#do not be misled by people like op

[aqlstar]

@ollie-garden because I do love a lot of your posts I just wanted to remind you (maybe tell you for the first time? Idk how old you are) that Domestic Terrorism is very specific category of crime- and many of the incidents on this list do not meet the criteria Domestic terrorism refers only to a certain type of violent extremism.

From the FBI-

@anarchywoofwoof either does not know that a Domestic Terrorism incident is not per se more serious than a hate crime or they are purposefully misleading well-meaning readers.

Just because the FBI does not classify something as a DT does not mean they do not take the incident seriously. In fact, there is only mandatory reporting for hate crimes (not for DT incidents that aren’t hate crimes).

Here is the link to the FBI Domestic Terrorism Strategic Report that covers 2015-2019.

You will find many of the incidents that are not considered DT incidents listed in the report as hate crimes.

For example- the Charleston Shooting is a hate crime because the shooter specifically targeted Black Americans. We do not have evidence that he targeted Black Americans for any reason other than that he hated Black Americans and wanted to kill as many as possible.

In contrast, the Tree of Life Shooting is both a hate crime and an incident of Domestic Terrorism because we know from his social media that the shooter targeted Jews because he wanted to prevent immigrants from entering the United States, and he believed that the best way to do that was to kill Jews so they would stop facilitating immigration.

The two concepts are closely related but not the same and honestly shame on OP for addressing that.

let's recap what we've learned about the United States in the last few days.

things that are terrorism:

allegedly shooting a healthcare CEO whose company generated more pure profit (not revenue, profit) in a year than the GDP of 94 countries, exclusively by denying coverage to people who pay for it

a 42-year-old mother of 2 using the wrong combination of 7 words during a heated conversation with a call center employee at a health insurance company who was in the process of denying her health coverage.

things that are not terrorism:

mass shooting in a Black church to incite a race war

going to a BLM protest specifically to kill protestors

a neo-nazi running over a crowd of people, killing a woman

targeting and killing 23 latinos in an el paso, texas walmart

killing 12 people in a theatre, shooting 58 others, rigging your apartment with explosives

a QAnon groyper killing 7 and shooting ~50 at a 4th of July parade

killing 3 people and shooting several others at a Planned Parenthood in defense of the unborn

stalking someone relentlessly and then killing them and their child despite months of the victim making police reports

any one of the 1,200 murders committed by US police yearly, the vast majority being minorities

tightening your border while ~100 immigrants (including children) drown every year in the Rio Grande

United Healthcare killing an unnknowable number of elderly people by using faulty AI to deny medically necessary coverage

Aetna killing a woman by refusing to cover her cancer care

Blue Cross killing a 6-year-old by denying her appendicitis surgery

Cigna killing a 17-year-old child by denying her liver transplant

the pharmaceutical industry killing half a million people with opioids in the name of producing revenues in 2023 that rivaled the GDPs of countries like Spain, Mexico, and Australia.

the United States killing 45,000 people a year because they can't access health coverage

make sure you keep this guide handy the next time you find yourself interacting with your insurance company or any other millionaire, billionaire, or an individual who is part of a protected class such as a CEO or president of a corporation.

[shiroganeryo]

DGM 252: New perspectives and confirmations it has given us

⚠️First of all, I'll be tagging this under DGM spoilers so if you have somehow stumbled upon this even if you're avoiding spoilers for Chapter 252 (or the most recent DGM talks as a whole), this is your warning to turn back now!

And secondly, I'm under the effect of allergy meds so please pardon me if I'm talking gibberish 😂 But the latest chapter has given us some food for thought and I've been mulling it over.

There are two points I want to cover in this post; the first one being much extensive while the other is rather short.

1. Bookman Jr.

The reveal that the guy we had thought to be Past!A all along was actually the former Bookman Jr. in one of the best twists Hoshino has given us in a while - she sounded very proud of how we were all misled by her narrative and honestly I tip my hat at her for such genius - has also fueled questions about his identity.

I'll start by saying I do not believe he and Cross are the same person. That's not what I'll be talking about so I'm playing this card right off the bat. This theory, although popular, has always had way too many gaps for my liking and after the latest chapter, the chances are practically null that it's true.

If you want a discussion as to why, this post has put it into words better than I could and I agree 100% with OP's point, hence why I don't see the need to say anything on the matter.

But there's one thing that I'm yet to see people discussing and it's about the talk Lucia had with Joe back in The 222nd Night: Searching for A.W. - Hypokrisis.

(I'm showing what I believe to be the official translated English version by Viz and there's a reason why)

For a long time, people have debated about this small exchange between Lucia and Joe. There's no doubt the one they're talking about is old man Bookman, so we can confidently affirm he's the one waiting at the Campbell Mansion.

And what about Lavi? This is where the next dialogue from Lucia comes into play:

Since this is probably the version a lot of people have read, I must make it clear that the like "Junior, his successor, isn't here" was a mistranslation. Here's the original:

Lucia: Koukeisha to naru Jr. wa mou imasen. (The one who'd become his successor, Jr, is no more.)

I've double-checked with the Brazilian Portuguese translation because it tends to be as close to the original as possible, and surely enough, it's translated correctly:

(image courtesy of the volume I own by my so-so phone camera 😋)

"Junior, who was his heir, is no more."

The literal translation for what Lucia is saying is "isn't among us anymore", but that's an expression in Portuguese that means that someone has died/doesn't walk on Earth anymore.

While the mistranslated English version and the original Japanese/Brazilian version have similar meanings, the way it's worded gives the sentence a completely different meaning: in one we're led to believe Jr. isn't physically there at the Mansion, while the other two make it clear that Jr. has died.

And that's exactly why that, after Chapter 252 dropped, this scene is given a new perspective - because Lucia was referring to the former Bookman Jr, and not the current one.

We don't know the whereabouts of current Lavi - cue in the chair jokes, I unfortunately love them all - and while I might be wrong, I have my reasons to believe he's alive.

It just doesn't feel like Hoshino to kill an important character off-screen, plus she has said we'll see him again eventually and that the mystery of what's behind his eyepatch is still to be revealed (and will only happen once Bookman passes away, something that will possibly happen before the story reaches its end).

I have the feeling Lavi still has much to contribute to the story and he's actually one of the characters that, to me, seem to have the highest odds of making it alive until the end. It also isn't mere coincidence that Bookman picked the same alias for both Juniors, since Lavi has mentioned in a discussion room that the aliases refer to their record logs and the Holy War is being recorded under 'Lavi'. There's unfinished business to be taken care of.

Using the mistranslated version to illustrate was important because I've seen people wondering where Lavi is if not in the Mansion, while others were afraid he has died. He's very likely in a predicament, but dead? I don't think so.

So that only leaves us with one viable subject for that dialogue, that being the former Bookman Jr. (now affectionately dubbed Lavi Sr. by the fandom).

"But how come they didn't know Bookman already had a new apprentice back in Chapter 222 if the Zoogles mentioned it in Chapter 251?"

Yes, it's a little odd. What I can infer from this is that they either 1. Didn't know Bookman already had a new Jr. because he had been unconscious and only after they stabilized his situation they could talk, or 2. Did know about the current Lavi but believe him not to be ready to take on the mantle yet while Lavi Sr. was (but unfortunately deserted the clan).

Since only the Bookman and his appointed apprentice, who was born with the seal, can exchange information and records via their blood, it might be not that off the chart that the Zoogles weren't up-to-date on his affairs since they're not Bookmen themselves but rather a bloodline of people scattered across the globe who are supporters of Bookman's mission like Lucia has explained. Yet, even if they aren't all-knowing, it seems odd for them not to know something as vital as that about the person they're supporting.

