#especially cultural ones bc thats my thing but not only those

[narwhalandchill]

(soo ignition teaser thoughts ig)

hmmmm im ngl the trailer itself as a like prelude to what is coming in 5.0 intrigue and plot wise is like. compared to the region teasers that came before w lazzo and overture. its just. its kinda bad im sorry KWKJKWDJKWDJK like okay cool seeing the new cast and production value is high as always (+ music) but its such a middling teaser for the story itself?? it feels like a powerpoint presentation of the cast more than anything narratively coherent with an inherent draw and mystery

like theres mavuika speaking to the flame thingy (xbalanque that u? "one entombed in the primal fire" perhaps????) with some intrigue i suppose as well as her brief thing w capitano. ororon also appearing to be working together or aligned with capitano given theyre standing together there which could make for an interesting plot thread but beyond that its very.... eh. its not giving us a lot to grip onto ya know???? and thats rly a shame especially since i also felt that way abt the teaser in the 4.8 livestream. i wish we got more

and sure theres a tournament wahoo but like. its really Not helping to hype up that thing when half the introduced cast isnt being like "OMG the tournament!!!!1!1 this is HUGE!!!1" (or even. "oh no this is BAD!!!1" to set up basic conflict. like why would they dread it?) but instead just. "oh right... the tournament 🙄🙄" like who thought that was a good idea 😭😭 if the PEOPLE of natlan dgaf abt the big plot event happening then how am i as the viewer supposed to feel majorly invested in it . wow theyre tossing a ball around . wow nobody wants it guess ur tournament is having a bit of a PR issue in the making mavuika lmao

anyway i wouldnt even call myself a true capitano glazer despite being a fatuiHQ enjoyer on the side but like. that hmph still carried welcome capHIMpeaktano truly o7 JWDJWDJKDWJK also did yall see the. anemo-ish turquoise flare when mavuika is confronting (?) him? wonder if thats a thing with her flames or is it implying cap as anemo or sth.... i think itd fit him decent enough but ya. looking forward to HIM for sure

(+ congrats to him for losing the goofy timbs from arles animated short lmao like his design looks so fucking sick now)

character design wise uhhhh. well theres the obvious huge fucking issue here and while id say that hoyo p much already showed their true colors on the matter with sumeru that doesnt rly. make it any less disappointing and egregious wrt all the cultures and peoples theyre So willing to gather inspiration from in all possible aspects Other than the diversity of the people themselves. like its just... bad and such a shame but also not very surprising unfortunately.

(and really it just. looks especially bad given they clearly Can put melanin on people its just... enemy mobs only.)

beyond that i kind of dont have anyone that super catches my eye rn??? mainly because . well leaks moment eek but its basically official info now so basically. xilonens existence as a geo and a 5* (which like . u dont need leaks to guess she will be im sorry jdwjdw) was leaked a bit ago as well as the patch she should appear meaning. im actually in chiori rerun savings mode since its very high chance that she will be back w xilonen if anyone. so thats my plan for now kjdwjkdwjkdwjk

in terms of the actual cast i do like kinich and ororons designs v much, the design motifs of the latter especially are interesting bc those eye-like patterns are almost giving quantum symbol (= black hole imagery) to me???? and thats V interesting especially if hes actually working w capitano and the fatui. now him being a cat boy or whatever animals ears those turn out to be isnt like sth thats huge for Me personally but i do think hes valid and also W for anyone whos into that, congrats guys im happy for u ! but like fr itd be such an insane twist if hoyos Finally introducing the void quantum abyss whatever element w him (and maybe cap too.) bc that symbol Rly is looking Curious. or then hes just electro lol. for kinich its like. yeah fair he might be xiao-tighnari-gaming from minecraft ill admit that but. i do like the color scheme and his outfit a lot JKWJKDJKDWJKD so like i forgive it

w the girlies i overall find them all like. quite nice but so far without any personality + lore known its hard to settle my complete thoughts on them just yet. tho citlali being pink is super refreshing for genshin since we do have a shocking absence of it so like shes definitely one im drawn to, chasca looks interesting and like she could play a bigger part plot wise (maybe?) so that might be neat. both her and citlali being cryo is kinda surprising?? but cool. maybe ill get to unbench my shenhe and play some cryo teams again lmao freeze has been dead in abyss for so long now....

xilonen again w the kemomimi isnt sth im particularly into or not into but she looks cool, depending on personality and how her kit synergies turn out (+ assuming the chiori rerun, the fate of those pulls too), i might try for her as well? theres an Energy to her i like it. if she has proper Attitude and flair thats gonna be a massive bonus for me

mualani i think is rather bland to me, sth about her outfit and design just doesnt click for me even if the shark thing from the teaser before is neat and everything. the chibis are never sth im actively drawn to but like both do look okay, im kinda hoping kachina could be a lynette moment for 5.x and end up a free 4* since her exploration roomba looks p fun

anyway then theres. mavuika and i. well at least the design wasnt. That concept art one (ThoseWhoKnow...) . so instant massive W improvement solely on that basis holy fucking shit but ehhhhh im sorry i still dont know how to feel abt the very modern like. biker bodysuit thingy. im not a huge fan of the bodysuit type designs anyway so its not that surprising but still. her eyes + hair is absolutely stunning tho like not a question at all.

tbh in a way i kinda feel like having too many Thoughts on her design is kinda just unnecessary bc like. shes the archon. of Course the kit is going to be insane so i will get her anyway (UNLESS a pyro onfielder JKWJKJKWJKWJKWFKJ like god please no). and in terms of like is her design and energy from what this vid is giving us good enough that i wont like. Actively resent having to get her for meta and strong teams??? Absolutely. so in that sense ig its all cool lmao

but yeah. idk i just think as a teaser for the upcoming story its rly a shame how weak this felt for me???? like sure overture ended up being a bit of a misleading teaser since it gave the impression of arle as this mastermind of the fontaine AQ which didnt rly happen but it still served as a source of hype and intrigue. and yes lazzo is sth that can Never rly be beat in terms of how out of nowhere it was and how fucking insane the whole harbinger reveal went (+ elogia cinerosa existing) for lore and long term hype but its just. unfortunately those 2 are the regional teasers this natlan one is supposedly meant to parallel and it just didnt deliver anything comparable to those for me

like still looking forward to natlan and seeing the rest of its cast (like im fairly convinced the flame thingy might be xbalanque and hes gonna be a big deal ultimately or sth) and where it goes and all its environments but this trailer didnt rly. grip me the way i wouldve expected it to. which is unfortunate kdjkdwjkwjkdwj but yea thats all

[planetdream]

dreamie, i had someone unmatch me a while ago on hinge bc i listen to kpop groups w minors in them, and i wanna hear ur thoughts on that 🎤

context : they had skz all over their account, and commented on one of my concert fits (enha,) and when i mentioned i saw enha, they were like “ew wtf u listen to groups w minors in them? thats kinda weird” (this was when niki was still 17,)

bc like it rly got me thinking … do they only see idols in a sexual light??? bc me personally, i have been listening to kpop since i was 15, so seeing / listening to groups w minors is NOT weird / a problem to me… i am not attracted to minors like ????

- 🍊

ik u sent this a few weeks ago but I still wanted to answer this.

all in all i think the conversation is a bit deeper than solely seeing idols in a sexual light and has a bit more to do with leaning on ethics and the understanding of humans, in my opinion.

the topic of debuting minors has been hot discussion for several years, and i feel as though the topic has resurfaced heavily the last few years especially because of the sexualization and overworking of minors, and as well as the debut ages of lots of idols not only throughout the generations of kpop but especially within the 4th and 5th gen groups. i also think the topic resurfaces bc of that the fact that some labels tend to go after those who are younger rather than those who are older—and very often times, are a lot more talented.

a lot of idols who debuted as teenagers tend to come forth and say that they wish that they had more time to be not only a child, but a person. lots of idols get older and speak about the crazy hardships they had to go through in order to become an idol—think of the crazy diets (that children/teens should not go through for developmental purposes) and the long practices and the shaming/abuse, etc etc. think about the idols born in the 2000s who more than likely have long covid… i could also mention idols lacking proper education, as well as common knowledge and sense via their actions. i think these are reasons why a lot of people aren’t into groups with minors in them/debuting minors.

still, almost every single kpop group that exists has had at least one minor during time of debut—debuting minors is integrated in the culture of kpop.

and not 2 b a hater i think hybe specifically has almost increased the prevalence of the overworking and sexualization of minors**. but this is not to say that other labels have not or still do not contribute to this—because boy oh boy, so many labels are going to hell and lee sm will be the first to answer to god. I just personally think it's very prevalent right now within the hybe sphere given how many groups they currently have with minors in them—but just my opinion.

