#i classify these things as like *important* which means i cannot do them in like doodle time if that makes sense gfghjdhjggfd

[u3pxx]

hey!! your art is amazing!!! i participated in your bad omens doodle exchange a few months ago, and was wondering if youd ever get back to that as i never heard back from you about the exchange! no pressure at all if things changed but i was just wondering if you were planning on going through with it?

oh of course, still on the to-do list, anon!

i was planning to post them in bulk (with all of them done) and managed to get started on a few of them but then i kind of hit an art rut two months ago and now it's finals week orz i am planning to finish them after i get all my school stuff done so never fear, very much still on that! :0]

[losyash]

SHIMON ARC: Hibari to Tsuna

Recently I've been liveblogging my Shimon arc reread to my friends.

On chapter 323 one of them said they always wondered if the headband being there meant something. And yes, curtains might be blue because it's a nice color. But no. No, curtains being blue is incredibly goddamn important.

HEAR ME OUT

First, to recap what is happening: Shimon arc, pre Adelheid vs Hibari battle they briefly argue about Tsuna and Enma and decide on their pride and the rules of the battle: to seize each other's handband. Adelheid creates an ice prison that is impossible to penetrate from outside and 500 ice clones to fight Hibari. He fights them all, tells Adelheid she is wrong about Enma and small animals (which i will talk about later) and uses minirolls to crush the ice fort from the inside. After this he gets her handband, they talk about Tsuna again and Hibari drops his "it is because of the sky the cloud can float freely" thing.

Before I delve into it, however, I feel like I should take a quick dive in Tsuna-Hibari relationship from Hibari's perspective.

To put it simply, at first Hibari does not give a single fuck about Tsuna personally. Even after this glorious scene happens

All Hibari thinks about that day is that he wants to meet Reborn again. During the course of Daily life arc however Hibari messes with him plenty. Ny the time 43rd chapter (sakura viewing) rolls around, Hibari's opinion on Tsuna is summarized by this:

And this is actually the key. Hibari does not understand Tsuna. To him Tsuna is some weird ass alien creature who does not fit his rigid worldview. At first Hibari tries to make him make sense again by asserting himself over Tsuna and putting him back to the role of herbivore which he does follow every time except when he doesn't?? For some reason?????

Kokuyo arc is the arc that changed the manga tone in general but it's also the arc that changed Hibari himself. He is brutally shown that he as he is does not have the power to do whatever he wants. Something has to change. And Hibari seeks that change in Tsuna, who somehow managed to defeat Mukuro when Hibari himself failed.

chapter 123, cloud battle aftermath

He stops trying to still Tsuna. Instead he wants now to understand what the fuck is up about him and what can he do. The answer is Tsuna can burn a man alive in a fit of rage btw.

BUT THE THING IS. THE THING IS EVENTUALLY HE DOES UNDERSTAND TSUNA. AND THIS LEADS US TO TAKE A LIL BREAK FOR THE PRIDE TALK

Now, the obvious thing: headband symbolizes Hibari's pride.

Here is what he says, when first asked about it:

But also Hibari vs Adelheid battle is the one that finally clears up what the hell does "pride" mean.

The thing is. What Hibari is saying (and what he tried to make Tsuna understand, because the whole battle here his two goals are to win (duh) and to help Tsuna find his conviction again) is that the actual meaning of "What is your pride?" is "What makes you yourself?". You, as a person, should be proud of who you are. And he tells Tsuna, that it is whatever he cannot give up, whatever makes the very core of Tsuna's self is what he should fight for (And then Tsuna tells Enma "You are my pride" which is very juicy but deserves its own post).

Okay, now with this out of the way, let's get to the next thing:

Hibari vs Adelheid (but not the violent edition)

Hibari and Adelheid are not only fighting, they are also talking to each other. And by talking I mean arguing. About Tsuna and Enma and little animals.

Here is important thing to note first: asking around some people who know some people who know japanese gave me information that actually "small animal" is. Not different from herbivore at all. They are apparently used intechangingly based on how much space speechbubble has.

This does affect things: when it is usually thought that Tsuna in Hibari's eyes carves a new category for himself, not worth calling by name nor insulting nickname, nor he can be classified as a simple herbivore, he is just his own thing. Instead it seems like Tsuna changed Hibari's opinion on entire population of herbivores-small animals. (and if those people just got me confused ill die of shame (;-;)b)

ANYWAY, THEIR DEBATE

yes i had to put it all here. it's good. read it.

Do you see it guys? Do you see how far he came from daily life? He now really does understand Tsuna. He cracked the code. And he does now acknowledge that yeah Tsuna (and by extention other ppl like him. Like Enma) has his own way to live life and it does work for him. Tsuna is not weak. Being a herbivore does not automatically mean being weak.

Another interesting thing here is this:

"Why is a man like you with the likes of Sawada Tsunayoshi?"

"I'm not with him"

And I think it's important to remember here that Adelheid does see Tsuna=Vongola boss thing. To Tsuna it's Him and His Friends against Enma and His Friends. To her? It's Vongola vs Shimon

And when she talks to Hibari about Tsuna, she is saying "Why are you with Sawada Tsunayoshi?" but what she means is "Why are you with Vongola?" and this difference does impact Hibari's answer. Case in point:

I DON'T LIKE THE WAY YOU SAID THAT... WELL... TRUE ENOUGH.

BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE CLOUD GUARDIAN OF THE VONGOLA'S SKY? ACCORDING TO WIKI, THIS:

A drifting Cloud, whom cannot be bound. Protecting the famiglia from an independent standpoint.

AND SO

I am sorry, I am very normal about this, promise.

And so Hibari basically admits that he will not be bound to Tsuna, but he will be around, involving himself when he feels like it. They're friends your honor.

BUT THERE IS MORE.

The attribute of the cloud flames is propagation. Why is it relevant?

this is the hype up text at the end of chapter 322.

and this is the last page of chapter 323.

Remember i briefly mentioned Hibari stagnating in daily life arc and realizing that there must be something more during Kokuyo arc? He found it. Tsuna is the one who gave him this opportunity. Just being around Tsuna allowed Hibari to grow. To propaga- Okay, that does sound silly. But I think the point still stands. Tsuna gave Hibari space to grow, and frankly, Hibari is grateful for that.

now we are entering the deranged territory

Hibari watched Tsuna grow all during the course of the manga and at some point Tsuna DID outgrow him. Not psychologically, but powerwise? Def. And Hibari cannot be not aware of that.

You might ask, how is he okay with that, but the thing is, Hibari is actually very chill with not being the strongest person in the room. What he actually needs is people to respect him and his authority as Disciplinary Committee chairman and Namimori protector. Reborn respects it and is stronger than him. Does Hibari want to fight him? Yes. But he is not actually going out of his way to attack him.

Tsuna has a great deal of respect for Hibari, and in turn Hibari does not feel the same hostility to him he does towards Mukuro despite Tsuna being totally able to win against him in a fight. Once again, rip Byakuran.

BUT. HIBARI IS NOT GOING TO STOP GROWING ANYMORE. HE LEARNED HIS LESSON, HE IS NOW ENDLESSLY EVOLVING OR SOME SHIT.

AND

WHAT I AM SAYING IS

HE IS NOT ONLY NOT GOING TO STOP HELPING TSUNA TO BE BETTER BUT HE ALSO IS GOING TO USE TSUNA AS BENCHMARK

NOT AS SOMEONE TO BE LIKE. BUT SOMEONE TO BE BETTER THAN

THE PRIDE AS SYMBOL OF SELF AND AND THE BAND AS SYMBOL OF PRIDE

AND DISCIPLINE BEING THE KEY TO BETTERMENT OF SELF

HE DECLARES TSUNA BOTH HIS FRIEND AND HIS RIVAL THATS WHAT THE BLUE CURTAINS MEAN I REST MY CASE

[sgiandubh]

Lallybroch: copyright vs. trademark

An excellent question was asked by our friend @rosfrank in the comments thread to 'The door faces North' post and given the cosmic amount of uninformed bullshit being ventilated for almost ten years in this fandom, I think it's time to answer it once and for all:

Whenever we are informally talking about 'owning the rights to something', I think it's very important to bear in mind a fundamental distinction between two different categories of ownership rights: copyright and trademark.

The copyright is the most familiar one to many of you. It is what you usually find on those annoying and apparently useless first or last pages of all the printed or digital editions on this planet. Something like this:

In the US, copyright issues are regulated by the Copyright Act of 1976, as included in Title 17 of the US Code. The US public authority competent for registering and managing copyright is, as predictable, the US Copyright Office.

