#everyone else be damned lol

[babacontainsmultitudes]

RIP Will Campos the only person who was murdered this episode.

[starwars-and-discourse]

Good to hear from you again! I love your input fr! So refreshing to have good faith dialogue in relation to Star Wars these days!

Quinlan has never been a favorite of mine. I don’t hate him, of course. But I just think there are way cooler Jedi out there. I have always felt for him though in relation to the events of Dark Disciple. Because he lost a lot—he lost a bit of himself, really. Or, honestly, quite a bit of himself. And I feel there’s no way the Council didn’t feel that weight on themselves.

Mace is so tragic, especially in relation to Anakin. I think Mace’s distrust for Anakin is largely influenced by Anakin’s closeness with Palpatine—which actually combines with a separate point, about the Jedi being at the Senate’s mercy. In one of the comics Palpatine is like “hey, he’s struggling. Let me help. I’ll give him some advice blah blah blah” and Mace is like “He’s a Jedi. We have the final say in who our students spend time with, especially when it comes to politicians.” Then Palpatine pulls rank and says “With all due respect, the Jedi serve the Senate, and as I am head of the Senate…” and Mace begrudgingly gives in, because his hands are tied. It’s so damn sad, because to me Mace is one of the paragons of what the Jedi Order should represent: the pursuit of justice, protection of life, etc.

Anakin, as you say, had all of the resources he needed to make the best possible choices—but he refused time and time again, because of his selfish attachments. He couldn’t put the greater good above his personal desires, making him an easy target for Palpatine. And to make matters worse, he never told the people who could actually help him—who WANTED to help him—the full truth about anything personal. He told Palpatine, though. Palpatine, who constantly stroked his ego, complimented his skill, making him feel invincible. Because that’s what Anakin wanted, when you get right down to it: recognition and praise. He didn’t want to work for things, he felt entitled to them because of his perceived power.

Obi-Wan: If you practiced your lightsaber technique half as much as your wit, you would rival Master Yoda as a swordsman.

Anakin: I thought I already did?

Like, Anakin is the poster boy for hubris, and largely the antithesis of everything the Jedi stand for. I like how you put it: he appropriates being a Jedi, even when he is among them. I hadn’t thought of it like that before, but you’re absolutely right.

About the Jedi being at the Senate’s mercy and having little real power, what strikes me the most is something from Dooku: Jedi Lost. Toward the end, when Dooku goes before the Senate to implore them to do more for smaller or less influential planets, and the Chancellor at the time snidely remarks that the Jedi have no place in the Senate, basically asking who Dooku was to try to dictate policy. It’s very sad, because I do believe the Jedi, overall, were not pleased with the state of the Republic in its latter years. Especially those like Yoda who had seen the Republic at its height in the time of the High Republic. It would certainly be a depressing and unfortunate reality to see the peak and the decline.

I think the Jedi were too caught up in the pressures of the war to dabble too much in politics, even for advocacy reasons. They were very averse to attaching themselves too much to the realm of politics, which Palpatine knew. I actually have a book called Star Wars Propaganda, that’s just a collection of in-universe propaganda, written from an in-universe perspective. It talks about how the Jedi are basically absent from Republic propaganda, by their request, because they did not wish to be seen as the face of the war. It says Palpatine was more than happy to grant this request, as it made it easier to turn public opinion against them, slowly but surely.

But it would have been nice to see these things addressed in any of the shows or movies, though I am glad that subsidiary material has slowly begun to tackle these issues. I hope we get keep getting more of this kind of analysis and nuance!

Anti-Jedi content is always so interesting. Most of the criticism seems to come from either a fundamental misunderstanding of how the Jedi operate, intentional misrepresentation of canon, or blaming the Jedi for things outside of their direct control.

Much of it also seems to imply, if not outright state, that the Jedi are to blame for their genocide. Which is just…wild to me. The Jedi Order certainly had faults, as no organization is perfect. But something I see quite often is taking the flaws of individual Jedi and ascribing them to all Jedi.

“Mace Windu was mean to Anakin!!” No, he really wasn’t. Windu was stern, certainly. But I don’t think he was ever “mean.” Anakin was rash, arrogant, and so ruled by his emotions that Windu had every reason NOT to trust him or make him a master.

