#granted its bc I'm working out plot shit with it but still

[historicity-was-already-taken]

so this song came on shuffle while i'm working on the chapter about the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 (the one TSwift had a moment of silence for at her Warsaw show that my friend Sheridan went to and I'm jealous for so many reasons):

Granted it's my symphonic metal playlist, which is my writing playlist, but still; I hate it when shuffle is so on the nose.

This Uprising hasn't really infiltrated historical memory outside of Poland for many reasons; probably because of the legacy of Stalinist ratfuckery on the abilities of the Allies to claim that they were unilaterally the heroes.

After Stalingrad, as the Red Army was marching West, the Soviets started encouraging the Polish underground (primarily the Armja Krajowa) to rise up against the Germans. BUT at the same time, Stalin had pretty much informed FDR and Churchill that, after the war, Poland and the rest of Eastern Europe were HIS sphere of influence, and Churchill (who had gone to war over the German violation of Poland's borders in 1939) and FDR were not in a place where they could tell him no.

So like, Stalin was telling the Polish nationalist underground to rise up against the Nazis, all while he was plotting to destroy Polish independence and nationalism after the war.

The Soviets continued to urge the Warsaw AK to rise up basically until the last minute as they were marching towards Warsaw. And then the Uprising began and the Red Army just like, stopped on the outskirts of the city, and stayed there through January 1945. They did a few cursory air drops and paid some lip service to supporting the AK, but that's it. Like Stalin was even shit talking the Warsaw Uprisers as "foolish adventurers" even though he'd encouraged the Uprising. He wouldn't even let British and US planes land in Soviet territory while flying aid missions over Warsaw.

So after a few days, maybe a week or two of inspirational UPRISING WHOOO DO YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING the Germans just, STOMPED the city. Even though they were actively losing the war, they still diverted a fuckton of anti-partisan generals and superweapons to Warsaw, and SLAUGHTERED the populace and turned the city basically to ruins. The Poles surrendered in early October, and the Germans let them out of the city without massacres (unless they were Jewish, obvs); all while the Red Army still just chilled on the other side of the Vistula.

AND THEN when the Red Army marched into the ruins in fucking JANUARY 1945, they persecuted and arrested Armja Krajowa fighters just as hardcore as they did Nazis. Which is SO fucked up. And honestly I'm not someone with loads of sympathy for the AK, as a lot of its members went out of their way to murder and hunt Jews, talked a lot of shit about how Hitler was doing them a favor by getting rid of the Jews, and basically used Jewish fighters as canon fodder during the 1944 Uprising (Hating Hitler =/= liking Jews, etc)

ANYWAY. So Britain and the US kind of had to sit back and do nothing while Stalin strategically allowed Hitler to destroy both the city and the center of Polish nationalist agitation. So, they don't talk about it much. lol ~the politics of memory~

but yeah, the song was too real

and i didn't mean for this to get so long bc it started off life as a shitpost, but i cannot KEEP myself from providing context

[sigmastolen]

listen the nostalgia of it all carried me a good long way and maybe i'm grumpy bc i'm sick but i gotta be honest with y'all, my final impression of x-men '97 is that it is utterly incoherent

granted, my familiarity with most of the storylines they're pulling from here is low -- synopses and recaps, if i know anything at all, and my comics readership has always been spotty at best -- but... do bastion's motivations and actions make any sense in the books? and frankly i think they did my boy mister sinister dirty...

but i think the pacing was where it suffered the most. idk, i feel like each individual episode started slow and unfocused, yet still rushed to wrap up storylines, where tas might have just sprawled all over some multiparters. but in the current make-or-break tv environment, '97 can't afford to take its time, it has to throw all the big spaghetti at the wall right away, and it scrambles to too-fast, too-pat resolutions -- but because it's controlled by the mouse now, it also has to resolve with feel-good moral messages in a way that frankly clashes with the intentionally complex tradition of x-men. the three-part finale was some of the worst, pastede on storytelling i've seen since the last time i watched a steven binder episode of ncis. it also was unclear to me how much of tas was canon and how much has been retconned and how much was just, like, establishing the vibes but ditching the storylines. (then again, confusion is just the standard state of affairs re: x-men canon.)