Perhaps the most seminal US Supreme Court decision, as far as copyright is concerned, is the 1991 Feist Publications, Inc., v. Rural Telephone Service Co. In it, the Court ruled that mere compilations of information or facts (such as, for example, telephone books) are not protected by copyright, according to US law. In other words, the ancient legal concept of 'sweat of the brow' (which simply means the amount of work required to gather and compile those facts/information) is not enough to qualify a work for copyright protection, if no creative effort is added to enhance its content. This is why I have always considered absolutely ridiculous Marple's efforts to watermark public information screenshots: it is useless (to the extent that it legally protects her from nothing) and, as her timelines, a mere compilation of facts (legally ditto). A similar approach is preferred by the UK and also by many Roman law legal systems, such as the French one - just making things clearer, here, by the way.

See how 'Erself is roughly doing, right now, in this department:

But I am rambling. In my view, Lallybroch, as a pivotal concept used in Diana Gabaldon's books, is protected by the copyright granted to each and every of her books mentioning it, according to the Roman law principle 'accessorium sequitur principale' (the accessory follows the principal). So it will remain protected for at least 70 years since the last of her books mentioning it would have been published under copyright. Unless she chooses to separately protect the entire finished cycle as a whole, once Book Ten (fingers crossed) is published, preferably during our foreseeable lifetimes.

That being said, that goes only for one copyright category: (published) text - you cannot copyright that secret diary in your drawer, LOL. This is why, the current US Copyright Office records concerning Lallybroch look like this:

Sony Pictures Television Inc owns the copyright to the fictional name Lallybroch in the motion pictures category, as it is the title of the Episode 12, in Season 1 - DG has been handsomely compensated for this, no worries. And someone I have no idea about owns the rights to an original musical score she has written and titled Lallybroch in the music category, since October 2013.

Onwards to the trademark. This is something different and this is all about making your name/concept/idea profitable. It is all about branding it, putting it on a product and selling it under that brand. It includes all the graphic elements and the logo of the brand (accessorium...) - in short, its visual identity to the consumers. In the US, trademark issues are regulated by the 1946 Lanham Act and the public competent authority is the good old US Patent and Trade Office (USPTO).

Right now, the situation for the Lallybroch trademark is as follows:

So, we see three different trademarks: two of them, owned by Diana Gabaldon, are classified as 'dead' (cancelled and/or abandoned) and the third, Lallybroch Spirits, owned by S's Great Glen Company is pending approval - he will not be able to label any booze bottle Lallybroch Drink Me before permission is granted by the USPTO.

Let's unpack:

Both Lallybroch trademarks formerly owned by Diana Gabaldon were filed at the USPTO on February 21, 2000 and granted on December 12, 2000. The first was aimed at producing 'tartan fabrics for the manufacturer of clothing' and it was abandoned in December 2003:

The reason is that the owner did not file in any Statement of Use after the trademark was granted. She had three years to do so, and since she chose not to do anything about it, the trademark was deemed abandoned (Stacy K. Smith is the attorney hired by Herself, btw). That means she specifically implied not to intend using it in the future. As such, she may claim NO rights on a now free to use mark:

The second trademark was aimed at producing 'clothing, namely, t-shirts, dresses and headwear' and also 'jewelry, namely, rings, pins and necklaces'- to cut the story short: OL merchandise - and it was cancelled on March 1st, 2013:

The reason is that the owner did not file the Section 8 declaration (of continuous use for five years) within the allowed legal timeframe (6 months after the fifth anniversary of the trademark granting renewal). Her trademark federal rights are now deemed canceled (but not her state law and/or common law rights!) and if she wants to ever use that name again, she would have to start the whole process over, bearing in mind the trademark could have been granted to someone else, in the meanwhile (not her case).

And for anyone who might ask, 'Erself does not own any other trademarks whatsoever:

The other (Doll Lab - LOL for ages) Diana Gabaldon is a pharmacist from Albuquerque, NM. Chill. 🤣🤣🤣

The owner of the copyright to the fictional toponym Lallybroch, as far as published text is concerned, is Diana Galabdon.

The owner of the copyright to the fictional toponym Lallybroch, as far as motion pictures are concerned, is Sony Pictures Television Inc.

The owner of the copyright to the fictional toponym Lallybroch, as a personal work of music, is Mrs. Kelly Ruth Davis, of Pennsylvania, USA.

The owner of the Lallybroch Spirits trademark will be Sam Roland Heughan, when that trademark is granted by the USPTO.

I hope this answers your question, @rosfrank. Thank you for asking.

[redd956]

Worldbuilding Food: More than meets the eye

So, you want to world build food but maybe you don't know where to start, have hit a roadblock, or are just looking for some interesting places to addon to. I've got your back.

Vegetables, Fruits, Grain, Nuts, & Fungi

One of the first things I think of when it comes to food is fruits and vegetables, and the line between them is surprisingly small.

Like tomatoes are vegetables? Pumpkins are fruits but other gourds are not? When does a herb become a vegetable? Although important to classify, don't let it be your main focus.

Start with

How the produce grows

What it looks like throughout different stages of its life

What parts are edible

How most people consume the produce

How the product is harvested

Is it seasonal

What about the produce that makes its growable environment habitable

How it spreads/reproduces

There's many different unique ways fruits and vegetables grow in just our real world, but that doesn't mean you can stop there.

Cranberries grow on vines that actually float on the surface of soggy ground and water in wetlands. Cashews actually grow on the bottom of cashew apple, which is it's own edible product. There's lots of different ways plants can grow, and what they even need to do so.

Some produce even have their own defense mechanisms (which often which becomes a form of flavor to us). Don't think these defense mechanisms stop at protection from predators. Strawberries are an aggressive plant, fighting, killing, and taking over any nearby plant neighbors. Some plants have thistles and thorns, and others are the hard shell or peel we end up effortlessly cutting through.

Try to think of some environmental things in the world your working with that the produce would have adapted to.

I think my favor example of this IRL is sunflowers. They change directions to face the sun, and when they can't find the sun they face each other. Eventually their seeds weigh them down, and which they'll always face east.

Don't forget fungi is edible too, and has it's very own unique properties.

(Don't forget yeast -> bread, you can make up whatever food you want)

Meats & Agricultural Animals

I myself am not a meat-eater, but I understand the importance of animal products to a society. If you world doesn't have it, don't fret. This sector won't just be about meat products, but it will contain a lot of it.

Food and what animals are considered for consumption changes from culture to culture. The same can be said for treatment leading up to their role in society as the food on people's plates. Often times a culture cannot imagining eating an animal they see as part of the family, such as dogs or cats IRL, but other times it's seen part of a religious practice such as cows.

There's a lot of cultural stuff that goes into our agricultural animals, both for work, dairy, textiles, and food.

Here's some ideas to start with

What parts of them are edible and used for food

Do they produce any dairy or egg products

How old do they have to be before becoming a produce animal

Are the animals used for other resources too i.e. bones, fur, skins, skulls, blood, etc.

How much food does one animal make

Typically how are they are killed, if they are

What conditions are these animals kept in and are they viewed humane

What environments allow these animals to thrive alongside the people of your world

What does the animal eat

Now... Let's into some culture and religion

Religion and culture has a major impact on what we eat. Take for instance Kosher, Halal, and more. Historical shortages in food even to this day affect what foods we eat. Culture also affects our tastes. The corn line of the United States is drowning in corn, and yet corn is seen as a sweet treat over seas in many nations.

Harvesting

How the harvesting goes changes a lot about a society, big and small. Think about how terrible a year would go in medieval times if harvest came up incredibly poor, or how wealthy our modern day world would look to those people due to mass production.

Here's some things to think about

What time of year are the biggest and most important harvest(s)

How common are agricultural workers

What would the average person see if they watched people work

What technology/tools are used

What happens if the harvest goes wrong

Do farmers/harvesters get special rights for their role in society

In older societies harvesting and how that went completely shaped how the next year would look. In some cultures the harvesters have been revered, while in other if crossed to far would be expected to tear the country to pieces. Think about the role harvesting plays in your society. What would happen if they striked? Or if a disaster swept the land?

The environment itself will change a lot about what harvesting look likes. Why does this environment work? What are the environmental risk to both the crop and workers?

Are we farming in the water, in the middle of the arctic, underground, high up in the trees?

Exotic Food & Immigration

While establish what the everyday food in the area is, don't forget to pay mine to the opposites. Immigration and trade play a major role in what foods end up on our plate. As cultures combine and mingle so do their food.

Take one look at the United States, infamous for it's large potions, fatty foods, and immigrant culture cuisine. A lot of foods in the United States are the results of cultures meeting to improve and add onto one another's foods, that includes American styles of pizza, tacos, and more.

Even major cities around the world have styles of foods unique to them.

