#eugene is just a objectively good character

[mleeich]

The Creator

Happy almost drawtectives season 3!! Had this idea of Eugene holding a star. Included a bunch of variations under the "read more" because I couldn't decide, also a flat color so you can see the line art :)

[trans-leek-cookie]

I just saw your tags on the unreliable narrator post and I really want to know what character you’re talking about now

Geto Suguru from JJK. I came for the hot Asian guy with long hair and a cool outfit stayed bc I'm interested in how cults and eugenics hurt ppl irl and also how they're explored in fiction. But between heaven and earth I alone am trying to find a fic that actually treats him being a cult leader as the problem it is and also gets fucking Nanako and Mimiko out of their. Uhhh fuck idk if u know JJK so spoilery ranting under the read more that assumes familiarity (so not like. Explaining specific plot shit bc my brain will explode)

so basically ppl have called out the eugenics shit with like "kill everyone who isn't a sorcerer" and generally they're like yeah that sucks but whatever not important lol. And I've seen like 0 shit actually about how he's a cult leader + how cults are Abusive. And some ppl are like "actually he has a point bc blah blah blah" like okay. If sorcerers were a stand in/comparable to real life marginalized groups. WE DONT NEED MORE "MARGINALIZED EUGENICIST" PLOTS. But even within the story they don't seem marginalized? Like, there are Marginalized Sorcerers, but being a Sorcerer isn't something that's consistently oppressed? The closest thing is either misdirected ableism/sanism ("they see things that aren't there and are assumed to be psychotic" which is its own can of worms) or like accusations of witchcraft which... I guess that's sorcerery based on this universe but irl those were usually used either along with or as cover for other shit (racism, misogyny, land grabs, etc). So hes not necessarily marginalized on that level- tho growing up in a family without other sorcerers mightve caused problems for him that's a LOT different from systemic oppression. And, also? In a lot of cases it seems like sorcerers are relatively privileged with a lot of economic, social and maybe political power? Like the big three families are obv examples bc they're fucking Rich and control the sorcery world so. Y'know. Also it's stated at one point sorcerers receive some like exceptions to the law but aren't allowed to hurt ppl who aren't sorcerers so. Yeag

anyways going more in depth on eugenics- okay real quick terms: negative and positive eugenics. That's not in reference to the quality, "positive" doesn't mean "good" But Rather in reference to wether the action is meant to Reduce "bad genes" or Increase "good genes". And obv negative eugenics includes shit like forced sterilization and murder which I don't want to downplay, but positive eugenics is also coercive and fucked up. For example, forcing ppl to have children they don't want. Which isn't Discussed in the series, but the fact is sorcerers a SMALL minority of the population, and they're already having trouble with curses, so. Theoretically sorcerers would be coerced to have more children to bring the population numbers up. Personally I think that's Not Something Suguru Believes In (I'll get into that but main thing is his eugenics isn't an actual strategy but rather lashing out and ego) but like. There's abuse on both sides of the equation no matter what. Eugenics isn't fucking redeemable.

Now onto the cult shit. It's not super expanded on besides needing money and curses to like. Kill ppl or whatever. But my interpretation of Suguru is that he started a cult, and believes in eugenics, because his ego was damaged. Like the trauma impacted him and influenced his actions ofc bc trauma Does That but also I straight up think his ego was bruised and he wants revenge.

Like first of all, the wider context- he's a kid who is alienated from his parents and probably most of the ppl he interacted with due to his abilities, which is understandably damaging esp at a young age.

He is then scouted and labeled as a special grade- he is one of three in Japan and I believe the world, if I'm not misremembering. He is on par with Gojo Satoru (category wise) who. Literally "Gojo Satoru's birth changed the world" like that's a NUTS ego boost to get

Anyway Gojo called the two of them "the strongest" literally pairing them up and positioning them as equals so like. Whoo boy. Also special grade sorcerer is defined as "a sorcerer who could single-handedly take down a nation" which okay! Labeling children as essentially weapons of mass destruction. Normal behavior

Then Toji happens and this random fucking guy beats you up. He kills your best friend and the girl you were escorting. But he doesn't kill you- because of your cursed technique being risky to deal with, but also. Obvious subtext of "you aren't important enough to kill"

Then your friend comes back from the fucking dead. Kills the man who tried to kill him. Discovers entirely me abilities and becomes even more powerful. And you are stagnating, with a technique you fucking hate. Your entire power is the power of Other Things.

So like. Understandly, thought maybe not justifiably, your ego is fucked.

So you start creating a new dichotomy: sorcerers and everyone else. If everyone else is lesser, you still have worth because you're Better than them by virtue of existing.

And then you discover 2 children being abused for the thing you have a victim complex over (<- this is also it's own thing I'll talk about) and you murder a bunch of ppl about it (okay this is a little questionable of My Opinions maybe but I could. Not forgive but understand the mass murder bc there's a lot of shit building up and clearly if 2 young girls being badly abused in a small village that implies the majority of people were either okay with it or unwilling to try and help at all. Anyway it's still Bad but like. Understandble mental breakdown trauma kinda bad for me? Also bc most ppl irl recognize murder as being Bad but are Weirdly Forgiving of bigotry yknow)

Anyway you take over the cult that was doing some other shit and my personal interpretation of this is also an ego thing. Bc lots of cult leaders do it for the money, but a lot of them also do it bc they like the feeling of controlling ppl. And there's essentially 2 levels of the cult- everyday people and the people he considers Family (which includes Mimiko and Nanako, the 2 children from the paragraph above).

On the "everyday people" level, there's a feeling of being a revered religious leader, knowing something they don't (curses exist), and the satisfaction of taking advantage of the people you don't like.

On the Family level, you position yourself as a savior and as The Only One Brave Enough To Do What Must Be Done (eugenics genocide) so even if you aren't the strongest you're still Special.

So that's my main analysis of why he became a cult leader, and now I'm gonna make more comments about why I think his shit is "Ego" rather than a (fucked up) desire to actually help ppl

If you wanted to help sorcerers survive: THE CLANS ARE A MASSIVE FUCKING PROBLEM. They hoard techniques tools and knowledge and the Zen'in clan literally cast out Toji who could've been a fuckin BEAST at dealing with curses. The clans reliance of tradition also generally hinders sorcerers ability to grow and improve in ways that aren't Traditional

When he dies the cult falls apart (which: good) but also the members have different ideals like some of them wanna keep doing eugenics, some of them just wanted Suguru to be powerful, and two of them were basically his adopted kids. If you actually had good intentions: CREATE A PLAN FOR WHEN YOU DIE SO YOUR FOLLOWERS CAN ACTUALLY CARRY OUT YOUR WILL AND HELP PEOPLE INSTEAD OF LETTING THEM INFIGHT

And idk if this is totally Ego or starting to move into a separate thing so I just decided to split it up: even when he was "righteous" his beliefs kinda Sucked

Like "the strong must protect the weak". There are inherent sort of... values being placed there, because weak is negative, not neutral. It's relatively minor, but I think it's important to note with how his beliefs evolve.

It's not like "we need to protect the people who can't protect themselves" it's really reductive. There's weak people and strong people and basically Noblisse Oblige but for strength or whatever which isn't really actual kindness or equality but rather pretty much. Pity.

Also he sorts jujutsu sorcerers into "strong" and everyone else into "weak" for the most part so that's... great worldview my guy. Definitely not going to just worsen your alienation from other ppl

so when he goes to "why should the strong protect the weak?" He jumps to "the strong don't owe anything to the weak, and actually the weak should be Punished For Being Weak" instead of. Just doing something else. Just get a fucking job, my guy

Anyway his plan is just garbage top to bottom total mess morally and logistically and he's a traumatized teen who grew into an abuser and like. The trauma influenced that but there were always fucking problems so it isn't "oh he got hurt and is evil :(" it's "he has some worrying beliefs and his trauma is likely making his emotions and ability to reason unstable, and then he finds an excuse to turn that instability into Violence" like. He's not necessarily abusive bc he's mentally ill or traumatized marginalized he's abusive bc he got to a point in his life where he could justify it to himself and it felt Good

And I just remembered this part: for the characters who interact with him I do enjoy that they still like and love him, even though he fucking sucks, because that's very human. You'll love imperfect people, you'll love horrible ppl who hurt you and/or others, and that isn't irredeemable it's just Human because being a Human and Connecting With Humans is complicated like that

I even like it when they excuse his bad behavior! Bc that's a realistic character flaw, to value the person u consider your friend over the people they hurt! It's not ethical, but it's natural and interesting to explore in fiction.

