#fuck the entire system but cops especially

[yellow-yarrow]

they fucking. called me into the labour office because quote "they found a job that fits my requirements" and turns out they called in like 30 people and the cops made a presentation on why we should works as cops in a different county. multiple people were like "why didnt you tell us this in the email, this was a huge waste of time, I couldn't even apply if I wanted to cause I don't have a high school education / someone here served jail time. this is so stupid" and then everyone walked out angrily so i'm glad at least people don't want to be cops

[shadebloopnik]

Ever go along your day and suddenly think that actually we need to give more credit to Edalyn Fucking Clawthorne. Like, she was THE Owl Lady. She was THE most POWERFUL witch on the boiling isles even at middle age. And she received a damn CURSE that ate at her powers and limited her skills SINCE SHE WAS A TEEN. Its been burning through her powers since she was a damn CHILD and it seemed to really only take significant effect decades later. And even at the HEIGHT of the curse, even when it was taking over her entire form, even when it was DRAINING EVERY SINGLE BIT OUT OF HER, she was STILL WINNING AGAINST LILITH; AGAINST THE HEAD OF THE EMPEROR'S COVEN WHO COULD ALSO USE ALL THE MAGIC TYPES, ALSO TOWERED ABOVE OTHER WITCHES IN TERMS OF POWER.

There was a reason why Belos didn't go to fight her himself. He was a bitch but he was a smart bitch and he knew that without the safety net of being related to her(like Lilith being her sister) he'd be a damn sludge on the wall 2 seasons early.

Eda was kicking ass, doing crime and looking good even with a curse that everyone expects would pull her down. She took the chains of her curse and made it her necklace. She kicked cops in the face. She powered through every heartbreak and found people who loved her to bits. Even when her power was finally drained, she got her bombass Harpy form by parenting the shit out of the OwlBeast bc she's just that cool. And even without her powers and forms you say? We'll she's a fucking talented GENIUS, she's literally so smart she's smarter than Lilith despite how chaotic she acts. She's an amazing musician. She's one of theee best potion makers. And again, she's a damn GENIUS in both academics and street smarts. And at the end of it all, she opened up a school and worked to break down the foundations of the very system that shunned her and her people. She made people embraxe individuality all the while teaching them to appreciate the love and support of a family/community. She's building a world, a family that she would have loved to had when she was younger and hurt and confused and alone.

She had a disability and she wore it like a fucking QUEEN and idc how much The Owl House fandom dies down in the future, this woman never went down without a fucking fight ESPECIALLY if it was for the people she loves and she DESERVES the never ending praise.

"How pathetic are you, that you can't best me at my WORST."

[spacedace]

The one where Elle keeps having to deal with her boyfriends’ family members breaking into her home Part 1 (Jon/Damian/Elle secret dating nonsense):

-

Dick finds out about Damian’s girlfriend at the same time he meets her for the first time.

Normally something as momentous as discovering that his babiest brother had a dating life would have been cause for excitement and joy. Damian had grown a lot from those early years, but Dick still worried about him. Since moving out and into his own apartment he seemed more likely than ever to avoid people, even - maybe especially - the family. He still came over to the manor regularly, but it was rare than at anyone outside of Alfred even saw him outside of patrol or working on cases. He showed up, spent time with Batcow and Alfred-the-Cat and Ace, then left before anyone saw him.

So finding out that Damian had a girlfriend - let alone one he was serious enough about that they lived together - should have been the highlight of the week, maybe even the month!

Unfortunately for him, however, the excitement of it all was rather dimmed by the concussion of said girlfriend hitting him over the head with a baseball bat with the force of a freight train after assuming he was a stranger breaking into her home.

In hindsight secret live in girlfriend may have been the reason Damian had been so squirrelly about any of them coming over to his place.

Secret Live In Girlfriend - name pending - was currently dialing someone on the phone, most likely the police. Which meant that Babs’ system was going to flag a B&E at Damian’s apartment mere minutes after he’d told her he was crashing at Baby Bird’s apartment. Which meant that Secret Live In Girlfriend wasn’t going to be so secret anymore since Robin was on patrol and would have never called the cops anyway if he had been home when someone broke in. Provided half a dozen Bats didn’t come crashing in via the balcony door the second they get wind something was happening at Damian’s place before Robin could even try and explain what was happening. And wouldn’t that be a cherry on top of the embarrassing sundae his first impression with Damian’s significant other was shaping up to be so far.

“Hey, so uh.” Secret Live In Girlfriend said from her place perched on top of the kitchen island, Titus at her feet and bright green bat - or no, was that a collapsible baton? It was hard to tell, he hadn’t been hit that hard since the last time Bane went on a rampage, it was honestly impressive such a petite woman had that kind of strength in her - held securely in her other hand. Her eyes never left Dick from where he was bound and gagged on one of the kitchen chairs. “Sorry to call so late Day, but a fucking cop just broke into the apartment.”

Well, at least he didn’t have to worry about how they were going to explain why half the vigilantes in Gotham were busting in to her boyfriend’s apartment in response to a break in. He was slightly concerned at the fact that she had apparently swiped everything from his pockets at some point while she’d been maneuvering him into the kitchen chair without him noticing, but she had hit him pretty hard and the concussion was bad enough that he was pretty sure he was going to be benched by Alfred for a while once he got checked out. He probably just hadn’t noticed with how badly his ears were ringing and he was fighting the sudden intense urge to vomit.

More important than all that though, Secret Live In Girlfriend called Damian Day, and even though she was glaring daggers at Dick her face softened as she focused in on listening to Damian’s voice and awww she really was completely smitten with his baby brother that is the cutest shit ever and he can’t wait to tell everyone about it as soon as she lets him go.

“Want me to take care of him?”

Provided she doesn’t let him go in an entirely more permanent way.

Holy fuck she didn’t even hesitate before asking her boyfriend if Damian wanted her to kill a man for him. That was her first question out the gate. No hey should I call the police or do you know this man no just straight for do you want me to make him disappear? She’d even tucked her phone between her ear and shoulder so she had a free hand to pet Titus while she asked, the big ol’ hellhound leaning in happily to the ear scritches and entirely unbothered by Dick’s predicament, casual as anything as she asked Damian if he wanted her to murder his brother for him.

Dick watched as Secret Live In Girlfriend listed to whatever it was Damian was saying, her hard glare easing a little as she did. At length she let go of the day-glow-green baton and plucked up Dick’s wallet, flipping it open to peer at his license.

“ID says Richard Grayson.” She said, pausing again to listen to Damian again, eyes flicking up towards Dick again as she did. “Oh shit, your brother Richard?” Secret Live In Girlfriend’s eyes went wide, face losing all traces of that frigid distrust she’d been leveling at him, expression rapidly turning towards surprised and embarrassed. “…I think I gave him a concussion.” She said, looking sheepish. “You uh…you finish up at work. I’m going to just…untie him and uh…get him to a hospital.” Whatever Damian said next made the young woman laugh, eyes sparkling as she looked down at Titus. “I’ll let him know. Be safe out there.” Her expression turned warm and soft at what Damian said next over the phone, “Love you too, Day.”

Oh shit. Oh shit. I love you too. As in, Damian had said I love you. Like, obviously they had probably gotten to that point of their relationship to break out the L word if they were living together, but Dick could count on one hand the number of times Baby Bird had said that to someone in their family in all the years since he’d moved in. And he said it first! Without prompting! Or someone being about to die!