**thinking about how with enha, i feel like niki especially has been sexualized heavily both by fans but also due to the groups image/concept. also wanting to highlight le sserafim having questionable choreography despite having a minor(s) in the group. or min heejin and the new jeans roll out (that lolita situation)

because of these reasons, it's honestly made me put off by groups with minors in them. but i cannot be hypocritical because i liked enha’s music—but imma b so real; i wasn’t paying fr attention to the members born after 2002. i also can’t b hypocritical bc i like nmixx's music (and have liked songs by other groups with minors) but i haven't engaged in any of their non musical content since they debuted.

that being said i think recently, the girls of nmixx did a little variety show about the things they wish they got to do as children instead of training to be an idol. and just thinking about that made me so upset for the idols who debuted as kids and the kids who are now debuting as idols. which frames back to the whole 'idols wishing they got experience life' ideal.

there’s so many routes to follow when discussing this topic and naturally and understandably people get upset discussing this. idk bro i do have many opinions on this but like….idk…

[vampkomori]

im watching The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady and it makes me go insane so i have to write about my feelings on it and twts dead and the character limit is not enough so im doing it here

im going insane. it is that good. heres why 1. its yuri (literally) and 2. ITS A GOOD ISEKAI.

i watch a lot of isekais (unfortunately. i enjoy the concept bc a lot can be done with it Very many Interesting things can be done with it but all of them are shitty harems or a carbon copy of one another and. its tough out here.) and this is like one of . a handful. that actually. LIKE. ITS GOOD. ITS A GOOD ISEKAI YOU DONT GET MANY OF THOSE

i still havent explained why its good. basically heres a lesson on current isekai culture(?) (<- guy that cant get to the point)

theres exactly 2 kinds: one is the male fantasy where a guy reincarnates into a fantasy world and gets all the waifus. the second is the relevant one, the Reincarnated Villainess Trope which is SOO LOADED YOU DONT GET ITTT

the reincarnated villainess, to my knowledge, started with My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom aka hamefura (the jp abbreviation, henceforth refered to as such) and summarized, its about a girl that reincarnates into a fantasy otome game as the games villainess and bc the girl is a weirdgirl she basically derails the plot by being weird funny and endearing and everyone falls in love with her and she has a harem consisting of boys AND girls (in the first season. the girls side is unfortunately not taken seriously afterwards) 

and magirevo (The Magical Revolution of the Reincar- you get the gist. isekai names are long) is very similar in that the protag is a #weirdgirl but theres no harem this time and its gay for real.

where was i. basically hamefuras Thing is that its a “subversion” of the “villainess is put on trial by the crown prince who publicly annulls their engagement and accuses her of wronging the otome protagonist and also sometimes shes either killed or exiled” trope except its not a real trope. bare with me this is hilarious. its not a real trope but everyones feels like it is bc it feels familiar but there isnt a single existing example of this trope, its like a fake trope. theres certainly villainesses especially in older animes, but otome games very rarely ever even had a rival and this specific situation has literally never happened. just a fun fact. this is irrelevant to the discussion. but ill call it the fake villainess trope bc its not real but every villainess isekai “subverts” it. theyre subverting a fake trope. thats great. i could write an essay about this (already has)

anyway2.0 the point is there are literally so many. SOOOO MANY manhwas/mangas that base their story off this fake trope. some subvert the subversion some kinda follow it some deviate a lot more etc. but there always tends to be some flavour of “villainess is put on trial by the crown prince who publicly annulls their engagement and accuses her of wronging the otome protagonist (and also sometimes shes either killed or exiled)"

magirevo does this as well but in such a roundabout way you dont realize its doing the trope until its happening bc the protag, the crown prince’s elder sister, entirely does her own thing. she invents magic technology and tries to fly and tries to gain magic bc she doesnt have magic etc. so she Literally crash lands into the villainess’ trial and, in a fit of writing brilliance which i can only describe as bordering on genius, only vaguely implies that she knew it was going to happen (aka that the world shes in is a game) and literally whisks the villainess away on a whim (which in this case isnt even a villainess, shes never portrayed as one and shes not misunderstood, but as previously mentioned this is a common trope and euphy would be in the position of the villainess here) and now come the insane parts

euphy (stand-in “villainess”) is shown to have the worries/anxieties/issues that, logically, the villainess in the trope would have. i have to derail again for context on why its brilliant, the fake villainess trial trope in its most pure form is that the villainess was for real bullying the FL (the “female lead” of the otome game) and the FL/crown prince reveal this in public for revenge, in this the FL/prince are in love and portrayed as the side thats in the “right”. in the subversion of this, its literally flipped. the villainess is Wrongfully accused by the prince and “FL” (who at this point is no longer the protag of the story, but still is the protag in the original otome game which the reincarnated person.. knows about.. its getting complicated) who team up to, for never explained reasons, publicly ruin the “villainesses” image (my personal input would be that its so the engagement can be annulled more easily, its kinda like divorce where its easier if you can prove the other person was cheating. sort of. also palimony. there is technically one specific subversion that has the reincarnated person be a lawyer who helps the villainess get palimony- im getting carried away. i read a lot of these)

lost my train of thought. um. so the FL/prince are sometimes portrayed as antagonists in opposition to the “villainess”. who the reincarnated person even is kind of varies, sometimes its the villainess, and even then it depends on When in time she reincarnates (its not always since childhood) since some reincarnate during the moment of the trial, and in those the villainess was Actually a villainess, and the now-reincarnated-villainess (a wholly new person) takes this as an opportunity to do her own thing and rebuilds her life (whether in exile or not) but sometimes the reincarnated person is someone entirely unrelated to the trope, and in those cases the villainess in the trope is intead portrayed as a proper royal lady who follows etiquette very very closely. her “bullying” is mostly just telling the FL that it is inappropriate for her to spend a lot of time with the crown prince since Shes his fiance, and seeing him with another girl is very bad for his image. ultimately, the villainess is a kind person and is wrongfully humiliated/accused. magirevo does this, euphy is the perfect rule-abiding proper royal lady who only ever wanted to do right by her family and do what her father said (due to this her and her fathers relationships is strained, the anime actually touches on it . and parents are not given depth or show remorse in these things usually) so once shes whisked away by anis (magirevo protag) she suddenly doesnt have to fulfill any responsibility, has any expectations to fulfill, and is just told to do what she likes and what makes her happy, and she is not handling it well. once youre used to being ordered around and have etiquette ingrained into you its hard to just do what you Want to do and it becomes even more difficult to be able to Tell what you want to do. its very good.

anis is also an incredible protag but her whole deal isnt based on any sort of trope, so i wont go into it this time (also bc im only 5 episodes in and her thing is definitely going to span over the whole 12 eps so. refraining from commenting too early) but her BROTHER??? LETS GO TALK ABOUT HER BROTHER

as ive so eloquently and elaborately x paragraphs before (making fun of myself), the crown prince is portrayed as either the good side or the antagonistic side depending on writer, but ultimately tends to be a very paper thin one-note cardboard character that only exists for villainess angst and to hate him. which is a real shame bc theres clearly a lot of room for elaboration on motivation and just general. Potential. for a good arc. like, for real. the basic trope is just about the crown prince disgarding his fiancé for the (commoner) FL and thats it, but nobody??? sees the actions for what they are??? and magirevo does . its that the crown prince goes against his fathers wishes, against the rules imposed upon him by his royal blood and Does What He Wants and wants to be with the person he loves regardless of their status or his. thats good. thats insane. how has nobody banked on this. stocks are rising. so algard (magirevos crown prince) is that. he disregards the royal familys rules and wants to defy his fate, wants to be with the commoner girl he loves and is generally a very self-righteous person, which is used as the explanation for Why he accuses euphy in public, he thinks hes in the right for it (theoretically, bad means for good goals) and basically its portrayed as a sort of naiveté, bc hes the younger brother of anis, and still thinks the world revolves around him. zero consideration for others, doesnt think of consequences, gets manipulated by older nobles who use his self centric thinking against him, that sort of thing. plus hes a FOIL!!!! TO THE VILLAINESS!!! where the villainess is forcibly ripped from her responsibilities and now gets to live a life where she can do whatever she likes despite not having wished for it, the prince is forced to stay in his role as the crown prince and actively tries to go against the expectations placed upon him and cannot leave Despite Wishing For It (the “leave” in this case meaning the societal expectations, though its unclear if he still wants to inherit the throne at this point) and even Better, his actions and personality were entirely shaped by his sister, the protagonist, they used to be close as children with similar interests, but once anis invented magical technology (due to her knowledge from reincarnation) theres a growing rift between them bc shes heralded as a genius for her talents, and hes considered talentless. and even ! though ! anis is aware of this, and even revokes her right to the throne so that he can become ruler instead. theres so many misunderstandings in this royal family its insane. its the good kind of messy family drama. nobody knows how to talk to each other.

so im going insane bc isekais arent usually good or give any depth to characters and i feel like ive been given catnip. watch magirevo if you like weirdgirls and lesbians and like to see the fake villainess trope be explored in depth w motivations. yahoo

[magnoliamyrrh]

okay so. my opinions on their eyes were watching discourse that i disagree w. here goes english class essay on tumblr

starting w quickly one of the worst complaints ive ever heard, "its written in backwoods, uneducated, slave talk" "it portrays african americans as uneducated and lower class." dear lord. yes the book is written in heavy southern dialect or avve or both bc theyre basically the same thing, but it adds a lot to the book as far as im concerned. if i as a foreigner can manage to read it just fine and enjoy it, im sure you can deal w it. if i could read this when i was like 16 and had only been speaking english for 6 years rly, im sure u can cope. hurston was also an anthropologist who predominantly studied southern and carribean african diaspora, and thus her writing is heavily based on this. she also,,, was born in alabama and raised in florida, and thus, she was trying to portay not "those backwards rural folk over there" but her own people. and you can tell too, in the book, she was also trying to find and understand herself. others have called their eyes were watching god a brilliant capturing of the soul and culture of southern black ppl, and uhhH yea, id tend to agree. the fact she focused on rural peoples doesnt somehow mean she was saying all of the african diaspora is like this, and also...... .. theres nothing wrong with "uneducated" "backwoods" poor and rural people god damn get the classism out of here

but onto the main shit

a) its a grand love story love life goals. + her relationship w tea cake is feminist goals somehow

uhh,,, not quite, not as simple as that. even the summary of the book, along w many other summeries in some versions, calls it "an enduring southern love story" and to an extent it is, but also, its far from,,, something to be glorified too much. especially not as other book summaries say, "tea cake comes along and is the best thing ever a liberator etc etc"

