#i can explore this concept further if people aren't interest

[judesmoonbeauty]

Man or Monster?

Okie, so I've thinking about Vogel recently, and I've been curios as to how far Darius' ideoligies have affected the twins. If they have at all. This isn't really a theory, but more like thoughts I've been having, and I want to write them down so I can see things shape over time.

I do discuss event spoilers and mention Ellis route spoilers below, just FYI.

We still don't really know anything about them, but I've been curios as to whether the twins view themselves as humans or not.

Darius doesn't really seem to consider himself human due to being cursed, and what kind of got me started on this was thinking back to Nica's Wrapped event. Although I don't want to say too much because I'm no expert on Vogel, especially Darius, but.....

There is this scene in the premium end where Nica says "humans are foolish," so that just reminds me of Darius. And, if Nica doesn't consider himself to be a human, that would make sense to me because it's theorized that Darius may have been the twin savior, and I'm sure that they'd be inclined to listen to the thoughts and ideas of the one who saved them from their living hell as human experiments (if that's the case).

Which leads me to my next thought. If a curse can't exist in two people at the same time, then it could be said that one twin was cursed, and the other wasn't. Bring in the fact that genetic study was discovered in the 19th century and two little boys who may have be orphaned or sold are now in the hands of curious and greedy doctors and/or scientists.....Then we've got the perfect set up of one of the twins being made into a cursed host. Again, just a thought.

Another thought that I feel supports the fact that at least Nica doesn't consider himself to be human, is in one of his bond levels (to be translated), Nica is surprised that the MC takes his hand of her own accord and even mentions that to her. To me, that kind of just further proves the fact that he may view himself as a monster rather than a human, or at the very least someone worthless or undesirable.

Additionally, it's interesting to note (although I feel that it is trulyjust a coincidence), that in Ellis' MLE, there is a scene where the antagonist calls the Crown members monsters. This pisses Jude off a little bit and after he denounces the antagonist for their sins, Jude asks them "Who's the monster here?"

Of course, that's based loosely upon my summary of his route and not a thorough translation, so EN may use a different term. However, if they do use monster, then I think it's nice that we may now be delving further into the realm of what truly makes a monster a monster, and a man a man.

I mean, aren't we kind of exploring that very faint, underlying theme in each of the routes anyway? To me, none of the guys are monsters, but I feel like this would be a fun concept to explore in-game even more.

[digitalagepulao]

My sincere Black Myth: Wukong review

Full disclosure! This is from a recent but earnest fan of JTTW as the original novel, as well as all the social, cultural and religious layers of it. I've seen my fair share of adaptations and derivative media, from shlocky to silly to grimdark to cutesy. I'm a bachelor in visual arts, with an interest in the field of game development since high school. I am also, white and brazillian, and have talked with other jttw fans, both Chinese and not, on this game. If any of these are for some reason motive to not read further, then fair enough. Hope you have fun and continue to enjoy the game, do not let me or my opinion stop you!

Now to the review proper <3

First things first, let the obvious not remain unsaid. This game, is supremely gorgeous. In every sense of the word, and I mean this fully, it's a work of art. The sound design, the character concepts and execution, the animations, the voice acting, the visual effects, the UI design, the cinematography, the 3D scanning of actual historical artofacts and heritage sites throughout China, and everything beyond and between, are phenomenal, full stop.

This was never a debate, I'm sure, but I don't think I can in good conscience not praise them for their work. It's no news that Asian talent, not just in China either, have been often hired to supplement projects on the West, and we can all agree it's about time they got to shine in their own AAA project. My issues with the international game industry notwithstanding, I hope this brings some much needed acknowledgment and appreciation for Chinese culture and arts, both traditional and modern!

Now, from this point on, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS, so proceed with caution!

(word count: +1.8k)

I also deeply enjoy their choices in arcs to revisit. Some like the Flaming Mountain arc are classic picks to adapt but still a very good match to the whole Six Senses throughline. I don't think you can do a JTTW 2 electric bogaloo without bringing up Niumowang and his family in some way (um, put a pin on that), but the other arcs like Yellowbrow or Black Wind Mountain aren't as explored imo, so it's nice to see them being given a bit of a spotlight.

(speaking of the Yellow Ridge arc, whoever made the executive decision of Lingji Bodhisattva being a Xaanxi singer is, genius!!)

I'm also kind of in love?? with Bajie's design and role in the story overall?? Gameplay wise he sticks around just enough to not feel lonely, but not too long to be a nuisance or overstay his welcome. He's no Atreus (GoW) or Ellie (TLoU) of course, but he doesn't need to be, and most importantly, he isn't trying to be, which I feel is admirable of the devs. Given the visible inspirations from the recent God of War games, it would have been easy to lean a bit too hard on it, but I'm glad they didn't overreach.

Him having a more complex love life is also a nice touch imo. It explores more his womanizer ways in an interesting way, and I appreciate it. I love when people complicate the pig! Also, the way he treats Xiaosheng (Destined One) like a nephew?? The scene on the Huaguoshan throne??? I'M GONNA CRY!!!

I think, I've run out of positive things to say.... time for the spicy takes.

I, kind of detest the premise by default. I'm not a big fan of "Superman is Dead" plots, cus it's usually either done for shock value, or taken so lightly that the weight is totally lost. I have such a love-hate situationship with the introduction cutscene because of this. On one hand, it's phenomenal cinema, and seeing Wukong stand up to the Heavenly armies in glorious 4K high fidelity graphics is delicious. On the other hand, the whole debate they are having has me going "?????", not because I don't get it but just, why?? Why did this have to be the premise?? (put another pin on that)

Also the set up and call to adventure is kind of blergh.

Now is as good a time as any to talk about the gameplay. It's, okay. If you enjoy trying to figure out the most stylish combos, or to mash buttons, then you'll definitely have fun. I was sorely disappointed that I pretty much have been going through the bosses rather easily. Chapter 1 it was mostly the struggle of learning the controls, but I never stuck to a boss for longer than seven tries (Whiteclad Noble, the snakeman that you are). Chapter 2 I only struggled on Tiger Vanguard, because I was sorely underleveled and had missed a pathway to explore before him. After that I second tried him. Chapter 3, I have and I'm not joking, gotten halfway through first or second trying every boss.

Mind you, this is not being some godtier gamer or whatever, I'm pretty average and only a recent player of soulslike games too (maybe playing Lies of P made too OP, but I sincerely doubt it lol). No, this is me saying that if you do explore the game and not rush through it, you won't struggle nearly as much as some people have and still are. Most of the final chapter bosses can be trivialized with the chapter's Obsession Realm gimmick artifact, which isn't in itself a bad thing, just feels like an odd choice personally.

Which leads me to, the level design. So far? Preeeeetty lame! It's very pretty and fancy, but so chockful of invisible walls that it feels stiffling and discourages exploration. I can never tell what is meant to be a path or just fancy scenery, and I never know when a jump will get walled or send me to my death by fall damage. When it's not being confusing, the level design is either a bunch of looping circles, or straight lines. And so far, besides a few interactables and loot, there is not much else to look at. That is, bad level design, plain and simple.

Also, the animations are glorious, but what is the point if I can't see the enemy?? That camera is my true nemesis, and I mean that. the fact that a boss can be beyond my field of vision at ANY POINT when I'm locked on and it strifes sideways, is dreadful. GameScience, FIX IT. It is also, very hard to tell what parts of a boss will damage me if I collide with them or not. The Kang-Jin Long fight was baffling on a design point of view, same for Captain Lotus-Vision. Some clearer hitboxes would be swell.

This is the point where I say my main issue with the game lies: it's very pretty, and adoringly crafted, but it lacks substance design wise. I feel like it needed to cook more, the level design polished more so I wouldn't get lost every five minutes, and clearer.... well, everything. Mechanic explanations, level progression, gimmicks, etc. It all needed to be less murky and convoluted to understand.

It also needed more meat in between bosses. I have yet to run into common enemies that give me actual trouble, so it ends up being just a jolly waltz from boss to boss. Boss rushes are fun and great, but not as the base game experience (for me at least). I had to stop one boss away from completing Chapter 1 cus I was just so exhausted. And I had been playing for like, an hour and a half?? That left a sour taste in my mouth, I'll be honest.

Okay, I'm gonna pick open those pins now.

#1 the Flaming Mountain Arc. I'm gonna be very real here chat, that was so cringe. What do you MEAN, Red Son wasn't Demon Bull King's biological son, and Princess Iron Fan was forced to drink from the Childbearing River??? And Red Son hates him????When I watched that cutscene, I had to pause and walk away for a moment, legitimately. This plotbeat is SO WILD to me, I got nothing to say. Just, why??Soooo bizarre. And that the Flaming Mountain Keeper has such a presence in Iron Fan's life is also, weird?? Not bad weird, just Weird, but that's like a nitpick more than an actual criticism. Ping Ping is fine though, I like that Bull has a daughter with Princess Fair Fox, that's cute and interesting. Wish she was in a better plot and adaptation but lol

And #2, the premise. Now we are getting to the meat of it all.