And of course, there's also the possibility of option 3, something else that I completely failed to consider right now. Time will tell which one.

Note: By the way, the Lucia in 222 and the Lucia in 251/252 are indeed the same person; Hoshino seemed to hint there's a reason behind her sudden aging that we don't know yet. It's important to make this clear since what I've said is related to dialogues delivered by her.

2. Past!A = current Allen

(image courtesy of Kougeki Scans' Chapter 251's translation)

There were theories around and people still considering the possibility of our current Allen being a clone and all sorts of theories because of the unexplainable age gap between him and Past!A, but it seems the deaging theory has been fully confirmed by Chapter 252, as we saw it taking place before our very eyes.

There are still some mysteries surrounding it, but seeing how Apocryphos mentioned the "Helix", we can't help but be taken back to the explanation we've previously seen about the Helix of Life (The 221st Night - The Clown's Joke).

Since that's a topic that feels like there's more to it as of now, I won't be discussing the how and why Allen deaged, especially with the unseen variable in the mix that is Innocence; who knows if that might make the Helix energy behave differently.

I was on the "deaging theory" train because Nea was able to recognize Past!A all right when he looks in the mirror (The 214th Night: Searching for A.W. - Awakening) and also questioned the presence of Innocence on his body as well as how he hadn't aged but instead had gotten younger (The 215th Night: Searching for A.W. - By Your Side).

There are many mistranslations in the official English version of these two chapters (214 and 215) that have fueled countless misconceptions within the fandom but I won't be pointing those out in this post since I'm not here this time specifically to talk about it.

Note: Mangadex seems to have nicely translated versions of these chapters if you want to check them out for a recalling - I can't confirm fully but what I read of them looked consistent and faithful to the original.

Anyways, back on track; now that we've seen what took place 35 years ago in Chapter 252, Nea's bewilderment at the current situation of Allen back in Chapter 214/215 makes a lot more sense.

And even more interesting is that as soon as he noticed the Innocence lodged into Allen's left hand, we see the image of Apocryphos, as if Nea could feel its presence. Turned out that meant more than just Apocryphos being able to resonate with all Innocence, but rather, that the very reason why that Innocence had found home in Allen's body was by its intervention.

Just what the hell, dude. That was, once again, extremely well-played on Hoshino's part. I'm really looking forward to the next chapter!

[torahoes]

(IDOLiSH7) Torao Mido - Drama Collection 2 Summer Rabbit Chat

Please note that I am not a professional translator. If you come across any mistakes, feel free to let me know and I will make the necessary corrections.

Torao Mido: Good work today. I watched the Kokona movie you mentioned the other day

Nagi Rokuya: I have been eagerly awaiting your message, Mido-shi.

Nagi Rokuya: Now, let's hear your 5★ review that will impress even professional film critics. How was "Magical Girl Magical★Kokona ~A Great Operation in the Galaxy of Love~"? X-D))))))

Torao Mido: First, let me apologize. I was misled by the character design

Torao Mido: This was totally a profound and intense human drama.

Nagi Rokuya: OH… I am deeply moved right now.

Nagi Rokuya: I heard the sound of you falling into the Kokona swamp.

Torao Mido: What kind of sound would that be?

Nagi Rokuya: Plop…

Torao Mido: That's a rather soft sound lol

Torao Mido: Firstly, the character setup was straightforward, so I could enjoy it even as a first-time viewer. You have the space queen aiming to conquer Earth and Kokona who bravely stands up to her.

Nagi Rokuya: YES! It's made so that even those who haven't seen the anime can enjoy it! The attention to detail is superb. The staff are brilliant too.

Torao Mido: Also, I felt I absolutely had to talk about this

Nagi Rokuya:

Torao Mido: The scene where Kokona, despite being battered from repeated attacks, mustered her last bit of strength to cast a spell was incredibly intense

Torao Mido: I never expected such a heartfelt scream from a character that looks like that…

Nagi Rokuya: "As long as there's love, magical girls are eternal!"

Nagi Rokuya: And then the godly OP starts playing. You can't watch it without bursting into tears.

Torao Mido: I get it. That direction is just unfair

Nagi Rokuya: I'm shaking your hand passionately in my mind right now, Mido-shi.

Torao Mido: You're not going to do it in person?

Nagi Rokuya: Hm, I'm not opposed to that.

Nagi Rokuya: Anything else? 🥹

Torao Mido: Let's see… Kokona always loved people. No matter how much she suffered, she never hesitated to reach out a helping hand. She never forgot to have a sympathetic heart

Torao Mido: Kokona — she's a great woman.

Nagi Rokuya: OMG

Nagi Rokuya: Just how much potential do you possess, Mido-shi? Please come to my castle, the IDOLiSH7 dorm, immediately!!

Torao Mido: Can't it be tomorrow? We'll be together for the interview anyway

Nagi Rokuya:

Nagi Rokuya: Oh, right! I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts in person tomorrow X-D))))))

Torao Mido:

Torao Mido: Changing the topic, there's something I wanted to ask you as well

Torao Mido: Remember we talked about preparing a return gift for the bouquet of origami flowers we received from the child actors? What are you planning to give them? I'd like to avoid giving the same thing

Nagi Rokuya: It was a lovely gift to commemorate our acquaintance, wasn't it? I’m preparing handkerchiefs with embroidered parasols, inspired by the drama 🏖️

Torao Mido: I see. I’ll steer clear of handkerchiefs then, thanks

Nagi Rokuya: So even a playboy like you struggles with gift-giving, huh?

Torao Mido: Haruka said, "They used gold and silver origami, so you need to think really carefully about your return gift," which instantly raised the difficulty….

Nagi Rokuya: OH… just as Isumi-shi said, gold and silver origami are very rare and precious because there are so few sheets ;-(

Torao Mido: Yeah, seems so…

Torao Mido: I know we shouldn't just gift something expensive without much thought. I’ll think about it a bit more

Nagi Rokuya:

Nagi Rokuya: Talking with you like this, Mido-shi, I feel that the contrast between you and your character isn't that stark.

Torao Mido: Really? I'm not that laid-back though, right? I played a photographer, so there were a lot of instances where I just wandered off with my camera

Nagi Rokuya: I thought you were similar to your character in how thoughtful you are. In the vacation scenes, your character was the one who was the most attentive to the kids, showing them around various places, after all

Torao Mido: Thanks. Doesn't feel bad to hear that

Torao Mido: Thinking about it, I might have been the most sensible one in that chaotic group of four. Striving to capture memories, saying, "I want to capture everyone's laughter and the scent of the sea breeze in this one photo."

Nagi Rokuya: I agree. It really pained my heart to have to say, "Look, I've graciously decided to carry you. You should consider it a great honor," to the tired kids in such a haughty manner in that one scene ;-((((

Torao Mido: That was a funny scene. Your face was covered in sand, yet you still managed to maintain that posed look

Nagi Rokuya: I've had my fill of sand for a lifetime. I'm done with the sea now ✋

Torao Mido: Oh, right, you don’t handle hot places well. You're quite the opposite of your character, huh

Nagi Rokuya: I didn’t have the power to change the drama's setting from a tropical beach to a frigid land, so I just resigned myself and gave my all for the role ; -P

Torao Mido: I'm glad you didn’t have the power

Nagi Rokuya: Do you dislike winter?

Torao Mido: I don't dislike it. I've come to appreciate the warmth of a kotatsu. But if I had to choose, I prefer hot weather over cold.

Nagi Rokuya: I see, now that I know you're a haughty man who likes summer, it might not be an exaggeration to say I played you, Mido-shi 😂

Torao Mido: You playing the role of me, huh. Not bad.

