#hence them fighting with lethal intent

[ryuichirou]

Re: Gaslighter Rook. I wanna preface this by saying ofc people are free to hc whatever they want but I have some issues with what the other person said and how dismissive they acted about the whole thing. I apologize if this invites drama or discourse, that is absolutely not my intention, I moreso just want to share the other side's point of view for the sake of balance since you said you don't mind civil discussion even if we disagree. Firstly, yes a lot of the arguments for this come from the labcoat vignette. However, it is not all just because of one line. In the same vignette, Rook tells Vil he can't trust his own eyes because Rook knows him better than Vil knows himself which is a very common gaslighter tactic. He then further mentions that people will leave him unless he does what Rook tells him to and puts down the "me or everyone else" argument. Rook further tries to undermine Vil's ability to trust other people in Vil's dorm vignette by saying the other dorm members would never appreciate Vil's efforts for them even if they knew about them – a blatant lie that however still makes Vil withdraw from talking to them about it. During Vil's overblot, Rook refuses to give Vil personal space while he's having a mental breakdown and repeatedly asserts that Vil "doesn't deserve" it as well as claiming to be responsible for punishing him. After VDC, Rook not only claims that his vote was the deciding one despite having no way of knowing that but also claims it was the objectively correct thing to do as, again, Vil didn't deserve to win, simply because having a mental breakdown is ugly (since he was referring to the overblot, not the attempted cursing – which was never confirmed to be intended to be lethal by the way, that was also just Rook's assumption, one Vil, a character who already struggles to communicate with people especially if he feels they see him negatively, didn't fight but also didn't confirm). I also take issue with the claim that it cannot be abuse just because Vil respects Rook. Even ignoring how often irl abuse victims don't realize they're abused because of their warped perception of their abuser, we have examples of this even in twst. Mrs. Rosehearts wasn't a wonderful mother who suddenly became abusive when Riddle stopped making excuses for her behavior. Abuse doesn't stop being abuse because it isn't recognized and to a lot of us gaslighting victims, Rook's behavior is spot-on with things we went through, hence why we call him a gaslighter. Oh and a small note before anyone claims anything, according to multiple psychology sources, gaslighters aren't always aware of what they are doing. Me and others calling Rook a gaslighter don't automatically mean he WANTS to be evil toward Vil. Some of us see it that way while others don't but regardless, acting as though this headcanon comes from one single out of context line and not from a pattern of behavior Rook consistently displays feels very disingenuous and like it's trying to make us seem crazy when all we try to do is explain why we may not be comfortable with a character.

You don’t have to explain why you are uncomfortable. Neither me nor that Anon have made any judgment about it, and frankly, who cares why you don’t like a character. You don’t need reasoning for not liking him, a person might just think Rook’s hair is stupid or dislike characters with green eyes, and that’s enough. None of this makes you crazy, and this isn’t that deep.

If you look at the first ever reply I did on this topic, I said it then (and after that I said it time and time again):

Based on what you’re saying, your opinion is influenced by your past experiences. Which isn’t a bad thing, we all have our own biases, but it makes a proper discussion quite difficult, especially when there is trauma involved.

Because we love Rook as much as you hate him, and I fail to see why we should align our feelings and experiences with yours. This is not a public debate platform, this is not a discord server, this is my personal blog, and my opinion is always going to be prevalent here. I usually try to take the position “agree to disagree” also to avoid situations like this.

You’ve said that you just want to explain and share your side of the conversation, but in that case claiming that the other side’s opinion is dangerous or uninformed is a pretty shitty thing to do, just as it is shitty to completely ignore the points they were trying to make and put words into their mouths instead, alluding to them victimblaming and dismissing real victim’s struggles. What I’ve said multiple times at this point is that Rook Hunt isn’t a gaslighter. Not that it’s Vil’s fault for trusting him, not that if Vil respects him that it automatically makes Rook not an abuser (Anon didn’t say that either). Not that Rook is always right. Not that Rook has never hurt Vil. I’ve even said that we can’t say for certain that Rook’s brutal honesty is always helpful and doesn’t affect Vil in any bad way:

Maybe sometimes it would be better for Vil to just take it easy and relax instead of perfecting every single thing, but this isn’t what Vil wants for himself: he doesn’t want to be pampered, he wants to be appreciated for his hard work.

Just because this is what Vil wants doesn’t mean that this is what’s best for him. I still don’t think that it makes Rook an abuser, by the way (which is also a completely different topic from Rook being a gaslighter). You have ignored every single argument I’ve made in all of my previous replies, which is fine, but then I don’t really see the reason for you to explain yourself if you’re not even going to listen to me again.

No one tried to paint you as crazy, and even if I or Anon thought that this entire argument (argument, not you) was weird, it doesn’t concern you. If Rook Hunt hurts you, why would you even interact with any discourse about him? Why did that very first Anon confront me for not calling Rook a gaslighter, if all you (collective “you”) people wish for is to explain your point of view? I am not an emperor of Rook Hunt land; I am a rando writing hcs about dicks on the internet. And Rook Hunt is a character of a gacha game.

I’ll repost another thing from my very first reply.

Just ignore shit that you don’t like because while it might be traumatic for you, to us it might be one of the few things that bring us happiness.

Please read this part carefully. And respectfully, let’s stop this. I don’t agree with any of your points/interpretation, I find them drastically off from Rook’s actual characterisation to the point that it’s almost baffling at times (I have read all the scenes you’ve mentioned and I disagree with your every single point.) And guess what, it’s absolutely okay. Like I, wow, have said time and time again, we all have our biases. Yours happens to be to read everything that Rook does in the worst way possible and to compare him to Riddle’s mom. Mine happens to be very different, and insisting on me just missing the point or thinking or feeling the wrong way or not being educated enough about gaslighting or abuse (something that I also experienced, and you are aware of that) feels pretty disrespectful. This isn’t what I meant when I said that I don’t mind a civil conversation. This doesn’t feel like a conversation. Because, you know…

Even if it feels completely off to how I view it, I can appreciate or at least respect it if they respect the way I do things. And don’t imply that I don’t get it or I am stupid.

I won’t write an actual rebuttal to your points because one thing hasn’t changed from my very first post about the topic: this isn’t about Rook Hunt. And I don’t want to discuss the so-called danger of fictional tropes that don’t even apply to the character in my view. Also, stating that the way I headcanon a character’s behaviour and share my thoughts with others is dangerous to other people in real life (because someone is going to take my opinion as a course for their actions, I guess?) is also ironic. Why isn’t me drawing problematic ships or writing dark headcanons dangerous then? It’s the same logic, I have heard this argument multiple times, and I fail to see how it’s different right now. Rook Hunt is not a real person, we see his interactions with others from all points of view, he has actual writers with their own intentions (none of which is to portray Rook as a terrible, atrocious person, he’s not even 100% a villain, he’s a character that helped the princess in the original story, and I believe that his writers keep that in mind, ffs), and it is drastically different from the way I would treat this situation in real life: exactly because I would have to base my opinion on the lack of other perspectives and not witnessing the situations myself, and a bunch of other factors connected to the fact that this is real life, and in those cases I would prioritise the victim of someone’s suspicious actions. What a surprise.

I also believe that Katsu and I did our part so you could easily ignore our Rook-centric posts that make you uncomfortable. So please do your part and don’t interact with our Rook-centric posts (this applies to anyone who is deeply uncomfortable with this character or any other character, for that matter). Coming up with ways to mention Rook in posts so it's easily mutable for you and only you and still getting treated like an abuse apologist who spreads dangerous ideas makes one feel kind of silly for ever trying to be considerate and respectful. You’ll have to come up with ways to deal with that on your own now. This conversation is over.

This is also the last post I’m writing on this topic, every follow-up ask or comment about it (from anyone, anywhere) won’t be replied to.

[a-world-in-grey]

Take My Breath au - Roadtrip (Cleigne II)

-Sola doesn’t immediately leave the Tempering Grounds. No. She takes the time to sit and see to her weapons and to Genji, cleaning and sharpening them and using the repetitive motions to think.

-Noctis will be the Last of Somnus’ Line. Which means Sola will die first, likely at Noctis’ blade, either before or after he slays the Accursed. Their Uncle, no matter how many generations removed.

-And that, Sola will not stand for. If only Sola were to die, she could accept that. But to make her brother kill her? Heap the grief and guilt of Kinslaying upon his shoulders twice over before he himself is sacrificed?

-No.

-You can take my heart, you can take my breath, Sola silently swears to the Astrals, gripping Genji in a white knuckled hand, when you pry it from my cold dead chest!

-She breathes sharply through her rage. Answers first, then plan. Storing Genji in her armiger, Sola pauses to look at the remnants of Gilgamesh’s armor, the Immortal having faded to dust. After a moment, she takes the silver mask and stores that in her armiger as well. She’d leave the decision of funerary rites to Gladio, as Gilgamesh’s descendant and head of the Amicitia.

-The formal words come easily, beseeching for a meeting with the Messenger Gentiana. The threat of drastic action should Gentiana no answer immediately is far less formal and in no way reverent. Sola finds she doesn’t care anymore.

-There is a moment of dead silence, but then magic blooms across her senses like frost abd Gentiana’s voice sounds from behind her, chiding underneath the formal words of greeting.

-Sola asks Gentiana if what Gilgamesh said is true. Of the Healer King and the Accursed. Of Bahamut cursing Noctis to be the Last of his Line, to slay his sibling just as the Founder did. Gentiana tells Sola that she is not of Somnus’ Line, not since she removed herself after Noctis’ birth. By magic and oath, the Chosen King has no sister.

-From the smile curling Gentiana’s lips, Sola realizes that it wasn’t mere chance that Sola stumbled across that specific oath. But Sola doesn’t let herself think on that for longer than a moment - doesn’t let herself wonder how long Gentiana has been looking in on Noctis’ life - because Gentiana hasn’t said anything to deny the rest of what Gilgamesh said. And Sola realizes that it must be true.

-Sola tells Gentiana that she will not let them sacrifice Noctis. Gentiana’s smile disappears as she tells Sola that Noctis already swore to Lunafreya that he would defeat the Starscourge. Sola snarls at Gentiana, because the only time Noctis met Luna was when he was eight, and a child could not be held to a binding oath! Not even Sola’s oath of abdication! She’d reaffirmed it when she swore her Sword Oaths at her coming of age!

-Sola tells Gentiana she’s already broken one curse, pointing at Gilgamesh’s armor, and reiterates what she told the Lucii. If she will not aid Sola, then stay out of her way.

-She braces herself, prepared to defend against divine fury over Sola’s defiance and disrespect. The Astrals are not known for being kind, and Sola doubts Gentiana is any different, no matter how amusedly fond the Messenger is of Noctis.

-But Gentiana merely smiles and tilts her head, pointing out the scourge racing through Sola’s body, and the very limited time she has left. And if Sola didn’t know better, she’d swear Gentiana is offering Sola a challenge.

-Well, real or not, Sola’s never backed down from a challenge. Sola bares her teeth and tells Gentiana that she’s not dead yet. Until then, she has a threat to her King to cut down.

-And Gentiana laughs. Light and airy, wind scattering snow into flurries across the sunlit ice. Gentiana tells Sola to seek out the Infernian who lingers in shadow. Remind him of the sun’s warmth, and perhaps he will aid her. And the Messenger disappers, leaving Sola with the distant death knell and half a hope.

-Sola squares her shoulders and firms her resolve. Half a hope? She’s worked on less before.

-It’s not quite dawn when she leaves the Tempering Grounds. By the time she reaches the haven Cor has taken shelter at, her uncle has risen with the sun, packing up camp to wait for her, no doubt. Ice blue eyes rake over her appearance, and Sola knows she’s a mess, covered in dust and grime. But she’s uninjured, and her clothes are intact. Which reassures Uncle Cor enough for him to finish packing his things before he wraps her in a tight hug, fine tremors of relief in his arms that Sola doesn’t comment on.

-He asks how it went, and Sola produces Genji from her armiger. And Cor smiles, a small proud thing that warms Sola and she can’t help but grin back. Because even with everything, she defeated Gilgamesh. The oath she swore at ten, she kept.

-She splits from Cor there, and heads to Lestallum. And she is so thankful for keeping her motorcycle in her armiger, or she’d be walking. Instead, she gets there in time to take a shower and have a barber even out the hack jobs on her hair from Cor and Gilgamesh before Cindy calls her about helping out Holly at the EXINERIS plant.

-Sola agrees to help, because daemons in the power plant is all kinds of bad, and she’s surprised when later she’s joined by another Hunter. Over the radio she can’t tell who it is, but then the guy whips out magic and the Royal Arms and Sola immediately knows it’s her little brother inside the protective suit.

-Something Sola teases Noctis about, after they’re safely out of the plant. The Chocobros are ecstatic to see Sola, though Prompto asks about the haircut. Sola forgives the curiosity, because her hair used to reach her waist, but now barely brushes her shoulders. And well, Sola may or may not take amusement in the faces they pull when she mentions having to even out the damage that Gilgamesh did.

-That she makes not only Gladio but also Ignis choke on their drinks over dinner? Priceless. Sola admires the spit takes even as Prompto ducks beneath the table and Noctis doesn’t, squawking in offense as he mops up his shirt. Prompto snaps a picture of Noctis’ wet cat glower and tosses Sola the camera for safe keeping when Noctis lunges for it.

-It’s not until they’re back at Cape Caem that Sola tells them what Gilgamesh told her. All of it. It takes Sola that long to decide whether or not to tell them at all, because she knows it will only hurt. She would spare them the pain, if she could. But that would put them in danger, and Sola refuses to allow that.

-So she tells them. Everything. The Prophecy, Somnus and the Accursed, the Starscourge and her own infection.

-Noctis yells at her. Shouts himself hoarse and then wraps her in a hug and buries his face into her shoulder so she won’t see him cry. Gladio storms out of the small house, furious at Sola and furious at himself. Prompto... looks lost, as though he’s trying and failing to imagine Sola not being there for them. Ignis sighs, but says that he’d suspected something was wrong, but he didn’t know what and didn’t want to assume with so little information.

-And Ignis grills Sola for the information she knows, from Gilgamesh and Gentiana. Sola tells him everything, but she does leave out that she is no longer considered part of Somnus’ Line. She knows Noctis, because her brother is so much like her. Between his life and everyone else, Noctis will sacrifice his in a heartbeat. But put the life of a loved one on the line? Her little brother will fight the heavens to save them.

-Sola will not let her little brother give up his life.

-My heart. My breath. Mine.

-Thank everything for Ignis’ genius. Because Ignis already has half a dozen plans and possibilities to investigate, starting with investigating the Rock of Ravatogh for Ifrit when they seek out the royal tomb there. Sola points Ignis towards Iris, and tells him to contact Axis and Talcott - Sola asked Jared to research the Starscourge before his death. And Sola highly doubts her Glaives actually followed her orders not to split their resources to investigate. She knows her idiots. That gets a snort out of Noctis, and a thoughtful hum from Ignis.

-The drive to Ravatogh is somewhat tense, given the way Gladio is still pissed off at Sola. Sola tells the others to keep out of it, because this is something between her and Gladio. They aren’t camping at havens anymore - with Sola’s admittance that she can’t, everyone is willing to shell out the gil for caravans and motels even though they need to pick up a few more hunts to compensate.

-Ravatogh turns out to be a bust. Ifrit isn’t there, Sola cannot feel the well of magic that marked Titan’s resting spot beneath the Disk of Cauthess. They get the Royal Arm though, so it’s not a complete waste. And Ignis and Sola theorize that Niflheim may have found Ifrit’s body in the years they occupied the region. Given Gentiana saying that Ifrit ‘lingered in shadow’, and the rumors that Shiva attacked Gralea several years back... Sola states it’s possible Niflheim demonified the Astral.

-Ignis is skeptical. There’s no real evidence, but Sola cannot shake the idea. She argues that Gentiana said she’d need to remind Ifrit of ‘the sun’s warmth,’ and the scourge... it’s cold. The chill of no sun, no light or warmth, no life. And it’s the gold magic that allows her to heal, to absorb the scourge from others. Sola grimly tells Ignis that Niflheim has been experimenting on daemons for years now - the Kingsglaive fights their daemons all the time, and those are the only daemons she’s ever seen out during the day, out in the sun-

-Sola cuts herself off at that, thinking hard. This is important. She can feel it. But why do daemons avoid the daytime, avoid the sun?

-She glances at her hands. Considers the leather covered skin. Considers the near instant feeling of sunburn ever since the infection set in, the way she cannot bear sunlight without pain.

-And wonders.

-But as Ignis reminded her, Luna was the Oracle. She could heal her without resorting to desperate measures. And Luna might even have more information needed to track down the Infernian, or could contact the Astrals to get the information they needed.

-Sola’s been watching Gladio. She knows he has a temper as bad as her own. That Gladio’s kept a lid on it for the oast few days? Impressive. But it won’t last.

-So when they finish dinner the night before they plan to depart from Cape Caem, Sola follows when Gladio stomps out of the house. A glance at Noctis has her little brother nodding and keeping the others back. Good, Noctis understands that this is a personal problem between her and Gladio.

-Sola finds Gladio running through sword katas. They argue, Gladio not wanting to talk and Sola refusing to leave it alone. Because Gladio’s firmly set the issue aside so it doesn’t interfere with his duties as Shield, but Sola knows that Gladio’s hurting and no matter how much Gladio buries it, it won’t stop hurting.

-Finally, Gladio asks why Sola asked him to protect Noctis. And Sola tells him that Gladio is Noctis’ Shield. Of anyone, Sola trusts Gladio the most in that position. Gladio’s snort is bitter and disbelieving. He tells her that he’s some Shield. How can he protect Noctis from everything Niflheim and the Astrals are going to throw at them if he can’t even protect Noctis from Sola?!

-And Sola abruptly understands. None of the others will consider it, but Sola and Gladio know that they might not find a cure in time. And if they don’t... If Sola turns into a daemon, Noctis won’t be able to strike her down. No matter how dangerous Sola is, because Sola knows if she turns, it’ll be nothing less than a powerful daemon.

-Sola lets her glaive fall into her grasp and tells Gladio to fight her. He’s worried he cannot protect Noctis? Then prove to her that he can, or Sola will relieve Gladio of his duty here and now. And Sola doesn’t have to tell Gladio that by ‘relieve’, she means kill. The steel in her tone and the hard edge to gold flecked blue eyes are hint enough.

-Both of them need to know that if Sola turns, Gladio will be able to kill her. Because if he can’t, the others won’t stand a chance. And Noctis will die.

-Sola doesn’t hold back. Gladio needs this, even more than Sola needed to fight Gilgamesh. And so Sola throws herself at Gladio with lethal intent, and doesn’t shy away when Gladio matches her blow for blow. She doesn’t stop when she grazes Gladio’s head, doesn’t stop until Gladio manages to get behind her and land a blow across her back, cutting from hip the opposite shoulder, even as she tries to dodge.