its true that thats part of it. hurston from what i know said she wrote the book almost as a love ode to a man she fell in love with when she was in haiti, and it shows for sure. but tea cake, and his relationship with janie, isnt without problems. after they get married he steals her money, uses it to "feel like a rich man," to buy food and drinks for ppl, to buy a guitar, to party, leaving her alone for days while she wonders if he aint dead, or if he hasnt stolen her money and left her, used her - she's struggling, in pain, anxious through the roof, he finds her sitting on the floor staring into nothing when he come back. and sure, he apologizes, he explains himself with charm and humor, says he couldn't help but want to know, says he didnt wanna bring her around lower class folks out of fear she wouldnt like it - and when she tells him she'd want to be there, after that, he does always bring her w him and doesnt exclude her. he gambles the money back and comes back stabbed, bleeding, but keeping his word, "look in mah left pocket and see whut yo' daddy brought youh. when ah tell yuh ah'm gointuh bring it, ah don't lie." its playful, charming, you get drawn into his shpeel, and i think anyone whose ever had a habit of falling in love w,, , how to say, those rough around the edges, those w street smarts, can say yea, theres a charm to it. he tells her after, from that point on, they're going to be living on his money, that he's a man and thus he's gonna provide - and in truth he never steals her money again, never uses her money again despite her having it, and while she works at times, he also works more than her, and its clear hes okay w sticking by his word of providing.,, and janie forgives him for this ordeal, sure. at the same time,,, it could be said its a red flag and that yup, he stole her money once right after they got married and left her feeling bad for days, which aint alright

next, the domestic violence between them, and the jealousy too, which the book at times romanticized and portrays as normal. theres several instances of this throughout. janie talks about how he strikes her on multiple occasions, but also how she strikes him. she talks abt finding out theres consequences for trying to fight him, which is getting beat. when she gets jealous and thinks he might be sleeping w another woman, she slaps him and they fight from room to room, him trying to keep her from beating him, that time not beating her and ending up w them having sex. another time when tea cake gets jealous that a woman is trying to set her brother up w janie, even tho he knows she aint gonna leave him or cheat on him, he beats her just to show that he possesses her, owns her. he knows shes done nothing to justify the jealousy, but does it anyhow. "no brutal beating at all. he just slapped her around a bit to show he was boss. everybody talked about it next day in the fields. it aroused a sort of envy in both men and women. the way he petted and pampered her as if those two or three face slaps had nearly killed her made the women see visions and the helpless way she hung on him made men dream dreams." this line v much shows the romantization and normalization of domestic abuse. and then, tea cake goes on to talk to the other men about it, to brag about it, to talk about how bc his wife is mixed and lighter skinned you can see the marks and bruises a beating leaves on her. the other men say beating on darker black women aint the same, bc noone can tell the next day you beat them, and because they will fight you back and beat you back all night, but janie seems to just take it obediently (not exactly true in all instances, she does fight back and beat him at times) and u can see it on her skin. tea cake brags to the other men that thats why he likes his wife, and that she is wherever and however he wants her to be........ which is something janies previous husband joe said too :/ except janie seems to accept and romanticise this, while having an issue w her previous husband, when in many regards tea cake and joe are doing the same thing.

and this takes us to,, well, tea cake aint exactly a "liberator" and their relationship isnt feminism 101. its just not. yes, tea cake in a sense liberates her. he reminds her of the boy she had a crush on as a teenage girl and the bees in the bloosoming tree. he unlike her previous husbands lets her.. be. he teachers her how to play board games, teacher her how to shoot a gun, goes fishing with her, takes her to games and dances she wasnt allowed to go to before. hes proud of her for shooting better than him, and he never once tells her to shut up around pll like joe does. when shes with him she talks to other ppl, shes finally involved in community life like how she wished. they spend nights on the muck dancing, singing, gambeling, joking and talking w other people, joining the carribean dancers around the fire. its clear in a sense that throughout the progression of her marriages, janie ends up w a man who Does in some regards represent and give her freedom, and who is also much closer to lets say, an african spirit and traditions than the previous two, especially joe. janie says, tea cake made her soul come out of its hiding place, and he did.

but he also..,,, was a man of the times, and they were both people of the times. and while tea cake saw her as much more an equal than her other husbands ever did, he was also clearly in charge and their marriage was still following a series of traditional norms

janie is still in many regards submissive to him, and "like a child." despite her being older than him, he calls her a girl child, a baby girl, a little thing, makes several statements and allusions to this sort of thing a lot. he calls himself her daddy, he holds up the idea that a man ought to provide for "his woman" and take care of her. she wears blue like a young gal bc tea cake says it looks good on her. and still, yea, this isnt a one way thing in their relationship, bc janie also, especially when hes sick or wounded, calls him a boy, a boy chile, her baby, mamas him etc. and theres many times when hes all too happy to try to fulfill her wishes and needs and do what she wants. and yea, its part of how love makes you feel young, its part too of how some ppl search for that sort of parental care in their partners, especially those who havent had it much (like janie, who grew up without a father.) still, this is mostly seen the other way in their relationship

and here its important to take into account janies history of trauma and how she was raised. she was raised by her grandma, who was born a slave and raped by a white master, which is how she got her mom. her mom in turn was raped, and thats how she got janie. there is a deep history here of violence and submission - her grandma even tells her, the black woman is made the mule of the world by both white and blacl men. janie is also used to being struck by her grandmother as a child, thus, to her being hit is normalized, a part of life, and even a sign that someone cares about you a lot - loves you enough to beat you for your own good. janie is married off to a man x2 x3 times her age at 16 by her grandma, and shes expected to settle bc shes not being beat, shes not being worked too hard, and the mans got property. janie struggles throughout her entire life with the lessons and morality her grandma taught her, and her marriages taught her, even saying at some point she hates her grandma for it.... janie has been conditioned throughout her life to be submissive, and to accept violence, and while she definetely has a fighting spirit and craves more than shes told to settle for, while she certainly stands up to wanting a certain amount of independence, shes also... bound by her times, by her conditioning, and this has limits for sure.

and thus we see her submission in her marriage w tea cake, even as he gives her more freedom than others - even that phrasing, he "gives" her freedom, but really, it aint his to give is it...? not only does she forgive him for the money steling, and for the beatings, but its also shown regularly that shed much rather follow his lead w things. in many regards, shes the one that asks and does - they go where tea cake wants to go, they do what tea cake wants to do. hes the one that chooses where they get married, hes the one that chooses to go work on the muck, hes the one that tells her to come work the fields w him, and hes the one that tells her to stay home and not work... after the hurricane she tells him again, well do and go where u wanna go. and while she goes along w it, while she says well do whatever u wanna do,,,, shes still following his lead by all means. shes been sweeped off of her feet like a child, and in many regards shes following his lead, and its known that hes the boss. more equal than her other marriages, but, still

.... and so. its complicated. it sure as hell aint a relationship which is "feminist" or "liberating" in a feminist sense or a modern sense..... and yet. it would be unfair to say, it also didn't liberate her soul somewhat, and they didnt love each other

b) and this takes us to the second critique i dont agree w, that the book is outright bad bc it promotes and romanticizes violence and all this. and also its definetely not a love story at all

,,, and. yea i dont think this is a fair critique at all. i think its up to you to interpret zora's writing and what it means to you. she clearly had more than just a one sided puritanical moralistic view and feeling on all this, and yes, she wrote this book in part infleunced by a whirwind romance she had in haiti and im sure to a great extent her own life experiences. she also wrote this book in the the 1930s. there is something deeply deeply honest, raw, real, and soulful about it because of this, it is complicated in the way real life is

no, janie isnt some sort of modern day "feminist" protagonist but also. she wasnt meant to be, she just wasnt i dont think

and i dont think its,,,, fair, to dismiss this entire book and all the brilliance in it bc of that.,, or to say that they didnt love each other either. it was far from perfect thats for sure. and i do really get why some would look at all this and say yea, this isnt love. i do... but i think its more complicated that that. and i think in many ways, it is a story of people and love in the context of the, well, limitations of who they are. in the context of deep deep generation and current trauma, in the context of the times, in the context of a lot of things..... and ive said this before, to me its in many ways the same sort of conflict i had when writing that ethnography on my grand grandma and grandpa, child marriage bridal kidnapping and all that, and trying to make some sense of what love and marriage mean in circumstances like that. and i could not reach a conclusion which simply said, they never loved each other. i just couldn't no matter how much i wanted to, bc, despite how fucked it all was, that wouldnt have been the true, messy complexity of it all....... tea cake did love her, he did bring her to life, he did cherish her, he did protect her, he did see her as more his equal than other men - he risked his life for her and died for it. he was also possessive, and jealous, and physically abusive. and she beat on him too.