Let's think

What locally seen foods count as exotic

What foods are nearly impossible to get

Is there access to foreign brands/produce

How expensive is most exotic foods

What styles of cooking are being brought in by foreigners

How do people get exotic foods

What foods would the locals not be able to eat due to not being used to it

Try to think about what makes this food exotic in the local area. Maybe it cannot grow in the local environment. Maybe the quality of the food is simply better overseas. Maybe the animal or plant is far too aggressively invasive for locals.

Trade & Transport

Food is both a very important export and import, especially in time of devastation.

Don't forget about exports too, what is your society giving out to the world, and getting back. Not all trade has to be capital based. Perhaps your world simply trades on good or service for another.

Here's some things to think about

What's being exported and imported

Are whole animals imported/exported

How is the trade being done i.e. trains, boats, aircraft, teleportation, etc.

Are there any obstacles to trade

What places are all involved in trading

How is the trade brought to where it needs to be inland

In what ways do these trades improve the lives of locals

Transportation is also super important to where food ends up, and more so in what volumes. How do people get all these produce or animals relocated? What kinds of storage are we seeing to keep things fresh (if health standards are even up to code in your worldbuilding)?

What poses a threat to things in storage? i.e. mold, foxes, animal thieves, disease, etc.

Restrictions

With supply and demand, comes outages, taxes, and restrictions. Unfortunately not everything in the food world goes right. There's natural disasters to come and destroy crops, hostile settlements to block trade, and especially that person who is really bad at cooking but they love doing it so you don't have the heart to say no....

Anyway let's talk restrictions and where they can come from

Wartime

Wartime can cause a lot of original farmers and workers to become soldiers. It also can lead to the large scale destruction of precious farm land, crops, animals, and overall places to cook.

Laws

Perhaps there's a particularly poisonous food, and way too many suspiciously poisoned people. That's when law comes in. There's many reasons for food and drink to become outlawed. Religious reasons, danger, regulations, inebriation, etc.

Siege/Embargo/Thievery

Knock knock! It's the United States here to embargo your random country. Outside factions can always become an obstacle, leading to loss of traveling cargo or straight up missing farmers too. Nothing comes in, and sometimes nothing comes out.

Endangered

Perhaps a common plant or favored animal is running low on populous. Now locals are more so focused on reanimating a dwindling population, more so on eating it.

Sickness

Whether it be hoards of invasive bugs, prion disease caused by cannibalistic animal feed, or sudden inexplicable field of dead corn sickness happens. Maybe something has swept over the land, and no one ever bothered to try to plant said crop again.

Natural Disasters

Natural disasters can not only cause the elimination of entire villages, but accidentally bring in lots of invasive creatures too. Catfish is off the menu for as long as carp is intown.

Straight Up Difficulty

Sometimes a fruit appears once a year, or a tasty creature is a dangerous one to take on in order to eat. It can be difficult getting the right ingredient sometimes. Other times it's new to the market. So much can happen when food is involved.

Preparation & Flavor

Finally all the food in the world is available, but what are we going to do with it.

Make it even better!

I personally find preparation to be the best part of worldbuilding. Now I get to imagine my fictional little people stewing their pots, and kindling their fires. Reflect off of real world recipes, and maybe even write down exact fantasy recipes of your own.

Don't forget about herbs and spices (I see you British people).

You have five basic taste receptors in your mouth: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and savory. They make great descriptors and fun places to explore when looking into what your foods taste like. Smell can play an important role too.

Does it smell awful and taste great, smell sweet and taste bitter, perhaps it doesn't have anything at all going on.

Happy worldbuilding!

[dnp-pet-rectangle]

WAD reflection from the perspective of a theatre director

Inspired by @/calvinahobbes who did an amazing job breaking down the show’s metaphors & using her English degree in this post, I wanted to share my perspective on it (even a month later) & get use out of my theatre degree lol. Also, warning, this will be very much a long, long essay with run-ons. I have ADHD & I love when my frequent hyperfixations intersect 🤪 There are major spoilers.

My Background:

I am a semi-professional theatre director, but more broadly, a theatremaker. I have a theatre degree from New York University’s Tisch School on the Arts (NYU Tisch), where I did a conservatory program with one of their studios which focused basically on those who wanted to do a little bit of everything and create new works & was the only studio training directors & playwrights. I originally went into the program as a performer. I did not mean to end up concentrating on being mainly a producer & a director, but that’s a whole other story. I also through that program had to take theatre/performance studies courses, which I loved for the most part & is an interesting interdisciplinary field. But I will try to define terms just in case since anybody reading this may not know any or all the specific terminology I might use. In short, I have a fancy degree that apparently should cost $300k 🤡 & I’m gonna actually use it with doing this lol

--

Setting the Tone:

While Dan might call this a comedy special or comedy show, and thereby comparing it to other comedians, I actually think he is doing himself and We’re All Doomed (WAD) a disservice. I saw folks compare him a lot to Bo Burnham in the chat (who was actually was accepted and almost went to NYU Tisch for a different studio that focused on solely experimental work), which makes sense considering the theatrical nature of both of them. However, Dan actually goes further into the realm of theatre because of how he utilizes his crowd work (I’ll go into that later). I recognize traditional comedy specials/standup as having jokes or stories, when doing you know like late night talk show interviews, that can be made outside of the context of the show & slip into a conversation. Or with Burnham’s Inside Out, the songs & other parts can be done or understood mainly out of context, as seen through Bo uploading them to his YouTube channel. Comedy specials have the sections of their comedy stand-up thread together, but what Dan has done is weave his sections together. The length along with the intermission/interval being a part of WAD, adds to my point that he is not treating this as different material he tested out at different comedy clubs, but as something cohesive storytelling pieces. I think in terms of testing, Phil was the main sufferer audience member of the initial materials being created.

Anyway, you cannot as easily remove it from the context at certain points, because the transitions & the order of these different sections are treated as equally important, rather than a means to move on to the next section, with some possible space for improv.

Basically, I’m bi. Sorry, my brain started thinking about BIG when I started writing “basically” at the start of that sentence. Actually, what I am trying to say is that I would classify We’re All Doomed as a one-man performance piece/show, so I will be treating it as such in my review/reflection/breakdown. The comedy of it is important and there, but I don’t think it captures what WAD entirely is.

Also, unfortunately due to where I was at mentally at the time & the location it was being performed at, I never saw this live. To be honest, how it got framed marketing-wise did not help me feel connected with the actual purpose of the show, with hope being a key element. So while this was filmed, I am as much as possible trying to remove the cinematography as an element of my analysis. However, some things might be clearer on film, as with theatrical directing, you cannot add a zoom or crop & instead are trying to ensure moments are clear to an audience by what they see and hear through drawing their attention to it. With theatre being mainly about the live output by performers and intake by the audience, at the end of the day, what my job as a director is is to direct not only how the performers share the story, but also direct the audience on what is important to catch for understanding.

--

Breakdown of Thoughts

Originally, I wanted to rewatch the show again, and started to, but considering I ended up writing about a whole page worth of things for each minute of the show & I was sleepy by the time I was like 5-10 minutes in, I decided to be nice to myself & stay up all night in my comfortable bed instead of staying up all night at my desk trying to take in-depth notes 🙃

I’m gonna breakdown this analysis/reflection into further sections, just to give myself some anchors & break up the blocks of text. Also as a way to just be that pretentious, maybe with an academic flair, as is fitting to be for something about Dan Howell (said affectionately 💕)

The Script/Writing

When considering the text of the show itself, two things came to mind for me:

(1) This is definitely what I would call intertext. Intertext is a piece of writing that relates to another or more other writings through allusions. WAD is an intertext which alludes mainly to other works of Dan’s on his YouTube channel. The ability to get the true impact of the show relies on you knowing Dan (as his internet persona) on some level. And as a theatre maker & longtime fan, I love that it is, it’s what the piece needed to be. As a theatre producer, the hiatus from engaging with his audience and the limited runway given to reactivate interest in him and his creative work I think made it difficult to get that audience in some venues, along with some other funkiness (mainly with promo) I am less knowledgeable on. But I think Dan has already learned/continues to learn from that, which I think may have been valuable for him. (sidenote: I need the tea on all that because I love knowing how presenting venues work with performers, as well as the lack of understanding they have of internet culture as it relates to venue leadership.)

(2) This was a work he made for himself. He mentions this both in the show & in reference to WAD multiple times. But I think what truly came to mind for me was that it is still powerful for him to write for himself. He is writing for what he needs to be hearing or wants to be processing creatively.