The underlying premise of the whole plot, including the true ending, is flawed by default. The premise runs on what is sometimes called as a "conspiracy theory plot", as in, "what if the gods were bad actually??". It's reddit movie theory content in very short terms, and while it had a place during the 00s grimdark years pre-Marvel, it's become quite a jaded and boring take nowadays. Now you may say that it comes from a genuine desire to show distrust and critique to insitutions and the powers than be, and I can see that.

There is a hiccup in that though.

In JTTW, Wukong is the Mind Monkey because of the religious text and subtext of the stories. Its interwoven in the whole thing, and makes it cohesive. It still offer critique and mockery to institutions, without entirely invalidating their foundations. Not only for genuine fear of prosecution, but because, shockingly, religion and belief is a major component of human society in general. But going back to my point, JTTW is *already* a critique of institutions and the power that be. Adding further layers into it feel like angst and edginess just for the sake of it, and that feels hollow to me.

To go further, this intent also clashes with their own plot. See, they bring up that Wukong's Mind, his Sixth Sense, died. Thus they need another Mind to guide his other senses and reform him, so that he may be reborn.

For one, that is such a convoluted way to do a reincarnation plot, it feels complicated just for novelty sake. Secondly, Wukong being the Mind Monkey, as I said, implies a tie to the underlying themes of the Journey as a person's path to enlightenment. If enlightenment itself is flawed because the gods are flawed/evil, then both themes are clashing. By making a "what if the gods were evil all along" plot while also going by the laws and order of said gods, then what are we even fighting against? What is the point of this whole rebellion between Erlang and Wukong??

my friend @ryin-silverfish said it best a while back, and I'm paraphrasing here (do pitch in or correct me if needed! <3), but the issue with these conspiracy narratives is the inherent anti-religion of them. They don't believe in anything, and thus they cannot properly retell the story of JTTW through a postmodern lense, because they refuse to engage with the religiosity that runs throughout the story.

It also leaves a sour taste in my mouth, because this game will likely be many people's first genuine experience with the JTTW mythos and story, and I tend to be concerned for how much this will "sour the pot" in the conversation. The novels are sadly innacessible enough as it is; the sheer size of them scare many people away, not even to mention the amount of underlying cultural context you'll miss out without proper footnotes and commentary. Most people will not engage with them directly, and certainly not most gamers.

While the narrative of someone embodying Wukong's spirit is not new in itself, I do find that it coexisting with such a poor premise and spin on it will be a sore first experience for new fans, and I can only hope that them meeting fans of the OG novels won't cause much friction in the fandom (we have enough as it is imo).

It also concerns me that, sadly, people and gamers in particular, get too swept up in the ooh-aah beauty of flashy sfx and highly detailed graphics, and fail to notice some of the underlying issues in game design. As I said, this game is a work of art, but it has flaws, and I don't think people are speaking of them enough. No, the issue is not "lack of diversity" or whatever the hell.

It runs deeper than that, and it's an issue I've come to see in recent movies as well. I'm aware it might just be different cultural expectations of the pacing and span of a story, and it may as well be! But I think if there was more care given to the bones of a media, it would bring much needed longevity and weight to these wonderful artworks.

All this said, I wanna see what acolades this game gets and see what the devs are cooking up with the DLCs (they said at one point the game was supposed to have 12 chapters and my god, that game would be TOO LONG. So glad it didn't get like that!), and further more see how this ripples in the eastern game dev scene. While this is a flawed game with a flawed story, it can be the first on a genuinely wonderful wave of new creations, not just by GameScience, and overall I'm hopeful for what might come next!

[spiritsglade]

for the character ask game i would loooove to hear you go off about essence :))

[character ask game!!]

oh birdie you knew exactly what you were doing when you sent this in didn't you.

My first impression

I think I probably ran into her first in fic but I don't actually remember anything in that regard. First impression with the comic was that this was a character with a pretty design but somewhat... confusing of a storyline.

My impression now

God her canon portrayal is so annoying and inconsistent I SWEAR. Jason and her misunderstanding and misinterpretating what's going on and immediately jumping to kill each other has happened EVERY TIME and what is the point!!! Her backstory and motivations are so opaque and the flashbacks to their time together in the All-Caste keep on dangling the promise of an interesting story in front of me and then not delivering. Lobdell and Tynion IV when I GET YOU--

However I've thought about her too much and now I have brainworms. She is the side character I have adopted as my own. I understand her better than her creators ever will <3 (I have extrapolated a lot of conclusions from like 3 panels out of all her appearances. It is working out for me.)

Favorite thing about that character

The concept for her character. Particularly as a daughter to Ducra and one of the original Untitled. The fact she's been banished from the All-Caste apparently for not being willing to give up her "dark powers" when Ducra did? That's so interesting to me. It could be such a good parallel to how Jason's moral code causes a rift between him and Bruce. Tell me more. Lobdell you will surely explore this further, won't you? Lobdell aren't you gonna-- LOBDELL

Least favorite thing

Can I complain about Lobdell again. I will not. Instead I will complain about how her little like... intro narration box? You know the thing where comics will give you a little line to tell you who a character is if you don't know them already. Hers is that she's the "last human descendant of the All-Caste" which is just WRONG? She is the DAUGHTER OF THE UNTITLED. She is like, objectively not human at this point. JASON is the last human descendant of the All-Caste, maybe. Y'know, the first human they've taken in in over a century and the first in millennia to survive a cleansing? Y'know, that guy?? Also she literally reinstated the All-Caste at this point in the timeline why are we calling her the last human descendant. She's literally they're leader right now. I'm so mad I'm so mad I'msofmkgekmreklgm

Also I really don't like that her Blood Blades draw only the blood of the guilty or whatever like it does to Artemis in RH:O #45. Or the whole capturing souls thing in #35. I hate it I hate it I hate it girl please go back to fighting people with your smoke magic.

Favorite line/scene

I overall think the scene in RH:O #35 was bad but I do particularly like her lines here.

I have never wanted to lead the All-Caste... I am a soldier. Heart and soul.

Oh girl. Girl you are never escaping the legacy of your mother. Ignore the fact that Ducra is literally still alive even though we established that she died in the first issue and her ghost vanished back in RHatO v1 #27 I'm not mad.

Favorite interaction that character has with another

Her fight with Kori in RHatO v1 #22

I think using Tamaranean tech like this is very clever!! Essence is immortal, ancient, and very powerful, but alien tech was also a weakness for her back in Issue #7 and I think that's a nice touch.

Also the fact that Kori literally summoned her to try to talk and help Jason and they end up trying to kill each other for several pages is so funny to me. Like. In the next volume Essence also fights Artemis and possesses Isabel like... girl are you jealous that he's seeing other women? Is that what this is?

I think the thing with the amnesia arc where all of Jason's friends were trying to help him from different angles and with incomplete information and in the process fucked over each other's attempts forever could have been really interesting if written well.

Close runner-up:

Right before this Essence says:

We need to talk, Mother. About the great darkness that looms over all that lives. About a mistake you must at long last rectify.

It's giving the "I think we're gonna have to kill that guy" meme to me. And that was entertaining. These are the depths I need to sink to find hope.

A character that I wish that character would interact with more

ISABEL ARDILA. Genuinely fucking impressive that Lobdell managed to write them literally sharing the same body and have them not interact at all. I don't even know how he did it. He deserves an award. How does Isabel feel about this arrangement? How does Essence feel?? Like Issy you chose on purpose to pick up the sword again and keep letting Essence use your body in RH:O #49. Let's talk about that--no we're not going to? We have to move on and do Duela's arc and Red Hood: The Hill now? Oh. Oh okay. That's fine then.

Anyway I think they could turn the bodysharing into a beautiful symbiotic relationship if they tried. Essence/Isabel as a ship is slept on I swear.

Another character from another fandom that reminds me of that character

Jerboa III/Boa from Wings of Fire. Her mother (Jerboa I) was an animus (basically a dragon that can do whatever magic except raise the dead) who created her and then basically kept editing her personality and existence for like 2,000 years so she could have the ideal daughter. Obviously this is very fucked up. Eventually Boa catches onto this, betrays Jerboa I and kills her, but not before Jerboa I curses her. We don't talk about what happened to Jerboa II. (We know that she "went wrong" and Jerboa I "disposed of" her.)

Do you see the vision. Ducra implanting "pure life" in Essence's body. Banishing her when Essence railed against what Ducra wanted for her. Essence's entire life being dedicated to this fight against the Untitled. Like we are very much getting into headcanon territory with Essence when I make this connection but Boa manages to escape her mother and also the entire fucked up legacy of animus magic and I think that is lovely for her. Manifesting that for Essence.