-Sola hits the ground hard, and doesn’t get back up. Feels her magic begin to knit the wound back together, a wound that would be lethal to anything else. And she cannot stop the laughter that spills from her chest. Cannot stop the grin as she looks up at Gladio’s wide amber gaze, his face pale with horror.

-Sola holds out her hand, and yanks Gladio down to the ground when he takes it. He hits the dround beside her with a grunt. But his irritation and horror fade when Sola congratulates him on beating her. When she tells him just how she beat Gilgamesh. Not through martial might, but through words. By leveraging Gilgamesh’s grief into getting the First Shield to surrender to execution. Sola admits to Gladio that she’s not sure she could have beaten Gilgamesh through strength of arms. But Gladio? She has no doubt he would’ve kicked Gilgamesh into next week.

-Magic finished knitting her spine back together, Sola sits up and calls Genji to her hand. She presents it to Gladio, and she somberly tells Gladio that he has no need to doubt his ability to defend Noctis. Gladio takes the sword, pride warring with guilt. Sola nudges him and sternly tells him that she tried to decapitate him three times. Nearly would have if he hadn’t ducked, and it’s a damn good thing he has a thick skull.

-Gladio grimaces at the reminder, feeling the deep gash she scored across his forehead. He says that the others aren’t going to be happy. Sola winces and weakly suggests not telling them. She doesn’t have to see Gladio’s skeptical look go know her suggestion won’t work. They’ll take one look at the two of them and know. She holds a fist out and says that at least they can face their doom together. And finally, Gladio starts snickering. He suggests they clean up first. Might help.

-Gladio’s right. They get back, and it only takes one look at the new scar on Gladio’s forehead for everyone to start fussing. Prompto asks what happened, and Gladio has a moment to see the smirk on Sola’s face before the redhead nonchalantly shrugs and says they beat the crap out of each other. In the dead silence that follows, Gladio manages to facepalm before Ignis explodes, scolding both of them.

-Noctis frowns, before he cuts off Ignis’ lecture with a flare of magic, and oh boy Sola can sense just how displeased her little brother is. Noctis looks between them and asks if everything has been resolved. Both Sola and Gladio nod, and Noctis purses his lips. He tells them that he expects there will be no repeat of this. His magic flexes, reinforcing the order, and Sola bows her head, murmuring a subdued ‘Yes, Your Majesty,’ alongside Gladio. Because this is not her little brother speaking, but her king.

-Her heart aches. Her little brother is all grown up, and it’s impossible to deny how much he resembles Papa. Especially when he shoulders the authority of his rank. The grief still hurts. The grief will always hurt.

-But as the tension fades and Prompto asks for details of the fight, Sola realizes that for the first time since Papa’s death, she feels hope.

[houseisekai]

House Isekai Primer: Auxiliary Members

House Isekai ARR Masterlist Here

-

They do not directly work for House Isekai and Garreg Mach, but they do often work together to complete a task or to stop a threat that puts all of Fodlan and the Tower in danger.

-

Duvalie (Origin: Trails of Cold Steel II) -

Relations: NOT a Friend(?)

Due to Duvalie's personality quirks, she is very easy to irritate, intentional or not. In part due to her young age, she dislikes being treated like a child. As a knight, she is extremely devoted to her lord, has a strong sense of justice, takes pride in her skills, and does not like incompetent fighters.

She has fought against and alongside the original and new Class VII several times, and no one is quite sure where she stands with them. All they know is that she is completely loyal to her master.

Whether she is a genuine threat or asset to House Isekai remains undecided.

===

Fireteam Alpha-Nine (Origin: Halo 3: ODST)-

Relations: Allies

Fireteam Alpha-Nine consists of four ODST's (Orbital Drop Shock Troopers) from the year 2552. ODST's are an elite unit that specialize in orbital-dropped shock infantry and special warfare tactics. The squad is shown to be highly effective and lethal when carrying out their operations, and their bond appears to be unbreakable.

They are part of the UNSC (United Nations Space Command) and were in the middle of a war with an alien race known as the "Covenant".

They are on relatively good terms with members of House Isekai and Fodlan.

===

Edward Buck "Buck": Squad Leader

Edward Buck is a brave soldier who consistently displays strong leadership skills and perseverance. He is also adept at de-escalating situations and hyper-focusing a team on a task, especially under great duress.

Buck models a classical and robust strategy logic but also can think fast on his feet. He exemplifies a strong team ethic that includes a strong emphasis on the value of each member, even at the expense of the whole team. Despite those traits, his temper can sometimes get the better of him.

He finds House Isekai strange, but gets along well enough with the leaders, though he will never get used to seeing kids fight alongside them, and the fact they sometimes perform better than his own squad.

Buck gets along with Rean, Kazuma, Jean, Kairos, Kurt, and Sitri the most.

===

Taylor Henry Miles "Dutch": Heavy Weapons Specialist

Though Miles takes his occupation and duty very seriously, he is characterized by boisterous remarks and quips during combat.

Miles is religious, a world view he adopted during his studies in university, though he does not appear to take his faith with particular seriousness; he is known to occasionally "paraphrase" the Bible in a lighthearted manner.

Ignoring the fact he was thrown into another world with his squad, he doesn't find them too odd, and gets along great with both staff and students, acting as a "big brother" to everyone, according to Towa.

He gets along with Recette, Towa, Ash, Stefan, and Helena the most.

===

Kojo Agu "Romeo": Sharpshooter

Agu is shown interacting aggressively or abrasively with almost every squad member, as they will tell him to show some respect. He is good friends with Miles. He is a consummate combatant but also sees himself as something of a ladies' man, hence his nickname "Romeo".

In his old unit, Agu racked-up multiple code of conduct violations, any one of which should have resulted in demotion—or worse. However, he was kept because the UNSC were running out of battle tested snipers, and Agu was one of the best.

He does not get along with many of House Isekai's members, most notably being Kazuma, Jean, Kaeya, and Aigis. This fact doesn't particularly bother him, simply just wanting to leave Fodlan.

===

Michael Crespo "Mickey": Demolitions Specialist

Being an ODST was Crespo's favorite of the military positions in which he had served as of 2552. Crespo is highly creative, a risk-taker, and a daredevil.

Crespo had been a well trained pilot before becoming an ODST.

Crespo finds everything about House Isekai and Fodlan strange, but is excited at the prospect of finding new ways to make things explode, eyeing the Soldats and Knights in particular.

He gets along with Astrid, Kaeya, Musse, Diluc, and Amber the most.

[bbq-hawks-wings]

BBQ gripes about fanon Hawks

Not even gonna put this in the character tags aside from the spoiler one I use just for the anime-onlies on my blog. I'm salty. I just wanna vent. I want to keep the general character tags fun because it was awful when I went looking for new content and found so much Not Fun material a while back; and I don’t want to become what I hate. Basic point - my blog, my vent, and unless it’s reblogged (which you are welcome to if you like) this post dies here.

Please know this isn't a callout post or me claiming that others are being fans of Hawks "wrong" because they disagree with me. I am a huge proponent that (with very few exceptions) fiction and fandom should be free to be enjoyed, reinterpreted, or otherwise indulged in however the individual fan prefers; and if I don't like it, I let them have their space and go do my thing elsewhere and leave them alone (hence why this not going in character tags). I just have been annoyed with the rampant mangling of Hawks' canon  personality/characterization - that is, confusing common fanon interpretations of him with how he’s actually written/portrayed and then getting angry (like, actually-angry-spilling-into-publicly-dragging-real-people, not just disappointed) when he acts like canon Hawks in canon. Non-canon is open season and by and large has my blessing, it’s just frustrating when it gets dragged into discussions about the manga. 

This has been going on a long time, but I just want to get it out of my system in my personal space. All this is, is my "Overthinking Tumblr blogger Shakes Fist at Cloud" moment.

#1 Hawks is a sociopath/unempathetic.

I just... I... You can't be reading the same manga I am if you genuinely come to this conclusion about who he is in canon. A man with nothing to gain by looking like this when considering the depths of the suffering inflicted on others that he bears some amount of responsibility in...

...cannot be called unempathetic.

"But he killed Twice and Best Jeanist!"

Twofold counterargument to this one, starting with BJ - we don't actually know he's dead. There's a body, there's a disappearance, and we have no idea wtf happened, but we also don't know wtf happened. It's drastically ooc for Hawks to murder someone in cold blood. For someone who places emphasis on speed specifically "because when two sides keep fighting and won’t give up, someone eventually has to die" it makes no sense for him to not have had a plan and simply ambush a man in his own home - this goes doubly since he was in contact with the HSPC and had time to "premeditate" anyway.

And as for Twice: Hawks ran out of options. He wanted to detain Twice and keep him from escaping and helping the MLA. He was able to do so when alone, but the moment Dabi cornered him Hawks had a choice to make - probably die in the fight and let Jin go or make absolute certain he can’t and still probably end up dying because he's in bad shape and still probably won't make it out of this, regardless. I don't need to harp on this - it's been said a couple different times now by several people. Even in 266 when Dabi initially ambushes Hawks, Hawks thinks to himself that he’ll carry Jin out of the building to keep himself and Jin safe before Twice retaliated and Dabi literally forces Hawks into a corner.

Jin's loss was a blow, but the chips on the table being wagered are human lives, not feelings. Up until that point, Hawks did everything he could despite the weight of his decision. Human life is human life, and Jin’s life isn’t more important than the may more who will be saved by quashing the MLA’s revolution. Simply equating “could kill someone” with “unempathetic” is fundamentally flawed, and mistaking someone who is pushed to kill despite every attempt to avoid it as unempathetic and even sociopathic has missed the point to the extreme - the mere fact he avoided lethal force for so long alone proves he possesses empathy.

#2 Hawks is a compulsive liar.

He is a good liar, but he does not like lying. He does twist the truth, but always when forced to keep a secret. Even then, his lies are predominantly spun from truth and omitted details instead of outright fabrications. He doesn’t gaslight, and he doesn’t make up stories/details if he can help it.

When Hawks told Endeavor his dreams for the future, that was the truth. When he told him he thought he was cool at the hero billboards, that was the truth.  When he tells Tokoyami to focus on his strengths instead of merely covering his weaknesses to be a better hero, that was the truth. When Tokoyami asks Hawks for his weakness and even why he took him on as an intern in the beginning just to ignore him, he tells him the truth.  When he tells Jin he "doesn't belong in a cage" and that he considers him a good person, that was the truth. When he recognizes he’s profoundly wounded Jin for deceiving him for months, he tells Jin the truth. When confronted by Dabi and he doesn’t need to lie anymore in this fight to the death, he tells him the truth despite not actually needing to in hopes to learn the truth behind Dabi and Shigaraki.

I don't have a better segue, so I'll just mention that a lot of folks who believe this also believe the next point.

#3 Hawks is unapologetically emotionally manipulative.

The context makes a huge difference and we need to look at when and why he manipulates others as well as the fact that he does.

At the hero billboards, Hawks plays the heroes on stage as well as the crowd. He's trying to shift the mindset of, "oh yeah, just another hero ranking" to "wake up, mf's, things are changing and you better be ready to change, too!" Rocking the boat is a huge no-no in Japan. Despite being part of his “persona” there is still real social risk involved with this move but one that he deems necessary to turn heads and get gears turning. This is not just an elaborate ploy to get under Endeavor’s skin, but an effort to reach a wider audience while he has them captive.

He does use the public crowd around him and Endeavor before the Hood fight as an excuse for its appearance, but the original intent was to mentally prepare Endeavor for what was potentially (and proved to be) the fight of his life without outright telling him so he could maintain his undercover status. When he realizes he’s part of the reason for Endeavor’s permanent scar and life-threatening injuries, he feels remorse.

He lies to Jin to get information out of him, but linking back to #2, when calls Jin a good person and offers him a way out, he’s telling the truth. He does feel guilt for having to manipulate an otherwise well-meaning person and betraying them, especially given his long-running history of being used and the ongoing issues he suffers from because of it.

When he meets up again with Endeavor to drop his clues about the League’s movements, he squirms when he realizes the interns don’t know him well enough to know he’s blowing smoke because he does NOT want these kids to actually buy what he’s selling. This espionage mission is hard to navigate, and he has to tread carefully lest he setup the dominoes in the wrong places.

This is all to make the point that Hawks is more than capable of emotionally manipulating people, but it’s not in his nature or something he does to any and every person he comes across just because. We haven’t had much opportunity to see him operate outside of the HSPC’s orders which is where the bulk of the instances of his manipulation comes from - those orders requiring him to operate covertly and thus, by nature, necessitate lying, manipulation, and strategically withholding information. 

If anything, when he’s making an appeal to someone else as his own person - not as a hero on a mission- we actually see a level of vulnerability and transparency we don’t otherwise catch.

Though it’s technically canon-adjacent and not necessarily canon in and of itself, in My Hero Academia: Team Up Mission where he works with Bakugo and Midoriya he operates on a level of transparency with them we’re not used to seeing; and my theory is he took it as an opportunity to operate without ulterior motives and build report instead of bucking back against “training up the next generation of heroes” like he initially did with Tokoyami.

Which now actually segues better into the next point.

#4 Hawks never lets people get close to him.

There’s a surprising amount of evidence that Hawks wants the ability to be an open book. Back at Team Up Mission, the restaurant staff note he regularly takes people he likes to their establishment - so we’re basically told outright this is a special place to him reserved for enjoying himself and only people he likes get to share it with him - so we already know what that says about how he sees those two despite their sparse interactions. We already know he’s taken Endeavor there when Endeavor made no move to input as to where he wanted to have the lunch meeting.

Though he kept Tokoyami at arm’s length initially, we have at least three canon instances of him sharing personal interactions with him with other canon-adjacent indications he cares for and values his intern. We’ve readily established that while Endeavor may not consider himself close to Hawks, Hawks does hold Endeavor as near and dear to his heart. While his only mission regarding Twice was to get information out of him, he still made a genuine effort to help and save him because he wanted to and considered him a friend despite the circumstances.

We still don’t know very much of Hawk’s past, his personal relationships outside of work, etc.; but despite the HPSC’s extensive efforts to strip him of his identity he not only possesses a faceted, complicated personality but seems to want to share that with others readily when and in the ways he’s able. Getting into the truly squishy, vulnerable parts of him may take a while, but on a scale of closed to open, he seems to lean towards open.

#5 Hawks is hopelessly in love with Dabi and will abandon everything up to this point for him.

This isn't to throw general DabiHawks shippers under the bus. Most of them know VERY well at this point that canon has sunk that ship, and they're just having fun with it at this point - and you know what, power to you! They look great together! In another life, the character chemistry could have been incredible. There’s a lot of great DabiHawks shipping content I thoroughly enjoy despite not shipping it myself.

It just isn't canon. It never was and never came close. Even now, with the Endeavor reveal being very much imminent, Hawks' view of Dabi is one of a lying, malicious, callous, murderer. Though he’ll likely be crushed at the revelation of what Endeavor’s done, that doesn’t equate to him defecting (especially not immediately) and falling into Dabi’s arms.

And Dabi hates Hawks just as much.

Again, this is not anything against the ship or the shippers - just an annoyance I have with some who were so wrapped up in the ship they were genuinely mad when the ship sank and they dragged that frustration out into the real world against real people when canon didn’t align with fanon. 

Ships are some of the most stupid things to rail against creators and fans over, and the amount of harassment they receive now over shipping has me ripping my hair out when I know it’s a mere fraction of the total pool of shippers who are frothing at the mouth while the rest are super cool and happy doing their own thing and keeping to themselves.

Ship what you want, regardless of “validating evidence” and have fun. Don’t make it others’ problem when it isn’t canonically validated.

#6 Hawks is a dirty cop.

Only half upset with this one because it comes down to the nuance and lack of precise definition of this phrase I have a problem with. Lots of people hate cops for very real, legitimate reasons. Police forces - being a voluntary, government-employed force enforcing government rule - are notoriously prone to corruption of every kind.

It's implied the HPSC is itself corrupt, though to what extent we don't know. (Granted, buying a young child from his family to raise as your personal puppet is pretty high up there.) By continuing to follow orders from the HPSC and not vehemently fighting back, many see him as reinforcing a corrupt institution and at least partially liable for their continued hold on society. 

Fair enough, but... The issue I have with this is it reduces Hawks to his job.

I believe a huge chunk of this take comes from my experience as an armed service member spouse, but it's easy for me to empathize with a guy

Who was promised the moon for himself and his family in exchange for his service not realizing what was actually being asked of him

Is praised outside the organization for "being a hero" and "upholding this country's core values" while first-hand witnessing the corruption of it when inside

Is viewed as a cog valuable only in services rendered instead of being treated like a human by said organization and worked into the ground because of it

Is frustrated by the insistence to keep the status quo instead of improving procedure/infrastructure/environment because egos need to be padded over real, human problems being solved

Has his autonomy or otherwise ability to operate under his own judgement restricted in favor of maintaining organizational control at the cost of effective action

Has DEPENDENTS who rely on his continued work to provide for them and is thus unable to refuse an order, even when it's morally reprehensible and even outright illegal

Whose cries, both those calculated and desperate, to the organization (who have placed themselves as the sole resource he can turn to) for help (even for his own body/mind) fall on deaf ears until he breaks to the point of becoming unusable or dangerous - and even then minimal effort/responsibility is taken in favor of keeping him functioning in the organization as long as possible.

Hawks fights back against the HPSC constantly. He raised concerns over letting civilians suffer to get him in with the League of Villains and then still defied orders by reducing casualties to zero. Despite orders to keep his mission top secret, he's informed Endeavor of his motives/movements independently from the rest of the heroes. He had long refused to take an intern (read: fresh meat for the machine) to train until this year, and even then sought to minimize his encouragement of Tokoyami for as long as possible until he realized Tokoyami was made of the real mettle people needed in a hero and not just another youngster endangering himself on a pipe dream.

He even takes initiative to keep his personal to-do list from the HPSC to a minimum by squashing problems before they come knocking asking him to fix it for them. He knew of the League of Villains and anticipated the escalation of their movements immediately after the USJ incident as well as has a network of informants and connections with local police forces to stay in the know.

His methods for apprehension of criminals are, and continue to be, to react and detain them so quickly they can't retaliate or endanger others in the struggle, thus minimizing human loss and injury despite the insinuation the HPSC has told him that gloves are off in the current situation.

He might be "a cop" depending on the definition we go with, but he isn't a dirty cop. He doesn't plant evidence. He doesn't shoot first and ask questions later. He doesn't blindly take orders. He largely doesn't see "villains" as dirt under his shoe but as people pushed to extremes. He's a morally convicted individual trying to rebel within the system instead of tearing it down outright. He may be wrong in the assumption, but he genuinely believes he can do more on the inside of the system than outside.

#7 Hawks is a manwhore.

Ok, this one is not serious and actually just to end this all on a lighter note after ranting until I'm blue in the face. 

I'm 100% guilty of this myself. Something about that chicken makes me and many others salivate - either for themselves or to watch him with someone else. We love dressing him up slutty, portray him as flirting unashamedly, and placing him in as many overtly sexual scenarios possible.