I think why it is powerful is that Dan has discussed before how much stress he put on himself regarding danisnotonfire, and later Daniel Howell, videos, focusing on the audience, and how he was presenting a specific style/quality of video to them. Add in the layer of being closeted & actively fighting internalized homophobia, and the anxiety he built up makes sense. And I might personally attribute that more to his need to pass as straight & catering I believe at one point to an audience of cishet men, whether actual or perceived by him. Not all videos, especially the most impactful ones in my opinion, rely on this, but it was a key piece of what he made during his rise in popularity on the platform. This catering slowly decreased with the amount of uploads he was doing, along with a more tangible understanding of his audience thanks to the tours he did with Phil. Basically I’m Gay I think was the true shift where he gave himself permission to write work that had a main audience of himself. That’s where his best work has come from, and I think since then, he’s been able to have the space to process things creatively through his writing.

--

The Relationship Between Performer & Audience

When I was in theatre school, my directing teacher would constantly talk about not just considering the relationship of the performers on “stage” (I did a lot of more immersive work & we only had black box theatres, which is literally a room that is floor to ceiling black) but also the relationship of the performers & the story with the audience. By Dan knowing mainly who his audience would be, the show can now play with that understanding in mind.

This leads to my point that, overall, Dan does not use the fourth wall, and I think that is what makes We’re All Doomed work. It may also be why he called it a comedy show, idk.

For those who don’t know what the fourth wall is, it is a term from theatre originally that is about the way in which a traditional theatre stage (called a proscenium) has three physical walls around it, while there is no 4th physical wall, so the audience can see the performance. If does exist physically, it is only the curtain that acts as the 4th “wall”. So, in order to keep it as a separation between the performers and the audience, the actors treat the side where the audience is as a fourth wall. When someone breaks the 4th wall, this is when they speak to audience directly, rather than to another character. Examples from English-speaking pop culture would be the asides from Hamlet or Ferris Bueller in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. But when you are the only person on stage, the only way to have a fourth wall is when you don’t reference that you know there’s an audience there. Hence, a monologue where the character is talking to themselves or an entity that is not the audience directly (or assigned to be the audience by the director), it is the closest you can have a fourth wall when alone.

Dan in his videos and in his previous tours with Phil never were without direct engagement of the audience (obvious with the naming of Interactive Introverts). It was never not a variation on him speaking with the audience in any type of dialogue, even if done parasocially.

Some of that is not new to theatre, but I would say is that it has become more of a trend within new theatre starting in the early 2010s to have more interactivity and a more authentic, explicit message that no performance will be the exact same. I definitely saw that in the shows I saw both Off-Broadway (which sidenote, all that means is that there’s fewer seats in that theatre, not about quality of the work or how worth it is to engage with) and larger settings like Broadway and the West End. That’s what I love about theatre, and why my own work is more about immersion and direct audience engagement.

Now Dan’s creative works have never been skit only or interested in telling a story outside of the realm of connecting with an audience as a variation of himself, so again, him not using the fourth wall overall is appropriate and fits in with what I mentioned about intertext. The piece does however start with a fourth wall for the music number, which I will walk through fully sharing why I am saying that about the song & dance opening after establishing some other concepts to help build understanding.

--

Design Can Work With You or Against You

I just want to say out the gate that the design was done really well, and I immediately felt a need to emphasize it after watching the first 10 minutes again.

First, let’s talk about the orange & black aesthetic of the show. Dan may have simply said that the orange just looked cool, but I think I would attribute more meaning to that color. Orange brings to my mind at first instance both a bright happiness/warmth and a sense of caution and warning, like road signs (at least those in America). The themes of the show reflect these two ideas and plays with the tension between them. I don’t know if he or the team meant to have that be a conscious choice, but there’s a joke I’ve had with other directors of when they get complimented on something unexpected, they just nod and say “yes, that was a choice”, even though it was just a random thing that happened or was something that you just thought would be cool to do. Orange runs through the show’s designs and it becomes clear that it is a tool for contrast and emphasis for the points Dan & the director want to make.

Now with the design team of costumes, lights, sound, and media, I can see a clear cohesion. Good theatrical design has the designs act as a character or highlighter in the story. Bad theatrical design can take away/distract from the core intensions of the show. It was so clear to me that the design was a character. And seeing that there were two media designers make complete sense considering the labor lift of both creating the projections displayed, but also creating/filming pieces of the media itself. The music/sound and lighting work well to articulate the manic feelings it means to instill in the audience and seeing it as a director, I assume part of the creative discussion was about parts of the media played they wanted to make sure were heard, and the lights help catch attentions in service of those pulled out moments. For costumes, I think Calvina did well in her post at articulating the elements of the costume and the progression it goes throughout the show. I’d rather not take up space to say the same thing truthfully.

With all the design elements, I think three characters could be defined (not including the audience), two as main characters, and one as a supporting character. I would name the main characters as “the Circle” (the looming set piece throughout hosting the projections used throughout) and “Dan On Stage/Dan performing” (the one in the physical space) with the “voiceover Dan/inner voice Dan” as a supporting character. The voiceover only exists in the beginning, and it is only shared with us to demonstrate the way in which the Dan On Stage singing is not really that aggressively optimistic and wholeheartedly believes the words he is singing. He is not the Dan we know from the Internet, so we can cathartically laugh at the attempt to pretend everything is fine. The voiceover only has one role, and it is to force Dan to confront this breakdown has an audience.

--

Staging an Opening Sequence: Our First Stage Character is the Circle

In directing classes, often what you focus on is called stage pictures, which is meant to help you consider what the actual imagery you want to ensure the audience absorbs for their understanding of the piece. The first and last stage moment of each act should tell a basic story of what happened, and therefore, are heavily emphasized as important for directors. The Circle (capitalized for reference purposes) being lit up before the show starts and then again in conjunction with the light flashes and sound establishes the importance of the Circle to the show. When the projection comes into play, showing the speech of a 15-year-old Greta Thunberg before beginning to add more, we are then introduced to the purpose of the Circle to be an output/portal for the overstimulation of messages, in this case, I would claim it being what comes from the Internet.

The music/sound and lighting work well to articulate the manic feelings it means to instill in the audience and seeing it as a director, I assume part of the creative discussion was about parts of the media played they wanted to make sure were heard, and the lights help catch attentions in service of those pulled out moments. The Circle also through some of the lighting moments, mimic that of a clock, which again adds to the doomsday, the "end is near" type energy. To have the end of the opening sequence build to an explosion which then shows solid orange at the end while Dan is in silhouette begins the introduction to the orange emphasis & proposes a sort of prophet-like version of him after the apocalyptic imagery disappears as he rises to be seen. What we have opened with is setting the tone to how we should view these two characters of the Circle & the Dan on Stage.

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Song Time!

Dan is such a theatre kid & I love that for him. His dramatic side shows through the moment he used a rise to start his show at the top of the stairs, first in a place of seriousness with the sharp lighting and smoke to then bring in a very happy music number. The contrast & switching of expectations is a key of comedic works, and shows through most of the phandom who did not know WAD started with that, as it is indeed funnier if it comes as a shock. The movement & music mimic what folks attribute to as musical theatre, which is campy, happy singing. Knowing he was the one who suggested the song for TATINOF, I am loving Dan clearly wanting to have that opening number of a musical moment, even if it is dripping in irony. The Circle & the lights in this acts as a supporter to the message of it being sunshine and rainbows, with literal rainbow lights included. (Sidenote: I am 99% sure the pigeon coo is Phil, so if anything, I’m disappointed he was not credited as Pigeon sound effect AND remote crisis manager. Idk why I could tell, but both times now, it’s what I immediately thought when hearing that part)

I think of the musical number as the only place where he does have a fourth wall, because the number does not directly reference the audience at the start. It’s a one-man moment and it is about the performance not the audience engagement. It starts falling away when he starts pointing out the “and you”s, but the voiceover is the real break in our understanding of the world. It is emphasized by the color inversion of the sun & sky media of the Circle. The director is saying, this is important to how you now interpret what you’ve seen & will see, this is another shift from what was established of this world.

I should mention “world” is the terminology used to name what the environment the story is being told in with consideration, especially in theatre, of how much of a need there is for suspension of disbelief. I believe this term is also referenced a lot when discussing the fantasy and sci-fi genres, since those also requires some distancing from reality for the audience. This ties into a phrase I will probably end up using a lot of “rules of the space”. When establishing this world for the show you are presenting to an audience, there is a type of logic that must be established in order to understand what is the baseline for what the audience will be engaging with over the span of the show. But the voiceover immediately changes the rules of the space, because it messes with the Dan on stage, and messes with the messaging of the Circle. It adds a new context to the Dan On Stage, as while a fan will know that this song is not in alignment of our knowledge of Dan Howell, we get confirmation that this indeed ironic and outside of the branding that Dan has boxed himself into over his time on YouTube.