Dick was still riding the wave of that stunning revelation of his little brother’s emotion growth when Secret Live In Girlfriend came into focus in front of him, the gross, now slightly damp sock she’d shoved in his mouth earlier in hand and a concerned furrow in her brow and - ah shit he lost time there for a bit didn’t he? Yeah, Alfred was definitely going to bench him for this one. Seriously Dami’s girlfriend was no joke with that baton of hers.

“I’m so sorry again about this,” Secret Live In Girlfriend said, “I just heard the door and I knew Day wasn’t going to be back home for hours yet and Jon is doing that thing with his dad tonight -“ She’d tossed the sock over her shoulder and Titus happily snatched it up and carried it off to his bed in the living room to destroy. “Are you - actually I’m not going to ask that, you’re for sure not okay. I hit you pretty hard.”

Oh, so Jon knew about Secret Live In Girlfriend. Yeah that made sense.

He and Damian had been best friends since they were kids - as much as Damian had tried to deny it when they were still little - and even if Dami had been successful in keeping his family of detectives off the scent of his love life, there was no way that he was going to keep that from Jon Kent. Superboy Jr. practically lived at Damian’s place. They were practically attached at the hip, there was no way Dami could sneak something as big as that past Jon.

“No worries!” He tried to wave her concern off - she’d untied him during his little lapse in memory, that was nice, she tied knots better than most rogues in the city and even without a head wound he probably wouldn’t have been able to get out of them on his own - but it made him sway a little which probably wasn’t all that reassuring. “I did break in. I didn’t tell Damian I was coming over or anything, I just figured I’d crash on his couch for the night. Sorry to scare you!”

He flashed his most charming smile and hoped that the blood dripping down his face didn’t diminish it too much. This was already a disaster of a first impression, and Damian had said he loved her Dick was not going to be the one to chase her off.

Secret Live In Girlfriend - he really hoped she didn’t introduce herself during that minute or two he couldn’t remember - rolled her eyes. “It’d take a lot more than some cop breaking in to my house to scare me.” She said, voice so sure that even if Dick hadn’t heard her casually offer to murder him on Damian’s whim he would believe her. “Here, let me grab the first aid kit so we can at least clean you up a bit and then I can take you to the hospital.”

Dick gave what he hoped was a brilliant smile and a thumbs up before tipping sideways and throwing up all over her shoes.

So much for salvaging the first impression.

[mysterycitrus]

i think every superhero / antihero is by definition attempting (whether it succeeds or not) to do good. societal change is broad asf but i think jason especially does want that…. he’s also extremely fucked up. when ppl say he is a complex character… its not just words. lol. he is complex. he wants the joker to be dead so gotham isn’t a helpless war ground and also he blew up a (empty) high school. he’s not mentally sound. lmfao

that’s a very fair point! because the idea of superheroes originated from an optimistic ideal in a profoundly cynical world (jewish artists during world war 2) the entire concept is inextricably tied to societal change — because there has to be! u have to believe the world can be changed for the better!

what makes jason interesting is that he wants to improve gotham, but has no interest in doing so externally to the idea of proving bruce wrong. why is this not positive societal change? because bruce wayne is crucial to the infrastructure of gotham. forgetting that batman exists — bruce wayne is gotham’s social services, its healthcare system, its support for unemployment and disability, its rehabilitation system, its only means of providing to its citizens. we can sit here and argue the legality of bruce beating people up but the core to bruce’s character is that he wants the world to change for the better, so no one else experiences the grief he has.

jason believes in the death penalty, no ifs when’s or buts. his core ideology is — the system is flawed, but if im in charge i can make it better. jason replacing black mask and preventing dealers from selling to kids won’t stop people from self medicating to deal with an unfair world in which they were born into. it won’t stop crime, because crime is the result of stagnant social reform and income inequality. there is no way for jason’s approach to crime — killing people expeditiously — to result in a fair system that can sustain itself and prioritise the safety of its citizens. that’s not something from rhato no. #69, that’s clear in the text in utrh.

when people compare him to a cop it’s because he is killing without oversight or fear of legal repercussions. many, many countries that have technically outlawed the death penalty (australia, canada, some states in the us etc) still have a death penalty because police can kill indiscriminately on both the streets and in custody. jason has been shown to act with care for others (in the lost days he systematically kills his tutors to prevent further harm) but that’s not what he’s doing in gotham. for every captain nazi there’s a dozen kids left orphaned cause he’s murdered their parents. id describe him as severely traumatised, and deeply in denial about how well he’s handling it. the entire gd point is that it’s him reacting to his death! he has been radicalised! he is advocating for regressive change!!!!! why are people so afraid of his complexity!!!!!!!!

[thedisablednaturalist]

Tw for weight loss mention

The whole exercise will cure your disability thing is a fucking joke. Yes exercise is beneficial for your health, but only if you aren't already on shaky foundations. You need to be on a treatment plan that WORKS before going into the maintenance phase. You wouldn't do regular maintenance on a broken item, you'd work on getting it up and running first. And maybe it would even need specialized maintenance afterwards if it's especially fragile.

I have fibromyalgia and acute degenerative disc disease. My immune system attacks my nerves and discs in my spine are slowly calcifying and causing the bones to constrict and damage my nerves (i think thats how it works). I have days where it feels like my body is on fire from nerve pain and days where it feels like my spine is about to rip from my back. And days where I have both (like today!). I get numbness in my hands and feet. I have horrible migraines. I can no longer walk unaided more than maybe 5 minutes without severe pain. I have something wrong with my knees and hips but the doctors don't know what yet.

You'd think I live an obviously seditary lifestyle correct?

Hell no.

I walk aided on average 6 miles a day over difficult terrain OUTSIDE of regular activity almost everyday. My legs are muscular and strong. I get my heart rate up and a good sweat, like all the gym rats swear on. I am often doing physical labor such as weeding, digging, sample collecting, pruning trees etc.

I'm not saying this to make other disabled people feel bad or prove that they can do anything if they just tried harder. This is an extremely painful lifestyle I've chosen that takes a lot of lifestyle management AND BOUNDARIES to keep up with the work. I also have an extremely forgiving boss who is also physically disabled and knows what I'm going through (deciding between your passion and your health and having to do so each and every day) No one should ever be expected to do what I do. I'm not even sure if I should be doing this myself.

This is to prove that exercise? Has not cured me. My muscles are strong but still hurt as if they're broken and I have to take more breaks than my coworker. I am constantly getting out of breath and I flare up regularly if I'm not careful. I am in excellent physical condition outside of my disabilities. I go to different doctors several times a month to get checked out.

I previously went through a diet program and lost a lot of weight (basically starving myself and got off my depression meds which cause weight gain but are also the only ones that work) and guess what? That didn't do shit either!!! I still felt horrible!!! I've since gained back the weight anyway after switching to focusing on adding more nutrient dense foods than taking stuff away from my diet (also muscle weighs more than fat, and fat helps cushion my aching joints and spine).

The muscle doesn't do shit for my disabilities outside of maybe some stability. Exercising everyday doesn't make the pain go away. Without my medications and aids and nutrition plans and steroid injections and spinal adjustments and physical therapy (that takes my fibro and spine into account) and alternative work methods I WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO DO WHAT I DO. Exercise alone is like trying to make a car run with no oil. Yes it'll go but it'll get more and more damaged till it can't and will need its entire engine replaced!

