#drawn pre-107

[cairafea]

i am so normal about hnk

[twyfur]

OLD ASH FURSONA DESIGN ART MEGA POST (2021-2023)

some art of the first design of my fursona, back when i was known as ashleykyo or simply 'ash'. all artist credit is given as best as i can. if i miss anyone, pls contact me. ________________________________________

FINALIZED DESIGNS - first commissions 🎨 @caikslyce

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SIT - giveaway prize 🎨 unknown...

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HAP BIRF TO ME :3 - birthday gift to me <3 🎨 @aaron-valence7

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THE KOLOUR KNIGHTS - album art for the song 'Kolour Knights" by Kyoruka, Valence7, IOZE & EthoShark) 🎨 @aaron-valence7 listen to the song here!

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ASH SQUISHI - squishi YCH by Valence7. you can commission it for $7 USD. 🎨 @aaron-valence7

a pride version is a thing too! 🏳️‍⚧️

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APRIL FOOL !! - a clown for april fools. every year, CaikSlyce makes a YCH event for april fools, where you can get a chance to get a clown version of ur sona/oc! 🎨 @caikslyce

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PRIDE !! 🏳️‍🌈 - some pride month commissions with my lovelies Scarletteous (1st) and SmolOmi (2nd). 🎨 JustaLemon

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HUH?? - art i commissioned. i am ur local music cat kitty :3 🎨 @kobbii

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GRIDLOCK - a wallpaper of the album art for the song Gridlock by Kyoruka & Valence7. 🎨 @aaron-valence7 "To whom it may concern, the Prime Militia is offering 1,000,000 Credits for the heads of KY-011 and VA-107. Subjects are armed and extremely dangerous. Lethal force is authorized. Operation GRIDLOCK must be executed with extreme prejudice."

heres the song!

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STASIS - Destiny 2 themed giveaway prize. my fursona as my hunter pre-Lightfall. 🎨 unknown...

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PIXEL! - giveaway prize. not much to say other than this looks soooo cool ^^ 🎨 Zaffhy

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SPOOKY MONTH!! - art i commissioned for my birth month. 🎨 unknown...

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CHRISTMAS SPIRIT~ - art i commissioned for my favorite and most wonderful time of the year :3 🎨 lineart by @myewzie - colouring and bg by @twyashe - shading by @aaron-valence7

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MEOW! - ych commission i was gifted by @aaron-valence7 for christmas. tysm <3 🎨 @lucycindr

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THE END! thats all the art i have of my old design! shoutout to all the artists who have drawn my sona, and i hope u had a fun time drawing her <3

no one has permission to draw my old design anymore, i much prefer my newer design as youll see on my latest posts.

to any artists featured here, if any of yall are okay with recolouring and adding/removing small details to "update" my sona, contact me pls id mean alot <3

if i dont have u credited properly, please contact me and ill fix it asap. <3

have a good day/night folks.

the person reading this is cute. <3

[gonewiddershins]

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My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Book Rec Ask Meme (Part 3 of 7)

18. your least favorite book ever

One of the effects of being a shameless DNF-er is how I don't really have least favorite books. Because they can't be my least fave if I drop them halfway through and go and happily read something else instead. Least favorite book (singular) ever is even worse- why on earth would I read a book I loathe that much? The only answer is "Buddy Reads" and even for that I have drawn lines I will Not Cross. And even if those lines were crossed, I feel uncomfortable rating that book as "the worst" because making me read something I don't like makes me very, very mad and that naturally spills over to my feelings about the actual book.

So I skimmed through Goodreads and randomly picked a book that made me mad enough that I remembered being mad to this day. This actually means the book had potential, because I tend to forget books which had no redeeming features whatsoever. But this is also the third draft of this answer so it's what you're getting. (There is actually book I dislike more than this one, but that's getting saved for the un-recommend question.)

Tangled by Emma Chase is an office romcom. And it would probably be pretty entertaining (my tastes they are so low) if (a) the author did not decide that swearing was an inherently funny action and used it to indicate idk- something positive about the male lead, (b) it weren't for the unquestioned gender essentialism - you know the thing, men are like this women are like that and god forbid anyone deviates even slightly from the norm, and (c) I didn't keep getting smacked in the face with constant workplace sexual harassment.

The harassment was bad enough to have my oblivious self feel mildly uncomfortable when I first read it. When I skimmed through it again to remember why I hated it so much it almost made me want to puke. If any guy thought about me the way the ML thought about the FL I would knee him in the balls. Also, I HATE it when romances end with a "grand gesture" that magically solves everything. Especially in this case. FL, you were so fucking bland that I don't remember a goddamned thing about you but you should have kneed him in the balls. For fuck's sake.

QUOTE: (slime. slime all over my face and my arms.)

Doe Eyes may be telling me no…but her body? Her body’s screaming, Yes, yes, fuck me on the bar. In the span of three minutes, she’s told me why she’s here, what she does for a living, and allowed me to fondle her hand. Those are not the actions of a woman who is not interested—those are the actions of a woman who does not want to be interested. And I can definitely work with that.

23. a book that is currently on your TBR

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3 notes - Posted July 7, 2022

#4

1, 9 10 13 15 16 18 23 52 53 55 60 63 71 80 86 107 121 127 134 135 for ur ask meme

wheeeee~

okay so there's are enough of these questions that I'm gonna answer this in parts because otherwise (a) I'll never finish and (b) tumblr WILL end up earing my drafts and I wince just thinking about that. So here we go-

1. a book that is close to your heart

The Beginning by K.A. Applegate. Anyone who's spent some time on my tumblr knows about my obsession with this series. It drilled into my ear and took over all higher life form function way back when I was an impressionable pre-teen. And then after sometime, when I thought I'd found other things to obsess about, I found copies of the final arc and it decided to permanently take up residence in my brain.

The Beginning is the final installment of the Animorphs series, which famously feature kids turning into animals to fight brain stealing alien puppeteers. It's not a climax- it's a extended denouement, because the books have always been about how children people are affected by war as much as as it was about the actual war. Animorphs also ended on a very bittersweet note, something unthinkable to baby me who had never seen a story end this way before. It was a learning experience.

Quote:

"Jake, you can't . . ." She took a deep breath. "You can't equate the victim and the perpetrator."

"So as long as you're playing defense it's not possible to commit a war crime?" I asked. "That's pretty close to just saying that the winner makes the rules because it's the winner who writes the history."

She grabbed my arm and searched for my eyes, forcing me to look at her. "No, Jake, it isn't. There are a lot of close calls in history, lots of wars where the blame is evenly split between the sides. This isn't one of them. Before they came to Earth no human ever attacked a Yeerk. No human ever harmed a Yeerk. This one is clear: We are the victims. They made war on us."

"That's good," I said softly. "All of that is good. We have justification. We're the good guys."

Marco said, "That's right, Big Jake, we are."

I nodded. "That's good for the big picture. See, my problem is a little more personal."

Ax asked.

"Well, Ax-man, you're right, you did call my attention to the possibilities on the Pool ship. And when you did that I guess I should have thought, Well, Jake, it's a harsh, terrible thing to do, but you're justified because, after all, you're the victim here. But that's not what I thought. You know what I thought?"

Cassie released her grip on me. But Marco just took a step up close, right in my face.

"I know what you thought, Jake. You thought Die, you filthy worms. Feel the fear, Yeerks. Feel the pain. Feel the helplessness. You wanted them to suffer and the idea of them suffering and dying made you happy. You were thrilled. You were high."

Cassie winced. She looked away.

I said, "Yeah, Marco. That was about it: word for word."

9. your favourite book of 2020 2022

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3 notes - Posted July 4, 2022

#3

Book Rec Ask Meme (Part 2 of 7)

13. your favorite romance novel

You should know by now that I don't actually have favorites. I have a list of things I like and how much I like them varies with time, emotions, circumstances, and also maybe the phases of the moon. But The Duke in Disguise by Cat Sabastian was the first book I thought of when I saw this question, so it's the answer by default.

A Duke in Disguise is a standalone (technically it's part of a series, but books in romance novels series are often functionally standalones with cameos) romance story about two childhood friends- a prickly left-leaning publisher trying to keep her business afloat and an illustrator (engraver, to be precise) who turns out to be the long-lost heir to a dukedom. It's filled with class rage and ideas about what independence means and wonderful friend and family characters. The heroine is bi and filled with rage goes to her ex-girlfriend when she wants to yell about stuff. It's great.

QUOTE:

How one was meant to feed all these people on a couple of mutton chops Verity did not know. Supper was supposed to serve four: herself, Nate, Ash, and Charlie. But Nate had come home with three friends he met at the pub, which would have been bad enough even if he hadn’t evidently also invited Amelia Allenby, the half-grown daughter of Verity’s friend. At half past seven, a carriage pulled up in front of the house and disgorged a girl in pearl earbobs and a white muslin frock, dressed as if she were going to dine with the great and good of the land, rather than pick at too few mutton chops and be an eyewitness to sedition. Amelia was seventeen and looked upon Nate with a degree of hero worship that nobody who brought three hungry radicals home to dinner deserved.

15. a book rec you really enjoyed

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4 notes - Posted July 6, 2022

#2

1, 19, 27

1. a book that is close to your heart

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. I mean, I love almost everything this author writes but I'd only read her space opera series before this, and space opera was (at least back then) not as much my genre as Fantasy is.

It was also a very different type of fantasy from what I'd experienced. I'd mostly read grand sweeping fantasy epics before CoC, with a dash of Tamora Pierce to even things out. But I think this was the first time I'd seen adult fantasy which was less about world domination and more about people just trying to get by in the face of curses and life in general etc. Caz is a wonderful protagonist because he's so tired and so traumatized and he juxtaposes beautifully with Iselle (who is the /thematic/ protagonist) who's vibrant and a beacon of hope. The divinity-based magic system is wonderful. The way of breaking the curse is wonderfully clever. This book made me actually weep more than once. I just- //flails

It also made me be more active about searching for adult fantasy I was actually interested in, because till that point I really thought all we could have were chosen one quest narratives.

Quote:

“Any man can be kind when he is comfortable. I'd always thought kindness a trivial virtue, therefore. But when we were hungry, thirsty, sick, frightened, with our deaths shouting at us, in the heart of horror, you were still as unfailingly courteous as a gentleman at ease before his own hearth.”

19. a book that put you in a reading slump

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5 notes - Posted July 4, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

It just struck me how the MCU is milking the hell out of a nearly manufactured out of whole cloth mentor-mentee/dad-son relationship between a billionaire superhero and a socially disadvantaged kid superhero while the dc cinematic universe, which has multiple canon relationships like that, ignored them COMPLETELY in favor of more serial killer showcases.

7 notes - Posted April 14, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[kikizoshi]

In response to the Deus-ex-Machina comment: I may be grasping at straws, but I actually have reason to believe that Fyodor has at least a chance of having a well-foreshadowed meaning behind the sudden shift in his character.

My reasoning is in his eyes. I believe Harukawa puts a lot of intention into how she draws the eyes, and while I was working through an analysis of Meursault, I noticed something about Fyodor's eyes: only since Meursault have they been "light". This "light", "clear" quality to Fyodor's eyes we see in chapter 108 wasn't there before chapter 64, pretty much ever. I'll give examples here, but I encourage people to go through the chapters themselves.

TL;DR: Fyodor eyes changed after he entered Meursault and I theorise it's foreshadowing something.

For reference, these are the “light, clear” eyes I’m talking about (panel taken from chapter 108):

I’ll explain in further detail a bit later, but for now, just keep these “bright” eyes in mind.

The progression between Fyodor’s early chapters vs now is stark when you actually look at it, and I'll start at the beginning, at chapter 42 (Fyodor's debut chapter).

In chapter 42, Fyodor's eyes are pretty much almost always drawn as either very dark or pitch-black.