She's also Hornet from Hollow Knight just a little bit. To me.

A headcanon about that character

She is more headcanon than actual canon substance to me at this point. Um. She has mommy issues re: Ducra. Her banishment from the All-Caste was because Essence refused to purge the "dark magic" (The essence of the Well of Sins she carried in her, the bond that tied her to the other Untitled that Ducra had long cleansed from herself.) They'd been having disagreements since the beginning of time that just happened to be what finally made it boil over. I'm still a little vague on this but I think Ducra setting up the All-Caste and the truce with the Untitled had some long term negative consequences for the world (like how in RHatO #5 the Untitled in Middleton, Colorado had the townspeople under its thrall). Essence doesn't want to spend the rest of eternity waiting for the day the Untitled inevitably decide to take over the world, but Ducra is all 'this is your duty' about it. Also remember that the Untitled are Ducra's siblings and Essence's aunts/uncles.

Anyway Jason's admittance into the All-Caste was the trigger for Essence acting out against Ducra properly for the first time. Him being this fresh new perspective so hellbent on vengeance really helped her realize that she wanted more from her life than to be another soldier in Ducra's war against her siblings.

Do you see the parallels I'm shoving in here between her and Jason. I am just saying.

A song that reminds of that character

Alas I must expose myself as a non-music listener. I'm sorry. Random Gods from the Rain World soundtrack that's the best I can do.

An unpopular opinion about that character

Honestly I don't think anyone cares about her enough for there to be popular opinions but uhh. I think this panel is incorrect about her and Jason's relationship.

Boy and girl are always there for each other.

Are they? Are they??? God I wish they were. Goddammit.

Anyway. I think Essence building the All-Caste was actually the most boring fucking direction to take her character but I can't even be that mad because she was barely a coherent character to begin with. However, her recruiting for the All-Caste... where the fuck is she gonna get these recruits for this secret old as time warrior monk sect?? Why exist at all when all the Untitled are allegedly wiped out (i.e. the entire reason the All-Caste existed in the first place)?? Escape from the shadow of your family's legacy come onnn Essence you can do it I believe in you!!! AUGH.

Favorite picture

Shoutout to RH:O #35 for having some really pretty panels of her.

ANYWAY THAT'S IT FOLKS. If you actually read all of my inane ramblings, um. Thanks! I'm normal about Essence.

[l3st1b0urn3s-707]

It's been way too long since I've talked about books in here, I recently finished one of the best books I've read this year and I obviously can't keep my mouth shut about it, so this is a review of The left hand of darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin.

I' m going to start by saying that I didn't think I was going to like this book that much (I even foud it a bit slow at the begining) but boy was I wrong. So if you start it and think it's boring I can assure you you'll probably like it if you keep on reading.

So what's this book really about? It's a science fiction novel in which the main character, Genly Ai, a man from Terra (our Earth), is sent to the planet of Gethen to try to convince its people to join an spacial human alliance. What's really interesting about Gethen (appart from it being super cold) is that all of its people are ambisexual. They usually only present sexual characteristics once a month, in some kind of heat called kemmer that lasts about a week. During this time they can present either female ol male characteristics, but these rols can vary, one month you may have male genitalia and on the next one you might present as sexually female. The rest of the month, when they're in sommer they don't present any sexual characteristics whatsoever and look kind of androgynous. Gender isn't a thing in Gethen. And Genly Ai, who isn't used to that, will have to adapt to Gethen's culture.

I think I must also mention Estraven, my favourite character (I'm sorry, you know I had to), who guides Genly in this new world and shows him how things work there. I think he's a remarkable character, his relationship with Genly evolves into a pure and strong bond, not necessarily romantic, but described by both of them as love.

The left hand of darkness has heavy feminist topics that are treated in a really interesting point of view. It doesn't talk about women (there aren't any female characters in it), but it shows a society without gender norms or differences because gender does simply not exist. It shows that humans, at the end, are all humans, at that's what really is important. When Genly indentifies some steriotipically feminine behaviours in other characters and treats them as inferior you'll probably get mad at him, because he doesn't seem to really want to understand the people arround him. That's a strong message itself.

This book's exploration of gender is fascinating. It might be because I've always felt something for the concept for androgyny, but Gethen's people and culture go further and make you question your own. A book published in 1969 happens to have more feminist values than most books of the same genre nowadays. And that's what I love about this book, and specially about Le Guin. Oh, and it also critizices extreme nationalism!

So yeah, I think that's it. If anyone read this post completely I want to thank them because this got really long (I'm sorry). But I really loved this book and I can't stop thinking about it, so I needed to write something. Anyway, I really recommend this book, and I'll probably be reading more of Le Guin's novels because this woman's amazing. (And if you've read it please talk to me about it because it's now my new hyperfixation).

[fluffydeoxys]

may I ask how you developed your relationships for zero, both romantic and platonic. I kinda need help with my own and you’re one of my favorite oc x canon artists at the moment, I love your work and you’re a huge inspiration !

ouuu... thank you.... (big wet eyes) That's a huge, very high compliment to me thank you!

If you have any further questions feel free to ask! I LOVE developing OCs and stories. I wouldn't say I'm any type of 'authority' on the matter, but I just love the process of creating, of developing and exploring. There's a reason why I named my mascot "The Editor" hehe, but anyway.

Putting a cut here because I talk a lot. I think if I put this on people's dashes it would be legitimately annoying LMAO. But if you're interested in reading about some of Zero's creation process and character dynamics, there's a fair bit of that in here

With Zero I had a lot of existing elements to work with, so some of her dynamics/ideas got a headstart. In addition, I wanted a romantic dynamic with 2BHank, so I asked myself: how could I make it interesting without losing the essence of 2BHank?

The Arena Mode story provided the blueprint for Zero and 2BD's dynamic. Initially, it's not dissimilar to how the story goes and the two have mutual respect. Doc is a little more eccentric and egotistical but he likes how obedient and efficient Zero is. He has a fondness for that, which unravels into genuine attraction with some more unhealthy elements when he learns of her "true origin."

With Hank, I wanted some sort of foil/parallel to his tendencies/mannerisms. Arena Mode also provides a perfect example of this. Zero's killing is duty-bound. It is boring. Hank's killing is freeform. It is fun. They are similar yet different, largely silent to mute characters whose existence is to kill, to maim. They learn from each other, in a way. But I didn't want them to overlap too heavily because that ended up being quite boring, so I wanted some contrasts.

Contrasting elements can be good on a character interaction or thematic scale. Foils are important to demonstrate key elements of what you want to say with a character or their story, and for me, how HankZero kills is important. How they perceive life and death and interact with it in the context of Nevada is an integral part of the story I wish to tell with them.

I think essentially look at what story you want to say, or if not something on that type of scale, what kind of dynamic you want to explore. Hell even start with one character, and then think about the scenarios you want to put them in. It's how I started with the multi-character concept that I'm currently working on.

Also take inspiration from media! Sometimes I do so deliberately, other times its quite subtle or unintentional. The dynamic between Rory and Jane (who I will reveal soon) has a lot of similarities to Elita One and Bumblebee, which I didn't plan but it helped refine their ideas. Conversely, Zero was inspired a lot by silent indie game protagonists, the Courier from FNV, etc.

When it came to evaluating Zero and the relationships she has with others, it was important to remind myself of the core aspects of each character. Sometimes I literally list them out as positive/neutral/negative traits (old technique from my OC development), or outline them as dot points. I also do this to help keep the character clear in my mind, and to ensure they stay relatively balanced in "pros" and "cons." It has helped because somewhere along the line with Zero I realised I didn't actually know what I was "saying" with her. Hence my current rewriting.

One element I definitely fail at/find lacking is creating conflicts between characters. I subconsciously make a lot of dynamics where they're usually on fine terms. Zero is mostly because she is quite forgiving and neutral, almost to a bad degree. But I think it's more fun and compelling when characters aren't perfect, they argue, and they have faults and flaws that make them clash. Hank finds it annoying how obedient Zero is sometimes. Doc finds it annoying when Zero and Hank fight and end up killing each other and wasting his time. Zero has an extremely hard time talking about what's bothering her so sometimes she's perpetually irritable and closed off.

When it came to reflecting on character dynamics as a whole, I stepped back at looked at the fundamentals of Zero. She is essentially a silent protagonist who came into this world feeling nothing. The way she was made, formed and trained makes her distinctly inhuman. Many of her relationships highlight this aspect of her in some way. But she has found herself through the people she has formed bonds with. That serious part of her interspersed with some silly charm. She doesn't express much, but those who know her can see the subtle differences. She is a guardian to all life, protective of the weak. But she will kill. She has learned she cannot save everything.