And yet I see new doctors and they look at me and the first thing out of their mouths is do I exercise? I should try doing a little every day :) and then i fucking blow their minds when I tell them about my job. No longer can they use that fucking cop out on me. I've been through this rodeo. Ive tried their suggestions. If you are in pain and nothing is helping? Exercise ain't going to do SHIT. You need to get to a point where you can move without severe pain first (if that's even possible). Then and only then should you consider implementing regular exercise if you can. Also weight loss talk is a red flag and a cop out. They made me lose 50+ lbs before they would look into the reasons behind my pain. Weight loss did nothing for me and exacerbated my pain.

I am living proof that all that shit is a lie and a cop out. That is the point of this post. I cannot believe people with serious medical conditions are being forced to put their bodies through extreme duress just to be believed. You are not disabled because of laziness or because you sit a lot. Plenty of people live seditary lifestyles and do not live in constant excruciating pain (they may develop disabilities later in life due to this however, and should be doing preventative exercises to maintain their health)

Please, share my story with doctors. Use me as an example. I am proof that "exercise first treat later" does not work. I should not have had to wait years to have my pain validated. I'd rather hundreds of fakers get (what? A blood test? An MRI?) than one chronically ill person get told to try yoga and go away by a doctor.

[foccaccia]

no pokemon game will ever come close to beating pokemon colosseum

set in the deserts of pokemon-arizona

playable character, Wes, is a criminal who opens the game by stealing valuable tech, and then riding off into the sunset on his mad max motorbike while the bombs he left in an occupied building destroy it to rubble

you don't catch wild pokemon. instead, with the help of a kidnapped psychic, you steal pokemon from other people. you just throw pokeballs at other peoples pokemon during battle and then leave with their pokemon. how are they going to stop you? with what pokemon? your city now, bitch

the villains in this game have been torturing pokemon to insanity. you have to therapy these pokemon back to health by... forcing them to fight for you.

the music. look up pyrite town theme right fucking now.

miror b........

there's an entire underground bladerunner-esque city hidden from almost everyone. it contains a gang of independent child criminal hackers who do far more to help you than the cops.

i just love the wild west/high tech mashup vibe. its sUCH a choice aesthetic.

DOUBLE BATTLES ONLY

wes the hardened badass edgy criminal and his two main pokemon, espeon and umbreon, a pair of cute dogs who love him so so so so much

the battle system in this game is choice.

because there aren't wild pokemon or random battles, and you can only steal certain pokemon, you actually have really limited options for battles. you'd think this would be annoying, but i really enjoyed it - its a very good foil to the other pokemon games where you have infinite possibilities. it forces a casual player to strategize a lot harder.

especially if you're trying to heal all the shadow pokemon - you have to use pokemon in battle you never normally would have.

this is such an old game, iirc one of the first 3D pokemon games ever? and the graphics are understandably clunky, but even then there is so much heart and care put into it that it doesnt feel outdated, just heavily stylized.

EVERY POKEMON has unique animations that are just so much fun and really shine in the battles. especially their K.O. animations. its just so much fun. modern pokemon, take notes

[bonefall]

Since you mentioned only cats and a few other distant animals are sentient, does this mean foxes are getting their sentience removed? Midnight can talk to foxes in the books and even convinces some foxes to leave a patrol of cats alone (the foxes are WEIRDLY violent and talk about eating the cats too lmaoo).

I assume Hollyleaf's changes mean the Fox Cub Incident is either being moved or just removed entirely, I always found that small plot point interesting in face of all those "Non-cat in clan" AUs. Seems like something that could be interesting if an "us vs them" argument was formed from it, especially if it was targeted against Midnight and calling her unholy yknow?

Yeah, that sapience is gone completely. In this universe, language is limited only to humans, cats, and some distant animals that are far outside the range of Albion (elephants, bottlenoses, some parrots, etc)

And Hollyleaf's story especially. Ngl to you, I don't like that fox idea. Or anything about Hollyleaf's Story. I think it was the worst possible route to take.

"Hollyleaf will be a mother to this evil creature to learn what it's like to love something that hates you. It is so sad to be your mom Leafpool (Squirrel-who?). Don't you feel like a shitty daughter now, Holly? Let's not ask any questions about the code btw, or how you were already filled with crushing shame from it. Or how it made you so disgusted about the idea of pregnant nuns that you flipped your shit and ruined the lives of your entire family. No, what really mattered about this situation was maternal empathy. Also here take the nearest male character we can find to ship you with, we accidentally made Cinderheart too gay when she was upset about your death lmao"

But, digressing, putting my distaste of that novella aside,

WC is profoundly xenophobic already with just the cats, and I think it was a CATASTROPHIC mistake to make it so every animal is secretly intelligent but speaks animal language. Now every conflict between cats and their predators is an ethnic dispute! You're chasing out groups of people perfectly capable of reasoning if you bridged the language barrier, but they're also ACTUAL PREDATORS.

AT BEST; It's the same uncomfortable situations that Zootopia and Lion King ends up tripping over. In Zootopia, predators are used as an allegory for oppressed groups... but predators are MADE to eat prey. A rabbit is RIGHT to be terrified of a fox, twice its size with a jaw made for catching bunnies. In Lion King, lions have divine authority to rule over their dinner/subjects, and chase out any animal based on their personal ideology... which just so happens to only be leveraged against rival predator species.

(Nerd preemption: yes i know about lion guard. I do not think diverse Lion Cops were the solution you think it is.)

Carelessly adding sapience to "natural systems" often ends up accidentally justifying bigotry. Bigotry doesn't MAKE SENSE, it's bullshit we made up and perpetuate through culture, but food webs are completely logical. The rabbit fears the fox because the fox eats rabbits. The lion hates the hyena because they compete for the same food. Gazelles don't happily submit to an overlord who is divinely capable of deciding who should live and who should die, it's just nature.

But it gets even worse-- because it's actually WORST CASE; the Erins saw that complicated moral problem and went, "don't worry! They're actually born evil! Foxes just talk about food and killing things :)"

like... my brother in cats, YOU gave them language in the first place! What was the fucking point if they were just going to be evil barbarians anyway?!? For ONE scene where Midnight could show off her Duolingo streak???

So to summarize,

It was an awful idea to start with

It was executed in the worst possible way

In a series that is already plagued with xenophobic sentiment, this somehow made it even worse and more direct

If it was completely nuked it from the story, the series would be immediately better with minimal change. Holly caring for what is essentially the clan cat-equivalent of an exotic animal like a chimp or a tiger cub would have done the same thing

There is not even a glimmer of an idea here that justifies the poison that full sapience does to the wider implications of the series.

Don't even get me started on the Badger Debaucle in TNP, which is actually in my top 5 for most vile things in WC

So if I don't explicitly say that a species in BB is capable of true language, assume it is non-sapient. Talking animals like Midnight and Rat Leader are magical individuals-- gods, curses, etc.