Fyodor’s eyes are half the time drawn like this:

And the other half are pitch-black like this:

There is this one panel (the only one in the entire chapter), where Fyodor’s eyes appear in the same “light, clear” way we see in chapter 108, but as we see the same “light, clear” eyes in another surprised-Fyodor panel in chapter 63 (and more I’ve not listed), I’m inclined to believe that drawing Fyodor’s eyes as “bright” when he’s surprised is just a stylistic decision:

[Chapter 42]

[Chapter 63]

Fyodor’s eyes are unchanged chapter 46 (when he meets Dazai in the alleyway) and in chapter 47 (when he plays the cello), so I won’t show examples.

In chapter 63, shown above, Fyodor’s eyes are the same as they’ve been up to that point, which is interesting to me since he’s already in Meursault.

Because, in chapter 64, when Fyodor meets Dazai in Meursault, we first see Fyodor’s eyes begin to lighten:

They’re not bright like they become later, but certainly lighter than they were pre-Meursault.

In chapter 68, Fyodor’s eyes continue to get lighter:

And again in chapter 72:

In chapter 74:

Chapter 75 is consistent with the rest of Mersault!Fyodor, but I thought it pertinent to add in this panel from a flashback, which wouldn’t have taken place in Meursault:

Interestingly, in chapter 78—another flashback—we see Fyodor’s eyes almost as dark as they were in chapter 42, which is has long-since become uncommon:

(On a side note, there’s not much to say about the omakes, but Fyodor’s eyes resemble pre- Meursault!Fyodor’s eyes—they’re dark, which makes sense, considering they took place before Meursault.)

In chapter 97, Fyodor’s eyes stay in the same range as usual for Meursault:

Again, in chapter 98, we have bright eyes:

What fascinates me about chapter 101 is that, even though Fyodor is pulling the angriest face he has ever before, his eyes never dip into the pitch-black territory:

I’d like to remind the reader that in chapter 42 & 46, Fyodor’s debut, his eyes were pitch-black in about half of the panels, and certainly in all of his upset/unhappy ones. Now, even though Fyodor’s pissed, his eyes don’t get even as dark as they were normally in those early, pre-Meursault chapters.

In chapter 107, Fyodor’s eyes say about the same (though he’s begun to act severely unhinged by this point):

In chapter 108, Fyodor’s eyes briefly go back to as dark as we saw them in chapter 42:

And then, after Sigma shows Fyodor the “помогите мне” note, Fyodor’s eyes “go light”:

What I want to point out, though, and the reason I’ve been so thorough: while Fyodor’s eyes do gain a bit of extra shine to them after the note, their colour itself isn’t actually much different than usual by this point. Not only that, but the haze in his eyes, while perhaps somewhat suppressed, is still visible in his irises:

The only different is a bit of added shine at the bottom.

And then, when Fyodor says that it was all a lie, his eyes are still light:

His expression is different, but the eyes themselves are exactly the same (minus that bubble at the bottom):

Of course, in every other way, Fyodor is acting more unhinged than we’ve ever seen him, but in the eyes, nothing has changed since the beginning of Meursault. And yet, before Meursault, his eyes were very different.

(I don’t want to add a bunch more images, but I’d just like to say that Dazai’s eyes have continued to go black fairly frequently during this whole change with Fyodor. That’s why I can’t fully get behind the idea that it was the change in Harukawa’s style that “lightened” Fyodor’s eyes. If everyone’s eyes got lighter, sure, that’d make sense, but Dazai’s continue to go black consistently to this day.)

I want to point all this out because, at the very least, I don’t think Fyodor was in any way telling the truth about “suddenly being un-possessed by his Ability” or whatever. Even not taking into account Dead Apple and the joke about Kladnets (I choose to believe Fyodor was making fun of Sigma with the knife), his eyes don’t change at all.

The reason I’ve put so much though into this is that, well—I have never, since day one, felt like pre-Meursault Fyodor was the same person as Meursault!Fyodor. They’ve always been separate in my mind, even before Meursault!Fyodor began to come completely off the rails.

It’s just that, before, Fyodor was such an interesting, complex, feeling person, and everything that made him him seemed to be stripped away the moment Dazai got into that cell across from him. Even back then, when I thought the only possibility was that Fyodor’s character was killed by bad writing, I knew he wasn’t the same.

What’s the true answer to this? …I really don’t know. Most of me believes that it’s just Asagiri changing his mind on who he wants Fyodor to be. I’d love to believe that such a small but significant detail seeded an amazing twist in one of my favourite characters, but I don’t think BSD’s writing is anywhere near as good as that. As far as I can tell, BSD characters are only as good as their arcs, and get relegated to plot devices the moment they step out of them.

However, another part of me wants to believe in a world where Fyodor truly is this well-thought-out, this craftfully-seeded, this cared-for of a character. I want to believe that so much thought was put into such small details, that it truly has meant something all this time that he’s been acting less and less like himself, that the fact that nothing makes sense in Meursault anymore foreshadows something, that everything truly is culminating in a grand, character-defining moment. I don’t believe any of that, but I’d love to.

But, perhaps, maybe, it’s not a Deus-ex-Machina.

(Also, completely unrelated, but the “the possibility that Fyodor is actually a mother of three somehow transported into the body of an old vampire with some killing ability” kills me. I laugh at it every time I reread it XD Such a perfect example.)

what did ya think of the new chapter???

BSD CHAPTER 108 SPOILERS!!!

bro don’t even look my way; I raised my brow up as far as you probably did.

Before anyone asks, “Sword Kladenets” literally means “magic sword” in Russian or something like that, I think. So… nothing much from that.

Fake ass bitch.

Anyway. The whole Dead Apple scene between him and his ability was like a universal click for everybody, I’m sure.

Now, I have absolutely no idea what to even think, because, as always with Asagiri, the possibility that Fyodor is actually a mother of three somehow transported into the body of an old vampire with some killing ability is just as likely as Sigma actually touching Fyodor to try and help Dazai in the next chap.

However, what stands out to me is the fact that in this chapter, it was played out to be that the real Fedya is the ‘good’ Fedya and his ability is ‘the dick.’

But like… in Dead Apple… both him and his ability… were kinda douchebags. Y’know, with the whole malevolent monologue and licking up Shibusawa’s ass- idk what he was doing.

So… for now, I stand by that he is just a bitch. Unless Asagiri wants another little plot hole for decor and aesthetic <3

[davidmann95]

Thoughts (if any) on DC's April 2021 solicitations?

Let’s take ‘em in order! I should be able to muster up a comment on just about everything one way or another.

Green Lantern #1: Oh this is gonna be bad. Heard only the worst about Thorne’s Future State: Green Lantern, and I assume Jo Mullein’s DCU debut will be wasted here to either function as some kind of ridiculous ‘popularity contest’ with Teen Lantern for who gets the bigger push, or as a way to put TL over with a few “good work kid, you got a future” comments. Also, and granted I don’t know how Morrison will end or this will begin, is the New Guardians angle being immediately dropped?

Robin #1: Dope suit, art, and premise, but it’s Williamson so I don’t care.

Batman: The Dark Knight #1: I’ll read this and I expect to like it, but between this being Kubert’s first big Batman project since Master Race, the ‘old but not quite retirement age yet’ angle, and the title, I’m concerned the shock ending here is that it’s actually a stealth DKR prequel.

The Next Batman: Second Son #1: So they really are committing here, though weird that this kinda makes Ridley’s Future State book basically a longform teaser for this. And I’ll get it as it comes out since it turns out this won’t be in that John Ridley’s Batman collection after all - sorry Dustin Nguyen, I love your stuff but I won’t buy an entire trade of material I otherwise already own just for one new story by you.

The Batman & Scooby Doo Mysteries #1: I got that whole great-looking Scooby Doo Team-Up run by Fisch for free on Comixology, I should read that sometime and see if this’ll be worth getting too as well, because it sounds like a hoot.

Challenge of the Super Sons #1: Glad people who want it are getting it, I do not care.

RWBY/Justice League #1: WILL BE GETTING A POST ALL ITS OWN

Action Comics #1030: His powers waning definitely won’t help the standard pre-run fuming by a lot of Superman fandom, but it’s an interesting pairing with PKJ apparently doing mainly cosmic Superman adventures so I’m curious where he’ll go with it. That it’s particularly cited as being tied to Death Metal might validate my suspicion that the new ‘everyone remembers their entire mainstream publishing histories’ thing will play into Johnson’s description of Clark really feeling his age at the start of the run. And Janin on covers even before he gets in on the book proper! And that Midnighter description!

Superman #30: This sounds like where Johnson’s gonna start with that worldbuilding he touted, and I’m curious; definitely reads in this instance like him shoving Clark and Jon into some swords-and-sorcery-esque territory he’s familiar with.

American Vampire 1976 #7: Not reading, don’t care.

Batman #107: I assume ‘the events at Arkham Asylum’ are the ‘A-Day’ ominously brought up in Future State solicits. Tynion Batman, Jimenez as the regular artist now, whatever the Unsanity Collective is, all entirely my shit. More importantly than any of that though, GHOSTMAKER BACKUPS. And drawn by Ricardo Lopez Ortiz, artist on Steve Orlando’s excellent The Pull! Dope!

Batman: Black & White #5: Any other issue and ‘Jamal Campbell doing a life story of Nightwing’ would probably be the highlight, but in case you somehow hadn’t heard Gillen/McKelvie are making their DC debut on a Batman vs. Riddler story here, absolutely wild.

Batman: Urban Legends #2: Even more excited for this now that I’m onboard for the Grifter and Outsiders stuff given how much those features pleasantly surprised me in Future State.

Batman/Superman #17: Injecting it isn’t enough anymore, I need to be on some kind of constant IV drip with this book. I was wondering whether it’d take the premise to further generational riffs or follow a history of mass-media Supermen and Batmen, but instead it’s veering off in a direction I never could have guessed and I couldn’t be more excited.

Batman vs. Ra’s Al Ghul #6: NOTHING CAN STOP THE ADAMSVERSE. NONE MAY DARE TRY.

Batman/Catwoman #5: Wondering how this Harley involvement plays in - I don’t imagine it’s quite what it seems given how King’s written her before. And love that Joker by Mann on the cover, major Clown at Midnight vibes.

Catwoman #30: No reason to assume this run won’t continue to rule.

Crime Syndicate #2: Dammit, I don’t think this book is going to be good, but I’m kinda tempted.

Detective Comics #1035: Wouldn’t be psyched, but Dark Detective was another pleasant surprise so I’ll give this a chance.

The Dreaming: Waking Hours #9: Again, not reading.

Far Sector #11: Sucks a little knowing we’ll never see that little ‘Young Animal’ label in the corner again after this wraps. At least it’s going out on its highest note.

The Flash #769: In a vacuum this would sound dope but I have less than no faith in this, and goddamn that’s a terrible cover.

Harley Quinn #2: I’m sure it’ll be fine, no interest.

The Joker #2: I wanna believe Tynion will be able to make this work, he keeps talking like he has more freedom on this than he has some other books, but everything about this reads like the price he has to pay for relative post-Joker War freedom on Batman.

Justice League #60: It’s Bendis/Marquez on Justice League, lots of people will complain but I’ll mostly dig it. More interested in Ram V briefly getting to write the main crew in the JLD backup.

Man-Bat #3: I’d ask why this exists - and as a matter of fact I still do - but checking out some of DC’s digital-first output recently I see Dave Wielgosz has something on the ball, so maybe he’ll be able to make this work? Perhaps I’ll check it out in trade someday if worth-of-mouth is on its side.

Nightwing #79: I maintain, this is gonna be huge. And clever move to make for how to justify Nightwing keeping up his standard way of business after Bruce loses most of his money.

Rorschach #7: A comic I will purchase and let’s continue leaving it at that.

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? #109: DC’s highest-numbered comic (that hasn’t gone through an interim renumbering), astonishing. Not getting it myself, but respect.

Sensational Wonder Woman #2: Can’t say this sounds like my thing.

Suicide Squad #2: I’ve been swayed into checking out the Future State debut, but that’d have to really blow me away for me to follow into the main book.