........ and on the ending of the book, it can be interpreted in different ways for sure. tea cake's death and the way he dies could be interpreted in many ways. it was rabies that took him, and rabies is why janie had to shoot him, but the rabies made the jealousy he had before and the violence he had before come out to a stronger extent. in a way it could be said zora ending the story w tea cakes rabies being the final issue relieves him too much of his responsibility and actions, gives janie a "justified" retaliation and end... zora also v much shows how the other black ppl shed been living w largely turned on her when she shot him, caring more for him they did her. surprisingly janie talks about how some of the white women in the courtroom pitied her and "formed a protective shield around her", while her own turned their backs on her..she hears the men say, "well, you know whut dey say, 'uh white man and uh nigger woman is de freest thing on earth'. dey do as dey please." even if soon they forgive her and feel bad for their turning on her and her treatment of her and come to their senses. and thus, were also reminded that the book is Indeed very vocal of black mens views and treatment of black women, (as well as on how colorism affects things but thsts a whole other long train of analysis) and that zora wasnt just saying and showing that all this is a-okay. she wasnt saying that the other men were all good all fine, she wasnt saying that tea cake was either

.. and as for janie coming back home. welp. i think it can be interpreted again in many ways. some say it shows she had to kill tea cake in order to truly gain her freedom, it was the final step in her coming to self and self actualization, and that the ending of the book is "feminist" in this regard. others say the ending is the ending of a great love story, with janie coming home now with her soul alive, having seen the world as she says, to rest and be at peace. she sobs of what has happened, and yet she realizes tea cake lives still in her love. a beautiful metaphor of how the dead live through the love of the living. his memory lightens up the room like a sun, she draws the fishnet of his light and love and freedom over her, she calls her soul to see.... she has also learned from tea cake in part to not care what others say, so she doesnt care that the town women want to talk shit about her.. others say, the ending of the book is a feminist disaster. it shows janie giving up control over her narrative by not caring what the other women are saying about her. it shows her shutting herself into her old house with memories of a man who really, wasnt all that great. others say, its not a feminist disaster bc while the ending means the above, in zora writing it even beautifying, were still meant to critique it

honestly by this point, not quite sure i know. id say its neither and all three all in one bc its way more complicated than just "a feminist or not feminist message" "a role model message" ,,,, but rather, something deeply real and complicated...

either way. im sure i could say more but thats most of my thoughts. i think its a pity to diminish this book either to some grand perfect love story, or to failed feminism, or whatever else. its so much more..... it is a book about deep deep trauma and pain, slavery, culture, humor, coming of age, soul, love, hope, hate, racism, colorism, women and men, religion, and beauty.... and id say, most all really, it is a story about how beauty somehow comes out of deep sorrow and pain.... reducing it into bits is a pity and disservice to its sheer raw and real spirit

[into-the-loidverse]

hey, I don't usually reach out to artists like this but I want to thank you for those culturally appropriate masa redesigns. I was a fan of his for a while and admittedly always found those designs he made to be extremely questionable (especially the GANESHA designs... if you have to TELL your audience what real-world God the character is supposed to be then you really messed up when designing them). Like you said, it goes to show that he did enough research to know what they were supposed to look like, but chose to go against it and hypersexualize the designs anyway because horny. Your redesigns proved that he not only could have done better from a cultural standpoint but that these characters would have still been beautiful even if they were wearing more than a yard of fabric lol. Masa has been doing this stuff for a VERY long time and I'm truly surprised that nobody said anything before. I really hope he learns something from this mess but from the way he's been reacting... well, I sort of doubt it. U dont have to respond to this, its just something i wanted to get off my chest, hope u have a good holiday mate

haha anon thank u so much !!!!!!!!!!!! i rly do appreciate this 😆😆💜💜 [long rant below oops soz anon]

oh yeah i definitely agree !!!! ive always had an issue and been pretty vocal [on insta] about his design choices in general bc…. this is a personal ick but i just hate hornybait art [esp from men] bc 90% of the time it looks uncanny that i dont understand how its hot…. this is especially seen in masas newer art - his clothing is vacuum sucked booby pocket that looks plasticky / nonsensical and the faces r just … yknow ? [doesnt help his woman anatomy hasnt improved much w the boobs being super high 2 the collarbone that it makes everything look off - and i always excused it bc i think it was when he drew the soap lagoon tribute image ? he said how he knows his artstyle is not how it was during onibi series and wishes 2 not return 2 it + the art is not the biggest priority over music which makes sense ! idk his art is always the best when not sexualised [or at least u cannot tell at 1st glance] like his avicii tribute / cappuccino pv or literally anything non human like guns / skulls etc]

edit: i just remembered the existence of patriot balalaika [hate that song sm as a russian immigrant] and i lied that song is the *best* researched song bc there is no sexualisation and it bases it true on the life of a war zone - WHICH FUCKING SUCKS that out of all songs it is that gets proper treatment .... what the fuck i get the dude likes military stuff but boooooooo so uninteresting [props 2 him removing the pv tho !]

im very happy that my redesigns served its purpose !! it was honestly quite easy after looking at multiple pictures + articles / blogs about said topic…. his la catrina is the best one only because it matched a cheap outfit i saw while researching so yknow thats something… his defence 4 ganesha also pretty much confirms what u said w hypersexualisation:

funny thing is during this whole situation i wrote an essay about fetishisation of women in comics 4 uni and he fits all the criteria of that so yay…. go cishet men 🥳🥳/s

i am so sorry anon 4 the long rant 😭😭 i too wish u a happy holiday !!!!!!!!!!!!! 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

[tomorrowillbeyou]

ok just finished where angels fear to tread and i honestly liked it a lot more than i thought i would. the whole time i read it was this cycle of going "wtf why would he write that that's such a stupid thing to happen this sucks" and then reading on for a while and thinking ok no that was really fucking smart. it is still weaker imo than the later books ive read by forster but i really liked it anyway. i also found the romance plotline which i won't spoil a lot more interesting and compelling tbh than the likes of lucy and george, i think arwav stands on merits other than romance and george is kind of just a stand in for a certain way of looking at life so it isn't really a focus to show the actual process of her falling for him even though that's literally what the book is about, i think w/ this book it gave that kind of plotline a much more interesting perspective and especially ending which again i won't spoil. either way that isn't at all the most interesting part or the main premise of the book so idk why i mentioned it first. i thought it was extremely interesting to focus on the baby, obviously there's a whole lot of symbolism there about innocence, family values, who is ultimately going to be a key player in the next generation, hope etc. plus there were a few lines near the end involving a jug of milk that i personally thought were really affecting. i also really loved some of the descriptions of italy, the cafe, landscapes, theatre etc although some of forsters comments on italian culture are.. a little questionable. i def think there's some kind of exoticising of italians throughout which is present in arwav as well but to a lesser degree. however something else that was similar to arwav that i liked was the way that the english characters seemed to view italy almost as a state of mind which manifested in a whole bunch of different ways in their tourism and the way they moved through italy depending on their outlook - thinking especially of philip vs harriet, also lilia - but ultimately none of them managed to see it as just a regular ass country with normal people in it rather than some kind of mystical philosophical principle which imo was part of what led to a lot of the negative stuff that went down throughout (and there was a lot more than i expected from a book which i was led to believe was like.. a goofy social comedy lol it isn't). one day i might make a whole post abt forsters attitude to tourism and the representations of other countries and how thats used to drive the plot - tourism is like.. an integral part of literally all his books ive read so far except maurice - but im probably going to save that until after i read a passage to india. anyway more generally like all his books this one had those lovely little stand alone passages which really speak to me and are just a wonderful experience to read. there were also some kind of more obvious metaphors/symbols than in other books by him - ones that stuck with me were the milk, the birds eating all the seeds in the garden, the baby, the walls of the town .. i thought they were obvious but didn't go so far as to be annoying or too on the nose which was nice, like they were still interesting and made you think. also the whole ending was so much DRAMA and full of PLOT TWISTS which i hadn't been expecting at all so i was just reading it like oh my god :0 no way :0.

anyway tl;dr i would recommend this book but probably only if you've already read other stuff by forster, its quite interesting within the wider body of his work but if it's the first book of his u read then it probably won't leave a huge impression, tbh i would recommend reading howards end first bc it will suck ur dick and so forth, yeah i liked this book 👍 byee

[pacifymebby]

I'm sure there's a lot of things that can be said about Van, and maybe he was his own downfall in the end. But I do think the way he built the band up from nothing was admirable. It really isn't easy for a working class band to get into the industry properly and a lot of their success came from his work ethic. Especially when you start to realise how many bands out there were given helping hands or just put together by some label dude.

Oh yeah im sure. Id honestly say a lot of those things people might say about him as well, are a direct result of the industry he was thrown into and the way they were built up.

If u think that he grafted for 10 years of his life, to peak for 2 albums, about 4 years of "these arw the best times of ur life" whilst being worked to the bone, only to then drop off the radar and like, have the band dwindle... But also to have been built up by the industry in those first few years of fame, having people feed his ego and tell him how special he is... It would fucl with u and leave u drained. Idk he had to work twice as hard as the london kids and also, j think bc of his class/education level, was probably taken advantage of more too.

Because the posh kids have access to higgly educated family members and stuff, legal knowledge, people with experience in that industry. Van seemed so naive in those early days of fame i bet they ate him right up.

Also just the level of sacrifice, he had an amazing time touring the world and achieving his dreams but in a way i think he sold his soul over because all those othwr dreams he had had to be discarded of and left behind for the band and thats really tragic.

The industry is so cruel to working class bands, it lowkey always has been but now its worse? And i think worse too because the resentment for working class bands is so high (because we've had so many of the culturally defining bands/artists, when u think of like joy division/new order, the factory bands, the smiths, morrissey, then so much of britpop was fuelled by the north, and even like Dire Straits, Roxy Music (altho theyre pretty middle class haha) idk i think because so much culture comes out of the north the south resent them)

Theres this morrissey lyric and its "we hate it when our friends become successful, and if theyre northern that makes it even worse" and i remember my dad laughing at it one time like "aye thats so true id never thought about it before but its so true"

I think its cause people think were climbing above our station u know?