Nagi Rokuya: OH! That was an unexpected reaction. Well then, in order to play me, you will need to study Kokona more

Torao Mido: Was that the deal!?

Nagi Rokuya: I've graciously decided to lend you my entire DVD collection. Be grateful.

Torao Mido: Yeah, I'm not really into that idea

Nagi Rokuya: Same here 😂

Nagi Rokuya: Anyway, I'm eagerly anticipating tomorrow. Let's discuss with the fervor that rivals the tropical sun X-)))))

Torao Mido: Yeah. I've encountered a great piece of work. Looking forward to it

The End.

[aetherdoesthings]

Hi OP! Could we get a Xiao x GN Reader where reader is really panicking because of a bad decision that will come back to haunt them? Something fluffy maybe? :3 auhdjsjssj

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Hi! this is my first time writing for genshin lol

forethoughts: no, i'm not dead. i'm very much alive, just enjoying my time off the screen. like i said, first time writing genshin, so don't be too mean 🙏🏻🙏🏻. remember folks, hydrate or die-drate.

notes: gn!reader, fluff, xiao being a therapist

“So… what’s wrong?” 

You were pacing back and forth, your shoes crunching the same patch of grass over and over. Your heart felt like jumping off a cliff, your breathing erratic, head above the clouds. All the while, your partner was leaning against an oak tree that shielded the two of you from the sun, and from other people. Xiao remained silent, unsure how to approach you. It wasn’t your first time approaching Xiao with a war in your head; he was already accustomed to seeing you like this, but regardless he was still cautious of how to approach you.

“I did something bad. Really really really bad.��� You managed to regurgitate out those words after a while.

“Okay. And?”

“I… I…” You made a frustrated sound, throwing your hands up in the air, staring at Xiao, who still remained still and silent. 

“Is it something that requires my help?” Xiao asked, his voice quiet but firm.

“Maybe, no, yes? I don’t know!” You exasperated.

“What happened, Y/N?”

You let out a sigh, falling backwards, letting the grass envelope your body whole, hopefully consuming you before your problem would. “I… I think Dr. Baizhu’s mad at me.”

“Why would Baizhu be mad at you?” Xiao tilted his head.

“Okay, okay. It was a normal day. I was doing my stuff, but then Director Hu suddenly appear and asked for my help for something. She said there was this spirit that should be laid to rest in order to restore the natural cycle of life and death or whatnot, I dunno, I wasn’t paying attention. I thought it wouldn’t hurt to help, since Director Hu was asking me to help her. S-So I did. I went to Bubu Pharmacy, found the spirit, who’s apparently called Qiqi, and then gave her to Director Hu. But then Dr. Baizhu showed up out of nowhere, and told me that Director Hu was trying to kidnap Qiqi and said I was an accomplice and was doing something extremely bad. So I ran, and went here, and called on your name.”

Xiao’s deafening silence was making your heart race and breath quicken. Xiao always remained silent, only speaking when necessary and if you asked him to. His state of tranquility and peace was something that you loved and hated equally.

“I’m aware of Director Hu’s intention to give Qiqi a proper burial in order to restore the natural order of life and death. I was not aware Director Hu was familiar with you or knew you, but I digress.” Xiao walked towards you, kneeling down in front of your face. “Why are you so concerned with Baizhu being mad at you?”

“I don’t know! M-Maybe I can’t get anymore of my medicine from Bubu Pharmacy because he refuses to serve me, and then I’ll get sick and die-”

“That is not a possibility. I won’t let it be one.” Xiao said sternly.

Your heart skipped a beat at his tone. “I just don’t want to have people mad at me for something I didn’t know I was doing. Director Hu was very vague when she approached me, and maybe I should’ve asked more questions. I don’t know, okay?! I feel bad! I shouldn’t have listened to Director Hu, maybe none of this would’ve happened.”

“Y/N, relax.” Xiao cupped your cheek with one hand, making you look at him. “It’s not your fault Qiqi almost got taken by Director Hu again. Even if you weren’t a factor, Director Hu will still try and take Qiqi away. It’s not your fault. You did nothing wrong. You were misinformed and misled by Director Hu into doing something you had no idea what the repercussions would be. Stop beating yourself up, alright? Baizhu will always find a reason to be mad at everyone, in his pursuit for immortality. You do not need someone like him in your life taking up your energy and space. You’re going to be fine. Nothing’s going to come back and haunt you.”

You looked at your partner in the eyes, the corners of your mouth shooting up to your eyes. Xiao, the ever quiet adeptus who spent his time alone, never striked you as a man that was good with words. How he proved you wrong so many times in the course of your relationship. You leaned into Xiao’s touch, finding the energy to sit up, leaning your body against your boyfriend. Your fingers intertwined with each other, back leaning against the tree.

“Besides, I won’t let Baizhu lay a single finger on you. Ever. You’re safe, my love. So stop worrying and fussing about trivial matters. Let’s enjoy the sun while it’s still out, hm?”

[musashi]

just watched your latest youtube video (the one on the aai collection) and i want to thank you for not assuming malice from the actions of the ace attorney wiki admin who refuses to let the relation between franziska and miles be listed as "siblings". I've seen so many people see that and jump to the worst possible conclusion that "this must be because they ship miles and franziska" and not the much more reasonable conclusion that theyre just sort of anal about the nuance of their relationship and what's explicitly canon

i... that is deranged. that is the most wild conclusion to jump to that i can think of.

the aa fandom's violent allergy to actually engaging with the text is... unlike everything i have ever seen. i used to understand being unhappy with canon, wanting to rewrite/fix/add to it, all the memes about "lol i made it better" "canon will be lovingly baked at 400 degrees until it is properly browned" etc but the aa fandom has turned me into an absolute canon-worshipper with how much they just... do not care to acknowledge canon at all, and get WEIRD when you are a person who does.

i don't understand why they get so uppity at the siblings thing. there are a million different ways you can interpret whatever they have going on, but all we know is:

miles studied under manfred von karma

franziska, who also studied under him, affectionately refers to miles as her little brother.

like that's literally it... that's all we have. we don't know if miles lived with them. we don't know if miles considers franziska to be his sister. he never calls her that, and often jumps through hoops to avoid calling her that. why is that? is it that he doesn't see her that way? that he believes his fondness for her is too deep, special, and nuanced to delegate to something simple like 'sister'? is he just being emotionally constipated, a thing we know he is often? meditate on it! why do people just lie, instead? why don't people want to have fun and analyze the relationship?

i don't think it is even "anal" to run the wiki that way. a fandom wiki, like a regular wiki, is supposed to be full of strictly canon information, not conjecture and fanon. if you want conjecture, then get on ao3 or open your word process and make some. but a wiki is meant to provide documented, sourced information, and you cannot say that miles edgeworth considers franziska his sister when he patently says nothing on the matter in canon.

turning that into "its because op ships them" is the most deluded form of thinking i can imagine, and it's so transparent--they're insecure about their headcanons or mad that they were misled by fanon, do not like concrete proof that they were misled, and so they try to paint an innocent person as secretly some sort of deviant or problematic to cast that shame elsewhere. typical 15 year old catholic twitter user behaviour, you meet one you meet em all.

even if they did ship mitsumei, like... who cares, genuinely. they're lines. they're made up. but that's not what's happening here, it's literally just a wiki runner who is running a wiki correctly, and the aa fandom historically HATES canon and facts so they're losing their shit.

one of the youtube videos i have on the backburner is "aa fandom misconceptions" where i'm just going to debunk a thousand of these stupid fucking things one by one. the more time passes the more anxious i get wanting to make it. maybe it's just me being a rules-obsessed autistic, but i cannot stand when people just lie about canon.