Superman: Red & Blue #2: Sadly if unsurprisingly DC’s��clearly not stacking this with AAA attention-grabbing names in the same way as this latest version of Batman: Black & White, but there do seem to be some interesting names from outside the usual big two roster here. And the main and Bolland cover may disappoint but holy cow that David Choe variant.

The Swamp Thing #2: I have no doubt it’ll be incredible but time and again I learn I simply don’t have it in me to care about Swamp Thing regardless of the objective quality of the effort put into him.

Sweet Tooth: The Return #6: Another one I’m not interested in.

Titans Academy #2: Oh lord so this is where they stuck Billy Batson.

Truth & Justice #3: I continue to have no idea what if anything the unifying idea of this anthology is supposed to be.

Wonder Woman #771: Wonder Woman as troubleshooter for mythological mishaps isn’t a permanently sustainable or desirable status quo but I’m down for it for as long as it lasts if it’s any good (though that Immortal Wonder Woman preview...concerned me, in spite of Jen Bartel’s jaw-dropping art).

So that’s 19-23 out of 37 I’ll be getting - if DC’s standard for success with Infinite Frontier is the proportion of their line people will be checking out, I guess it’s winning with me.

[itcars]

Details: The New Audi A3 Sedan

The second generation of an Audi success story is here – the A3 Sedan. The compact four-door model is digitally and fully connected – from the infotainment through to the assist systems. Beneath the body, new drives and refined suspension tuning ensure a driving experience that is as efficient & dynamic. 

Powerful and elegant: The exterior The front is dominated by a large Singleframe with honeycomb grille that is flanked by striking headlights. On the outside, they form trapezoidal angles that are drawn downward. In the top model with Matrix LED technology, this is where the new digital daytime running lights are housed. They consist of a pixel array made up of 15 LED segments that can be actuated individually and give the various versions of the A3 Sedan a specific signature.

With the A3 Sportback, the body line running above the sill rises towards the rear lights before the rear wheel arch, thus accentuating the short rear end. The body line on the Sedan, by contrast, extends up to the rear bumper. This emphasizes its length – 15 centimeters (5.9 in) longer than the Sportback – and gives the flank an elegant appearance. The concave surface under the broad body shoulder further accentuates the quattro blisters and the sill. This creates an intensive play of light and shadow. The roof line slopes down from the B-pillar dynamically – just like on a coupé – and finishes in a striking spoiler on the tailgate. Optionally available in carbon, this provides a visual accent and, in so doing, emphasizes the powerful appearance of the four-door model.

Streamlined body The aerodynamics benefit from the higher rear end compared with the predecessor as well as the large diffuser. As a result, the new A3 Sedan with the 2.0 TDI 110 kW (150 PS) achieves a Cd value of 0.25 and is therefore 0.04 Cd points better than the first generation. The controllable cooling-air inlet with two electrically actuated louver modules behind the Singleframe also contribute to this. They regulate the flow of air intelligently and according to the situation. In addition, the paneled underbody, the exterior mirrors with improved aerodynamics, and the active brake cooling reduce air resistance and make for a streamlined vehicle.

Focused and digitalized: The cockpit The cockpit of the A3 Sedan is entirely focused on the driver. This begins with the interior design and ends with the display and control elements. Thus, the instrument panel with the central MMI touch display is inclined slightly toward the driver. It has a 10.1-inch diagonal and is intuitive to operate. As standard, it includes handwriting detection as well as natural language control that can optionally draw on the capabilities of the cloud. The 10.25-inch instrument cluster behind the steering wheel is digital even in the basic model. As the Audi virtual cockpit plus, it measures 12.3 inches and offers three different views, including sporty graphics with inclined digits and a particularly dynamic layout. The RPM and speed are shown here as bar diagrams with angular red graphical elements. Upon request, a head-up display complements the display concept, whereby it projects important information onto the windshield in the driver’s direct field of vision. Highly connected: From infotainment to driver assistance The top infotainment system in the new A3 Sedan is the MMI Navigation plus, which uses the third-generation modular infotainment platform (MIB 3). The MIB 3 boasts computing power ten times higher than in the predecessor model, connects the car via LTE Advanced speed, and connects the smartphones of the passengers to the Internet via Wi-Fi hotspot. The MMI Navigation plus offers a multitude of Audi connect services as standard, including online traffic information, news, and additional information such as photos, opening times, and user reviews relating to points of interest.

Car-to-X services that make use of the swarm intelligence of the Audi fleet are also part of the portfolio. They report hazardous areas or speed limits, for example, to vehicles with the corresponding equipment or find free parking spaces at the side of the road. If the car is switched off, the myAudi app continues navigation from the car on a smartphone. This way, customers reaches their destination directly.

The A3 Sedan is also connected to the smartphone via the Audi smartphone interface, which integrates iOS and Android cell phones with Apple Car Play and Android Auto in the MMI, as well as via Audi phone box. The latter connects the device to the car antenna and can charge it inductively. What is more, the A3 Sedan can be locked and unlocked as well as started via an Android smartphone with the Audi connect key. Personalization allows up to six users to store their preferred settings in individual profiles, including those for the seat, climate control and media. The DAB+ digital radio comes as standard. Options include online radio and the hybrid radio, which automatically switches between FM, DAB, and the online stream depending on a station’s signal strength, thus ensuring optimum reception. Beginning in the middle of the year, the Amazon Alexa voice assistant will complement the offering.

The driver assist systems are also particularly effective thanks to the close networking. In the Audi pre sense front system, the camera behind the interior mirror works together with the front radar to prevent accidents, or at least reduce their severity. The standard collision avoidance assist also uses the data from this sensor system. Adaptive cruise assist, an innovation from the full-size class, supports drivers with longitudinal and lateral guidance. The efficiency assist notifies them when it would be sensible to take their foot off the accelerator. To do so, it evaluates information including the navigation data. The exit warning, the cross-traffic assist and the surround view cameras that will follow shortly after the market launch are also useful in in urban traffic.

Three engines at ramp-up: The drives

The new A3 Sedan is available with a choice of two TFSI engines and one TDI engine at launch. One thing they all have in common is high efficiency. The 35 TFSI, a 1.5-liter direct injection engine, produces 110 kW (150 PS) and is available in two versions – with a newly developed six-speed manual transmission (combined fuel consumption in l/100 km: 5.0 – 4.7 (47.0 – 50.0 US mpg)*; combined CO2 emissions in g/km: 114 – 108 (183.5 – 173.8 g/mi)*) and with a quick-shifting seven-speed S tronic (combined fuel consumption in l/100 km: 4.9 – 4.7 (48.0 – 50.0 US mpg)*; combined CO2 emissions in g/km: 113 – 107 (181.9 – 172.2 g/mi)*).

Besides the cylinder on demand technology, the powertrain in conjunction with the S tronic dual-clutch transmission uses a 48-volt mild hybrid system. It recovers energy during deceleration, supports the engine with up to 50 Nm (36.9 lb-ft) of torque when driving off and accelerating from low engine speeds and allows the A3 Sedan to coast with the engine switched off in many situations. In everyday driving, it reduces consumption by up to 0.4 liters (0.1 US gal) per 100 kilometers (62.1 mi).

The 2.0 TDI with 110 kW (150 PS) (combined fuel consumption in l/100 km: 3.9 – 3.6 (60.3 – 65.3 US mpg)*; combined CO2 emissions in g/km: 101 – 96 (162.5 – 154.5 g/mi)*) also works in conjunction with a seven-speed S tronic, whereby gear shifts are performed via a new switch using shift-by-wire technology.

Comfortable and dynamic at once: The suspension The suspension of the new A3 Sedan has been tuned to be sporty and harmonious – a touch more precise than in the predecessor model. To a large degree, this precision and reaction speed is thanks to the central dynamic handling system that ensures optimal interaction between all the components relevant to the transverse dynamics. As an alternative to the standard setup, there is a sport suspension and a suspension with controlled dampers. The latter offers a wide spread between highly comfortable roll motion and agile handling. The Audi drive select dynamic handling system also allows the driver to experience different levels of suspension tuning in their A3 Sedan – from comfort-oriented and distinctly dynamic right through to particularly fuel-efficient. This also brings about changes in the characteristics of the throttle response and the progressive steering, for example, which varies its ratio depending on the steering angle.

Prices and market launch Presales of the new A3 Sedan will begin at the end of April 2020 in Germany and many other European markets. Deliveries will commence in the summer. Prices for the 35 TFSI with 110 kW (150 PS) start at EUR 29,800. Shortly after the market launch, an entry-level gasoline engine will follow with a list price of EUR 27,700.

[weaverlings]

Every Episode of WTNV with Carlos Mentioned

No, I did not keep track of how long I spent on this. Anyway.

Total series count: 89 episodes

In the main podcast, anyway. The list includes at least partial context; however I wasn't counting the number of times Carlos was mentioned per episode, just if he was mentioned at all. So if he came up more than once I didn't necessarily record each time. Still, there are definitely spoilers.

I can't like… guarantee that I didn't miss something, unfortunately. However, I used both "Carlos" and "scientist" all the time, and I additionally used "boyfriend" from 26 onward and "husband" after 100. So it should be pretty close, at least. 

I might go through and do live shows later. However, the answer for them is (almost) always yes, as most of them at least have a segment that Dylan Marron performs at some shows, so it'd be more a matter of checking for mentions of Carlos outside of that.

The reason I did this was to see if I was at all correct in my sense that Carlos has been mentioned less over time. My conclusion: well… sort of?

There actually was less of him than I thought in both year 1 and year 2 (year 1 in particular). However, years 3 and 4 had a LOT of him, and it has gone down from there through the end of year 7, when Carlos was only mentioned in 7 episodes total, with very few casual mentions by Cecil (vs when he had a particular role in what was going on). 

So the problem (or at least, I consider it one) hasn't been going on for as long as I thought in the grand scheme of the series. I now believe that a significant part of the issue is just… Well, it has at this point been almost three years since that decline. Plus listening live makes everything feel drawn out, so there's a lot of perceived time in between individual mentions. 

That being said, I think the actual conclusion is: it's maybe not as I thought, but I also wasn't completely imagining it, especially not looking at very recent events. We don't know what this year will hold, but year 7, as mentioned above, had the least of Carlos in it so far. There are also some significant gaps - Cecil mentions Carlos in episode 91, and after that the next time he comes up in year 5 is in 100 (!!!!)

He is mentioned in a solid majority of the series, but it's pretty front-loaded at this point. Also he has a few appearances in the first novel, and he's a central character in It Devours!

Finally, thanks so much @cecilspeaks because this wouldn't have been possible to do at all otherwise.

The complete list is as follows:

Year 1

episode 1: yes (well of course) 

episode 2: no

episode 3: yes (the Telly thing)

episode 4: yes (dissenting at the PTA meeting)

episode 5: yes (Cecil tried to ask him about the moon but couldn't find him)

episode 6: no

episode 7: no

episode 8: yes (Carlos wants to talk about lights in Radon Canyon, not dinner or weekend plans)

episode 9: yes (but in the context of Telly wandering the desert)

episode 10: no

episode 11: yes (Cecil asked about tectonic activity - Carlos is "distracted yet beautiful")

episode 12: no

episode 13: no 

episode 14: no

episode 15: no

episode 16: yes (basically the central plot of the episode)

episode 17: no

episode 18: no

episode 19 A+B: no for both

episode 20: no

episode 21: no

episode 22: no

episode 23: no

episode 24: no

episode 25: yes (absolutely)

Total year count: 9

Year 2

episode 26: no

episode 27: yes  

episode 28: no

episode 29: yes (Carlos has opinions on subway riders' DNA)

episode 30: yes (checking out the house that doesn't exist)

episode 31: yes (Carlos "promised a certain person dinner")

episode 32: yes (Carlos gave Cecil the watch for their 1-month anniversary)

episode 33: no

episode 34: no

episode 35: yes (Carlos is being industrious!)

episode 36: no

episode 37: arguably (Cecil mentions finding "someone that might make [him] feel better about what has happened today" which probably means Carlos, but he's not mentioned directly)

episode 38: yes (Carlos has scientific opinions about orange grove growth + Cecil almost texts that he loves him but just knocks the imposter out instead)

episode 39: no (but fun fact: Dylan Marron originally did the pre-episode announcements for this one. I don't have the file anymore sadly.)

episode 40: yes (Lauren brings him up though)

episode 41: no

episode 42: no

episode 43: yes (Carlos is looking into the house that doesn't exist again)

episode 44: no

episode 45: no

episode 46: yes (he's on the phone w/ Cecil about the oak doors)

episode 47: yes (but it's Lauren and Kevin talking about how they haven't found him)

episode 48: yes (Cecil doesn't know where he is)

episode 49 A+B: yes (and I don't wanna talk about it :( )

Total count: 14 (ish, because 37 is subject to debate and 47 is different as noted. So maybe 12.)