[xikyuu]

hey for no reason in particular can you send me some dallas references :3 either picrews or written descriptions or something

gnawing at the bars of my enclosure UH YEAH YEAHYEHAYEHA I CAN faoms at the mouth—

picrews of dally. ill dm photos of people’s at that look similar instead of showing bc i dont know the artists names 😭 same w the picrews but,.. yeah

one of those is from gacha life but shhh

a general written describes uhhh lemme look in my notes for this:

before we start imma just say that bc dallas is a self-insert, their general appearance before all the magic n lore n stuff kicks in,, he looks like me! which is something ive done when i got better self-esteem honestly. so i could dm a few photos of myself and you could tweak them around however you like

red/ginger hair. length and style depends on what stage of life hes at. if its wilds/walls/rebellion, its gonna be short but like.. shoulder-length short bc hair-styling was a big thing in kismá culture & also he likes it. after-death? it changes bc he can shape-shift but normally its long-ish and in a ponytail. not anime-long, like normal realistically long, maybe touches the middle or lower half of his back. sometimes there might be a white streak or several from stress that he doesnt get rid of

yellow/gold eyes

if he’s in his Guide/cryptid form, he also has multiple Eyes all over his body and wings (face examples in picrews, wing examples would be watcher!grian art, body examples could be tamari from song reckless battery burns).

there may also be Eyes floating around him in a halo if he actives those powers.. not common though

the more common halo! just a fancy spiky golden one tbh. not a boring circle, no he can shape-shift!! it can look so special and cool!!!

6 wings + the ear wings. thats the basic amount in the cryptid form but he can also yk. shape-shift. theyre normally angel wings but he will change them to different bird wings to fit in. they were originally going to he osprey wings but i decided to change it to angel wings which are really jist white wings.

cryptid form also has a demon tail thats gold bc its cool

many many scars even when disguised as human. he feels more connected to his past and his humanity that way.

he wears a bronze compass necklace that has lore implications from the wilds arc and the copperhead “gang”. i have this necklace if you wanna see the photo.

bc he can shape-shift, he can open up piercing holes and close them easily. however he only prefers piercings in his ears. most of the times its just the normal ear piercings,,, 2 of them like how some people get so he can have a pair of dangly earrings and them studs for complementary

for clothing, he normally wears a tight black undershirt for the pressure bc its a habit and relieves anxiety. like a weighted blanket. reminds him of a bulletproof vest.

he wears cargo pants often bc he likes pockets. its good to have pockets yes. you need to carry around stuff in case something happens.

he will also wear flow-y clothing sometimes like a big t-shirt or maybe a skirt if he feels pretty good that day. he loves dresses but sometimes has issues actually wearing them

loves wearing necklaces and bracelets,, especially when they jangle. reminds him of home. rings,,, they feel weird between his fingers so if he gets one as a gift, he’ll wear it on a chain instead.

i could send clothing examples if you want if you need more

hope that helps idk aaa

[bcofl0ve]

I have a sort of meta comment that I hope doesn't offend! I think that there's a lot of toxicity in fandom and celebrity gossip spaces, regardless of who's on what side. The vibe I get from some pro-Kaia people is that they think anyone who doesn't like her is anti-woman, but some of her fans can be ugly about other women, especially in comparison to her. And I'm sure some of her fans would be negative toward future partners if they broke up. I do think celebrity gossip in general invites a certain level of negativity, and obviously no space on the Internet is going to be all sunshine and rainbows. But to me the issue is more complicated than 'people who don't like Kaia are misogynistic.' I think a lot of spaces centered around gossip/fandom are very ugly toward women in general, and many people hide that ugliness behind supporting a particular woman. Many places that claim to be pro-woman are actually more 'pro-woman-I-like.' I'm not directing this at you specifically, but it's a double standard I've observed a lot. I know you've talked about similar stuff before, so I wondered if you had any thoughts!

i like to think i'm somewhat of an exception to this because i got raked across the coals every time i breathed the name of olivia dejonge on here for like. months on end. quite honestly- the way people used to pop off at me about being a fan of olivia was 10x more personal and cruel than the anons i get about kaia! it's how i learned that there are slurs for australian people (:

i am a girls girl to the extent that i'm surprised i like a male celeb as much as i do austin lmfao. i'd still be a fan of kaia if they broke up but i wouldn't hold any animosity towards any hypothetical next gf of his unless it was proven with 0 reasonable doubt that she was the devil from the bible, or he got with her via illicit affair (which i don't think austin would do!). i was even pretty impartial on vanessa until the whole "crying" comment debacle, and the tweets about her being unkind to him in public- and if i remember right at one point said people need to leave her alone. sheeee is my "girls girl" exception now lmfao, i will own that i dislike her strongly and i feel like there's enough valid reason to at this point.

but re: speaking to Fandom Culture as a whole i don't disagree with you. i have fandom friends who aren't fans of kaia, and even friends who have qualms about their relationship that i disagree with! (note: these qualms are more rational than CINDY CRAWFORD DEMONIC KAIA GERBER IS HER DEMON SPAWN THATS HOLDING A GUN TO AUSTIN'S HEAD). i don't think you have to like her to "pass go" as an austin fan, where i take issue is some of the specific reasons the more loony minded people provide for why they don't.

i can only speak for myself, but bc i take this blog probably too seriously i have given a lotttt of thought to what the temperature would be on here if they broke up. like i said above, i would have 0 contempt for any hypothetical new partner short of her being a mistress or literal demon from hell. if she was neither of those things and my kaia fan anons started talking sideways about her i'd kibosh that shit quick.

but i wouldn't be surprised if some people did take that attitude, me kiboshing it or not bc like you said celeb gossip circles do lean very anti woman at times. i used to love reading r/fauxmoi (even after i got banned bc one of the mods got ban happy when i got a little aggressive over defending austin). but now i can't go in there without pissing myself off because they are so OTT nasty to any female celebrity that has breathed near taylor swift as a twisted guilt by association thing. which is wild to me bc during the depp trial they were one of the only subreddits that was a positive space of support for amber. oh how the mighty fall...

this is getting 8 million words long so i'll shut my trap but i do love "meta" fandom conversations like this. if you have anything else to add or wanna keep chating pls send another anon!!!

[palehottubchild]

Get to know me

Thank you @sflow-er you know how much j like doing these ahahahhah

Do you make your bed?

Not really, i try to but in reality i never get around to it

What's your favourite number?

3, 9 and 12. NOT 6

What is your job?

i currently have two jobs, one of which is a little hard to explain but essentially boils down to research in healthcare and the other is hospitality in the biggest tourist attraction in my country (which is a seasonal job). two VERY different jobs in very different sectors, hahah

If you could go back to school, would you?

I actually am still in uni and i do not feel any particular wish to go back to high school. I would, however, have chosen a different degree if i could start over again but thats a different story.

Can you parallel park?

Technically yes, i can, but i hate it and it takes ages so i avoid it at all costs.

A job you had that would surprise people?

actually most jobs ive done surprise people, but more so because nobody knows they exist as jobs. In high school i used to do delivery for the pharmacy and as mentioned before now the research job. both things most people dont know are things someone gets paid to do until i tell them hahah.

Do you think aliens are real?

realistically i dont think its possible at all that we are the only planet with living beings on it. i do believe that there are no aliens in our solar system, but i do not believe that in the entirety of the universe only one planet managed to create life. I also think that life might look very different on other planets but im convinced 'aliens' exist in some way shape or form

Can you drive a manual car?

Again, technically i can. but i try to avoid it all costs bc ive only driven automatic cars basically since i got my license lol

What's your guilty pleasure?

reading fic, even more guilty if its from a fandom im technically no longer into but i sometimes just get this weird nostalgic need, you know

Tattoos?

Not yet, i have a design and a place in mind but my family is very strongly opposed to all tattoos and i still see them often enough to be a little bit afraid

Favourite colour?

for clothes, blue or brown. for other things anything in the navy colour palette (so like burgundy and navy and other colours in those kinda hues)

Favourite type of music?

I honestly will listen to anythign that has a recognisable distinct melody (so mostly excluding metal, too heavy rock and some rap) but am especially fond of 2000s 2010s dance music or indie/pop music from anything between the 80s and the 2010s. Not a big fan of what seems to be more modern pop culture but i can appreciate a harry styles or a taylor swift every once in a while

Do you like puzzles?

Yes!!!!! anything that i can use my brain for im down

Any phobias?

creeped out by all bugs and spiders (yes, even the cute and pretty ones) and not a big fan of big animals. slightly uncomfortable at high heights, dont do well in the dark and very very very uncomfortable in small spaces

Favourite childhood sport?

Did gymnastics until i was about 7 and then switched the the loml that was swimming and did that all the way up until uni. hated anything involving running or a ball

Do you talk to yourself?

Not when im alone, sometimes when other people are present

What movies do you adore?

I tend to like any movie i watch. Special mention to knives out, megamind and bottoms though

Coffee or tea?

