#eat your cake & have it too

[jedi-enthusiasm-blog]

Something strange I've seen in this fandom is the argument that the Jedi hold too much political power, that they can influence the Senate, etc. So they are guilty of… basically everything the Senate is but worse, for some reason.

But, and hold the phone. This argument is usually seen with Anakin feeling like a slave in the Order.

This two headcanons are incompatible because if Anakin isn't free as a Jedi… no Jedi is.

If the Jedi are slaves (or otherwise not free), they don't hold power to influence the political process. And if the Jedi hold power and are free, Anakin isn't a slave.

Jedi antis learn basic media literacy before making any arguments, for the sake of all our braincells.

[achaotichuman]

Feyre- Hah hah! I destroyed the Spring Court and left them for dead through this elaborate plan that I made up on the spot while we are literally in the middle of war, so I can get back at Tamlin!

Tamlin- She destroyed the Spring Court and left us for dead through this elaborate plan she made up on the spot while we are literally in the middle of war, just so she can get back at me

Feyre-

[buttercupbuck]

im sorry but every time 911 TRIES to criticize the police force it's still just completely drowned out by all the other copaganda shit they stuff in the episode

[boywhatintheheck]

what if Bill started a literal love triangle

I'm 99.9% sure he did in fact start a love triangle

Ew gay people, burn them 🔥🔥

[longmaxsilvarg]

just think that it's maybe like really kinda a tiny bit cruel that chloe and joyce don't get to be together no matter what ending

[physalian]

On eating your “Realism” cake and having it too

Inspired by another post I didn't want to hijack twice.

TL;DR, people are able to suspend their disbelief for many things, but once you invite them to start questioning things, if you have not done the groundwork, your lore might fall apart.

Example I love to use is Cars to Cars 2.

People were not nitpicking how car society works after Cars. It’s a kids movie about anthropomorphic vehicles, and for the most part, it kind of made sense. The courthouse in Radiator Springs was built for vehicles, Doc was a “doctor” but really a fancy mechanic, and the plot was about cars racing, doing car things.

Yeah you could wonder things like, how did they build the buildings? Why do they have both sentient aircraft (the helicopter and blimp) but also planes being piloted by cars (the flyover of the jets above the big race)? But these were negligible background details that didn’t matter to the plot.

Cars didn’t have to be ‘realistic’ and wasn’t pretending to be.

Cars 2 was when people got all up in arms nitpicking the hell out of every little thing, because in this movie, zero thought was given to the worldbuilding beyond “idk it’s earth but with humans instead of cars” except now it matters to the plot.

Why is Mater able to eat wasabi? Why does wasabi exist? Why is there a car pope? Why is there a car queen? How do cars have parents? What was the point of that one car with their eyes in the headlights? Are sentient battleships born or made into a life of combat? Are all commercial planes forced to be pack mules for their whole existence? How does the car class system work? Why do lemons exist?

All of this taking away from the grand prix plot that made much more sense for the universe, instead of the spy movie. Now, to try and solve the mystery and engage with the story, we have to think about all those incongruous details. All those details, the car queen and car pope would have been funny background gags if the movie was just about the grand prix.

It’s still a kids movie, but now with all these details that don’t add up and cannot be ignored. Cars could be enjoyed by everyone. Cars 2 was made for money kids who weren’t supposed to think about all that.

—

If you as the author and your story take the tone of “this is for fun don’t think too hard” people will have a good time if they’re entertained and anyone who nitpicks can be met with, well, Dead Dove: What did you expect? It’s exactly what it says on the tin.

You can absolutely make shit up as you go along. I read a book that had dinosaurs on Mars. Why? Because it’s fun. There was a tiny scientific explanation given, but the plot did not rest on how and why these dinosaurs exist on Mars. The story never asked the audience to consider logic, nor did it have its characters questioning the worldbuilding.

You do not have to be “realistic,” in that way, to be good.

But once you start bringing attention to the elephant in the room, you need to have done your homework.

So, example.

I have a novel in which the sun does not shine, permanently, across the entire northern hemisphere of earth. This is fantasy, not sci-fi.

Option one: Ignore all the catastrophic consequences of such an apocalypse. How it works, why it happened, all that noise does not matter to the plot or the characters. No one ever questions it, no one’s choices ever depend on it. It’s just a fun aesthetic choice, in the same way that animals can talk to humans in Disney movies and no one questions it. Why and how they can talk does not matter, only that they can and we are now entertained by Mushu’s antics.