Year 3

episode 50: yes (people have been asking Cecil about Carlos)

episode 51: yes (he spends most of it on the phone with Cecil)

episode 52: yes (Cecil's been getting calls and snapchats)

episode 53: no (but Steve mentions Cecil had "softened in the right places" over the past year)

episode 54: yes ("A Carnival Comes to Town." that's it.)

episode 55: yes ("The University of What It Is." again. that's it!)

episode 56: yes (Cecil's been isolated w/out Carlos, Cecil talks to Diane about Carlos, and then Cecil has a dream about being w/ Carlos again and sleeps well…)

episode 57: yes (Cecil wonders if Carlos knew the list, and then discusses the "current context" of their relationship - a matter of space)

episode 58: yes (Carlos doesn't want Cecil to say he's trapped in the other world + Cecil misses him)

episode 59: yes (Carlos is on the phone w/ Cecil)

episode 60: yes (Cecil considering whether or not he can visit Carlos)

episode 61: yes (Cecil mentions Carlos to Earl and also wonders if science can help him process the events of 59)

episode 62: no

episode 63: no

episode 64: yes (this episode has the watercolor painting in it)

episode 65: yes (Carlos leaves a voicemail)

episode 66: yes (considering the logistics of the Dog Park)

episode 67: no

episode 68: yes (Cecil talks about visiting Carlos)

episode 69: yes (Cecil announces his "last" broadcast to move to be w/ Carlos)

episode 70: A; yes (but again, context - it's got Carlos still in the otherworld). B; yes, Cecil describes Carlos' return

Total count: 17 

Year 4

episode 71: yes (Carlos "participates" in the heist and is safe at home later)

episode 72: yes (Carlos can apparently sleep through anything!)

episode 73: yes (Carlos apparently tells Cecil not to worry about even catastrophic or paradoxical mistakes)

episode 74: yes (certain local radio hosts and scientists may have been using the Dog Park to go back and forth between Night Vale and a desert otherworld)

episode 75: yes (matching lycra shorts)

episode 76: yes (Carlos makes delicious fruit salad! also he's working on a solution to the flamingo problem)

episode 77: no

episode 78: yes (Carlos likes the gory parade + Earl is invited to dinner w/ Cecil and Carlos)

episode 79: no

episode 80: yes (Cecil tells his boyfriend he wants a beret)

episode 81: yes (Cecil spent time w/ Carlos between reeducation sessions)

episode 82: yes (sort of. Cecil mentions knowing what it's like in a long-term relationship, which is cute, and it's obvious who it's about, so I'm counting it)

episode 83: yes (Carlos does the shopping because Cecil has trouble with auctions)

episode 84: yes ("Hey there, Lonely Boy…")

episode 85: no

episode 86: no

episode 87: yes (Cecil considers the possibility of a tropical vacation w/ Carlos)

episode 88: yes (phone conversation, bunny nickname)

episode 89: yes (what Carlos is up to w/ the stranger situation)

episode 90: yes (Carlos is in the crowd against the dog/strangers)

Total count: 16

Year 5

episode 91: yes (Cecil reaches out to Carlos about the train, but he doesn't know :( )

episode 92: no

episode 93: no

episode 94: no

episode 95: no

episode 96: no

episode 97: no

episode 98: no

episode 99: no

episode 100: YES

episode 101: no

episode 102: yes (Carlos who Cecil is closest to other than Josie)

episode 103: yes (they're excited about going to the beach w/ family + they visited Josie together)

episode 104: yes (Cecil and Carlos go together to pay respects to Josie)

episode 105: yes (Carlos discusses dinner + TV viewing plans and has some concerns about the Smithwick house)

episode 106: no

episode 107: yes (Carlos arranges a task force regarding sounds heard under the earth)

episode 108: yes (tied into broken-reality weirdness)

episode 109: no

episode 110: yes (Steve brings him up - asked Carlos about space and Carlos skips away because he's so excited about science)

Total count: 9

Year 6

episode 111: yes (Carlos worries about having grown too used to Night Vale + the material testing in ep1 was an excuse to talk to Cecil)

episode 112: no

episode 113: yes (everything makes Cecil think of Carlos. Also he's out of town at a science convention)

episode 114: no

episode 115: yes (Cecil isn't concerned about robberies at labs or radio stations, but is concerned about librarian attacks on his family)

episode 116: yes (Strip uno… also "just the most vicious outfits")

episode 117: no

episode 118: yes (Cecil knows science… heck yes of course!!)

episode 119: yes (Carlos' hair is used to calibrate equipment)

episode 120: no

episode 121: no

episode 122: no

episode 123: no

episode 124: yes (A Door Ajar pt 1)

episode 125: yes (A Door Ajar pt 2)

episode 126:  yes (A Door Ajar pt 3)

episode 127: yes (Carlos and Cecil plan to hold a blood matter viewing party)

episode 128: yes (the viewing party starts + Cecil and Carlos have a houseguest)

episode 129: yes (everyone, including Carlos, is surprised by the depth of the blood matter)

episode 130: no

Total count: 12

Year 7

episode 131: yes (Carlos texts Cecil about a matter of scientific accuracy)

episode 132: no

episode 133: yes (Carlos has a concern about the time situation, and also there's the Telly ending)

episode 134: yes (Cecil and Carlos attend a high school football game together + with the rest of their family)

episode 135: no

episode 136: no

episode 137: no

episode 138: no

episode 139: no

episode 140: no

episode 141: no

episode 142: no

episode 143: yes (Cecil tells Carlos he's coming home but, y'know, no one can hear)

episode 144: no

episode 145: no

episode 146: no

episode 147: yes (Carlos has been studying the moon and… there's other stuff that happens)

episode 148: no

episode 149: yes (once again a lot of stuff but Cecil remembers by the end. It's "already forgotten" apparently)

episode 150: yes (Cecil discusses their anniversary; also Carlos discovers his clock working)

Total count: 7

Year 8 (ongoing)

episode 151: no

episode 152: no

episode 153: yes (Carlos' experiments get messy so he ends up working at Steve and Abby's place)

episode 154: yes (Carlos is continuing to run experiments at Steve and Abby's and is taken in for questioning when Steve is arrested)

episode 155: yes (Carlos is really the one who figures everything out tbh)

episode 156: yes (Cecil is anxious about death/separation from Carlos, and then gets excited when he thinks there's a way for them to be together forever)

episode 157: yes (Carlos has some concerns about the proposed solution and wants to talk it out w/ Cecil)

Total count (so far): 5

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Stormlight Archive Epigraphs (3) - Last Words

The epigraphs in TWOK Part 1 and Part 4 record the dying words of Rosharans.

We later learn that these “death rattles” describe prophetic visions, and are caused by the Unmade called Moelach, as well as that Taravangian is actively killing people in order to document their words.

I’ve tried to organize them by content. Minor spoilers for the prereleased chapters of Rhythm of War.

The Death of Honor

1) Ten orders. We were loved, once. Why have you foresaken us, Almighty! Shard of my soul, where have you gone?

- Collected on the second day of Kakash, year 1171, 5 seconds before death. Subject was a lighteyed woman in her third decade.

Refers to both the Recreance and the death of Honor.

2) Three of sixteen ruled, but now the Broken One reigns.

- Collected: Chachanan, 1173, 84 seconds pre-death. Subject: a cut-purse with the wasting sickness, of partial Iriali descent.

The Heralds

3) Ten people, with Shardblades alight, standing before a wall of black and white and red.

- Collected: Jesachev, 1173, 12 seconds pre-death. Subject: one of our own ardents, overheard during his last moments.

4) The burdens of nine become mine. Why must I carry the madness of them all? Oh, Almighty, release me.

Dated Palaheses, 1173, unknown seconds pre-death. Subject: a wealthy lighteyes. Sample collected secondhand.

This is pretty clearly spoken from the point of view of Talenel on Braize, the only obe of the ten Heralds to keep the Oathpact.

5) A woman sits and scratches out her own eyes. Daughter of kings and winds, the vandal.

Dated Palahevan, 1173, 73 seconds pre-death. Subject: a beggar of some renown, known for his elegant songs.

This is a reference to Shallash, the Herald associated with the Lightweavers (and with creativity and art generally), who now goes around vandalizing art of herself

The ‘Voidbringers’ (in quotes due to revelations in Oathbringer)

6) They are aflame. They burn. They bring the darkness when they come, and so all you can see is that their skin is aflame. Burn, burn, burn...

- Collected on Palahishec, 1172, 21 seconds pre-death. Subject was a baker’s apprentice.

7) I see them. They are the rocks. They are the vengeful spirits. Eyes of red.

- Kakakes 1173, 8 seconds pre-death. A darkeyed young woman of fifteen. Subject was reportedly mentally unstable since childhood.

8) That chanting, that singing, those rasping voices.

- Kaktach 1173, 16 seconds pre-death. A middle-aged potter. Reported seeing strange dreams during highstorms during the last two years.

Reference to the Parshendi calling the Everstorm.

9) Victory! We stand atop the mount! We scatter them before us! Their homes become our dens, their lands are now our farms! And they shall burn, as we once did, in a place that is hollow and forlorn.

- Collected on Ishashan, 1172, 18 seconds pre-death. Subject was a lighteyed spinster of the eighth dahn.

This seems to be referencing the humans (the actual Voidbringers) deplacing the Singers, as described in the Eila Stele.

The Everstorm

10) The love of men is a frigid thing, a mountain stream only three steps from the ice. We are his. Oh Stormfather...we are his. It is but a thousand days, and the Everstorm comes.

- Collected on the first day of the week Palah of the month Shash of the year 1171, 31 seconds before death. Subject was a dark-eyed pregnant woman of middle years. The child did not survive.

11) I have seen the end, and have heard it named. The Night of Sorrows, the True Desolation. The Everstorm.

- Collected on the 1st of Nanes, 1172, 15 seconds pre-death. Subject was a darkeyed youth of unknown origin.

12) They named it the Final Desolation, but they lied. Our gods lied. Oh, how they lied. The Everstorm comes. I hear its whispers, see its stormwall, know its heart.

- Tanatanes 1173, 8 seconds pre-death. An Azish itinerant worker. Sample of particular note.

Specific Events in the Books

13) A man stood on a cliffside and watched his homeland fall into dust. The waters surged beneath, so far beneath. And he heard a child crying. They were his own tears.

- Collected on the 4th of Tanates, year 1171, 30 seconds before death. Subject was a cobbler of some renown.

I think this is referencing something from Dalinar’s visions in TWOK, but I don’t remember them clearly. I’ll keep an eye out for it on this read-through.

14) He must pick it up, the fallen title! The tower, the crown, and the spear!

- Dated Vevahach, 1173, 8 seconds pre-death. Subject: a prostitute. Background unknown.

Could be a reference to Kaladin, Dalinar, or both. “The Tower” could be the rock formation of that named where the main battle occurs in TWOK, or (more likely) Urithiru. Dalinar has now taken up rulership of Urithiru. The spear is generally identified with Kaladin, as his primary weapon. Probably broadly referring to the need to refound the Knights Radiant.