THE PROBLEM. IS WHEN THE AUTHORS DO NOT TREAT OR ACKNOWLEDGE IT AS A PROBLEM.

Like... listen. Love a relationship where one character sucks and the other character forgives them for the ppl they hurt and just wants their loved one back. The problem is when the writers are like "aww this is so sweet/romantic/beautiful" WHATEVER. Because it's not??

Someone defending their fucking abusive partner/friend/family member, especially when they aren't victims themselves, isn't fucking sweet it's scary, either for them or others!!!! And I want either to see the characters grapple with the way they excuse their loved ones' abuses and how that reflects on them and their morals, or, if the characters don't do that, for the author to acknowledge it as A Flaw!!!! I'd that too much to fucking ask

Especially with cult abuse, I don't want to say it's necessarily treated worse than any other type of abuse, but it feels really hard to find things related to fictional cults that actually acknowledge the Real Life Damage and Abuse cults do instead of having the cult be 1. Faceless evil 2. A joke 3. Fetishized/romanticized. And like all forms of abuse are similarly distorted in media + fiction, but I feel like ive almost never seen cult abuse portrayed respectfully/accurately, especially in fan works

Anyways for the wild TL;DR I think Geto Suguru's personality is comparable to an anti-sjw trans guy who is getting scarily close to Actual Fascist beliefs and is hurting all the people around him and his ex mutuals are like "he's not that bad" when he is That Bad and I'm so fucking mad about what happened to Nanako and Mimiko. If I think about their canon treatment I get so upset I start to have a headache

[angelwings-crossbowstrings]

Whumpuary Day 17-18

Prompt: Headache (alt)

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Fem!Reader

Warnings: None

You had not been home long when Daryl came shuffling through the door. He had gone on a run, leaving at the ass-crack of dawn but they were back by early afternoon with two boxes of medical supplies as fruits of their labor. Then he had been helping to move the solar panels and work on the battery hookup with Eugene. You were certain he was thrilled about that. 

You knew he hadn’t stopped; hadn’t told anyone he needed a break. It’s just who he was. Help until the job was done. It was a given that he’d be exhausted. You’d let him relax, maybe shower, while you made a quick dinner. 

Except… he stumbled after closing the door, the tips of the fingers on his left hand pressed against his temple. He didn’t so much as wave before depositing himself face first onto the couch, long legs hanging over the edge of the cushions. If it wasn’t so out of character for him, you’d find it comical. 

“Uh, hi.” You leaned into the room before actually entering. “Rough day?” There was a muffled mhm. “Hungry?” Another muted answer, but this one was mm-mm. God, you wanted to laugh, but that would need to wait until you found out a little more about why your boyfriend came home and immediately attempted to suffocate himself on the living room furniture. 

You knelt slowly, rubbing your hand over the warm leather on his back. You were pretty sure the next noise was a sigh. 

“Are you okay?” You ventured, probing a little more while leaving space in between questions so as not to irritate the archer. You thought he might have said super and was a bit dry, but it was hard to tell with the thick fabric pressed against his face. 

You shifted to properly sit on the floor, moving your hand in random patterns over his back. Maybe if you were patient, he would decide air was a good thing and sit up to enjoy it. You didn’t have anywhere else to be. It took about five minutes for him to very slowly roll his head toward you, expression drawn and eyes squinted. Uh oh. Your Dixon sense was tingling. 

“What’s wrong?”

He visibly attempted a scowl but gave up after only a brief effort. “Head.”

Oh, the jokes you could make. Not the time, Y/N. 

“Headache.” It wasn’t a question. It was blatantly obvious after he’d given you a clue. Judging from his flushed skin and the tension nearly vibrating over his form, it was a bad one. “Okay, just a second.” Daryl didn’t normally get headaches, so you were unsure how to treat one in a man that never complained and despised feeling weak or vulnerable. As you pulled the shades and closed the curtains, you glanced back at him. 

Weak was a fitting word. If a herd plowed through right now, he’d probably thank them when they started to eat him. 

With the room sufficiently darkened, you crouched in front of him, brushing his hair away from his eyes with a barely there swipe of your fingertips. “I’m going to go get a few things for you. Just relax here until I get back.”

“S’okay.” He mumbled, his arm falling away from where it had been tucked at his side. He let his hand hit the floor with little care. “Don’ need ta go outta yer way. M’good.”

A tilt of your head and tender smile should have been enough of a response, but just in case it wasn’t. “You know better than that. Sit tight.” You backed away from him in case he was about to offer any other objections but he surrendered and turned his hand with a thumbs up. 

You made a list in your head as you shuffled around the house. Pain killers. Tylenol would be okay but you were hoping for one of the stronger ones he’d been given when he’d broken his ribs. He was just as stubborn then so there were probably at least a couple left. 

While on your search, you were passing by other things you needed. Washcloths. The small basin that you reserved for cleaning him up when he came home bloody. And eureka! Pills! 

You contemplated getting him some comfortable clothes but the less he moved right then, the better. As an afterthought, you toed off your boots, quieting your steps significantly when you descended the stairs. If he noticed you bypassing him to disappear into the kitchen, he didn’t voice it. He’d need a glass of water to take the pills though you were certain he wasn’t beyond swallowing them dry. You filled the basin with cool water as well and strategically balanced your burden while padding back into the living room. 

Placing the items on the end table, you leaned down to press the most gentle kiss to the crown of his head. His eyes were closed but you were almost certain he wasn’t asleep.

“Okay, I’m gonna need you to move around for just a minute and then you can stay still as long as you want. Deal?” 

“Don’ wanna.” He groaned, reminding you very much of a grumpy toddler. Your hands drifted to his shoulders, pulling up as gingerly as you could to motivate him. 

“Come on.” His eyes were squeezed shut, jaw clenched against the throbbing in his skull. Those things were counterproductive when dealing with a headache but if you could get him to take the pills and lie down more comfortably, maybe he’d relax a little. “I got the leftover strong ones so this should start helping pretty quickly.”

“Okay.” He was so quiet and looked so small at that moment. You wanted to wrap him up and hold onto him forever. He held out his palm and you handed over the medication, barely getting the glass in front of him in time for him to swallow with the water. 

“Okay, now you get pampered.” You crawled to the far end of the couch next to your supplies and sat, patting your thighs. “Your pillow awaits, handsome.” You were barely able to stifle the giggle when he rolled his eyes before promptly pressing his palm against his forehead with a drawn out whine of ow. 

He stayed silent while stretching out on his back, his head resting on your lap. You smiled down at him while one hand dipped cloth into the water and squeezed out the excess. 

“You don’t have to do anything. I’ve got you.” You were gentle and careful when lifting his head slightly to place the cool cloth over the back of his neck. He winced at the movement regardless, making you frown. “I’m sorry.”

“S’okay.” He murmured, but you still felt a pang of guilt. 

The second cloth now wrung out, you folded it and placed it over his eyes. When he melted deeper into the couch with a sigh, you grinned triumphantly. That part out of the way, you pressed two fingers, gently but firmly, against each of his temples and began massaging the area. You could feel the pulsing there, so too much would not be beneficial. You began to alternate between that and carefully scratching your fingernails over his scalp to stimulate blood flow. 

After no more than five minutes, before you even needed to rewet the cloths, he was softly snoring on your lap. Still, you continued, determined to make sure the headache was gone before stopping. 

An hour later, you had removed the cloths and stopped massaging. Your fingers carded idly through his hair as he slept. He had turned onto his side and pressed his face into your stomach, not a single line of pain left showing. 

Daryl so seldom got to relax that seeing him like that and just being able to take it all in was something you found you wanted to do over and over again. Maybe you’d start being more appreciative of the time you could spend watching him sleep in the moonlight from the bedroom window. You knew that was going to be your new favorite bedtime ritual. 

