trick me into processing my feelings. 

Thank you both for joining me in the Library. I loved what you both had to say about fandom being a gift of joy to ourselves and community being a gift we give to each other. Thank you so much for the privilege of reading your conversation as a way to celebrate Pride in the Library.

If you want more @academicdisasterfic, be sure to check out his work on AO3! I particularly love his fic like the sun came out, because it so accurately portrays the way people who truly love each other treat each other - with gentleness and kindness and patience.

If you want more @saintgarbanzo, be sure to check out his work on AO3 as well! I love Sweeten to Taste because I'm always a sucker for a beautiful food description, and also because I love the thoughtful and nuanced discussions Harry and Draco have in this fic about justice and forgiveness and what we all deserve even when we've been wronged and when we have wronged others.

🏳️‍🌈 Lots of Love and Happy Pride! 🏳️‍🌈

[clairedaring]

Okay, I dare not reblog your response to the essay post because the length of it is already too much, so Imma continue/reply through this new ask instead! ---------------

First: Thank you! I'm delighted that you enjoyed my rambling essay so much! And if it's good, it's only because you asked the right questions and gave me this opportunity to yap! An answer is only as good as its question allows it to be, after all!

-----

Assuming that the paper receipt Win found in the last episode implied his missing? dead? dad was also caught up in some money laundering shady business at the temple, I think Win will play some kind of double agent character in S2 where he’s forced into both running shady temple business all the while reporting back to the RDJ-looking cop.

YES! I think Win's gonna find himself in a teeth-clench cooperation with Cop RDJ (and the feelings might be mutual until maybe the two of them reach an understanding as S2 progresses)!

That cop seriously has more things going on with him beyond what we glimpsed. He has very personal goals he wants to achieve—whatever means necessary. Could he actually be a personal friend of Win's father? Or someone who used to work with him? Is Win's father the common thread between Win and Cop RDJ?

I'm very interested in his side of the story, man!

----

To be honest, they’ve ended Monk Dol’s arc so well, I really don’t want to sacrifice his character’s integrity and beliefs for the sake of the narrative but I also badly need him onscreen again as the only character with a moral compass in this series full of peope without it ಥ_ಥ

Sadhu, you nailed my struggle! I know I shouldn't be attached, but bro, I am. Too late!!! Y'all made him too charismatic and earnest in his practice and conduct, and now you created one of the best religious-affiliated characters I've ever met in my personal list of fiction.

Imagine if Monk Dol was a real person I know!!! Yo, I'll do anything to be his kalyāṇa-mitta ("noble/virtuous friend;" Buddhist friendship characterized by camaraderie in helping each other improve while practicing The Noble Eightfold Path. It includes chastising each other for unskillful conduct, etc).

I like to point out that Monk Dol was also written to be afflicted with the Three Poisons (klesa) through his attachment to Dear, so he's actually flawed despite being the best boy person in the series. He showed delusion (moha) such as thinking Dear could ever be with him and that he should disrobe to be with her. He showed attachment (rāga), most obvious in his dream of Dear and that scene in the bathroom. The only klesa he exhibited the least, even when he had grown attached to Dear, was aversion or hatred (dosa), but it was still present—in his quiet resentment and growing regret over becoming a monk at too tender an age. He was growing averse to his life as a monk.

So I think, one of the many functions Monk Dol provided in สาธุ was also about a Buddhist's valorization of growth from mistakes. Instead of characterizing his lapse with Dear as a sort of fall in morality or failure in his religious duty, the emphasis was placed on how Monk Dol overcame his delusion. In Buddhist ethics, moral progress is extolled—more so than moral duty and moral adherence. It's all about effort, striving, and using your mistakes to learn; Monk Dol's character arc exemplifies that. One of the Buddha's lauded disciples was Aṅgulimāla, a serial killer, after all.

Okay LOOK I REALLY LIKE THIS GUY, OKAY

------

Whatever happens in S2, I hope S2 gives me lots of Monk Dol internal struggles, nothing I love more than a tortured gentle, kind soul (@ สาธุ scriptwriters, please don’t use my beloved Monk Dol as a sacrificial martyr though, HE’S SUFFERED ENOUGH) getting a bittersweet, hopeful-ish open ending.

OH SHIT. I... I'm also a sucker for tortured gentle, kind soul!!! Ahhhhhhh!

--------

I LOVE the scene you chose to make your new gif.

Because this Dhamma talk was probably the hardest-to-understand of all. I'll tell you why...

In this one, Monk Dol was explaining upādāna ("clinging; attachment"). However, he wasn't talking about the usual stuff about attachment like "don't be attached to money" "don't be attached to beauty" or "don't be attached to fame."

He's talking about attachment to things Buddhists think are good. Meditation. Making merits. Offering alms to monks. The rituals. He's saying that one should not even be attached to these good things. "It's easy to be attached to things that feel pleasant. But we should not be attached to them, too."

It's very counterintuitive. Buddhists are taught that all of these stuff are good and moral, so why not be attached to them?

Because if you're so stuck in doing them, it will also start to become a burden to your mind, and then it turns into suffering. But there's also more to it!

The Buddha had an analogy for this (I forgot in which sutta/sutra, though. Bruh yapped way too much and had a shit ton of sutta in the Pali Canon). Paraphrasing from my memory here:

The Dhamma is a boat. When you want to cross the river and reach the other side, you use the Dhamma (and related tools). But once you reach it and are now on land, do you still hold onto the boat? No. You discard it, having no longer need it on land. To cling to anything when it's no longer required causes dukkha.

This is what Monk Dol was also saying in that talk. Samadhi ("wisdom") during meditation is nice and pleasant, but true samadhi is knowing when to be detached from the pleasantry of meditation so that the "bliss" of it doesn't distract you from your real goal (of Enlightenment).

And this, I need to stress, was the Dhamma talk Monk Dol was giving in his first appearance. I was absolutely floored and impressed, man, because this isn't something someone with a more pop culture understanding of Buddhism can come up with. Again, fucking props to the scriptwriters and their advisors; they really know their shit!

----

Okay yea I am done rambling ahahhaha. Please, if you cook more The Believers gif set I will EAT THEM SO GOOD. I wish more people are into this shit, goddamn. And I can't wait for Season 2!!!

(You have no idea how happy I am to find a fellow appreciator like you!)

Thank you Lyn for once again blessing me with even more insights into the brilliant writing and details in the characterisation of Monk Dol (i don't deserve this. cries happy tears ಥᴗಥ. months and months of waiting and lurking in the สาธุ tag for fellow สาธุ appreciators has finally come into fruition. i truly have no regrets spending hours screencapping สาธุ. always said they were purely self-indulgent but i must admit i always secretly hope people would come across them and gave the series a chance).

I didn't think I could love Monk Dol more but you have truly proven that Monk Dol is truly in fact best flawed boi monk. In a series with such a sensitive topic, I understand that careless writing could have easily made him a terrible character or cause great controversial or mixed reactions but I do think the writing for Monk Dol was just sophisticated enough and it feels like there's much care in the crafting of his character (my beloved Dol).