[simplegenius042]

Music Monday

Tagged by @josephseedismyfather

Tagging @socially-awkward-skeleton @shallow-gravy @inafieldofdaisies @strangefable @strafethesesinners @direwombat @derelictheretic @titiagls @wrathfulrook @carlosoliveiraa @adelaidedrubman @thewanderer-000 @henbased @josephslittledeputy @direwombat @g0dspeeed @nightbloodbix @afarcryfrommymain @voidika @ladyoriza @florbelles @vampireninjabunnies-blog @minilev @snake-in-the-garden @softtidesworld @onehornedbeast @cassietrn @chazz-anova @megraen @deputyash @dephellseed @deputy-morgan-malone @skoll-sun-eater @fourlittleseedlings @la-grosse-patate @cloudofbutterflies92 @starsandskies and @i-am-the-balancing-point + anyone else who wants to join in. Here's my taglist.

Three songs for The UnTitledverse, Wings And Horns' original spin off trilogy and Far Cry The Silver Chronicles below the cut.

First is "My Ordinary Life" for the main antagonist of The UnTitledverse, Zachariah the Orchestrator, the "Hand at Fate's Table" and the second-borne Eldritch that is the center point of majority of the multiverse's issues.

"They tell me that I'm special, I smile and shake my head I'll give them stories to tell friends about the things I said They tell me I'm so humble, I say I'm turning red They let me lie to them and don't feel like they've been misled They give so much to me, I'm losing touch get me? Served on a silver platter, ask for second they just let me

They tell me I'm a god, I'm lost in the fascade Six feet off the ground at all times I think I'm feelin' odd No matter what I make, they never see mistakes Makin' so much bread, I don't care that they're just being fake They tell me they're below me, I act like I'm above The people blend together but I would be lost without their love

Can you heal me? Have I gained too much? When you become untouchable you're unable to touch Is there a real me? Pop the champagne It hurts me just to think and I don't do pain."

Silva may not be aware of it, but she actually has a rivalry with the Voice, or at least her supernatural Third Eye does. Abridged explanation of the Third Eye: some mystical entity commonly tied to the human soul but doesn't necessarily need to be to help its user, usually just retains memories and personality to give some back to the renewed soul upon reincarnating so the variants of the person don't become carbon copies, however instances like Silva and Paul who don't have a soul (due to the circumstances of their "births") they instead only build up their own Third Eye to protect themselves, which gives them back their memories, personality and skills into their next lives deep in their subconscious, so while they don't consciously remember most familiar things they instinctively do and gravitate towards that. The Third Eye also has an OP mode and can enhance the user who is aware and works symbiotically with it in ways humans back in the beginning of the multiverse could do. Paul realized this and gave Silva some subtle lessons (never explicitly saying what it was for) so Silva just thought it was meditation to make her more spiritual with her soul or something and doesn't actually realize until much, much later in her life that she's powerful enough to kill a God if she wanted to. There's a lot more for the Third Eye but I'll explain in a more detailed post.

Anyway, the Voice genuinely hates Silva for constantly foiling its plans in some shape or form, especially by the time of Silva's Hope, as the Voice hasn't exactly made itself look capable of governing one corner of the universe to its extremely cruel and unforgiving superior. And since the Voice is very biased and hypocritical on why "a deputy woman trying to live a normal life is more deserving of torment and needless suffering than the the prophet who killed his daughter for it and the other prophet who gaslit, gatekeeped, manipulated, mansplained, manwhored and manslaughtered his way through life", once Silva becomes aware of the Voice, its on sight. Anyway song below:

"Kill me again, again and again But I come back knowing so much more Learning all your tricks I'll make you sick Because the truth is...* I'll make you quit."

"Try to stay [first], [have to] stay first** You're still good-good, admit to this Don't fight anymore, it's such a snore One more step, and I'll make it war."

"And I still love the way I "hurt" you."

"It's determination, whoa-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-yeah Whoa-oh-oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-yeah.

I love the way, I love the way I love the way you keep on trying I love the way (I love the way), I love the way (I love the way) I love the way you keep on dying."

(* = Obviously I had to emit Sans name due to that probably not being the Voice's name ** = The Voice is against Silva, and since Frisk is from Undertale, I had to adapt the lyrics here a bit)

A song for the unnamed original trilogy I'm working on, which spins off from the events of Wings And Horns, but focusing on two characters who appeared in it, unnamed but can confirm they're both women, with one being trans. This pair are the first humans to have ever explored the Multiverse, and the trilogy will be following their story in life, navigating the aftermath of the abolishing of the soulmate system, discovering + exploring the Multiverse, and seeking out the Wheel of Reincarnation in the Afterlife, while facing internal and external problems, the most prominent being the Mad Kin of Carnage himself, Discord.

"I'm born to run, down rocky cliffs Give me grace, bury my sins Shattered glass and black holes Can't hold me back from where I need to go

Whoa-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Oh, oh, oh-oh-oh-oh

Yellow hills and valleys deep I watch them move under my feet Stranger things, have come and gone To see the world and take the throne

Don't hold back Oh, I won't hold back

I'm gonna live my life like I'm gonna die young Like it's never enough, like I'm born to run I'm gonna spend my time like tomorrow won't come Do whatever I want, like I'm born to run

I wanna see Paris (Hey), I wanna see Tokyo I wanna be careless (Hey), even if I break my bones I'm gonna live my life like I'm gonna die young Like it's never enough, like I'm born to run.

A winding road, where strangers meet To feel the love of a warm drink My body moves, it's speaking loud Don't have to say what I'm thinking now

Don't hold back Oh, I won't hold back

I'm gonna live my life like I'm gonna die young Like it's never enough, like I'm born to run I'm gonna spend my time like tomorrow won't come Do whatever I want, like I'm born to run

I wanna see Paris (Hey), I wanna see Tokyo I wanna be careless (Hey), even if I break my bones I'm gonna live my life like I'm gonna die young Like it's never enough, like I'm born to run.

All these things, I've seen and done I live my life like I'm born to run All these things, I've seen and done I live my life like I'm born to run All these things, I've seen and done (I was born, born, born, born, born to run) I live my life like I'm born to run (I was born, born, born, born, born to run)

I'm gonna live my life like I'm gonna die young Like it's never enough, like I'm born to run I'm gonna spend my time like tomorrow won't come Do whatever I want, like I'm born to run

I wanna see Paris (Hey), I wanna see Tokyo I wanna be careless (Hey), even if I break my bones I'm gonna live my life like I'm gonna die young Like it's never enough, like I'm born to run.

Oh, oh, oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Oh, oh, oh-oh-oh-oh Oh, oh, oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Oh, oh, oh-oh-oh-oh!"

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

The NYTimes double standard on display, again

On Tuesday, the New York Times published a list of twenty-one questions that it would like Kamala Harris to answer about her policies. Ah, at last! The Times is covering substance! Good for the Times! I hurriedly scanned the Times for its twenty-one questions about policy that the Times would like Donald Trump to answer.

Of course, I searched in vain for a parallel set of questions that Times would like Trump to answer. No such list was to be found. Sad. Pathetic. Shameful.

Several readers commented on my post yesterday and urged me to stop criticizing the Times. Their reasons ranged from “Don’t give the Times more attention,” “I ignore those stories,” and “The stories aren’t as bad as the headlines.”

Here’s why the Times’ continued use of misleading headlines and unfair bias against Kamala Harris matter: The Times publishing empire is the world’s largest media outlet (combining all Times properties). What the Times emphasizes quickly spreads through social media and other mainstream media outlets. Rightly or wrongly, the Times has a disproportionate impact on the media narrative each day.