But the voiceover is also not in alignment with that “branding”. It expresses concerns related to the Dan On Stage’s mental wellbeing. There is no irony or subtext in that voice, it is the most direct in speaking to Dan On Stage, because it is being said by a variation of Dan in voiceover to himself. These could be seen as questions he knows to ask himself, but as someone who advocates for mental health & shares now about being openly gay, I interpret that he may feel he cannot express that outside of his mind for fear of undermining his advocacy points. The discussion of the “wonders” of the Internet also continue building in the tension that exists throughout WAD of how Dan feels about that space. The voiceover then proposes at first a type of equal extreme, which only sees the Doom, and as someone with clinical Depression myself, I think is only a furtherance of the breakdown, rather than the reality check it started off being. Not that what is listed is wrong by any means, but the barrage of it is meant to expand the drowning feeling, not act as call to action or consideration of the intricacies for engaging in the world. With the Circle’s sun imagery & the music having been inverted and shifted to something more sinister, Dan’s movement up the stairs fits a type of circular moment from the first entry of him, where the image of the prophetic figure is questioned on how he alone will solve the climate emergency. The slap & break of character for the Dan on Stage serves to confirm our understanding of the voiceover as the voice in Dan’s head & indeed there are not two Dans.

Also, the sparklers 🎇 showing up really make the key change for the song, but my producer brain is going, “girl, of course you lost money on this show, was that so VERY NECESSARY?” But the dramatic Gemini theatre bitch in me would 100% want this too. I just don’t have a capita£ester working to get sponsorship money in my life, so I have to be reasonable 😔 Also, the confetti with the high note is peak theatre gay so I again, love that for him. And of course, the confetti is orange.

--

Hints of Orange

When the song reaches its end & the Circle starts showing squares of orange, rather than a full background, this acts as a seed for the breakdown and waterfall of cubes, which Calvina speaks to the orange cube hint at the beginning in her post. The sudden cut-out with Dan simply lit replicates a moment the Circle is not present. The Internet is not present. To crawl to a microphone, the message is not “hey this guy needs two mics”, because we see one on his face, but that the wired mic (which I will now label as “The Microphone”) is a metaphor. It’s a crawl towards sharing out, not suppression. Only when the voiceover of himself points out the audience does he does a full fourth wall break. The suppression did not work, and neither he nor the audience can believe that it was the Truth.

The wire of the Microphone being orange showcases that it was meant to be seen. I don’t think it even in play in terms of the sound, like it might not even be on, considering the feedback nightmare it would likely cause. And no standard microphone used on stages has orange wires, because that would pull the audience’s eyes to it. But that’s the point here.

The rules of the space are now this: the Circle is not always active, the Microphone has significance, the Dan On Stage knows there is an audience. None of these were true before, even the Circle was on before the start. This draws the audience to know there has been a shift & to have the first words said into the Microphone be “We’re All Doomed” solidifies the song moment was a blip, that this is really where we start at. As an example, in the social media section, Dan does a deliberate wrapping of the wire on his hand at the same time the Circle scrolls to the social media icon. It is how the director & Dan are ensuring that we understand “what he is saying and what is been shown on the screen are in tandem”, so if you’re paying attention to that wire, it signals you should look up too.

Every other prop, except I believe the gavel and wig, is also orange. The bubble gun is mainly what comes to mind for me, since the cubes are not as activated as props necessarily. But if an item is to enter the stage, what I interpret it as is that it must be orange, there must be high contrast, nothing in the physical world on the stage can become blurred, only screens have that privilege(?) to have things blend together.

--

The Power Struggle Between Dan & the Circle

Once Dan has begun directly conversing with the audience, the rules of the space are:

(1) Dan On Stage acts, the design elements react (not including the Circle)

(2) The Circle and Dan have a symbiotic relationship, as neither have complete control over the other & react to what each other are doing

(3) The icons are our guides in understanding the sectioning done throughout the show

(4) Having “One Good Night” is the goal to reach at the end of the piece

As a person, as well as discussed throughout the show, we know that Dan has a contentious relationship with the Internet. It is what has given him his living but has also caused some of his worst moments mentally (2012? I don’t know her). It is the space in which lets him have an audience who have mainly showed him support, but also the space that has fed the cynicism that fuels his clinical depression. There lies in the way in which the Circle exists on the stage & looms over Dan in the background. It’s a necessary evil of what appears on the screen.

Why do I then say that the design elements are reacting? Well, if we remove the Circle from the equation, the lights, sounds effects, and props are all cued off of something Dan does like the clown honk. However, the Circle sometimes cues off what Dan does, but sometimes instigates what Dan speaks to. That especially is evident when video clips play that invoke what media Dan has been contending with on the Internet and the consequences of those things.

The Circle exists throughout both Act One & Act Two, but only becomes passive to the piece when Dan directly shows vulnerability & the removal of protective irony. Calvina spoke to this when discussing the costume choice of him opening the jumpsuit in Act Two to show the orange tank underneath.

--

Cubes as Articulators

Oh Creator did I have to dig deep into my brain for this term of articulators. So my directing instructor had some key terms that I think I don’t think are universally used, even by American theatre directors or at least in academic settings. She defined articulators to basically be elements that helped give almost like checkpoints for the progression of a throughline in a show. For WAD, that is easily those orange cubes.

When static is displayed on the Circle’s screen each time we transition to a new section, it is not the typical emulation of TV static, it is that sea of orange squares. It is an articulation of those fear, issues, concerns, all those pinpoints Dan speaks to why he says “We’re All Doomed”.

That’s why there is the culmination of the orange cubes falling on him, when he reaches the top of the stairs at the end of Act One. When he circles back to the same stage picture of him at the top, it can been considered a repetition of the prophetic imagery I pointed out from the opening sequence. What changes is that the orange squares enter the physical world, falling onto Dan. He can no longer say they live in his head. They are here and stay in the space until the end of the show. In Act One, they are the looming issues that signal the Apocalypse. In Act Two, they are the rubble that must be sorted through.

Calvina was the one who named it rubble and the cubes as representations of Dan’s problems. To have the audience actually able to take a cube home, she argued, would be symbolic of the audience helping carry that weight. While I’d love that, I mentioned in my tags on her post that I think mentally, that rubble would still be at his feet, even with taking home that visual metaphor. This is Dan we’re talking about, and with personal responsibility being a topic of the show, while it’s not his burden to bear alone, he does have to recognize it exists.

I think the repetition of the prophetic imagery comes to its climax when in the aftermath found in Act 2, voting who to fire into space can and does end up with him being sent by the audience. It represents an understanding of where he exists now from where he did at 18 in terms of social, political, and economic access and the possibilities of his influence. There is a responsibility there that ties to how he can move in the world now publicly, so why wouldn’t he have an existential crisis?

--

It is a Comedy Though, Right?

This is hundred percent comedy, and obvious dark humor at that. As a director, I love comedy, especially this type, because when an audience gets to laugh, the armor gets stripped away. They have no built-up resistance that let’s any uncomfortable point be heard effectively. It’s why the end’s vulnerability is effective, because we have already joked and laughed about our pains and our desire for escapism. Now we are able to move on into a place of reflection.

To underline why I say this is not stand-up comedy is that Dan has made it a stage show, just one that has comedy as a vehicle for telling this “story”. His interactions with his audience, through both quips based on audience reactions or “heckling” as well as explicitly asking for input into who to shot to space or what to add as a mad lib (generic brand for law purposes), are about being blended into the loose narrative constructed already, not actually to be reactionary like most crowd work I associate with stand-up comedy.

If anything, I could argue that it could be considered a comedy special that “Dan On Stage” is trying to make, but there is actually conflict being introduced that disrupts his set (both the comedy one and the physical one). There is clearly a showing of meta, as Dan makes sure to share thoughts on the creation of the show, the reactions from his overall show branding & imagery, the use of the lift because it was expensive to have. Dan’s comedy style can never be told without reference to behind the scenes, because if this is a creative means to process feelings, there are things about the show & its making that impact what needs to be processed too. It is also related to how his work is strengthened by acknowledging the two-way street of being in a parasocial relationship with his audience.

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Can We Have One Good Night?

Another term central to what my directing teacher spoke of was the “Core”, usually a question, though not always, that motivated what was being explored over the course of a theatre piece. At the top, as Dan on Stage exaggerates that love doesn’t exist (which Dan refutes as being an actual belief of his during the afterparty) and other sardonic phrases, he also states he wants to give his audience one good night, because he recognizes the escapism his audience finds in his solo and joint content. We’re All Doomed’s Core is “can we just have one good night, even in the midst of the horrors we have outside of these theatre doors?”. But I would also say that in terms of where his writing was at the time of WAD’s inception and the naming of his mental health book as You Will Get Through This Night, it feels more like Dan himself has been grappling with a Core of “can I have one good night? Or a full 24 hours where I feel mainly happy when all I am bombarded with about the world is suffering?” I think night can be both literal, since we know he has had sleep issues, and metaphorical, as the night can represent this depressive episode he was writing himself out of.