Option two: Okay, so I’ve taken the sun away from half the planet. I now need to think about the following: How does that affect the weather for the other half? What happens to all the plants and animals that lived in the North? How would one survive in that wasteland without easy access to food? What food could grow there without sunlight? By what other means can I get nutrients for plants and animals without sunlight, so people can eat, so communities can exist?

I went with option two. The plot of the book is very much tied to this lack of sunlight and the hazardous environment the characters are stuck in. The characters are wondering how it works and how they can overcome it constantly. I did my homework, I gave them a way to survive and even thrive up there. I am thus calling this post-apocalyptic setting “realistic”.

It’s still fantasy, so my explanation is still “because magic”, where the sun isn’t gone it’s just being blocked by a big magic blanket, to put it simply, but the consequences are based in realism. That way, my audience can follow along and understand how the world works and anticipate why characters do the things they do in their environment.

So if a geologist or climatologist reads my book and goes “um actually” and they point out that I’m wrong, I have to own that. I have to say “yeah I didn’t consider that, it’s a good point, but I can’t change the manuscript so to enjoy the book, try not to think about it.”

What I cannot do is protest all criticisms of my “realism” by going “it’s fantasy you’re not supposed to take it seriously” while turning around and also saying how smart I am and how clever and authentic my worldbuilding is.

Can’t eat your realism cake and have it too.

And this is only talking about the lore. I haven’t even touched escapist fantasy relationships.

A more famous example: Gandalf’s magic in Lord of the Rings.

Have not read the books in a hot minute so I’m referencing the movies as I’m more familiar with them.

Gandalf is a wizard. He can do an unexplained number of spells pretty much as the plot demands. What he cannot do is never given a hard limit, which tends to break most magic systems.

And yet. “Why didn’t Gandalf save the day?” isn’t a question that destroys the story.

Gandalf is a shepherd, not the hero. He can lead the race of Men to water, but he can’t make them drink. If he came in and started forcing all the power-hungry men to sit down, shut up, and cooperate, what magic Gandalf can and cannot do would be paramount to understanding the story. He can only nudge people in what he thinks is the right direction, but the choice to act is up to them.

Which is pretty heavily implied throughout the films.

As for his magic, Gandalf both never wins without consequence, and isn’t an aggressive character who resorts to his magic at every turn.

He took down the Balrog, but the Balrog got him, too

He warded off the nazgul with the big light beam outside Minas Tirith, but a lot of Gondorian soldiers still died, and he didn’t do any damage to the fellbeasts

He likes fun times and magic tricks, like the fireworks, more than spells for combat

He’s forgetful, like with the password to the door of Moria

He is not all-powerful

All this means that in any life or death situation, the weight of the plot does not rest solely on his shoulders.

So Tolkein isn’t “realistic” in that he consulted physicists about every little thing, but he’s “realistic” in that all the worldbuilding decisions and lore realistically fit the story. The choices of the characters, the behaviors of the different kingdoms, the perspectives of the different races all make sense for the world they live in.

—

It is nearly impossible, as a lone writer, to cover every potential plot hole that a reader could point out. It’s fiction, after all, and sometimes characters make choices because that’s what’s entertaining and the other option of “just go home” or “X did this because they forgot Y” is not entertaining.

But if you have, say, the series that inspired this post, with a world where winter shows up when the plot demands and lasts for years, you can either say “eh that’s just a thing that happens, it’s not important I just thought it was neat and a cool setting” and people will shrug it off.

Or you can say “this is absolutely critical to the entire story and impacts every society within my world” but don’t do your homework on what those impacts are, people can and will call you out on it.

[howifeltabouthim]

'I don't want to do without you . . . I want to have everything and you as well.'

Iris Murdoch, from A Fairly Honourable Defeat

[xxxnightcorequeenxxxv3]

So random though I had. What if Tim could bake, like really well. But never told anyone but Alfred. Maybe it was something he did in the hope that his parents would come home and enjoy it. For his and thier birthdays. So he would go all out with coustomized cakes that would taste amazing and be unique and beautiful.

So fast forward a bit and during Tim's time at the wayne mannor he still bakes peoples cakes no matter how mad he is at them. And they don’t know it's Tim's work.

That is though until Damien birthday rolls around and there is no Cake. Cuz you know he kicked Tim out and Tim is on his Bruce mission.

So Damien be like; where is the Cake?

I can order you one master Damien.

Why? They were always homemade before why can you not bake them like always Alfred.

Sorry to inform you this master Damien, but I have only baked you cookies and breads. Cakes are a bit too sweet for my liking so I haven’t baked any.