[deathbirby]

What sucks about the fandom is that everybody usually defaults to make post-Crimson Flower fanfictions 'and they all lived happily ever after :)' which... sucks because CF is the most flawed ending out of all of the routes (Duscur is still believed to have killed the King, TWSITD are lurking around as seen in Edel's mural, sovereign nations were forcibly assimilated against their will into Adrestia, etc). All of these issues are ignored to default to a happy ending which is such a let down since all of these issues are SO interesting and genuinely could make really engaging post-CF fanfiction delving into them. That's not even going into how Edel's meritocracy is deeply flawed on further thought as it assumes equal opportunity (despite the nobility and the inter-generational wealth of said nobles), and an equal society where everyone is seen and treated as equals (the people of Duscur who are seen as traitors, Almyrans such as Cyril who were enslaved and forced to work, Nabataens and Edel's blatant racism towards them, etc). Let me make this clear; a meritocracy is better than feudalism or a monarchy outright. The issue isn't inherently with meritocracies, nor is it to dissuade changing the current system of Fodlan. The problems I have with Edel's meritocracy is the total lack of foresight and the refusal to engage with Edel's actions that brought in the system. Meritocracies can work but considering the broader context and political landscape of Fodlan: Edel's meritocracy was a system founded after violently conquering two sovereign nations against the leaders and the civilians wills. Many of these civilians do harbour resentment towards the government (as seen in Hubert/Shamir's ending where they act as secret cops 🤢), how Edelgard only really gives resources to people she knows aka nepotism (especially to Caspar and Bernie who are woefully not well suited for the roles the get). There's also the ugly turd by removing the corrupt nobles who kept her in check, there are no safeguards against Edelgard or future successors abusing their power (which Edel's use of her power is pretty questionable seen in Hubert/Dorothea gathering intelligence for the empire and Hubert/Shamir with being cops). ======== (1/2)

2/2 ==== I wanna bring up how Petra was treated; poor girl was kidnapped from her home, tossed into a hostile foreign land where she didn't speak the language and received no support at all from her peers. Going so far as Hubert calling her an animal (we love microaggresions if not outright aggresions to poc). Edelgard assumes her and Petra to be equals, that Petra is completely fine but Edel is oblivious or callous towards the gross power imbalance between the two. Petra is constantly trying to appease society by learning the local tongue, constantly trying to appease Edelgard and prove her own independence to ensure Brigid doesn't appear weak. Edel does show concern, I'll give her that, but she really doesn't do anything to truly help Petra. Iirc, Petra had to learn the entire language by herself without ANY help from anyone, not even Edel nor Hubert stepped in (tho Hubert can gawk at Petra like shes an animal). How is it unfair to assume that if Edel can't even address blatant inequality and oppression towards Petra, something that was in her face, how can she ensure that her meritocracy won't perpetuate further inequality and oppression on a wider scale? I really wish the fandom weren't so scared nor so adverse to exploring these issues in a post-CF fan fiction and really take a deep dive into Edelgard's rule outside of 'Fodlan was super corrupt, Rhea is the absolute fucking worst and Dimitri was just a Rhea Stan, Claude was aaaaalmost cool but he didn't want to work with Edelgard which sucks because they would SO be besties (even tho Claude experienced violent racism and would not tolerate Edel's pasty ass spewing vitriol how Nabataens are inhuman beasts) but its soooooo sad he didn't see Edelgard's goals, BTW CRESTS ARE THE FUCKING WORST :3'. Like, the only thing I have ever read to addressing the flaws Edelgard's rule was To Those Who Are Never Going Home by MadameHyde (but stiiiill doesn't hit the spot for me since its more focused on Garreg Mach than the wider society of Fodlan on itself). I believe in women's wrongs and Edelgard did SO MUCH shit wrong, let👏Edelgard👏be👏pointed👏out👏in👏the👏wrong👏. It sucks that nobody wants to engage or even play with that side of Edelgard, so I'm now stuck developing my own post-CF fanfiction/AU exploring an Adrestian-Garreg Mach and the world of Fodlan moulded by Edelgard's rule lmfao. I really want to explore a politically unstable and balkanized Fodlan, and it's so sad that nobody else sees the vision 😔 Thanks for reading my entire infodump about Edelgard and sitting through this entire essay lmfao. — 🍑 Anon

Oh dear goddess have mercy on me

CF's ending makes no sense when you realize that TWSITD can just nuke Fhirdiad right then and there and win. Thales can also just... brainwash Edelgard and turn her into a puppet according to hopes. It's the least logical ending.

Edelgard's system ultimately would only benefit the strong. The 'weak' (sick, elderly, poor, disabled, etc.) just have to pull themselves up by their bootstraps according to our emperor, but we all know how well that will work.

And yep, the nepotism runs strong with her. Caspar and Bernadetta are NOT fit to rule. We know from one of the endings that Caspar acts recklessly and dangerous on military campaigns but people just ignore it. That is a very bad look for Edelgard who just tolerates it.

Petra's whole situation deserves her own post tbh. She's a political hostage who gets treated like dirt. Edelgard couldn't even help her learn the language despite the fact that she has all of the resources to do so.

let👏Edelgard👏be👏pointed👏out👏in👏the👏wrong👏

write this on my gravestone lol

[mitochondriaandbunnies]

Miami Vice S2E1&2: The Prodigal Son

The DEA asks Sonny and Rico to track down a family of Colombian drug dealers, leading them New York City. (This is a long one-- be warned.)

I have officially made it to Season 2! Much like with Evan, I got a little stuck on this one because I feel like I've already said a lot about it (and giffed a lot of it.)

The episode opens in Bogota (doubled for by, I believe, a state park in New York), which I forget every time I watch it. It's an episode very grounded in New York City, so the Bogota part feels like a surprise every time.

Fucking love the panflute music, though. Damn Jan, damn.

The DEA agent who orchestrates the whole thing is played by Bill Smitrovich, who uh. Was also Crockett's ex-partner Scottie Wheeler in the pilot. Vice likes to repeat actors, but this one feels especially "wait we 100% know that guy." (He is also Danny Krycheck in Crime Story, so Mann and/or Bonnie Timmermann must just really like the guy.)

While I don't recommend actually putting your entire cast in a swamp at night, the scene where they bust Revilla looks so damn good, so I guess I won't argue with results.

There's a series of comments and conversations starting with the swamp bust-- Sonny says the entire thing reminds him of Vietnam-- another agent calls the whole thing a mess and says there are no wins-- Sonny calls drug busting a "cold war" and Rico points out the he has the "Vice Cop Blues;" given that ultimately, the theme of this two-parter is "the system is corrupt and no matter how much you push back you'll always be fucked in the face of money and power," no one here is really wrong. Rico's implication that ultimately, it's just a job, will have later echoes as well-- while Rico starts to consider his options outside of Vice in later seasons, Sonny remains focused on his idea of justice and spirals out of control and into depression.

The scene before Gina gets shot is incredibly unsettling and very proto-Twin-Peaks. Later, when Sonny sees she's been shot, he delicately touches her shoulder like she's a porcelain doll-- very much in opposition to the way, a few episodes later, he will throw himself over Rico when he's been poisoned. There's a sense of caution between Sonny and Gina-- it's like, given their history, he's afraid even under these circumstances to be too hands on, lest it be taken the wrong way or hurt her emotionally on top of her physical pain.

No one on Gene Simmons' Sex Boat knows how to dance

In NYC, Rico refers to his city as "the core of civilization" and Sonny says it's just "gridlock-- as much fun as watching paint dry." They then walk around grinning like children and gently touching one another, set to music. I hate them

When Rico tries to pull the "I used to be an NYC cop" card the sergeant they speak to says that "rape season is in full swing," which goes unremarked upon but has to be one of the most jarring things I've ever heard on television. There is... a season? For sexual assault?? What the everloving fuck?

Rico calls Val while the sergeant complains about not wanting to babysit him and Sonny; I wonder if the fact that both Rico and Val have their badges still is supposed to be commentary (cops love a bad egg and both of them did crime in the service of "justice") or just bad writing (what are they going to do, not bring Pam Grier back when they have the opportunity?)