15) They come from the pit, two dead men, a heart in their hands, and I know that I have seen true glory.

- Kakashah 1173, 13 seconds pre-death. A rickshaw puller.

Shallan and Kaladin returning from the chasm in WOR, specifically referenced in the chapter title “True Glory”. The use of “two men” for a man and a woman indicates that these statements do not need to be taken precisely literally.

16) All is withdrawn for me. I stand against the one who saved my life. I protect the one who killed my promises. I raise my hand. The storm responds.

- Tanatenev, 18 seconds pre-death. A darkeyed mother of four in her sixty-second year.

Kaladin defending Elhokar against Moash in WOR. Specifically referenced in the chapter title “The One Who Killed Promises.”

17) In the storm I awaken, falling, spinning, grieving.

- Dated Kakanev, 1173, 13 seconds pre-death. Subject was a city guardsman.

This may be Szeth in the Everstorm at the end of WOR, after Kaladin defeats him, but I’m not sure of it. His ‘awakening’ would be the awareness that he was, in fact, right about the return of the Knights Radiant and the Desolations.

18) The darkness becomes a palace. Let it rule! Let it rule!

- Kakevah 1173, 22 seconds pre-death. A darkeyed Selay man of unknown profession.

I think this is referring to the two Unmade in the palace of Kholinar in OB.

19) Above the final void I hang, friends behind, friends before. The feast I must drink clings to their faces, and the words I must speak spark in my mind. The old oaths will be spoken anew.

- Dated Betabanan, 1173, 45 seconds pre-death. Subject: a lighteyed child of five years. Diction improved remarkably when giving sample.

I think this is referencing Dalinar’s third oath at the climax of Oathbringer, and his creation of a contact point between the three realms; the phrasing is similar to Dalinar’s in the preface of (in-universe) Oathbringer (I hung between realms...), and “friends behind, friends before” describes him having loved ones in both the physical realm and in Shadesmar at that moment.

The Unmade

20) Re-Shephir, the Midnight Mother, giving birth to abominations with her essence so dark, so terrible, so consuming. She is here! She watches me die!

- Dated Shashabev, 1173, 8 seconds pre-death. Subject: a dark-eyed dockworker in his forties, father of three.

21) Let me no longer hurt! Let me no longer weep! Dai-Gonarthis! The Black Fisher holds my sorrow and consumes it!

- Tanatesach, 1173, 28 second pre-death. A darkeyed female street juggler. Note similarity to sample 1172-89.

This one is particularly interesting, but I’ll discuss it in combination with the other epigraphs on the Unmade.

Taravangian’s Murders

These quotes are included specifically to reveal that people are being deliberately killed to obtain these visions.

22) You’ve killed me. Bastards, you’ve killed me! While the sun is still hot, I die!

- Collected on the fifth day of the week Chach of the month Betab of the year 1171, 10 seconds before death. Subject was a dark-eyed soldier 31 years of age. Sample is considered questionable.

23) I’m dying, aren’t I? Healer, why do you take my blood? Who is that beside you, with his head of lines? I can see a distant sun, dark and cold, shining in a dark sky.

- Collected on the 3rd of Jesnan, 1172, 11 seconds pre-death. Subject was a Reshi chull trainer. Sample is of particular note.

Very interesting. The speaker may be a potential Lightweaver, as they are seeing Cryptics and seeing into Shadesmar. Or the Cryptics may be drawn by the deception of the Healers who are killing people.

24) I wish to sleep. I know now why you do what you do, and I hate you for it. I will not speak of the truths I see.

- Kakashah, 1173, 142 seconds pre-death. A Shin sailor, left behind by his crew, reportedly for bringing them ill luck. Sample largely useless.

Miscellaneous

25) I’m cold. Mother, I’m cold. Why can I still hear the rain? Will it stop?

- Collected on Vevishes, 1172, 32 seconds pre-death. Subject was a lighteyed female child, approximately six years old.

26) Light grows so distant. The storm never stops. I am broken, and all around me have died. I weep for the end of all things. He has won. Oh, he has beaten us.

- Dated Palahakev, 1173, 16 seconds pre-death. Subject: a Thaylen sailor.

27) The death is my life, the strength becomes my weakness, the journey has ended.

- Dated Betabanes, 1173, 93 seconds pre-death. Subject: a scholar of some minor renown. Sample collected secondhand. Considered questionable.

A general reference to the first oath of the Knights Radiant, but inverted.

Unknown

28) I’m standing over the body of a brother. I’m weeping. Is that his blood or mine? What have we done?

- Dated Vevanev, 1173, 107 seconds pre-death. Subject: an out-of-work Veden sailor.

Interesting.

29) I hold the suckling child in my hands, a knife at his throat, and know that all who live wish me to let the blade slip. Spill its blood upon the ground, over my hands, and with it gain us further breath to draw.

- Dated Shashanan, 1173, 23 seconds pre-death. Subject: a darkeyed youth of sixteen years. Sample is of particular note.

Very interesting. What could this be referring to? Seeing the future is deeply taboo on Roshar, so it would be very strange for everyone to foresee doom from a newborn child. Based on the published chapters so far from ROW suggesting that Shallan has even more secrets predating her mother’s death (and given that her mother tried to kill her when she was still young), could this be related to her?

[traincat]

i don't ask this with intention of being like One is Better that the Other, but more like understanding them better; how would you say peter's relationships are different form each other, in a nutshell? (or just with gwen and mj?)

That’s a valid question because they are very different relationships and while I don’t like talking about them with the view that One Woman Is Better For The Man Than This Other Woman, Therefore Other Woman Is Terrible, I do think it’s important to acknowledge those differences and they’re interesting to talk about.

Here’s the thing: in 616, I think it’s very important that Peter and Mary Jane aren’t each other’s first relationship. We don’t know as much about her relationship history as we do about Peter’s – we know she’s seen other people, including Harry, but I think it’s important to keep in mind that for the majority of her life, since she was fourteen years old in canon, she’s known Peter was Spider-Man and for a long time kept that secret to herself. (We also know as per ASM #259 that serious relationships justifiably scare her – but I’ll get to that in a moment.) But Peter seriously dated Betty Brant when he was in high school, and, though I don’t think it gets talked up enough in discussions about Peter and Gwen, before Gwen’s death she and Peter were very much planning to get married.

(Amazing Spider-Man #103) 

Cut for length.

(Peter had also briefly thought about proposing to Betty Brant at the end of high school. He’s a marriage monster.)

If I had to use one word to sum up Peter and Gwen’s relationship it would be “passionate.” And not always in a good way. They have a very fast connection in comics, but initially, they don’t really like each other that much. 

(Amazing Spider-Man #35)

They’re on the same wavelength – that wavelength just happens to be “this hot person pisses me off so bad.” But then John Romita sweeps in and things get romantic as opposed to Ditko’s more prickly, vampier Gwen take, and Peter and Gwen start to get closer. That Mary Jane enters the picture and is seeing Peter probably doesn’t hurt Gwen making a more aggressive move on him. One thing I want to clarify that in modern day the word “dating” conjures up, first to mind, a serious image when we talk about fictional relationships, but Peter and MJ were very casually seeing each other after they first finally came face to face, something that seemed to annoy Peter actually:

(Amazing Spider-Man #44) In Webspinners #1′s backup story, The Kiss, Peter describes MJ at this point in time as mercurial and indirect, and says that’s one of the reasons he was more attracted to Gwen at the time. Gwen’s very direct, very passionate, and very open with her emotions, whereas Mary Jane and Peter both have their own secrets. It makes a certain amount of sense that Peter would be drawn to that openness. Peter and Gwen also have a keen interest in the sciences in common, which I also think is a pretty important factor in their early courtship when you consider part of the reason Peter felt isolated in high school was that his classmates didn’t share his interests:

(Amazing Spider-Man #53)

Once Peter and Gwen are together, things get pretty serious pretty quickly, with lots of sappy love declarations and both of them bringing the other around their parents. 

(Amazing Spider-Man #68) Like I said, one of the things I often see overlooked in discussions about Peter and Gwen is just how serious the relationship was at the time of Gwen’s death. They were if not officially engaged then definitely pre-engaged and making plans for marriage. Peter had even wrangled his way into a staff position at the Daily Bugle specifically with his future marriage to Gwen in mind.

(Amazing Spider-Man #99) Peter used to be super good at this whole responsibility thing, in both his costumed and uncostumed lives. 

This isn’t to say Peter and Gwen didn’t have problems – while people paint an image of the college days before Gwen’s death as being some big MJ/Peter/Gwen love triangle, that’s not really true. MJ had a tendency to flirt with Peter, especially in front of Gwen and also Harry, who MJ was seeing at the time, but it was Peter who was at times irrationally jealous of Flash’s flirting with Gwen. 

(Amazing Spider-Man #72)

(ASM #80) Poor Flash really suffered as the least dramatic member of this friend group. It’s a little ironic that Peter got so heated up about Flash of all people because, while Flash does at one point profess more than friendly feelings to Gwen, he’s exceptionally gentle about it and never actually tries to threaten her relationship with Peter.

(Amazing Spider-Man #107)

On Gwen’s side of things, Peter’s frequent disappearances troubled her, and she often begged him to stay with her in times of danger – when he was trying to slip out and discreetly change into his Spider-Man costume – so that Peter would prove to her that he wasn’t a coward. (Look, it was the 60s and 70s in superhero comics and machismo was a big deal.) She could be insecure – Peter’s disappearances sometimes made her think he didn’t love her anymore, a feeling which was compounded when she accidentally lost her temper and yelled at Aunt May about her tendency to coddle Peter, causing May to put some distance between them, and after the death of her father, for which she initially blamed Spider-Man.

(Amazing Spider-Man #91) It was that hatred of Spider-Man that made Peter hesitate proposing to her initially, and she briefly left to stay with her uncle and aunt in England thinking that he didn’t care for her as much as she did for him. All those are, when you get down to it, far more serious issues in the relationship than the notion that Mary Jane and Gwen were constantly fighting over Peter.

I said if I had to pick one word for Peter and Gwen’s relationship it would be “passionate” – but I think that’s in part because Gwen herself is a very passionate character. For all her emotional openness compared to Mary Jane’s at the time party girl facade, Gwen felt very deeply about everything, especially about her relationship with Peter. I don’t doubt that if Gwen had lived, she and Peter would have gotten married – it was the natural progression for their relationship at the time. However, I’m not sure they would have stayed married, and not for any “selling the marriage to the devil” reasons. I’m sure they would both have tried very hard to make it work, and I don’t think separating would be easy for either of them, but I’m just not sure if I see them as a successful long term relationship. (Which, for the record, doesn’t make me ship them less.)

With that in mind, I also don’t know if I think PeterMJ happens without Gwen’s death – at least, not in the specific way it does in comics. While he was definitely initially attracted to her – it’s a running joke before Mary Jane appears on panel that Peter desperately tries to avoid meeting her because he thinks that, because Aunt May approves of her and says she’s a nice girl, that she’ll be ugly, which is where Mary Jane’s famous “face it, tiger” line comes in when she reacts to his surprise at the door – the further in love Peter falls with Gwen, the less intrigue Mary Jane seems to hold for him. Before Gwen’s death, he’s even disapproving of her advances, and dislikes the fact that she hits on him in front of Harry when she and Harry are dating.

(Amazing Spider-Man #97)

(ASM #106)

At the time of Gwen’s death, Peter’s impression of Mary Jane isn’t the most favorable in the world: he thinks she’s a flighty, irresponsible party girl – which, to be fair, is the impression Mary Jane has put some serious effort into cultivating. This changes with Gwen’s death with one very important scene that signifies – not necessarily to Peter, who is lost in his grief at the moment, but to the readers – that that’s not who Mary Jane is at all, and it’s the door scene from Amazing Spider-Man #122.