Tens (hundreds?) of millions who don’t read the Times are exposed to its headlines through secondary sources. When a guest essayist pens a bad-faith op-ed titled, “Trump can win on character,” tens of millions of people believe that the New York Times believes Trump's character is superior to Kamala Harris’s.

The fact that the Times’ misleading editorial practices do not fool some readers does not mean that millions of others are not misled by those same practices. The Times should be better—but it chooses not to be. It deserves the criticism that I and others heap upon it.

My criticisms of Tom Lowry’s article yesterday about Trump “winning on character” were mild compared to those leveled by other authors. I highly recommend Tom Nichols’ superb essay in The Atlantic, The conservatives who sold their souls for Trump.

Nichols uses Lowry’s “Trump can win on character” essay as a frame to explain how far the original “anti-Trump” conservatives have fallen. Nichols writes,

But principles are sometimes burdensome things; that’s part of what makes them principles. The behavior of the anti-anti-Trumpers continues to be an inexcusable betrayal of the values they once claimed to hold. Many of them spoke, even passionately, against Trump—and then they shuffled into line. And for what? One more federal judge? A few billion more dollars in the account of a donor?

It’s one thing to sell your soul cheaply. It’s another to keep taking out second and third mortgages on it until all that’s left is debt and shame.

I also recommend Jonathan V. Last’s brilliant essay The Bulwark, Why Did the New York Times Let Itself Be Used as a Mule?

Last writes, in part,

Lowry’s essay isn’t aimed at Times readers. He is not explaining reality. His op-ed does not add any value for the NYT audience. The piece is little more than a memo to the Trump campaign. Lowry thinks he has an insight into how Trump could attack Harris, but because no one at the campaign cares what Rich has to say, he convinced the Times op-ed page to mule his ideas directly to Trump. Why would America’s paper of record consent to be used like this by a conservative sad-sack?

So, the next time the Times gets the brilliant idea to publish twenty-one hard-hitting questions for Kamala Harris, will anyone on the newsroom or editorial staff have the self-awareness, humility, or integrity to say, “Why aren’t we subjecting Trump to the same scrutiny?” I doubt that will ever happen, but a person can dream.

Oh, and by the way, remember when the NYTimes published details of DNC emails stolen by Russian hackers? Well, the NYTimes has had possession of Trump campaign internal emails since August 11 (or thereabouts) but hasn’t published a single confidential detail. I believe that news organizations should not publish hacked or stolen materials. But wouldn’t it be nice if the NYTimes explained why it was appropriate to publish details of DNC hacked emails but not publish details from hacked emails from the Trump campaign?

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[bringbackwendellvaughn]

If you were the director of the Raft and had the choice to pick out members for your own version of Thunderbolts, who would you pick?And why?

Any of my Marvel knowledge is about 12 years out of date now.

First, I'll acknowledge that the question posed is "who makes sense" as opposed to simply "who do I like", so I'll try and ignore my inane need to have Grizzly in every comic.

Songbird always screams as the obvious candidate to lead any team.

Team-wise, since my larder is Raft inmates I'll immediately remove the past members that were "heroes" the last time I really was invested in the universe (Atlas, Abe, Radioactive Man, Jolt) even though they pretty much all were made evil again in the comics. I'll also try and steer clear of too many repeated members - as much as Blizzard, Amazon or Boomerang have potential to be better... they didn't manage it the first time, so I'd be a wishful fool to make a team of people who showed some promise but then as much as gave up. With that said, I am keeping two from The Raft era because they plain work on this format of prison reform team and... well, we'll get to her.

I think Juggernaut always makes sense. Keeping him on the straight and narrow by way of Thunderbolts is only beneficial for everyone. As a member of the team, and previously the X-Men, it was shown quite clearly that offering him the chance to contribute and giving him clear focus effectively removes his inclination to waywardness. His temper and the ease to manipulate him need to be worked on or taken into account.

Next up, might as well keep it rolling with the X-Men's rejects so we have Mimic. Mimic is and has always been directionless but shows capacity to both recognise the right thing to do and even the desire to do so. Away from the X-Men and any feelings of inferiority or being a copy, he can find some inspiration from Songbird and his team-mates to be the hero he thought he could have been instead of hiding behind an attitude and apathy. Mimic's powers alone make him beyond useful in any situation, but they also present an opportunity to adapt and plan in advance. (I'm going with the Exiles set-up of him being a mutant allowed to copy 5 mutant powers at a time and they are only half as powerful as the original - because that made the most sense and didn't make him completely OP)

Ghost. Like Juggernaut, the team takes him out of the running to be a future potential enemy. He has a skillset and expertise that is valued and the team helps Ghost better himself allowing him to interact with others and come to develop human connections and feelings which he has otherwise denied himself. Manipulating Ghost or keeping stuff hidden from him will only make him a nuisance or a threat - instead allow him a mixture of respect (for his abilities and intelligence) and don't give him any reason to feel misled or paranoid.

Sylvie Lushton, the Enchantress from the Young Masters, is still young and could be set on the right path. She's not yet a broken toy, her moral compass is simply undeveloped with her attitude still being that of any spoilt high school girl - shallow, fickle and vapid. Her greatest asset is she already has some finesse with aspects of her magic (teleportation) and potential to tap into even greater spellcasting than she has so far displayed. Essential to accommodate her relationship with inmate Melter, no use in removing one of the few things that present possibility for her to feel or care for someone. (Melter isn't unsalvageable either but I think he would benefit from serving his time - for manslaughter, I think that was his only crime? Although come to think of it I'm not sure Sylvie even committed any crime?).

In what I already suspect is a bad decision, I think Tiger Shark too could be rounded into, at least, an agent. He has attempted to turn over a new leaf before and his erratic motivations and even physical appearance seem to be the result of an imbalance of oxygens similar to that which also affected Namor. With appropriate treatments, Tiger Shark may again be susceptible to the idea of reform. On the Thunderbolts, he offers two great advantages - a second tank to stand beside Juggernaut and then someone uniquely suited to any aquatic elements.

Continuing the trend of poor choices... let's finally get to the obvious - Moonstone is insubordinate, she can't be trusted and she is unlikely to really accept or even ideate the notion of personal redemption again. However, it is much easier to include her as a team-mate than ever have to count her as an enemy. Active involvement in the team mollifies and reduces her threat to others significantly - however, preparations and contingencies should be made for the possibility of flippant betrayal. Her manipulating any of the team to her own ends should also be anticipated, expected and combated as best as it can be.

Lastly, what the team is lacking is someone who doesn't rely on strength or big powers, so we round off the team with Crossfire. He is a highly trained combatant, an excellent marksman, a master of battle strategy and has intuitive technological proficiency. He has no interest in atonement or bettering himself, no desire to be a good person or wash the blood from his hands... but he is a professional. Simply allowing him the chance to use his abilities to work off his sentence or work towards gaining a clean slate for past crimes could provide incentive.

All I can say is, I hope Graviton doesn't murder them all.

[polychaeteworm]

I love that when people stare at me judgingly in public I both don't fucking notice and my partner stares at them back like an attack dog service animal.

There's so many reasons they could be staring at me that I just can't bother. The usual reason though is that I have a stereotypically "forbidden" gender presentation and people are genuinely just upset about the knee jerk "that's a man/woman" judgement not working on me.

I have boobs, don't bind, have majestic long hair, strong arms, wide hips, a well trimmed beard, and a voice that comes out butch when I'm talking to my partner and femme when I politely pitch it up for the cashier or get excited. I also walk with a cane covered in moons and stars so there's that to stare at too.

In my life with being Transgender and a Two Spirit, I have finished my transition, I'm still on on T, but as far as I'm concerned my needed changes have been achieved. Goal met. Dysphoria mostly vanquished.