I'm still refining and adjusting elements on a day-to-day basis. More recently I've fleshed out her relationships with Deimos and Sanford. I think there is a subtle romantic element between them, but nonetheless, Sanmos is the more 'human' exploration of her. Deimos is lively, a huge chatterbox and quite silly. Zero has a great fondness for that and sort of follows him around like a silent shadow. She sees his vices and has little judgment for them (she doesn't really have a ton of personal opinions), so Dei feels strangely vulnerable and safe around her. He's great at reading her face, cus he got a lot of practice from when Sanford was really closed off. Deimos was the first person to hear her voice (besides Dave).

Sanford is her emotional bedrock. He was in a pretty similar situation to her (emotionally speaking), shutting everyone out and stonewalling emotions/life/etc. He empathises with her deeply and wants to help her, and is the first to notice/reach out. Zero takes a LONG time to open up to him, but eventually, she does and she's much better off for it. They share tender physical intimacy; Sanford likes to put his hand on her shoulder, and Zero will stand closer to him. When she needs quiet and to relax, she usually seeks Sanford out. Because Sanford understands Zero, she also understands him, so in their worst moments they support each other.

For the rest, I definitely want to flesh things out more. I've been thinking a little more about the aspects with Dave, but I'd like more detail for Skinner and Pava. And of course, I'd actually like to get QBert and Bossman in there somehow, because I can't think of a particular "point" that would make them interesting. Eg. for Pava, it was the weapon modification.

Having a good grasp on the character individually can also help with thinking of more random interactions. I don't think Zero is super interesting on her own, but putting her with Sheriff for example was pretty funny. Her passive demeanour and face looks eerily similar to Hank, which frightens the fuck out of him. But she just thinks he's cute, especially with how flighty he is. She has a lot of respect for what he's built with the MERCs.

Her relationship with the Maker is also interesting too, I think. I'm still reworking it alongside Zero's story so I hesitate to explain the particulars right now, but it's quite similar to the Pale King and the Hollow Knight.

Hopefully that explains? Some things? There's a lot of me talking about my own stuff but hopefully there's some useable advice/ideas in there. hehe

It sounds lame and boring and overdone to hell but genuinely reading/watching a lot of different things can inspire you in ways you didn't expect. It's something I need to do a lot more of.

[uniquepeanutcreatorfire]

Hazbin Hotel vs. The Purge

Today, I'm going to examine and analyze HH's annual extermination by comparing it to another fictional event that I feel is similar in terms of ethical dilemma or morality, the annual purge in The Purge movie franchise. For those who haven't seen the movies, the purge is a 12-hour annual event where all crimes are legal.

Let's start with the purge and what's known about it:

Cause(s): Multiple wars led to an economic collapse and rising social unrest.

Rules: Here's a screenshot-

Outcome(s):  As a result, crime and unemployment rates plummeted to 1% and there's a strong economy. It's seen as a way for people to release their violent tendencies and aggression.

Implication(s): Lower, working classes are specifically targeted as they don't have the protection that upper classes can afford during the purges.

Sounds simple enough (there's more to it, if you don't want to watch all the movies, here's a link to the trilogy explained).

Now moving on to the annual extermination in HH.

Cause(s): This is confusing. The pilot initially presented that the exterminations were due to overpopulation in Hell. However, the actual show doesn't show any hints that the population is rapidly increasing, or overpopulation is causing any issues in Hell. The first episode stated that Heaven started exterminations to ensure sinners never rise against them. I don't see how that's possible since there aren't accessible ways to Heaven from Hell. Lucifer, a former angel, had to get permission from Heaven to get a temporary portal for Charlie so how do you think sinners are going to get up there to be a threat in the first place? Also, I wanted to point out that Charlie's plan to send sinners to Heaven only makes sense if overpopulation was actually a problem. Since there isn't anywhere else to place sinners other than the Pride ring. However, the narrative suggest otherwise.

Rules: It's not clear what the rules are for annual exterminations other than the exorcists can't kill the royal family or hellborns. Is it on a set date and time? Do exorcists go inside buildings? We see that the exterminations take place outside. This begs the question why don't sinners just hide and barricade themselves to avoid getting killed? There could be news broadcast reminding sinners of an upcoming extermination so they can be prepared.

Outcome(s): It's not clear how the exterminations affect Hell's society since the show never gives a glimpse of that. If overpopulation is an issue, it doesn't seem to help at all. Sinners don't seem to care and go on about their business. Let's not explore those who may have lost friends or loved ones. There are also the overlords who lose souls.... poor them, I guess. We can't forget the most important thing...... it's makes Charlie sad.

Implication(s): Heaven apparently never thought this would build hatred towards them, very smart. This is why Adam ended up dead. I want to bring up Lilith being the one who empowered sinners. Since she's been removed from the equation for seven years, what's the point in Heaven doing exterminations anymore? The only message I get from it is "genocide bad". But why is genocide bad in the context of the Hellaverse? There have been killings in HB/HH that are considered no big deals (including humans the imps kill on Earth that contribute to HH's problem further). There's also the black market for angelic weapons that's never brought up. I'm just not invested in the sinners as a whole to care.

Conclusion: The extermination is an interesting concept that can be explore in many aspects like The Purge. It's just not much thought went into it which makes it less compelling.

[scapegoated-if]

Hi! I love the idea of a gender locked female PC in the 70’s as it will further reflect the misogynistic society and totally respect it being your choice and your IF. However I was a bit disappointed I couldn’t be anything other than a white woman as I usually like to self insert. I was just wondering the reasoning behind it as it might stop some people from being completely immersed (not in the story but the character, the stories great) Either way it’s your if and your choice, this is just a curious anon.

I don't want to be too specific plot-wise, but I will take you through a lot of what my coming up with Scapegoated looked like, because it does cover a lot of my thought process behind my reasoning.

This response is semi-long because I wanted to be as thorough as I can about this, so this is my slight warning in advance! If you hit me with a 'Congratulations or sorry that happened', I wouldn't blame you, friend.

As I state in my disclaimer, Scapegoated heavily explores discussions of race and gender politics throughout. It drives a heavy crux of the story. I didn't want to have a self-insert MC because I wanted to ensure that the conversations had revolving these social issues and the murders that unfold aren't danced around. Perspective is an extremely important factor in that, and I want to ensure that the MC is directly involved--rather than just there as things happen because it wouldn't be interactive.

Intersectionality is also an important topic in this IF (race and gender cannot be discussed without the discussion of intersectionality, but I digress). Initially when I planned this story, before it was titled and the only thing I knew was that I wanted to write an IF about the '70s music scene, it was neither gender or race locked because the only IFs I had read--because they were the only IFs I enjoyed reading--were neither gender or race locked too. But I did toy with my ideas by self-inserting (I'm a black woman) when I was attempting to figure out the logistics of gameplay. That's when I realised that due to the time period and all of the change that was happening at the time, social issues had to be discussed.

I added the aspect of Hollywood because it interests me, and murder I introduced because during the late '60s and the '70s, it was such a dangerous and frightening time--from the assassinations, the Manson Murders to the coining of "serial killers" around this time, too. After a while, I didn't want to do something strictly music-related because the biggest IF currently is music-related (I will profess my undying love for Infamous another time), and a lot of popular period-piece media set in the '70s is music-related in general: Almost Famous, a film; Daisy Jones and the Six, a miniseries and book; and I recently saw Stereophonics on Broadway this summer.

A lot of what Scapegoated is took shape very naturally. When I self-inserted as a black woman, I felt like the story I was telling was a repetition of what Hollywood already tends to do a lot: i.e. make media that explains racism to white people, which I have no interest in doing whatsoever. But the story I have settled on with Scapegoated feels like it just makes sense. It feels like a story with no ulterior motive other than exploring relationships between real people during a time of major social change. And I get to explore The Troubles and the IRA; the Anarchy movement; and touch upon May '68, so the Paris riots.

I genuinely didn't know that gender-locked and race-locked IFs were this uncommon. I said in a reply to another anon that because of the scope of video games and interactive gaming apps (i.e. Episode), I didn't think it would be off-putting to anyone. That being said I am extremely new to IFs. But I promise you it isn't a decision that I made without cause or plausible reason. I spent more time developing a concept of what this story is than I did planning Scapegoated and writing it.

Thank you for reading my IF anyhow, and this absolute yapathon, because I would have completely understood if you chose not to. Sending all my love and...

Stay groovy!🌼

[soekmatthew]

Proposing a reform on Alpha/Beta/Omega dynamics!

An essay on why we should reformulate the often misguided interpretations on each secondary gender.

In this essay I will debate the absence of personality often assigned to Beta's secondary gender, the inherent nature of violence that shouldn't exclusively be attributed to Alphas, and how deeply we can explore the aspects of Omega's biology in fiction, furthering its visions from the deep rotted misogyny implicated in these matters.

(remember this is a joke, you can create your ficverse and works however you'd like)

1.0 THE BETA ISSUE

The beta role in an a/b/o society is pushed towards the sense of "normality", betas normally aren't that phased by their nature. This is fitting, although the lack of complexity deposited onto its concepts led a creator to create variations of betas that aren't really necessary.