The best part about all of it, though, is that it’s almost the exact opposite of how he dresses/conducts himself in canon. His clothes are loose fitting and high-coverage. He’s personable, but never gives any indication he’s romantically/sexually involved or interested in anyone. The asscourse is real only because we cannot confirm either way due to his baggy clothes. His overall figure/body shape has been hinted at, but only recently confirmed; and his jacket had to be literally be burned off to get a good look at the pattern of his shirt under it!

~~~~~~~

And with that, I release the frustration and move on. 

Enjoy fanon as much as you like - even I do! Just be aware of where canon and fanon diverge, and definitely don’t take the difference out on real people. Please also be aware of how others hold their favorite characters dear before flooding the general tags with negativity and creating a hostile environment for them. People latch onto their “comfort characters” for a plethora of reasons, and when they lose that character to the plot, the fandom, or otherwise, they should still be allowed to grieve and celebrate what they had in a safe environment. 

Retaliation in response to others coming against your favorite is also not acceptable behavior. It sucks, but the most mature thing to do is step away from the general fandom, stick to blogs/spaces you know are safe, and let the storm blow over. Comfort characters do not justify mistreating real people no matter how much they may mean to you.

When “canon gets it wrong” is where fanfiction and pockets of the fandom community comes into play. Leave those people alone and let them be. For those who aligned themselves with canon, they are not free game to take personal frustrations out on. Leave those people alone and let them be. Unfollow the people/tags you need to for your own sake and others’, and the fandom will be a better place all around over time. Venting belongs in controlled spaces away from the rest of the fandom and with enough warning for those who not only don’t want to endure it but who for their own safety shouldn’t.

Fandom is a community, and healthy communities do not endorse members lashing out when they don’t get their way.

[peterstanslizzie]

Reacting To: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (Season 3 Episode 6)

Mini-rant: Honestly, these guys were Grade A villains in this episode. Though, the same can’t be said about Kipo as she was really reckless with her decisions, which led to disastrous results. 

Episode Title: It’s a Trap

Spoiler Warning: Kindly proceed if you’ve already seen the episode or are able to handle spoilers

I actually low-key dig this song 

1. In this episode, Kipo, Benson, Wolf, Dave and Mandu reunite with the Chevre sisters from season 2. They are there to get them to safety since Emilia is on her way. But before agreeing to come along, they want to do one of their cheese chants just to check things out first. They gathered from the cheese that Kipo needs to fight her loved ones in order to save the world. Come again? I’m guessing it’s the other humans and not her family/friends, right?

2. Kipo carries everyone, including the sisters’ boars, Bornak and Webber back to Timbercat Village. In order to pass through the death ivy wall, they need to say the secret password, which is “open the wall” but in bee language. I hope Kipo/Song taught everyone how to say it. 

3. Dave and Benson proceed to give the sisters, whom I completely forgot they’re blind, a tour of the village. Hence, why they’re holding each other hands whilst walking. 

It seems like Zane has been getting along well with Label (I also had forgotten her name, my bad). 

4. The Newton Wolves and the Scooter Skunks also arrive at the village to seek protection. If it were me, I would have forbidden them from entering. They have been nothing but mean and uncooperative this entire time. But that’s just me. 

5. Dr. Emilia and the other humans arrive just in front of the death ivy wall. I know the ivy is supposed to keep away the humans but shouldn’t Kipo be concerned that the ivy can kill them? I’m sure besides Dr. Emilia and maybe Greta, she doesn’t want the others to get hurt; Maybe Emilia already knows the ivy is lethal. 

6. HMUFA’s plan now is to wait it out until Emilia gets bored and stops bothering them. Like that’s going to happen. So, we then hear a cat alarm going off to notify everyone that Emilia and her army are here. Asher notices that they and Dahlia’s parents, Lily and Earl have also arrived and they become worried. Why would Kipo think that none of the other humans would come with Emilia? 

Side note: It’s cool that we got introduced to Asher and Dahlia’s parents in season 3 episode 2 without actually knowing they are their parents.

7. This is one of the few times I really feel like Kipo and the others didn’t think through their plan fully. And here goes Kipo warning everyone, including Emilia that they’re heading towards death ivy. So much for their plan. Lily and Earl realize that it’s Kipo’s voice and they tell them they’re going to save them. I wonder what Asher and Dahlia are thinking. I’m sure they’re feeling conflicted now.

8. Emilia isn’t going to let some ivy prevent her from getting in and curing the mutes and she comes up with a plan to get through the wall. Kipo and the rest of the alliance are forced to come up with a plan B because Good Billions estimates that it will take about 2 hours for the humans to break in. The mutes want to fight the humans but Kipo wants to figure out another way to solve this.

9. She notice Zane and Label interacting with each other and I thought she was gonna get Zane to try and reason with the rest of the humans to be like ,”Hey guys, the mutes aren’t bad like we thought”. But instead, she wants to set traps for the humans since seeing Zane locked up in a cage gave her that idea lol. The Chevre sisters think that what Kipo is doing is pointless because her so-called destiny is to fight her people. Well, can’t the people is this case just be Emilia and Greta? 

Dave and Benson are always getting into a bunch of mess lol

10. Despite some hesitation from the other mutes, they all agree to follow Kipo and set traps for the humans, which involves nets. 

11. Meanwhile, the humans are still at it trying to get through the wall by removing the death ivy little by little using tree branches. That seems very inefficient though. Not to mention dangerous. Where is Hoag’s daughter, Doag though? I guess the kids are left behind on the ship. 

12. Kipo is also getting Scarlemagne involved with their plan. I just hope that he’s trustworthy. I still think that there’s a slight chance for him to double cross everyone. 

13. Both Lily and Earl are starting to question Dr. Emilia’s intentions, especially after witnessing what she did to Margot and her brother in the previous episode. Ooo, I think they might ditch Emilia soon. 

14. HMUFA’s traps are already set up and it’s good timing because the humans already made it to the other side of the wall. A few of the humans fall into some of the traps laid on the ground. I’m glad Lily and Earl got trapped early so they won’t possibly get hurt later. HMUFA commences with phase 2, which is to lure them into the village’s meeting area and Scarlemagne scaring them into a trap. Scarlemagne will definitely make most of the humans squirm lol. 

15. Phase 3 has now commenced as we see those giant yarn balls swinging towards them and knocking them off the platform one by one. By the way, Greta let Zane out of his cell only for the two of them to be knocked off as well. 

16. Kipo then leads Emilia in a trap, where she gets locked in one of the mute glass cages. So, is this it? The end? What can the humans do to get out of this? Hmm, but where is Hoag anyway?

17. I guess it isn’t over. Woah, is Greta that strong? Dayumm. She manages to set herself free from her restraints and she easily walks over to Emilia’s glass cell to bail her out too? WHAT!? Why isn’t anyone guarding the cell? And why did Kipo have to leave her unattended. This doesn’t make sense. Contingencies guys! Kipo’s the worst leader ever. It’s so frustrating that she’s always leaving her guard down. 

18. Asher and Dahlia run over to their parents to get them out. Lily and Earl see Molly running towards them and they try to shoot at her but fortunately, she only came to rescue the kids from the falling death ivy. Lily and Earl sees this and because of that, they now believe the mutes are good and they drop their weapons.

I’m gonna get nightmares lol

19. Honestly, what on Earth is Kipo doing? She should be monitoring Emilia this whole time but instead, she’s now trying to make peace with the humans. Just do that later, c’mon!!! We then see the remainder of the humans getting trapped. However, Benson and the others go to Kipo and warn her that Greta is super strong and she managed to set herself free...and Emilia too:

Never underestimate them

20. We then see Hoag shooting a cure dart at Good Billions but thanks to the bravery of Bad Billions, he takes the shot for him. Oh no, the mutes are dropping like flies: Wheels then gets shot:

“I can feel my mind fading...like a dying star” :’(

Followed by Wheels

and Brad

Label nearly got shot but Zane actually saved her!!! There’s good in him after all! 

and Camille falls victim too

21. But wow, the background music is really adding to the sadness of everything that’s going on. Kipo is distraught from seeing all of this taking place right before her eyes. She gets angry and transforms into her full Mega Jaguar form. I guess that’s where the goats’ prophecy comes in because she starts attacking her people.

22. Emilia shoots a dart at her and it lands but it doesn’t seem to affect Kipo at all because Kipo’s DNA was used in making the cure and so, it doesn’t do anything to Kipo biologically. She’s basically immune. The humans then all proceed to retreat. What about you guys capture them for real this time instead of letting them run away and giving them the chance to strike back once again.

This. Is. So. Sad.

23. Kipo feels guilty about what has occurred because had she didn’t go against her fate as stated by the cheese, probably none of this would have happened. So, she’s now going to fix this. Well, you better...

24. Hope you all enjoyed my review of episode 6. Stay tuned tomorrow for when I will be posting my review of episode 7. Thanks for all your support. Bye!

[indulgentia]

█   ＢＡＳＩＣ   ＩＮＦＯ :

Nᴀᴍᴇ:  KongQue Shen  ( 孔雀神 )

Aʟɪᴀꜱ:  Lord Shen

Aɢᴇ:  +30 years old

Bɪʀᴛʜ ᴅᴀᴛᴇ:  Unknown  ( Capricorn )

Bɪʀᴛʜᴩʟᴀᴄᴇ:  Gongmen City, Southern China

Sᴩᴇᴄɪᴇꜱ:  Human  ( Peacock )

Gᴇɴᴅᴇʀ:  Cisgender Male

Oʀɪᴇɴᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ:  Asexual  /  Aromantic

Oᴄᴄᴜᴩᴀᴛɪᴏɴ:  Lord of Gongmen City

Aʟɪɢɴᴍᴇɴᴛ:  Neutral Evil

MBTI ᴛyᴩᴇ:  ENTJ  ( Commander ) ⠀ ⠀

⠀ █   ＰＨＹＳＩＣＡＬ   ＴＲＡＩＴＳ :

Eyᴇ ᴄᴏʟᴏᴜʀ:  Obsidian with hints of red

Hᴀɪʀ ᴄᴏʟᴏᴜʀ:  Silver White

Hᴇɪɢʜᴛ:  191 cm  (6′3′’) 

Bᴏᴅy ʙᴜɪʟᴅ:  Lean build

Nᴏᴛᴀʙʟᴇ ᴩʜyꜱɪᴄᴀʟ ᴛʀᴀɪᴛꜱ:  striking silhouette in any attire, especially when he walks, usually wearing clothes with predominant shades of white, silver and red. ⠀

⠀ █   ＡＢＩＬＩＴＩＥＳ :

Mᴀʀᴛɪᴀʟ ᴀʀᴛꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ʜᴀɴᴅ ᴛᴏ ʜᴀɴᴅ ᴄᴏᴍʙᴀᴛ:  Having been trained by a considerable amount of different tutors, Lord Shen possesses a vast knowledge of various martial arts as well as self-defense techniques. Shen's fighting style shares similar qualities with "Cai Li Fo", a Chinese martial art that uses a metal fan for defensive and distraction purposes.

Tᴀᴄᴛɪᴄᴀʟ ᴀɴᴅ ꜱᴛʀᴀᴛᴇɢɪᴄ ᴩʟᴀɴɴɪɴɢ: Strategic studies were not left out of his learning, hence she also has a highly satisfactory tactical reasoning.

Pᴏʟɪᴛɪᴄᴀʟ ʟᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ:  As part of his obsession for power, his efforts not only sharpened his wits in crafting weapons, but also in tactics, strategy and political affairs, making him a great master planner and conflict manager.

Fɪɴᴇꜱꜱᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴡᴇᴀᴩᴏɴꜱ ɪɴ ɢᴇɴᴇʀᴀʟ:   Not only has he effectively grasped the practice of shooting with most of types of firearms, but also with melee and short range weaponing.

Pᴀʀᴋᴏᴜʀ ᴀɴᴅ ꜱᴜʙᴛᴇʀꜰᴜɢᴇ:  He also honed his ability to escape from all kinds of places ( and heights ), using agility and dexterity to get away from obstacles and trouble. ⠀

⠀ █   ＢＲＩＥＦ   ＢＩＯ :

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Shen was born into the noble Peacock ( KongQue / 孔雀 ) family, who had risen to power in Gongmen City and were admired by its people for their invention of fireworks. But when the young Shen began to show interest in making weapons that relied on the fireworks' gunpowder, his loving father and mother grew worried and asked their court soothsayer what his future held. She proclaimed that if he continued with his dark pursuits, he would be defeated by "a warrior of black and white".

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Shen overheard this prophecy and sought to defy it, fearing any obstacles in his plans. Assuming the "warrior of black and white" referred to a specific kind of people in China, Shen led his wolf followers in decimating a farming village, intending to leave none alive. Once the village had been put to the torch, Shen returned home, expecting praise from his parents. However, his parents were horrified at their son's actions and instead banished him from the city forever, with their throne eventually being turned over to the stewardship of Master Thundering Rhino and the Kung Fu Council. Betrayed and furious, Shen left Gongmen City with his followers filled with anger and feeling wronged by his parents, as he considered his actions as bravely defying fate to realize his goals. He swore revenge while promising he would someday return and rule supreme over all of China.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Over twenty years passed. Deep in the mountains, Shen's wolves worked tirelessly to complete their master's ultimate weapon: a cannon that would bring an end to the use of kung fu. When Boss Wolf informed him that they had run out of metal to use as material, Shen ordered him to raid the outlying villages and steal all the metal they could find. While he and a group of wolves set out to do so, Shen decided that it was time to move forward with his plans.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Shen is shown to have been extremely smart, ambitious, dangerous, powerful, and supremely lethal. His past forged in him the notion that he had been wronged, and that the world owed him something, and he sought to do everything in his power to take it. This included inventing a powerful weapon unlike anyone had ever seen before. Shen was intent on using this weapon to wipe out kung fu and take over China.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Shen was shown to be unspeakably ruthless, as he was willing to enact a genocide of an entire tribe in order to smite any chances that one would someday defeat him, as was described in fortune-telling he overheard. Due to being raised as royalty, Shen largely preferred to let his weapons and henchmen do the hard work rather than dealing with such obstacles himself. His ambition to leave his mark on the world drove him to find a dark and lethal potential in his family's celebrated invention of fireworks, and when cast out by his parents for his massacre of people, he swore revenge and aimed to conquer all of China just to prove himself. Shen had little or no regard for the lives or well-being of others, as he blasted a bridge without hesitation, despite there being innocent bystanders on it, and was willing to sacrifice his own troops, which put him in conflict with his most trusted subordinate Boss Wolf, as he refused to kill his warriors of which, in response to this act of disobedience, Shen then struck him down without a second thought.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Shen was also a perfectionist, which was shown when he took over the Tower of the Sacred Flame and fussed over the position of his cannon, saying that he envisioned the moment he would retake Gongmen City for years and that everything had to be exactly as he envisioned it, and when he was rehearsing intimidating lines for his confrontation with his destined foe (which went to waste due to Po's offhanded nature). He also demonstrated a fondness of expensive materials and luxury, as shown when he became infuriated when the Soothsayer chewed off the hem of his robes, which he claimed to be made of "the finest silk in the province".

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Prideful and possibly deranged, Shen seemed to carry little to no remorse for his crimes, and would often boast of his accomplishments. He was also shown to be sadistic, as seen when confronting the Kung Fu Council, he gleefully stated that his cannon was a "parting gift" that would part them; "part of you here, part of you there, part of you way over there staining the wall!" showing he was rather bloodthirsty. He also took pleasure in telling Po that his parents didn't love him while taking advantage of the panda's pain in the process. This cruelty likely stemmed from Shen's conviction that his parents hated him, which was forged in his mind when they banished him years ago. Shen's bitterness against his parents went as far as too insulting his father's memory by throwing his throne out the window and replacing it with his cannon, even after commenting that he had fond memories of playing around it as a child.

[landeg]

31 Days of Apex: A Retrospection

I participated in the incredible #31DaysOfApex challenge hosted on Twitter, where fans created new content for every day of July based on a one-word prompt. I’ve signed up for/started lots of similar challenges in the past but always ended up having to drop out or trail off before the end... but this time, I managed to complete something for every day of the challenge!

My only goal was to make something by each day’s deadline, and it was a really interesting exercise both in technical skill and also in my management of not only my time, but my expectations and energy. Below, I go into more detail behind each piece.

To preface; the beginning of this challenge coincided with the beginning of a new personal time-management exercise where, for 5/7 days a week, I would only go on the computer at night. Combined with the deadline, this had an interesting effect on my time management and the quality of certain pieces.

Day 1 - Memory

From the start, I wanted to use the challenge as an opportunity to do more studies and to push myself wherever possible. This was the first piece I did and I had more time to work on it, so I used it as a digital painting study. I still think it’s a strong piece and it’s probably my favourite of the month. Symbolically, this character’s backstory doesn’t match up with her own memories, so the idea is she’s missing information she can’t quite place or remember, and this both scares and comforts her.

Day 2 - Blood

Another digital painting and lighting study that didn’t work out as well as the first, mostly due to time constraints meaning I couldn’t scrap it and start again. While I don’t like how it turned out, I did learn a lot. The character on the right is a field medic, and my intent was to show the calm after a successful rescue.

Day 3 - Mercy

Some days I relied more on the humour of a piece’s concept than the skill of its execution, though I also liked how this piece turned out artistically. After two days of intense studies, though, this was very quick and easy for me to turn out as it relied on existing skills.

Day 4 - Prize

This one thankfully came together very quickly, which I credit to the two previous painting studies making it much easier to achieve what I wanted. The character is searching for the disembodied head of the man who killed her parents, who is now acting as a robot, hence the vaguely half-machine-half-human silhouette in her hand.

Day 5 - Family

Another quick, simple illustration under a time crunch. The character framed by the nameless foreground figures has no memory of herself or her family.

Day 6 - Noise

For some pieces where I was under a time crunch, I experimented in an opposite direction; instead of studies, I played loosely with different techniques/brushes/etc to see what came out. This was a lineless style I ended up employing a lot when short on time. The piece pictured here was just one of four alternate colourways, presented in a pop-art style. The character is almost always depicted with thick coverings over her ears, so I thought she might be sensitive to auditory overload. This particular piece was retweeted by the character’s voice actress!

Day 7 - Mask

More relying on humour for lack of time/a better idea. A fun experiment in colour, though.

Day 8 - Healing

Another technically “easy” piece but with a stronger concept. It was actually pretty hard to get the reflection & condensation elements balanced right. The character pictured has a narrative thread relating to an old ex he has trouble moving on from.

Day 9 - Weapon

While obviously another joke, and made to be finished quickly, it was surprisingly difficult to get the duct tape and knife to read clearly without over-cluttering the lineless image. This little ‘bot is a drone used by one of the playable characters to hack areas of the map; it’s not NORMALLY an offensive weapon. This image was promo’d in a video stream by the character’s voice actor!

Day 10 - Truth

I only had less than an hour to finish this one by the deadline, but I still tried to experiment with silhouette and colour. It was surprisingly hard to get the interior silhouette to be legible. The outer silhouette is a playable character (not easily readible unless you’re familiar with his design) and the inner silhouette is his sister, whose disappearance he is trying to investigate.

Day 11 - Shield

A fun, self-indulgent one. Had a blast simplifying the game’s characters down into little caricatures. The character in the centre has abilities related to shields and protection, so many other people were drawing him for the prompt; I wanted to try and flip it, so I picked other characters he would be friendly with, and picked a non-lethal, lighthearted setting.

Day 12 - Ruins

Short on time so did a quick lighting study. A recent game plot has changed one of the areas of the map, submerging it in water and leaving it to “ruin”.

Day 13 - Hero

Another painting study. Really didn’t like how this one turned out, but had to turn in something, and I did learn a lot in the process. If I’d had more time I probably would’ve scrapped it and started again. This characters had recently been revealed to have been manipulated by another character who used gas-based offenses, whom she admired.

Day 14 - Rest