I like the fancy coffees when im out having a drink or having lunch, at home i prefer tea

What was the first thing you wanted to be growing up?

i dont remsmber what came first exactly but the three professions that had the most prominent part in my youth were hairdresser, teacher and most of all writer. I always liked writing and words and languages and making things but unfortunately that took a stark dive durong high school that im still recovering from lol

as usual consider yourself tagged if you feel like doing this ahah

[moss-and-marimos]

saw ur post about needing to infodump ur dnd campaign. this is my invitation to u to do so :)

ouuyghhhhhhhhhh I love doing world building stuff so much, I have this huge world ive been homebrewing to hopefully eventually run a campaign in and I just have so many characters and locations ive made for it and I like them so much Inchunder- one of the locations is called inchunder, its a town and its called that bc the sidewalks are always an inch underwater because its always raining in the town, its a haven of sorts for those that like the rain or the cold or the dark, and was magically made to rain by a wizard or something a long time ago, its a chilly place, people usually wear cloaks and you can see your breath when you walk around, people who make cloaks and cobblers are some of the main professions in the town, well-renowned for their waterproof shoes and clothing. Some other important jobs in the city are lantern-lighters, metalworkers, and glassblowers. Watch out for potholes, because there is a very rare chance if you step into one deep enough you wont come out, and will get transported somewhere else. Fireplaces are a staple in the city for heating. Tidal Town (filler name)- for lack of better name atm ive been calling this place tidal town, its a coastal town mostly made of white stone and copper, most of the structures are made of pillars with domed oxidized copper roofs with spires or statues on top, the architecture is intricate and well-maintained, very ornamental, the town is very isolated and a sort of retirement place, most of the people there are older people who dont want to be disturbed. Most houses are single story, with only 1-2 people. in the center of the town is a sundial that tells the time, and allows people to know when the tide is coming in or out, because this town floods and un-floods with the tides. there are also kelp and seaweed gardens scattered about in box gardens. Most of the people who live in the town are tritons, water genasi, or other amphibious/water breathing creatures. There is a section of the town that remains entirely underwater, but thats deeper and not accessible to creatures who dont breathe water. The town's main exports are jewelry and embroidered clothing, as well as other methods of ornamentation. Hybrid City (again filler name)- The hybrid city is exactly what it sounds like, its a city for people without anywhere else to go. It's a haven for creatures who dont fit in anywhere else, and has different districts for different species, who all have their own developed cultures. Genasi hybrids and half elves are especially common here. There is a lot of variation in clothing styles here, but almost all of it is colorful and considered to be fashionable. There is also a lot of variety to fit the specific needs of various species, and tailors are a common profession here that can be paid very well, as are textile and fiber artists. For example, a fire genasi might need cooler clothes, like sleeveless shirts and pants that can be hemmed, whereas a water genasi might need warmer clothes. The variation in body types also contributes to this, as tabaxis will have different needs than centaurs for example. This city is quite literally in the clouds, and was established and is maintained by air genasi. Insect/music Dungeon- I'm not sure exactly if this'll be a oneshot or if its part of the world but im putting it here anyway because its cool, the insect dungeon is what it sounds like, an insect themed dungeon. The entrance is above ground, guarded by an older man who is an anthro giant African snail, and a younger man who is a weevil knight. Inside, there are a collection of insect themed puzzles, for example one themed around cicada years, and the floors go down and down deeper into the earth, structured like an insect nest. The final boss fight is probably an egg sac of sorts. The dungeon also has a music theme, with things like cricket songs being a theme, and one of the items you can get being a magic lute painted like a pair of insect wings.

theres more but this is basics of the ones I have pretty thought out, theres also specific characters that live in those towns if you want to hear about them :D

[junietuesday]

one thing about me is that i love to write abt nonhuman characters. i love realism in my fics i love science and especially biology i love writing abt the little details of people w different anatomy. like i was thinking abt different outfits for the rito, would bird people be able to wear long sleeves? apparently not as i found out its the shape of the wings and feathers that allow birds to fly. and how would they show being flustered, since i write humans blushing a lot, but obviously birds have feathers covering their skin. well apparently humans blush bc the increased blood flow is an adrenaline response, so i figured that my first instinct of fluffed feathers (also a danger response) wasnt totally off-base. writing a fic abt the minotaur, technically cows have a hard palate in place of incisors/canines, but for him to have eaten human flesh, surely he has to have teeth for cutting meat, so i put in a scene w someone pointing out his teeth being different from cow teeth (or lack thereof). and even. dare i go here but. people have latched on so hard to that idea of sharks having two dicks, but its bc the claspers are an extension of the two lower fins, and since there are two of those fins bc animals tend to be symmetrical, thats why theres two. so if we do come at it from the sharks angle, the only way i can swing it for the zora is that those fins at their waists that look like faulds would come all the way around to the front and the claspers would come off there (im not the culture guy so dont ask me if theyd still just walk around w them out there). not to mention that in practice peoples descriptions are more like hemipenes in that theyre right next to/on top of each other and come out of an internal space. but hemipenes invert, they dont like slide out exactly. dont have any comment on how these things relate to my writing bc im not writing fish porn but like i said i just love biology and think this stuff is rad as hell.

[crescentmoonrider]

Regarding bloodbending

A viper-lizard’s tales, my long-running fic, has recently reached a chapter I was really anticipating, namely Katara discovering bloodbending on her own (or well, it was Jet’s idea because when isn’t it, but still, no Hama). And that got me thinking about the practical aspects of bloodbending, and about the way it is treated in the show.

The following will be my thoughts on the matter

(Note : bloodbending as developped in canon will be spelled as such, while the subset I explore in Viper-lizard will be spelled blood-bending. Canon includes both the A:tla and LoK shows, but none of the supplementary materials because I am not familiar with these.)

So. Bloodbending.

In canon, no form of bending is presented as “naturally evil”. We get to see airbending used for play and music and baking, waterbending heals and is used by the Northern Water Tribe to allow for transport inside their city, much like earthbending is used for postal services in Omashu, and firebending... well, firebending gets dragons, I guess. Let’s blame it on the war and their militaristic society for now, because that is a whole other discussion.

No form of bending is naturally evil, and their subsets and various usages aren’t either... that is, with one single exception.

Bloodbending is universally understood as a “bad” form of bending. That is true in A:tla, where it was developped under extremely painful circumstances and used for terrible purposes afterwards. Where Katara’s learning of it is painted as terrible for her, and where the only time she uses again is when she is closest to becoming, in the words of Aang himself, “like Jet”. Not exactly a good path to follow, then.

In LoK, this becomes even more obvious, as Katara has bloodbending outlawed, and the two main antagonists of Book 1 are bloodbenders. Yes Tarrlok is a main antagonist too, fight me. Again, the circumstances surrounding the act of learning it are traumatic, again it it only used for nefarious purposes. With now the added horror of taking one’s bending away, an ability until now only demonstrated by the Avatar and used with a lot of caution.

What, then, makes bloodbending so unilaterally evil, in a show that is usually so nuanced ?

I have seen people arguing that bloodbending could also be used for healing, and as such outlawing it was a terrible idea, a thought that resonates a lot with my own headcanon that Hama was a master healer and was therefore more likely to think of the possibility of bending blood in the first place (coupled with an intimate knowledge of anatomy that would no doubt help a lot).

I have also seen one reddit thread arguing that the reason bloodbending is so evil is because it is a metaphor for rape, because of the loss of control it causes and the trauma that seems to surround its practice, and found that it made a lot of sense.

The way I implemented it in my writing was something of a middle ground.

See, chi plays a very important role in bending. It’s what allows bending in the first place, yes, but some forms are even more closely related to this concept. See, for example, the way firebenders create their own flame. In the same vein, water healing is probably highly affected by it too through its relation to life, even if it can only heal injuries naturally (as shown in The Painted Lady, when Katara has to steal medicine from the factory in order to be able to heal the sick).

Chi is life energy. It flows around the body following specific paths, in which there can sometimes be clots that result in a diminished flow, and sometimes even stop that flow. Chi is, in many respects, very much like blood.

Back to bloodbending. The way this form of bending is presented in canon, we only see it used to manipulate one’s body or, in Amon’s case, to block one’s chi. (While the method isn’t explicit, it is clear that this is what happens, otherwise taking someone’s bending away would be impossibe.) We now have a connexion between the two, stronger than it just being bending.

In my interpretation, bloodbending bends one’s blood, yes, but by doing so it also goes against the natural flow of chi in the body. And that is where things get bad. Chi is life energy, disrupting it is guaranteed to have negative effects on the victim. And perhaps even more than that, lasting consequences on the user.

Push and pull, remember ? The basics of waterbending. If you use your own life energy to pull at someone else’s, what do you think could happen ? My guess is on it pulling back. Bloodbending is about control. Absolute control. But it being absolute, it affecting something that really, really doesn’t want to submit, can only mean the push and pull it must exert has to be extremely strong. And, following the previous guess on an action-reaction phenomenon, so will that reaction.

My understanding is that prolonged or repeated use of bloodbending poses an enormous strain to the bender’s mind, but that strain can probably be felt (partially) just from some minor bloodbending. 

If I had to give specific consequences... dissociation. Obsessive thoughts, sometimes associated with compulsions. Patterns. Those are also commonly (though not always all of them) found in reactions to trauma, and the obsession part is the most coherent with canon (getting revenge, purging the world from bending, gaining power and control). Hama also exhibits very specifics patterns in regard to her obsession, though these are mostly linked to the restrictions bloodbending knows in A:tla. The dissociation is mostly here because I believe bloodbending affects the user’s emotions on another level than the obsessive one, and I couldn’t think of a better term. Compulsions often go hand in hand with obsessions in disorders (but not always), hence why I included them in this (sometimes).

I also thought of compulsions as a disruption of control, which is a very important theme in bloodbending. Dissociation would then be an effort to keep control over one’s emotions as a reaction to the other effects.

So, bloodbending is bad because it affects chi badly, and that in turn has some heavy consequences on the bender.

But I did say I was taking a middle road.

I talked, in the previous part, about canon only ever using bloodbending to manipulate one’s body. But what about, quite literally, blood ? Flowing blood, blood that you can see, even blood that isn’t in someone’s body anymore.

This is where blood-bending comes into place (remember, the spelling of these two is different).

The way I conceived this in A viper-lizard’s tales is this : bloodbending can, in A:tla times, only be used during a full moon. Blood-bending doesn’t have this restriction.

Bloodbending is absolute control. Blood-bending is, at most, partial control.