I propose that betas have pheromones that emit a scent genetically structured to be smelled by a specific type of group, regardless of their secondary gender, people who are able to scent betas pheromones have a variation in their olfactory-receptor genes and allow them to strongly perceive their scents. (this happens irl, with cilantro tasting like soap or some people being able to smell cockroaches)

It would solve the beta complex and wouldn't necessarily affect the whole structural alpha/omega naturally based relationship.

2.0 THE ALPHA MATTER

It is easy to antagonize alphas, and I do believe it is crucial for it to be antagonized, given how the discourse towards alpha aggression can create well built debates approximated to human reality. But it also can spice up some debates on a lot of more interesting matters other than hierarchy and dominance.

"Soft-alphas" was a term designed to fit in the alphas that are able to somehow "contain" their inner wolf, on contrary to "normal alphas" that are aggressive and excessively dominant.

Of course, as fun as it is to explore this concept, it's not necessary to give them this title, it thins the discussions that can be made upon this type of characteristics on alphas.

It is easy to explore the topics around an alpha considered "defective", and give them the capacity to have more and more deepness, an alpha who doesn't feel protective despite their love towards their omegas and needs to learn how to stimulate its natural instincts, an alpha who was forced to submit and therefore had their alpha contained to a point it needs healing and an exercise in dominance!! Fun aspects of an inverted container of the morality based alpha corrections often seen around the fic community.

I propose more and more diversity and complexity around alphas, seeing them fight their instincts is fun, but it would also be fun to see them fight for their need to have the same instincts that antagonizes them.

3.0 THE OMEGA DEBATE

There is a lot of discourse around omegas, especially when people simplify them as "the woman of a/b/o society".

Although understandably fitting for the time it was developed, it is still a conception most people have and has grown outdated.

It also created a movement to fight against this idea, that has empowered omegas, but the lack of consistency fails to impress. For example, in this case, it doesn't matter how much of a rebel omega the character is, they will still "fail" their morals and submit to an alpha.

I know you guys can do better!

What is better than an inner monologue on why your nature is failing your mundane conceptions? Better than that what's more revolutionary than being able to mend your instincts and ideas?

The nature of an omega is vast and instinctually more prone to aggression than most alphas! Omegas protect and go feral over their offsprings! Explore it more!

And make omegas also be proud of their nature, instead of simply making them disgusted by it without backgrounding their stories! (i mean, if they have traumas associated with their secondary genders it is obvious and expected for them to hate it).

Omegas can be hard creatures to deal with, omegas can reject their offsprings scent for example, give them hardships dudes! It will be fun!

A/B/O is fun, and I LOVE TRADITIONAL A/B/O SO MUCH! but we can do more justice at least to betas :3

(this is literally a joke in case someone hates me for it)

[roguetelepaths]

Hi! What interests you about the Dominion? :)

I've written a lot of things about what I find so fascinating about the Dominion and what I aim to do with my writing, and what it comes down to is that I want Dominion stories that are as ethically nuanced as Cardassian stories, and we never got that.

The thing about the Dominion is that it's a whole ass xenofiction concept shoved into a story that is trying to be a gritty, realistic War Is Hell narrative. The Founders alone are SUCH an interesting concept! Beings who, by their very nature, want to understand and embrace and love all that exists, who are the truest manifestation of "we are the universe, trying to understand itself", but were hated and feared so much that they decided to become the monster from the fairytale and started a whole empire just to keep the rest of the universe from coming anywhere near them? There's so much there. There's so much potential for the exploration of what they lost in the push for total safety and control, how many of their former cultural values they've abandoned and what's grown up in their wake.

(And if you are one of those people who believe the Founders aren't telling the truth about their own history, well, I respect your headcanon but please refer to this post about why it's important to my personal interpretation of canon that they are, and how their generational trauma furthers the theme established in Emissary that trauma is time distortion.)

And that's not even getting into the Vorta and the Jem'Hadar, whose entire cultures have been constructed for the express purpose of being useful to the Dominion. The decision on the part of the writers to make the mechanism of control religious in nature, specifically, has always fascinated me. Dominion religion— which is explicitly a fanatical death cult intentionally created to manipulate two entire species— has as much if not more worldbuilding than Bajoran religion.

(I have thoughts on Bajoran religion and its almost complete lack of concrete worldbuilding. Those thoughts aren't for this post.)

Anyway, I've always felt like the decision to make it a religion was interesting, not despite but because of the DS9 writers' lack of understanding of religion. (I've described this as "religion written by atheists syndrome", but it's possible to be an atheist and write very compelling religious worldbuilding and characters if you're willing to do so with a smidge of intellectual humility. It's more like "religion written by people who think they know all they need to know about how religion operates syndrome".)

Religion implies culture. Most religions around the world, for most of human history, have been inextricable from culture. The idea that a religion is a module you can plug in, unplug, and swap out, and that it exists separately from culture, is an incredibly recent one in human history, and it comes specifically from modern Christianity. So, to me, the fact that the Dominion servant races have specifically been given religious beliefs as a means to control them completely undermines the writers' stated desire to make the Vorta and Jem'Hadar into non-people. They are capable of faith. Manipulated faith, certainly. But as inauthentic as it may be on the part of the Founders, there is little evidence that it is inauthentic on the part of its believers. And therefore, they are capable of culture, which leads me to believe that they have culture we were never shown.

My mission in writing about the Dominion is to flesh out that culture, and to show how it shapes the lives of those who are part of it.

[system-of-a-feather]

I honestly really like testing out #sysconversation and trying to contribute to the baseline norms of the tag, but on the topic of tulpacourse and talking about it in a much less "we need to push to get a bare minimum fundamental respect and acknowledgement to the damage done" area and really just trying to get more into the nuance and intricacies of it - I really don't think pushing for the "no one is allowed to say or use the word tulpa" is anything helpful or really productive to the complexity of the issue.

(And for those that don't know, I'm a practicing eclectic Buddhist - Zen and Tibetan being particular focuses, diagnosed DID system in late stage recovery, and am Chinese/Indonesian and honestly the topic of tulpacourse is something I find to be a really interesting discussion; additionally we played a pretty notable role in the "tulpa terminology is cultural appropriation)

I very very much do appreciate all the non-Buddhist non-AAPI individuals who have been pushing for our voices to be heard and spreading information on the appropriation surrounding the term because honestly, especially in the syscourse community, there was a lot of dismissiveness of our voices and honestly just outright racism and stereotyping. If I had to choose between what the environment around the topic was before and people over correcting and stating "you can't use the term tulpa or you are racist" or similar things; I MUCH prefer and love the latter and its largely why I've been relatively limited in talking about it cause honestly, in large, I don't expect people - at least those in the syscourse community - to have the attention, care, or really discussion skills to explore any further nuance between the black and white dichotomy of "racist vs anti-racist" behavior and I'd find myself incredibly annoyed if me bringing nuance to the table ended up being used by people who literally don't care about AAPI or Buddhist cultures to justify their behavior.

That said, I have some more faith in the #sysconversation tag and community so maybe I'll talk about it more under the assumption yall aren't here to prove one thing or the other and more so to talk and share perspectives on complex experiences.

I think when we talk about tulpacourse, there are a few realms and perspectives to take on it that have an important value and consideration when going into making a more developed and clear stance on tulpacourse related things.

The practice / concept of Tulpamancy / Willogenic and, more specifically AND generally, the Intentional Creation of Parts and the debate on if that is "valid" or "okay" or "racist" or whatever

The term "tulpa" and the origins as it relates to white / western orientalism, stereotypes, asian mysticism, and overall colonialist / appropriation nature of how white / western people interact with AAPI cultures

The perception and present impact of the term "tulpa" as it has on and is perceived by AAPI cultures and individuals

The term "tulpa" and the origins as it relates to Buddhism - particularly Tibetian Buddhism - in terms of the history (and oppression) of Buddhist cultures across countries and cultures

The term "tulpa" and the origins as it related to Buddhism - particularly Tibetian Buddhism - in terms of the philosophy and practices that Buddhists / Tibetian Buddhists

The perception and present impact of the term "tulpa" as it has on and is perceived by Buddhist / Tibetian Buddhist cultures

The present attitudes, practices, and values that are found within the tulpamancy community and how those have changed and developed over time in relation to it's origins and history - for better or worse

The present and practical actions and values held by the current online tulpa community in relation to system environments, CDD environments, Buddhist / Tibetian Buddhist environments and culture, and AAPI individuals and culture.

The current status of the tulpamancy community and what practical and realistic approaches can be done to improve the community in a way that respects an existing subculture that does benefit a non-negligible amount of individuals while ALSO respecting potentially harmed or hurt historically marginalized communities

I find that a lot of individuals focus on one, maybe two of these perspectives and sub-discussions to the debate and call it the "most important" one that should determine how people "should" act and speak and exist, but imo that takes a largely results in a perspective, approach, and future plan that does not address a lot of the issues that go into it.