A deep breath drew you from your thoughts and back to him, his eyes fluttering but barely opening. 

“Thanks, sunshine.” He whispered against your shirt, back asleep before you could reply. 

“Anytime, love. Anytime.”

[centrally-unplanned]

👀 are you interested in fire emblem and would you tell us your opinions of the franchise, I’d be very interested

I do like Fire Emblem! I have played FE6-8, smatterings of 9-10 (never owned them, played with friends), and all the games past Awakening/13. I did also play a bit of FE1, no shade on the limitations of the time of course but it sucks, not worth playing. So I am not a grand FE master but I have a lot of exposure to it.

I admire Fire Emblem for its simplicity of design & stakes - the combat system is "hit enemy, deal damage based on attack power - defense" kind of stuff, how everything works is super clear. All the complexity emerges on top of that. Your army is all individual people, permadeath means you need to pursue strategies with a lot of care such that difficulty doesn't get trivialized even if it is still easy (there is a big gap between "my odds of losing are 5% - exciting, I'm doing well!" and "my odds of losing are 0% - boring, why can't I skip this"). When it is doing its best you have a squad of guys with clear stakes and challenges that are overcome via smart kiting and tanking, it is rarely "did you equip the White Hooded Cat Ears to a unit with the Lapis Pendant to double proc a high initiative archer with Glacial Rain for opening gambit AOE freeze spam to prevent Featherknight Magic Guard from activating?" Which to be clear can also be a ton of fun, each game should just be its own thing - FE is just often best-in-class at its niche.

Fire Emblem also has great aesthetics, it aims for that "classy" style of fantasy typically and everyone authentically buys into all that nobility medieval stuff, which for a video game story can be fun vibes. I love their character designs, normally it is a game series with the right level of fanservice (Camilia -_-), and as someone who enjoys romance sideplots in video games FE typically gives you fun sidequests along those lines that sometimes has gameplay implications to boot - I loved the "eugenics simulator" of FE Awakening, as the fans affectionately called its system of child units inheriting traits from parent units. Tharja you are gonna torture Gaius for eternity via marriage because your faildaughter Noire needs Galeforce, I don't wanna hear any god damn objections okay?

As a series it is far from perfect, as anything running this long must be. The plots are normally "meh", in particular the series just doesn't care about logic that much? People do dumb shit alllll the time; FE7's plot is an absolute mess, Three House's story is hung together by macguffins and asspulls, and so on. It is better when it is simpler - in FE6, our boy Roy has gotta beat a bad guy, he conquering the world with dragons, oh no - great, no notes. More modern games need more involved plots due to market demand, but FE has not yet mastered it imo.

More modern games have also stacked complexity on the combat system - skills that proc, squads that attach to units, most recently "Engage rings" that buff and give spells. These can be good! The thing is the simplicity of say FE6 gets boring over so many hours, what works for a 10 hour game gets stale over 40, you need to grow. Sometimes they do that well - I thought Three Houses generally was smart on this front, the skills are more passive, the squads and gambits were (generally, they fucked up on movement buffs) flexible and didn't break things while giving you toys to play with. But Engage, while a good game, did get too complicated by half with many of its systems, and Awakening literally broke itself with pair-up & stacked skill procs, you can easily trivialize the whole game. And meanwhile to spike difficulty they would give every random enemy fighter different lethal skill procs that you would have to triple check every turn, a problems-beget-problems moment. But! I like that they are experimenting. Would have been real easy to capitalize on the success of Three Houses and just repeat it with Engage, but they didn't.

Also while permadeath is conceptually good, restarting a whole map because of a cheese crit is fucking awful, and I am glad modern games have time reset systems to obviate that. I do not play the older games without an emulator that can save state.

Tier listing the games I have played, lets see:

S Tier: Sacred Stones, Shadows of Valentia

A Tier: Three Houses, Blazing Sword

B Tier: Awakening, Engage, Binding Blade

C Tier: Fates

Edelgard best girl, and I think that covers it!

[oblivionbladetd]

Lily/Lorch’s video on Media Literacy is a lot to unpack, so I’m just going to start with the most important part —

She honestly believes that having a point is the exact same thing as being objectively correct, and that’s why villains can never have a point and still be villains in her eyes.

Do I even need to tell you how ignorant and dangerous this kind of mindset is?

Please explain to the youngsters in the audience why she’s utterly wrong in this belief.

I could preach ethics all day long, but who's to say mine are the same as yours? Or anybody else's?

If we want objectively correct, then we can just look at Ultron or Thanos. Statistically speaking, we will never know true, lasting peace. Also, statistically speaking, half our population just up and disappeared in an instant. As long as we can pull the inevitable socioeconomic collapse out of a 90-degree nosedive, it's still a net positive. The only problems they had were that for Ultron, it's that the save humanity by killing humanity is not exactly great for humanity. the world indeed probably would be better without us, but i will not be made to apologize for having a sense of self-preservation.... And with Thanos, the sticking point really is that when you are playing with true infinite, there are actually limitless better options than his initial one.

There are indeed a lot of problems if you just throw ethics to the wind and live in a world where the ends justify the means 100% of the time. Indeed, a lot of the greatest tragedies of human history are statistical non-issues, objectively unimportant. If the ends justify the means, then I guess eugenics and mass culling are hunky dory as well. It's logic that has already been used to justify horrible acts all around the globe from times modern to ancient.

If she wasn't just moving the goalposts in a stupid vendetta against a bunch of cheeky goobers, most villains have points. It's just good character writing. Outside of captain planet ass villains, nobody really sees themselves as a villain. There is a point to their cruelty, not always a great one, but a point nonetheless.

Let me tell you about a guy named Xykon for a webcomic called Order of the Stick. One of the protagonists, V, gets a humongous expansion to their spell list in a soul splice and fuck all else, full of bravado after nuking a dragon with a large amount of epic level spells gets it in their head the big bad ain't shit. After a brief bout of figuring out that hitting a spellcaster with far more practical experience and, more importantly, levels is easier said than done along with running a concentration based buff with a con of 6 means your epic super wizard transformation is good for all of three sturdy slaps being kinda ill advised. Proceeds to hit him with the single greatest speech in dnd fiction on how impermanent power is nothing and that whatever power you do have doesn't matter as long as you actually have it, proving it by showing that even the hail Mary of instant invisibility is nothing with little more than a higher than average spacial awareness and enough strength in their fleshless hands to crush a windpipe. Imagine being so outclassed an undead sorcerer that literally has magic imbued in his very bones switches to standard knuckle tossing just to put things in the ballpark of fair...

He has a good point and is very evil. Unapologetically so. If you are willing to let your mind explore and try to see through eyes that aren't yours, you will discover perspectives that will only ever enhance your understanding of the world. Hell, the very fact that there are war crimes is a widespread understanding that the only appreciable difference between the infantry of one country and another is a set of beliefs that might not survive the first time a soldier realizes he was a single inch away from being a corpse, so adding prolonged suffering is just needlessly cruel.

Hell, I'd welcome it as an open challenge to defend any villain as having a point because, again, short of stuff like has eaten bad vibes soup (chase young) or simply being a ancient force of nature. The list of bad guys that just are with zero explanation or justification is not as long as you'd think.

[daisdu]

I just finished Johannes Cabal the Necromancer and it was largely a very good book, I found it interesting and engaging, it had strong characters and a satisfying plot. However, I am struggling to get past the fact that the main character is a young blond-haired, blue-eyed man in the 1950s-60s with a german accent who explicitly speaks positively about eugenics and whose last name is meant to imply spookiness by relying on antisemitic depictions of Jewish mysticism...

I know he's objectively not a good guy, but most of these details don't feel related to that

[alpaca-clouds]

You cannot "kill" religion

I want to talk about one thing, that often gets lost.

A while ago I spoke about how even in a Solarpunk world, there would be religious diversity. Which is something I stand by and at least here there was not much in terms of arguments about it. Though I had a lot of arguments about it in other forums. Because... Well, religion is a sore topic for a lot of people. Which I understand. Of course I do. I was abused in the name of religion for most of my childhood and youth. So I get it. I had that time myself. The edgy atheist phase in my 20s, where I would get super angry about anything religious.