People are always so passively mean to me off of just seeing me I can't just keep taking it personally because a lot of times it isn't personal at all. Maybe this person is having a bad day, maybe that's a non hostile confused face, maybe they want me dead? Who knows I'm Autistic and it's not worth it to think about it too hard. Assuming better of my oppressors and only shaming them when they directly fall short of being decent is how I keep my power. Micro aggression? Sorry Im not paying attention to you doing that. I've learned that the further from the binary I drift, the more people will be upset and if I bend to that then I forsake who I actually am.

I'm just happy that I'm at peace with my body. I can't control what people see, and what they see has no bearing on my identity really unless I give them that power. I don't worry about how people look at me anymore. If they make my body a problem that's on them. I am a rock in a stream.

I think the most detrimental effect on my self image came not from the usual suspects but from members of the trans community. I got to feel the effects of binarist ideals before "transmed" was a word in use. Struggling with this is unfortunately what defined my transition because it created my social dysphoria.

I was told so repeatedly that the visible presence of my boobs made me not trans enough to the point where I struggled through my life wearing a binder that deep down I had no desire to wear. It was like another kind of bra.

Both bras and binders are sensory nightmares for me. I didn't even have a desire to erase my tits, I only had the desire to be accepted as "really not a woman" or as anything other than "cis girl playing around" I had more voice dysphoria than anything else and a lot of people in the community treated chest dysphoria as THE prerequisite to being trans masc.

Like seriously, I needed the non-op support earlier... way way earlier. It only took so long to figure myself out because of the way that trans meds treat the ones who are comfortable presenting a hodge podge of gender. That people like me are "asking for too much" and treating gender "like a costume".

Trans meds misled me and I'll never forget the way that non op trans mascs who don't bind were and still are treated by our own community. I'm here, I'm alive and you cannot stop me from breasting boobily with my beard as trans masc person.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Nemesis (1992)

While I didn't enjoy this film, that doesn't mean you won't. No matter what I say, the people involved in this project did it: they actually made a movie. That's something to be applauded. With that established...

I sat down with Nemesis knowing it was a cheap Terminator clone but for the longest time, I thought I’d been misled. It all comes together in the end but for the bulk of its running time, this is a confusing mess. Needlessly overcomplicated, with pointless action scenes, useless characters, and twists that are never surprising, it has a couple of meme-worthy moments and some intentional laughs but I wager you’ll be bored for the most of it.

In the near future, androids are commonplace and live among us. Alex Raine (Olivier Gruner) is a cyborg assassin/bounty hunter for the LAPD who, after narrowly surviving a dangerous mission, decides to call it quits. His old boss, Commissioner Farnsworth (Tim Thomerson) calls upon Alex for one final assignment. His former lover, Jared (Marjorie Monaghan), is an android who has stolen valuable information from the government. They need Alex to track her down.

The movie begins with androids trying to kill Alex. After grievous injuries, he's rebuilt and begins questioning his humanity. On top, we get heaps of double dealings and shady government ops, rebel groups, political machinations and all sorts of detective thriller aspects. None of these add anything to the story. Do you want to know what this movie is really about? It’s this cyborg cop, Alex, who learns his bosses are actually androids bent on taking over the world by replacing every human being with robot duplicates. He only discovers this after they’ve sent him on a mission to find his former girlfriend who has discovered the truth. There. See how easy that was to explain? There was no need to rip off Escape from New York by having the police chief implant a bomb inside Alex’s arm (he’s got a deadline to meet otherwise, he dies). It’s just Invasion of the Body Snatchers but with Cylons instead of aliens.

Forget all the back-and-forth between Alex, his boss, the government, the people who believe sending in a single agent who isn’t “with the cause” is a bad idea and all that. All this does is leave us with our heads spinning - and not in a good way. Maybe some of the other cuts of the film are easier to follow. I doubt it.

The plot is simultaneously so convoluted it’s impenetrable to anyone who hasn’t read a synopsis and so utterly lacking in any innovation or surprises you know exactly how everything will go. You'll predict everything because you've seen what this movie wants to do elsewhere: among others, we have Blade Runner, Robocop, and finally, Terminator. At first, it’s a knockoff of that last one in subtle ways. A robot gets damaged in a way that’s reminiscent of the T-101 so that we can see their one robotic eye. In a later scene, an android gets its legs blown off and has to crawl across the floor as if reaching for Sarah Connor. Once you FINALLY reach the end, you really see the signs. I’m not talking about the discount stop-motion work with the robot skeleton; I mean the overall plot. The baddies may be androids… but they’re just robots who don’t look like robots and are here to infiltrate us.

"Ah! So it’s a more cerebral version of Terminator then?"

Well, it WANTS to be but more than once, it just gives up. Nemesis knows no one cares about what it has to say. Anyone tracking this one down just wants to see explosions, gore and a bit of nudity thrown in. Lucky for us, it checks all the boxes... but by the time it does, we're too late. Any enjoyment you might’ve drawn from this low-rent would-be sci-fi thriller has been squashed by utter boredom. (On Blu-ray, May 18, 2019)

[sometipsygnostalgic]

A comment thread on Reddit about Adora’s defection - the OP and my reply.  

It’s one hell of a coincidence that @laas-yahnir​ was discussing this topic at the same time. 

Transcript of my comment underneath: 

The fact Adora MADE this decision is her defining character moment.

In the original SheRa among other stories, when the hero leaves the evil organisation to help the good guys, it's portrayed as this heroic and good thing.

Shera makes you think it's playing this straight, but as the show goes on, it further makes you question whether the decision to leave everything she held dear to Do The Right Thing was actually good for Adora at all.

Now, we can see the sort of future that would have awaited Adora at the Horde in the form of Catra. Adora was right to leave the Horde, and Catra only stayed out of desperation to prove to herself that she wasn't worthless without Adora.

However, if you compare Adora to the other characters in the Horde then you can see a huge contrast in motivation which is NOT rooted in them being evil at all.

Catra wanted to prove Shadow Weaver wrong, she wanted to make sure she could never get hurt again, but Adora fell into Weaver's traps and no matter how she tried to resist she couldn't escape the mindset without Catra.

Scorpia wanted to stay with and protect Catra, markedly the thing Adora WOULDNT do, and Adora felt so guilty. Scorpia is motivated by friendship but Adora left all her friends behind.

Kyle, Lonnie, and Rogelio wanted to stick together and were very hurt that Adora left them without a second thought.

Entrapta JOINED the Horde because they gave her more agency and liked her. She deeply wants unconditional love. Adora , who thinks ALL love is conditional, sticks through the Rebellion even when Glimmer starts to dehumanise her, in hopes of sacrificing herself enough for their respect. It was an impossible thing to win.

There is a scene in season 3 where Adora and Hordak, heavily misled by the roles put before them, swear to vanquish each other. Adora at this point is thoroughly brainwashed by the First Ones and believes Hordak stole her but it's okay because she'll end him as She-Ra. Hordak meanwhile is still absorbed in insecurity and villainy and threatens her, and when his suit glitches in front of her, he lashes out at the one person who cares about him.

Then after this arc, Adora stops chasing Catra and forces herself into the SheRa role super hardcore because of Angella's death, while Hordak loses Entrapta and absolutely becomes a supervillain blowing shit up to impress big brother Prime.

But they meet again in season 5, that beautiful scene on the cliff, where Adora saves Hordak and they remember a gentle moment of him actually saving her as a baby. Then Hordak shows vulnerability and love openly, and Adora returns to Catra finally comfortable in her own skin.

So yeah, it's not healthy Adora left her world behind for other people's sake. But the show is dedicated to deconstructing this.