I was going to be away from mt computer until after the deadline, so I decided to make a traditional piece. I ended up enjoying it so much I tried to take the time to do a few more traditional pieces later. This piece was sort of a comedy of errors; I had to do it while I was out, and the pen I had brought with me to ink my sketch ran out, so I had to make do with a blue ballpoint pen, and I was missing several colours of coloured pencil. I think the finished piece reflects how rushed it was, and it did’t meet my concept, but I do still like it.

Day 15 - Skull

Another quick one but I wanted to experiment with a different line style. Wanted a sort of “graffiti” effect. One of this character’s skins includes a skull-shaped mask.

Day 16 - Growth

Extremely quick play on words because I didn’t have the time to work on anything meaningful and couldn’t think of anything better!

Day 17 - Home

Another traditional piece, this time by choice and with more time. Markers. It looks extremely like some janky art school homework on 2 point perspective because it extremely is. Perspective and backgrounds are very difficult for me - they just don’t “click” - but I had a lot of fun with this one. I kept my mistakes intact because I didn’t want to edit it too much. A lot about the technical perspective is wrong, but I think I achieved the “mood” I wanted. This location is a bar owned by one of the player characters where many of the other characters are shown to meet.

Day 18 - Sky

Very happy with how this one turned out, even though there are still lots of problems. Markers again. There’s a lot I would fix next time, and I think technically it’s lacking, but there are some specific areas I feel happy to have achieved, such as the almost brushed texture of the curved metal above his shoulder and the values of the shadow/reflections on the underside of the head piece. I’m also happy with how I was able to draw from my shoulder rather than my wrist when inking the curved lines, something I struggle with.

Day 19 - Target

An experiment in pushing the lineless style I’d already been playing with for a stronger likeness. The pose and expression in this could both be pushed more but I like the result. This character had just learned that one of the other players, whom she had trusted, was actually sharing her secrets with her enemy, and she didn’t know which one it was.

Day 20 - Friendship

I had this one concepted from when I first looked over the prompts. It was a fun challenge trying to simplify all the elements into the lineless, blocky style while being legible. This character has a strained relationship with one of his friends, and finally pushed her too far with his selfishness, and she now no longer responds to him.

Day 21 - Scar

Quick joke. This character was introduced briefly as a red herring for another character before being killed off. He was stabbed through the chest by another character’s hand, hence the scar pattern.

Day 22 - Dream

I wasn’t sure about this one while I was making it but I ended up liking how it turned out. I wanted to capture the character’s robotic legs bent at an unnaturally straight 90 degrees, like a Barbie doll. The flat background and lighting make it feel like an indoor stage. The little “electric sheep” are inspired by iDogs.

Day 23 - Meal

After a few days of not having time to really spend on any piece, it was fun to get to spend time on concepting and composing this. I always admired these kinds of watercolour-like food illustrations and this is the first time I’ve had any success in creating one myself. I concepted and sketched out the individual items traditionally before working out the composition within the box digitally. Each food item/utensil is inspired by the different characters’ design elements. Only two of the now-current characters are excluded due to plot reasons. In particular, I like how one of the character’s dome-shaped shields acts as the base and cover of the box.

Day 24 - Hobby

Wasn’t a fan of how this one turned out. I think the likeness is a bit off, and his facial anatomy is skewed. But I also like how the general composition, tone, and bee turned out. This character’s concept art originally imagined them as a beekeeper who would use smoke to fight.

Day 25 - Fear

An incredibly rushed piece that I intended to go back in and add more detail to, similar to day 4, but I actually took a step back and decided I liked the blocky, flat-colour version. This character is the youngest of four, all of whom are MIA or worse, along with his father, and his mother is losing her memory. He’s talking to her through a handheld holographic device. This piece gained more traction, most likely thanks to the subject matter since this is a popular character.

Day 26 - Holiday

I didn’t want to do a religious holiday like Christmas or Easter. A lot of other people also interpreted the prompt as a vacation, but I had already done a sort of “beach vacation” piece for day 11, so I instead went for a “public holiday” and chose NYE/NYD. This was fairly quick but the lighting was an interesting experiment. I knew this one wouldn’t be as popular because it wasn’t as “flattering” but I personally really like it. The girl on the left is kind of goofy and completely un-self-conscious and I think it’s captured here.

Day 27 - Music

Really didn’t like how this one turned out. I don’t think the likeness is good at all, the lighting is poor, and the gold detailing feels lazy. But I liked other elements, such as the pose and the clothing.

Day 28 - Treasure

This is my least favourite of the entire month, but I also had the least time available to work on it before the deadline so I had no opportunity to scrap it and start over, which I sorely wanted to do. The likeness is terrible, but more than that the base anatomy is off, the pose is stiff, and the lighting/colours are cheap. I wish I could’ve done better by this character; but, I am glad I had something finished at all.

Day 29 - Skin

This was probably my third attempt at this picture and I’m still not happy with it, but again, I had to finish something. I almost considered scrapping the concept entirely and choosing something easier but ended up seeing it through. The concept itself is actually recycled from an older piece of mine for an entirely different fandom, because I didn’t think I did it justice then, either. Would still like to revisit this concept with this character and take more time.

Day 30 - Trust

After a few days of feeling really dissatisfied and uncomfortable with the art I’d been making, I finally more time to dedicate to a piece, and I’m overall happy with how this one turned out. I decided to go for a different medium entirely with pixel art, which also gave me the opportunity to try and animate it. I started off confident and then started to get worried towards the end, but all the elements came together when I added the portal colour effects. This is an alternate reality version of one of the player characters, who appears through a portal and allows that character to escape the facility she’s being kept in, encouraging them to trust the “voices” she hears which are actually versions of herself trying to help her. This piece was retweeted by the official Apex Legends Twitter account!

Day 31 - Freestyle

I had this planned out early in the challenge and I’m really, really happy with how it turned out. It’s probably tied with my favourite along with the very first piece (how fitting). I was worried about how I was going to capture the movement without over-complicating the lineart, having so many people in one image, etc. before I realised the focus was entirely on gesture, and then everything clicked. I went for a thicker brush, which forced me to conserve my lines, and tried to simplify each character down to the bare minimum needed to recognise them. They’re also all wearing new non-canonical outfits so I used their familiar colour schemes for the same purpose. It’s not perfect, but I love it, and it’s everything I’d hoped I’d be able to end the challenge on.

I really, really enjoyed the entire month and the way it tied in with my new time management schedule. It gave me some achievable short-term goals which added up to this long-term achievement I can now look back on; I learned a lot both about balancing my energy and about technical skills, I found ways to stay motivated, and most importantly I learned to not get caught up on the individual slip-ups and pieces I didn’t like as much and to instead focus on the bigger picture. Thank you to everyone involved in organising and supporting this event! I found so many other incredible fanartists, writers, and content creators through this challenge and I can’t wait to see the bonus content released over August!

[glassworkspiderlilies]

a song of the sea (additional notes)

a mess of notes/comments/ideas/expansion on my day 3 fic for giyushinoweek, a song of the sea. :)

- the original idea was to base shinobu off of a stonefish, due to those being one of the most venomous fish in the world, and also their use of spines and stings to administer that venom. They’re not the prettiest fish--maybe a lionfish or something would be more appropriate (lionfish being my second choice) but the lethal spines of the stonefish appealed to me more as shinobu’s weapon, due to her sword/fighting style in canon. i also didn’t do that much research, so if i were to expand the fic i’d probably look into it at least a little more haha.

-giyu is what others in the fic call “sea-touched”; the abilities of those called at such kind of vary, but essentially they all have superior water-related abilities of some kind. giyu has especially good navigation skills and is very good at predicting currents and whatnot. he lives alone by the sea and makes his living as a fisherman and being hired onto bigger ships for his abilities. 

-sabito and makomo are alive, but live far away for some reason. urokodaki taught giyu, but is also no longer around (physically, he’s not dead) for some reason too. hadn’t thought this part out that much, even though i’m like, convinced they’re alive here haha. another vein might be that sabito and makomo are also merpeople, hence why giyu lives alone. 

-in the same vein of canon, kanao doesn’t speak very much due to trauma, and so she doesn’t use her natural abilities that much. 

-the natural abilities of the mermaids/sirens refer to their voice; despite physical combat (which shinobu and kanao are very skilled at) in relation to what kind of mermaid they are, their voices are extremely powerful and can distort the sea and the weather. their voices can lure, and also kill, if the intent is there. this would need more exploration of mechanics and probably something to temper the OP-ness of it. i was also playing with the idea of consequences of using the voice for deeds like what shinobu did--severe interference and destruction. didn’t really have time to fully delve into that possibility.

-oyakata-sama lives in a large house/mansion extremely close to the sea, like he has a private dock kind of thing. he helps when shinobu/mermaids in general come onto land, his family has been sea-touched and particular friends of the sea for generations, and they’ve always assisted in these supernatural affairs. he and his family are also why shinobu is able to integrate fairly easily, to an extent, into human society. he and his family teach her a bunch of things. they’re like....what’s the word....bridgekeepers between the two worlds?? that’s not the word, but you get it.

-kanae is dead in this au, killed by humans. i guess there’s a lowkey parallel of humans in this fic vs the demons in canon. buuuut since shinobu offers giyu her protection, i was thinking the reason why the sister don’t hate humans entirely is because kanae had been friends or in love with a human, but was found out by other humans who had more malicious intentions for her. another vein, in a much more expanded setting, would be that shinobu does hate humans and does hate giyu at first and is far more grudging about offering her protection, but he did save kanao, and so it’s much more of a slow burn.

-if i were to be completely self indulgent, i think it’d be neat if like, shinobu/the sisters were mermaid princesses haha. this also might be why there aren’t really consequences to her using her abilities??

-regardless, the sisters would be the last of their clan/school/type, and they are of the more powerful, if not most powerful, mermaids/sea creatures. 

-if you’ve read xxxholic by CLAMP, ideally the protection that shinobu offers would play out like the smaller, episodic stories there, where people come to get their wish granted but it ends up being granted in like...not a way they expect. this would be why shinobu says that giyu may come to regret protection from one such as her; being a mermaid, and a particularly powerful one, she doesn’t have the same values (those i suppose she’d be aware of them, via interaction with oyakata-sama) and perhaps, a certain lack of control over the way protection is granted. like, “magic does not follow the same constraints” kind of thing. although i did really one at least one really dramatic scene where people come to bully/attack/kill giyu because of the wealth he’s accumulating, and shinobu appears and like. rips them apart and it’s really dramatic and kind of gory lmao. the deep sea isn’t a kind place, and shinobu is.....protective. 

-also ideally is that this fic would kind of play out like a grimm fairy tale style wise? i kind of didn’t want to run with the threads of like...giyu and shinobu falling in love and one becoming entirely human or mer, or “the little mermaid” esque story where shinobu has to give up her voice to be on land, or the one where she’s captured and kept in a tank and interacted with that way before she’s freed somehow, etc. (all of these are good, i just didn’t want to write them LOL) i guess i wanted more of a coexistence kind of thing? i want there to be a cool exciting dramatic plot, but like, i don’t actually have one. i guess this would end up being like, my usual giyushino bonding exploration except mermaid AU LMAOOOOO

-shinobu appears and goes into town with giyu sometimes. she’s not exactly fascinated by human culture, but she finds it interesting enough. maybe she also begins to sell remedies and stuff, in accordance with her canon doctor position. sea secrets. people probably assume that this mysterious girl has also become giyu’s mysterious wife. (they’re kind of baffled and sort of like, talk around it, so giyu is oblivious to the assumption until much much later. shinobu catches on faster than he does.)

-i think mermaid aus are another thing, like soulmate aus, that i love reading but like, don’t actually want to write myself LMFAO

-wow a lot of this is shinobu focused. again. i just love her ;__;

-that’s all i got for now if for some reason you want to hear more of this.......send me an ask i guess LMAO for something i came up with really quickly to work with the prompt there were a lot of things i considered and wanted as backstory........but i really doubt that i’m going to write this au out in full.......it’s too long in my head for the way i want it to build up and i just..........don’t have the willpower for that................

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

How I would fix Venom

This continues on from my last post about Venom vol 4 #10

The way I see it there are currently ¾ dominant backstories for Venom Marvel treats as canon (even if they shouldn’t).

Lethal Protector

Dark Origins from 2008

The way things played out in ASM #300 and other older stories in contradiction of Dark Origins (Dark Origins contains a lot of original material hence I said ¾)

And now Cates’ origin which has stated various details from Brock’s past actually didn’t happen.

And they do NOT jive together, along with Eddie’s various personality shifts over the years.

But what if…they were all true..what if there was a reason for all the contradictions?

This is not a very Spider-Man story, but it is a more cosmic story and the symbiotes are after all aliens.

What if some cosmic hiccup led to different AU versions of Eddie Brock’s life converging and overlapping.

Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote essentially exists in all these different universes including Earth 616 simultaneously but his memories, personality and past spontaneously change and convulse sometimes becoming identical to one versions’ other times another and yet other times a mad combination of all them. This process would be exacerbated by Brock’s mental problems in almost all his lives and the symbiote’s effect upon him.

One man but many lives in one. Almost like his life is as malleable and changeable as the symbiote’s.

However after the Final Incursion and the remaking of the Multiverse. These versions were separated out.

But they weren’t necessarily put back in their proper place.

Whilst each version of Venom has accurate recollections of their past (barring other factors affecting it, like the symbiote altering his perceptions)

For instance Eddie’s father as seen in Cates’ run might not be the one native to Earth 616 and his sister Mary may well have existed on Earth 616 but all records about her might have not been recreated after-SW.

Or maybe not.

Maybe Cates’ version of Venom truly IS the 616 version and all those elements it contradicts (Mary’s existence, Brock really having cancer, etc) were things that were actually from AUs that have now been exorcised.

Regardless Cates Venom is the Venom/Eddie Brock we now have in the 616 universe and he’s a sympathetic anti-hero.

Oh…but there is also another Venom!

This version of Eddie Brock hasn’t got the modern haircut or beard of Cates’ Venom, he’s got the Marine buzzcut and weightlifter look of the 1980s Venom.

Although all the Venom stories prior to Cates’ run occurred as we saw them on the page, this Brock’s backstory prior and in between all that stuff played out in a way that combined certain elements of Venom Dark Origin and Uncanny Origins #7 (read: all the ways that didn’t contradict any of the Michelinie era ASM Venom stories).

The only exceptions would be flashback stories Michelinie did in the 1990s designed to make Brock seem more sympathetic and more of an anti-hero. For example Venom’s first kill, that truck stop story that occurred en route to his second fight with Spider-Man, ASM #375 and 388 and Lethal Protector #3. For this Venom those stories might still have happened but not quite the same. I’m specifically thinking his housekeeper’s account of his backstory in LP #3 might for this Brock be wholly untrue, something that she herself dreamed up because she is old and senile.

Furthermore for this Brock when he battled Spider-Man for the second time the brief point in time when the symbiote was bonded to both him and Peter simultaneously caused both of them to see into one another’s minds and create a psychic rapport of sorts.

For Peter this meant that Venom’s murderous intent for him was felt on a visceral level leading Peter to experience an instinctive desire to run and escape, increasing how much he’d otherwise fear Venom.

For Brock exposure to Peter’s heroic mind, given his own religious upbringing, deluded belief he was a crusader of justice and over all fragile mind left Brock feeling compelled to act in an over all more heroic manner. This is why after the second Venom story he gradually began acting more and more anti-heroic.

This psychic rapport weakened over time, so Venom went back to being villainous and Peter went back to being less afraid of Venom. However the rapport was still there so when Brock’s fear of dying from cancer and desire to live by rebonding with the symbiote reached it’s height it caused Peter to instinctively react by forcing Brock and the symbiote back together.

Brock’s fragile mind combined with the psychic rapport and continual unhealthy exposure to symbiotes made his mind a mess. He would sporadically be inclined towards a form of heroism (anti-Venom, Toxin during Conway’s run) or villainy (Toxin during Agent Venom).

However now his mind has been ‘purged’. Which is to say he no longer has Spider-Man in his head anymore so his personality is more consistent.

Over all the backstory for this version of Brock would serve the purposes of:

Reconciling a lot of contradictory continuity

Removing continuity that painted Brock as a sympathetic anti-hero

Ensuring those removals and reconciliations make it clear this Brock in truth is a selfish, hypocritical, delusional psychotic killer at heart incapable of accepting personal responsibility.

And THIS would be the Eddie Brock who appears sporadically in Spider-Man stories as a villain.

He and Cates’ solo-series anti-hero Venom co-exist with distinctly different personalities and backstories any one of which may or may not be indigenous to Earth 616.

Two Brocks built for 2 different purposes.

As for how we differentiate them, simple.

One looks like Todd McFarlane’s Venom with the big creepy grin and the other looks like Mark Bagley’s/Erik Larsen’s Venom with those huge teeth and slobbering tongue.

Neither are sure which one of them really comes from Earth 616, neither one much cares. They agree to stay away from one another since contact with one another would destroy them and so Cates’ Venom entrusts Spider-Man to deal with the evil Brock.

Now we can go off and have character developing solo stories with Cates new revised anti-hero Venom and Spider-Man gets his numero uno bad guy back.

[sundayswiththeilluminati]

After the Warmind DLC, the major question on every Destiny lore nerd’s mind is, “What’s Rasputin's next move?” The lore tab for the D2 Sleeper Simulant represents our most current communiqué from Rasputin. So let’s take it apart and see if we can suss out his current state of mind.

AI-COM/RSPN: ASSETS//ARESN//IMPERATIVE Rasputin’s usual address line at the beginning of his messages. It’s sent by him (I’m amused he still refers to himself as AI-COM/RSPN, as if AI-COM still exists. It’s like introducing himself as a citizen of the Soviet Union), it’s an IMPERATIVE (meaning a command), and it’s sent to ASSETS//ARESN. 

ARESN is a new designation; the message itself suggests this is an abbreviation for “Ares-North.” In context that must mean the Clovis Bray research base and Aurora Reach, Rasputin’s primary facility in the Martian ice cap where the Warmind DLC takes place. Previously this area has been codenamed POLARIS in Rasputin’s transmissions. Now that the ice is clearing, his operations are expanding, and Guardians are maintaining a regular presence there, Rasputin seems to have upgraded its designation.

IMMEDIATE EVALUATION DIRECTIVE This is not a direct order to do something right now (those are marked “IMMEDIATE ACTION ORDER”) but an order to evaluate the situation. Rasputin is gathering his many distributed parts to examine some target and make a decision based on what he finds.