But by now I have calmed down a lot about it. I can see that religion is not inherently evil, even though it has been used to justify a lot of evil. And yes, that is true for most of the world religions at least.

It was that, that kept me on the anti-religion train for so long, really. Because being LGBTQ* I obviously am so easily the victim of all the evil justified by religion. But at some point I realized, that literally any frame of mind can be used for evil. Science has been used for lots of evil. And with that I do not just mean that science found ways to do evil, but that it has been used to justify evil. Science has been used to justify racism, sexism and eugenics.

Because the truth is, that humans who want to do evil will just find a tool to justify it.

No, but the thing I want to talk about here is this idea that if people were just all efficiently scientifically literate religion would just die out. Or, alternatively, the idea that we could just forbid religion in any way or form and it would be gone.

When it comes to the first thing, I would say: That is in fact an unscientific claim. To the second I would say: History wants to differ.

Let me make one thing clear: Our human brains are kinda just wired for religion. Our brains have just a couple of traits, that makes it likely for us to become religious or at least supersticious in one way or another.

Like the fact, that we are super wired for seeing someone else's intent. Because we are this super social animal species. But we got so good with this, that our brains kinda just see intent in anything. Like, we will look at those wire connected headphones knotted up and think: "Why are you doing this again?!" While of course the headphones are not intent on this. Because they are just things.

As such we have just a tendency to see a spirit or character in every object. Which is how spiritual believes arrive. Giving each tree, stone and animal some sort of spirit.

It is just what our brains do.

The other thing our brains are kinda hardwired for is pattern recognition. Which leads us to see patterns even if there are none. You hunted a deer and just after that it rained? Twice? Trice even? Oh boy, there is a pattern here. The gods give you rain for sacrificing that deer boy.

Just as we are hardwired to kinda associate "vibes" with objects or places based on what might have happened there. There is absolutely no reason to not live in a place where a murder had happened. But even some of the people who think themselves as super rational will just not... want that.

And we see this going on. While scientists are less likely to be religious than the general populus, there is still a plenthora of religious scientists. Who are not worse scientists because of it. Because here is the other thing: Religion give us something to hold onto.

To believe in a higher power who has a plan for you is soothing to many. Just as it is soothing to believe that dead souls move onto something after death. Both because it helps us deal with the idea of dying one day, but also when it comes to dealing with the death of loved ones.

And that is... okay. Really. In by itself it is okay.

And then there is the history of course. See, I decided to put a Torii up there, because oh boy, the Buddhist folks trying to get the religion to spread in Japan tried a lot to suppress the indigenous believes, that later turned into Shinto. And... Well, they did not manage, did they?

But the same can be said for so many other religions. Be it how the Christians stayed around through Roman persecution. Or how there are still Jewish people, even though they have been persecuted for literal millennia.

Even some of those religions we consider extinct are not really. They have just changed and merged into other religions, that have come along.

I mean, just as the Romans tried to get those Christians to stop being Christians, the Christians in turn tried to extinguish so, so, sooooooo many other religions. But it turns out that a lot of them are still around. At times somehow merged into Christianity. But... They are still there.

And really... I do think hating on religion as a general concept is just a wasted emotional effort. You do not need to believe all of those religious things. But... You will not forbid it. So the constructive thing would be to try and find a way to shift religion in a way, that people who believe it are less likely to fall for people preaching hate. To teach people to be able to read those scriptures in context and be critical of those using it to inspire hate.

[ichayalovesyou]

Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow

SPOILERS AHEAD

Oh man you guys! I really enjoyed this episode! I loved it way more than The Broken Circle but I did not love it as much as I loved Ad Astra Per Aspera but that episode was so a cut above the average (as in in the running for best episodes of Trek ever written caliber stuff). That it hardly seems fair to say so because this episode was an absolute JOY to watch! Lol! I love a good time travel romp!

I remembered enjoying Paul Wesley’s Kirk in A Quality of Mercy but I wasn’t sure whether I was just riding the high of the previous season or whether he could pull it off twice. But he did and I really really like his interpretation of Jim. I honestly like it a lot better than Chris Pine’s if I’m super honest with y’all.

I mean he UNDERSTOOD the assignment! He was definitely at his Kirkiest when they initially arrived in the 21st century that body language and cadence was on point despite him not looking too much like Shatner. I mean hats off to the writers too for that one. The passion for chess without being overly cocky. The all of it!

There was something about the hot dogs scene and letting La’an have the bed in the hotel that felt very Tarsus IV even tho that might not have happened in this timeline. It’s still very James Kirk of him. Not to mention the whole bit where his type is overachiever, kinda uptight but also dark and mysterious and dare I say a little out of his league folks. Whom he charms without being pushy into warming up to him and letting their guard down. Also THANK YOU to the writers and to Wesley for recognizing Kirk Drift and acknowledging our boy is a hopeless romantic and NOT a babe hound.

I called the La’an/Kirk thing way before it happened because of it. And from what was implied in the Ready Room interview with Paul Wesley it sounds as though we might get more La’an & Jim content in the future which I certainly wouldn’t object to! Although we are skirting the edge of when Jim & Carol Marcus supposedly met so that might get a lil complicated but the seasons (because they’re sorter) might not be 1:1 with years so they’ve got some wiggle room to work with.

I love seeing the cinematic parallels between Kirk & Jim’s love interest stuff in SNW that clearly draws them to each other later on. Chapel is a lot like Kirk and Spock is falling for her pretty hard. La’an is a lot like Spock by the time we meet him in TOS (not too similar to SNW baby Spock though) and they fell for each other pretty badly too! For example, both La’an & Spock are terrified of Kirk’s insane driving skills (or lack thereof lmao)! But enough about Jim & the whole K/S kitten caboodle! This episode is about LA’AN :D

Holy shit did La’an need what’s been happening with her in these past couple episodes. She got to face her generational trauma headlong, she got to see a mirror in Kirk and further realize the value of enjoying the fleeting and precious joys of life. By both convincing this alternate timeline version of Kirk that her version of the world is worth saving (also not the “Sam’s alive?” 😭 because his older brother dies unexpectedly and tragically in both timelines DONT TOUCH MEEEE, also not the potential Kirk bros content going forward also 😭). To eating the damn hot dog, and presumably letting Kirk talk her into taking the bed and just ugggggh.

And then HE DIES! They fridged Captain James T. Kirk of all people for HER character development lmao how’s THAT for a twist. Historically it’s been the other way around how’s that feel for once Jimbo? Damn!

Sera was an interesting villain, she was a good twist honestly felt like something was up with her the minute she had pics of that romukan ship. Also, I love all the self referential like, “yes we acknowledge this changed a little bit” stuff that’s happened. Like the Temporal Wars are why the Eugenics war is supposed to start around *now* and not the 90s like previously stated and Sera has been trapped trying to fulfill her mission for 30 years. Or how clearly Jim thinks everybody calls his brother George and only he gets to call him Sam when clearly that’s not the case lol. It’s nice little touches like that that really make me feel validated for having faith in the writers when nitpickers complain.

Also PELIA! She’s an art thief?! Incredible! Hilarious! Brilliant! No notes! Although it JUST occurred to me that because La’an went to Pelia before the whole “preventing the timeline from changing entirely” bit does THAT mean that La’an can at least talk to Pelia about what happened?! Because it’s implied La’an is who inspired her to become an engineer and that’s still part of our prime timeline! Maybe it’s like a Guinan and Picard situation! I think La’an should get to sob into the arms of our funky little klepto engineer grandma as a treat instead of breaking down alone in her room, please and thank you!

Anyway, baller episode! 9/10

[roxannepolice]

Out of all the literary quotes that can be thrown at the Master and thoschei, this one from A hero of our time always struck me as a particularly accurate. Like, when the Master rushes over to keep the Doctor from falling in EoT, this is what popped up in my brain. Why?