[transphilza]

on second thought, i’m gonna talk about the situation Once, right here. don’t mind me!

i know i said i wouldn’t discuss this extensively but i am at core a researcher and someone who prioritizes knowing as much as i can about a situation before deciding anything about it. so i’ve done my digging into the accusations and things and i’d like to summarize the main points as well as discuss how things have played out a bit. i won’t be answering asks about this, i just wanted to put it all in one place, cause this is how i process information, lol.

there are two aspects to these allegations: dream is being accused of housing an abuser, and manatreed is being accused of being that abuser. <- this is important. i’ve seen some dteam mains, who probably haven’t seen the extent of the original posts, stating that these allegations only affect manatreed and that He is the only one who needs to explain, but he isn’t, sadly. as of now there is no way for manatreed to defend himself without doxxing himself - which is what op wants. op specifically asked manatreed to post a redacted version of a license if he wanted to prove himself innocent… despite the fact being that even while blacking out parts of it, it is incredibly easy for a license to be traced. for manatreed as of right now there isn’t anything he can do other than doxx himself or proceed with legal action.

dream’s situation is…. a bit messier. there’s the court records linking the abuser to an address which has been associated with dream and sapnap. i cant say whether or not this actually is their address, of course. this past address (with sapnap) has been doxxed, and old private photos been uncovered in an attempt to link him to this person (the abuser) who is believed to be seen in childhood photos with dream. people have also doxxed his family members - if you weren’t aware, this is why dream’s private twitter was deactivated, because people were responding with doxxed information about his sister. i don’t even know what dream is supposed to do here, honestly; his side of things is a lot more confusing because it isn’t as cut and dry as just “is he or isn’t he this person on these documents?” … it implicates him in extremely personal matters. the doxxed information could be incorrectly linked or otherwise fabricated, sure. i’ve read some people saying that the timeline op uses doesn’t line up, and that dream/sapnap may have lived at that address but at a different time than the abuser. dream could’ve actually been housing this person with the criminal record; but he may or may not have been aware of such record even existing and may have been simply trying to help a friend. he may have been lied to or misled by this person. the absolute worst case scenario, which obviously at this point is just as impossible to prove as everything else, is that dream knowingly housed an abuser and created a several-month-long ruse to eventually give said abuser a platform. given dreams past (without saying anything more than that he has past experiences with domestic abuse, which i believe were also discussed in the past due to another doxx) i find this to be unlikely. he immediately removed a previous dsmp recruit for abuse allegations before. it would be career suicide for him to do this knowingly, and dream is really stupid sometimes but i seriously don’t think he’s that stupid… but that judgement also comes back to the fact that i have my own biases toward dream, so.

the other most important thing i think people are ignoring is that THIS DID NOT COME FROM A VICTIM. this was not a victim speaking out. do not say “believe the victim!” for this situation — the victim likely never wanted this information to be publicized, and she is being doxxed too. this came from people who intentionally dig up personal information about people and spread it on social media, not a victim.

for me, the allegations themselves are far more important than how dream (and sapnap by proxy) and manatreed have responded to them. although the lore stream does make me feel sick: at first i figured it must have been scheduled and they were just shit at reading a room, but given dream tweeting about an hour before asking what he should stream and no prior hype being given by sapnap, who likes to plan and hype his lore streams…. it’s fair to assume this was really shitty and insensitive damage control. in terms of the initial tweets, however, i understand why dream at the very least responded how he did: this is an absolutely terrifying situation where a lot of extremely private and personal information about both himself and his family is being broadcasted to the internet, where a lot of people dislike him. i seriously don’t blame him for that “i’m scared for my family” thing - i don’t think that was him playing the victim, i think it’s just… true. this is scary, whether he did or didn’t house the abuser.

lastly, i want to talk about the future, which for most of us is the scariest implication of it all. i’m going to tell you the two outcomes in terms of my blog as well

best case scenario(s): manatreed isn’t guilty, or if manatreed is guilty, dream publicly renounces their association. the documents linking his address to the abuser were either false or there were extenuating circumstances to why dream was housing them (i.e. dream was unaware of their criminal record). and honestly, for me, even if he was somewhat aware of their record, i don’t think it’s immoral to try and privately support someone you know who has done bad things in an effort to make them better. a court record doesn’t tell us everything about this situation; there could be many reasons dream would want to help someone get back on their feet despite a criminal offense. in my opinion, if this abuser is not manatreed, then it’s none of our business. in this case; my blog remains entirely normal, i will continue to support dream and his community on here (albeit perhaps less frequently, depending.)

worst case scenario: manatreed is proven guilty and dream continues to associate with him. and/or: it’s proven that dream was aware he was an abuser this whole time. dream choosing to give a platform to this abuser is what i worry about most. who he chooses to let sleep in his house is none of my fucking business; who he chooses to lend his massive audience to is. if this were the case, this has serious implications for the dream smp as a whole, and as such, would change this blog’s content. in this situation, i would no longer post about dream nor anyone else associated with the situation. i would continue to post about the dsmp should it continue, or in any form that it does continue in, focusing primarily on characters less connected to dream.

this blog, as much as i post about the dsmp, has always been cc-centered though. in terms of me, as long as wilbur and ranboo (among a few others; mostly sbi/bench trio) continue to make content, i’ll be around. but yeah

here’s hoping things work out

[lorddeathofmurdermountain]

Iirc half-elf aging specifically is very weird, Marcille could speak pretty much right away but couldn't walk for ages for instance.

However, I do think Sissel's age is a bit, you know, higher. In Elven terms I assumed he was an adult even before he became the Lord of the Dungeon, since iirc he served Delgal's father way before Delgal was born, or at least that's my impression. Besides which, the Dungeon has existed for, like, a thousand years or so, and while nobody inside the Dungeon ages physically, I doubt they stop developing entirely - though you can, of course, argue that a young brain still indicates someone is a minor. The closest approximation in real life would be a young person who "grew up too fast".

Either way, however, I don't think Sissel is a minor by our standards (applied to Elven aging, mind you). However, being Dungeon Lord has a clear association with mental deterioration, and Sissel was DL for a thousand years, while Mithrun barely lasted a couple (I think - rather, it couldn't have been more than a couple of years at most.) So I don't think he's a minor, but I do think his psyche has deteriorated to the point where he might have a more, shall we say, young outlook on things.

I do, however, also think OP is misled on a few things. Sissel isn't a brown person. Sissel isn't even a PERSON. Sissel is an unrealistic drawing of a fantasy creature. You might find it icky but it's completely fine to ship anyone with anyone else.

Now, I know this is ironic since I've been vocally annoyed at ships in general, but it's not that I'm against them existing, moreso that I want to criticize people who behave a certain way about ships. For instance, a poorly written one or one that relies solely on canon events. I'm sorry, but the canon really doesn't make a good case for why Laios and Kabru would be together. If you want your ship to be believable please MAKE IT believable. "Here, look, a very isolated incident that totally proves A and B are madly in love together and not just being decent human beings to one another!" is a common and annoying sentiment and I'm sick of it.

Basically, I want people to put as much effort into making their ships convincing proportionally to how much they're trying to convince me of its legitimacy.

i dont think ppl understand that thistle is a good example of the “1000 year old kid” trope. it was used right, it makes such a good allegory to the adultification that happens with brown kids. everyone around him ASSUMED he was an adult and gave him adult responsibilities, and it backfired tremendously. but the thing is people in this fandom are so ship brained it flies past people’s heads so they do shit like ship him with an adult like laios or his brother.

he’s not a *literal* child but there is a reason why kui has deliberately drawn him several years younger than his first appearance lol. even his tallman form looks like a child, whereas short elves like fleki and otta look like adults as tallmen

remember, wrt full-blooded elf aging 80 year olds are equivalent to 16. if thistle was brought into the castle when he was 20, and delgal was 40 by the time the dungeon was made, he’d be 60 at most

[captainpikeachu]

MORE SPOILERS AND SPECULATIONS ABOUT DETAILS IN WAKANDA FOREVER!!!!