Kudos to Pup who plays Monk Dol as well, because I would have never guessed that he isn't a professional actor but the frontman of a rock band (funnily enough i've been listening to Potato (his band) forever but i didn't register that they're the same person until I started watching interviews and they start asking Pup about how does it feel to transform from a rock singer to a monk).

i shall end this ask with a gif encapsulating my exact reaction of Monk Dol's first Dhamma talk/sermon

[steamedtangerine]

God Talk VS. God Crock

Since the assassination attempt, there will be nuts out there trying to spin it as being about "divine intervention".

I just came back from eating with a family member and overheard some carry-out folks talking about it being "the hand of God" that saved Trump, and one person added "well, he has been going to churches, so he must be praying more".

Ugh. First off, where I live-yes, Trump did recently go to an "all-black church" in Detroit, but not surprisingly, the pictures coming back from that event showed a mostly white crowd. This is a rich man (not a poor Lazaraus) with no sense of humility who lies and falsely accuses folks with no sense of empathy-the kind who knocks over demonstrators just to do a vain photo-op holding a Bible upside down.

Second, as someone who has read the Bible cover to cover twice (same with the Book of the Subgenius and Bradbury's Martian Chronicles-but that's a different matter) and lived with theologian students, I feel like I should chime in (cue DaFoe in Spiderman "Scientist" meme) on this with what little I can offer. Sure, it will involve religious talk with Biblical citation, but even the secular minded will benefit by arming themselves with at least some knowledge to refute the self-righteous hypocrites who twist things horribly wrong. To fail to embrace even a few grains of truth is to put oneself in line with the same Biblical illiteracy the Evangelicals chose to adopt.

Some of the hottest, worst takes ever to surface after a current event seem to come from Evangelicals. Pat Robertson was infamous for spewing the most misguided statements about Hurricane Katrina, disasters in Haiti, AIDS, disasters in Dover, PA, or mishaps befalling Ariel Sharon....to name a few. He did this with the grandiose presumption that he was more privy to understanding God's unfathomable ways more than anyone else.....so much for embracing the necessary virtue of humility.

....however, the Bible asserts many times over that we all each take our chances just as anyone else has to in this life. I mean, count your blessings and know where they come from, but never presume you are immune to affliction or persecution just because you attend more functions, buy more religious goods, or pray the most words. You got 40+ chapters in the book of Job, and they are not all dedicated to this constricted populist narrative of "Job suffered, was tested, and persevered", otherwise it would be one heck of a short book. No, what South Park and tons of Sunday School sessions fail to mention is that the Book of Job is this Rabbinical back-and-forth about why "bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people." The answer in the end is God communicating to Job "my ways are my ways, and they are not for anybody to understand".

It doesn't stop there, in the Gospels, Jesus says "it rains on the just and unjust alike". He also mentions that buildings will fall on the faithful (quit the drooling, Dr. Lecter), the just will be persecuted by the unjust, and that children will be born blind not due to any evil their parents did or that they were somehow born "maligned in spirit".

St. Paul later insists (in the 6th chapter of his first letter to Timothy) to avoid anyone saying "gain is close to Godliness" (not to mention warnings of those who use their faith as a cloak for covetousness)-this could not be a bigger condemnation to the Mega-church self-glory-seekers and those pushing a "health & wealth" prosperity-based ideology. Compound all this with all the condemnations of the rich and those lacking in humility or all the passages insisting God shows no partiality, and one walks away with a far, far different picture than the superficial world that Evangelicals dwell in.

Third, from a historical sense, who have been the bad guys who cheated death and the righteous who weren't so lucky? Hitler avoided many assassination attempts and presumed "God was on his side". Meanwhile, all the martyrs throughout history (ones who had legit causes) have suffered-not only does the Bible not sugar-coat things by informing the studious that this can sometimes be an unavoidable fact, but some of the more old school faiths-especially the Catholics-want everyone to be reminded clearly in this matter. So, what is to be said of the MLKs, the Medgar Evers, the Jean Donavans, or the Archbishop Romeros? Were they-for all their obvious righteousness, not as blessed as Golden Boy Donald J. Trump?

I hope noone here encounters the near-idolatrous "Trump was favored by God" crowd, but at the very least, if one actually reads the very book they claim to extol (by starting at the center-ie. the Gospel), one quickly finds out how little the Evangelicals know about what they're talking about.

Thus, ends the sermon.

[poeedamerons]

It's not just that the book was better; there are movies and series that have successfully brought the book to life. Personally, I'm not a fan of the 'the book is better than the movie/series' argument because it's fundamentally flawed. The book will ALWAYS be better. It has the advantage of being the source material and allows for an in-depth exploration of characters, places, and situations, unlike a movie/series, which is restricted by screen time and budget. While this limitation poses challenges, it doesn't render the task impossible.

Adapting a complex book is no easy feat. While it may not be possible to capture all the intricate prose and rich details on screen, there are ways to work around it. Creating a coherent timeline, incorporating relevant flashbacks, building tension, mystery, and emotional impact are all possible. However, when you end up changing nearly everything from the original, the result is a feeble attempt at adaptation.

In my opinion and that of many others, "The Book Thief" was a satisfactory adaptation. Did they have to make significant cuts? Yes. However, they managed to preserve the essence of the story, its impactful characters, and crucial events. Some may disagree and consider the adaptation unsatisfactory, and that's understandable. Yet, I have yet to come across a single good review of the adaptation of "All the Light We Cannot See.

The book is undeniably brilliant, and there's no argument there, but this adaptation was more of a complete overhaul, incorporating some elements from the book. They completely mishandled the timeline, flashbacks and character backgrounds.

For instance, in the series, they introduce Uncle Etienne as a functional, Hugh Laurie-like character. However, just two (?) episodes later, they quickly unveil his traumatic experiences during World War 1 in a fleeting moment (I dont even remember if they mention the devastating loss of his brother). The fast-paced narrative hardly allows for the emotional impact that the book meticulously builds over time.

Contrastingly, in the book, we encounter Uncle Etienne as a deeply troubled and eccentric man who chooses to seclude himself from society for decades due to the severe post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from his experiences in World War I. At first, readers might dislike his grumpy demeanor and distant relationship with Marie Laure, who relies on him as her sole family, especially given the uncertainty surrounding her father's fate. However, as the book unfolds, the profound reasons behind Uncle Etienne's behavior are unveiled, prompting a heart-rending realization that induces regret for any initial negative sentiment.

His reluctance to engage with the events of World War II is completely understandable, given that he is still grappling with the haunting memories of the previous war. His eventual decision to confront the Nazis (whom he despises) and assist the resistance by broadcasting crucial information represents a significant turning point in his character development in the book, and ONLY happens because Marie Laure gives him the courage to do so.

While it's understandable that the show couldn't depict this in detail, they could have easily tried. This aspect of the story could have been effectively conveyed and would have undoubtedly evoked strong emotional reactions. It had the potential to move viewers to tears. However, the series lacked the necessary emotional depth and character growth, ultimately robbing Uncle Etienne of the depth and richness of his life story.

Furthermore, the way the book leaves subtle clues for us to piece together the revelation that Uncle Etienne and his brother were the ones narrating the science broadcasts that Werner and Jutta grew up listening to is truly exquisite. This element could have been gradually unveiled to the audience, allowing us to savor the process of connecting the dots. However, I don’t even remember how this goes on the series as this was more a tale of Werner and his adventures in Saint Malo than anything else.