Rico spells Tubbs by saying he is "Tough, Unique, Bad, Bold, and Sassy." Rico baby are you secretly a drag queen

Quoth Sonny Crockett, coolest man in the world, "Bolivian nasal dust." THAT'S NOT EVEN A EUPHEMISM

So much second hand embarrassment at Rico and Val meeting at Club Delirious. Val just looks SO disappointed and inconvenienced by his presence, and he gives her the WORST stink-eye and whines about her not returning his calls. They are so bad for each other. The most toxic on-and-off-again-cowboy-cop-exes ever.

The drug buyer is ridiculously racist; he clearly only wants to talk to Sonny, calls Tubbs and Val "nice bookends," and orders them to go dance together. This leads to a deeply insincere exchanging of "I missed yous" on the dance floor, and Val vaguely referencing that "Sonny helped her after what happened down in Miami." Why does Sonny have the power to convince the NYPD to magically erase murder

Rico, eternal suggester of threesomes, suggests to Sonny that the three of them "party together," and Sonny is like "weird, bye"

The music choices in Prodigal Son are so fucking good. The lyric "do you believe in love" plays during Sonny and Maggie's meet-cute scene, and abruptly cuts off before the word love and the visual cut to naked morning-after meat-platter Sonny being heckled by a bunch of gay photographers

Then, we cut immediately from Sonny muttering to himself that he doesn't even know Maggie's name to Tubbs creepily stalking Val and watching her kiss the drug dealer man. I wonder if maybe Paul Michael Glaser had something to say about the bad relationship choices Sonny and Rico were making in NY or something

Sonny's little smile at Rico in the mirror over the cigarette machine followed by the intensity of him yelling TUBBS (breaking cover) will never not kill me

I am so serious about Rico and Val being the absolute worst for each other. Tubbs asks Val if she "forgot how to use the phone" and then says "at least your sister was upfront about turning tricks" to her. Like. BROSKI. What. The fuck. Is wrong with you. You just called your ex-girlfriend AND HER DEAD LITTLE SISTER a whore?? And that's, what, your plan for getting her to get back together with you??? Like, Tubbs is not always nice-- I've said before I think he has to work at being a good person, and his calm, affable demeanor is often a put-on. But this goes beyond bitchy into downright cruel, something he really only ever does in Val's company. Rightly, she slaps him.

I've written at length about the Sonny/Maggie business, but jesus he is dumb about her. They've known each other for what, two days? And he's like "if only I could tell you the truth about myself..."

Sonny.

You've known loaves of bread longer than Maggie.

It's fine, just let it be a fling, baby. Not everyone is a future wife, even if you ARE mostly doing this because you're upset that you think your partner is back with his ex

After a silent (except for an obvious single overdubbed line that definitely wasn't in the original script), mooning car ride, Sonny asks Rico if he's "been thinking about staying in New York after we're done here, haven't you?" He is pained here; even if you don't interpret it with a romantic undertone, it's clear that he is not prepared to lose another partner. Rico's response, vague, is simply "I've been thinking about a lot of things."

Rico kills a man in Val's house and Val pulls a gun on him. Were they like this before Rafael died and Tubbs moved???

When confronted, Maggie cries and says she didn't expect to fall in love with Sonny. I do not for one second believe her; she is absolutely doing the "burst into tears in the principal's office" thing because she got caught and it's scary now.

When she says she's in Public Relations Sonny says "is that me? Like a public park? A public toilet?" Honey bunches you need so much therapy. You have the self-esteem of a moldy welcome mat.

Johnston, the evil old man who runs America, a) appears to actually be dead, and b) says Rico has $600 to his name. WHAT ARE YOU BUYING WITH YOUR SALARY, RICARDO. Because it's certainly not a house, given that you don't have one.

Rico responds to Johnston's threats with, frankly, impotent joking. He gets what's happening here-- says to the man that he knows he can just make "some call to an ivy league friend, and two Dade County cops become tin ducks." Sonny, on the other hand, responds as if he and Johnston are remotely in the same league of power-- threatens him, states that he's "patient" and will eventually figure out how to take him down. It's difficult for one man to be "patient" enough to dismantle capitalism, the drug trade, and the entire justice system; Sonny's insistence that with enough elbow grease he can is part of why he burns out so badly.

Sonny and Rico sit in silence in their hotel room after the meeting with Johnston and implication they are going to be murdered; in contrast to the finale, where they try (and mostly fail) to talk to each other about the danger and what this all means, here they simply cannot summon the words.

They are saved in the final shootout by Val coming in guns blazing, which raises a number of fascinating questions like "how did she know about this meeting"

Rico watches Sonny run after the helicopter and does not look at or make eye contact with Val as he somewhat emptily consoles her

Sonny shoots down a helicopter. It appears to be full of paper. I don't know.

OH the weird feet-rubbing shots in the final Rico and Val sex scene. I would argue that it's actually a fairly well-done and genuinely sexy scene up until that point, and then it's just like. Are you a pair of crickets? And then we get a shot of Val's like, dead-eyed stare into the distance as Rico is kissing her, and any remaining eroticism is drowned out back in a bucket of dingy water.

The Sonny/Rico Airport Meet Up is still literally the most romantic ending to anything ever, to the point that I'm always like "wait, there's another minute left in the episode?"

The last minute is in fact dedicated to reminding us that no one has brought up poor Gina since she was shot. She is in a sling and has an awkward exchange with Sonny in which she lends him a pencil and he picks up the phone and ignores her while Rico puts his hand around her like "oh baby don't go chasing the white boy again"

I am so sorry, Gina

Rico is right and you deserve someone who will not ignore you for a work phone call after not seeing you since you were SHOT

There's something to be said for the thematic resonance of ending on "Sonny casually dismisses his friends because he only cares about the job" but like. Maybe we could've just stopped at the airport

[thebreakfastgod]

The car is a tool. A tool that is useful in specific situations. Even in a world where driving is not the dominant mode of transportation there will still be some middle distance trips where its the best option. They're not supposed to be fucking everywhere. They are good for certain situations, but it is the structuring of the US American transportation system entirely around the car that causes so many collisions, pedestrian deaths, pollution, and a million other issues. Sometimes online when people are talking about these things I will see someone will say that the REAL problem is PHONES, and there needs to be harsher punishments for offenders like suspending licenses. But in a country that basically requires both a phone and a car that is a short-sighted "solution" that is not going to actually help anyone. US driving laws are essentially designed to be broken, so distinguishing between "criminals" and other drivers is functionally useless. Cops can follow you around for 5 minutes and find some kind of driving infraction to pull you over for, which is most frequently used to racially profile Black people. Even if you could magic away all distracted driving, pedestrian deaths and car crashes would still happen at extremely high rates because it is the physical real-life infrastructure that exists which causes these things to happen, not individuals who may or may not be paying enough attention. Over 50% of car trips are a distance of 5 miles or less. The necessity for every person to have a car is artificial, and was created. It is absurd to expect every single person to independently operate their own high speed machine and be perfect in constantly pay attention, especially when road design itself encourages high speeds and considers pedestrians an obstacle to moving as many cars as possible as fast as possible. Multiple running representatives in my area have "traffic calming measures" as part of their platform, everyone fucking hates traffic! The solution to these problems is to use these tools for when they're ACTUALLY FUCKING USEFUL! and stop centering EVERYTHING AROUND THEM!