This is a SUBTLE ASSETS IMPERATIVE (secured/CONFERENCE) “SUBTLE ASSETS” seems to refer to assets that Rasputin either keeps secret or controls indirectly. This message itself is “secured,” so it’s only sent to a certain group and meant to be kept secret, and it’s sent to “CONFERENCE.” Given context, that marking likely means just Rasputin himself. This command is meant for subtle assets, so whatever he’s doing is maybe meant to fly under the radar.

This is an INTERNAL ALERT. This is a message from Rasputin to Rasputin himself. Again, because he exists in a very large distributed network, Rasputin’s various parts must coordinate to make major decisions.  He’s getting himself all together.

Hypothesize that incomplete analysis of subtle assets has compromised synergy potential of resource GUARDIAN pool. Heeeeeee. This line is Rasputin admitting he underestimated the Guardians. “Incomplete analysis” has “compromised synergy potential.” In English that means he misjudged the Guardians and because of that he hasn’t been cooperating with them to achieve shared goals as much as he could have. 

Rasputin often refers to Guardians as “subtle assets,” perhaps meaning that in his mind the Guardians are under his authority and he controls them indirectly; alternately, he could mean that incomplete analysis of some other subtle asset he could have been using with Guardians has made them less effective. He also refers to the Guardians as a resource. He’s still fighting a war, and everyone available is a resource to be used to fight that war.

Re-engage non-transactional dispensation protocol. "Give the Guardians fun toys for free.” Rasputin is considering sending the Guardians a bunch of free weapons/armor/etc. so they can better achieve their mutual goals, because he’s finally convinced they’re useful.

Operation MIDNIGHT EXIGENT is NOT YET COMPLETE. Requested protocol deferred. Aaaaaand then Rasputin hits the same roadblock that’s been constraining him since the Collapse: MIDNIGHT EXIGENT. MIDNIGHT EXIGENT is the massive protocol Rasputin enacted at the end of the war to prioritize his survival over protecting humanity (interestingly he says MIDNIGHT EXIGENT is “not yet complete” - implying that MIDNIGHT EXIGENT has an end goal, and maybe an end date). If MIDNIGHT EXIGENT is still in place, Rasputin doesn’t think the existential threat is over. He still doesn’t consider himself safe. 

Because of MIDNIGHT EXIGENT, Rasputin can’t reactive the “non-transactional dispensation protocol.” Rasputin doesn’t think he can afford to give the Guardians free shit. Why? He may be strapped for resources, or he may need the promise of such weaponry as a bargaining chip to get what he needs in return. The rest of the message makes me lean towards the latter.

Stand by for GALATEA REFLEXIVE to generate new function. More of Rasputin’s love of mythology. In Greek mythology, Galatea is a statue created by the sculptor Pygmalion and brought to life by Aphrodite. In this scenario, Rasputin is Galatea - the being crafted and brought to life by someone else. “Reflexive” means “instinctive” or “referring back to itself.” GALATEA REFLEXIVE is therefore likely a protocol for Rasputin to examine himself, consider self-improvement/self-modification, and consider what to do (”generate new function.”) He may be looking to re-examine his intentions and decide whether to act purely altruistically.

GALATEA requires suspension of MIDNIGHT EXIGENT. ...Except, uh oh, GALATEA also isn’t allowed under MIDNIGHT EXIGENT. That’s not a great sign. Rasputin has deferred introspection and self-examination till after MIDNIGHT EXIGENT is complete. Even under MIDNIGHT EXIGENT Rasputin already shows signs of guilt over his actions. If he executed a full GALATEA protocol he’d probably be nonfunctional with grief and guilt for some time.

Side note: if any of this were happening in a human we’d be severely concerned. Rasputin is preventing himself from thinking about his actions and his own state of mind because he can’t afford to right now, because it would cripple him while he’s still in danger. But that danger isn’t going away anytime soon. Rasputin does have emotions, much as he may conceal them. At some point that denial and compartmentalization will break down and he’s going to have to deal with what psychologists call “some seriously heavy shit.” I hope the City has a therapist for AIs, is all I’m saying. 

ALERT ALERT ALERT event rank is SKYSHOCK: INSIDE CONTEXT.  Being blocked on executing GALATEA protocol causes Rasputin to check if MIDNIGHT EXIGENT can be suspended. The first answer he gets is a SKYSHOCK alert. 

SKYSHOCK seems to designate a major space-based threat to humanity. In his first message reporting the detection of the oncoming Darkness, Rasputin classifies it as SKYSHOCK: OCP. OCP means “outside context problem,” a phrase coined by scifi writer Iain M. Banks (whom Bungie loves, and for good reason). An outside context problem is something a civilization could not possibly have anticipated and has no frame of reference for. They usually end badly; Banks said a civilization “tended to encounter [an OCP] rather in the same way a sentence encountered a full stop."

But this time the SKYSHOCK event is INSIDE CONTEXT. It’s a normal threat Rasputin understands - probably the many hostile factions still present in the solar system (Vex, Cabal, Hive, etc.) Rasputin evaluates these threats and concludes both he and humanity still face lethal danger even though the Darkness itself is gone.

MIDNIGHT EXIGENT must remain active under deniable authorization. Given said lethal danger, MIDNIGHT EXIGENT must remain in place even though the enemy that prompted it (the Darkness) is gone. Rasputin doesn’t consider himself - or humanity - safe enough to risk lifting emergency survival-only protocols. 

“Under deniable authorization” is odd. Rasputin doesn’t need “authorization” to do anything, and why does it need to be “deniable”? The best I can come up with is that he’s authorizing himself to continue MIDNIGHT EXIGENT, and the “deniable” part means he’s concealing that fact and if you ask him about it he’ll pretend he has no idea. He doesn’t want anyone to know he’s still prioritizing his own survival.

Execute emergency SKYSHOCK diagnostic. Having determined that a SKYSHOCK threat is present, Rasputin decides to further evaluate it, and to do so quickly. Rasputin wants to assess the hostile factions in more detail and refine his estimate of their threat level. He doesn’t have time to do it himself, so he’ll have to use the Guardians to do it.

STAND BY: Usually this line in a Rasputin message means “I am making a decision” and is followed by the results of that decision. In this case it’s used in an interesting way: what follows is not explicitly a decision on MIDNIGHT EXIGENT and the SKYSHOCK evaluation, but an apparently separate message sent in the clear. The header and footer transmissions are not repeated, so it’s still sent to the same recipients (Ares-North), but the two parts are marked at different security levels - unsecured vs. secured. The first half of this message is meant to be seen only by Rasputin himself, but the second half is public to all “assets” in Ares-North. Why would Rasputin’s decision on SKYSHOCK take the form of a broadcast message? We’ll see later.

This is an INTERNAL ASSETS INVESTIGATION (unsecured/BRAY) The first half of the message was sent secure and only to Rasputin himself. The second is being sent unsecure and to group “BRAY.” Who’s that? Probably not Ana, since Rasputin designates her “AUTHORIZED USER.” More likely it’s everyone around the Bray facility, and hence it’s unsecured so everyone can hear it.

We haven’t seen Rasputin send an INVESTIGATION order before. Perhaps this means he’s, again, taking stock? Is he investigating himself or something else? While it’s sent to INTERNAL ASSETS, it’s not marked as an INTERNAL ALERT, meaning it’s being broadcast to other people. Rasputin may therefore be directing his assets to undertake an investigation of some target.

Justification resource GUARDIANS may be utilized for non-networked ad-hoc operations during CTESIPHON CLARION.  The grammar is weird here. I’m not sure if he means to say “Justification: resource Guardians...” or if he’s calling them a “justification resource.” But anyway, he says the Guardians can now be used for “non-networked ad-hoc operations,” aka public events. He also implies an operation called CTESIPHON CLARION is now going on. We’ve never seen that codename before. Parsing it out, Ctesiphon is a city of the ancient world that at one point was considered to be, well, the pinnacle of cities. “Clarion” means “clear” and/or “loud” and usually refers to sound. 

So CTESIPHON CLARION may be Rasputin’s designation for this current period of open communication and cooperation with the Last City, or it may mean that he intends to investigate the City/Guardians and understand more about them. Either way he’s telling Guardians that as long as he’s on good terms with the City, they’re allowed to do public events in Hellas Basin. Wow. What an honor, Rasputin.

Reassign 4 percent of reclaimed CHLM assets to new directive: declare IKELOS- Confirmation that the Warmind Charlemagne was a submind of Rasputin, one that he’s now “reclaimed.” It may be that Charlemagne was cut off from Rasputin like the Cosmodrome fragments were, and that Rasputin only now woke back up and reconnected. Either way Charlemagne seems to have been reabsorbed and its assets are being redistributed by Rasputin. At the moment, four percent of said assets are going to the new directive IKELOS, which you may recognize from Destiny 1 as the protocol under which Rasputin developed and provided weaponry to the Guardians. Rasputin is now declaring IKELOS (restarting it) and states two goals:

Declare primary goal: military fortification. IKELOS’ first priority is to beef up the military strength of the Guardians and Rasputin’s own defenses.

Declare secondary goal: prolong ARES-NORTH occupation by AUTHORIZED USER and resource GUARDIANS. IKELOS’ second priority is to keep Ana Bray (”AUTHORIZED USER”) and the Guardians around the Aurora Reach facility for as long as possible. Rasputin wants the Guardians there. Why? Perhaps he’s finally decided that having Guardians around is better than not having them, and their presence makes it safe for Ana to continue her work. 

But remember: these two goals are being declared in the clear. He knows Guardians will read this part. This message wasn’t issued alone; it’s Rasputin’s “decision” on how to evaluate the SKYSHOCK threat. Rasputin’s true, unstated goal in restarting IKELOS is to use Guardians to evaluate the threat posed by the various hostile factions. To do that he gives the Guardians some weaponry of his own construction which he knows all the properties of, and he uses the promise of this powerful weaponry to get Guardians into all these minor skirmishes to protect the area.

Rasputin says in the secure half of the message that MIDNIGHT EXIGENT has to continue “under deniable authorization.” Thorough evaluation of all threats is quite important to ensuring his own survival, but he’s not publicly disclosing that motivation for doing it.

Execute short hold for partial shutdown and reactivation. Last of all Rasputin says he’s going quiet for a bit. Given all the damage he took from Xol, he’s probably got a lot of maintenance backlogged. Him being occupied with self-repair explains why Ana is mostly speaking for him at the moment.

SO. To sum it all up: where is Rasputin’s head at right now? CTESIPHON CLARION indicates he is, for the moment, communicating and cooperating with the City/Guardians in good faith. Privately he admits he underestimated the Guardians and wants to help them unconditionally - but MIDNIGHT EXIGENT is still active and SKYSHOCK rank is too high to end it. Rasputin still doesn’t consider himself safe enough to back down from “survival at all costs” mode.

Publicly he restarts IKELOS to buff the Guardian forces in the area, with the secondary goal of having them stick around. He implies that granting IKELOS weaponry is contingent on a Guardian presence in Ares-North. Concern for his own survival under MIDNIGHT EXIGENT means that instead of giving resources away, he trades them for protection. That tallies with the public events you have to complete to get said weaponry - Rasputin rewards you for defending him. 

However, secretly (”deniable”) Rasputin has another motive for restarting IKELOS and keeping Guardians in the area: he’s running a “diagnostic” on the nature and severity of the current SKYSHOCK threat. In other words, he’s gathering data on the Hive/Cabal in combat by throwing Guardians into fights and watching what happens. He has no intention of publicly disclosing this goal, since it’s related to MIDNIGHT EXIGENT and he doesn’t want anyone to know he’s still prioritizing his own survival.

It’s...not a great sign that Rasputin is already acting with hidden motives. But he isn’t acting purely selfishly either. The two stated goals of IKELOS likely are real goals, just of lower priority than threat evaluation. And this decision was made as part of re-assessing the nature of the current SKYSHOCK event. If the current SKYSHOCK severity rank is low enough, Rasputin can lift MIDNIGHT EXIGENT and start returning to an altruistic pre-Collapse configuration.

And Rasputin does seem to want MIDNIGHT EXIGENT to end. He repeatedly checks whether it’s still required before making the IKELOS decision, and keeps trying to do things that get blocked by it. On an emotional level, previous lore cards suggest he really doesn’t like the person he’s become under MIDNIGHT EXIGENT. He would like to stop being that person, and stop being in lethal danger, as soon as possible.

tl;dr What does this mean for his future actions? Rasputin has no intention of taking orders from the City, but he’s opened communication in good faith and intends to intervene in solar system affairs more frequently and directly. However, his own survival is still top priority, he’s still keeping his true goals and motivations secret, and his aid to Guardians comes with a price: he’s using the dispensation of IKELOS weaponry to maneuver Guardians into skirmishes with Hive and Cabal forces in order to gather combat data on those forces. Rasputin would really like to be an unconditional ally, but he still thinks he can’t risk it. In the end he’s the same he always was: a powerful ally, but one who’s playing his own game/fighting his own war, who can only be relied upon so far as the City’s goals align with his.

[disneydreamlights]

So, the other two members of of Wayward Wind. Black hair would still be the loner type and be somewhat hostile towards the Player, with Ventus being introduced arguing with him. However, he does have a heart of gold and is perfectly willing to challenge a Foreteller to protect Ven, which we'd see in Back Cover. Fortunately that Foreteller is Ava so he doesn't die. He also gets irritated when people crack jokes in serious situations.

Then there's white hair. He's the heart of the trio. He breaks up fights between his two friends whenever they occur, to varying degrees of success. While nice, he does have his limits, and legit threatens to kill the Player if they ever tell anyone about Ven's darkness. He also likes to tease black hair. Whenever Ven starts being rebellious, he'll typically say something like "he gets that from you" to black hair. Might be his way of flirting.

First and second honestly sound like they’d make a really cute ship. Xp (Plus it keeps up the “Ven is a third wheel” joke. XD)

On the subject of first though I feel like he’s a complete tsundere with a side of “Touch my friends and I’ll murder you.” But very much towards the party he’s loyal as hell and wouldn’t let anything hurt any of them.

White hair is open about his love for them and really wants to keep Ven safe in the meantime because the poor boy is a cinnamon roll and needs to be protected from harm.

As, the two of them aren't hypocrites. Despite Vanitas' worries upon reuniting with them, they'd still accept and over protect him and Ven as much as they did back in Daybreak Town. They'd still ground him though. They'd also very much appreciate Terra's willingness to fight Eraqus to protect Ven. I mean, they'd be willing to fight a Foreteller and die as slowly as possible just to keep Ven safe, why wouldn't they admire Ven's protectors?

GOOD SHIT this right here is good shit they’re the over protective siblings (because Terra and Aqua are his parents) Ven never had but now gets to have.

As for Ven's recruitment scene from Back Cover? It would be very tense, if it wasn't from Ava's perspective. The Wayward Winds would misunderstand Ava's intent when she asks for Ven, prompting them to try and get him away from her. Black hair would face her first intending to die as slowly as possible. Once Ava non-lethally subdues him, she runs into white hair, who actually tries to beat her, only for him to get knocked out when she stops pulling her punches. Then she recruits Ven

I’m imagining Wayward Wind must’ve been terrified for Ven. He’s got a Foreteller chasing after him so they must’ve been so worried but it shows how selfless they are and how much they care for Ven and each other in that they were willing to drop everything and stop Ava, even at the risk of their lives. I’d imagine there was a huge fight before one of them was forced to stay behind over which one would go first.

So, bear in mind that Ven would go from about 3 years younger to 2 years older than his party members by the time they have their reunion. Not to mention that he'd also now be two people, both of whom are more powerful than them. We'd have two children trying to overprotect their teenage sons and that is a mildly amusing mental image to me. That and the fact that the situation is even possible in the first place.

All I can say about this is yes. Because yes.

Vanitas would have no sympathy for Eraqus. He'd know that he's only alive because Eraqus isn't. Eraqus would have killed Vanitas for being made of darkness regardless of his moral standing and he knows it. He detests Eraqus as much as he detests Xehanort. This would be a point of contention between him and his family. Strelitzia wouldn't really have an opinion on Eraqus as a person but would tell Terra he was right to defy him in the end.

Agreed. I love my old man masters but I one hundred percent agree to this. There is no way within reason that Vanitas wouldn’t hate both of the old masters. One was the epitome of “Darkness will prevail” and the other is the epitome of “Light will prevail” and seeing as Vanitas would very much be the embodiment of twilight, darkness and light in balance is very important to his arc and survival, and both of them disagreeing with that policy would not only cause him a lot of shit but their treatment of Ven makes it worse.

(I want to note that in my thinking on this that would very much make Ven more an embodiment of Dawn if this is the route you kinda wanna go with which would be interesting since while one is more dark than the other they are also both perfect balances for light and dark which highlights everything in the balance is key that the MMO AU seems to strive for.)

Pretty much the only reason Aqua gives Vanitas a chance is because Ven guilt-trips her into it, pointing out that any Keyblade master from their day (sans Xehanort) would have killed Vanitas on sight, meaning that he didn't really have the chance to be anything BUT evil. And Vanitas would actually have gone to multiple Keyblade Masters for help pre-BBS only for Xehanort and/or his Unversed to have to rescue HIM from the darkness-hating Masters of that day. Hence why there aren't many left.

I mean that doesn’t surprise me. Most of my Vaniqua ideas as a Vaniqua shipper tend to start off with “So Ven convinces Aqua to give Vanitas a chance...” so like...I can definitely understand where that’s coming from. Poor Vanitas and all the masters he would’ve went to. I mean I know Eraqus would’ve probably had him killed on sight but sometimes considering how Vanitas was treated I can’t help but wonder if that would’ve been better.

Okay, out of all the Wayfinder family, I think Vanitas would get along with Strelitzia the most, partially because she never knew him as a villain, only as that cute little cinnamon role in Daybreak Town and her somewhat overprotective Big Brother in the Land of Departure. She would not have run into Vanitas during her quest for revenge. So, there'd be far less tension between them than Vanitas would have with the others.

I agree. Honestly Strelitzia probably adopts him into her created family. (The thing that finally convinces Aqua to warm up to Vanitas is seeing him interacting with Strelitzia. and taking care of her.)

At some point after Lauriam is defeated but before the Player wakes up in Enchanted Dominion, we'd get a cutscene which is basically just Vanitas monologuing on how hatred has kept him going. Hatred of Lauriam, hatred of Ephemer, hatred of Xehanort, and hatred of "the coward [he] used to be" [Ven]. It would then be revealed that the speaker is actually the Vanitas Remnant, about to confront Sora for the first time, vowing to die in the Keyblade War, and bring "Ephemer's lie" down with him.

Speaking of the Remnant, it would only be sentient when close to Sora. Things is because it is a being of pure emotion. However, since Vanitas sleeps in Sora's heart, the Remnant would awaken and act on his will. Needless to say this makes the Remnant difficult to predict. Vanitas would try to use the Remnant to get out of Sora's heart and regain his physical form. Good thing his redemption arc happens DURING KH3 in this AU, otherwise there'd be trouble.

Damn Vanitas Remnant actually sounds kinda terrifying. I can feel him on a lot of that hatred though.

So, "Enter the Darkness" would play during the battle against Ventus in Dwarf Woodlands (unless you think "Enter the Void" is more appropriate), while "Vanitas" would play during the boss fight against the Large Snowman in Beast's Castle at the end of that arc, because "Ventus" is way too melancholy a track for that boss fight and he and Vanitas WERE the same person back then, so it works. But still, I did get some more ideas for that arc.

Nah, Enter the Void sounds fine. And agreed, Ven’s theme would be way to melancholy for any fight in KHUx sans maybe the Darklings.

Okay so, you know how in the canon game the white-haired Keyblade Wielder in the "Friend or Rival" arc is injured by the Large Snowman offscreen? We'd actually see it happen in the MMO AU. Black Hair (working name) would have simply been trying to distract it so Ven could escape, while White Hair would realize that Ven wouldn't flee until the Heartless was defeated and so would basically try to defeat it so Ven would listen to them, only to get taken down (but not out) in one hit.