If you're watching the show and finding it difficult to understand why there are so many criticisms, it might be because they boldly labeled it as an adaptation, even though it hardly resembles one. It doesn't feel like an adaptation at all.

To you, Uncle Etienne might come across as a super cool character, whereas to us, he was portrayed as an utterly melancholic, and reclusive individual. He lived as if he were already dead.

If you're enjoying the show without having read the book, that's perfectly fine. How would you even notice the differences if you had no prior exposure to the story and characters? It's virtually impossible. However, once you do, you'll comprehend why it took Doerr ten years to write and why it was awarded the Pulitzer.

[thessalian]

Faerun!Alisaie vs Cazador Szarr

On the way to the ramparts

Astarion: Wait. I thought we were heading for the House of Hope via that diabolist. This is--

Alisaie: Well, we can do that if you want, but I kind of figured you didn't want that whole thing with Cazador hanging over your head for longer than necessary. Whatever mix of dread and anticipation you've got is as much a chain as anything else you're struggling with, so I figured getting it over with?

Astarion: ...You're right. Yes! We can do this!

Shadowheart: Are you sure we should actually bring him along to this? I mean, if Cazador wants to do that ritual and Astarion is integral to that, isn't that just ... aiding and abetting? Also us potentially having to fight what you keep calling an UberVamp?

Alisaie: Nah. Astarion's a sneaky little shit, and Cazador can't enritual what he can't see. And if he does manage to spot Astarion, we'll just yank him out of whatever ritual circle's kicking around.

Shadowheart: ...That sounds like a lot of extra effort.

Wyll; Alisaie: He deserves to face his former master!

Shadowheart: ...Right. I forgot. Heroes with a need for narrative synchronicity.

Astarion: It means I probably get to stab Cazador into mince, so I am perfectly alright with this.

Alisaie: You should be even more alright with the fact that I couldn't find any sewer entrance to Cazador's manor so you get to skip being knee-deep in sewage. Unless you know of one.

Astarion: Alisaie ... he's a vampire. What on earth would he have to put in a sewer?

Alisaie: I assume he has thralls? And thralls have bodily functions? And there's ... erm ... the 'meal containers'?

Astarion: What a charming way to describe a corpse.

Alisaie: Also, maybe an underground escape route in the event of someone lighting his whole fucking manor on fire?

Astarion: ...All right, now I'm wondering why he didn't put in a sewer. Or a ... a catacomb or something.

Alisaie: Maybe he did and you just never went there. Anyway, I know you're a little on a hair-trigger about this, but let me at least talk to the guards--

Astarion: Thralls. They'll be fairly brainless.

Alisaie: Then lying my way past them shouldn't be too hard, should it?

Astarion: ...Probably not, no. Do I get to feed from any of these people at any point?

Alisaie: If they try for your blood, you trying for theirs is nicely reciprocal.

Astarion: *grin* Oh, goodie.

And into the manor we go

Alisaie: I talk my way past them and get a key ... and the door just gets unlocked for us. That's just aggravating.

Vilhelm: All must be perfect for the master's ascension! ...Wait. Astarion. Why aren't you downstairs for the ritual?

Astarion: I-- Oh, I'm not explaining myself to you. What is wrong with this door?

Vilhelm: The master is not to be disturbed! His ascension is at hand! You're too late!

Shadowheart: So if we just ... go away and let him try, and fail because Astarion's not there...

Astarion: I. Want. To. STAB HIM.

Alisaie: What he means is that he obviously needs to get down there. For the ritual. So if you could do something about this door, that'd be great.

Vilhelm: Only Dufay has the key, and then there's the spells on it, and we left the dictionary in--

Astarion: Oh, wonderful. The one person we might actually have to fight in here and he's not even someone I can bite.

Alisaie: He means 'thank you for the information; we'll go talk to this Dufay ... person'. Later!

Astarion: He is a literal skeleton, Alisaie.

Alisaie: That just means that if I have to literally shake him down for the key, it'll be nicely resonant!

One barrage of threats and lies to a skeleton and another sort of scavenger hunt later...

Alisaie: Why ... does he have a cursed corpse ... in a bedroom?

Astarion: Clearly to keep people from ransacking the place. Though I'm now starting to understand why you keep dragging around all those scrolls. They do come in handy.

Alisaie: Yeah, it was that or the teleportation arrows. Anyway, that's not what I meant. Fine, curse an object and let it fill a room with necrotic ow-ow-ow, I get it. But why something that's going to fucking decompose?

Astarion: That's ... actually a good point. But something to ponder later, perhaps. Let's see about this ritual.

Alisaie: *opens the door*

Throne Room: *is not full of ritual*

Throne Room: *is instead full of bats, rats, wolves, werewolves, and a lot of dead people*

Werewolf: Hey! You're meant to be downstairs for the ritual!

Astarion: I will not be ordered around by one of Cazador's new mongrels in my own house!

Alisaie: What he means is--

Astarion: No. What I mean is that you are in the way of me giving Cazador a final death and that is not a thing you want to do right now! I-- Wait. There actually is a downstairs?

Alisaie: *low murmur* Shadowheart? You gonna be okay with fighting wolves?

Shadowheart: Actually, given that I wasn't actually saved from wolves by the priestesses of Shar, I'm looking forward to murdering a few.

Alisaie: Good, because our normally silver-tongued vampire just kind of started a fight--

Vilhelm: Waitaminit. You said you wanted to stab the master! I--

Shadowheart: *stabs Vilhelm very, very hard*

Astarion: Oh, come on. I wanted human blood! I've fed on enough vermin, thank you. And yes, you canine bit of filth, I was referring to you!

Wyll: I'm not sure whether you've been a good influence on Astarion or a bad one? But he's definitely taking a few pages out of your sheet music, Alisaie.

Valderola: Hey! Stop stabbing up the master's nice clean throne room! All must be clean for the master!

Alisaie: It was already full of corpses and blood and-- Oh, fuck it; hey, Astarion! You said you wanted human blood?

Valderola: waitwut--

Astarion: *FEEDS*

Alisaie: Thank you. As for you little buggers-- *grabs lute, aims, begins Thunderwave-divebomb*

Wyll: I got these! *Misty Steps into line of fire*

Alisaie: ofuck-- *THUNDERWAVE*

Werewolves; Bats; Wyll: *go flying*

Alisaie: Sorry!

Wyll: My fault! Sometimes I forget you do magic!

Stabnation: *ensues*

After a fair bit of wandering around

Astarion: He said the ritual was downstairs. Why have we spent this much time wandering around the attic?

Alisaie: Ritual notes, and an awful lot of money.

Astarion: Oh. Right. Yes. Thanks for that.

Alisaie: Anyway, info-gathering over, let's see what we-- Oh. Hey. This looks like some of those lifting things we saw in the Shar temple.

Astarion: There really is a downstairs! I wonder what's down there. ...And honestly why, if there's a convenient catacomb, he didn't just keep all his treasure down there.

Alisaie: Well, we're about to find out. Maybe he just needed room for other things.

A surprisingly long time later...

Alisaie: *porting back to the oddly convenient teleport point* Okay, I'm back. Sorry about the wait.

Shadowheart: You fired a transposition arrow down a hole, and then you were gone for at least ten minutes, and now you're back and-- Where did you go? Anything could have been down there!