Well, A hero of our time is up there with Shamela as earliest cases of recuntruction of a genre. Except where Shamela deconstructs stories that are generally regarded as sham - the mindbogglingly noble innocent girl "fixing" a guy, with none of the introspection to be found in Bronte sisters' works - A hero of our time deals with a more regarded - and objectively artisticly more meritorious - genre of byronic heroes. The main character, Grigory Pechorin, ticks all the boxes of a byronic hero - handsome, young, tragic, romantic, what have you - except unlike his predecessors like Byron's Giaour or Pushkin's Eugene Onegin (that Pechorin is a direct parody of, with both having river-based surnames)... he's aware he's a bastard. Like, there's always a part of him that can look at himself from outside and recognize that he's ruining himself and others, and that there are very easy ways to stop this. If you provided a critical analysis and called him a spoiled rich white boy who needs therapy, he'd be the first to agree. He's an homme fatal in the way of quality noir femmes fatales, who - again, in actually good noir films - strike the audience as much, much more than just sexy objects that can't control their sexuality and selfish impulses.

Which is why the above passage strikes the reader so hard. Yes, it's all written in a memoir convention, but we're still not at the point of deconstructing the peotic frames, what is written is to be taken at face value. And what we find is a flood of emotion, of deeply honest love and desperation that's hard to be brushed aside as a pose. And yet it's the pov character/main character that does so. He even goes for biologization of his state, dismissing it as possibly litte more than exhaustion. He recognizes spleen for a endocrinological imbalance that the name suggests.

The book is perfectly, openly unpreachy. There's no moral here to derive about how to live. It just presents the reader with a character that we are deeply confused about: he's clearly capable of deep, beautiful, noble emotions, yet chooses not to act on them, the moment a single physical obstacle (such horse dying from exhaustion) cuts the stream of consciousness. There's something no longer unsentimental as much as anti-sentimental about it. "People are, by nature, good, and if they just followed their natural empathy and feelings"- no, nothing good would come out of it, at least there's no guarantee.

And yet there's an honesty to it. An honesty that's specifically lacking in usual romantic heroes. There's an awareness that this level of dramaticness in life has to involve an element of cynically orchestrating it. And it's not the case of preachy "and therefore we should dismiss all delusions of such emotional rushes as fake", because there is no fakeness. It's the case of even manipulation being stragnely honest about itself, moreseo than truth could ever be. It appears to be saying "the only way to resolve the mystery of Mona Lisa's smile is to scratch all the paint off the beechwood, do you really think you'll find something truer underneath?". In a way, yes, wood was there beofre da Vinci, but I don't really think that's the reality we're looking for.

That's why when either fandom or the source material goes for getting to the Master "undearneath all performance" it strikes me as empty. No, it's not the Doctor knowing the truth of the Master, it's the case of the Master exposing truths about the Doctor.

Like Pechorin of byronic heroes.

[sasukesun]

"part of mha fandom can't fathom massmurder is objectively worse than beating your family, which is why they like dabi and shigaraki but hate endeavour" thoughts?

i haven’t had thoughts on bnha for a while but i will make this one exception because this involves the reason why i dropped it in the first place. i will be frank that i do not keep up with bnha for a long time now and i don’t even know what’s going on because this manga is so mid it doesn’t burst the bubble, except for when bakugou died, which was fun btw.

but like- this quotation just proves that its fans and anime fans in general are the dumbest motherfuckers on earth. dabi and shigaraki are villains, they ARE SUPPOSED TO do villainous things. endeavour is a pro hero, he ISN’T SUPPOSED TO do objectively bad actions, he isn’t supposed to beat up his family, he isn’t supposed to engage with eugenics and abuse his children only to make up for his personal frustrations, he isn’t supposed to push his son to the point of almost death, and yet, he not only does all of those things but he gets all the prestige a pro hero gets. shedding some tears and saying he’s sorry does not make up for any of it, still getting the prestige of a hero and having heroes defending him does not send a good message to the readers.

this is some kindergarten level of world vision, it’s like saying you condone fictional villains’ actions because you like them as characters/understand their motivations and how they resort to extremes.

[razmerry]

Drawtectives: Orc Lore... 2!!!!

My first Drawtectives orc lore post that I made 2 years got over 600 notes, and I always intended to compile one for the second season. I just needed to rewatch all of it first! This one includes more general information about the Drawtectives world than the first did, cause it’s really fun. 

Part 1

Episode 1:

- York has become a male model! Good job, king

- Extra world lore: Boogle, Bamerica (where engineers drive the train)

Episode 2:

- Common knowledge in the orc tribes is that the one thing you can’t fight is death - it gets you in the end

- “There’s always time for the east” - a classic Northern tribes quote

- Extra world lore: Pollywood, gredit cards, Zac Giraffe, Belp, Bi-Fi, Halloween is canon!

Episode 3:

- No one has ever reported back after confronting a wild train

- Reconfirmed: the roughly cuboid shape of wild cats, including tigers which have a Garfield-like appearance

- One of the only comics in the Northern tribe was Cashews by Barles Pört, featuring Sneppy 

- Things York can write: eat my butt, wow now thatsa potata, Sneppy

- York doesn’t talk about his #1 and #2 weirdest days: “too weird”

- York is “a very social creature” according to Rose; all he needs are friends and food

Episode 4:

- Confirmed for the third time: York is a math guy

- York is big enough that he has a high drink tolerance

Episode 5:

- The “Ren Faire Las Vegas” is a story in the Northern tribe told to children, about a magical place with heroes and knights and glitter; York hoped to see it someday

       - Which included the hero “Belvis Breseley” and his many disciples

       - Interestingly, the Benaissance appears to possibly be etymologically linked to this “Ren Faire”, when the famous turtle painter Michaelango lived

- A classic game from the Northern tribes called “Lift It”: where you have a heavy object and see if you can lift it

Episode 6:

- It takes York a few seconds to transform between “Fight Mode” and “Show Mode”

- More Cashews lore: the lead character is Barley Brown

- Another newspaper comic: Beefcliff, which is apparently spelled differently in other locations

- BC also exists: unclear if this is our world’s or simply a coincidence

- Wild trains enjoy bones: new, old, yours, doesn’t matter to the train

- It’s speculated that trains evolved from wild bikes, with some diverging evolutionary lines including trucks

- Wild trains have feline ears and tails; if the ears are in the alert position, the train has now targeted you

- “Life is a railroad, and I’m going to ride it ‘till my stop”: a line from the hit group Bascal Blatts

- An interesting thing to note: synthetic trains are built in the image of wild trains

- York lost 17 of his cousins to wild train attacks; so York has approximately 35 cousins according to him (and I trust his math)

- Wild trains have a “burning inferno” as well as a mouth-eye, and the tail can be used somewhat like a blade

- Stripes on the side of the wild train help it blend in with tallgrass environments

- Horse Pope: holy figure? Into gambling? Oversees soups?

- York: sometimes known as “The Terror of the Northern Tribes”

- York has a net worth of about 6 million bones in his bank, although it’s unclear what the exchange rate is to Bamerican dollars

Episode 7:

- Bibby Joey: creator of the famous song “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”

- BUNO!

- Eugino, a popular card game (Eugene-Oh?)

- I’m not writing down the rest of those board game puns

- The only game played in the Northern Tribes was “rock hit”, where you threw rocks at another rock in the air and see which rock survived; perhaps Lift It was more of a personal challenge

- There are no tables in the Northern Tribes

- Eugene’s favorite karaoke song is “I Need A Villain” by Donnie Byler, featured in Grek 2

Episode 8:

- York is the smart one, according to Rose: “he thinks the loudest”

- He’s also bad with faces and voices according to Rose; reconfirmed from S1E5

- I just really like that he was 100% convinced that Alm and All were different people

- Phone-bone, apparently

Episode 9:

- I enjoy the two-part confirmation that Northern Tribes orcs have southern accents

- “Joe Beans” is not a traditional orcish name

- Not everyone knows that the Northern Tribes have a monarchy

- “Orcish size” drinks are in a bucket, evidently they are literally sand buckets

- Jancy came to York’s first modeling show :,)

- York once tried to arm-wrestle a snake

- Wonderful film by Studio Jiggly: Ghosted Over There

Episode 10:

- No lore just solving the case!!