“The Jedi take children by force!” No, they don’t. That’s just blatantly untrue. If a family does not wish to give up their children, the Jedi do not take them.

“The Jedi use a slave army!!” This is an oversimplification. This is an issue that the Jedi routinely grapple with throughout canon. The Jedi don’t want to be leading any army at all—Palpatine gives them no choice. If they don’t fight? The public grows resentful toward them even sooner and Palpatine can call them traitors even earlier. They do fight? The war drags on due to Palpatine’s manipulation and the Jedi are called warmongers and things go as we know. The Jedi, overall, fostered the clones’ individuality and encouraged them to think for themselves. The Clone Wars had numerous victims, but chief among them are the clones themselves and the Jedi.

These are just a few of the anti-Jedi talking points I regularly see. There are countless others. I am of course willing to debate (respectfully, and if it is in good faith) my positions. But I find these ideas very tiresome at this point.

[jirachuuu]

the math is mathing?? maybe??

[rwby-confess]

Confession #276

[statementlou]

Tbh i am not surprised that a person who openly talked about having drinking problems since 1d days, because of how crazy 1d worked has been agressive. What surprises me is people being surprised (they never seriously saw drunk person?). But i am also confused about this whole book. Apparently Maya said that that book is not fully bout Liam but compilation about her exes and some of the worst parts are not about him. But recently she said that the book is “ofc about him” so what is true then? Or did she meant it that ofc some parts are about him or that whole book is about him?

Sorry, just confused

I also am not surprised- we've learned so much more about the real stories of things and about the guys' actual lives over the last years, and the story that has unfolded around Liam has been totally consistent throughout if you've been following it, and so the information Maya is telling us is shocking and upsetting but not difficult to believe. I got an anon yesterday saying they were worried about getting similar revelations about the other boys, like "if Liam could be doing this we just don't know, any of them could", and while in a way that's always true I guess, anyone could be doing anything in private like... that doesn't really concern me. Because none of these Liam revelations are coming out of nowhere, there have been many MANY steps along the way leading us here if you've been watching, and he has talked openly about both his mental health struggles and his addiction issues. So to answer that anon... to find out something similar about Louis would in contrast contradict everything we know about him and no I'm not worried about it. Is he probably very irritating, absolutely, but an abuser or a loose cannon, well that news would shock me. But anyway as for the book I don't find it strange that she was nervous when it came out and treading lightly and later decided, fuck it. In the absolutely on point tiktok she dropped today (YES👏GIRL👏FUCKING TELL THEM👏) she even mentions attempts to keep her from publishing the book, presumably by Liam's team, that I am riveted by and cannot WAIT to hear more details about actually- like I said I don't find it at all strange that she was nervous and downplayed it a bit then. But if she says now that it's just about Liam, well, I would say it's been clear from the beginning that the book is their story. Maya herself brought up the parallel of songs being written about stuff and I think it's the same thing; it's true (she was in an abusive relationship that involved certain kinds of events) but maybe not 100% literal (I'm sure details were changed to make the story work, it's not like a word for word timeline of their interactions or whatever).

[zykamiliah]

since this post is doing the rounds again, i want to take a moment to remind everyone that saving lbh from the bullying disciples, saving lqg's life, almost sacrificing himself to protect the sect during the demon invasion, are things that sqq does without any ulterior motives. if he wanted to capitalize on his good deed, he would have revealed himself after protecting lbh. when he meets lqg in the lingxi caves, it surprises him to see him there, and it's after he's already rescued lqg from a qi deviation that it occurs to him that "hmmm, this is a good ally to have, just in case". and during the demon invasion, after getting poisoned, he was ready to self-detonate so that he could take out sha hualing.

like, yeah, sy!sqq is smart and cares about his own survival-- but he's also a big softie that can't stand seeing people hurt and do nothing

[lunar-years]

While I do think it's kind of a weird marketing choice for the Sour and Guts albums to seemingly have near-identical aesthetics, I also think swifties have a weird tendency to impose "eras" on every single artist. like sometimes pop artists just want to keep making pop albums that fit the personal aesthetic of who they truly are not everyone wants to completely reinvent themselves and their sound and their vibe every two years xx

[addicted-to-the-knife]

I think it's very important that we bring back this inherent understanding that actors are also just some fucking guys (gender neutral)

[a-non-event]

"You got yourself a partner."