Alisaie: *holds up Pelorsun Blade* Pretty nice 'anything', huh? I figured if the githyanki creche had shiny radiant weapons in the basement, why shouldn't this place? Also, from what I know about Arcana, this thing works extra-specially well against undead. Which is about what we need right now.

Astarion: So ... the 'other things' Cazador needed room for down here included the means of his own destruction. That ... does not scan.

Alisaie: If it helps, I did find a route into the sewer tunnels. Probably way easier for someone who can turn into mist to get to than ... well, me, but it's a useful thing to know just in case.

Astarion: Still, again, what is he keeping down here?

Sebastian: ...You.

Astarion: Wait. You were-- but you-- you were...

Alisaie: Cazador's DoorDash order?

Wyll: Alisaie!

Astarion: Frankly, yes.

Wyll: ...oh.

Astarion: He told me he fed on you! Just that! Why are you all still alive? ... Well. For varying definitions of the term, anyway.

Alisaie: ...Yeaaaaaah remember that thing that was all about "every thrall of Cazador's dies to fuel this ritual"? I kind of thought that eight wouldn't be enough for UberVampdom.

Sebastian: ...How long have we been down here?

Alisaie: Look, just ... sit tight. We're going to go murder the master vampire that did this to you and then we'll ... see what we can do.

Shadowheart: I'm ... conflicted. On one hand, that's a lot of vampire spawn to free. On the other hand...

Astarion: I ... I owe them more than this, after what they went through because of... But ... if I want to ascend, they die regardless. So I suppose we can't kill them yet, anyway...

Alisaie: *facepalm* Dead vampire first. Everything we need to decide right now depends on dead vampire. Can we all just please agree on dead vampire?

Wyll; Shadowheart; Astarion: YES.

Alisaie: THANK you. Now. Here's the plan.

One short planning session later

Shadowheart: *from the shadows* *casts Daylight*

Cazador: OW OW OW wait what?!?

Astarion: *Sneak Attacks a werewolf stone dead from the shadows*

Wyll: *Misty Steps into the middle of the ritual stage* *Eldritch Blasts several of the bats into mush* COME GET SOME, UNDEAD GROTESQUERIES--

Fallen Gur: *takes a fairly big chunk out of Wyll*

Wyll: ...maybe don't come get that much...

Alisaie: *much-better-aimed Thunderwave getting two fallen Gur and a werewolf away from Wyll and killing two bats outright*

Shadowheart: *annihilates a couple of more enemies and takes a good chunk of Cazador's health with Spirit Guardians*

Cazador: WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU PEOPLE?!? WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?

Alisaie: ELFSONG TAVERN SAYS HELLO, YOU FESTERING SACK OF COWARDICE AND STOLEN BLOOD!

Cazador: ...Right. Come here, you-- Oh.

Astarion: Shit.

Cazador: Right, you. You've brought this to my door; INTO the ritual circle.

Astarion: Shit shit shit shit SHIT--

Wyll: ...where did his armour go?

Alisaie: Let's just pray it comes back. *Misty Steps over to Astarion; yanks him out of the ritual circle*

Astarion: Thanks for that.

Shadowheart: *facing off against Cazador* Ow ow ow ow STOP THAT I AM TRYING TO KEEP FOCUSING ON SPIRIT GUARDIANS OW--

Alisaie: *Misty Steps back over to there and stabs the everliving shit out of Cazador*

Cazador: *turns into mist and hides in sarcophagus*

Alisaie: Wow. He really is a festering sack of cowardice and stolen blood.

Astarion: Right. He dies.

Yet More Bats: *attack Astarion*

Alisaie: Clear. The field. FIRST. Whatever satisfaction you get out of him dying will be ruined if you do it with bats taking chunks out of your ass!

Astarion: ...*sigh* Oh, fine.

Stabnation: *continues*

After clearing the field

Astarion: NO HEALING SLEEP FOR YOU! WAKE UP AND SMELL THE IMMINENT DEATH!

Cazador: Back off, worm!

Astarion: Right. Ritual time!

Alisaie: ...Are you really sure you want to do this?

Astarion: Yes! I'll have all the power, and I can be of so much more help with this whole tadpole thing. I'll stay at your back, I swear it!

Alisaie: ...Astarion. I thought you wanted to be free. Power's just another cage. You have to keep feeding it. I thought you wanted to be ... well, you, not what Cazador made you.

Astarion: ...I...

Alisaie: *holds out Astral Tadpole* The Emperor gave me this. It's supposed to ... change me. Or whoever I give it to. It grants power ... but the cost is it making me part-illithid. Note I have not used it, nor have I offered it to any of you. Power at the cost of changing yourself that much? It didn't seem worth it. You are all yourselves, and I wouldn't have you any other way.

Astarion: ...You're right. I can be better than ... this. *punts Cazador* But I'm not such a bastion of virtue that I won't really enjoy this. *messily murders Cazador; then has himself a little breakdown*

Controller Person: *searches in vain for the dialogue option to hug the poor sod*

Astarion: ...All right. What do we do about the spawn?

Alisaie: Well, they've been badly mistreated and are probably a little feral, and that's a problem when blood-drinkers are involved. But...

Astarion: I can handle that. *releases spawn* Petras. First ... I suppose I'm sorry about calling you a little shit and burning you with the sun and everything. Just ... take those thralls down to the undercity - hells, take them to the Underdark if you have to - but keep them in line, all right?

Petras: Um ... I ... I guess that's an answer to the whole 'what the fuck do we do now?' question, so I guess...

Alisaie: Oh, and if you see a little tiefling girl down there? Run in the opposite direction. She is not the easy snack she appears to be, I promise you.

Petras: ...You people are weird, but okay.

Various Vampire Spawn: *exit, stage undercity*

Astarion: Right. That's that. Can we please get out of here with a minimum of looting? If we're going to destroy those tadpoles and everything, I want to enjoy the sun while I can.

Alisaie: Well, that's part of why I did most of the looting before we came down here, but Gale will like this, annnnnd ... ooh. Oh, look at that pretty sword...

Astarion: *little smile* Well, I got freedom and revenge and satisfaction out of the whole thing. I suppose you're owed something as well.

Alisaie: Oh, I got it. You're free. You don't have to fear him anymore, and can just ... live. The Emperor made a damn good life for himself with hiding himself and only feeding on shitheads; I bet you could do the same, and that's plenty 'something' for me. ...But the blade's a nice bonus.

Astarion: ...Soppy sentiment belongs somewhere with a bit more natural sunlight, Alisaie; we--

Gur Warriors: Did you just release a bunch of vampire spawn into the sewers?

Alisaie: We also murdered a vampire lord who was about yay close to fucking ascending, so I think the words you're looking for are 'thank you'. Also, we've got them being looked after. The crime rate and vermin population is going to go way down after this, I can tell you. Plus I figure at worst, some are bound to die to Bhaal cultists down there. And they'll take some Bhaal cultists with them, so great for everyone all around, honestly.

Astarion: Yes, and also ... I know we took some of your people and we might have been misinformed about them just being ... erm ... food. So your people might be down there too. They might not be in wonderful shape, mind you, but they're still people and not beholden to Cazador anymore. Just make sure they have access to very rare meat and you'll probably be fine.

Wyll: Did he just suggest reuniting those spawn with their families?!?