Our system unironically spends a lot of time internally debating each other (for fun, we trade roles and perspectives a lot since we are in a position to talk and have developed opinions of the first seven) about this topic and if you individually only hold one of the topics in mind, you can end up with really conflicting directions to go.

It's complicated but at least of the first six, the general understanding and perspective / insight we've come to are

Literally this shouldn't really be a topic of consideration in #sysconversation because questioning validity is such a pointless and stupid argument that I would is not really a humored one; yes the practice / action / development and presentation of parts through intentional means is fine and OK; many cultures don't align with the Standard Singular Self narrative, people know themselves and are free to express themselves as is most helpful and natural to them, I'd like to assume people are being genuine and honest rather than stating they are "faking" or "quirkifying" things and honestly that type of verbage tends to be more common in conservative environments than I like to be affiliated with

From an AAPI lens, the term "tulpa" is just another aggression in a LONG and honestly violent history of racism, appropriation, objectification and fetishism of AAPI culture and it is absolutely something that should not be brushed off as ok; it can be incredibly retraumatizing in terms of cultural / generational trauma for such things to be completely ignored and neglected; its a responsibility as someone who is AAPI and as allies of it to stand against it

Presently, a lot of AAPI individuals have stated harm from it and presently, anti-AAPI and AAPI-hate have been openly seen in tulpamancy communities; that said, the consensus is not a monolith and there is inevitably a diversity of opinions

The term comes from appropriative cultures and ADN is "a racist white bitch" as I've seen it stated in tumblr tulpacourse. There is a large disagreement within the tulpamancy community whether it "is related to / comes from Buddhist ideas" or "has nothing to do with Buddhism whatsoever" and I say that just as an outsider who have had people push both at me, leaving me very confused. Overall, from what I've seen, a lot of indiviudals who use the tulpa term can range from anywhere between "respectable individuals who are open to discussion and acknowledge the history to where the history is less harmful" to The MLP Brony Saga TM of generally turning the concept into so far divorced and bastardized from the original concept.

This one I could honestly write a 400 page essay on and I can't really say I have a firm consensus on because I actually have not learned enough about the actual practices within the tulpamancy community to be certain on my perspectives; but as I get further into my practices and studies of Buddhism - especially Tibetian Buddhism - I've had a lot more complex perspectives and opinions. On a very generally Buddhist lens, I actually love to see people exploring themselves within their parts and dismantling some of the concept of the solidity and absoluteness of the concept of "self" and really learning to interact and engage with parts of themselves in manners like this through meditation. I think there is a lot of a realm for it to become unhealthy, harmful, and increase the clinging to "self" but overall, I think it has the potential to also be incredibly helpful and beautiful. From what I've understood of the principles of Tibetian Buddhism that I believe the ADN pulled from, I don't necessarily think it is inherently all that bad on a theoretical level. Additionally, from a general Buddhist lens, the whole idea of saying what people can and can't do, or sweating and trying to direct people's behaviors according to a "good" or "bad" behavior is incredibly non-important and honestly a means of adding suffering to both yourself and other's. So from a Buddhist lens, the response is "its interesting" - nothing more, nothing less.

Once again Buddhist / Tibetian Buddhists are not a monolith and honestly I don't know enough to have a clean take on it. I do believe there is a lot of individuals that come from heavily persecuted histories (particularly Tibetian Buddhists) that are likely a lot more charged on it per the nature of cultural / generational trauma. That being said, I have only really heard of one person with that history and that is from someone online talking to said person and reporting that they found it hurtful and sad that a practice they were persecuted against was turned into something it was not. It isn't the most credible voice if ONLY because its a game of telephone, but its a reasonable, realistic, and understandable sentiment to have and I think its worth acknowledging when discussing these sorts of things.

I'm honestly getting a bit tired of typing on this so I'll likely call it quits for Part 1 on me rambling about this, but I've honestly come to find that as a whole, our system really finds that there is a lot more to this topic than "one side good one side bad" especially if we are intending to address the topic in a way that can promote education, awareness, and an overall better community for all individuals.

Our AAPI lens and our Buddhist lens have historically clashed a lot, as it has with just a number of our other backgrounds and our values in allying with individuals with trauma histories (cultural or not) AND our value for the complex diversity of human experiences, self expression and phenomenon.

I don't really have a closing statement or anything for this, but I wanted to share it some as food for thought; anyone is welcome to engage in good faith conversation and discussion.

[stormblessed95]

I have a question

Like Crazy is probably the most queercoded in Jimins songs, right after Filter.

But the song also begins with the pronoun "She's saying Baby come and follow me"

Some fans on Twitter are saying this is a reference to a gf or something.

Whats your take on this?

Hi! Thanks for your ask. Sorry for the delay in replying! And to start, I think it's fairly clear that I don't think Jimin is straight, in my opinion, based off my views. But in that same vein, I think he also likes women. I mean, he has shared previous school crushes on a girl with us. So a "she" in the lyrics of a love song, wouldn't ever really throw me off personally. But that's just me. On top of that, Jimin did share his notes of his lyric writing process for his songs on FACE. And we can see for Like Crazy, his original planned lyrics said "baby" in place of "she." So that probably got changed for a better flow, either he did that himself, or it was suggested to him by RM, Pdogg or one of the other people who helped and gave input to the song. Either way, I don't think it's indicative of a girlfriend or an ex girlfriend in anything factual. But everyone can think what they will and have their own opinions of it for sure.

Now, for me, honestly there is a lot of queer coding through this whole MV and through subsequent performances/choreo/promotions for this song as well. Lyric breakdown can be found here before we go further:

Music Video:

And my first post about Like Crazy, where I talk about the song as a whole, what I think it's about AND touch on the queerness of Jimins gender expression throughout the MV:

To expand upon that, the choreo is a huge part of that and this person did a pretty good job breaking that down and sharing their theory over the dance too.

On top of in the extra content for FACE, similar references get lowkey pointed out in the FACE Playlist video, both in the LC MV and the Playlist video. Which you can watch here

During the Set Me Free portion, things line up very similarly to Freddie's "I want to break free" video, where he cross dresses. And for those who don't know, he fairly openly queer as an artist. He was involved with both men and women regardless of never openly stating or confirming his sexuality (that I know of). In the video, we also see Jimin looking through vinyls, including Queen and Nirvana. AND in the LC MV set, we see on the wall writing that says "Set Me Free" "Moon" "Wake" among others AND a Queen sticker too.

I want to break free video:

He talks and makes references to accepting both sides of himself a lot. It's in his stylistic choices, his art, how he expresses himself. And it's been a repeated theme for AWHILE now and if you aren't seeing it... it's because you don't want to

To get deeper into it, some of the historic queer imagery and iconography Jimin used in this MV specifically and just in FACE promotions in general... would include Philip Johnson, the architect of the Glass House, openly gay and where the term "the glass closet" was coined from. A photo of his is once again in the FACE Playlist video.

Robert Mapplethorpe, his portrait on the jeans Jimin wore through the MV and several images in his photobook I believe too. A photographer specializing in male and female nude works, among other things. Including his most controversial work being his documentation of the gay male BDSM subculture scene.

In the photobook, he is pictured several times in an outfit where he is wearing Jean Paul Gaultier y/series Bodymorph jeans. Specifically he is wearing the "woman" set. The designer Specifically described this series as exploring and playing with the concepts of gender, he liked the idea of there being a mens set, and a womens set and them being able to overlap each other. The bodymorph clothing sets have naked human body prints on them. So!Yoon who recently worked with and is friends with RM (if not friendly with the other members too) also recently wore these in her album release as well. You can interpret him wearing these as you choose of course. I personally think it's speaks fairly clearly to the same things I was talking about above, with him referencing all things gender and how he is leaning into the more typical feminine iconography here with these pants for his softer side of the photoshoot for his album.

I think looking at the designs for both sets also makes it more clear which ahem, set, Jimin is wearing too. Lol and how some of the models are mixing the sets (including So!Yoon wearing the women's set as well in a diff color)

And lastly, while it might not have to do with the album directly, it does involve Jimin and is worth mentioning here as it was lowkey part of album promotions. During the first ever performance aired of Like Crazy on the Jimin Fallon show, Jimin worked with 8 backup dancers and one of them was nonbinary and shared their experience and how comfortable, welcoming, non judged and appreciated Jimin and staff made them feel the whole time. How they got to just be who they were the whole time. It speaks the type of environment Jimin cultivates around himself all the time.