When the mood tracker gets discussed in the last portion of WAD, to see a sea of neutral or uninterested emojis demonstrates when he took the time to do it, the answer that night was “no, not really” 😕. The main one mentioned is the ritual of “Fry Day” he has with Phil (sidenote: why are these British men not calling it “Chip Day”, since this ritual falls on a Saturday?), which is a rare smiley face. The question he likely has then is “can I ever have a good night again?”

So for him to then turn to his own videos during one of those nights, to a video where he states his famous “embrace the void and have the courage to exist,” that showcases what I mentioned of his best work being written for himself, in this case, a future version of himself.

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Ending Sequence: Where Do We Land?

When the Circle does not display any media, it again shows the orange square motif, but after mentioning his own video, he turns to his audience for glimpses of what joy exists even in the face of Doom. The Circle changes into a display of different submitted clips showcasing this joy and hope that Dan was clearly looking for throughout this piece. He walks towards the top of the stairs to witness these clips. I cannot for my life at this point having now been separate from it for about a month, but I believe before the submitted media sequence, he states the famous line again of “Embrace the Void and Have the Courage to Exist”. With this last thing spoken, it gives that emphasis needed to take in the message emotionally and then witness what the Void (in this case the Circle) can offer.

--

A Good Director Should Go Unnoticed

When someone is not versed in theatrical directing, if the audience cannot tell what was a choice by the director or even consider the director themselves, this is weirdly a good sign. It means that it feels natural to what they are witnessing and to the messages that are meant to be communicated to the audience. As someone who also works in government, it feels very similar, as only bad work is evident to the general public. Obviously that is not true for everyone, but is an overall trait I think impacts both an understanding of public service and directing.

I am not familiar with any of the work of Ed Stambollouian, who through research, looks like he has done work with comedians like Joe Lycett (who I am also not familiar with) and directed TATINOF, but also more stripped down, exploratory theatre. Through a quick review of his portfolio, one, I am not shocked that Dan tapped him to assist with directing since there is a familiarity and two, his background tells me he knows how to direct for writer-performers, which is what comedians really are at the end of the day.

To direct for those who are doing one-person shows that they both wrote and performed, it is especially tricky to have the artist hand the reins over to the director. The director in this case acts as the artist’s eyes, because an artist cannot clone themselves. It is impossible for them to wear multiple hats at once, where they can give quality, objective feedback to themselves while also doing a full out performance. For Ed to be someone Dan has worked with before, there is already an established understanding of each other’s work styles, and a trust that otherwise would have to be built up before the work can truly begin to finalize the piece.

In short, Ed Stambollouian and the creative team on We’re All Doomed did an incredible job bringing what I understand Dan intended when he started writing this down in isolation. And @danielhowell you whole-heartedly deserve to call this your magnum opus. What can I say (sorry I can't help lovingly poking fun at you), your artistry shines throughout the show. I hope this too can be something your future self can turn back to.

🧡

(bonus) Thoughts on Orange Carpet & the Phil element

I didn’t fully rewatch the orange carpet, just to keep myself on task & not bring Phil too much into the main reflection without explicit reference in the show, but hearing Dan go “I’m alive in 3, 2…” made me laugh both times. He understands that we just want to know he has a pulse, ya know? Also them pretending it totally was live, when those fools (affectionate) cannot run a real live broadcast from their home for their lives. It just ran too smoothly, esp. in the transitions, for it to be anything but some very, very light editing on one improvised take they did. But I always support them in their acting, no matter how bad, like with DITL Australia’s opener or pretending there were not two apartments or that Google Feud being back was unplanned or Dil being pregnant with a statistically rare alien child or Phil living in a tiled, cramped bedroom or...

Also, Dan’s little laugh at the end of Phil’s sign-off is so fond it hurts. It also hurt that the VOD was hard to scrub through, so another deduction for the Kiswe platform.

Anyway, I’m glad that Dan was able to find space outside of the Dan & Phil branding of the 2010s as well as the image he was forced to manufacture for his YouTube presence, but also realize that with having a core audience that wants him to simply be happy, he can recognize that Phil is part of the things that make him happy. And can do so openly.

He is his own person, but it has been clearly emphasized now that Dan has no interest in not acknowledging that Phil always is and will be part of his present and future. He has made work like WAD & "Gay and Not Proud" to explore his way of thinking without the support of Phil present in the filmed/performed aspect. Dan acknowledges this intention, which is evident with him shooing away Phil at the beginning of “Gay and Not Proud” to process it alone.

It is also evident with the ending of “Daniel & Depression” and the WAD end credit of remote crisis manager showcasing the caretaking role Phil often plays in Dan’s life. But we know that caretaking is reciprocal, considering Phil's tactics with glue as well as his continuing health issues and anxieties. Dan has seen who he is without Phil by his side everyday in the public eye & has no interest in maintaining that Phil is absent for public projections.

I obviously do not know Dan Howell, or anything about him outside what exists on the internet. But in performance studies, there is a foundational understanding that there is no way to not be performing in some way during your day-to-day. Performing is not inherently a bad thing, as there are different roles you take on in your life, where how I engage at work is different from how I am hanging out with friends. This also has basis in gender studies, such as ideas that you can perform your gender "wrong". What has been so interesting to me in this phandom renaissance is the way Dan and Phil each perform as themselves in front of the camera now. What they share out and the layers they include--or choose to not remove--have been stated by them explicitly to be the most authentic they have ever been, without obviously removing their right to privacy. During the height of the glass closet that was their 2018 content, I remember thinking that it was going to be the most they would show us in the vain of "if you know, you know, and we know who will know". After the coming out videos of 2019, obviously that's not true, but the return of dapg has signaled a message of "we know you know, if you've been in the know" while veiled in a way that is not immediately perceivable by those who are casually engaging with their content. It is an authentic portrayal of themselves without filter, while also providing themselves space to not have to announce everything to the world. When you are in the know, it definitely targeted and causes psychic damage, but I am ready for anything and everything they throw our way.

[jingerpi]

Marxist Analysis 2: Moralism vs. Materialism

In what ways does Marxism analyze the world that Liberalism does not? What flaws are present in Liberal analysis that are subverted by a Marxist one? While once again, there are far too many differences to fully address in a single post, there is one primary difference which I want to get at with this one, that is, Moralism contrasted with Materialism. Liberal ideology classifies actions primarily based off theiry morality. They will see an action itself, and classify it as innately good or bad. The actual classification may differ between liberals, for example, some people will see something like political violence as innately good, while others will see it as innately bad. This distinction differs, but the underyling ideology, that of abstact moral classifications, does not. Everything fits into these strict classes of good, bad, acceptable, reprehensible, etc... Some things may be moved around at times, but the question of classifications themselves goes unaddressed This is contrasted with (dialectical) Materialism, which does not classifies things based off their innate or abstract moral character but judges them off the purpose they serve in the context they exist. What I mean by this is that a marxist will see political violence and not say, this is moral or immoral, we are not concerned with that. What we do see, is what purpose the violence serves. Is this violence defensive? is it a force progressing the proletariat cause? is it something that helps advance our goals in improving society? or is it a reactionary force, which serves the goals of the bourgeoisie? does it make peoples lives worse? This may sound the same as what liberalism does initially, but it is distinctly different. For another example, a liberal may say "okay well not all violence is bad you're correct, defensive violence is good, and offensive violence is bad" and you may think this sounds similar to what marxists do, but ultimately it is only creating another classification for which to put things in. It is breaking violence into two smaller actions, defensive action and offensive action, and putting each of them into boxes. On the contrary, Marxists understand defensive action can also be "bad", in that it can serve the bourgeoisie, and it can make the world worse. Is Israel defending their apartheid from Palestinian resistance good, simply because they're defending their country? No - of course not. Thats because this is not determined on the merit of which box defensive violence is placed into but rather the greater details and play and context of the action. Marxism holds that nothing can be understood when taken outside its context. We cannot make moral judgements on things in and of themselves, we can only judge specific instances and contexts. When first getting into Marxism this is one of the main roadblocks I encountered in my understanding. To judge whether or not something is worthy of supporting, you should not look at it and measure it to some abstract morality measure, via say, "how many flaws are present in this thing?" and then classifying it into good or bad based off such. Instead, you should look at something, inspect it, and decide if your support of this thing will improve the world, or make it worse. Will the actions you are able to take in support of something able to make the world better? Are you able to advance the proletarian cause? Conversely, is your disdain of something going to help counter the bourgeoisie? Is it going to help the proletariat succeed in their mission?