[soup-mother]

this is just me being fucking pissed and won't make any sense but i genuinely fucking despise Australia and our entire cultural identity as a nation. i barely have words.

our culture of militarism and hiding that behind "the Anzac spirit" (fucking joke) and whinging that we keep dying in someone elses war and then signing up for the next one. after ww1 we were straight back into the middle east at the behest of mother England.

massive nation of racist whingers.

STOP JOINING THE ARMY THEN CUNT. you're mad America sucks to be friends with then stop being friends with them. it's not like it'd be better if they were out wars either. stop whining when you fucking volunteered to join our racist fucking army. christ. you had a choice there you could have just not fucking joined the institution that exists to kill people. like you fully cannot get it through your fucking skull that soldiers kill people and joining the army puts you in harms way and a gun in your hands. fuck

or like i can't even stand looking at the eureka stockade flag it's like "aussie union spirit" for the fucking gold rush. fucking settler extraction colony since day fucking one. especially turning it into some fucking patriotic symbol some cunt will fly on a ute next to a "fuck off we're full" sticker.

we're super multicultural so *everyone* can take part in the Australian dream of being a massive cunt, don't you want to feel proud of the country that put your family in a detention centre for years? we've got lamb!

only one female Prime minister ever and every PM has been white btw.

the people who see some of those issues and then just fucking act like it'll be fine if we make a couple changes and become an *independent* asshole settler with a president who can be a white Christian man instead who enforces harsh border policy and keeps supporting fucking wars. fucking hell. can't believe anyone fucking believes this shit what a joke.

i can never find it but that post like "Australian larrakin culture wants to distract you from the fact we're a nation of bloodthirsty bootlicking hyperfascists" lives forever in my mind. fucking literally.

oh btw did you know our cops have their own thin blue line flag? and we have our own "woopsie daisy there's Nazis in the army" scandals? we can be just like the US just with more of a sunburn and more mullets.

oh yea did you know bluey the kids show bluey had an episode where someone's dad was in the army? to make kids feel represented for having army parents? even dog Australia is killing people in far off countries! doesn't that make you feel seen? that even dogs have warcriminal cunts in their family just like your mum and dad?

racist joke of a country that shouldn't fucking exist.

ok i think I've gotten that out of my system. fuck.

[sometimesiwanna-disappear]

I'm not done thinking about the apparent Sanji/Mr Pink parallel because now that I Know that's his inspiration, at least initially, Sanji as a whole becomes 100x funnier.

It makes it pretty clear Oda became enamored of the Vibes of Reservoir Dogs and wanted to create his own suave, determined solo professional criminal to play around with in his story. The look and style also played into it, but if i may defend the physical Look for a second, Oda himself comments that the actual physicality of Steve Buscemi isn't the main inspiration for his character- it was a vibe he hoped the audience picked up on. (There's a reason many audience members assumed he was a Leonardo DiCaprio. I much prefer THIS as an inspiration over Romeo- this character that apparently Tarantino himself was determined to play before he heard Buscemi read for it and realized it had to be him, according to Imdb.)

Anyway, this serves to corobborate my gut feeling of Sanji being a character who's been plucked up from a different genre entirely and plopped into a silly pirate show.

However, i had the feeling it was more than just mafia aesthetics, code names, & smoking that inspired/influenced this character.

......so I rewatched Reservoir Dogs just to do a quick analysis & just jot down some similarities that stick out to me (&some differences).

First thing that sticks out as a difference on the surface is Pink's refusal to tip. His inconsideration is something that seems like it'd be inconceivable to Sanji, but the core of the conflict reveals a similarity rather than a difference. In the opening scene Buscemi's character refuses to pitch in a dollar because he doesn't believe in tipping culture (first of all. King.) He blames the establishment for not paying the waitresses enough and calmly states that he won't play the game the system expects him to play. Everyone else at the table argues with him and tries to convince him to pitch in his dollar for the tip (including the complete psychopath who's about an hour away from trying to light a cop on fire) but Pink's ideals are more important to him than peer pressure. Until he is told to put a dollar in on behalf of the gentleman (the Boss) who paid for breakfast, he doesn't do it.

The trait I think appealed to Oda here (and that appeals to the viewer in general) is the type of character who is incredibly ideal-driven. While Sanji's extremely compassionate and his policies come from both his idealization, experience with women (read: lack thereof) and his respect for food, that which brings/maintains human life -- Buscemi's character's ideals are extremely practical. He doesn't like to kill people, but he recognizes the need to - he doesn't want to kill "real people", but cops are okay. It's interesting to see a character stick to his guns as much as Buscemi's character does, in this scene and the remainder of the film. Mr. Pink is a true professional. While Sanji is driven very, very much by compassion, this practicality is actually a trait he exhibits as well. He knows not to trust untrustworthy people. He's aware when his ideals are going to get him into a lot of trouble. He knows when to get the fuck out of a situation. Mr. Pink is the only reasonable person in Reservoir Dogs, escaping, stashing the diamonds, trying to convince the others to escape while they can. Sanji is often the responsible person making uncomfortable calls for the people he's decided to protect- the most unfortunate (cough. And common) of which being his extreme willingness to toss his life on the line if it means his loved ones get five extra minutes.

So already we've got a very interesting core. A character who's extremely stubborn about his beliefs, somebody somebody who's likely to hold his tongue in an unsure situation.

Mr. Pink also has a ridiculous sense of pride. This is a great scene, the codenames bit, especially with how much of a fight he puts up before eventually accepting it and acting like he doesn't really care to save face. Lol

This is a great humanizing trait for an otherwise cool and collected character. It's entertaining to us to see somebody act like a petulant child, especially in a full suit. There's a disconnect. Grown men planning a heist can be pretty damn immature. This is a side to Sanji that I particularly love, because it's something he really should be above. Sanji has pride in his appearance; he needs things to be just so. He keeps himself very clean, aside from the smoking. Usopp will yell a bit if you embarass him; Zoro will pout; Sanji is just as likely to kick you in the face about it lmao. As long as you're a man, of course.

At the end of the day, Shonen writers love to write what they think is entertaining and cool. A guy who fights with three swords. A man made of rubber. Anyways , here are some totally unrelated clips/images next to each other.

At the climax of the film, the dramatic end of the movie, all the remaining surviving teammates are pointing guns at one another and fighting amongst themselves, tensions running high. What is Mr. Pink's decision?

It really does remind me of the conflict in Water 7 with Usopp. Throughout the entire movie, Buscemi's character is the one trying to keep the peace. Even when he recognizes there was a rat on the team and suspects Mr. Orange, he backs down at the demand of Mr. White regardless of his own suspicions, just to keep the peace. He was the first to finger the true culprit! If Pink had been more emotionally invested in his team, rather than a cold-hearted businessman, he might've done more in the end than hide under the steps and run out with the rocks, only to be arrested when the car wouldn't start. Totally tragic and unforseen. It had just been working not 10 minutes before- if not for that, I feel pretty confident Mr. Pink would've been the only survivor and he would've gotten away with the money. If only he'd taken the money and run much earlier, like he had Said he wanted to, instead of sticking around to wait for the teammates and listening to Mr White.

(Psst. A few pages after this, he kicks the shit out of Luffy for beginning to tell a member of the team to fuck off and screams at him for letting his temper take over lest he say something he regrets..... hm.)