Episode 11:

- York’s favorite action hero is Ben Ception, who enters people’s dreams

- List of the months: Febicember, Smarch, Mapril, Junary, and Bachtober

- York’s powerful… stream gives him time to get his arms warmed up for a fight

- Another social media app; Binstagram

- “Lofty goals do lead to existential horrors” - daily quote by Rose

[justatalkingface]

Bonding Over Burns

You know, like you do when your part of the Endeavour Family.

You remember when the relevant Todoroki was Shoto? Good times, good times.

I've talked on and off about Endeavour, and how soft the story has gone of him, and to a lesser extent Dabi, and how things should be harder on him as well, if for different reasons, but I just want to talk... broadly a bit. This is going to get a bit rambly, and mostly focus on the clusterfuck of the latest chapter.

Hmm. Let's start here: I actually like Dabi. He's insane, and I wouldn't want to be in the same room with him in real life, but he's a fun character who can drive great plot. In all honesty, I want him to win, even now, and I'm not even guilty about it, because unlike Shigaraki, his goal is literally just, 'Fuck Endeavour', and that's something society could survive, and honestly should.

So, with the background of me being a long-time Dabi fan, I say this: this is shit. There's been so much Todoroki content recently, so much of it focused around Dabi, and yet this is what we get.

A lot of the discontent is around the Quirk Awakening, and while I have problems with the ice part of it, which I will get to in a sec, but the Awakening itself isn't a problem. Rather, with how the story is arranged now I don't see a problem with it, but in the first place I think he should have gotten it way back when when he lit himself on fire.

In any normal circumstance, there's no way Dabi should be alive. As the story is, that's being explained as AFO's interference... but that goes into the problem of AFO being everywhere, and everything, that Hori has been thrusting at us since Kamino. Making AFO the cause of every damn problem in the story is a problem in itself. So, how would he be alive now?

*jazz hands* Quirk Awakening.

Not ice, but something tailored to his situation, something that to solve the problem of, 'how in the ever loving fuck are you alive?', because even before he started cosplaying Skeletor Dabi was living with a level of burns that would have serious day to day life consequences, if he even managed to survive getting them. To be blunt, Frankenstein's Monster, which is made out of corpses, is better put together than Dabi's body is. If Dabi's Quirk is too strong for a human body, then give him something to let him survive it; advanced regeneration, the ability to just shrug off burns, being fueled by his fire, something.

You see, Quirk Awakening themselves are... acceptable, as a concept. They're something that makes sense in a manga like this, as a power up, and especially as the 'lore' of it has developed and it's become clear that Quirks themselves can change over time, even if the logic and science of the setting has become softer and softer as time passed. The fact that, as people have put it, Dabi awakening because of how Endeavour treated him 'proving him right' is kind of missing the point, because, well, he always was.

In the coldest, brutalist, most devoid of mercy or empathy kind of way, Endeavour has always been right about this. Quirk marriages are objectively horrible, but they're also the path to stronger Quirks. Like, hell, look at Bakugou. By the logic of the setting, Bakugou might as well be from a Quirk Marriage for how well it was set up for him, because he is the exact sort of multiplicative product Endeavour desired, but he happened by sheer dumb luck instead of primitive, inefficient, and cruel eugenics. We damn well know that his parents wouldn't have kept going for another child if his Quirk was just really slimy skin or something.

Dabi getting a Quirk Awakening doesn't prove shit about Endeavour's methods because Shoto already exists, the very product he desired. Hell, Dabi already unlocked super blue flames by pushing himself to limit, because again, while the mental, social, and ethical consequences of pushing someone to their limits and beyond are very valid, in a manga like this going beyond your limits is exactly how you get a power up, something we've seen time and time again in the story; Endeavour isn't making anything new, he's just tainting an already known phenomena with his abuse. It's not worth the price, but the result itself can happen under this kind of logic.

But, do you know what the first thing I thought was when Dabi started shooting ice?

How convenient it is, that it happens just in time to save Endeavour. Because that's what the ice is ultimately for: to protect Endeavour from the consequences of his actions because, without that, at the very least his arm would probably be gone by now. The ice literally appeared just in time to protect Endeavour from any career ending injuries. Dabi would die without being able to be redeemed. Endeavour himself would be dead, which is seeming more and more unlikely to happen at this point.

Making Rei 'important'? This HImura clan stuff? Please, don't insult me; it is dead obvious that all of that is nothing more than yet another last minute justification to push what narrative Hori wants to tell against the actual story he's made.

How is anyone alive now, when Dabi is literally a giant bomb radiating lethal amounts of heat? Rei is randomly strong enough to counter that, an actual suicide attack with smidgen more of Dabi's ice being used against him to help everyone else at his expense.

Actually, let's talk about Rei: can we replace her without a cardboard cutout with the catchphrase of, 'Endeavour isn't that bad!' yet? Because this isn't a character with agency. This isn't even a proper character. She has never been, on screen, shown with any real agency as a human being. Actually, let me put it like this: do you know when she was shown with the most respect as a human being, as a person with her own will and desires?

When she was burning Shoto. That is how badly her inclusion in this manga is; Rei's best showing is her having a psychotic break.

Sweet burning fuck that is pathetic.

Let's be blunt here: does Rei have any culpability? Technically, yes. Realistically? Honestly? Fuck no. Rei is a broken woman who was sold to Endeavour. He spent his entire marriage growing more aggressive, more dominating, to the point where the only time she did something of her own free will, without the approval of Endeavour, is have a psychotic break. He was the one with power in the relationship, who made the choices, who made the Todorokis into this. And, just to be clear? He did, in fact, hit her.

The lion share of blame for Dabi is with Endeavour, followed by Dabi himself. Rei's share is fucking miniscule. And yet she has to run into the death fire to apologize to the mad, suicidal terrorist for everything.

Meanwhile, why is everyone else here? Why is Natsuo and Fuyumi here? Why are they, the people who were literal children at the time, feeling guilty? Their father had all the power, all the control, wh fuck could they do then? Or even now! They're even weaker than Rei, and Rei needs a pointless, out of nowhere power up just to survive. They should be dead long before the point they could even have this conversation. Actually, could we even have a real talk if they want their 'big brother' back, instead of it just being assumed that of course they want their crazy, murderous relative back, who they were seperated from as different, inferior, in childhood, who didn't know how to interact with them, and who they grew up without their entire lives? Them ultimately settling on wanting him back is fine, in theory, but it shouldn't be this assumed thing, they should be conflicted over this, and have had long talks about, in the same way they should have about Endeavour himself.

Hell, from the other end, why does Dabi care? Why is he going, 'Fuyumi-chan'? They were never more important than him than his ambition to live up to his father's dream, it was all that he lived for. There's every indication he's left all that behind for his hate; let him. Let Dabi be evil, let him be unredeemed!

But that's the thing: it's not about Dabi, and what he should think. It's not about Natsui, or Fuyumi, and what they should think, and we damn well know it's not about Rei, because nothing is ever about her. It's still about Endeavour. All of this, all of this, is still about god damn Endeavour.

Dabi being an actually unforgivable person makes Endeavour look bad. If Dabi dies, gloriously filled with his incandescent hatred, it means that Endeavor can never 'fix' what was done to him, he can never be redeemed from his crime, his apology can never be accepted. This is, of course, exactly the reason why Dabi is trying to do it at all, to rob Endeavour of the peace that could give him, and why Hori won't allow him to do it, to let him succeeding in taking that away from his father.

Everyone being here to claim responsibility for making Dabi who he is? Is taking that much blame away from Endeavour, lightening the guilt he bears. Even if they're logically wrong, when the whole family is there, working together to 'fix' things, it gives the impression that they 'broke' it together, and thus Endeavour's sins are lessened in the eyes of the viewers.

All of this, all of them; Shoto, Dabi, Fuyumi, Natsu and Rei, all of them exist for one thing only at this point: to tell the story of the great and glorious Endeavour. His rise to success, his overcoming of the odds, his wonderful redemption story. Everything they do is to prop up the man who abused every single one of them, and it's sickening.