A strong example of this difference in method I can give is China. Many, many people, will see China and judge it based off their knowledge of how many wrongs occur in the country, decide if it is a good or bad country, or some mix inbetween, and then from there hold it in high regard or distaste. Marxists however, understand that our personal regard for their issues is not the important aspect for support. The important aspect to consider before giving our support, is what will our support or condemnation do? Can I meaningfully support this country in a way which will improve the world? Can I meaningfully oppose it in a way that will do the same? Generally speaking, flaws of China aside, there are very few if any ways for imperial core "leftists" to oppose China which will improve the world. The actions you can take against China will never make the world better. Sanctions will only make the people suffer more. Deriding "the government not the people" still demonstrably leads to anti-asian hate crimes. On the contrary, supporting the people in China and their endeavors can reduce sinophobia, we can pressure our governments to stop swarming them in military bases and economic pressures. This will demonstrably improve not only their lives, but likely the lives of the global proletariat in general. Of course not all Marxists agree with this analysis of China, it is a point of contention even within communist circles, but the important aspect to remember is the method of analysis, the way which you go about determining whether or not to give something support. It is not based off mental classifications, measuring things up to "morality", but rather based off our ability to effect the world, and whether or not our support or opposition for something will make the world a better place.

Contrary to metaphysics, dialectics does not regard nature as an accidental agglomeration of things, of phenomena, unconnected with, isolated from, and independent of, each other, but as a connected and integral whole, in which things, phenomena are organically connected with, dependent on, and determined by, each other. The dialectical method therefore holds that no phenomenon in nature can be understood if taken by itself, isolated from surrounding phenomena, inasmuch as any phenomenon in any realm of nature may become meaningless to us if it is not considered in connection with the surrounding conditions, but divorced from them; and that, vice versa, any phenomenon can be understood and explained if considered in its inseparable connection with surrounding phenomena, as one conditioned by surrounding phenomena.

— Joseph V. Stalin, Dialectical and Historical Materialism

[swanchime]

disorganized untitled thesis on satosugu and the rest of jjk part 1/?

while it is true i cannot clinically be Normal(TM) about satosugu for many reasons including the probable late adolescent involvement with a buddhist cult (Etcetc u can believe any wack shit i say or not or just take it for a Schizophrenic Comedy but you know you know), i am also overflowing with satosugu thoughts at any point in time.

HERE'S SOME DISORGANIZED THOUGHTS ABOUT SATOSUGU (and yuuji/sukuna)!

gojo is what in my internal world would be classified as a "nonpareil" which means he is peerless, there is no one that can match him, and it's Not a good thing. as the english translation loves to say, "are you the strongest because you're gojo satoru? or are you gojo satoru because you're the strongest?"

what this means to me is that the entire structure of gojo's identity is composed of "being the strongest," so there's no clear casuative relationship between if he is the strongest because that's the most important thing to being "gojo satoru" or if he is known as, reputed as, identified as "gojo satoru" because of an innate trait he already possessed.

it's unclear if he "became" the strongest Because he is "gojo satoru" or if he "became" "gojo satoru" because he is the strongest.

regardless, gojo satoru's identity is defined by being "the strongest," and that means no one can match him, he is a nonpareil, he is peerless.

because of that it is easy for him to become an object of envy even by his best friend, who calls him by his first name with no honorifics, which is an immense position of intimacy despite their rivalry, as can be indicated in the early episodes of jjk s2.

just like. geto's relationship to gojo is defined by the insurmountable abyss that opens between them when they stop becoming "the strongest duo" and when gojo simply becomes "the strongest," without geto, without needing him anymore, without geto being able to catch up.

geto deeply resents gojo for gojo's peerlessness, the arrogance that befits him, because young gojo is better than everyone and he knows it. geto is incredible, but he can't catch up.

like in the first episodes of jjk s1, the difference between two special grades can be immense and immeasurable. like sukuna and that special grade curse from eps 4-5. both special grade, but two entirely different classes of it.

i'm overflowing with thoughts about how like, geto loves and hates gojo in equal measure. gojo shines so fucking brightly, geto can't help but to love him, who couldn't love him, and in my opinion, gojo Needs geto, otherwise without him...who could tolerate gojo?

if geto can't love him, who could?

just...

without geto, gojo IS the strongest, but he is alone.

to be a nonpareil is to be alone.

no one can keep up with you, no one can match you, you are utterly isolated at the top of your field. without geto, gojo is just alone. what does it matter to be the strongest if you have no one to witness you, what does it matter if you are the strongest and untouchable, unloved, and desired, but only for your practical function, your usefulness in achieving others' ends.

it's hard to explain to someone who isn't fluent in japanese, but japanese is full of ambiguities, it is a language defined by ambiguities, whereas english is defined by its contrasts and strictures, its discrete categories as fundamental as classifying something as "good" or "evil," japanese culturally exists in the middle to the point of indecision and indifference but in the ambiguity there is truth in all its invariate complexity as well.

speaking japanese to children (who are simple, and straightforward, and direct, who speak casually and plainly on a linguistic level) versus speaking children to adults (who politely obscure through layers of courtesy and keigo) is two different worlds, and speaking to teenagers is navigating that ambiguity of "how much do I obscure? and how much do i reveal?"

and the SHEER INTIMACY of geto and gojo calling each other by their first names despite the friction between them, geto deeply resenting gojo's arrogance but also being drawn in irrevably by his magnitude...

it's immense.

geto and gojo calling each other by their first names means that they are each other's most precious person. as intimate as you can ever get with another human being. it's not just a "cute party trick" or a "fun fiction trope for couples" it's like, an extremely intimate way of defining their relationship (and subtextually defining it as one of deep, severe love that surpasses 'bromance' or however else you want to superficially and non homosexually categorize it) it just...

geto and gojo calling each other by their first names shows the viewer how much they love each other and are in love.

i'll talk about it another time, but jujutsu kaisen is a deeply encoded series about decrypting the cipher of "symbols" and various other coded messages, particularly queer ones, that are so deeply encrypted that shounen jump doesn't register it as "actually really fucking homosexual / transgender"

but just. i can't express to you how painful watching...geto's resentment, his desire to be as special and necessary and desirable and wanted instead of swallowing vomit stained rags and viscera and vermin, and feeling dirty because of it. and hating the world. and feeling deeply and intimately that you are an unnecessary existence, annihilated by the shining bright light of your best friend who you are deeply in love with but who without even blinking an eye outshines you, outclasses you, doesn't ever and may have never needed you at all.

these things...these deep held vulnerabilities and open wound of insecurities, this fundamental lack of security in the necessity of his own existence, imo calls back to okkotsu's themes of wishing to have the permission to live (i want to feel as though it is okay to live).

these things make geto vulnerable to cult tactics. who will convince you that you're special, necessary, more necessary than anyone, the way cults build a "family" out of it is too true, so true, too much, the way geto financially exploits his followers as well as manipulating advantage out of them (swallowing curses) while presenting himself as a buddha....

the way geto sincerely loves his family, so so much, he cares about them so deeply...but like gojo says love is the most perverse curse of all, and geto's love for them...who can say what it is, other than love.

the perversion of love is love, too.

the thing about "families" like geto's is that they are sincere, and real, and true, but you can't leave, you can never leave once you get in there, they won't let you leave alive, and that is the shape of geto's love, it requires absolute devotion to him and his curse, those girls he saved, mimiko and nanako, his daughters, say that "if geto-sama says black is white and white is black, then it is" because he saved them...

but geto requires complete and absolute conviction in himself and in his cause, and anything less will result in execution.

in such "factions," there is more loyalty than you will ever see in the world. but more blood, too. to be loved utterly and completely in a way that requires absolute devotion and conviction with no room for even a sliver of doubt. to be loved like that is a perversion, but to be loved like that is to be loved absolutely.

i have been loved like that, and i will never love or be loved like that again.

geto: won't you curse me a little, at the end?

gojo: love is the most perverse curse of all.

they love each other at the end, they still love each other, and in jjk0 when gojo is talking to yaga, he still calls geto "suguru," because gojo still loves him, and gojo says suguru is "his only best friend," it's so...it's so incredibly vivid, and painful, and damning.

gojo without suguru is absolutely alone. there is no one to match him, and there is no one to stay with him, be with him, there is no one to celebrate his successes or criticize his failures or play with him and let him be silly and coquettish, there is no one to be with him at all. gojo is LITERALLY untouchable, and the same is true on an emotional/metaphorical level too.

no one can touch gojo. no one.

this makes gojo...more isolated than any could know.