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Val’s appearance in Wakanda Forever does clarify more of her intentions and goals and through it, we could see why the Thunderbolts lineup is chosen the way it is with their skillsets and their respective susceptibility to her manipulations.

If Val is worried about Wakanda and its hold on vibranium, it’s no doubt she’s aiming to get her hands on it, we already saw them talking about trying to destabilize the country in some way and what better team than a group of people who’ve all been trained to do that in some way shape or form? Ava did that for SHIELD, Bucky did that for Hydra, Yelena and Antonia and Alexei did that for the Red Room, and John did that for the US govt. Add that in with Ava’s phasing abilities, they’re a perfect sneaky black ops team useful for stealing stuff and getting in and out of places quickly and effectively. And you can’t tell me that Val doesn’t know about Bucky’s friendly connection to Wakanda, which she will no doubt exploit.

Now again, this team lineup isn’t evil villains doing bad for the sake of bad or folks who don’t care, they’ll likely be lied to and misled, and we know Val is more than capable of that twisting details here and there. It’s more than likely the team might not even realize what they’re really being sent to do until it’s too late. Or it’s even possible that some members of the team may be sent in with secret individual missions (like how Fury once gave Natasha a specific mission while telling Steve the mission was something else).

In the comics, the Thunderbolts were originally bad guys pretending to be superheroes, so it wouldn’t be far-fetched for the MCU to flips the script a bit in the direction of folks who thought they were doing the right thing finding out they’re actually being manipulated to do bad things. But even if they do find out, the team might not be able to defy Val if she has leverage over them.

Yelena, Bucky, and Antonia have all been mind controlled before, who’s to say Val don’t have access to some mind control drugs, or play mind games in other ways if they don’t play ball with her, after all, there’s more than just mind control to “control” someone.

John has already been perfectly primed by the Army all his life to be loyal to his govt and follow orders, and even if he were to disobey Val, let’s not forget that John has a wife, Olivia, that Val can easily threaten him over her safety or pretend someone else specific is threatening her so as to tip John over an emotional edge (I mean in the comics, the Red Skull literally did this to John with staging/ordering the murder of his parents).

Ava might still be sick. We knew Scott and the others were trying to gather quantum energy to help her when the snap happened, but we have no idea what Ava’s condition might be during that time or now, so Val could literally hold a cure over her head if she steps out of line, or even say that Wakanda has tech that can help her and they can get that for her if she does her job well.

Alexei is not the brightest light on the Christmas tree so honestly Val could probably run circles over him very easily, or appeal to his vanity for another chance at a glory day, or hold Yelena’s safety over him.

When Val first appeared to recruit John, she told him that him taking that serum made him very valuable to certain people, and this whole team is valuable to certain people for a reason, they are very likely the tools that Val (on behalf of the other world govts) will use to aim at Wakanda to destabilize and to get that vibranium.

But who knows, maybe the Thunderbolts will turn around and surprise her. It is not my belief that this team will be a permanent roster, I think this is very much a temporary team, a team put together for a very specific reason and goal, and we have no idea who will still be standing on which side when the dust settles.

[jeffgerstmann]

Notice that the two significant wrestling stories this year (the Vince stuff and the AEW suspensions) were reported by actual news sites and not dirtsheet/gossip people? Almost like "wrestling columnists" are running a scam designed to appeal to easily misled dummies that will fork over money or something

I don't think being a gossip columnist is a scam, it's just... not the same as being a fact-focused, "on-the-record" reporter. Being big in the "leaks game" doesn't automatically make someone a great journalist, it just means they have solid sources. How and when they decide to report that info is what can make them a great journalist.

I always found it interesting that there's a segment of the wrestling fandom that loves to call out these people when they're wrong, when I'd bet that most of the time it's a case of "these plans were accurate when the report hit but plans change." In a world where everyone was very ready to believe that show scripts could get torn-up day of show and rewritten, it's not hard to imagine that the rest of the wrestling business can move or change pretty quickly.

But, you know, part of that is in how the reporting is presented, and some of these guys would probably do better to make sure they used phrases like "at the time of this report" or "plans change, pal" or "the current thinking is" or whatever. Breathlessly reporting in-progress wrestling storylines as fact when, in reality, plans change pal, just seems dumb.

I think you also have to account for the notion that some of these reporters are being used by their sources to further a particular agenda or narrative. I think some of those reporters are smart enough to sniff that out and some of them aren't. You have to always operate under the notion that these people are not your friends and take an unbiased approach to the reporting.

Here's one personal case that has actually happened to me a few different times over the years: I broke news of a game's existence before it was announced and the source felt the need to get the info to me because the person was afraid that the publisher might still pull the plug on the project. So the hope on the source's end was that the report would draw interest and either force the project to get announced or at least prove that the interest is there to keep moving forward. A clear and definite agenda, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I should have dropped the info and forgotten about it, because I was able to verify that it was all true and real.

That said, I have never really been an especially great "reporter." It's never really been an official part of my job or responsibilities, I was mainly focused on reviews and, I guess we could think of podcasting as one long op-ed or something. Those leaks fell into my lap because of who I knew. So I'm not trying to sit here and put myself above the people who do things that way, I'm not even in that game (in wrestling or video games). But when I think about ways for the people who trade in wrestling gossip to make sure they're retaining some credibility, I think acknowledging the nature of the work is probably not the worst idea in the world.

(It also doesn't help that a lot of the audience isn't very sophisticated when it comes to handling this type of information, so rather than understanding that it's a report on a fluid business, they instead go claim that some reporters are "liars" and "scam artists." It's just... not that simple. That's something games and wrestling reporting has in common, for sure.)

[ewinya]

things i’ve learned about tumblr

please correct me if i’m wrong i have no idea what i’m doing help

reblogs are everything

likes are fake. you cannot like reblogs, the likes just go to the original post

if you like or reblog someone else’s reblog both them and the op get notified

unless your likes are private in which case i would assume likes don’t give notifications?

look it doesn’t matter. likes are bullshit

having multiple blogs is not the same as having multiple twitter accounts

a blog just holds its posts, i think?

like you can’t like a post as a different blog. which is weird to me. but ok

do you like + reblog or do you just reblog? i do not know. i did not learn this

look different social sites have different standards for this sort of thing

i come from mastodon where people boost or favorite but not both

but also twitter where you do do both

the dork who introduced me to this site seems to do both so im gonna do both i guess. hopefully i don’t commit a crime

hey by the way what the fuck is the reblog flow on the website. why do you have to scroll so far to hit the “reblog” button if you want to reblog without a comment.

is this a thing the beta editor does better? i don’t know

the beta editor is broken for markdown editing so i don’t care and won’t use it

hey while i’m talking about markdown why do you have to indent by four spaces but the syntax highlighting for list bullets only works if you indent by two spaces i feel misled

people use ask boxes a lot more than i thought?? how does one get popular enough to have people sending stuff to your ask page consistently

what even do you put in an ask. what do you say. i don’t use the internet because i know how interacting with other people works why is this such a core part of the website i hate it.

how do you have a conversation with someone otherwise. are your options to either reblog with comments back and forth or just dm each other

oh my god i just realized this is yet another website with a DM feature i have to keep track of. my singular social brain cell is going to explode help.

funny internet ppl :)

the site is fine i guess

i mean i should be happy that a social platform even has a markdown editor in 2022 so like.

overall: good website 8/10 would website again