So, that would basically be where the Player comes in, Black Hair would take White Hair back to Daybreak Town while the Player and Ven fight the Huge Snowman (turns out the Large Snowman was an event Heartless in the original game) together. Ven deals Speed Type Damage while the Huge Snowman would be a Magic Type enemy. After defeating it, the next Story Quest would be to talk to Ven in Daybreak Town. Talking to him would trigger a cutscene where he takes you to see White Hair. Cue wrap up.

So yeah, there we'd get the big heartwarming scene where Ven would learn his party members had known about his darkness since the day they basically adopted him, just like what was established before. I just wanted to give you my newer idea for how things would go down. Also, Ven's attack as a boss would be based off his original Attack Medal, meaning he'd deal 4 hits, inflicting more damage the lower his HP is. Just figured that would work.

Honestly this would be super cute and a great way to wrap up the entire arc for the trio. Also on that note Ven using the same attack as his medal would be a great way to foreshadow that BBS!Ven and Ux!Ven are the same person since I’d like to think initially that would be very ambiguous. 

So, in the MMO AU, most Keykids' Keyblades materialize when they're 10. Ven's materialized prematurely when he was 7, the night his parents discovered his darkness and tried to drown him. They lived the rest of their lives unaware that Ven was saved by 2 children who saw a beam of light from the water. As for how the Wayward Winds found out? Ven used the darkness unconsciously one night when he had a nightmare about getting dragged under water.

Damn, Ven’s had a really rough life. I want to fight his parents and I’m honestly glad that the Wayward Winds didn’t have a bad reaction when they found out about all this.

[kyliecheung]

Full newsletter below-

Last week, I wrote about why no one should use survivors of sexual violence to justify police and incarceration — not when both are more likely to perpetrate and exacerbate sexual violence than protect victims and survivors. (You can read this piece here.)

No one should be using victims and survivors as convenient political talking points, period, but especially not to uphold a system in which (at least) 40 percent of police officers are domestic abusers, (at least) 60 percent of prison rapes are perpetrated by prison guards and staff, and 90 percent of incarcerated women, who are predominantly women of color, are survivors of sexual violence. Lest we forget, it was just a few years ago that a white Oklahoma police officer was caught abusing his power to sexually assault dozens of Black women with impunity for years, while in many other documented cases, officers have been exposed abusing information databases to stalk, harass and target women. More recently, a Utah police officer who had denied a woman a restraining order shortly before her stalker killed her, had circulated explicit photos of her with other officers.

That said, in light of viral graphics and social media posts calling for specific police reforms making the rounds, not to mention recurring videos of police officers kneeling and dancing and hugging protesters (like, why bother sharing these when police already have paid PR departments..?) on my timelines, I wanted to write about the importance of understanding why these “reforms” — many of which are already widely implemented in police departments with some of the most lethal records — will not bring change. Only disarmament, divestment from, and eventual abolition of police will stop the killings, brutality, and racist violence — physical and non-physical — that are inherent to policing. (It’s worth noting here none of these ideas are original, and Black activists have been fighting and creating the framework for abolition for decades, which you not only can but absolutely must read more about here!)

Generations of co-opting survivor justice to reinforce and breathe fire into support for the carceral police state have convinced many of us that we need police to protect victims. But far more often than not, coming forward about sexual violence to police will lead to being treated as a criminal suspect, yourself — especially for women of color, who are more likely to experience sexual violence and more likely to face criminalization. Hundreds of thousands of rape kits sit untested across the country. In far too many cases, feigned concern for the safety of victims is used by white supremacists to target and enact violence on Black men and men of color. White femininity is often specifically weaponized to demonize, incarcerate, and kill Black men and men of color. Days before George Floyd was killed by police officers in Minneapolis, a white woman in New York was caught on video threatening to call the police on a Black man just for reminding her of park rules.

All of this is entwined with the notion that police protect us from violence, that without police — not with them — we are at greater risk of facing violence. This notion is a result of our racist, classist conceptions of what constitutes and defines “violence” and “crime.” These definitions are essential to upholding the carceral, capitalist police state, as Angela Davis writes about extensively in her texts Freedom is a Constant Struggle and Are Prisons Obsolete?, and Jackie Wang writes about in Carceral Capitalism.

The majority of incarcerated people are imprisoned for so-called survival “crimes” — they face punishment, policing and criminalization for growing up in a country where we invest drastically more in prisons and policing than in health care, education, housing, and other basic needs and resources. As a friend pointed out to me recently, it’s not only rape and sexual violence that are used to justify police and prisons — many defenders of the carceral police state also invoke gang violence, despite how gangs often form as a result of a) lack of resource and investment into communities, and b) fear of the police.

When we define violence, often only two things come to mind — murder, rape, maybe sometimes armed robbery. This is not to minimize or devalue any overt acts of violence. Certainly, though, prisons as we currently understand them cannot be the answer to solving and addressing the crisis of our rape culture — not when rape is so common in the very prisons that are supposedly rehabilitating offenders.

But all of that said, these definitions too often absolve white, wealth-hoarding capitalists of the daily violence they enact on society with the help of police. White capitalists’ exploitation and wealth hoarding leads to millions dying each day from being unable to afford health care or housing — this, too, is violent, and makes the country unlivable for the most marginalized, namely poor communities of color.

And what do police do about that? Police actively perpetrate violence not just through physical beatings, assaults and extrajudicial killings, but also, arguably, through enforcing the private property mandates of capitalism that empower wealth hoarding, and lead to mass death and suffering. Yet, we’ve been socialized to not see that as violent. As Angela Davis writes, the existence of prisons has made it so no one has to think critically about why crime happens, as the state can just conveniently tuck away these harrowing truths and inequities behind bars, far from public observation and critique. If people really sat down and saw how the white supremacist, carceral capitalist police state itself creates the crimes, they would see the only solution is abolition, investment in our communities, and alternate, peaceful and community-based approaches to emergency response and accountability.

As I’ve written in a previous newsletter:

“if the government were doing its job of redistributing wealth, fulfilling basic needs, and investing in humanity, billionaires, charities (and ESPECIALLY ‘corporate social responsibility initiatives) and prisons, wouldn’t exist. My thinking is that if the government were adequately providing basic resources, most crimes would likely cease to exist because most crimes are survival crimes. …

For a long time, I believed decriminalizing nonviolent and victimless crimes and liberating offenders was enough, and had concerns about what prison abolition could mean for violent offenders. That was before I read the essay “Against Innocence” in Jackie Wang’s brilliant Carceral Capitalism. If we rely on arbitrary definitions to differentiate between violent and nonviolent crimes and what those offenders deserve, then we’re allowing this to distract from a greater system of racist, classist, colonialist oppression. We reduce this system of oppression to individual acts.”

Policing is ultimately not about good vs. bad individuals, or a few bad apples; as Blake Simons of Hella Black Pod wrote in 2017, “policing is not a question of individualism.” He continues:

“It is not as if a random individual gets a gun, a badge, a police car, and a blue uniform. The police are a highly organized institution with systemic power. In order to understand any institution, it is important you start with the history of that institution, the institution of modern day policing evolved from the slave patrol system. ...

“To suggest that there are good cops is like saying there’s good slave patrols or good colonizers. It acts as if policing is an individual act that isn’t a product of racial capitalism. A cop might have “good intentions”, but these good intentions don’t change the fact that they are a part of a system that is rooted in anti-Blackness. These “good intentions” don’t change the fact that the system they work for criminalizes the whole Black community.”

(I can’t recommend the full essay enough, as it traces the history of policing to slave patrols and then utilizing policing to continue racist labor exploitation via mass incarceration, etc.)

Calls for police reform — while certainly well-meaning — are innocuous and harmful, because they will ultimately lead to more funding for police, taken away from investment in vital resources for the community that prevent crimes. Police budgets as is are already unjustifiable — they bleed cities dry, from Los Angeles (which allocates 44 percent — $3 billion — to policing), to my suburban hometown of Fremont, CA (which allocates 43 percent — $93.3 million — to policing), and take away from funding for anything else.

Briefly circling back to sexual violence, advocates in the survivor justice community have been critical of the Violence Against Women Act (AKA, a piece of legislation you’ve probably heard propped up as the sole defense from Biden supporters about why we should believe he’s on our side) for investing more funding into policing. While VAWA has been critical to recognizing the crisis of domestic and sexual violence, and funding hotlines, shelters, resources, education, and more to support victims, it has also played a harmful role in legitimizing policing as a solution.

I also fear that calls for reform will lead to passivity and a false feeling of victory if and when those reforms are easily implemented by police departments, only for nothing to really change. After all, if police aren’t following existing rules (hence all the killings and brutality), why do we have any reason to believe they’d follow new ones? Racist violence is inherent to policing, because in addition to all the baked in white supremacy, policing is the gateway that protects and upholds every violent system our nation is rooted in, namely white supremacist, capitalist exploitation, theft, and hoarding. Note, too, that Minneapolis Police Department — home to the officers who killed George Floyd — is widely recognized as the “most progressive police department” in the nation. Policing is unreformable.

Respectfully, using the current crisis we face to call for folks to vote is deeply tone-deaf and harmful, and will be until more Democratic politicians especially at the local level take meaningful steps to support divestment from police and disempower police forces and unions.  Cities and localities with the most violent police response to protests, such as Los Angeles, Oakland, and New York City, are all governed by Democratic mayors. Yes, vote — but demand divestment from policing. Demand real change and leadership. Demand real steps toward abolition.

[van-dyne]

but it's exactly like you said: putting a parallel between tony and peter also puts a parallel between bucky and ego. peter and tony's situations are entirely different because you can't blame bucky (unless you're a fucking asshole) but ego IS responsible on the other hand. like, you guys can preach about mental illness all you want, but none of you have an ounce of respect for bucky and you keep coming up with reasons why tony should have killed him. that's why no one trusts tony stans tbh.

???? Can you please take your prejudice and grudge away for one minute and actually read what my original post is saying, and what my previous ask is saying, before you jump to conclusion that I ‘victim blame’ bucky and ‘keep coming up with reasons why tony should have killed him’,

I made it nice and clear that I’m not blaming Bucky, have no ill will towards him, and the intention of that parallel gif set is only to draw ‘the parallels between the experiences of Peter and Tony and their reactions when they find out the truth about their mothers’ deaths’ [here read it again yourself] The parallel is about Peter and Tony and their mothers, their mothers were (one of) the closest things to their hearts and their whole lives, they believe it’s natural causes/ accident that took their mothers away, only to find out they were actually murdered, and the shock and fury and pain and the feeling of betrayal have them both react in a similar manner to the one who killed their mothers. This is what my gif set is about, it’s about Peter and Tony, and you can see in the gif set how I put the focus on them solely, and very little on Ego, Bucky or Steve, because they are not the parallel I want to draw, because that would be unfair, because I know even though Maria was killed by Bucky’s hand, Bucky is also a victim of brainwash, he was merely a weapon. I know this, which is the reason why I put the disclaimer in so that you will know that this gif set has no intention to blame Bucky. Can you hear me now??

And where in the world you get that idea of me/us keep coming up with reasons why tony should have killed bucky oh my god? No one said Tony should have killed Bucky??? You know while I know many Bucky stans like you hold a lot of grudges against Tony, most Tony stans I know have nothing against Bucky, we know he’s a victim of Hydra like Tony’s parents and Tony, and we wouldn’t want Tony to kill him lol this is just absurd? You know you can sympathise with Bucky while understand why Tony would lash out on him right? Because just put yourself in Tony’s shoes for once and for real, forget that you know Bucky, forget that you know all about his tragic backstory and how he wants nothing to do with any of this yet become the centre of the conflict. Because for all Tony knows, Bucky is a stranger he’s never met before, he’s on the government most wanted list and though Tony finds out Bucky was framed for Vienna, hence he’s here in Siberia to offer help, he doesn’t know the full extent of the brainwashing and the winter soldier. Throughout the movie Tony only knows about Bucky through Steve, who has thrown everything away to protect Bucky, including their friendship and the Avengers. So to say the least, Tony doesn’t have any emotional connection with Bucky, and he has no reason to trust him, he’s there in Siberia for Steve, not for Bucky. So imagine you’re in a room with your friend Steve who you just had a big fight with, and his friend Bucky who you know not much about, who also kinda is the cause of the fight and he may or may not have some criminal records, and you are stressed and on edge and your own best friend Rhodey has just been severely injured, everything is falling apart, but for now, let’s put that aside and solve this winter soldiers mystery together. Bruh only to find out it’s a set up! And now not only you find out your parents death that has casted such a shadow in your life was an assassination instead of an accident, you’re also forced to watch the footage of your parents being brutally murdered in front of you, and what’s worse is that your friend Steve has known that for awhile and elected not to tell you because he needs to protect his friend Bucky, why? Because Bucky is the one who murdered your parents! Tell me you wouldn’t lash out on that very person who killed your parents right at that moment, brainwash or not, your parents were dead by his hands. You’d care for nothing but revenge, and you will want to hurt him as he’s hurt you. This is a very human reaction. Was Tony wrong to take it out on Bucky? Yes, because Bucky is also a victim, he was brainwashed. Can you blame Tony for reacting the way he did? No, unless you lack empathy, the guy just watched his parents being murdered in front of him and to rub salt to the wound his friend has betrayed his trust. 

If the reveal didn’t happen the way it did in civil war, if Tony was given time to process under different circumstances, he would be able to manage his emotions better and remember that Bucky is also a victim, and he would react more civilly. But you know what even though he’s fighting Bucky, he’s never really intend to kill, the iron man suit is a lethal weapon, all he has to do is aim at the fatal part of the body and shot bullets then he will be done with if he was so sure so set on killing Bucky. He’s fighting them to release his anger and give himself time to process, because the logic part of his brain still knows that the one who orders the kill is the one to blame, not the brainwashed weapon who does the killing. And so you see the later part of the fight his anger is direct at Steve more than it is to Bucky, because being mad at Steve for the betrayal of his trust, that he can have some sort of closure, because he can never have closure on the matter of his parents. Peter can end up destroying Ego, T’challa can end up bringing Zemo to justice, but Tony knows he can’t blame Bucky and he won’t because it’s not fair and just, and those who ordered the kill were either dead or god knows where. The reveal opens the wound but there’s no justice to serve, he can only let it bleed till it won’t hurt as much as before. 

And here I thought I could avoid going into the civil war discourse again, hope you’re happy now anon! The thing about civil war is that you can’t watch it with your black and white mentality, you can’t blame one side without also blaming the other, same way as you can’t excuse one side without also being understanding to the other side. And for the record, I truly hold no grudges against Bucky, maybe still a bit mad at Steve on Tony’s behalf, but I also see where he’s coming from and he’s only doing what he thinks is right and I can respect that. 

[wolfofansbach]

“Our country is vast. The globe must turn for nine hours before the whole of our Soviet land can enter the new year of our victories. The day is coming when we will need not nine hours, but twenty-four!”

--Pravda, January 1941

“We will ignite international flames,

churches and prisons we’ll burn to the ground;

for from the taiga to the British seas,

the Red Army is stronger!”

--’White Army, Black Baron’, marching song of the Red Army

The world in 1962, twenty years after the Red Army’s conque--er, liberation of Europe.

WARNING: long as fuck

(I’m aware it’s...pretty far from realistic. Just bear with me. Also the point of divergence from our timeline is a little further back than 1941, hence things like the Profintern still existing and Marshal Tukhachevsky not having been shot).

On June 17th, 1941, the Wehrmacht marshals on the Soviet border, preparing to carry out Hitler’s final war of aggression. The black earth of Ukraine and the farmlands of the Volga. The old Teutonic cities of the Baltic. There is the destiny of the German people.

Stalin will be caught entirely unawares. He has been lulled into a false peace by his pact with the Führer, two years earlier. Or so Berlin believes. Soviet Russia is weak, the Red Army is feeble.

“Only kick in the door, and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down.”

Eastern Poland comes alive with the roar of artillery and the thunder of soldier’s boots. But this not the Wehrmacht marching. It is the Red army.

Too late the Nazis realize it is they, not the Bolsheviks, who have been played for fools. Hitler signed his treaty with Soviet Russia to ensure his rear was secure, while he smashed the Poles and then turned west to dispense with the French and the English. The Bolsheviks were content to let him do just that. In the two years since the non-aggression pact, Stalin has watched and waited, carefully, while German armies overrun Europe, until the whole continent is prostate before Hitler. France, the low countries, Scandinavia, Poland, Yugoslavia, Greece.

The wily old Bolshevik in the Kremlin has slyly allowed the Führer to make himself the villain of the century. the monster holding Europe in chains. Now, whoever steps forward to free the nations from Nazi tyranny will be hailed by the peoples of the world as liberator.

Even if it is the dreaded Red Army that does the liberating.

Lenin had always said that war opened the door for revolution. The first great imperialist conflagration had created the Republic of Soviets and very nearly delivered all of Europe into the hands of red revolutionists. This second war, ignited by Germany with the tacit encouragement of the USSR, will finish the job.

The Wehrmacht is caught on the back foot--Hitler’s great, invincible legions are armed to the teeth, equipped with the most modern, lethal weaponry of any military on the planet. Yes, they are prepared. But for a war of aggression, not a war of defense. They are prepared to march into the Soviet Union, not to be marched on.

Thousands of German tanks, warplanes, countless munitions depots, and armies’ worth of hapless Landsers are massed right on the Soviet frontier, in preparation for the invasion that now will never come. When the Red Army floods over the border, weapons and men are captured by the millions. Entire German armies are encircled and destroyed in those first few days.

The Wehrmacht reels back towards Germany, stunned by the sudden onslaught. Goebbels takes to the radio, boasting that he was right, that now surely all of Europe can see the mortal threat posed by the Bolshevik menace in the east. He tactfully neglects to mention Germany’s own plans for aggression, so narrowly preempted by Stalin’s attack.