If used on spilled blood, blood that isn’t in contact with the place it comes from anymore, then blood-bending is a simple matter of waterbending. Slightly harder, but only very slightly, because of the remants of the owner’s will/feelings/thoughts - anything personal transmitted by chi. But there is no direct contact between the two life energies, no disrupting the natural flow of chi, no absolute submission to go with absolute control.

It is, much like every other form of bending, morally neutral, with no intrinsic damaging consequence for either the bender or the owner of that blood.

Blood-bending used on an injury is closer to canon, but not quite the same. Because the focus is on external blood, the control is lesser, and as such only the injured limb can be manipulated. Still, the push and pull is much stronger than for spilled blood in this case, as there is a flow of chi to be disrupted in order to gain control, and there is therefore a feeling of something pulling back at the bender, though weaker than in the case of bloodbending. 

Consequences for the person whose blood is bent are also existing, but more limited than for bloodbending.

While I am at it, I’m going to talk about healing, and why it doesn’t have the same kind of negative lasting effects. Within the theory I developped here, these negative consequences are a result of disrupting the natural flow of chi, of infringing on someone’s will, in a way. Healing, on the other hand, goes with the flow, and simply helps out a little.

(I tend to see the combination of water healing and medicine as an application of osmosis, therefore slightly different from the healing of injuries.)

[magnoliamyrrh]

Paul is a fucked up manchild who berates his mom the second he gets supernatural powers and sees himself as better than everyone. That’s only if you can get past herbert’s awful writing where his villains gotta be fat and gay and he repeats these facts every single time they switch povs as if the audience has somehow forgotten (seriously, highlight every time herbert mentions the villain is fat. It’s so common it’s just boring stale writing). Paul in dune is the worst kinda self insert fanfic. Dune is such a shitty book girl how do you enjoy it

ohh he definetely is a man child; i feel bad for him in like the first half of the first book mainly bc hes a teenager, hes 15, like, a teenager teenager not an almost adult 17-18. he may come from a powerful family but hes just thrust into very messed up circumstances, more or less tortured to prove hes human, has to grapple with being some sort of raised-to-be-exceptional genetic experiment and being used in some weird intergalactic lie and war, and incredible amount of historical pressure and other things. like, at 15, hes more kid than adult dealing w this. but also, while being 15, he is smart, and charming to others, and he quickly rises to great infleunce and is good at manipulation. and yea the moment he gets some more power he turns it even against his own mother, against himself, and against others and the longer they go on the more insufferbale he becomes; what ground of expeptionalism in him existed gets raised tenfold -hes an inherently flaued character by all means who even when he tries he fucked up badly many times. i mean like hell, among all the shit he ends up doing, even just that thing that he himself didnt have the power to put shit in order, so he ends up forcing it on his son, like how he was shoved into a bunch of things when he was younger

and yes lol i am well aware of the villan thing. i do get that in this context the "fat" thing and even the gay pedo thing is moreso an allegory for greed and the keeping of and hoarding of precious things (im Not saying fat ppl are like this mind u, im not saying its good either, but in many cultures fat has or is indeed revered as a sign of wealth; and this is used to contrast to those who dont have, and i reckon this is where it comes from in the story). but yes, i do think thats uhh i hate this word problamatic. the fat thing, the gay thing, the pedo thing. definetely part of an ongoing issue of attaching several of those characteristics to villans, and also of making villans generally ugly, thus associsting the two together. like yup, its definitely not good

idk tho, i think. dune was written in the 1960s by a white dude. like, it doesnt suprise me that that stuff is in there. ive read plenty of things that have parts of them that are problamatic or outdated or offensive and it just,, is what it is. like idk i can enjoy something while also being aware and critical of the parts of it that are fucked up - i think if i wasnt able to, i wouldnt be able to like,,,, explore a lot of the literature that exists out there, especially older literature, no matter from where its from in the world or if its written by men or women. most of it or most authors at least have written some weird shit or held some weird shit. idk just a stupid parallel off the top of my head i love the 1001 nights stories - i grew up with them - but theyre filled to the brim with weird shit and problamatic things and sexism and racism and slavery and whatever else, like absolutely filled - to an extend they reflect the times. i still, however, enjoy reading them tho

i also dont know how much paul is a self insert - maybe. ive never read the dude as sympathetic or a sympathetic anti-hero much. i did find the idea that out of this all-female order theyd have the idea that a male would be the one w the greatest power and some sort of prophesied force of power weird, sooo idk maybe. but idk, if its a self insert i rlyyy dont think its supoosed to be a flattering one much. the dude just gets worse and worse as the books progress, and he ends up after fucking up so much and being too weak to fix it, exiled, alone, spending his last yesrs wondering in loneliness and deep regret. so, i dont think its shown that his superiority complex or anything else brought him something good; it just lead to tragedy

mostly i like the series for the intricacy of its plot and the way its introduced, the messages it tries to send even if it at times fails or does so badly. like yea, its not perfect, but it is trying to ssy something about foreign meddeling and co-opting of religions and cultures and desperste situstions, or colonialism and capitalism, of exploitation, greed, power, etc. and also in very large part its lore, its scifi elements, its weird out there mysticism, and all the parts of it that are very, very weird. i am fascinsted by the world that this dude created. im a really big fan of magical realism and to an extent the books are like this - because they start more normal and over time become more and more mystical and fantastical and weird and less grounded as more concepts, creatures, and affects of the spice are introduced. i also do like that the main character isnt an actual hero. all this talk of prophecy and whatever, but its all bad, and it goes so fucking bad. its to an extent a subversion of classical fantasy tropes, combined with space scifi.... and yes. there are times when the writing isnt great, or when its outdated, or when it hammers things again and again (like the villan thing). i also think in many places the writing is intriguing, careful, and calls for attention and contemplation of what is happening

and idk apart from something like 1001 nights..... to an extend, i feel abt dune as i feel about game of thrones. i rly love those books. yes theyre writing by an old white man. yes there are parts of them (less than the show id say) which are problamatic and outdated and i could go on a whole list about that. but, i still enjoy them. i think the world grrm martin created is insanely insanelyyy complex, beautiful, fascinating, the lore is some of the deepest and most intriguing ive ever seen, and the character writing - the sheer complexity of the characters, the willingness to show how fucked up humans are and how often things are so stupidly complicated, the way he can get us to love even insufferable characters, the way there are no perfect good heros, the broader anti-war and even climate change message, the harsh and grounded realism of much of the series,,, the way theyre also kinda like magic realism, bc over the books magic keeps coming back more and more, the world becomes more full of mystic and mystery and prophecies which arent 100% true, the way the books are largely a subversion of fantasy tropes. like, yea. theyve got issues, grrm martins writings got issues. but i think theyre brilliant in many ways at the same time 🤷‍♀️

so i guess. yea. im definitely not saying the books dont have issues or theyre perfect or theyre the peak of literature. but im still able to enjoy parts of them

[p3rf3ct10nn1nj4]

Can I request wikit clown crew (Gamzee, Chahut, Marvus, Kurloz, and TGH) finding out their f/o is a juggalo and them having to deal with explaining culture differences of clowns there and here?

Absolutely! Clown brain-rot is plaguing me rn. Also to any fellow jugz reading, Whoop Whoop and much love!

Gamzee

He'd be kinda thrown off, especially if he found out bc he spotted you with your face paint on for the first time

Would feel a bit awkward around you anytime you weren't wearing your paint until you genuinely sat down with him ab it

The main thing he didn't expect would probably be that "juggalo" itself is not countable as a religion?

The "face paint isn't as big of a deal" part would definitely weird him out a bit too

Overall I'd say he'd be the first one on the list to get how different it is from the clowns on Alternia

Would definitely start taking you with him to more clown church events, especially if you started wearing your paint just for it

Absolutely going to gatherings with you if/when you all make it to Earth C

Keeps you stocked with like.. Every flavor of faygo ever?

Would still take you everywhere, it used to be a "for protection" thing and it still kinda is

it's also a little bit of "look at me, look at them, my alien partner does stuff like face paint too!"

aka, kinda bragging, kinda protection, kinda "he just likes having you around"

would ask the least amount of questions after the main explanation, yet the most odd questions too

"WhAtS ThE MoSt dRaNk fLaVoR Of fAyGo?" "yOuR FaVoRiTe sOnG?" "WhAt aBoUt aLbUm? HoNk!"

would be introducing you to every other messiah.. even if there aren't that many

if you weren't already, you are now 100% an honorary clown church member

congratz?

Chahut

She would definitely find out by finding a stash of face paint that wasn't hers and definitely wasn't troll paints (i feel like Alternia'd have mehron style paints just not mehron label)

She'd ask if it was yours right off the bat because, well..

If you were Chahut's f/o I believe she probably would've convinced you to move in.. or move one hive over?