Alisaie: *elbows Wyll very hard in the ribs*

Wyll: *wheezing* ...sorry...

Gur Warrior Lady: ...Well, then I guess thanks are in order. When you have need of warriors to fight this Absolute, we will be with you.

Alisaie: ...Wasn't expecting that, but thanks...

Wyll: *slowly recovering* Elfsong Tavern and drinks?

Alisaie: Elfsong Tavern and bath. Might want to sneak through the sewers for that, though, since I'm getting a little tired of walking through Baldur's Gate covered in gore.

Astarion: I mean ... I'm mostly numb to everything right now, as that was ... A Thing, as you put it, but ... honestly, I'm still living for how it's just accepted. Had I known I could swan around the lower city covered in blood without attracting attention, the last couple of hundred years would have been very different.

Shadowheart: Anyway, yes, bath sounds like a fine idea. I'll scrub your back if you scrub mine.

Astarion: *opens his mouth*

Wyll: *elbows Astarion very hard in the ribs* Shutupandletmehavethisorsohelpme...

Alisaie: Sounds fantastic. We'll have to let the boys have the tub first, though, since we'll probably want some time to ... luxuriate. I'm sure they can hurry it up a bit. Unless they decide to share--

Wyll; Astarion: ALISAIE!!!

Alisaie: Aaaaaand now that I've lightened the mood, let's get gone.

((Controller Person's Note: Seriously, I had Shadowheart cast Sunlight on the middle of the ritual place from stealth, Astarion stayed stealthy for two solid rounds, and it took another two for Cazador to get close enough to kick off the cutscene that locks Astarion into the ritual. Which meant the field was half-cleared and Cazador fairly damaged before that was even a thing.))

[patwrites]

My opinion of MOM is only slightly changed from when I first saw it on Mother’s Day 2022. It has good entertainment value but, much like L&T, falls apart narratively when you look at it beyond that superficiality.

Largely forgettable. That’s the problem with a lot of the Phase 4 films. Wakanda Forever, Eternals and NWH are the only ones that really stick with you or stand out narratively. Don’t have that problem with the miniseries. But I digress. Back to MOM.

I’ve never understood people saying this is “Wanda’s movie” when A. she only has 29 minutes of screentime and B. Much like Stephen, she has no real arc. Her only role in this installment is to be The Villain™️, and she’s not even really the villain here. An antagonist sure. That damned book was manipulating her grief. I’ve also noticed the majority of discussion surrounding her actions here are pretty evenly split between people who have children versus people who don’t. Wanda stans, even childless and/or childfree ones, tend to fall into the former camp.

Stephen throws in her face TWICE that “her children aren’t real”. Yes, that’s true. But they were real TO WANDA. Yes, the Darkhold might’ve turned them into Living Emotional Crutches that Wanda felt she needed to have by whatever means necessary, but they were real to her. Stephen’s attempt at logic-ing Wanda out of this was always going to fail because this is an emotion-based situation. Wong recognized this and tried an emotional appeal on Mount Wundagore. Yes, it would suck knowing you in this reality can’t have what makes you happy but knowing your children are out there happy somewhere is the important thing. For all the grief some people have given him for bringing that up, 838!Wanda uses that exact same argument and it gets through to Sacred Timeline!Wanda.

Another thing, it’s very weak writing to rely on The Darkhold so heavily. In an unfortunate piece of particularly weak storytelling, the script beats you over the head with “the book is the real villain” while also presenting Wanda as the problem. Speaking of bad writing, it’s abundantly obvious to me that Waldron does not understand nuance. He thinks of these characters as surface-level archetypes and that’s it. There’s no depth to Stephen or Wanda or Wong, either Christine, or even America. Stephen is on the defensive the entire story. Wanda is the Darkhold’s latest sword.

Really, none of these characters have any arc whatsoever. They just exist to fulfill plot functions and have no agency. We talk and talk about how Wanda is incredibly OOC here, and that’s true, but you know who else is? Everyone else! Even characters we just met here or are MCU OCs (the 838 cast).

Stephen is reduced to a Pinball Protagonist from literally the moment he wakes up. Nothing he does effects anything or anyone. He doesn’t defeat Wanda or make her see reason, he doesn’t destroy the Darkhold, he doesn’t really DO anything. His plot function is “protect America” and that’s it. Weirdly enough, he does have a tiny sliver of an arc if you squint. I just couldn’t really tell you what it is.

Related to point 3, this is the most blatantly “plot-driven” installment of the entire MCU up to this point. The film really suffers for it.

It’s Evil Dead With MCU Characters. This is not a compliment or a positive comparison.

[phantom-miria]

Omg, yes i agree with everthing you said! I really don't necessary think that most people hate on f!robin just because they're misogynistic, they're most likely just other queer people that are feeling "vindacted" that IS finally acknowledging m!chrobin (and like, I get it! IS has a horrible track when it comes to mlm rep, the fact that m!chrobin isn't a thing in canon and the way they handled the queer male options in 3H is super annoying so I do sympathise with them a lot!) I just wish they wouldn't discount their hatred on her? IS bullshit and homophobia is not her fault?

And yeah, we have this amazing high fantasy world full of dragons, magic and trime travel but queer people having a child is where people draw the line? And why do they feel the need to go on posts of people having fun to remind them that "it's not canon"? I swear that those people love to do that with queer ships, is so annoying. I had this terrible experience recently with some f!chrobin shippers and idk I just felt like they were disgusted at the ideia of Chrom being bi from the way they talked, I hated so much.

Anyway, I'm really sorry for the rant and for reminding you of all the fandom bullshit that you were trying to ignore. I'm just so tired of all of this and I feel like no matter what I say about this anywhere else, I will get called of something bad. You felt like a person that would understand where i was coming from and you did, thank you for your time and understanding! Have a good day/night.

I definitely agree - I see how we got here, and I have sympathy, but a lot of it dries up the longer I'm in fandom and I get worn down by people swerving all over the place to take it out on F!Robin or people who did enjoy what we got in canon, I think. And there's also been a weird narrative about her being favored, which I think is extremely untrue if you look at the history of their inclusion in Smash and the trailer, then the amiibo, then the Fates cameo, then Warriors, etc etc. He always gets the lion's share in crossover content and it's really fucking depressing to people who like her!

FEH was the only spot she really had anything "over" him (and even then it was uneven, with him being available at launch with a summoning movie while she was relegated to grail unit added later) and now after an admittedly big wait his legendary here, with a bunch of shippy hints and getting to be himself in his legendary, plus he got the duo I'd give my eyeteeth to have her in, etc. I really think he was always doing fine as far as official rep, and Engage DLC just came along to confirm the same old pattern of "when only one is picked for representing the character in a crossover, it's him". Officially he has historically done well outside of giving nods to shippinness with Chrom, so I think it is both great and understandable that people are so excited about it now. Of course it feels vindicating! But I don't see the reason to sneer at other fans for what they enjoy or their hopes or personal disappointment about a female avatar not being allowed to officially rep the character, lol.

I really can't understand why people see those fans celebrating and decide they have to ruin it. As if those fans aren't already accutely aware of the fact that it isn't canon in the original game. As if that isn't the reason they're so happy in the first place? It is truly such an unwarranted dick move.