On July 10th, red troops march into Warsaw. The Polish people, despising their German conquerors but hardly less suspicious of the Russians, give them a wary welcome.

In the south, thousands of red paratroopers rain down on Romania’s Ploesti Oilfields, starving Hitler’s panzers and warplanes of their precious fuel. The Red Army punches forward, their tanks rolling smoothly over the FLAT plains of northern Europe, driving the German Army inexorably before them.

Hitler’s invincible troopers put up a stubborn fight, but on August 2nd, the Red Army takes East Prussia. Nazi officials and party elites snatch up all the wealth and damning records they can get their hands on, and flee west as fast as they can.

By the fourth week of September, Himmler, Göring, Frank, Kaltenbrunner, and Sauckel, to name only a few, are already sneaking through the Rhineland towards France. Hitler himself, along with Göbbels and a handful of other die-hards, stubbornly refuse to abandon Berlin.

In the south, Soviet troops storm over the Carpathians, barreling straight towards Budapest, scantly defended by the Hungarian Army and a few disoriented Wehrmacht and SS divisions.

On October 22nd, the Red Army’s armored spearheads reach the outskirts of Berlin. An unraveling Hitler, much against the advice of his counselors, joins a German citizens’ militia, animated by visions of an epic, Wagnerian last stand. He is presumably killed in the short battle than ensues. His body is never found. Rumors of his survival will abound for decades.

Despite the feverish attempts of SS fanatics to organize a fight to the death, the city, stunned by the rapidity of German defeat, hardly resists as the red soldiers march into the Pariser Platz. The swastika is hauled down.

What German divisions have avoided falling apart pull back into the Rhineland, and then into France, Stalin’s legions nipping at their heels. Resistance movements in the occupied countries take heart, emboldened by the Reich’s sudden collapse.  

Landsers trudging into France and Belgium suffer jeers and threats from the same locals that just months before groveled before them.

On November 6th, the Red Army reaches the Rhine, just in time for the twenty-fourth anniversary of the October Revolution. A handful of divisions capture Denmark in a matter of hours and round up the Nazi troops stationed therein.

The Nazis and their French collaborators attempt to fortify that country, hoping if nothing else to hold Stalin at the Ardennes. Just as the French tried to hold Runstedt’s panzers there only a year ago. But it is hopeless. Rebellions flowers all over the country. The PCF sees a massive upswing in popularity. The south becomes ungovernable as tens of thousands of guerrilla fighters swarm the towns and hill country.

In the first week of December, the Red Army seizes the Ruhr, Köln, and other old industrial strongholds on the Rhine. Even after nine years of Nazi rule, the Rhineland’s old socialist tradition runs deep. In many towns, Soviet troops are welcomed with "hurrah!” and red flags.

Britain watches, stunned. They have fought Hitler two years, now. But the country’s ruling classes shudder as Bolshevism rushes ever nearer to the channel. “Make peace with the Germans,” some urge. “The Bolsheviks must be stopped.”

“Let them wear each other down,” say others.

In Moscow, the Soviet government publishes documents proving Germany’s intention to attack the USSR, and justifying Stalin’s strike as a preemptive one to “liberate the toiling peoples of Europe from imperial-fascist slavery.”

The assault on France begins. What is left of the Wehrmacht, complemented by French fascist volunteers and the Vichy French Army, puts up a spirited defense, to little avail. The Red Army sweeps aside its dissolute foes and storms into Paris on New Year’s, 1942.

Red tank armies wheel southward, driving towards Provence and the Pyrenees. In the east and south, the Red 9th Army seizes Budapest, and then rushes onto Vienna and Prague, while the 18th Army moves into Yugoslavia and towards Greece.

In one of history’s great ironies, what remains of the Wehrmacht ends up crushed against the English Channel, the sea to their backs and the Red Army to their face, the same predicament in which they left the British at Dunkirk one year ago. They are joined in their unenviable position by officers, lords, politicians, activists, and civilians from nearly every nation in Europe fleeing the Soviet onslaught, marked for elimination by their fascist sympathies or class origins.

And like the British at Dunkirk, the Germans look across the water towards London for salvation. They have been at war with England for two years now, yes. But that was a gentleman’s war, wasn’t it? Surely the English cannot leave them to the red steppe hordes?

What remains of the Nazi government, headed by Göring and gathering in the port city of Le Havre, desperately pleas with Churchill to evacuate them, and as many of their soldiers, as possible, before the Russians arrive.

Fierce debate erupts in parliament. Some say that the Germans would never have offered them such a kindness. Leave them to the reds. Many on the right push their insistence that the Bolsheviks are worse than the Nazis.

Riots erupt in London, Birkenhead, and Liverpool at the prospect of Britain being flooded by German refugees, including disarmed soldiers.

Churchill’s government opens negotiations with Stalin. The Council of People’s Ministers promises German prisoners of war will be treated in accordance with international law, but refuses to give any guarantees for Nazi leaders.

The Red Army nears Le Havre and the Nazi government in exile, even as crack SS troops and Milice struggle to hold them back. In the end, Churchill quietly okays an evacuation of the Le Havre government to Britain.

Word leaks to the public. Further riots break out in London at the prospect that British resources are going to be expended to save Hitler’s butchers from the Russians.

Between popular pressure and a sudden red offensive, the operation is a spectacular failure. On March 23rd, 1942, Even as British ships anchor offshore, the Red Army breaks into Le Havre before any of the cowering Nazis can make it to the docks.

Göring’s shambles of a government is captured almost to the last man, save for a handful who slip through the Soviet net. Notably, Reinhard Heydrich slips away, disappearing from the pages of history. For the time being.

Now holding what remains of the Nazi high echelons, Stalin thunders against the British imperialists, who he says “have given the lie to their supposed ‘anti-fascistm’, for they have endeavored to save Hitler’s hangmen from the justice of the people.”

When word spreads across Europe of the attempted rescue of the Nazi elites by British forces, the prestige of the UK and Churchill’s government in particular, within and without the country, plummets.

Meanwhile, the Red Army, having seized and pacified the northern European plain, as well as having driven to Greece, turns its attentions southward. Mussolini’s Italy still stands, quivering in terror behind the Alps. Fascist Spain races to fortify the Pyrenees.

It is easy enough to justify war on the remaining fascist states--they had aided Germany all through the war, after all, and had even pledged men and resources to the bungled invasion of the USSR.

Fascist Italy begs Britain for assistance, they cannot face the Red Army alone, Mussolini pleads. Count Ciano, Mussolini’s longtime foreign minister, curses him to his face, damning him for having entered the war on Hitler’s side and thus having provided Stalin with an ironclad causus belli.

“The hammer and the sickle will split the fasces, and you have only yourself to blame, duce.”

The Royal Navy begins to run guns and ammunitions to Sicily and Naples. From Moscow, Molotov blasts London for her about-face.

“Mussolini and Hitler were devils, except now that the Red Army moves to destroy them, they become your dearest friends,” he charges.

When a Royal Navy destroyer sinks a Red Navy cruiser off of the coast of Spain, the USSR declares war on Great Britain.

The Red Army masses on the Alps, like Napoleon 150 years ago, or Hannibal before him. The fascist army, bolstered by British advisors, prepares to stand and fight.

On June 5th, 1942, the Red Army launches its invasion of Italy. In the old industrial towns of the northern peninsula, many workers and trade unions are sympathetic to the Bolsheviks, and soon stir up trouble in Mussolini’s rear.

Red planes drop leaflets over the country, promising liberty to the workers of Turin and Milan and the peasants of Napoli and Messina. They remind how Mussolini plunged a dagger into the back of the socialists and how his blackshirts murdered the workers’ movement at the behest of the bosses.

There is no full-scale rebellion against fascist rule, but in many parts of the country, support for Il Duce chills considerably.

The Italian Army holds its positions on the Apennine Mountains for some months, to the shock of many.

But on August 18th, 1942, the Red Army breaks through in a grand offensive. Mussolini shoots himself as Soviet shells rain down on Rome. King Vittorio Emanuele is killed when his convoy, moving west towards Ostia and a British exile, is strafed by red fighter planes.

On September 11th, Soviet troops reach the toe of the Italian Peninsula.

In the west, Franco’s government panics. The civil war is only three years over. Millions of Spaniards who supported the republic through the conflict loathe the new fascist government, and many of those millions hope the Red Army will soon march over the Pyrenees to topple it. Such is Stalin’s intentions.

Insurgencies render Andalusia, Vasconia, and Catalonia near ungovernable. A full-scale anarchist-republican uprising in Seville and the surrounding countryside is only crushed by the use of 5,000 regular troops and multiple units of Civil Guards and Falangists.

In Britain, the government struggles to turn the people, primed over the past years for war against Germany, to support instead the struggle against bolshevism. The worst excesses of the Russian Civil War are dredged up, and invented where they do not exist. Lurid pictures are painted of what will happen should England go red.

But the British people are tired of war. Few want a soviet in London, but not many are eager for a conflagration with Stalin.

Nevertheless, Churchill’s cabinet organizes a British Expeditionary Force, which is summarily dispatched to Salazar’s Portugal. Franco’s Spain welcomes the British assistance.

Franco’s government announces to the world again and again that Spain was neutral in the European war, and thus the Soviet Union could have no cause for declaring war on her. They know full well such reasoning will have no play with Stalin, but they hope to at least convince the world at large that the Russians are in the wrong.

Stalin responds: “that the cowardice of the Spanish fascists kept them from an open declaration of war did not prevent them lending aid to their German and Spanish allies wherever possible. The working people of Spain cry out for a liberation from the brutal regime that crushed their democracy and even now holds them in chains.”

Soviet troops mass on the Pyrenees. Spain is in ferment.

In the coffee houses of Madrid and Barcelona, many a joke is made about the “5,000,000 sons of St. Stalin.”

On December 5th, 1942, the Red Army pours over the Pyrenees. Barcelona revolts against the Francoist troops even before the Russians arrive, and when they do, they are greeted with open arms by the republican city. The staunchly conservative Navarre and the Basque Country receive the soldiers with much less enthusiasm.

Franco’s armies and the British forces fortify Madrid, hoping ironically for a repeat of the miracle of 1936, wherein the republican forces held of Franco’s forces at the edge of the city.

No such luck. The Red Army barrels towards the capital, sweeping aside like bowling pins Spanish and British divisions. Franco’s army dissolves. The survivors, along with their British allies, pull back towards Portugal. Franco flees with them.

When red troops storm down the Gran Vía, the occupants of Madrid’s lower quarters turn out to cheer them, waving red flags, while from upper stories the city’s middle classes watch in horror.

Thousands of refugees, including Franco and many of his ministers, crowd the port at Lisbon, clamoring to escape.

The rest of Spain is quickly pacified.

Stalin is glad so many fascist Spanish troops and civilians have fled into Portugal. It will make the justification that much easier. He demands Salazar turn them over.

Naturally, the dictator refuses.

The Red Army invades Portugal in the third week of January, 1943. It is remembered as the Five-Day Campaign.

Franco escapes into a south American exile.

The world watches, stunned beyond belief. How could such a thing happen? In less than two years, Europe is bolshevized. The Red Army is in Minsk and in Lisbon.

In 1919, Lenin had spoken of world revolution. He had believed it on the horizon. The propertied classes of the west had trembled. But the revolutionary wave had fizzled. The Soviet Union ceased to be a found of global revolt and become just another nation-state.

But now, the old goal of the Bolsheviks returned to the forefront. World revolution! A world soviet republic!

Hysteria rules in the Americas, in Japan, but especially in Britain. After all, only that thin, blessed stretch of water that is the channel protects them from the Red Army.

On May Day, 1943, a parade is held in Moscow. Thousands of German prisoners, along with Romanian, Hungarian, and even fascist French and Spanish, are marched through Red Square, before cheering crowds.

Toasts are made to Comrade Stalin, Brilliant Genius of Humanity, Architect of Communism, and now, ‘Liberator of Nations’.

In the newly conquered territories, the bolsheviks get busy. The Nazis have done much of the hard work for them, many of the old states of Europe, such as Poland and Czechoslovakia, have suffered complete debellation at the hands of the Nazis. The Nazis have everywhere destroyed state machinery and national governments. They will have to be rebuilt. And rebuilt under the watchful, brotherly eye of the Red Army, of course.

A “People’s Provisional Government of Poland” is set up. Old German communists and young workers from the Rhineland easily turned from Nazism to Stalinism provide the nucleus for a “Supreme Revolutionary Council” in Berlin. In Spain there is an “Emergency Commission for the Administration of the Spanish Republic.”

All over Europe, these nominally independent governments are established. ‘Fascist’ parties (and the net is cast rather wide) are of course banned from participation, their members where they can be found summarily arrested by the NKVD. All others are allowed to participate, even bourgeois liberals and conservatives. But special consideration is given to ‘proletarian’ parties, as “the liberating class”, whose votes and delegates in the new governments receive outsized weight.

The 1940s are a period of intense political reorganization through Europe. Stalin’s principal goal is to build up bases of solid support in the occupied countries. The Red Army enjoys great prestige for having defeated Hitler and liberated Europe, but it will not last forever.

Stalin focuses on wooing the industrial and agricultural workers of Europe. The middle classes will never see the light of socialism, and the smallholding peasants will be a struggle. But with millions of urban laborers and rural proletarians, the Red Army will have enough to hold down the continent.

Those classified as ‘proletarian’ are given priority in work, schooling, wages, and medicine. The policy is in the main successful. To the surprise of many, especially in Germany. Eight years of Nazi rule was not enough to erase the country’s old, militant labor traditions. The miners of the Ruhr, longshoremen in Hamburg, and ironworkers in Berlin soon become a powerful base of support for the new pro-Soviet government.

Not all are quite as warm to the new order. In spring 1945, a massive uprising erupts in Bavaria, and three Soviet divisions are needed to quell it, with some 20,000 dead. In the eastern countries, Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia, largely peasant, stolid and conservative, the Red Army suffers partisan attacks and native recalcitrance.

Economic and social chaos envelops the continent. Landowners, aristocrats, intelligentsia, and officers are arrested, and shot by the NKVD. Mass graves scar the land from Minsk to Madrid. Farmland and factories are collectivized. Strict censorship of all ‘fascist’ and ‘imperialist’ literature is enforced. Trade unions and parties are subsumed into the ‘Red International of Labor Unions’. School curricula are reformed, to include lessons on Marxist theory and inculcate a proletarian consciousness in Europe’s youth.

It is bloody, weary work.

But by and large, Europe is pacified.

In 1944-45, the Nazi leadership along with many of their European allies (Antonescu, Horthy, Laval, Pavelic and the like) are tried. There is no need to cynically invent evidence in common Soviet fashion. More than enough to condemn Hitler’s regime is found in the documents of the RSHA and the Wehrmacht. Plans to starve millions of soviet citizens in the war that never was. Blueprints for the elimination of the Jews from Europe. Explicit orders to disobey international laws of war.

Himmler and Göring are hanged on the same day, May 8th, 1945. The rest follow in batches. Acquittals are next to none.

In the winter of 45-46, the Polish provisional government, having conclusively dispensed with its internal ‘bourgeois’ rivals, ‘requests’ official admission to the USSR. Moscow, of course, accepts.

Britain condemns the “illegal annexation”. The Soviet Union fires back that a country ruling half the world has little ground to stand upon when making such accusations.

The rest of Europe, under their Soviet-friendly governments, follows suit. Slovakia joins in the spring of 46, along with Hungary and Bohemia. That fall, so do Yugoslavia and Bulgaria.

Germany joins in early 1947. Italy later that summer. France just before the new year.

By the winter of 1949, most all of Europe has been annexed (or been admitted, as official parlance insists) to the Soviet Union.

Sweden and Switzerland had been neutral in the war. Never occupied or allied with the Germans. So it is a bit harder to justify marching the Red Army in. Instead, the NKVD funds and organizes communist dissidents, to foment revolt and eventually revolution.

Britain fortifies herself. The island becomes “one great barrack” as Soviet propaganda describes it. Travel to and from the continent dwindles into nonexistence.

Parliament passes a series of laws effectively allowing for the indefinite internment of any suspected communists or communist sympathizers. Communist, socialist, and not a few social democratic papers are summarily closed down by the government. Trade unions are dissolved or neutered.

The left, even the mildest laborites, become the target of extreme suspicion.

It comes to a head in the autumn of 1945, when Labour wins a resounding victory at the polls, with an 8% margin. Five years ago conservatives and liberals would have regarded as an obnoxious setback to be rectified in the next round. Now, with the Red Army across the channel, the results are greeted with widespread panic by the middle classes and propertied gentlemen of Britain.

To worsen the situation, in Yorkshire, thousands of miners, emboldened by the victory, go on strike, officially endorsed by the Labour leadership. The papers scream that this is bolshevism coming to Britain at last.

The miners are bullied, harassed, and beaten by their boss’s hired men, desperate to end the stoppage. On October 3rd, 1945, a firefight erupts between armed miners and triggermen in the employ of the coal companies.

The sitting Conservative government takes the opportunity to quell the situation, sending in 3,000 troops to ‘pacify’ the north. What results is a bloody battle between British soldiers and armed workers that leaves 382 dead and a country in shock.

The newly elected Labour delegates never take their seats, because the party, officially blamed for the debacle, is banned.

British politics lurch rightward.

Sir Oswald Mosley of the British Union of Fascists, regarding as a bad joke by most respectable Britons prior to the war, suddenly finds the nation quite receptive to his ‘message’.

The BUF rebrands itself the ‘British Patriots’ League’ and stands in the 1950 elections, winning 24% of the vote on a platform of ‘saving Britain from bolshevism, whatever the cost.’

The autonomy slowly being granted to overseas territories is revoked. India and South Africa are subject to direct rule from London.

Across the sea, a similar, if more muted phenomenon sweeps the United States.

Having remained neutral through the war, she has been spared the raw destruction that wrought on Europe and England. But the rapid expansion of the USSR persuades many that if the United States had intervened in the European war, perhaps Stalin’s ambitions could have been checked.

After bombs are mailed to a number of politicians and public officials in the spring of 1946, the Communist Party of the USA is officially banned.

In 1948, under the MacArthur administration, the United States signs a mutual assistance treaty with the United Kingdom, pledging 500,000 troops to be stationed on the British Isles for defense against “foreign (i.e, bolshevik) aggression”.

The world splits into two camps.

Britain clamps down on her colonial empire, with the assistance of the United States. In South Africa and India, separatist rebel groups spring into being, not-so-subtly armed and trained by the NKVD and GRU. Repression is harsh. British paratroopers and SAS men burn Zulu villages to the ground outside of Johannesburg. Thousands of US and British troops are funneled into India.

The overseas holdings of European powers now subsumed into the USSR (Portuguese Angola, the Belgian Congo, etc.) pass under Anglo-American ‘administration’.

In the east, Japan, equally alarmed by Stalin’s expansion, signs an “anti-Bolshevik” pact with the UK and US. France no longer existing as an independent state, Japan is allowed to retain control of French Indochina, against the feeble protests of nationalistic Frenchmen overseas.

In February of 1950, a series of border clashes in Manchuria between the Red Army and Imperial Japanese forces escalates into full-blown war.

Britain and America, while not entering the conflict officially, provide arms, fuel, and advisors to the Japanese military.

Stalin declares his intentions to “liberate the east from the cruel grip of Japanese fascism.”