After she learns its yours she'd definitely ask why because she probably hasn't spotted you wearing it yet

however she would probably be a little bit.. soft/hesitant because she'd probably be thinking two things

either you got it for her

or it's yours yours, ya know for your own face paint

when you tell her it's "yours yours" her eyes would immediately look away from you (if you weren't wearing your paint)

it takes a moment or two to get her to feel fine glancing your way and even longer to get her to genuinely keep her eyes on you to some what keep a steady conversation

she'd have no discomfort asking questions ab the clowns back on earth

you'd have to bring up the other types of clowns too eventually (jesters, mimes, birthday clowns, etc)

her questions would kinda stay on juggalos for the moment though

stuff like "do they drink faygo too?", "do they have parties?", "are they as violent?" would be about the type of questions she would be asking

would definitely be the one on this list who's the most patient with the questions, waiting until she knows for certain you're done answering one to ask the next

would bring you to clown church if you felt up to it

when she learns ab gatherings she kinda.. only asks about those for a hot minute

better hope you've actually gone to one otherwise a lot of those questions are gonna go unanswered

second place for "most-trouble understanding/comprehending how face paint isn't a big deal for you" until you explain that it isn't religious for you (or most other human ninjas)

would probably only give you faygo thats her favorite or a compromise flavor that you both agree is really good

Marvus

Marvus would also find out via excess paint but would ask if it was Chahut's first because he doesn't use that type of paint, but she does

when its not hers he gets kinda confused and asks the staff

the staff would probably bring up how they saw you bring some paint in once

he'd be asking you immediately after

when he finds out it's yours, for your face paint he kinda,,, flips out a lil

not in a bad way, more of "wait....ur a clown too?"

he'd be giddy for a moment then he'd kinda remember all those times you weren't wearing it

questions would start getting tossed at you, rapid fire, until you ask him to slow down and repeat

would be the one asking every question under the sun one could ask about it

he'd learn about gatherings and flip his lid, especially since he could sing there

would absolutely ask to see what your paint looks like- once he gets off stage that is- speaking of stage, he's missed his cue by like.. five/ten minutes?

by the time he gets off stage it's like rapping out the words he "memorized" made space for more questions bc when he comes back

well when he comes back his outfit is kinda.. bloody, and so is the stage.. but he still questions you like its a Hollywood movie style investigation

so many questions

if you are wearing your paint by the time he comes back he'd probably stop and just kinda... stare

he'd really like the way you look with your paint on, he'd think the style complemented your face and outfit and would probably feel like kissing you

questions about... idk everything juggalo would bug him too much though

he'd be mesmerized every time you wore your paint for a while honestly

a joke would start going around the staff rooms about how you secretly know chucklevoodoo and basically hypnotized him

would go to parties galore with you, start taking you to clown church more, and just having you be even more involved in like,,, everything

third quickest to grasp everything, from the "no face paint, no problem" to the "juggalos/lettes/ninjas exist"

would keep you stocked with your favorite flavor of faygo and his favorite

Kurloz

would figure out you are a clown from subtle hints, not even like, "they left some paint" or something else but like

he'd take you to clown church once and notice a bunch of little things

you can easily blend in with the crowd

you have no problem joining the crowd when everyone starts whooping and can do so with ease

you don't really back away from the faygo showers or the one time they picked you for a secret blood dump prank (they said it was faygo, it was not... obviously)

in fact, none of the stuff he expected you to have questions about was something you questioned or backed down from

he would ask you about it eventually and when he does..

he'd have a loooong list of questions written out for you to read through and answer

typing them would've taken metaphorical sweeps and he could forget the questions from the time he thinks of them to the time he goes to actually ask you

so instead he wrote them all

you'd be sitting there for a decent portion of the night going through all the questions

he would politely ask if he could see what your face paint looks like and what kind you use

(to make things easier for me, imma just say mehron which if you don't use it I highly recommend, no faygo shower is gonna be washing it off)

if you say mehron he'd try to stock up on some at his hive, which is a pretty big deal to them and it would mean a lot if he found out you did the same for him

kudos to Kurloz, he'd be the second quickest to understand how no paint isn't so bad to you as well as the differences and would also be a gentleman and stock up for you just in case

he'd start carrying a small to-go thing in case of emergency

would keep you stocked with specifically your favorite flavors of faygo

TGH

i have no clue how he found out if it was on Alternia

however

say you were on Earth C now

he probably would've found out by hearing from another clown (probably gamzee) about you going to this gathering thing???

would ask you about it and what a gathering is and from there you'd kinda have to go through the whole juggalo and culture difference thing the most

he could get how there were clowns here

but the fact it wasnt as religious, as violent, or as worried about paint?

that wouldn't really sit right with him

like okay, one of them not being the case is.. odd but okay

two? seems a bit fake but i guess

all three however, it just feels like they're ripping off clown church and trying not to be related

however, he will start acting as if you are the leader of juggalos/lettes/ninjas

it will be difficult to get him to stop. very.. very difficult

will call your romance "an alliance between juggalos and clowns" on multiple occasions, typically around or to other trolls

becomes very protective of you

not only is being tied with clown church and clowns in general dangerous but now you are double affiliated?

he sees it as a death wish in the making

would still keep you stocked with faygo, like.. you constantly have too much faygo

unless you chug five 12ltrs of faygo a night, you will have to dedicate a walk in fridge to faygo... and get a walk in fridge

that doesn't even bring up the per day amount either

you like.. can never run out of paint or faygo its literally impossible

he will spoil you more than he already did, any icp/psychopathic stuff you want is yours, any and all of it

but will still refuse to believe that they are neutral ab paint/non-violent with violent songs/not a religion on their own

[mcmuppet]

okay i never actually post on here but i saw something yesterday on  @illegalferrariengine page and specifically one of the tags set me off on a rant to @daniallricciardo during my class yesterday, and i am now going to form that rant into an incoherent tumblr post bc im bored at work and still mad about this

so here it goes: a two part rant about f1 fangirls and DTS fans; and why the f1 fandom is actually ostracizing itself and harming the sport it so very much loves, because of how it treats female & new fans

basically, what fully set me off was a tag along the lines of a lot of “fan girls” go into full seb vettel f1 knowledge mode when talking about history, and even know more than a lot of guy fans, and as a new fan, this is something i have noticed in myself. i’m a pretty big sports fan in general, but im new to f1 and unlike any other sport i watch/follow, with f1 i dove head first into not only the current grid/era, but also the general history, which i have not really done for any other sport. (i’ve been watching tennis since i was like 8 and i could not tell you anything in detail that happened on either the men’s or women’s tour since like, pre 2005, i just never cared to learn). but with f1 i did. and for a long time i chalked that up to “its a new sport to me and im fascinated, and my adhd hyperfixation really set in (during a time when im living alone and have nothing else to do)” and i went wild with it.

but yesterday really got me thinking, did i just become so into the knowledge because of how much i like the sport (and don’t get me wrong i LOVE f1 now) or did i get so deep into the knowledge because the general online discourse (especially on twitter which is its own toxic ecosystem) is that if you’re  a female fan, you have to prove that you’re a fan of the sport and not just a “superficial fan girl” and like THATS SO PROBLEMATIC. i realized yesterday (and maybe this is a super obvious thing and my brain was just slow at fully grasping) that even subconsciously, i know that i would be categorized as a shallow fan girl unless i proved my knowledge, especially since, i am a girl! and i am attracted to these silly attractive men driving fast and being silly in press conferences! sue me! but i shouldn't have to justify being a fan of sport!

i was trying to compare this to tennis and soccer (my other two fave sports) and  while obviously there is still bias and misogyny in those fandoms as well, it really does not reach the levels that i’ve seen in the f1 fandom. personally i think that because there are so few drivers (in comparison to soccer and tennis where there are literally thousands of athletes) so we know more about each driver and really get to know their personality (at least the public personality that they portray), which makes the connection feel more personal. it also doesnt help the inherent bias that , yea , a lot of the drivers are conventionally attractive and could probably be models if they didn’t want to be driving. but it just doesn’t sit right with me that i’m being forced to become an encylopedia of f1 knowledge just to show that i am in fact into the sport because i enjoy the strategy calls, the on track drama, and the absolute power that is the merging of a man and machine to create basically a hyper-athlete. you don’t get that in any other sport and i think thats the genuine beauty of f1.

the other part of the toxic f1 fan culture that has frustrated me is the perception of fans that got into the sport because of drive to survive. now, i didn’t get into f1 because of the Netflix show. i started watching because i had a friend who was a huge fan, and she convinced @daniallricciardo to put on a few races, and i decided to stop making fun of the fast cars going in circles and watch a few races with her. and it got me hooked (this is my formal apology to my boss who i used to make fun of relentlessly for watching f1, you were right Doug its a great sport). but i digress. just the fact that i feel the need to clarify that i did not get into f1 because of DTS is PROBLEMATIC IN AND OF ITSELF. to quote @daniallricciardo “it feels like a badge of honor that we got into it without DTS and it SHOULDN’T” 

the point of drive to survive was to attract new fans to the sport, and guess what! it worked! shocker! but the fact that fans who have been watching f1 for years before the Netflix show consider “DTS fans” to be fake fans literally contradicts the whole point of the show and the sport in general. f1 will only continue to succeed as a sport if the fanbase continues to grow. more fans mean more money which directly correlates to the ability to put on races and provide the entertainment that we sign up for as fans of the sport.

this whole rant basically boils down to: misogynistic f1 fans who reject new DTS fans as “fake fans” are literally ruining the sport they claim to love so much. not just by creating a toxic community, but even in a more tangible way, they could end up affecting the f1 bottom line if they continue to ostracize fans in the way that they currently are. i have never felt more insecure as a fan of anything in the way that i have found in the f1 community. and while i will admit that i also love the knowledge side (seb is literally one of my absolute favorite people so a part of me wants to be just like him, f1 history wise), but i wish i could just enjoy randomly knowing who the 1984 wdc was (niki lauda - of course), without thinking that knowing that will put me in better standing with the f1 community. 

this all seems like, super obvious and not at all some kind of big breakthrough and i recognize that. im not pretending to say i got to the root of toxicity in the f1 community and now in gonna work on solving that. but i think, at least for myself, i needed to put this out there, so that, personally, i can start overcoming the internalized insecurities i have about being a fan in a new sports community which has a very interesting little ecosystem, unlike any other sports fandom ive encountered. 

if you got this far 1. im sorry that i took up 1.2k words of your time and 2. thank you for letting me rant, i def needed it