Performance video:

And during the teaser that was shared of Jimin working on his album with Pdogg and others. They talked about how for 10 months, Jimin basically lived in Pdoggs house. They all just lived together and ate, slept, breathed this album. Lol and in the hallway of Pdogg's house, we see that he has a Stonewall rainbow art piece. Which if that is what that is, is very special to have the education over Stonewall and the support of for that in your home in Korea. I won't speak to it either way, if that is what it is, great. If it's not. I'm just going to enjoy a rainbow in the same shot as Jimin regardless. Lol

Teaser video:

At this point, there is deep references to historic queer iconography in so much of Jimins art, it's fair to say we aren't guessing anymore. He is as out as he can be without explicitly saying anything. For me personally at least. And no one is owed an explicit coming out from anyone for any reason. If you listen to what he says, what he sings about, what he photographs, what he dances, what he shares with us? It's all right there too see. So plainly. Queer people have always had to talk and listen between the lines. It's there if you want to see it. And it's fair for queer armys and queer people to react and talk about the continuous use of queer icons and imagery Jimin has used over the years. It's not assuming anything. It's just listening to what he is telling us and sharing.

Thank you for the ask. And thanks to anyone who read the whole thing. 💜

[sweettjrose]

Nobody asked me to do this and yet I'm doing it anyways...

I'm gonna explain why I ship Blotis...

Now before you say anything I am 100% aware that this is a crack ship and honestly doesn't have much evidence for it even less than usual for a gay Disney ship. Tbh I was introduced to it because so people made some art for it and I thought it was interesting and then as I played around with the idea more in my head, I started to like it and eventually form a story around it.

I think one of the big appeals for the relationship is just how unique of an idea it is. It's definitely not the first ship you think of when reading the comics which is probably why most people don't think of it at all. But even just the concept is kind of out there. I mean you have a costumed phantom thief paired with a mad scientist? That doesn't really happen with the closest ship I can think of being Voxman (From OK KO) but even that's still a bit different.

But while it is out there it's not like it makes zero sense at all. I mean while I'm not aware of any comic interactions that could hint to any possible feelings, I could still see it happening with some version of themselves. I mean they do have similar interests. The most obvious being the fact that they are criminals who scheme ways to obtain massive amounts of money and power.

But even beyond that both of them have an interest in science and technology and using it to devise all sorts of inventions. Both of them are pretty intelligent and have devised all sorts of weird scientific contraptions. But what's cool about that is while they go about it in different ways. Portis is more of a scientist, interested in the process and theory behind it, while Blot is more of an engineer, more interested in the application.

Together they form sort of a symbiotic relationship as they both can help build on each other's knowledge and skills to both get what the other needs and further build on their own plans. But even the fact that they excel in different areas kind of gives an opposite attracts vibes. As one is associated more with refinement and wealth, and the other feels more associated with "grunginess" in my interpretation sorry Portis and doing the best with what he has. I can see them both introducing eachother to a completely different way of living, but also connect in some areas like both being somewhat introverts.

But what I think is also cool about this relationship is also how it affects their relationships with other people. The Phantom Blot works quite a bit with Pete, but he alternates between seeing him as a decent partner or not really respecting him and betraying him the first chance he gets. However that starts to change if he has feelings for Pete's cousin, as now that will affect how he is able to treat Pete. He can't just betray him anymore. It ties him about closer to groups they tend to be a part of and affects how he has to interact with them.

Plus I think it would be interesting to see how the Blot's reputation would affect Portis and his relationship with other characters. There's are quite a few who aren't a bit fan of the Blot and it would be interesting for them to explore how to get around that.

But on another note, I actually think that their relationship is one of the few ones that they would be comfortable with having. I feel like one of the biggest reasons why both would avoid romance is because it could give someone a way to threaten and blackmail them. And it becomes worse if the partner isn't really part of the criminal underworld or capable of defending themselves. However they both are very familiar with the criminal underworld and can protect themselves rather well. So even if someone were to try to "kidnap" the other for blackmail, it wouldn't be easy and likely not worth it. Therefore allowing them to have a relationship without the typical fear and drawbacks. Though personally I think they would still keep their relationship on the down low so they have control over how it's percieved and just because they don't think everyone needs to know.

I could see some issues with their relationship. They both have pretty big egos and would have a hard time compromising in arguments. But that would make it more interesting imo.

But yeah that's my thoughts.

So there you have it.

Hopefully you can see the vision too.

This is long.

[lavender-wiitch]

If honura is a wiling avatar of the web then she coerced madoka into unknowingly becoming an avatar of the extinction, in this essay you already have

DAMN THAT'S SO INTERESTING WAIT A SEC

(for those who aren't aware this is further exploration on something i wrote based on a @wouldtheybecomeafearavatar poll where some people are categorically incorrect in labeling homura as an extinction avatar rather than a web one)

i began thinking further on what you said, and 1) the nature of madoka's powers, 2) her goals and 3) what would feed an entity through her — makes it particularly tricky to pintpoint which fear she'd serve. i was making an entire essay here exploring the possibilities (mainly through an extinction, end, eye and desolation lens) and my brain hurt.

we know that one of homura's main goals is for madoka to NOT engage with the horrors™ much less become a part of them, but her rewinds inadvertently make madoka more and more powerful each loop, which could translate into madoka being marked by a fear more intensely each time. a fear strongly characterized by inevitability, which is what homura is trying to prevent.

madoka's powers as a god are very intrinsically related to the dichotomies of death and rebirth, hope and despair. the way she finds to prevent magical girls from becoming witches is to welcome them to their end before they get the chance to transform. she absorbs their despair, which could mean feeding off of fear and torment, even if it means taking it away from others and placing the burden on her. paradoxically, since she is also a magical girl, that means she'd have to absorb her own misery, which is what prompts the reinvention of reality. magical girls themselves aren't erased, but witches are technically replaced by wraiths as the beings magical girls must fight. they are distortions of madoka's cause and effect of her wish.

what we also know is that fear entities do not give a rat's ass about bringing the peace madoka wishes for humanity. in one way or another, her wish could be warped for the sake of spreading fear. perhaps, in a TMA world, no matter what entity she'd serve, the implications of madoka's wish are even more tragic (as if PMMM wasn't tragic enough!). her unwilling transformation into an avatar inplies the loss/corruption of her humanity and of the very compassion that she feels for the world and its denizens. her hope, which is something so embedded in her core, could get corrupted into something worse (perhaps an extinction interpretation would imply worse consequences for her actions and what magical girls could end up becoming; and a desolation interpretation would reinforce the law of cycles — creating more hope means creating greater grief to absorb and feed on). maybe it would prompt her to seek out more misery, despair and grief to feed on, even if she doesn't want to be an agent of pain, at least not initially. jon didn't want to become someone who takes pleasure and nourishment from violating people's privacy. maybe becoming a concept means a near total loss of what used to make her human, and her motivations would merely become twisted echoes of what they used to be.

imagine the guilt and pain homura would feel. damn all of this would make an awesome AU.

from this point on we can ask a few questions: what her motivations and struggles are (i.e. granting people hope, comfort and release from further eternal misery in life / feeling powerless to stop the horrors™ from dooming the magical girls' fate) and which fear would she cause or feed off of through her motivation and powers, which would have to be warped in some way for them to work for the main purpose of an entity: spreading fear.

an extinction approach would lean more on the rebirth themes and the aspect of replacing witches with wraiths, whether their creation was intentional or not from madoka's part. a terminus route would touch on her new role as this cosmic magical girl grim reaper/psychopomp of sorts, the comfort she offers being twisted somehow into something horrible. a desolation approach would have plenty of dramatic irony, as it highlights how madokami absorbs despair and grief and would feed on the exact feelings of devastation and loss that magical girls are doomed to feel as a consequence of the hope deposited in their wishes. her self-sacrificial nature becomes her downfall as she carries this burden, burns for the sake of others and becomes the most powerful witch (source of despair and torment) of all.

all of these aspects of her powers could be warped into something in favor of these fears and that could corrupt or destroy her as we know her. the thing would be knowing which one would claim her against her will.

what i'm certain of is that the story that would come out of TMA madohomu would be absolutely DEVASTATING and i am HERE for it.

[brandwhorestarscream]

Courtesan Skywarp

I love the elite trine all inspiring each other to pursue their interests even though their in a position that makes it tough.

And Starscream as a botanist? Fabulous. I love it. Please continue.

Wow Thundercracker and Starscream are really gonna start appreciating Skywarp's presence in they're life. After all, besides each other, who else has really put that much effort into listening to them and trying to make them happy?

Yeah, they're thoroughly charmed by Skywarp. It's hard not to be, honestly. Sky is honestly just glad to see them happy--he can't help but wonder if they've ever been happy before. They certainly don't give that impression. But now Thundercracker is always eagerly tearing through his books and making notes in the margins about ideas he wants to explore further or little inspiring pieces, meanwhile Starscream is always neck deep in his experiments. The two of them have become quite the power couple in Vos: their joy radiates off of them and more people are gravitating to them than ever, but they aren't paying attention. They're so preoccupied with their new pursuits everything else is kind of fading away.