[mrmeepsmadmind]

idw bumblebee and prowl shouldve broke up bcs he wouldnt stop 𝚊sking prowl to pause his report for just one lil astrosec so he can change his various pastel colored pens while making his cute little aesthetically pretty for no reason & very time - consuming notes with big colorful fonts & cute designs real quick

also another thought abt annoying ass bb trying to make running a literal planet cotteque so he doesn't go crazy bcs hes now a politician when all he ever wanted was to deliver mail & smile & wave at bots who call him cute ---

bee: 𝚠heeljack, im so sorry about this but do you mind repeating the time-stakingly long introduction, instruments, research references, modules, hypothesis, counter thesis, procedures, analysis, second - retrial, results, & explanation that you just spent 700000 earth hours saying because i was busy drawing a cute little bee in the corner of my notes please :] ?

wheeljack:

idw bee trying to run a planet that fucking hates him is just rlly funny to me, especially since everyone views bee as the goody character who everyone loves & he views himself as that & then they finally win this consuming war & he can reap his rewards of being loved without holding a gun & no one fucking likes him. hes even getting on his own old team's nerves & not in the loveable scamp way but the get the fuck out of my face way

[kaleidemaran]

wolfkiller + a bunch of doodles from tvl and qotd below the cut

[basiltonpitch]

hm. something about how mike had proven time and time again that he is observant and intelligent and competent. that he's the party's unofficial leader. that he's come up with so many of the plans and schemes to fight the upside down and to save everyone etc etc. but y'all will still act like he's totally completely helpless, can't tie his own shoes let alone save the fucking world, just. totally and completely mischaracterize him for what? is it just because of s4? bc he wasn't useful to the supernatural plot for the majority of the season? bc you're stuck on "what finn wolfhard does with his eyes" and nothing else? bc finn said mike was clueless during s4? please enlighten me why do you take this intelligent boy and turn him into a helpless idiot i am begging for some explanation

[coffeesleep-ooc]

Essay on heartbreak points

Just thinking of LBH pining over SQQ along the novel before he finally gets the man

Pre-abyss LBH wants SQQ, but the thing i see in him is not just wanting him, carnally sexually or otherwise, he wants SQQ’s attention and approval bc he admires him, its as simple as that. Og goods already had his admiration just bc he was a great cultivator, he was elegant and beautiful and worked hard af, it was like…if a polished stone like jade was used to hurt rather than be the soft, warm and flawless concept of beauty - that chinese media usually uses -. But then the cold showed a soft inner core! Yes! Our dear transmigrator took over and confused the hell out of t he poor LBH that still struggled to excuse SJ’s behavior. Then though, SY took care of him with love and with smiles, using mdoern sensibilities to measure things like care and affection…and I think that some of those discrepancies between a hellish setting and a soft oblivious SY must have been quite jarring to LBH. He sees someone that believes in inherent good and is passionate and silly, knowledgeable and kind, and can’t help but want to be close! He admires him so much!!

Still pre-abyss, not only LBH admires the heck out of SY, he is also his shizun, and i don’t forget about his teacher kink but im talking about the dynamics of it instead of anything sexual. LBH knows and firmly believes that his position is way below that of SQQ’s, he is protected and cared for, but he longs to protect and care for as well right? Because he has seen that SQQ is powerful but not above everything, because he is knowledgeable but not all-seeing, because he may be taken advantage of by someone crafty that doesn’t deserve his kindness. LBH pretends to fall and be weak and helpless when it’s convenient for him, but he knows he has to take every advantage he can bc he needs to be strong enough to protect SQQ, because the world has shown him that there are many dangers and that someone not of a peak lord’s status isn’t worth to marry (idk how much about this airplane would have put into his work, but lets remember that ancient chinese marriages were a very foemal and important thing that involved status and wealth, not just love). Let’s remember our bun has also been a street rat and probably saw many things at one point or another! We can only speculate and write fics about that last point, but the street is not a good place to be, especially in a PIDW setting. Also, bc he wasn’t strong enough, quick enough, bc his family had no power or money his mother died, it’s as hurtful and as plain as that for him, even if he knows (does he though?) that it’s not his fault.