Master Timothy is ushaly the one who does the baking with my supervision. I genally allowed it as he has a good sense for when it's apopriate to make celebratory cakes.

(Can’thave your cake and eat it too, lil gremlin. *Affeconate*)

[antisocialpyromaniac]

Are They Cake?

Hannibal and his dinner guests can confirm they were not cake. But they did taste exquisite

[moociaoafterdark]

Thinking thinking thinking so hard about Horus physically aging after Molech and combining this with my usual HoruSang brainworms infesting my brains Sanguinius taking a moment before he actually recognized his brother, when they finally reunited on the Vengeful Spirit. He expected him to change, but to age? Assuming Sang survives the Siege after simply getting knocked out cold, imagine him waking up, realizing that it's over and meeting face-to-face with Horus he can barely recognize. A face that was once so handsome and youthful, now showing scars of time, wrinkles and gaunt features. Aged hands running up and down Sanguinius' smooth and youthful skin. Had it been for different circumstances, he wouldn't have flinched, but he does. They feel gross. Horus feels gross and simply revolting now.

[utilitycaster]

perhaps unpopular but while I do agree the EXU interlude likely killed some of the momentum, I also...don't mind that the party didn't talk much this episode? I feel like the start of the episode created an opening that not everyone took, though we did have some good moments, but also, for all I adore episode 2x30 and 1x69 re: wake of a character's death, and i do think 3x92's first half was very strong, it feels very right and in-character that Ashton isn't ready to talk about it (and that Dorian isn't really talking yet either).

[bame-the-3d]

So are we all just going to gloss over that scene with Sir Pentious?

I thought this show wanted to take SA seriously…

[barschter000]

barok looks like he's allergic to peanuts

woke: projecting your period cramps onto a character

Bespoke: projecting your allergies onto a character

[yutamayo]

the votes are in

[buwheal]

Anon that was probably saying sorry, I said sorry because I find what clown roll was saying judgy, it's not easy being broke and not being able to afford food, the last thing a poor person needs is a lecture on how unhealthy their lifestyle is. Like of course it's not healthy, you think someone would CHOOSE to live like that? To eat nothing but trash? Pretty sure if spamton could be eating something not out of the trash he WOULD, he doesn't need someone rubbing how awful his life is in his face when he doesn't really have a way to make it better, like "oh yeah just get some food not in the trash" for free??? Or if you're expecting him to pay, with what money??? I swear financially well off people seem to just forget you need money to do almost anything because of how much they have. If clowny roll really cared so much they should give him some damn money to buy something, granted maybe they can't because of askbox rules, but still.

THAAANKK YOU DUDE arrghhhhh,, frustrates me a little because theres some people in this box talking to him like he has a choice!!! HE DOESNT!!! I already did a WHOLE nasty thing with a whole bunch of the asks rubbing that shit in his face as if it were an apology,, reminding CONSTANTLY with stuff like "I had trouble finding sucess once!" sorry but that doesnt help guys... This isnt some one time thing where hes down in the dumps cause he got fired or smth HES HOMELESS... thankfully ive stopped getting those, but now its THESE ones about how unhealthy his lifestyle is............... like yeah......... hes not fucking stupid he knows....... they talk to him like hes a child waaghhh /lh Like, heres some examples, sorry to these anons, but if i had chosen your ask you'd get yelled at by Spamton AND the audience anyways,, so heres some that i think maybe... they forgot he cant really do a whole lot....

...do you see the irony in this one......

guuuyyyysss do you see the freaking issue here???? "EAT HEALTHER!"

huh.

what.....

WITH WHAT FOOD????? WITH WHAT OPTIONS???? sorry lmfaoo... but like. "doesn't mean you shouldnt try to do better!" WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOUSAYING RIGHT NOW... HES NOT CHOOSING TO????? HES ALWAYS "TRYING TO DO BETTER"... DID YOU GUYS MISS THE POST POINTING OUT THAT HE EVEN HAS TROUBLE FINDING SOMETHING GOOD TO EAT /REGULARLY/??? pleeaaseeee dude save me pleese wauughh

But. Dont go after anyone,, esp Clowny Roll!!!!! I think a lot of them dont ....really think about it. I also have a tinge of a feeling that Clowny Roll has a bit of bait intention with theirs!! nothing wrong with that!

[howifeltabouthim]

. . . she allowed herself, for the moment, to eat her cake and have it. The cake was very sweet, and Margaret lived in an enchantment which enabled her to enjoy the present without providing for the future, like a happy healthy person who sees but does not feel the need to make a will.

L. P. Hartley, from My Fellow Devils