Sanji is known (esp. Pre timeskip) for running off and doing solo missions. He offers Mr. Prince as his alias in Alabasta. He plans ahead more than any other character, even in the midst of battle he's planning the next move and is more often than not the final reason the Strawhats survive a LOT of encounters. Sanji is also incredibly emotional though he acts cool and collected, and he's often annoyed with himself for being so easily swayed by the people around him. For heavens sakes he couldn't bring himself to leave Baratie without being bullied out of the building (read: reassured that he was allowed to go and his found family would pretend they wouldn't miss him so Sanji wouldn't have to feel so guilty).

So what do we have? Well, we don't have the essence of Mr. Prince in Mr. Pink. I have a strong feeling that his powerful compassion came along with the decision for him being a cook. Mr. Pink may have had enough decency not to want to kill "real people", but he did shoot some folks & tossed a woman out of her car window. You can't make a Shonen supporting character out of that (unless they're Nami). Whether you hate it or not, Sanji's love of women softens his edges off and makes him unthreatening to the audience, just like Zoro's sense of direction (and occasional goofiness) gives his edgelord Chad energy a break.

Oda didn't just lift a Tarantino character and call it a day. Look, I have my criticisms about how Oda writes sometimes, but one thing I admire is his scientific approach to character. The man hasn't written a damn character I dislike. He's mastered the moe gap lol, and he knows exactly what to add to a character to make the audience care about them (or truly despise them). And, hell, as a writer, i can relate HARD to falling in love with a different story in the middle of writing my own and having to resist the urge to drop my fave into my own story, lol, so more power to Oda that he was able to do it and create a character that grew into himself and created a unique identity over time.

So this is why this whole thing is so funny to me. Sanji's role was dreamed up for and because of those solo missions we love so much. That seems to be the inspiring factor. His being the most compassionate Strawhat simply came along with the decision to center his ideals around something simpler and more Shonen audience friendly than whether or not people should be tipped-- people need to be fed, food is precious and not to be wasted, and those who cannot protect themselves must be protected. (No matter how much he rambles about women specifically, his actions speak louder than words.) While Sanji's aesthetics were inspired by Tarantino, Sanji himself became a character that transcends the cool smoking sunglasses guy who's visually appealing and became an iconic love-cook with a temper and a flair for dramatics. That's the reason I and many others love him so much- not because of one particular element of his character, but how they all fit together.

What a fascinating blend of characteristics. Thanks for nailing that audition, Steve Buscemi.

[thatsnotmygunflash]

Okay @simpledontmeanpeachy this is like a week late but I finally got the inspiration I needed to write prompt 25 "It gave me great joy,"

I really fell in love with this and might add to it honestly (or someone else can if they want) it's set in a world where Barry grew up in the foster system and turned out way differently.

Len was nursing his first drink of the night at Saints and Sinners an hour before his crew was suppose to meet up for their weekly check-in when Hartley came waltzing in the front door. Len didn't bother to turn and look, taking a smooth sip of his beer as the young scientist came up to the empty bar.

"Rathaway, little early, even by your standards." Len said in observation. Hartley Rathaway wasn't the newest addition to his Rouges or even the youngest, but he was by far the smartest and most capable out of the lot. They had worked three big jobs together in the past year and a half and besides his sister, he was the only one Len felt gave it to him straight and pulled his weight enough for it to mean anything to Len. He wouldn't call them friends, but they were friendly. Not friendly enough, however, for Hartley to show up without an agenda.

"I wanted a chance to speak privately before the rest of the crew show up,"

"About?" Len assumed it would be business Hartley wanted to discuss but this must be something he didn't want the rest of the crew to know about yet.

"You heard about the new player in town, right?"

How could he not, when it was all anyone in the city wanted to talk about lately.

"The Chemist?" At Hartley's nod of confirmation Len tilted his chin down in understanding. "I've heard whispers, why?"

"He approached me last night, said he needed a little tech support, willing to pay more than well for my time too."

"Did you take the job?" Len had never cared about Hartley's freelance work before, unless it directly effected Len's own timetable, but they had never had issues with scheduling before. Len made sure of it.

"You're not asking the important questions, Snart."

"If you have something to say, Rathaway, say it." Len didn't enjoy the condescending smirk painted on Hartley's face and he definitely didn't like a single word that came next.

"He's planning on hitting the Federal Reserve, the same one you're planning on hitting in two months. Which wouldn't be a problem for you, if he wasn't planning on making his move next week."

"Next week." Next week. Next. Week. There was no way. The Chemist had just hit First National two weeks ago. He couldn't be that reckless, especially when the cops and the papers had painted him to be some kind of evil-mastermind. Len had been casing the Reserve himself everyday for four months, there was no way he would have missed another thief doing the same.

"Yep. He doesn't even have a crew either. Plans to do it all by himself. Seems like kind of a loner. Pretty though. And smart. Meta too, I think. Full package really."

"You think he can pull it off." Len didn't need the snort of agreement Hartley let out to let him know he was right. Hartley was not an easily impressed man, which meant this Chemist was someone to be on guard with.

"Oh, definitely. Especially with my help covering his tracks, but, because I knew he'd end up iced for fucking with your job, I convinced him to come here tonight to talk to you about joining the Rouges."

Hartley had told a man who enjoyed explosives where his entire crew was meeting tonight. The nerve of this kid.

"And you just expected me to be okay with that?"

"Well, obviously." Hartley scoffed, waving a dismissive hand in the air when he saw Len's icy glare. "I thought you'd agree it couldn't hurt to have other smart and pretty people around to look at. You should have seen his face when I told him I worked for you. It gave me great joy. Watching him go from obnoxiously cocky to painfully desperate just at the sound of your name. I think you have a fan."

A fan. A fan. The Chemist was a fan. Good lord.

"You better pray this works out in our favor, Rathaway, or it's your ass."

"I'm not worried." Hartley shrugged carelessly, his smirk turning into something like delight when the door opened behind them.

"And why's that?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Hartley replied, pointing a finger behind Len's shoulder.

"Wha-" Len turned to see who the new comer was, losing his voice and the ability to move when he caught sight of an unmistakably familiar face. Len couldn't believe what he was seeing. Barry Allen, the flirty barista from the coffee shop Len had been using as cover for his stakeouts of the Reserve was standing just three feet in front of him. The same Barry Allen that he had taken home with him five nights ago. The same Barry Allen that had not taken Len's one night stand policy well.

Barry gave a lazy wave, not bothering to hide the challenge in his eyes or the smugness coating his voice.

"Hey Lenny. Miss me?"

[furyan-imagines]

YOU CAN PICK: (A) Whether you think of Riddick as simply being a criminal or (B) You think that Riddick is a person who has more to him than meets the eye

"What? Click your fingers and he's one of us now?"

You were right smack in the middle of the small train of humans who had survived the Hunter-Gratzner crash, following behind Shazza and Johns, close enough that you could hear the irritation in the free-settler's question.

"I didn't say that." You could almost hear the smile in John's reply. "But at least this way I don't have to worry about y'all, uh, falling asleep and not waking up."

Jack pushed past you, angling himself to face the two adults leading all of them. The teenager had somehow found a pair of partially-broken goggles and worn them in emulation of the famed murderer trailing behind all of them. "So, can I talk to him now?"

"No."

Continue reading (A) if you feel that you need to stay away from Riddick the criminal

"Maybe it's better if we all keep out of his way, huh?"

Jack looked askance at you, disbelief written clearly on his face.