I'm really sorry to hear about that recent experience, anon! I love bi Chrom with all my heart - unfortunately I don't talk about it so much because I am an OTPer who's ended up unfathomably annoyed about the male player character, so I only really end up engaging with ship content for him with a female character most of the time, and so functionally the fact that I headcanon him bi ends up not coming up super often. But I love that idea and am extremely attached to it. There are dozens of us! Dozens!! Especially as a queer woman. It's important to me that they are both bi in my head.

I'm unfortunately not surprised to hear that people reacted with disgust - I remember that from my days in DA fandom :( but it never gets easier. It just makes it feel like there's no real place, because the people who like the version you do suck, but if you don't like the other version as much and those people think you suck for liking the one you do, it's just kind of well...here I am, then. Lol.

No need to apologize, anon, I like talking about this kind of thing! I think I'm just worried that I've been spending too much time doing so recently and my friends are going to be absolutely sick of it, lol. And realistically it is better for me to spend less brainspace on people in fandom being shitty, probably? But I think it's good for you to hear that other people in fandom feel the same way and have problems with a lot of different corners, like you do. I hope you have a good night too! There are people out here who just want to ship and have a good time. It's not all bullshit, even if it feels like it sometimes, or even if you end up focusing on it a lot like me. <3

[the-far-bright-center]

#like the things is that the fact Anakin could love so deeply was one of his virtues!#not just love but his anger at injustice! I love thinking about Anakin swearing he'd free the slaves#and Anakin's love and his anger are traits Luke AND Leia both share! they're foundational to who they are!#the difference is both of them had the tools and environment to process and use those emotions properly#the Jedi were unequipped to deal with someone motivated by love and anger. Palpatine was also grooming Anakin and it's insane#that anyone would give some old man unsupervised access to a child in their care but maybe that's just more proof#of how fucked up the Senate is that that behaviour can go unremarked#but my point is that love and anger are both considered virtues in the Original Trilogy#I also wonder if maybe part of it is because most people focus on love as Anakin's love for Padme which is romantic?#like people get weirdly dismissive about the power of romantic love on tumblr sometimes#but while Padme is certainly the major one because she's the one he can express love freely with and have it reciprocated#Anakin also loved Obi-wan but they can only say it when fighting to the death#hell Anakin fucking adored his mother and he can only see her on her deathbed#the issue isn't that Anakin loves (or gets angry). it's that he's has an upbringing and is in an environment and has experiences#that make it incredibly difficult to love healthily#like the point is that Jedi can certainly feel love but you get the sense they're not supposed to express it towards each other#ANY kind of love. not just romantic#compassion yes. respect yes. but not love#but love is what keeps us grounded where compassion fails to I think#it's messy and not always right but it's very human and necessary where larger systems and ideals fail#you can't just remove fallible but powerful personal relationships from how society functions#not to mention if Anakin wasn't motivated by love... do you think that'd stop Sidious? I'm sorry but ideology can be just as#easily manipulated as love or anger#anyway this is a story with a Cosmically Correct Answer and the answer is Love#the Jedi were not evil. the Jedi were overall good. what happened to them was evil. but they were still wrong#the narrative SAYS THEY WERE WRONG#like the prequels are literally a tragedy the Jedi can be both wrong and have failed and still be good people#who didn't deserve what happened to them#this is a space fairy tale. a greek tragedy combined with the hero's journey. it doesn't have to make real world sense (via @in-fair-verona-we-set-our-scene)

Great tags! And yes, it’s important to note that it wasn't Love (romantic, platonic, or otherwise) that caused Anakin to fall, but rather his Fear of Loss. That oft-quoted line 'beware your heart' is not saying beware of loving people, it's saying beware of 'the dragon of that dead star', aka the fear and the doubt that creeps into Anakin's heart and mind, and which Sidious exploits. And yes, Anakin's ability to love deeply (and to feel righteous anger through that love!) is his STRENGTH. In another version of events, the Jedi would have realised that the fact their Chosen One had been born a slave and had experienced injustice personally actually made him the ideal person to free the galaxy from its chains. The fact that Anakin feels so deeply means he empathises with the plight of the downtrodden peoples of the galaxy in a way that the remote Jedi high in their ivory tower (who have removed personal connections from their lives) simply cannot. We're supposed to see that the Jedi failed to appreciate this aspect of him, because they didn't understand the true meaning of the Chosen One prophecy or HOW it had to be fulfilled (aka through an act of self-sacrifice performed out of love, the only way to break the cycle of retaliatory violence). They thought Anakin needed to be a 'perfect' Jedi in the Old Order's definition of one, when what Anakin needed was simply to be permitted to LOVE and BE LOVED, and to have the unconditional love of his family. Love and family are two things clearly forbidden to the Prequels-era Jedi, and yet these are what saves the galaxy.

I think there’s something rather strange going on with all the folks who insist that the Jedi Order in the PT was right and didn’t forbid love and Anakin should just have followed their teachings when the whole point of the prequels is that they are prequels. They come before the OT, and the OT proves the Jedi wrong. They literally do not make sense if they don’t do that.

Luke, in the original trilogy, gains his ultimate triumph, his ultimate victory, because he loved in defiance of the teachings of the old Order. He quite literally had the ghosts of the past telling him, explicitly and without ambiguity, that he has to put his love for his father aside and kill him, as is the duty of a Jedi. Luke has the weight of millennia of teachings weighing down on his shoulders, telling him they knew and know better than a young, inexperienced man barely out of his teenager years. That he should follow their teachings or be destroyed. That is an immense weight to carry, and many people would and explicitly have given in to it in-universe. What are your feelings and ideals in the face of such immense legacy, after all?

But Luke doesn’t give in.

He doesn’t bend.

He says “I may be young, and I may be new, but I believe to my heart and soul that love matters more than this legacy. Matters more than your teachings.” And he says this to the ghosts of his mentors. That is such a powerful moment and one I can’t believe George Lucas didn’t create it deliberately for even a second. This young man, being told he has to kill or die trying for a system that is dead or dying itself, that couldn’t survive itself, and refusing to do so. He is the living refusing to continue the violence of a dead generation. He is the young man refusing the draft into a war the old generation started, saying “peace and love matters more than you being right.” He is the embodiment of breaking the cycle.

And the movies vindicate him.

The main villain vindicates him with his last dying breath.

Darth Vader, dying, says “You were right.” and admits he and his were wrong. The main antagonist, Luke’s nemesis, in the face of his son’s immense, defiant love, gives way and does the impossible: he comes back to the light and dies a Jedi. The very thing the old Order says was impossible.

They were wrong. They have to be. The narrative demands it, the movies don’t make sense without it.

The solution was never to continue the cycle of the old Order, or Luke would have failed there, would have failed when he said “I am a Jedi, like my father before me.” And claimed that defiant, deviant, condemned definition of being a Jedi over the one presented to him by the Grandmaster of the old Order. If the old Order was right, Luke would have to be wrong. Be wrong about love, be wrong about laying down the sword, be wrong about refusing to fight. He would have to be wrong.

But the old Order is dead, explicitly killed by a monster, in some part, of their own making. It’s members only existing as bones in the ground or ghosts speaking from beyond the grave. They did not deserve it, it should not have been inflicted on them, but the narrative is clear on this: “The old way is dead, and was dying for a long time before that. Long live the new.”