Onwards to the abyss! It’s shit. That’s what it is. Shizun who he admires, respects and loves above everything, who told him that nobody was intolerable for the heavens went against every fucking shit he said and coldly forced LBH into the abyss. What the actual fuck SQQ (affectionate), you gave him so many issues fr. I can only imagine how confused the poor LBH must have felt when his Shizun yet again changed tune like this in a way he can’t fully explain this time, even more so, he could try, but it wouldn’t change the fact that LBH is currently in the worst place ever because the person he loves with his whole heart threw him there (and possibly wanted him to stay down there? to become one of its creatures? To die? He has no idea???). LBH has strived to be good, to be worthy in his teacher’s eyes since he entered the sect and he has just gotten proof that he isn’t and will never be even though he had the hope of getting there despite everything. It’s just filled with heartbreak and i think that the system only deducted SQQ’s current total points bc he literally had to die to be deducted any more and LBH can’t have him dead and the system knows that extremely well! It also gave SQQ a scenario push remember? And that was only for LBH’s benefit istg, SQQ had no idea.

and talking about death! Funny thing isn’t it? It’s ridiculous that SQQ dies so many times (srsly bro, wtf - again affectionate) but I believe that the first was the most traumatic for LBH. SQQ doesn’t sneer at him like a disgusting mucus but instead is afraid of him! LBH worked hard to just see SQQ again, to reunite the courage to talk to him and ask him if he regretted what he did, to show him he was a good person and that he had power now, that he could impress him and protect him (he has lost a lot of his own self-esteem base and i do believe that’s part of where heartbreak points come from) the person whom he values the opinion of the most -the only one even- thinks him a beast and an unredeemable demon…and when he tries to peove himself not that, the only thing SQQ does is run away from him, to decide to be silent and refuse even LBH’s (biased) kindness. He wouldn’t even take LBH’s robe! Imagine that you love someone and that someone hates your guts and refuses to even acknowledge that they hurt you, oh, and all this while an evil sword is fighting to take advantage of your negative feelings. Post-abyss is also shit, just a bit better bc LBH has the illusion of control, he thinks he can still control the situation and is slowly losing hope of shizun understanding him. But the illusion shatters when SQQ self-detonates to save him. The one he supposedly hates. LBH is probably just eternally confused in sv now that i think about it lmao *pats consolingly*

post death 1 (actually 2 for SY): LBH thought he knew shizun, then he realized he couldn’t explain everything shizun did. Then he tried to ask, not even for a full explanation, just to know if shizun really did hate him (bc LBH truly doesn’t care at that point what SQQ does or what SQQ’s reasons and actions were as long as he still loves him, smhw he is so…) and got instead a blow up in his face, coupled with other ppl’s accounts of SQQ mourning him like he was actually truly dead, missing him and finally he sees SQQ sacrificing himself for him. This surely must be enough fpr LBH right? Well…not really, SQQ could have been sacrificing himself to protect the ppl around him - LQG is there and we all know that LBH is mildly sus of him at this point, it will get worse later when LQG is the one coming by every fucking day to retrieve SQQ’s corpse so mhm…its possible LBH thought they had something (not necessarily romantic) at some point, or that LQG and the other ppl were important enough to sacrifice his life for. Not only that, but shizun was not rejoicing when he came back, he never said anything. He killed himself in everyone’s pov -but SQH’s-without explanation, in the most tragic and confusing way of all, saying he would repay LBH…lets also remember that repaying someone can mean completely cutting ties and leaving with a clean slate. And the only actual thing he did was show LBH he didn’t have actual control over the situation and that it was possible to be completely powerful and still lose the ones you love and care about. Idk (or don’t remember haha…) the moment LBH started building the bamboo house in the demonic realm, but it says a lot about what he wants and what he dreams about, the most probable things he is feeling at this point is desperation and melancholy, nostalgia. He longs for the days where he was secure in the knowledge of Shizun’s affection for him, no matter what kind of affection it was, but at the same time is bittersweet because he knows that shizun will never love him foe who he is and that drives him mad with heartbreak that is just building up over time. He will also feel incredibly guilty over SQQ repaying him with his life, because all he ever wanted was basic communication but Shen ‘i am so emotionally repressed i can’t even tell what I’m actually feeling’ Qingqiu obviously thought he was being hunted for revenge. So rip LBH, he wanted an explanation or just a simple ‘i regret it’ but what he gets is confusion, a corpse he has to reanimate asap, and incredible guilt + more damage to his self esteem