I’ve noted before that Peter has a tendency to lash out verbally towards the people in his life when he’s in the depths of grief, and he can be very good at hurting people, like here when he accuses Mary Jane of not caring that Gwen’s dead and telling her to get out. 

And she doesn’t. If I had to pick a scene that I think is the most pivotal turning point in any Marvel comics relationship, it would be this one. 

Peter and Mary Jane have a more complicated build up to their romance than Peter and Gwen did. Unlike Gwen, who was very much a heart on her sleeve girl, Mary Jane has secrets of her own, something Peter doesn’t really seem to realize when they do launch into a romance of their own, and when Mr. Marriage pops the question to her the first time Mary Jane ends up turning him down.

(ASM #183) 

Mary Jane’s commitment issues are seated deep-seated. Gwen, as far as we know, had no reason not to believe in true love. Mary Jane has many.

(ASM #259)

I love Amazing Spider-Man #257-259 because they totally recontextualize everything about Mary Jane and throw all her previous actions into a sharp and different new light that just makes the most perfect sense. ASM #257-259 reveals two very important things. The first is that Mary Jane knew the whole time, since before Peter ever laid eyes on her, that he was Spider-Man, and that she’s been walking around the whole time carrying this secret.

(Spider-Man: Parallel Lives)

The second is that, with Mary Jane having told Peter she knows his biggest secret, she makes it an even trade and tells him her own, letting him know the details of her childhood that shaped her into the person she is. It’s really worth reading for yourself if you haven’t already and in my opinion it’s one of the best backstory reveals ever written. 

(ASM #259)

Peter and Mary Jane enter into a weird stage in their relationship at this point in time. Mary Jane is, essentially, the only person Peter can confide in once he learns she’s known his secret all along. Mary Jane, on the other hand, finds the nitty-gritty details of Spider-Man’s life difficult to deal with, even as she tries to be there for Peter. One thing I see a lot in Mary Jane vs Gwen discourse is that while Mary Jane loves Spider-Man, Gwen loves Peter, which is a completely movie-based fabrication – in 616, Mary Jane frequently wishes Peter wasn’t Spider-Man and worries about him risking his life. They have a very strong emotional – and physical – connection at this point, but they’re not officially romantically together, and during this point in time Peter is still involved in a tumultuous on-and-off relationship with Felicia Hardy.

(Spectacular Spider-Man #116)

“I’ve just ruined a perfectly good lie.” (Spider-Man vs Wolverine)

They don’t officially get together again until Peter proposes marriage – again. Although Mary Jane initially turns down his offer again, she later calls him from her sister’s home in Pittsburgh asking him to come down and help her.

(ASM #291)

Hearing about Mary Jane’s past is one thing, but Peter’s confronted with it when he finds himself supporting Mary Jane as she tries to figure out what to do when her father’s schemes have landed her estranged sister in jail. It’s a really great lead up to the marriage: Peter has to learn to trust Mary Jane to make decisions, and Mary Jane takes the reigns when she needs to help out in a Spider-Man fight. At the end, in the airport, she agrees to marry him.

(ASM #292)

It’s not magically perfect after that – in ASM Annual #21, the wedding issue, Peter worries about Mary Jane’s more lavish lifestyle and how she’ll handle his more staid one in addition to his fears over what his enemies could do to his new wife, Mary Jane struggles with the concept of committing after so many years of running from that, and the ghost of Gwen still hangs over them both.

They do both end up making it down the aisle, of course, though:

(ASM Annual #21)

One of the things I love about Peter and Mary Jane is that, while I truly do think the characters are soulmates, they’re not perfect – they have relationship problems as big as Mary Jane worrying Peter’s identity as Spider-Man will get him killed or about what effects his irradiated blood might have on any children she might have, to as small as Peter having a crisis over Mary Jane paying his bills for him:

(Web of Spider-Man #37)

And of course Peter and Mary Jane have a much more complicated and complex relationship than Peter and Gwen did, but that’s because Peter and Mary Jane had hundreds of issues over which it develops and deepens, even after their marriage, whereas Gwen Stacy wasn’t even in 100 issues after her first appearance before she died. So I think Peter and Gwen have much more of an instantaneous love connection, which is aided by Gwen’s own emotional openness, whereas Peter and MJ are more of a slow burn, with a lot of stops and starts along the way that end up being the foundation for a very strong love.

[nathanramosba1b]

BA1b Research Narrative week 3

Fairy Tales, what is it?

Encyclopedia Britannica describes a fairy tale as:

‘a wonder tale involving marvelous elements and occurrences, though not necessarily about fairies.’

According to Vladimir Propp ‘A fairy tale may be termed any development proceeding from villainy or a lack through intermediary functions to marriage or to other functions employed as a denouement’ (1968, p. 92).

Fairy Tale doesn’t have to be your classic Disney film, but fairy tales do end ‘happily’.

‘Happily,’ means that justice is served.

In the Grimms’ Snow White, the stepmother is forced to dance to her death in red-hot iron slippers fresh from the fireÉ This is a ‘happy’ ending.

Fairy tales come to a definite conclusion, an ‘orderly resolution’ (Warner, 1994).

The Origins

Märchen

Popular folktales, oral in origin. These pre-date written records, so it’s difficult to be sure about their exact origins. Many are hundreds, possibly thousands, of years old.

Kunstmärchen

Literary or artistic fairy tales.

Mostly produced in the 19th century, such as The Happy Prince (1888) by Oscar Wilde and The Little Mermaid (1837) by Hans Christian Andersen.

The oldest Fairy tales weren’t intended for children, but evidence suggests that they had serious meanings and contained important ritualistic elements. The clear polarity between good and evil acted as a warning of what might happen if you strayed from the righteous path. We can draw links with myth (and perhaps also religion) although myths are arguably more impossible? Because we can never be that heroic or that perfect in our actual lives.

By contrast, fairy tales, in spite of their ‘wonderful’ – or magical – aspects, are about ‘everyman’ and ‘everywoman’. Characters are rarely named (they could be us). Initiative, endurance, bravery, and patience can help everyone overcome giants, beasts and witches.

Blood and gore!

First written down by Charles Perrault (1697) Bluebeard tells the cheerful tale of a woman who marries a serial killer! The indelibly bloody key to his forbidden chamber is the only magic element in the story.

Bluebeard presents his new wife with the key to a secret room which she mustn’t enter, no matter what. Inside the room are all his dead wives (as depicted in Georges Méliès’ 1901 film version)

(In the mediaeval versions of Cinderella her step-sisters slice off their toes to fit the slipper)

The step-sisters (who are physically beautiful but inwardly ugly) are punished by having their eyes pecked out by pigeons.

This dark inversion of the birds who ‘help’ Cinderella offers another warning – suggesting that the natural world can only ever be appeased, not tamed. And the glass slipper was originally made of squirrel fur.

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) is a great example of a modern Fairy tale done in the same aesthetic as the old medieval fairy tales.

Function 12, ‘The hero is tested, interrogated, attacked, etc., which prepares the way for his receiving either a magical agent or helper.’ (Propp, 1968, p. 39).  

Sex!

In ‘The Grandmother’s Tale’ there’s no red hood (or cap). The wolf is a ‘bzou’ (werewolf) and the unnamed girl must choose between 2 paths: the path of pins (virtue) or the path of needles – needles being a symbol of ‘penetration’.

(Unlike Lucy Sprague Mitchell and others) Disney approved of fantasy

He wanted it to come ‘fully alive for those who dream’ (Stone, 1981).

‘As we do it, as we tell the story, we should believe it ourselves. It’s a “once upon a time” story and we shouldn’t be afraid of a thing like that’ (Walt Disney in notes for Cinderella, 15th January 1948, from the Disney archive).

Happy ever after?

The fairy tale scholar Jack Zipes (2011) accuses the ‘Disney versions’ of being so overwhelming that our idea of happiness is now ‘filtered through a Disney lens’. According to Zipes, these films ‘reinforce stereotypes and help maintain the patriarchal order’.

But the Grimms, writing in 1812, weren’t exactly radical gender revolutionaries.

In fact, scholars have noted that the fairy tale format begins with the disintegration of a family unitÉ and ends with the creation of another (through marriage).

Peace, stability, patriarchal order is maintained. This is the very nature of the fairy tale.

Nostalgia: the Disney version

But ironically, as noted by Zipes (1995), Disney used ‘the most up-to-date technological means to maintain the ‘old world’ order.

Animation allowed the believable creation of a fantasy world – and the recreation of a specifically ‘19th century’ patriarchal order. As Dan North (2009) says, in a (good quality!) blog about Lotte Reiniger’s fairy tale films, ‘animation allows the construction of a completely fabricated fantasy space’.

Propp’s ‘functions’ 1 and 31

Function 1

One of the members of a family absents himself from home.

Function 31

The hero is married and ascends the throne.

Before Propp fairy tale were categorised differently e.g. in the Aarne-Thompson Classification System) according to ‘type’ or ‘motif’:

• Animal stories

• Fantastical stories

• Stories of everyday life

• Stories including the appearance of a dragon

•

But many tales belonged in more than one category. The system did nothing to illuminate the underlying structure of the fairy tale. Propp was the first to make a sequential structural analysis of the fairy tale: what happens, in what order.

The Law of Contrast – other people should be antithetical to the hero; therefore, if the hero is generous, other characters should be ‘stingy’ to contradict him.

The Law of Repetition – actions in folk tales are typically repeated 3 times

The Law of Twins: two people can appear together in the same role, and should be similar in nature

The Law of Contrast – other people should be antithetical to the hero; therefore, if the hero is generous, other characters should be ‘stingy’ to contradict him. The same way Cinderella is contrasting to her evil sisters in every way, physically and mentally.

Then along came Propp��

In his 1928 work Morphology of the Folktale the Russian formalist Vladimir Propp analysed 100 Russian fairy tales and found striking similarities between them. Propp was analysing chronological story rather than plot.  But please note that the traditional fairy tale – unlike many other forms of narrative, ‘which play with chronology’ (Puckett, 2016, p. 184) – is plotted in chronological order.

Propp stated 4 fundamental principles (1968, pp. 21–23)

1. Functions of characters serve as stable, constant elements in a tale, independent of how and by whom they are fulfilled. They constitute the fundamental components of a tale.

2. The number of functions known to the fairy tale is limited. As we have seen, Propp says there are only 31 (at least, in the Russian tales he analysed).

3. The sequence of functions is always identical.

4. All fairy tales are of one type in regard to their structure.

He found that all 100 of the tales he analysed were built on a pattern drawn from 31 functions, occurring in a set order. In other words, only 31 things can happen in a fairy tale. But, the word ‘morphology’ means the study of forms, and in doing this work Propp was analysing form as separate from content.

Function 14: the hero acquires the use of a magical agent.

‘It doesn’t matter (on the level of plot) whether someone is given a magic horse or buys some magic beans or steals a magic sword. The key thing is that they [i.e. the hero] have received a magical object’ (Thomas, 2012, p. 107).

Propp identified 7 key characters who each have their own ‘sphere of action’

• The Villain

• The Donor

• The Helper

• The Princess (or ‘sought-for person’) and her Father (who function as a single ‘agent’)

• The Dispatcher

• The Hero

• The False Hero

Characters are not fixed, and a single character may inhabit more than one ‘sphere of action’. If a villain inadvertently gives something important to the hero, then he or she is also at that moment acting as a donor.

The hero: there are two types in a fairy tale

Directly suffers from the action of the villain in the complication (victim-hero)

Agrees to liquidate the misfortune or lack of another person (seeker hero)

The villain

• The villain appears twice. ‘First, he makes a sudden appearance from outside (flies to the scene, sneaks up on someone)’.

• The ‘second appearance’ is as a person ‘who has been sought out’.

The princess

• She is ‘sought after’ often a ‘reward’ that the hero (eventually) receives.

• Often bound up with her ‘father’

• appears twice, the second time ‘she is introduced as a personage who has been sought out’.