Luke is that new. Luke is the breaking of the cycle, the reforging of swords into ploughs, the extended hand. Luke says “I don’t care how much I was hurt, I refuse to hurt you back, and you don’t need to hurt me either.”

“We can end this together and choose love instead.”

And Darth Vader, killer of the Jedi, End of the Order, lays down his arms as well, and reaches back as Anakin, saying “You were right.”

It wasn’t Obi-Wan, Yoda, Mace, Qui-Gon, or even Ahsoka who achieved the ultimate victory in the end, following the tenants of the old Order. It was Luke. Young, inexperienced Luke, who saw that the age of legacy handed to him was only history, that the sword handed to him as his life was only a tool, and that the decrees of the dead were only advice. And he took it all, said “thank you for your experience, but I’ve got it from here,” and laid it all down to instead extend an open hand towards his enemy.

And his victory, his ultimate triumph, his vindication, was that he was proven right when his enemy reached back and became just another person. Just another person, just like him.

The Jedi did not deserve what happened to them, and they did not deserve to die. But the story is clear on this: the Jedi of old were wrong, and the Jedi of new, the Last Jedi, was right. No sword or death will ever end the rule of the sword or end the bloodshed. But love?

Love can ignite the stars.

[mightyflamethrower]

What Oregon High School Boys Do to Tampon Dispenser in Their School Bathroom Reaches Legendary Status

Even students in Oregon who aren't required to learn much of anything to graduate can spot BS when they see it. And now, what these students in a Portland area suburb did to a tampon dispenser in their school bathroom has become the stuff of local — meme-able —  legend. 

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The story of the tampon dispenser in a boy's bathroom at Lakeridge High School in Lake Oswego, a Portland suburb, is circulating once again on social media. No, this is not a story of artful uses for tampons, such as for treating nosebleeds or wound treatment, but as an apparent political statement to Oregon's slaves to wokeness in the legislature. 

For the frail-minded among us, it's necessary to add the biological fact that men don't menstruate and therefore don't need tampons. And it doesn't matter how you feel about it. It just is. Even the Olympian who claims that his "testicles don't make me less of a woman" would understand this. 

The vandalism started last May, during the wind-down of the school year when users of the boy's bathroom took the tampon dispenser off the wall and placed it in a toilet for a maximum political statement. Not once but many times. What they did to the tampon dispenser has made them heroes. Yes, even in woke Oregon. 

In May, the principal made a school-wide appeal in a letter sent to parents begging the boys to stop trashing the tampon vending machine in their bathroom because under state law it had to be there and it was costly and cumbersome to have to keep putting it back up.

In her letter to parents last May, Principal Desiree Fisher explained that under Oregon's Menstrual Dignity Act schools are required to provide female menstrual supplies to boys. She said, "Oregon's Menstrual Dignity Act – passed in 2021 as House Bill 3294 – requires schools to provide menstrual products in gender-neutral, male and female restrooms" to make them available to the more than 500,000 students in Oregon schools and universities. 

This law was passed during the height of COVID, in 2021, which means that even at a time of fear, limited in-person lawmaking, tending to a novel pandemic, while schools were closed, Oregon Democrats felt it necessary to pass a law to make girls who want to be boys welcome in boys bathrooms. The purpose of the law they argued was so that "all menstruating students, regardless of gender, age, ability, socioeconomic status have the opportunity for safe, dignified self-care." Moreover, they flattered themselves that their new law would serve as an "antidote to the common narratives that say menstruation is something deserving of embarrassment and shame." 

No, it's not. Were that the case then they would have done this years ago and offered tampons for free in the bathrooms of people who menstruate—females. This is all about the trans agenda, of course, as this policy's critics undoubtedly know.

Spelled out in Oregon's law, written undoubtedly by woke lobbyists, were the, ahem, "four pillars of menstrual dignity," which sound so ridiculous that I had to screenshot them for you. 

The resurgence of the controversy over the tampon dispensers for boys is because of the WTF Portland Facebook page which just put up a meme about the tampon machines in the boy's bathrooms and was flooded with comments. 

A person named "Derwin" said that it was disgraceful and that they couldn't "imagine" why people were "disturbed over an underage child's natural bodily functions." The more than one hundred responses to the Portland wokester were along these lines: "Please tell me you understand that teenage boys don't menstruate" or "Imagine being so out of touch with basic biology you put a female hygiene product in a boy's bathroom or locker room."

moonbattery.com

[steampunkforever]

The Shape of Water is an interesting film inasmuch as marine intercourse is concerned. Sure does it play with magical realism and also function as a defiant Hellboy ripoff? Yeah. But also there’s the furry/scalie/fishy(????) content. Specifically content of a more sensual nature.

Does the movie fall into the trap of “it’s the 50s-60s and we’re gonna translate the American intolerance and repression of this era by making everyone comically intolerant of something basically harmless except for one outcast character who inherently understands the target of the harm?” Also yes*. But what we’re focusing on here is what happens when a Fishman and a woman love each other very much.

Del Toro knows what he’s about. He knows what you’re here for. 

The movie is of course beautiful. The set design, lighting (Del Toro loves his greens!), and acting was impeccable. Octavia Spencer was amazing, Sally Hawkins was excellent (Can’t wait to see her in “Wonka”), as was Michael Shannon, who was beautifully written into the worst human being on earth with character motivations and goals so elegantly placed that I couldn’t help but clench my fist at how well written and acted his character was. Amazing villain.

Speaking of elegance and sophistication: It’s time to talk about Marital Relations of the Maritime sort. Del Toro is a saint, and though we never see any fishsticks, he gives the scenes of seagoing salaciousness a certain sensuality that cutting to black too soon would otherwise render silly. Say that five times fast! The liquid love scenes are R rated (Sally Hawkins disrobes, throughout the film our Fishman is always rendered in full nautical nudity) but never in an overly tawdry way. It’s all very intimate, much more so than I expected.

Not that the film doesn’t understand the ridiculous nature of fishy fornication. There’s an especially charming scene later on in the film where Octavia Spencer and Sally Hawkins discuss the Fishman’s own Creature from the Black Lagoon, and it’s played very well, answering questions about what happened during the aquatic acts Del Toro chose to omit from the screen.

Yes. Acts plural. What elegance! Del Toro’s choice to portray submarine seductions only twice was the perfect balancing act. Show the amphibious affections but once and your audience asks “was that very necessary” and “did this matter to the plot” (a bunch of squares, not even It Follows would qualify as plot relevant for them). Show it three times and you risk overextension into what we like to call “being *too* into it.” in this case, two is the perfect number, and it allows Del Toro to, as with Pacific Rim, fully understand the audience expectation of subaqueous snuggling and fulfilling it while also maintaining artistic ambition.

I do recommend this film, though if you watch with a group the conversation may devolve into speculation on how the Birds and the Bees might translate over to Sharks and Anchovies. 

*I wonder how many of these narratives in art, especially after the civil rights movement, were resultant of writers processing their youth in a time where society (and their parents) remained prejudiced but the writers themselves were too young to enact progressive change.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Hi as an Iranian woman I really appreciate how you are talking about us while all of those lefties are rejecting us , our pain and struggles. They just want to hear what fit their own narrative and not what is true . Anyway I very much appreciate you and your work❤

Iran’s COMMUNIST party supports the protest but westerner leftists choose to side with an islamic fundamentalist regime?! For the dake of not being offensive!!!