Then SQQ comes back and doesn’t even try to search fpr him? And everything becomes a huge mess quite quickly. But. Luo Binghe watches his shizun go back to his martial family and interact with them in a way that he doesn’t interact with LBH anymore. LBH gets his face rubbed with the fact that what he strongly wishes for (going back) is impossible because he made the mistake of being born. Which, would demoralize the strongest of us honestly. And uta been so long since i read sv that I don’t remember much, but im sure that LBH can’t even think that SQQ does care for him, the trauma and insecurity, the abandonment issues have grown so big that they are like a bull in a china shop, ready to shatter everything in short range. Its only when SQQ gives his life (LBH does not know this but he is aware that SQQ would not have used papapa to save the world with just everyone) and gives him something he kept for so long - and that LBH himself thinks is precious despite being worthless - that he understands a bit that shozun may not hate him so much. I’m surprised that heartbreak points weren’t so used or that we didn’t get reminded of them through the story, because it would have given us an inkling of how LBH was feeling, but also spoilers and SQQ’s obliviousness, i imagine that at the end of sv they would have been lower than what they were (in truth) at the IAC but not completely gone

finally, i think that heartbreak points could be used to gauge how traumatized poor LBH was at eaxh point in time, but also to measure the state of his self esteem and the level of hope he had according to the way SQQ acted along the novel. I think that the points were all gone at some point (i eont remember anymore -cries- ) but i fullly believe that post canon Binghe still has heartbreak points and a whole lot of issuws that start to slowly disappear as thwir relationahip progresses. The only thing is that LBH still ties his own worth to SQQ’s opinion of him, and he will have heartbreak points again if he misunderstands SQQ st any point (unlikely but still).

Anyways…

THIS POOR BABY BREAKS MY HEART! He was terrible but he was also very human and truly, he deserves good.

Sorry about the rambling essay! :D

[skeletoninthemelonland]

never lay down in bed right after eating. don't think about staying on your phone for nearly two hours in that position. don't sleep either. acid reflux is real and i hate that guy

[yusuke-of-valla]

I'd point out that Narcissus is a narcsissist, not aroace, but, upon reflection, (WAHA!) I don't see why both can't be true.

OK SO

I'm not going to go on my whole big thing about this but basically it boils down to two things

Depending on the version of the myth the "falling in love with your reflection" thing is basically a punishment for not being interested in anyone romantically. Like the way I heard the myth growing up was like "oh he's such a big meanie for rejecting Echo how DARE he not be interested in her" and even sometimes "he HAS to be selfish because he is not attracted to anyone." The lack of romantic attraction is kind of key to the whole story, not being interested in people is the thing he does to deserve the punishment (in the versions when it is a punishment and not just. like. he found his reflection lol). I'm not gonna say "oh the original myth he's aroace" because that's not true but it's certainly a story that opens itself up to aroace interpretations?

IF WE CAN REIMAGINE EVERY OTHER FUCKING ACTUAL MURDERER AND FLESH EATING MONSTER IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY AS A POOR TRAGIC FIGURE WE CAN HAVE THE GUY WHO'S CRIME WAS BEING KIND OF A DICK TO OTHERS GET THE QUEER REIMAGINING

So yeah that's my whole thing about it, and obvs you're right he can be both a narcissist and aroace (though like. There are articles that will argue he's not a narcissist either and sigmund freud can go fuck himself but that's a whole other thing).

Also there's a whole thing about the demonization of npd that I'm just not qualified to really talk about but I think fits into this conversation somewhere

[louisisalarrie]

cosmicleeds cancelling this year’s wrap up genuinely I get it and will never be a bitch about it but im so very sad this is where we are. such little to report is just… yikes