"I mean there must be many good reasons why Riddick has such a high bounty on his head, right?"

Shazza and Johns both turned briefly. The woman gave you a look that you couldn't quite decipher, but the smile Johns shot at you was a reassuring one. At least you all had a cop watching after the group.

It wasn't that you actually had anything against Richard B. Riddick, but if so many slams and systems had arrests out for him, it would probably behoove you to go the safe route, especially after this fucked-up fiasco of not just having the ship you had been on crash, but having Zeke already killed by one of those creatures that lived on this planet, and another unnamed survivor accidentally killed by Zeke before that.

With a quick glance backwards to see just how far back Riddick was behind you (a movement that definitely caught his attention even from that distance), you hurried forward just a few steps more. You definitely didn't want to die, and right then, keeping yourself as far away from a definite killer would almost-certainly increase your chances of staying alive.

Continue reading (B) if you feel that Riddick has more depth than he shows

"I think he's an interesting fellow," you said quietly to the teenager. At Jack's surprised look, you had to laugh lightly. "I said 'interesting'; not that he is safe."

"At least interesting isn't boring, you know? Which is what everyone else is."

You were about to reply when the noise of a boot digging sharply into the loose sand caught your attention and you turned. Fry and Imam had stopped, looking back at Paris who jogged away from the rest and then fell to his knees, grabbing at something the same time Riddick had hold of whatever that same thing was.

There were a few seconds of pausing before Paris and Riddick rose.

From that distance, you couldn't hear what was said, but then you saw Riddick shake Paris's hand, before downing an entire? bottle of booze. Ah, so that's what Paris dropped.

Whatever it was, your prolonged staring had the effect of Riddick lowering his head after that drink and looking straight back at you. A slow smile appeared on his face as he tipped the now-empty bottle in your direction, almost a toast with the ghost of now-drunk booze.

You allowed yourself to smile back and resumed your march. But you slowed down enough to join Fry and Imam who were now immediately behind you.

Maybe the best way to survive this fucked up, godforsaken place and those predators that had already taken Zeke was to stick to another dangerous predator. Maybe that was the best way to make sure your ass had a seat on that abandoned ship off this planet.

[mimeparadox]

Things that bug me about the current Gargoyles comic

It’s been more than one year in canon, and we still haven’t seen the clan grapple with the implications of living with Xanatos. This was an issue in the previous comic, where Elisa seemingly has no problem going to a party hosted by the person who ruined her brother’s life, but it’s especially glaring here, given that the current series shows us that the gargoyles still suspect him of being capable of doing things like kidnapping Maggie, and that, thanks to recent development, they now have independent resources which make Xanatos not their only choice.   

All of the romantic relationships—including, shockingly, Goliath and Elisa—are utterly devoid of the chemistry necessary to actually make them shippable. Broadway and Angela are about to get gargoyle-married, and we’ve gotten precisely zero fun scenes between them since they’ve gotten together. Broadway and Katana have been a thing for more than a real-world year and I have no idea why.

Despite the doubling of the Manhattan’s clan’s numbers and their vastly different circumstances, the comic has done very little to establish what the dynamics between its various members are. This, at least, was also the case in the cartoon, but, with the additional numbers, it is especially egregious.

Brooklyn has come out of a Young Justice-like time gap—except decades long—and he’s…exactly the same as before? His “focus” issue, rather than gives us any insight into his time travels and how they've changed him, treats him as if he hadn’t actually spent decades having adventures on his own and not having to rely on Goliath. 

Goliath is a cop. GOLIATH. IS. A COP. Even if this weren’t the most tone-deaf development possible in twenty-fucking twenty-three, that we don't see the offer made, discussed, or accepted beggars belief. TELL THE ACTUAL FUCKING STORY.

The series just seems to have a phobia for character-building interactions in general. The discussion where a half-dozen very different characters come to agree that Xanatos kidnapped Maggie, based entirely on vibes? Off-panel. The encounter between Toni Dracon and Broadway and Lexington? Off-panel. All the discussions between Goliath and Elisa about everything? Off-panel.

The sophomoric trial of Goliath arc, which misunderstands the court system, how lawyers work, and the history of the trials it’s meant to hearken to; makes everyone we're meant to root for seem incompetent; and ultimately has no interest in its own actual consequences. Like, gargoyles can totally be arrested for vigilante action now, right--or for everything a cop decides to arrest them for?  That is what it means for laws to apply for them, correct?

All the various continuity porn bits, there not because they make sense, but entirely of a misguided belief in the effectiveness of going "you remember this". The most glaring of these is the inclusion of “we are gargoyles” into every opening monologue in volume three, simply because the phrase is part of the season 2 opening.

A preponderance of what I call writing for the wiki: a focus on establishing facts simply for the sake of being able to say they've been established. The most egregious example of this is the introduction of the non-Dracon crime families, in a scene that has them all speaking equally stiltedly in order to ensure that we know every character's name, allowing them to be added to the wiki. The latest issue, Gargoyles: Quest #3, while actually one of the better ones, is full of this kind of writing, spending most of its page time letting us know exactly where the various Illuminati members rank within the organization, while telling us very little else. Meanwhile, Elisa reaches the end of her suspension from the NYPD, and not only was nothing actually done with it, the scene were we learn this does nothing to establish anything beyond the fact that, well, her suspension is over. What, then, was the point?

The series cannot actually be said to be about the Manhattan Clan.

[elinaline]

Thinking about the companions in Veilguard and I think, even though they're really lovely and overall pretty well written, what bothers me is how genuinely politically correct it all is. They're all level headed professionals who immediately get a grip of themselves after expressing some doubt instead of being at each other's throat. The most serious addiction you'll find in the team is to. Coffee. No raging alcoholic coming to terms with the fact he came from a fascist society and is kind of an ass but being unable to fully shake off the twenty years of trauma from his abusive wife and the caste system. No belittling a dangerous and learned mage because of racism even though she found herself having to massacre her entire clan after they thought she'd killed their leader. Not even a Single slur thrown at the elves or the Qunari. In northern Thedas?? The slavery is a longstanding tradition and the knife ears are so easy to control part of the world ??? The most conflict we get is "oh but you've been unwillingly grafted to a demon what if he gains control ?- and what about you carrying the Blight when it's controlled by the very gods we're trying to kill ?-I'm sorry that was mean I'm gonna cool down -yeah me too my b." Everyone is way too level headed when they all have reasons to be at each other's throat. Bellara should be screaming at Davrin of how uncanny it is that he is so undisturbed by all they learned about the elvhenan and the evanuris, Davrin should at least once try to restrain Lucanis, Lucianis and Neve should openly hate and distrust each other she's a cop and he's an assassin ! Everyone should be weirded out by Emmrich way more than just the first five minutes. There should be conflict between Harding and Taash because what if she's a Ben hassrath, and Lucanis and Taash because really what difference does it make to be invaded by the Qunari or the Antaam. Like shit dude, the world, that has been killed a thousand years ago has been actively ending for the last twenty years which is most of their lives. They've had news of the fifth blight, then there's been a major worldwide conflict between the mages and the templars that lasted for years, then the fucking veil started to break apart ! For the last decade, the Qunari have spied and tried to control the world, the Vetinari have done insane amounts of violence especially on elven people, Orlais has toyed with the idea to expand, the Divine has changed and the foundations of several of the major religions in the world have been shaken. Everyone is too calm and measured, which is very surprising from a BioWare game tbh.