which is not to say that everything was terrible -- this show loves a heroic monologue, and most of those were actually quite powerful. the art style works. the voice cast (returning and new) works. lenore zann is a standout for me; she's so much more mature as a performer now (obvi) and she brings so much more depth to rogue than she could 30 years ago. making our heroes more powerful, as you know, made me positively giddy (although i will say that cyclops's primal yells inspired laughter rather than awe). if "tolerance is extinction" 1–3 were the worst episodes, i think "remember it" and "bright eyes" were the best -- strongest plots and tightest character beats. and truly, they did my faves so good: gambit was perfect, rogue (incoherent retconned backstory aside) was perfect, nightcrawler was perfect, jubilee was perfect. all the homoerotically-charged wolverine-and-morph everything was perfect. jean and storm's friendship was perfect. beast rejecting trish tilby in the ruins of genosha was perfect. jubilee and roberto visiting his mom, and her nutball wealthy privilege -- perfect.

the storm-and-forge stuff unfortunately fell flat for me, mostly bc the "lifedeath" episodes suffered from so many weird racist overtones. and of course all the convoluted summers clan stuff was also a miss, because the only summers i give two shits about is rachel -- but this version of jean grey (and madelyne pryor) was more compelling than most.

i don't know, maybe this is the same cynicism that has led to my current stubborn resistance to popular media, that chased me away from the mcu*, that has had me keep my distance from the glut of remakes and reboots, and that has basically stopped me from getting into any new shows for literally years. but it's hard for me not to see this as an empty cash grab, just marvel and disney playing on millennial nostalgia to capture streaming subscriptions and sell merch -- which, frankly, is all they have done with any of their properties for the last 4-5 years anyway. and i have never paid disney plus a red cent and i never will (yo ho), but it also just. doesn't feel good to watch. makes me tired. throws me out of my suspension of disbelief. being able to see the forces of capitalism nakedly at work in a piece of media really takes the enjoyment out of it for me, you know?

[ariadnewordweaver]

three days later I’m still dwelling on this.

writing is fucked up I decided to kill off a long standing character and now I feel like I'm actually in mourning

[floralbfs]

WIP Ask Game!

thank u anon!!!!

1: Summarize your WIP in 10 words or less.

orphan gains powers, gets adopted by alien, saves the world.

2: Post a line from your WIP with no context.

'There's a whoosh of air, and Leo suddenly hears a voice he never thought he'd ever be able to hear again.'

3: Does your WIP have a title? If so, explain its significance. If not, what are you calling it for now?

Okay so I have been calling it the Youtuber Superhero AU (because it started as a fandom au but then i made it an original!!) but I thought maybe it could be "Thicker than Water", since my MC, Leo, is an orphan and he lives alone for most of his life (most of his life lmao at least until canon point? read also: around 9-11 years when in canon he's like 19?) in a remote, lowkey magical place/dimension?, but ultimately he comes back to his hometown and creates a family for himself!!!! i won't give spoilers but, since i already said this, part of his found family is his adoptive dad, an alien who is also a superhero!! If not TtW, I would call it maybe,,,,, Moonstone???? at least the first book!!! (ooh, maybe TtW can be the series name and Moonstone the first book's name?) because Leo kind of gets his powers through a moon stone????? it's not actually moon stone; it was a strange rock he found in the magical dimension that seeked out a champion for the god Huitzilopochtli??? and the closest word Leo could get for it was Moonstone, because of its uhhhhh singular qualities!

4: Describe the setting of your WIP.