Even better, their relationship is improving: they've been engaged since they were just tiny sparklings that hadn't yet developed self awareness, and though they spend every day together they were never particularly close. Always holding each other at arms length and never making personal conversation, seeing each other as an inevitability that they had to be courteous with. Through the discovery of things they love they start talking--Thundercracker gets an idea for a new story he wants to try out while watching Starscream vigorously tending his crystal flowers. He thought it impossible, blooms in Vos, but somehow the crown prince is making head way. And isn't that a romantic thought?! The prince of a nation toiling ceaselessly to bring flowers and light to his people, what a dreamy concept!

The story kinda runs away from him, and before he knows it he's concocted an entire outline about someone doing the impossible, growing flowers in the sky, just to bring joy to the person he loves most. He shyly asks his fiance about the actual process, what he had to do to get them to grow, and Starscream is delighted. No one's asked about his experiments yet! Granted, no one else knows, but still. He goes off on a long winded infodump about adjusting the atmospheric pressures and giving them a more concentrated acid to perk them up, taking pulverized mulch made directly from ancient crystal trees down on Cybertron. How he had to adjust the temperature 12 times to get it just so, and up here, the plants actually prefer purple light as opposed to Cybertron's natural red sun!

Thundercracker has never heard Starscream speak with such passion, and can't help but reciprocate it in turn. He mentions, in his research for this story he's writing, he discovered that in the Crystal City of old, there was an actually an entire secret code and language conveyed solely through flowers and their various arrangements. In all his digging through old archives Starscream had never found that, and it gives them both something to be excited about.

And just like that, the walls crumble between them. They never dared hope for anything more than civility and distant acquaintenceship with their forced fiance, but that's finally a hurdle they can overcome. As soon as they take an interest in each other and find common ground, they're fast friends. They've known each other for so long and once they let themselves, they become close in almost an instant 💖 they start spending all of their time in Starscream's indoor garden, talking about this and that and everything in between. Skywarp is there too, watching over them both, pushing then further and further into that which will make them happy and fulfilled

[burningvelvet]

You have mentioned that you read a lot of academic writing, so I was wondering how you annotate your reading? Or any tips on reading academic writing. Thank you!

Tips on Reading Academic Writing, & My Explanations & Experiences (pure tips are highlighted in bold)

Thank you for the ask! I'm not a professional, but I will share what I've found useful as a student/soon-to-be grad. Besides the few times that my professors have required us submit formally annotated bibliographies, I usually do not take them in any neat, organized way. When I read an academic text, I often underline/highlight if possible (if I have an ebook version or paper version to do so) while focusing on key words/key concepts and inserting any associated words/concepts that come to mind. I also copy/paste (or use iPhone's text scanner in the photo app) specific terms or phrases that I want to remember or that stick out to me. I primarily use my Notes app bc it syncs from my laptop to my phone. If I'm doing a close-reading and wish to take my time, I read over each paragraph (or in rare cases when I really wish to do an even closer reading, each sentence) and I attempt to then summarize it to myself in as few words as possible. This last part appeals to my own personal learning style though, which I'll discuss further on below.*

I scan every text for the most important parts, keeping in mind that each paragraph contains its own sub-topic. A paragraph is like a scene in a film or a play, and each one has its own beginning, middle, and ending. By reading the first or last sentence of a paragraph, you can usually glean what the whole paragraph is about. The first and last sentences of a paragraph are the most important. Likewise, the opening and closing paragraphs of an essay exist to summarize the most important parts of the entire essay. The thesis statement (the main idea of an essay, or the "TLDR summary" to put it into Reddit terms) is usually located at the end of the first paragraph of an essay. Also, this all applies to formal academic writing; not so with casual or creative writing. If I am desperately trying to absorb information and don't have the time/energy to fully study something, what I do is allocate the work's thesis statement, and try to summarize in my own terms the "main point(s)" of the work.

Another invaluable piece of advice is to build your vocabulary and keep vocabulary lists for heavy reading (a list of terms and their definitions). Some academic papers or textbooks will include these in their works. For years, I have kept a sacred list called "Words" which is simply a list of terms that I either struggle to remember or that I've had to look up the definition of. But specific topics get their own vocabulary list, especially if it's something niche or a list of terms only used by a specifer writer or in a specific theory or sub-field. A lot of academics/writers/philosophers invent terms to more easily explain or describe their concepts. Heideigger, considered one of the most interesting but difficult philosophers to understand, is especially difficult with this. It feels like learning a new language sometimes to read his work. But academic reading is often a matter of the writer putting forth new ideas and/or explaining complex things, and so it is often slow, heavy reading, which requires patience.

My biggest piece of advice is to look up lists of learning styles and try to experiment with each of them until you find which one(s) work best for you. Maybe review your earliest memories from school or past memories where you felt like you were excited to learn. Try to implement these while reading information to see what method is most beneficial & comfortable. Everyone learns differently and no two people are exactly the same. Don't feel bad if methods working for others aren't working for you; this is an opportunity for further exploration.

*My individual learning style is "learning by teaching," which means that in order to retain information, I recapitulate it to myself, or make up imaginary scenarios where I have to teach or explain the information to others, or occasionally I do so in real life by info-dumping the information to interested people (or here on my blog). By explaining a subject, it deepens my own understanding of the subject, because you have to understand something well in order to be able to regurgitate it in your own words. If I get stuck and find myself unable to explain something, then this allows me to see where I'm lacking knowledge, and what I need to review. I recall implementing this learning style in some of my earliest memories. Around ages 3/4, I would pretend to be a teacher in an imaginary classroom while practicing my letters and numbers.

[cosmicgendershifter]

So Our Flag Means Death often functions as a metaphor where piracy represents the film industry. Ed is the burnt-out superstar actor/director, Stede is the wealthy but fumbling newcomer full of creative ideas, and Izzy is the power-hungry manager who fails to find success on his own. The crew represents the various support people in filmmaking, while the colonial powers represent the capitalistic system that does so much damage in so many parts of the modern world.

The traumatic nature of fame is explored in-depth throughout the show, including commentary on how people coming into places like Hollywood have often been inspired by family-related trauma, are running from more "typical" lives that they couldn't have survived, and continue reliving their past traumas in their current situations. There's a strong indication that Ed has had to mask his true self to fit the image expected of him as a celebrity. The inclusion of queerness/neurodivergence, I think, both reflects how many "atypical" people work in the arts and indicates how Stede's methods are more welcoming.

What I find interesting is how this topic is addressed with a further layer of metaphor through the curse of the red suit in season two episode five. The suit represents fame and the trauma that surrounds it, specifically following Ed's violent breakdown. The crew has seen the repurcussions of working in this industry too long firsthand now, and they are having A Response to it.

(GIF Source: skulandcrossbones)

Stede still wants to be the celebrity. He's waltzing around in that suit with massive queer flamboyance, and he's loving it. He doesn't think the trauma is going to be a problem for him. Izzy doesn't seem to believe the trauma should put people off of working to become successful/famous in this industry, but he also recognizes that things need to change for the crew to keep functioning.

Jim was the character who seemed the most clearsighted about what was happening during Ed's breakdown, probably because they've had similar experiences with trauma and masking and its mental health impacts thanks to Nana pushing them to "succeed", and they are also the first one to hear about and react to the cursed suit. Archie and Oluwande side with Jim. Frenchie, Roach, and Wee John take longer to recognize the problem, but they do get there.

Meanwhile, Fang, Ed, Lucius, and Pete are having more direct reckonings with fame-triggered trauma. Fang and Ed discuss Fang's choice to move on from both their actions, and Lucius has already expressed that "some people are just broken," which I think may be a reference to himself now too. They cope through sitting quietly with their feelings, connecting and celebrating with loved ones, making different kinds of art, and seeking a bit of retributive justice. (Though that last one is somewhat satisfying, it doesn't fix the trauma or the relationships.)

Stede finally comes around to the idea that he needs to let go of the suit for the crew's sake, which is foreshadowing for this season! He does keep a more muted version of the outfit, though: his delightful red-and-black ruffly shirt. Ed later compliments that shirt (he thinks Stede wears his own work/fame-seeking well 🥺), leading to their romantic moment on deck. So maybe the culture Stede is building for his metaphorical filmmaking work is okay, since it differs from the trauma-steeped fame full of abuse that Ed has been through as Blackbeard.

Now, I know the show does generally present the curse of the suit as a silly concept--except. Except magical things do happen on this show, like with Buttons. Except the Spaniards who first had the suit did look like they'd been through hell. Except demonic, haunting whispers do accompany the suit on its first and last appearances. I think the writers thus indicate that the curse (Hollywood fame being traumatic in our modern culture) is real--maybe only for people who aren't Stede, or maybe for everyone. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Who can say? Stede didn't stick with the typical way of doing things long enough to find out.