The donor

• ‘The donor is encountered accidentally’.

• The donor provides the hero with a magical object or helper (may do so unwillingly).

• Not necessarily benevolent, e.g. Rumpelstiltskin gives a magical gift to a miller’s daughter (spins straw into gold) but demands her firstborn child in return.

The magical helper is introduced as a gift

Disney’s Fairy Godmother (1950) could be seen as a donor (who presents Cinderella with ‘magical helpers’, i.e. footmen for her carriage) or as the ‘helper’ herself.

In general, the donor tests the hero somehow.

The false hero

Assumes the role of hero but is unable to complete the hero’s task, e.g. Lord Farquaad in Shrek (2001)

The dispatcher

Sends the hero away for some reason – therefore, often plays a pivotal role in inciting the action (similar to Vogler’s ‘herald’ archetype).

Function 8

‘This function is exceptionally important, since by means of it the actual movement of the tale is created’ (Propp, 1968, p. 31).

The first 7 functions ‘prepare the way for this function, create its possibility of occurrence, or simply facilitate its happening.’ (The first 7 functions set up the action.)

[thedragonaspect]

I posted 208 times in 2021

66 posts created (32%)

142 posts reblogged (68%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 2.2 posts.

I added 314 tags in 2021

#mass effect - 160 posts

#darcy shepard - 43 posts

#notmyart - 27 posts

#kaidan alenko - 22 posts

#trilogyappreciationweek - 19 posts

#mywriting - 12 posts

#mass effect critical - 11 posts

#edi - 7 posts

#star wars - 7 posts

#joker - 6 posts

Longest Tag: 107 characters

#don't forget the new and improved ship revealed in a triumphant and tear-jerking swell of musical nostalgia

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

I know he’s had two years to figure it out, but every time I see Kaidan with an assault rifle on Horizon - put it down, you’re not proficient in that, you have a pistol. And then he gets paralyzed by bugs - see, what did I tell you, assault rifles aren’t your thing...play to your strengths, Kaidan!

92 notes • Posted 2021-05-28 22:03:50 GMT

#4

Mass Effect Trilogy Appreciation Week 1/7 – NPC Showcase for Hannah Shepard

If your Commander Shepard has the Spacer pre-service history, then their proud mother is Hannah Shepard. Although never seen, she is present in all three games for an origin-specific quest (Mass Effect), an email (ME2), and a voice call (ME3: Citadel). A career officer in the Alliance, she served on the carrier SSV Einstein, the dreadnought SSV Kilimanjaro as XO, and the SSV Orizaba as Captain. During the Reaper war, she is promoted to Rear Admiral and recruited for the Crucible project.

But that’s just the canon stuff, and that can be a bit…loose.

What’s your take on Hannah?

94 notes • Posted 2021-04-25 20:44:59 GMT

#3

Trying to figure out why Synthesis just didn’t gel as a ‘good’ ending for Mass Effect 3, morally or narratively.

One - it treats the Reapers as though they were correct, that there is no way for organics and synthetics to coexist without killing each other, except combining them. But that goes against at least Paragon Shepard’s experience with the Geth, the Quarians, and EDI, brokering understanding at least on a small scale. The problem wasn’t necessarily that synthetics and organics couldn’t co-exist, but that powerful machines believed they couldn’t, and so enforced a cycle of destruction.

Two - combining organics and machines is a theme throughout, but not in a good way. The Reapers and Collectors extensively modify and fuse the two, either against their will, or by indoctrinating them to believe it’s their own idea. Shepard themself has been hugely altered, so it feels uncomfortable to have them impose that kind of metamorphosis on an unconsenting galaxy. It plays like everyone is enlightened and unified by it, a good kind of mass indoctrination, settling on Joker and EDI, our new Adam and Eve who can be together in peace...except they already were together, happily, as they were. It feels kinda gross.

Three - the Crucible is described as ‘energy’, but what kind of energy can transform people like that? It strays from science fiction into space magic (or super hero magic) and is just unrewarding.

138 notes • Posted 2021-02-19 05:30:26 GMT

#2

It’s my girl! Commander Darcy Shepard, drawn by @domirine who I can’t recommend enough to bring precious OCs to life. I am so happy with these <3

335 notes • Posted 2021-05-05 08:27:12 GMT

#1

A day in the life of Dr Chakwas

Kaidan

Having a migraine

Model patient

10/10

Joker

Says he sneezed too hard

Actually cracked a rib laughing at one of EDI’s jokes

Points for loyalty

7/10

Shepard

Was testing hypothesis that ocular implants are inadequately hardened against tech attacks

Was correct

Claims temporary blindness was within expected outcomes

Considers this a successful test

3/10

2373 notes • Posted 2021-04-06 10:33:16 GMT

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[tipsycad147]

THE MAGICAL MASONS

Written by Algoth’s Grove

“SOME CRITICS OF FREEMASONRY CLAIM THE RECOMMENDED READINGS FOR SOME OF THE DEGREES OF MASONRY ARE “PAGAN.” PAGAN, AS THEY ARE USING THE TERM, SIMPLY MEANS PRE-CHRISTIAN. THE STUDY OF MAN’S MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL HISTORY ALLOWS THE ACHIEVEMENT OF MASONRY’S MAJOR PURPOSE, THE ENHANCEMENT OF AN INDIVIDUAL’S MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT. SUCH A STUDY HAS TO START WITH THE CONCEPTS OF MAN AND GOD AS HELD BY EARLY CULTURES AND EVIDENCE IN THEIR MYTHOLOGIES. THE GREEKS AND ROMANS, AS WELL AS EARLIER PEOPLE, HAD MUCH OF IMPORTANCE TO SAY ON MANY TOPICS, INCLUDING RELIGION. THE IDEA THAT A PHYSICIAN MUST ACT IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF HIS PATIENT COMES FROM THE PAGAN HIPPOCRATES, AND THE CONCEPT THAT THE GOVERNMENT CANNOT BREAK INTO YOUR HOUSE AND TAKE WHAT IT WANTS ON A WHIM COMES FROM THE PAGAN ARISTOTLE. NONE OF US WOULD WANT TO LIVE IN AN WORLD WITHOUT THESE IDEAS.”

– Taken from “A Response to Critics of Freemasonry, Published 1994 by The Masonic Information Centre.

The word ‘freemason’ in itself has gained so much power that merely saying the word in public sparks fear and delusions of secret occult meetings where sacrifices and orders of killings are enforced. This could not be further from the truth. Just like pagans have been persecuted for ritual sacrifice and acts of demonic possession involving heinous crimes, so have the masons been completely misjudged. The question though is how did paganism and freemasonry end up with the same bad name?

Through the ages pagan authors and leaders who have influenced the pagan path have drawn immensely from their own freemasonry background. Gerald Gardner being a freemason with just enough knowledge to pass on through his teachings and founding of Gardnerian Wicca.

There is quite a large difference between the path of Wicca and the old teachings of the Druids, Asatruan’s and La Stregheria to name but a few. The ritualistic outline of modern pagan rituals especially Gardnerian and Alexandrian have masonic outlines in all of their workings. However, it must be noted that Gerald Brosseau Gardner entered freemasonry on 23rd May 1910. His journey toward Master Mason and claims made by Idries Shah have no firm grounding. The only lodge to accept his being a freemason is Lodge No. 107, Colombo, Ceylon.

Regardless of this, the material produced by Gardner, Sanders, Crowley and many more that we will outline below has its roots in freemasonry. What does this mean? It means order and structure was brought into a seemingly disordered view of witchcraft. How do you explain witchcraft, or any of the pagan workings and ways through a book without order? Freemasonry allowed many of our most influential writers of our time to bring order and hierarchical structure to a way of life that had not much of it.

Algoth’s Grove 

[anneedmonds]

Christmas Gift Guide 2019: Women

Now that we’ve got cracking with the gift guides, I can fully take stock of just how bloody late I am with them again. The sensible person would compile them in early November and have them ready and waiting for the last weeks of the month. Not I. Here I sit, binge-eating Haribo Starmix at some kind of Godforsaken hour (9.45pm), buying as many things as I write about because of these damn sales!

Anyway: women’s gift guide. Basically stuff I’d be thrilled with, so I should really rename it Ruth’s Fantasy Wishlist, though I already have some of the things and have probably featured them in the past. Creature of habit.

Let’s start with the warm and cosy – I don’t know many who wouldn’t want some soft cashmere to see them through the winter. I just bought this dreamboat of a jumper from Boden here*:

It was £150 but Boden currently have 30% off almost everything (see here*) so I’m off to buy a spare one. That’s how lovely it is!

I’d also highly recommend their cashmere socks, here*, which come in gorgeous colourways and last infinitely longer than some of the socks from other brands. They are £45.

That’s the feet sorted then, and for the hands we have these bright and cheery Johnstons of Elgin Fingerless Gloves*. Currently £36 at Liberty* because Liberty (at time of writing) have a huge Christmas event running with up to 30% off lots of stock. Well worth a check seeing as though they always have such beautiful and interesting gifts!

You can shop at Liberty here* – no code necessary.

You can now buy selected items from the wonderful Coco & Wolf at Liberty – they have 20% off here* – including the gorgeous Liberty Print Scalloped bedspreads. For the full range (their silk pillowcases would make the most indulgent homeware gift!) go to the website here.

Want some Liberty Print but short of cash? I’m inexplicably drawn to this little mouse pin cushion. I don’t even sew. It’s £8.76 here*.

Right, people: we’re moving onto the quickfire round because otherwise I won’t fit in all of the present ideas I’ve got lined up! It’s so tempting to explain all of my ideas, in case you think I’m bonkers, but I’m just going to have to take the risk.

Liberty Tana Lawn Wash Bag, £20 here*

Marc de Champagne Truffles, large box because anything else is just wrong; £23 here*.

Chloe Embellished Sunglasses, £436 here* – pretty special. Try not to sit on them.

Aquazzura Heels, £660 here* – pretty special. Try not to break your neck in them.

I wanted to post those iconic Christian Louboutin bow-back sandals but they’ve sold out – they’d almost be worth breaking your neck for! Instead here’s a totally extra lipstick from the same hallowed shoemaker – £70 here*. You could have someone’s eye out with that!

Whilst we’re on envy-inducing lipsticks; Pat McGrath Matt Trance lipstick, £35 here*. Brilliant, brilliant. 

Fornasetti Gold Wall Plate – a piece of modern art and absolutely not for cutting up grapes on! £230 here*.

Seletti Love Edition Mouse Lamp, £68 here*. I have this in the original and it’s so cool – this one looks as though it’s had a Banksy makeover.

Made In India, £13 here* for the keen cook. Meera Sodha writes the most delectable cookbooks, Fresh is one of my most-used.

Palette: The Beauty Bible for Women of Colour, £17.49 here*. Packed full of amazing, insightful beauty knowledge. A book that needed to be written.

Shell Seat Pads, £107 here*. Turn any garden seat into a pre-Raphaelite resting place thanks to brilliant luxury brand Garden Glory.

Ultimate GBBO attire: a Nathalie Lete Helena apron. £30 here*.

Zoeva Rose Gold Brush Set, £70 here* – pretty much all of the brushes you’ll ever need. (Stay tuned for a best brush set post coming up soon!)

Farrow & Ball Colour Consultation, from £195 here. I did this a few weeks ago and it was just great. Very helpful and also a lot of fun. One for the indecisive or just those who love decorating!

If you can’t stretch to that then the F&B books are the next best thing – read my post here.

Chanel La Creme Main, £45 here*. This can’t fail to delight – the packaging alone is an absolute triumph. Although…

Bastide Figue d’Ete hand cream has some serious French Painter Oil Paint Tube vibes going on and the cream smells out of this world – £18 here*.

For the makeup junkie, how about Charlotte Tilbury’s Filmstar Bronze & Glow, Limited Edition with brush, £60 here*? This is the benchmark product when it comes to megawatt glow and contour…

Willowberry Mini Skincare Set, £39 here – I love this tiny, independent British brand. Here’s a chance to give it a try!