OKAY, this is a fun one!!! Leo's hometown is named Star Nova, idk why it just seemed cool, and it is a futuristic city!!! They don't follow capitalism Because I Said So, and they're really into, like, environmental stuff!!! So you'd see SO much flora all over the city kshdsjfh like those???? idk what they're called but like the towns overridden with plants? but controlled!!! There's a tiny percentage of the population (tho I still haven't decided if this is worldwide?? I have a way to make it worldwide but idk) who have superpowers, either due to "individual" factors (e.g Leo's powers are bc of the moonstone, and Matthew(his dad)'s powers are due to him being an alien!) or were affected by a weird experiment an Evil Corporation™ were doing; ECtm was trying out an illegal experiment that could alter living beings' genetics to their will, but it went wrong and their substance exploded and went airborne. Those who were working on it knew about its risks and toxicity, ergo they were wearing a special suit and weren't affected, but the gas contaminated and ??mixed?? with the air and spread to the nearest city, Star Nova (the unofficial capital of the Joint Pacific Nations) and affected a Whole Lot Of People!!! this all happened a while before canon, and the corporation got away with it bc they were filthy rich basically. Anyway, a lot of the people who were affected to the "virus" reacted negatively and died, some were uhhh """immune"""???, and a few Seemed to be immune but had actually had a successful celular-level bonding with the substance! It didn't do anything to them, but their children/grandchildren were born with physical or mental anomalies, also known as super powers (gasps)!!!! BUT!!! a lot of the story happens in the magical city of Coatl (it means serpent!), located within a pocket dimension somewhere inside the Mexican southern forest, where Leo finds himself when he's four years old, recently orphaned, guided by a magical ....bird....being....? he lives there for around eleven years, and he's granted Huitzilopochtli's Champion's power once he's like. Not A Baby lmao. Coatl is.... kind of like,,,,, an Olympus, I guess? Only those with like the destiny to find it know where it is, and they can lead other people there if it's for good causes! It's almost like a sentient city, and the Aztec gods kinda. chilled there???? my theory is that a lot of religious mythologies exist, at least in this universe, and they all co-exist on earth, or pocket dimensions inside of it!!! anyway, Leo lived there and was basically raised by gods???? and an AI???? bc i love AIs???? and uhhhh i think that got away from me ajdhsjdhsj does all of this even count as setting??? am i missing anything????

5: Search for the word “knife” in your WIP. If you find it, paste the line and explain the context.

no knives sadly :( i guess i haven't reached Those Scenes yet???? tho there should be one in the first chapter….. my wip document is just kind of very messy ajdhsjdjsjdh i might just have to make a new document????

6: Search for the word “dream” in your WIP. If you find it, paste the line and explain the context.

???????????? why am i not using any words?????????? sorry :/

7: What are you most proud of?

probably the worldbuilding and characters (at least those with superpowers? maybe i should say superpowers period)!!!!! they're very complex and thought-out????? and i THINK they're original!!!!! so!!!!! ＼(￣▽￣)／

8: What is your biggest challenge?

oooooof,,,,,,,, probably..... getting an actual plot lmao????? like i have an overall view of my would-be first and second books, but i don't know if they actually have enough to them to be written as they are?????? like… idk if the conflict is really like??? worthy to be a Main Conflict™????

9: How would you describe your writing style?

oooooooh uhhhhh maybe….. flowery prose???? i'm a poet at heart, so if i don't use loads of metaphors and language uhhhh idk their name in english but language variators??? i will literally die. but seriously nsjdhsjdhsjfh nothing too serious!!!! most of my “”””angst”””” scenes are….. not so sad, i think skfjsjfj

10: How would you describe your WIP’s narrative style? (1st person, 3rd person, multiple POVs, single POV, alternating chapters, etc.)

oh!!!! well, i think it'd be multiple povs, alternating chapters, third person???? i'm still not sure whether to use 1st or if i already have??? p sure that's a different wip i'm thinking about tho

11: Which character do you have the most in common with?

uhhhhhhhhhhhh seeing how underdeveloped she is right now??? probably Persephone???? bc she's genderfluid skfjsjfjdjfh or uhhhh Scott??? bc i too love leo with my heart and would die for him and stay with him in the afterlife. (hypothetically, of course….)

12: Which character do you have the least in common with?

Maeve, probably!!!! she's, uh…. Something.

13: Your characters are stranded on a deserted island. What happens?

They Are All A Mess. akfhajfjajfj Matthew would probably become the leader and like. establish order and shit???? but he's also the hugest nerd so he'd just give the leader role to someone else (probably seph staine?) and goes exploring and cataloging shit skfhsjfhdjf Leo is probably the most resourceful one of the bunch, so he would immediately like. start planning for huts and food and stuff???? also idk if they would have their powers in this situation cause it'd be too easy to get them all out of there????? but let's just say they do but the island is inescapable by flight?? he can talk to animals, so he could communicate with the local fauna and like form alliances???? Seph is a good leader, so he'd probably like….. keep everything in check???? and Leo's friends are all good and resourceful, so they'd make a good team!!!! tldr they basically create order immediately and do their best to not struggle??? after a few days/weeks, some of them start to like. break down? but the adults are like. wise and shit??? and i'm pretty sure at least one of them is like a licensed therapist??? so they help each other out uwu

14: Have you chosen birthdays for any of your characters? If so, when are they?

oh!!!! only for a few!!!! Leo and Maeve's birthday is on March 25, Scott's birthday is on August 27, Matthew doesn't really have a birthday??? because time is different in his planet????, Percy and Persephone's birthday is somewhere in November, and uhhhh im p sure that's all i got akfjsjfjsj i suck at birth dates

15: Do you know your characters’ MBTI personalities?