The USSR funds Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek and communist rebel Mao Tse-Tung in their fight against the Japanese.

The conflict lasts until 1953, when the Red Army finally throws the Japanese out of Manchuria and Korea. Both are summarily joined to the USSR as soviet republics.

But Moscow’s grand ambitions to take China as well founder. Chiang Kai-Shek, now supported by the west (as Japan as been expelled from the country, and the choice is now between him and the reds), defeats Mao in a long civil war, and unifies China under a conservative, authoritarian government.

In Europe, the USSR continues its ‘building socialism’. The German Soviet Republic builds up its industrial capacity to new levels, coming closer to outstripping the Russian SFSR in production.

In 1953, Turkey collapses into civil war as leftist rebels attempt to overthrow the government. The conflict lasts six months, with a success for the left, that establishes a soviet sympathetic state.

In 1955, after years of subversion, Soviet-funded rebels overthrow the government of Switzerland. A provisional government “requests” admission to the USSR, and it duly granted. The little country, much to the horror of its people, is divided up between the Italian, French, and German soviet republics.

In 1956, the BPL wins 46% of the vote in the UK general elections, forming a government. William Joyce, an old-school ‘reformed’ fascist (the British people have a distaste for Mussolini’s old philosophy, even now) is appointed Prime Minister.

That same year, the Brazilian Integrationists, with US support, come to power on a wave of anti-communist sentiment. The ensuing dictatorship disappears and murders thousands. Communist guerrillas retreat into the impenetrable Amazon, where they take up a dogged resistance.

As Germany grows to become the most industrially developed component republic in the USSR, the center of gravity shifts towards Berlin. It is declared the capital of the union in 1957.

In 1958, Soviet-backed rebels in Syria and Iraq organize to throw off British colonial rule. The Red Army moves in from the Caucasus, prepared to lend its assistance.

Prime Minister Joyce warns the newly elected Soviet General Secretary Tukhachevsky that further interference in the region will mean war.

The USSR is undeterred.

London does not have the stomach for a direct war. British colonial troops (along with their US allies) fight a losing war with the rebels in Aleppo and Baghdad.

In 1960, Iraq and Syria expel the Anglo-Americans and, under Soviet tutelage, merge into the Arab Republic.

Palestine follows. Now parliament passes a declaration of war on Moscow. British troops flood the mid-east

In 1961, the Red Army chases British troops out of Egypt and raises a red flag in Cairo.

Panic grips Britain. That summer, a longshoremen’s strike in London is put down by soldiers with 38 dead. Parliament passes a law legalizing ‘contracts’ between employers and workers that forbid strikes and work stoppages, and bind the laborer to his place of work. Once signed, a worker may not quit.

It is widely denounced in many quarters of slavery, but Britain’s fast developing state security apparatus squelches dissent.

This is the world in the year 1962, as red and white duel for mastery of the earth, hands gory with blood.

[anoasisofhealing]

Cancer Is A Metabolic Disease

Cancer is a metabolic disease, there is little doubt to that statement.

Cancer is rarely a genetic disease, though often discussed as such.  What genetic changes that do exist in cancer are likely the result of the metabolic dysfunction and poor adaptation for survival that results from a hypoxic environment.

This is the fourth article of a seven-part series by Nathan Goodyear, MD at An Oasis of Healing on the evidence and research on Vitamin C therapy for Cancer. If you missed the first three articles, you can go here for article number one and here for the second article and visit here for the third article to get caught up and read them in full.

Dr. Lodi does not like the word disease, so let’s look at that word and see why.  Disease is an early 14th-Century word that was more descriptive than diagnostic.

According to the Etymology dictionary, the original meaning of the word disease meant discomfort, inconvenient, distress…  The actual 2 root words are ‘dis’ (without) and ‘aise’ (ease) which gives the actual root meaning of disease as ‘without ease’.

Interestingly, in the late 15th Century the meaning of the word disease evolved to mean ‘to make ill’.  Since conventional medicine treatments are the 3rd leading cause of death, how can medicine not be called a means to make ill, a means to create dis “aise”, a disease itself.

The scientific literature really leaves little evidence for any other conclusion, but that cancer is the result of poor adaptation to metabolic distress.  In fact, cancer is the body’s attempt to adapt, though be it a poor attempt, to the presence of a low oxygen environment, oxidative stress, and poor energy production.

In the short-term, this adaptation pays dividends for survival, but in the long-term, this adaptation leads to the survival of very dysfunctional cells and what we know as cancer.  The genetic defects often found in cancer are more often the result of massive metabolic dysfunction, than a foundational genetic defect. In many ways, the genetic defects found in cancer are the effect of the extreme metabolic dysfunction in cancer rather than the cause of cancer.

I have had the pleasure of speaking at numerous conferences including the same conference as Dr. Thomas N. Seyfried, the author of Cancer is a Metabolic Disease.  Dr. Seyfried is extremely well published on the mechanisms of the dysfunctional metabolism of cancer.

His 2015 article entitled Cancer as a mitochondrial metabolic disease, published in the Journal Frontiers In Cell and Developmental Biology, is a heavy, but very good read on the metabolic mechanisms behind cancer.  In addition, Dr. Dominic P. D’Agostino at the University of South Florida spoke at the same conference on the use of the ketogenic diet in the management of metastatic cancer.

Now, I have the opportunity to work with my good friend, Dr. Thomas Lodi, a pioneer in Integrative Oncology.  These and other pillars in the cancer research community have helped to decipher the mechanisms behind the actions of IV vitamin C in cancer and apply them to clinical practice.  The combination of the knowledge of cancer metabolism and the mechanism and use of IV vitamin C in cancer metabolism provide a targeted, lethal combination in the fight against cancer.

Cancer as a Mitochondrial Metabolic Disease

To describe the mechanism of action of IV vitamin C in cancer, I need to get a little technical so please bear with me.  Put on your thinking caps.  Humans are one of several species that have lost the ability to make vitamin C, hence what vitamin C we have in our body comes through our diet and/or supplementation alone.

In addition, the human body has very limited capacity to store vitamin C.  This lack of productive capacity and lack of storage leaves most people with cancer with massive vitamin C deficiency in what I like to call metabolic scurvy.

One of the benefits of vitamin C in the battle against cancer is that vitamin C looks just like glucose—sugar.  Vitamin C is actually made from glucose by the enzyme gulonolactone oxidase. Humans lack this enzyme, which requires regular, continuous vitamin C from our diet.

As concerning as this enzymatic deficiency can be, this deficiency provides a silver lining in the fight against cancer.  Cancer thrives in the typical glucose-rich environment of the western American diet. The elimination of simple sugars, excessive carbohydrates, and high process foods from the diet will starve the cancer of its primary fuel source—glucose.

In the low glucose state induced by targeted nutrition plans, vitamin C is readily taken up by the energy-starved cancer cells via the receptors SVCT1 and SVCT2 because of vitamin C’s resemblance to glucose.  In this case, vitamin C is a stealthy, metabolic time bomb for cancer cells.  This is why nutrition is as much a part of treatment at an Oasis of Healing as the IV therapies are.

Back to the how of Vitamin C in cancer.  The first key step, as I have discussed previously, is the pharmacologic dosing of vitamin C and not the physiologic dosing.  Dosing vitamin C at levels that prevent scurvy will never achieve therapeutic anti-cancer effects.

Vitamin C must be dosed as a medicine.  This is a point that most physicians completely miss.  It goes back to the pharmacokinetics that I have discussed previously; but then again, most physicians don’t pay attention to pharmacokinetics.

The Evidence of the Effects of Vitamin C on Cancer Cells shows this therapy should be a part of every cancer patients treatment protocol

Recent evidence points to the extracellular production of the Reactive Oxidative Species (ROS) superoxide anions O2- and then eventually H2O2 by pharmacologic dosing of vitamin C is what appears to precipitate the cascade of events that eventually results in cancer cell death.  It is the intracellular effects of H2O2, however, that leads to oxidative damage via the increase in hydroxyl free radicals and eventual death of the cancer cell via overwhelming oxidative stress.

An important point that needs to be made here: it is the altered energy cell metabolism of cancer cells i.e. aerobic glycolysis or “the Warburg effect” and the increased cell metabolic rate of the cancer cells that increases the baseline level of ROS species, which, in turn, increases the labile iron (Fe) pool (via an increase in the cellular uptake of Fe and a corresponding decrease in the elimination of Fe by the cancer cell), which provides the necessary environment and sensitizes the cancer cells for therapeutic vitamin C and resultant H2O2 to overwhelm the cancer cell with ROS.

The image directly above highlights the proposed pathway and effects of vitamin C as well as the different effects in normal cells vs cancer cells as published in the recent article published by Schoenfeld JD et al in Cancer Cell.  The exact mechanism of cell death has not been exactly determined and, in fact, is probably quite variable.

Despite the exact mechanism of action known, recent studies and review articles have shown that the intracellular H2O2 interacts with elevated iron pools and/or elevated copper levels to produce hydroxyl free radicals to directly damage the DNA of the cancer cells, damage DNA repair proteins of the cancer cells, inhibition of cell growth cycle, up-regulation of the tumor suppressor gene p53, compromised energy production via damage to the cancer cells (mitochondria) energy powerhouse, and even modification of genetic expression via what is known as epigenetics.    The pro-oxidant effect of H2O2 in cancer cells (discussed in another post) is the dagger in the heart of the cancer cell.

Cancer cells have limited catalase and glutathione peroxidase activity compared to healthy cells leaving cancer cells susceptible to the destructive oxidative effects of the Reactive Oxygen Species.  These key enzymes are used by the cell to handle the oxidative effects of H2O2.  These limited glutathione peroxidases and/or catalase levels and/or activity render the cancer cell vulnerable to the oxidative effects of H2O2 from pharmacologic vitamin C dosing.  That is the science.

Though the exact mechanism, down to every fine detail, of the effects of vitamin C on cancer cells, is not yet determined, the knowledge of the effects of vitamin C in cancer far exceeds that of many FDA approved drugs.  If you ever have insomnia, read the package insert for the drugs sometime and you will often find the words, “exact mechanism of action not known”.

Despite that statement, physicians prescribe and the public takes.  The word insanity comes to mind.  The history supports vitamin C, the volume of evidence supports vitamin C, the evidence supports the biochemistry effects of vitamin C, and finally, the thousands of patients with cancer that have benefited from vitamin C confirms the evidence.

The only thing stopping physicians from using more vitamin C is simple ignorance, whether intentional or not.  Now, you are informed.  Take control of your journey in the defeat of cancer and the restoration of health.

[joffemd]

Fraud as a Pathogen of Humanity

by Joe Pimbley, who consults for PF2, and director Gene Phillips

The sudden crash of Wirecard dominates headlines.  Though pernicious, the fraudulent activity of this eminent European company is quite common.  Fraud is everywhere and we must guard against it just as our bodies resist harmful disease.

Fraud at Wirecard

Wirecard, the large German payment processor and DAX 30 constituent, filed insolvency proceedings in late June 2020.[i] The firm had long faced contested allegations of false or questionable bookings of revenue and profits with pressure increasing in January 2019.[ii] In a final blow, Wirecard’s audit firm could not verify the existence of stated balance sheet cash of EUR 1.9 billion.[iii]  An apt description of Wirecard’s subsequent corporate fate is Lemony Snicket’s “death swooped down like a bat.”[iv]

Fraud is everywhere

Fraudulent statements and behavior of human beings are as old as humanity itself and will continue until the death of our species.  This sentiment is not a denunciation of people; it is merely a characterization of human society.  As the joke of our current era goes:  human guile is not a bug; it’s a feature.

Our definition of “fraud” casts a wide net to include one extreme of telling blatant lies, for example, to sell the Brooklyn Bridge to tourists, while also capturing the other extreme of deliberately failing to correct a false impression that others may have of you.  (We know of a Physics Nobel laureate who, in answer to a direct question, told the U.S.-based interviewer for his first professional job that his college grade-point-average was 4.0.  The interviewer was visibly impressed.  Surprised by this reaction and realizing the interviewer’s likely error, the future laureate did not qualify the information by stating that 4.0 was a terrible GPA in his home country of Norway.)

The Brooklyn Bridge story is the classic fraud example.  Most of us would consider the interviewer’s ignorance of the Norwegian GPA scale not to be an act of fraud on the part of the young job applicant.  Of course, there is a vast middle ground between these extremes.  We see all sections of this middle ground in our personal and professional lives.  Here are a few “middle ground” examples of varying import one of the authors witnessed directly with past employers or learned confidentially from colleagues:

On a derivative trading floor, managers assigned trade identification numbers in a manner that would give counterparties the impression that the trading floor executed ten times more trades than the actual number. 

A risk manager discovered an error in a capital adequacy calculation agreed a decade earlier with the firm’s dominant regulator; the General Counsel chose not to inform the regulator because "it would be confusing.”

A senior executive of a credit rating agency told a rating analyst what the final rating should be for the debt of a new client (i.e., “just prepare an analysis that reaches the rating we want”).

Following the ouster of a CEO during a year of painful losses, the new CEO entered and asked the internal accountants to find and take as many additional losses as possible for that current year.

So fraud, in the sense of giving deceptive information or withholding information for the purpose of helping an individual, group, or company, is everywhere.  These four examples are somewhat trivial and one might consider only one or two, or perhaps none, of them to be “true fraud.”

The Ponzi scheme template for fraud

Broadly, the fraud allegations against Wirecard are for misstatements of financial condition and activity.  Instead of delving into the Wirecard details, we discuss a simpler, generic variant of such fraud that the financial industry calls “the Ponzi scheme.”[v]

In a Ponzi scheme, an investment manager solicits funds from investors to make specified purchases of assets (for example, real estate, stocks, bonds, small businesses, et cetera).  Either through losses on these assets or embezzlement of the manager or both, the value of total assets falls.  This situation becomes a Ponzi scheme when the investment manager deliberately misstates the current asset value in reports to the fund investors.  Believing the fund to be healthy and relying on the (false) manager statements, current investors will tend to keep their principal invested and new investors will add money to the fund.  The Ponzi fraud may remain undetected as long as investor redemption requests do not exceed the sum of (diminished) assets and inflows of new investor money.

In its mildest form, the perpetrator of a Ponzi fraud does not begin the enterprise with criminal intent.  Rather, the manager’s investments perform poorly and, fearing investor withdrawals and business failure as consequences of honest disclosure of this performance, the manager chooses to make false statements.  This is the paradigm for Wirecard-like frauds.  Management makes false statements and obfuscations to cover poor performance or to gain some undeserved short-term benefit.

Fraud is a pathogen of human society

A pathogen is a virus, bacterium or other agent that produces disease.  Pathogens are ubiquitous, both internal and external to our bodies.  We have developed practices as well as natural and man-made defenses to counter most pathogens.  Humanity would not exist otherwise.  Pathogens vary widely in their infection frequency and lethality and generally do not kill their hosts (not immediately, at least).

Fraud is very much a pathogen of society.  Its goal is not to kill the host since, without a mostly healthy society, fraud would not be fruitful.  Like pathogens, fraud is everywhere and there is no prospect or possibility of eliminating all fraud.

But society has an immune system deriving from learned and innate caution and skepticism.  We also have experiences and stories of the personal and business worlds that become lessons for best practices.

Combat fraud as we would a pathogen

There are many strategies for investors to avoid fraud just as there are strategies for people to avoid disease.  Our list below blends some time-tested ideas with those that are most relevant to the Wirecard debacle.

Be consciously aware that fraud is possible in any investment.  It may seem that significant fraudulent activity is less likely in a widely studied investment such as a Microsoft or Wirecard, but fraud at some level is everywhere.

Think for yourself, ask your own questions.  The apparent confidence of many other investors can provide a false sense of comfort.

Realize that many people are inherently dishonest, and certainly “less than honest.”  People do lie.

Think critically about “the story” of the investment you’re considering.  If it does not make sense to you, don’t invest.  Trust yourself more than you trust anyone who tells a story you do not understand or believe.

Three elements of the financial world’s “immune system” to fight fraud are auditors, regulators and credit rating agencies.  For any potential investment, determine whether there are relevant auditors, regulators and rating agencies and consult their findings.  Illness sometimes prevails because an immune system component fails to fulfil its role.

Auditors make mistakes.  Audit firms investigate the financial statements of their clients to certify absence of material misstatements and adherence to accepted accounting policies.  Since the client pays the auditors for the service, the auditors have a “moral hazard motive” not to press fraud investigations vigorously.  While most audit firms DO have strong motives to protect their brands and reputations by maintaining high standards for their investigations, that is no guarantee that individual audit groups will do their jobs honestly or competently.  Hence, do not base a positive investment decision on satisfied auditors.

Regulators are government employees.  They and the regulations they supervise and enforce are generally well intended.  But corporate entities that are willing to deceive investors will also deceive the regulators.  Ironically, regulators will often defend their regulated firms from external accusations because it “looks bad” for the regulators if such accusations are valid.  Further, the mission of regulators favors protection of the banking system and government interests over those of investors in individual firms.  Hence, do not base a positive investment decision on satisfied regulators.

Credit rating agencies are non-government companies that claim to advocate for investors.  They would like you to think of them as “expert investors” that provide unbiased opinions of investment risk.  But this profile is inaccurate.  The rating agencies do not invest and, therefore, do not take the risk you will take as an investor.  Further, their paying clients are the corporate firms themselves, which means that the rating agencies have the same “moral hazard motive” as the auditors.  Though the meanings of the credit ratings themselves are poorly defined, we do consider it valuable to have one or more ratings for corporate debt securities you may purchase.  For “investment-grade” credit ratings, ~80% of such securities will have reasonably low risk (allowing for the errors that these rating agencies do make).  Do not rely only on a credit rating for a positive investment decision on a debt security.

Pay attention to the statements of vocal critics of entities in which you have invested or may invest.  Financial journalists, investment advisors and other investors will sometimes publish negative results from their own investigations.  Read such opinions skeptically since the reports may be mistaken or deliberately false or exaggerated.  Even when wrong or mostly wrong, such third-party views and rebuttals from the investment entity, if any, stimulate your own productive analysis. 

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[i] See “Wirecard files for insolvency owing $4 billion,” New York Post 

[ii] See B. Jennen and N. Comfort, “Wirecard Whistle-Blower Tipped German Watchdog in Early 2019,” Bloomberg

[iii] See R. Browne, “It was once Germany’s fintech star. Now, a missing $2 billion puts Wirecard’s future in doubt” 

[iv] See L. Snicket, The Miserable Mill, Scholastic, Inc., 2000.  The excerpted quote is available at https://ift.tt/3hmlwLu.

[v] See the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission discussion of Ponzi schemes

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