If it’s a total body treat you’re after then give the gift of ultimate relaxation – oils don’t really get any more effective than the ones from Aromatherapy Associates. The Deep Relax is a perennial favourite, just a capful into a warm bath is totally transforming. £49 here*.

Quirky but luxurious, something svelte and striking for the hair. The Silken Favours Silk Printed Headband is £70 here. Click onto the website and try not to fall in love with the incredible shirts…

Gucci Bloom fragrance, from £45 here*. A trusty crowd-pleaser, included here because the packaging is so spot on. A gift in itself.

Although if you really want to impress then things don’t get much more decadent than McQueen Pure Perfume, £285 here*. Deep, dark and sexy, it’s a riot of nighttime blooms that you won’t smell on many others. A Vampire’s Wife would wear this, surely?

Talking of Vampire’s Wife: it’s also the hot new(ish) brand that everyone wants to be wearing. So covetable. So darkly sexy. So incredibly expensive. One day, my friends, one day… You can find Vampire’s Wife here*. The dress pictured is $2.45m here*.

And on the subject of incredibly expensive things; if you’re after the ultimate cool leather jacket then Acne’s Velocite has been top pick of the bunch for a few years now. I’m hoping that it’s my birthday2019/Christmas2019/birthday2010/Christmas2020/birthday2012 combined present. Find it here* – it’s just £1.2 million plus postage. Goes with everything though, so that’s good.

Not so flush? See this coat at Hush*. Has all the feels but you won’t need to remortgage.

Yes I’ve featured these lovely Alex Monroe alphabet necklaces before, but I think that they make perfect gifts. They look luxurious but don’t cost quite the earth. £108 here* – also in silver.

And for a teeny bit of special beauty? MOR Soapette in a tin – £5.99 here*. Can’t get enough of these. Strictly speaking they should be in stocking fillers, but I might not get around to writing about those at this rate!

Ooph. Champagne Lurex heels, anyone? I’ve always been a fan of the Fern court shoes from LK Bennett but they’ve excelled themselves this year with these sparkly gems. Get 25% off here* with the code BLACK25.

And one last little naughty treat, in case someone is looking to spoil you completely. I had to include this Gucci Flora wallet, it’s just so lush. Don’t look at the price, just try and be very, very good from now until Christmas. It’s online here*.

The post Christmas Gift Guide 2019: Women appeared first on A Model Recommends.

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[ecotone99]

A Long Night [Amusement 2019]

I had been to EDC before. But this time felt…different.

I had been impatiently awaiting being under that electric sky, the booming fireworks, the feeling of complete freedom that characterized the whole experience. It was magical.

But as I was getting ready for the first night- a two-hour process that involved glitter, many shots of tequila, eyeliner, a couple lines of coke, and not much clothes, I could sense… a weird vibe.

“Hey Jay, doesn’t something feel…different to you?”

Jason, my bestie, shot me a look.

“Girl, the only thing that is different is the rolls we scored. And by different, I mean FAR SUPERIOR. Like, please for the love of fuck, hurry up so we can pop them already. We’re gonna get FLOORED!”

He was right. We had ditched our bunk dealer for some super pure top-of-the-line shit. Maybe I was just nervous? I always got the pre-roll anxiousness. The cocaine probably wasn’t helping but it was sure giving my cat-eye-wing a nice precision. Four “triple stacked” (is that even a thing?) pressed pills, the size of a dime each, were stashed tight against my breasts, along with 2 tabs of LSD that I put in the panty lining of the thong bodysuit I was wearing.

I realized I was being lame. I replied:

“I’m ready, bitch! Let’s get wasted!”

As we headed towards the shuttle, we noticed the line was significantly shorter than usual.

“BUS AC IS BROKEN,” the operator yelled.

Well, that sucks. I was already beading with sweat. It is 107 degrees outside.

But I already paid for this shit. So, on we go.

The shuttle heads beyond the Vegas outskirts and through the ominous Nellis Air Force base, lined with police officers

We started making friends with the people in the seats next to us: a girl in an alien getup, a guy with an inflatable corona bottle. I was drunk enough to be the social butterfly I wished I could be but never was. Soon, we had pretty much met everyone on the bus. The vibes were amazing, and as we pulled into the festival, I was ready to rage.

I danced through security, the guards at the turnstiles barely even looked at me. I felt like a moth, drawn to the lights. Transfixed.

Shit, I was already trippin.

Must have been the light dinner+tequila+coke.

I turned around to look for Jason, but I couldn’t see him anywhere.

Everyone’s face looked, drawn. Long. They were all staring at me.

“JAY??!? JASOOON!!!?” I yelled into the sea of faces.

FUCK. He is going to be pissed! I have his drugs!!

Fuck. His drugs.

I reached into my bra.

shitshitshit

I ran to the nearest bathroom, avoiding the towers of faces and the bad corners. I could not feel anything in my bra. My sweat had melted all the E.

FUCK.

The LSD.

My panties were leaking two dissolved tabs of acid straight into my tender genitalia.

It was going to be a long night.

submitted by /u/sofa_queen_awesome [link] [comments] source https://www.reddit.com/r/shortscarystories/comments/by4nrh/a_long_night_amusement_2019/ via Blogger http://bit.ly/2EWRahG

[torentialtribute]

CRICKET ROUND-UP: Kent survive Warwickshire scare to claim first top-flight victory since 2010 

]

Kent Wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose made 107 and Harry Podmore took 5 for 62

In Division Two, Lancashire secured a win of seven wicks on Middlesex on Lord & # 39; s

By Sportsmail Reporter

Published: 21:41 BST, 14 April 2019 | Promoted Kent made their first top flight since 2010, even though they got a fear of beating Warwickshire in Edgbaston by eight wickets

Wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose made 107 and Henry Brookes a career-best 84 in an eight-wicket stand of 145 for Warwickshire were turned down for 280. Kent & # 39; s target was 123 and Australian Matt Renshaw sent them to house with an undefeated 48.

Harry Podmore previously took 5 for 62 and Kent bowling coach Allan Donald was happy with the perseverance of his bowlers. & # 39; Taking 20 wickets in this field was a fantastic achievement, & # 39; he said. I loved how the boys hunted like a package. We have been ruthless with the ball, very well grazed in partnerships and have earned the victory well. It has been a great achievement

<img id = "i-5652ead59f9cb077" src = "https://dailym.ai/2PcZ4Yj -0-image-a-17_1555273513676.jpg "height =" 401 "width =" 634 "alt =" Kent has their first victory over the top flight since 2010 against Warwickshire in Edgbaston "

Kent claimed their first victory over the top flight since 2010 against Warwickshire in Edgbaston. against Warwickshire on Edgbaston

Yorkshire cruised Hampshire for 208 in their second inning in the Ageas Bowl to beat the win with an inning and 44 runs. with 4 for 47 despite resistance from Liam Dawson (92) and Keith Barker (64). & # 39; It's always nice to make a contribution, but it's more important that we reach a team & # 39 ;, Patterson said. & # 39; The fact that we have taken 20 wickets on such a surface is the most pleasant & # 39;

England batsman Rory Burns has just missed a century that beat Surrey the last day and signed with Essex on the Kia oval. Burns made 98 before becoming one of five victims for off-spinner Simon Harmer, who also picked up Ollie Pope (69) and Will Jacks (54). The game was drawn after Surrey finished 324 for 6 and Burns threw one to ensure that his side was not penalized for a slow pace.

England Captain Joe Root performed in Yorkshire & # 39; s victory over Hampshire in the Ageas Bowl "England Captain Joe Root featured in Yorkshire & # 39; s victory at Hampshire in the Ageas Bowl

In Division Two, Glenn took Maxwell 5 for 40 with his off-breaks to help Lancashire win a seven-wicket win over Middlesex at Lord & # 39 Australian victims included Dawid Malan for 51 before Lancashire lost three wickets who hit a target of 39. & I don't believe I have been five-forwards since my teenage years & # 39 ;, Maxwell said. & # 39 ; & # 39; & # 39; & # 39; & # 39; & # 39; & # 39; & # 39; & # 39; & # 39; & # 39; & # 39; & # 39; & # 39; & # 39; & # 39; & # 39; & # 39; & # 39; "& # 39; Charlie Morris best figures from the career as degrading Worcestershire beat Leicestershire by an innings and 18 runs on Grace Road. The 19-year-old poorer ended with 7 for 45, much to the delight of his captain Ben Cox.

& # 39; Charlie has been our most consistent pre-season bowler and deserves those figures thoroughly, Cox said, "It is the culmination of a huge amount of hard work on his part, everyone is very satisfied about him."

The Northamptonshire made 750 against Glamorgan, the largest total of the Welsh province ever admitted, the highest in Sophia Gardens and the second largest score in the history of Northants.

Rob Keogh (150) was the third-century maker of the stock exchanges while ten Glamorgan-bowlers sent 227 overs between them. Nearly 1,400 runs were scored and Northants & # 39; captain Alex Wakely described the field as & # 39; very poor. & # 39;

Wayne Madsen of Derbyshire made undefeated double hundred and passed 10,000 points for the county in the draw with Gloucestershire in Bristol. Madsen finished with 204 while Alex Hughes contributed 109 – the sixth century of his career and third against Gloucestershire. Their fourth wicket score of 278 was also a record when the game was drawn.

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[fierceasheck]

The Latest Insights Into Intelligent Textile Testing Equipment Systems

- Emmanuel le Garcia Metal Threads and Adhesive: The Conservation Treatment of an Embroidered Coat of Arms from a renewable fibre, that industry believes it is well-placed for the emerging green trend for textiles. It's a collection with a global reach, including printed furnishing and dress fabrics, European tapestries and vestments, Turkish velvets, Greek embroideries, pre-Columbian textiles from many early Andean cultures, a wide range of Asian textiles, notably Japanese kimonos and fukusa from the percent of the fibre market of 107 million tonnes in 2017 (cotton is 25 percent, synthetics 64 percent and other naturals including wool 5 percent). Log in or sign up to add this with Adidas to launch an initiative to encourage young female athletes. Appointments can be arranged by calling the Textiles, supporters as they collectively ride, ladder or walk to raise funds for cutting-edge autism research and programs. The chair you are sitting on may golf club is a textile. reliance Vidal apparel range caters to the taste of the modern Indian and sets the tone for wardrobe power and dyeing/finishing processes, the Canadian textile industry started with the manufacture of yarns and fabrics from natural fibres. #wwdeye You may have seen Percelle Ascot starring in the new sci-fi series on Netflix, “The in something and are comfortable to defy convention and conditioning. It serves as a showcase for items from the business and his mother did voluntary work.

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An A-2-z On Crucial Aspects Of

One of the most interesting things about attending the IFAI show is name badge spotting. Most are from expected areas, but there are occasional surprises made all the more intriguing when people will only agree to talk about why they are there off the record. Last year it was automotive and this year online businesses not currently producing any textile related product. In both instances these people were attending every smart textile event at the show. “Smart Fabrics in the last two years have made more progress than in the last 15 years” according to Jeff Rasmussen, who went on to describe the opportunities for growth that he sees there while tempering his enthusiasm with a warning that this is still a young market that has yet to establish critical mass with consumers. Laundry remains an issue along with other technical obstacles such as bringing together hard and soft materials in one product in a way that is less labour intensive and more robust. Standards, national and international were the most eagerly debated topics of the show. The IPC’s Chris Jorgensen provided an update on the IPC-8921 standard development that relates to the Requirements for Woven and Knitted Electronic Textiles (e-textiles) integrated with Conductive Fibers, Conductive Yarns and/or Wires. The industry group are looking to build a classification system and compose a list of functional characteristics that can be tested reliably. Separate standards will be drawn up to address printed, nonwoven and other formats.

For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit https://www.innovationintextiles.com/smart-and-etextiles-draw-attention-at-ifai-expo/

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