GOD, no. maybe i should do their tests???👀

16: What would your characters be for Halloween?

Leo… doesn't believe in/care for Halloween, as he didn't grow up around it, but it's totally Scott's jam!!! they are dirt poor in a good first half of the book, though, so they can't really dress up :( they met in the library, and after (spoiler alert!!!) scotty's death, Leo feels it appropriate to dress up as Scott's fave characters every year. Percy and Persephone are (very weak) shapeshifters, so their costumes ROCK!!!!! they always do matching costumes, so they get cliché pair costumes!! Matthew….. uh. he is… way too old for that. he was literally alive before Halloween was even a thing, so it's not really his thing. Leah just……. does her own thing??? she can see ghosts, so she sometimes does like historical costumes and stuff with their help!!! and Ben…. oof tbh that depends on what his fave song/album/whatev is at the moment??? he kinda creates like a story/aesthetic for them and dresses up that way!!!!

17: Does your WIP have any themes or motifs?

uhhhh found family, definitely!!!! i really can't think of any bc i'm an idiot, but uhhhh intelligence??? if that's a thing??? like,,, they're all powerful and shit but it's also like. brains over brawns????

18: What’s easier, dialogue or description?

i think description!!!! neither of them are… hard??? but!!! description is like…… where i can go hog wild akfjskfjsjfb

19: Post a picture or gif that describes your WIP.

20: Post a brief excerpt.

Leo @Leoberry

You asked, I answered. New Q&A video is now up!

[3k retweets, 10k likes, 9k replies] 20 min. ago

[My First Q&A- video transcription excerpt]

[Leo Berry, a nineteen-year-old brunette guy with green eyes, wearing a red shirt with a lightning symbol on it that's loose on his muscular form, waves at the camera and smiles widely, dimples showing up on his cheeks.]

Leo: Hey, guys. You've been asking me to do a Q&A for a while, and the day has finally arrived! I told you to ask me questions on Twitter with the hashtag #AskBerry, and I've picked a few!

[Leo smiles brightly and lifts up his cellphone.]

Leo: First off, here's one by @razzberry- nice username, by the way-: “what's your cat's name? Do you have more than one?”

[The video shifts, and there's suddenly two cats sitting on Leo's arms: a large, orange cat quickly falling asleep on his shoulder, and a black kitten hugged in his arms.]

Leo: I do! This little fella-

[He gasps as the kitten in his arms struggles to get free and runs off-camera.]

Leo: Don't leave me! Okay, that little fella is Onyx, and, as you can see, he doesn't like me very much. Anyway, this little gal asleep over here…

[He points toward a small orange cat sleeping on his shoulder.]

Leo: ...is Tigress! She's my little baby. You've probably seen her around a lot on my vlogs, since she really likes to hang out on my bed.

Leo: Next! @Honeybats asked: ‘��is it true your dad is Jade?”

[Leo smiles and, after a few seconds of trying to school his features, bursts out laughing.]

Leo: You mean to ask whether my dad is Matlal Jade, the greatest superhero of our era?

Leo: ...Well, yeah! My dad- [more laughs] my dad is totally my Jade. His name is Matthew, and I keep asking him to fly me to school. He says it's not funny!

[He sobers up for a second.]

Leo: Jokes aside, he adopted me a few years ago and he'll always be a superhero in my eyes. I was in a really dark place when he found me, and I can't thank him enough for all that he's done for me.

[Leo looks away for a second and loses his smile. The video cuts and skips again, and Leo appears once again, this time sporting an easy smile and a blue shirt, this one tighter around his shoulders.]

Leo: things got a bit too deep! This one was sent by @shazhangs: “are you dating anyone at the moment?”

[Leo laughs.]

Leo: God, no. I mean, I'm not really a people person, you know? And I’ve been so focused on work, vlogging, and, uh, extracurriculars, that I really haven't had any time to socialise.

[Leo laughs again.]

Leo: This one comes from @perspartone: will you collab with any other youtubers anytime soon?

Leo: Yeah, sure! I don't think I have done any videos with other people in the past, so it'd be a fun thing to do! I just have to find a friend first.

[Leo laughs loudly.]

[End of excerpt. For viewing of the video, refer to Leo Berry on Youtube, and find the full transcription here at DailyBerries in a few hours.]