"As an iranian revolutionary once said having a surface-level understanding of an important subject is more dangerous than being completely ignorant of it. That pretty much sums up these “leftists” who are aligning themselves with religious zealots."

Thank you.

It's astonishing and appalling to watch the freest, most empowered, and often self-described progressive, people in the world making excuses for a conservative, fundamentalist religious regime in the name of "sensitivity". They're siding with the fundamentalists. They're choosing religious fundamentalism over the women and men, both ex-Muslim and devout Muslim alike, who just want the same things that they take for granted.

"I read Alexis de Tocqueville, and I read about democracy, and I lived in countries that have no democracy, that have no founding fathers… so I don’t find myself in the same luxury as you. You grew up in freedom, and you can spit on freedom because you don’t know what it is not to have freedom." -- Ayaan Hirsi Ali

They're, ironically, far less tolerant and far more hyperbolic about the conservative party in their own country. A party which is bounded by the limits of their country's constitution, and in some countries at the present moment, is not even in power. And even if you get them to actually admit and agree that Iranians suffer under a repressive, authoritarian regime, they'll find it necessary to insist that they do too, that they're in the same boat. Except that they don't. And they're not.

Oppression isn't about things being perfect, it's about the capacity for change. When fanatics concoct the notion of "defund the police," ("Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police - Because reform won't happen") and government representatives dutifully do so, to predictable results, despite the objections of those who will be most affected ("Defunding the Police Doesn't Poll Well. That Doesn't Matter.") you're not oppressed. Indeed, if you can shove through radical demands despite the objections of the overwhelming minority, and shout down all opposition, then you might well be the regime.

To therefore consider yourself as subjugated and oppressed as a regime that executes gay people, tortures and executes protestors, sentences adulterers to death, and actively starts a campaign to "make the surroundings unsafe" for "bad hijab", unsurprisingly culminating in the murder of Mahsa Amini, is perverted to say the least.

They act like people in Iran, Afghanistan and other countries are an alien species, separate from themselves. That this is just the way they like to live, and that people subjected to it just don't have the same ambitions, dreams or desires as they do.

It's hard to tell exactly why. Some part of it seems to be old-school racism; that people under Islamic regimes are brown people who aren't like us, and we can't think of them as being like us, can't judge their societies or rules because that would be western imperialism, and anyway they like it that way, they like their country functioning like that.

Some other part of it seems to be that if they acknowledge it, they have to admit that they don't really have it that bad. How can they pretend that they're the victims of skyscrapers, men sitting comfortably, and air conditioning after they've acknowledged ritual FGM, child marriage, acid attacks, or that hijab is not in fact empowering? How can they demand to get their way after they've admitted they're free, fortunate and privileged? (As mentioned, the expectation of accommodation itself refutes the idea of being "oppressed.") That is, it's a form of political, victimhood self-preservation. People might not pay as much attention, might not afford them as much political clout -- and honestly, much of the time, they probably shouldn't.

They think they're being culturally sensitive or inclusive or tolerant, or something. But as you mentioned, they're giving cover, making excuses for, and shielding from criticism, reactionary, conservative, fundamentalist religious zealots. Zealots who oppose and reject the sensitivity, inclusiveness and tolerance the apologists espouse, but won't say no to useful idiots acting as the western equivalent of morality police, enforcing blasphemy laws by scolding everyone as "Islamophobe" to silence them.

Suffice to say, none of that will work on me.

I hope that this will be a turning point for Iran, that inroads will be made as far as getting things to change. But even if not, that it's a wake up and reminder that this is not a deeply devout and conservative country, but an authoritarian regime imposing conservative fundamentalist dogma onto the entire population, regardless of their beliefs. And that we should be supporting the people, not defending the regime.

[a-couple-of-notes]

I love that line-up! I don't think you're wrong, but in an exercise of contrarianism, I'd like to offer a slightly different lineup:

Cassie's gotta stay Catherine Parr. Just from SIX's own interpretation of the historical figure, her song is based around acknowledging how much she loved Henry--but also how she can survive without it. (It'll never be better than it was, no, no / but I don't need your love). It fits so perfectly with late-stage Cassie, who has to reject a relationship with Jake in order to move on and preserve some of herself. It's got that kind of one-woman-army, do-what's-necessary firmness that's entirely Cassie.

I totally get Marco as Anne (although in a really ironic way--politics / not my thing is such a wild line for a Marco analogue). I don't think another song fits him better, but I will say the interlude Haus of Holbien strikes me as a very Marco song: flashy, yes, but concealing a sharp understanding of people and politics. Also, I think he'd have a lot of fun performing it.

Jake is Jane Seymour. As Jane must reckon with her complicated but enduring love for Henry, as well as the realities of the son she's responsible for, so too must Jake reckon with his stone-like loyalty toward his brother. Sure, Heart of Stone doesn't capture the usual traits we associate with Jake (his leadership, his strategic mind, his necessary coldness), but I feel like it does encapsulate his oft-overlooked naiveté/softness toward his family.

Ax is Catherine of Aragon. "No Way" is all about someone who has been unfailingly loyal to their partner; Ax has spent his whole life believing in the Andalite military culture. You've got me down on my knees / please tell me what you think I've done wrong / been humble, been loyal, I've tried to swallow my pride. Tonally, it's off for Ax (I could also see an argument made for Ax as Anne--kind of childish, chaotic, and his innocence about the Andalite military comes back to bite him in the ass; likewise, Marco could take Catherine of Aragon for its sassiness, loyalty, and Catholicism). Still, "No Way" lands very much lands in the crux of Ax's arc, which is like, where does the line get drawn? Where do you break, even if you've given this thing so much of your love and loyalty? I don't think book!Ax ever fully commits to saying "No Way," which is its own kind of tragedy, but hey, we're talking alternate universe wish fulfillment history here.

Rachel is Katherine Howard. "All You Wanna Do" is about a girl who, increasingly aware of the limited ways in which other people perceive her value, performs, and performs so well that she fools everyone else. The song is fun and girly but demanding, and hides the real darkness and mental strain beneath it. Both Katherine and Rachel desire normal lives--a real connection--but are denied that again and again, and in fact no one else really understands that that's what they want. Just as Rachel's death is sort of a climax to the Animorphs narrative, one potent beat that represents the magnitude of the toll this has taken on these kids, the end of "All You Wanna Do" essentially functions as the climax and turning point of SIX.

Unfortunately that leaves Tobias with Anna of Cleves, which doesn't fit at all, except maybe in the fact that both Tobias and Anna are sort of outsiders in their own narrative: Tobias by virtue of being a hawk, and Anna by virtue of having, like, the one good ending. That's a huge stretch, though, so I guess I'll just put him as the super-swing: apart from the rest of the cast but integral to the show working, able to see from everyone's POV while retaining a distinct sense of self.

I definitely think your picks are more solid overall, but this was a fun thought exercise! And I definitely enjoyed getting back to SIX. Lots of bops in there.

Animorphs but it's six the musical? I would love to see 5 of them trying to rip each other apart and the one person trying to have everyone stay calm.

I haven't seen Six. Anyone who has (and knows Animorphs) willing to weigh in?