[unreadpoppy]

Theater Director!Raphael headcanons

A/N: So fun fact about me, I'm a theater student, and I particularly love history of theater, so I decided to put that knowledge to good use. This is past HCs, part history lesson.

…

- Theater director! Raphael is a symbolist who tries to pass of as a realist.

In the naturalist/realist movement, the idea was that a play had to be a photocopy of reality. The objects on scene represented only being objects, the lighting was supposed to imitate real light, things like that. The symbolists, as the name indicates, are going to be more subjective. They’ll use the light to indicate feelings, objects on scene can represent elements of the story.

And I think Raphael would do that, he would put a lot of hidden meaning on his staging, but he would try to say that it was all real. We already know he puts portraits that make himself look better in his home, and if his plays were autobiographical, he’d do the same, but if asked, that was exactly how it happened.

- Theater director! Raphael would be textcentric. I could see him being the type of director to write his on plays, so what he puts on the page is exactly what he wants to happen.

- which also means, no. Freaking. Improv.

- his actors need to learn their lines exactly as they are. They need to follow the directions exactly as he tells them, or else, he’s cutting them off.

- Also, I think Raphael would follow Grotowski’s methods of exhaustion to train his actors.

Grotowski will say that we all have vices on our bodies that we acquire on our day to day lives (the way we walk, talk, sit, etc.) To break that, he will physically exhaust his actors with intensive exercises and warm ups that take very long, so that when they are completely spent, they’ll finally be ready to create that character, as they’ll be empty.

-I can see Raphael doing that, and especially drive forward that idea of molding the actor to become that character.

- I also see him having some of Craig’s ideas that the actor needs to completely let go of themselves and their ego, and just be the character.

- as I said before, I think he would write some autobeiographical plays (like Eugene O’Neill) but he would flourish reality to make himself look better. And also, if he wanted to her revenge on someone, they’d make them look even worse on his plays.

- His staging is grand and pompous, kinda like during the baroque period.

- I can see him doing operas only because operas are the “absolute work of art”, in Wagner’s theory. And that would give him even more of an excuse to be grand. Though, I think he’d still focus more on plays, overall.

[spiders-hth-is-an-outlier]

Surprising absolutely no one, I have strong feelings about Grease, and the ditch I am most prepared to die in is that the Millennial Commentary Industrial Complex is fundamentally wrong about the end of the movie and it's mostly Disney's fault.

Oh, no, it's a bad message! It tells girls that they're responsible for changing themselves to suit a boyfriend! Danny should have told Sandy that it was okay to be herself, he should have loved her for who she was! Respectfully, this is the opinion of a fool. I love you, but it's fool talk.

I know that the Inspiring Message of every single piece of media for children made from like 1985 on was "you should be yourself." And that's fine! In some ways it's good. And I don't want to get too deep into whether or not it's good for teenagers to cling to a specific sense of Self and worry a lot about their personal style and mannerisms adequately showing the world their True Selves lest they betray Who They Are -- I think that's worth interrogating, but I also think a range of positions on that question are possible and probably even valuable.

But Grease is not a show about everyone finding and actualizing their Truest Most Distinctive Self. If it were, the main characters probably wouldn't all wear matching jackets the whole way through. Grease is a movie about how being cool is rad. The clue is in the title! Grease is the word -- the protagonists ("greasers") inhabit a subculture that's specifically contrasted to the nerdy earnestness of the poodle-skirted 50s mainstream. They are bad kids, they are burnouts, they regard "trying things" and "caring a lot" as nerd shit. They are also fucking fun. They look cool and they get laid and the show (produced in 1972) is not making the argument that it's acceptable to be a greaser if your soul so compels you, it's arguing that it's desirable.

Everybody gets an arc in Grease. Sandy falls in with these Bad Kids and discovers that she likes them, that they are good friends and that she has fun when she's with them. She interrogates the person she has been up until now and decides she doesn't really like that person, who is nervous and naive and acclimated to the uptight and judgmental parts of her society. The reason she quits dressing like Patty and starts dressing like Rizzo is that Rizzo is a better person to be like than Patty is. Grease is positing a vision of the 50s where conformity to the mainstream is a weakness, and Sandy discovering that the Bad Kids are objectively better -- braver, more honest, loving and loyal and fun -- is how she is liberated. She doesn't become a Pink Lady to please Danny, she evolves far enough that she's worthy of being a Pink Lady.

There is a character whose arc is to realize that he has to be his own individual, and it's Danny's. Danny steps out of the self-imposed box of the Alpha Greaser to actually try hard at something and admit he cares about someone. The movie gives him a kind of a Third Road, saying that he can absorb some of the better qualities of the jocks he disparages -- some of the earnestness, some of the achievement -- without having to stop being cool. Sandy already had those qualities, and she adds being cool to them once she gets over her fears.

In either case, you have to take it as a point of worldbuilding within the story that it is cool to be a greaser, not just for some people, but objectively cool. Particularly in the movie's directing choices, it does find some fondness for characters like Eugene and Patty, who are doubtless being themselves, but it's never going to argue that it's equally good to be Kenickie and Eugene, or Frenchie and Patty. Grease as a text definitely assumes that some of these people are more aspirational figures than the others.

I just feel strongly that if you come at it with the lens of "don't change for anyone else, be yourself," you are missing what is actually happening in the story. Danny does already love Sandy even when she's a hopeless dork, that's the starting point of the show. His story is about not being too afraid of what other people will think to admit that. Her story is about not being too afraid to let herself have the freedom her friends have. The narrative sense of the whole thing depends on both of them wanting a goal we want them to have -- not dating each other, that's a plot goal, but the story is in Danny letting love make him more vulnerable so he's a good enough partner for her, and Sandy stepping out of her shell to experience the freedom and joy that she's so attracted to in the people around her. No part of it is about getting Danny to like Sandy more; he doesn't like her more after her transformation, he already liked her the maximum amount before that.

It's about Sandy becoming better, and to grok the ending you have to understand that the show isn't defining better as "more like the Platonic Ideal of Sandy," it's outright saying that "Sandy but a Pink Lady" is better. As the audience you can agree or disagree about that, but the show stakes out that position and holds it consistently.

[kingedmundsroyalmurder]

Addendum to the chapter 1 post that I thought of later:

“Not this afternoon—haven’t got time. I must mosey up to the North End to see a man who has got a lovely throat. Nobody can find out what is the matter. He has puzzled all the doctors. He has puzzled me, but I’ll find out what is wrong with him if he’ll only live long enough.” This is Eric's best friend, a well known doctor, cosplaying as, like, 1900s Dr. House. No concern for the patient's well being, just a Mystery that must be solved. No wonder Eric has such a low opinion of doctors!

(Sidenote: those of you who Anne, what is Gilbert like as a doctor? Because TBC didn't have a great opinion of them, and this book is not shaping up to be too complimentary either. Did LMM just have a fairly poor opinion of doctors in general that colors her work?)

On to chapter two, and we meet an actually sympathetic character! Larry West seems like a lovely young man, and I hope he recovers fully and that he and Agnes Campion are blissfully happy together. Unlike either Eric or David, Larry actually seems to care about the people under his charge, i.e. his students. I already want him to be our protagonist instead.

"The former looked more like a benevolent old clergyman or philanthropist than the keen, shrewd, somewhat hard, although just and honest, man of business that he really was." Kilmeny of the Orchard, sponsored by the Better Business Bureau! There is absolutely an interesting thread to tease out across LMM's life and work that connects Eric Marshall to Barney Snaith, but I want to read more of this book before I make further commentary on that. But it does appear that Maud's opinions on rags-to-riches businessmen, uh, Evolved over the years.

Actually never mind, I'm gonna girl who's only ever read The Blue Castle this book a tiny bit more. Compare:

"And then those girls were as pretty as pinks, now weren’t they? Agnes was the finest-looking of the lot in my opinion. I hope it’s true that you’re courting her, Eric?”

and

“Prettiest girl in Montreal,” said Dr. Redfern. “Oh, she was a looker, all right. Eh? Gold hair—shiny as silk—great, big, soft, black eyes—skin like milk and roses. Don’t wonder Bernie fell for her. And brains as well. She wasn’t a bit of fluff. B. A. from McGill. A thoroughbred, too. One of the best families."

Women aren't really people, they are trophies and objects to be collected and revered. Barney grows out of this mentality through his travels. Eric... well it remains to be seen about Eric, doesn't it?

"Perhaps I am. When a man has had a mother like mine his standard of womanly sweetness is apt to be pitched pretty high." So we're getting the standards by which Eric judges a future wife and the role she will be expected to play. He wants a society hostess, a woman who can step seamlessly into his mother's shoes. He wants her to be sweet and serene and, presumably, beautiful and delicate like his mother in her portrait. David and Mr. Marshall both basically want him to marry Ethel Taverse -- beautiful, well brought up, good lineage, of the Right Sort. Eric... honestly Eric has such fantasy standards for a woman that in a different book the resolution would be that he realizes that he's gay. He's doing that doesn't-realize-they're-queer-yet thing of, "it's not that I don't like [expected other gender], it's just that I haven't found anyone yet with [vague laundry list of impossible qualities]." I know that doesn't always translate into queerness, but it's an experience that definitely rings true to my baby ace teenage years before I had the words or knowledge to accurately describe my experiences.

"In all likelihood the worst thing that will happen to you over there will be that some misguided woman will put you to sleep in a spare room bed. And if that does happen may the Lord have mercy on your soul!” Go to PEI, but don't consort with the locals! The Wrong Kind of Woman might tempt you! This book is a great primer on how classism and eugenics go hand in hand, isn't it?

So our plot has been set up for us. Eric, a young man in possession of a good fortune, is off to Prince Edward Island, where he will soon find himself in want of a woman to be his wife. She will either be a commoner, whom his family and friends think isn't good enough for him but whom he loves and will stand up for, or she will be a secret aristocrat, whom he will pluck out of her shabby surroundings and return to her birthright in high society. I want this book to go with option a, because it's more interesting, but from what I know of it it veers closer to option b instead.

(What he needs is an Anne Shirley to whack him upside the head with a slate and tell him to stop being such a jerk, but I'm not holding out hope.)

[hot-take-tournament]

HOT TAKE TOURNAMENT:

PRE-PRELIMINARY #1

Submission 142:

"Fallout 3 is just objectively a terrible game and people are too blinded by nostalgia/franchise loyalty to understand how deep it goes"

(Pre-preliminaries will be used to judge whether this submission qualifies as a hot take. Propaganda is encouraged!)

Submitted justification under the cut:

Every Fallout game since Bethesda took over has had a very distinct central theme. New Vegas is about the past vs the future, Fallout 4 is about personal identity/truth, and Fallout 3 is about ✨morality✨. Every choice in the game boils down to “I’m such a good person, just an innocent little vault baby who wants to help people 🥺” or “HAHAHA MURDER IS FUN I WANT TO EAT BABIES”. (And don’t get me wrong, cartoonishly evil actions can both be very fun and have always had a place in the Fallout series, but this particular installment both prides itself and is propped up by its fans as being a “dark, gritty, mature” on the Fallout setting). It’s always so annoyingly black and white, the only exceptions being when the main story forces you to be evil to progress. And it’s not in a grimdark way, the game seems to genuinely see no issue with it. The two major factions are a replica of the U.S. military that hates mutants and thinks they should be killed via eugenics, and a replica of the U.S. military that hates mutants and thinks they should be killed via genocide. Guess which one is the “good guy” faction! You literally can’t because they’re both basically the same thing and they’re both equally awful. Turns out the hero faction is the genocide one, but they saved you from some hostile mutants one time so actually they’re okay 🥺. Ignore the fact that the mutants are very provably sentient and the only actually selfless and good NPC is, himself, a mutant. It’s fine.

And brief sidebar here to mention that the main story LITERALLY ISN’T COMPLETED UNLESS YOU BUY A DLC. Like technically there’s an “ending”, but you just get to the eleventh hour and then either: a) Die or b) Have the game call you a coward and a bad person because you opted to have someone who is RESISTANT TO RADIATION step into a HEAVILY IRRADIATED AREA instead of killing yourself by doing it because… “thematic parallels” to when they fridged your dad, I guess? So then say you bought the rest of the story for enough real world money to get you like. A nice meal. Or a better game. Then what’s the new ending? Well, it seems at first to be a morally challenging decision! You’ve been sent by the Brotherhood of Steel (aforementioned genocide faction) to infiltrate the base of and then redirect a nuke to the Enclave (aforementioned eugenics faction). Yes you are their most important soldier now. The main character of this game happens to be the only Fallout protagonist with a concrete age (that being 19), but an adult’s an adult I GUESS.

You get to the terminal and prepare to direct the bombs, but you’re presented with a choice as to where to send them. You could direct them at the base you’re in right now, eliminating the Enclave (including innocent non-combatants), or you could choose to disobey your orders and send the, to Megaton, Rivet City, (two major settlements), Project Purity (your father’s life’s work, a lab meant to distribute clean water to the wasteland which has since been blockaded by the BoS because they want to turn a profit off of it), or the Citadel (the Brotherhood’s base of operations). If you choose Megaton, Rivet City, or Project Purity, the game will inform you that those were actually just false choices and you were supposed to pick something else. If you pick the Enclave base, then you get a little good ending cutscene where you’re informed that the Brotherhood is preparing for it’s next mission to go kill a bunch of mutants in the city. Yay! Fun! +100 karma points! But if you instead bomb the Citadel, then you get back and find it’s ruined remains. Grr. Bad. -100 karma. You’re evil now. And yes there was a child soldier there (technically a scribe, not a soldier, but Veronica from NV was also a scribe and she was 27 and killed people so yeah.), but in Fo4 we learn that that kid, as well as that whole branch of the Brotherhood, survived anyways! And need I remind you that there were also noncombatants in the Enclave base. So what’s the moral here? It’s good to be loyal to the racist technofacists that indoctrinated you into joining them when you were barely an adult and just lost your lifelong home? And that’s just the main story.

The karma system for companions is so dumb, really companions in general in this game are awful. But I’m going to get to karma first so that it’ll make more sense why they such so much. Karma fills a role similar to what reputation would later in the series, measuring how much people are inclined to like you based on your previous actions. Except instead of being faction based and measuring how people feel about how you’ve directly interacted with the specific groups they’re affiliated with, it just measures if you’re generally a Good Person or a Bad Person. Very nuanced. To be a good person, give water to homeless people, donate to the church, and take positive actions for the BoS. To be a bad person, steal things, kill non-combatants (oh wait), and take negative actions against the Brotherhood. So if you want to maintain a specific karma, you have to take actions that suit it. The game pushes you towards good karma at certain points in the story, and generally it’s very hard to maintain a neutral score without spilling into good or evil. Anyways, back to the companions. Your fun, unique cast of traveling partners are a series staple, so who do we have? A military robot who will only side with you if you have neutral karma. Your childhood bully who will only side with you if you have neutral karma. A retired raider who claims to be better now, but still does some really awful stuff (and who will only side with you if you have evil karma. A slave and an indentured servant who you can *buy the contracts of.* These are TWO SEPARATE CHARACTERS. They did this TWICE. Plus the slave (who is an asian woman) will constantly fawn over the player (who would have had to have evil karma to buy her) and act romantically towards them. YIKES. I could get into so much more but I’ve been at this for an hour with no music or anything, just venting/ranting. Thanks for putting up with it being so long, by the way, it was kind of cathartic. Just to close things off here: The gunplay is really clunky and unfun, the world is bleak, ugly, and blocked off by a ton of invisible walls that make it a drag to explore, almost all of the characters are a pain to sit through interactions with, and the graphics (though not a dealbreaker), aged really poorly. I’m begging you to just play New Vegas or Fallout 4 instead PLEASE. If you already have then try out the original isometric games. Or the so bad they’e kind of funny spinoffs. Or the mobile game. Or the board game. Or the tabletop roleplaying game. Heck, even 76. Just please don’t play Fallout 3 and stop acting like it’s good.