(laughing) it's lonely at the top.

suguru's era where he is a cultrunner is where kenjaku, who has been described to me as 'the ancient curse spirit of guanyin' i think begins to coalesce inside him.

suguru's entire thing with the stitches on his forehead and that image of him revealing the curse in his brain. that's literally just DID of kenjaku taking over the person that used to be geto. but i think kenjaku was there before, nascent. growing.

jjk in many facets is a DID narrative. this is just the plain and simple truth regardless of if your belief follows mine or not. it is my truth, but i believe it is a textual truth as well. rika is okkotsu's alter; she protects okkotsu severely to the point she won't even let him commit suicide, she stops him, okkotsu created her, he is terrified of her but she protects him at all costs. okkotsu is a severe child on child violence victim.

and so in junpei, who dies because (imo) she can't form an alter, so she represents the child on child abuse victim who is groomed until death. my thesis on trans junpei and trans megumi coming later.

and ofc yuuji and sukuna. yuuji who after eating sukuna's finger knocks on his head and says "yeah, but he's kind of annoying. i can hear his voice," and the implications that no one else can see sukuna's tattoos except the reader.

if gojo, the strongest, with six eyes, can't tell the difference between a clearly inked out curse marked sukuna and yuuji who doesn't have any such thing, if he has to ask, then i think there's no stronger indicator of their difference other than visually, for the reader.

not to mention that sukuna even in his mind palace looks identical to yuuji. if this were a typical "possession" narrative then why would he, in his literal "mind palace" (ryouiki tenkai / that space inside himself where he speaks to yuuji), like why would he independently of yuuji where he could look like anyone in the world. choose to look like slobbering ouppy dog boy silly yuuji.

sukuna IS yuuji, or who yuuji could be. or who exists, so yuuji can exist independently as he is, in all his naivete and instinctual dependence rather than on his mind (sukuna possesses all the cunning).

and sukuna even makes that deal in one of the early episodes where he can have five minutes to do what he wants / take over for five minutes, and then makes yuuji forget it, to the point gojo asks him what he talks about with sukuna, and yuuji says he forgot / can't remember.

DID amnesia.

and at the very last episode in the hallway where yuuji is talking to sukuna alone as though they have spoken together a thousand times. yuuji telling sukuna he can't tell megumi about the truth regarding the curses. that scene's framing just...suggests that yuuji has a lot of off-screen conversations with sukuna. that yuuji uncharacteristically somber and serious. collaborating with sukuna. as a part of him.

and that mahito arc, with mahito commenting on the way that yuuji and sukuna are two souls.

jujutsu kaisen is everything to me. i see it in some ways as a recounting / prediction of places have been in my mind / and places i will be. because i see it as a history so similar to mine, i see my own future in it. is this crazy? OF COURSE IT IS. but it is one of the most precious and sacred things to me.

but, believe me or not, these things and thoughts remain true regardless of the silence that awakens in the absence of belief, these thoughts are mine and the truth i see / seek in jujutsu kaisen...is my own path, my own journey, for me.

but i did want to share any thoughts...about the things i see/seek in jjk. just for myself. but if anyone wants to see, so be it, too. maybe it'll make you think regardless of if you agree.

i love jujutsu kaisen. i think in many ways...it saved my life. it still is saving my life.

i hope i can see it to its end.

[halestrom]

Director's commentary: Cockblock

Alright, this is gonna be LONG bc I have so many feelings about this story. So also, a read more, for reasons. I apologize in advance, not really.

Also? Spoilers? I guess if you haven't read the fic. Which if you do wanna read it you can find it here

first off, the moment that started it all bc tbh that's how 90% of these fics start. some random ass comment one of us make and it just takes off. (looking at u blank space)

So two things that were very evident for me with this fic was that I fully believe Jake and Bradley are capable of embarrassment, but it is few and far between. Which, don't relate in the slightest. You cannot put either of them in the spotlight and expect them not to ham it up in the slightest. They will take it to the next level, and they will not care. And this is important bc the second thing is:

They are competitive. Becoming a naval aviator is not easy, it's not something you casually fall into. It's something you want to do, and you train and study and do everything you can to get there. And on top of that, canonically they're the best. They were chosen for the mission for a reason and so they're the top of their classes/cohort/wherever they are for a reason.

And we know Jake and Bradley have history so when Nimue mentioned this idea I knew I wanted to take those two reasons and just mush it all up into the most competitive fake dating.

This wasn't going to be awkward romance. This was going to be 'i will fuck you on the floor if it means im winning' kinda romance. They wanna outdo each other, they want to be the best and sometimes that means they get in trouble (ie. the bet in the beginning of the story) or when Bradley fell asleep in Jake's lap and Of course jake would take care of him? Who else would it be?

But also, because they had had this antagonistic relationship that essentially had to be put to the side in order to maintain the belief they were the best it finally gave them a chance to see who the other person actually was with the adversarial nature of their relationship not necessarily taking a backseat to everything they're doing, but actually morphing into something else in the same way we see the rest of the Daggers kind of joking around.

And then it just keeps growing, because they don't really have defenses for each other in this context. Bradley can say the worst things to Jake (you're going to lead someone to an early grave) and it might hurt, but Jake isn't going to shut down over it. And Jake can call Bradley out (ie: the dad comment) and Bradley can get up in Jake's face but the next (whatever the fucking timeline is int hat movie jfc) day they're fine? They know how to be the antagonistic in each others stories, but friendship? A relationship? That's something new.

Especially for Jake, who did have a crush on Bradley but it wasn't something that was holding him back. It was something there, but it never stopped him from dating, and being with people and I would never classify it as love? Not truly because Jake wouldn't actually love someone who treated him the way Bradley and he treated each other, but he definitely would start sinking into those feelings as their fake relationship progressed. He saw the opportunity in the beginning of the story to get close to Bradley, just for fun, not because he's sitting there wallowing and pining and writing sad poems in his journal, but he's not gonna lie and say it wasn't also nice being that close to Bradley and not have an argument.

And then for Bradley, I really feel like the switch from seeing Jake as someone he's competing against, to someone he could be friends with, is in Chapter 4 when Jake makes him dinner, and opens up a little bit more about wanting to make it to Admiral, and how he's wants to get his PhD and he's got a plan. He's got a family who loves him, and he loves them and, unlike a lot of people, understands that while Mav isn't his biological father, he was the one who was there, and so while the title isn't 'Dad' the actions definitely are. So it was the start of a connection bc of Jake's relationship with his stepdad, who, in all the ways according to him, is his actual Dad. Bc he was the one who was there.

And it's not perfect, bc of what happened to Goose vs Jake's bio dad being a Raging Douchebag, but it's a start.

And following that moment is when we start to see them opening up more and more. Jake coming out as gay, not bisexual to Bradley and wanting to go to the gala as a statement. And then when Bradley falls asleep in Jake's lap at brunch, and they have the most minor argument but it's still them so they don't know how to handle it anymore within the context of each other and it just keeps growing and then they're kissing, and having sex and are intimate in that regards, Jake telling Bradley about his Mom, and Bradley talking about his Mom and how much he misses her even then and it's a grief he can't ever close, and it just keeps growing, and every moment is bringing them closer and closer to the edge.

But neither one of them can really toss themselves over it because they have so much history that they still haven't completely dealt with so it's hard, and complicated, esp with these new feelings.

My personal HC for Jake is that he is, while very gregarious, he also keeps things close to the chest, and he plans. And keeps making plans and more plans bc if he has a plan, then he can account for everything. But Bradley is steady, he flies steady right up until the moment he doesn't. and so Jake has a plan. And his plans have plans but for all their relationship looks real to the outside world, to each other it's still brand new because in some respects, it doesn't exist.

They have a relationship yes, but they're not IN a relationship. Not truly and so Jake can't plan for that. But Bradley doesn't need a plan because once he makes a decision, he just goes. And he wanted to tell Jake, he decided he was going to tell Jake and talk to him but talking is hard but it's a good thing he is the unholy product of Carole/Goose with some input from Mav and Ice so he will sing about it. Because he can use someone elses words to talk about it, and it works.

SO yeah, this was a very long winded way to talk about how their relationship morphed and changed because of the dumbass way they had to fake date to get funding, which is the biggest authors handwave of density ever but it was a good one. They couldn't fight anymore because they were faking it, so they, as Jake said early on, had to become friends but the problem was, there was always too much passion and fire for it to be easy, and it could've gone badly for sure. It could've crashed and burned.

But that would mean they would lose, and it's a lot easier to keep your mouth shut about shit that might once have pissed you off and let it slide off your back when you're a hyper-competitive asshole who likes winning. And when you let a lot of the anger slide off your back? Then it's impressive what can grow in it's wake.

And I had so much fun writing it, and I'm so so so glad it resonated with people.

Random other things:

Jake's Mom and his stepdad bc they were the best part of the Prometheus movie: Idris Elba and Charlize Theron

Bradley laying on the couch and lamenting to Mav and Ice is a personal HC of mine that I will never let go of. This man is Dramatic and he will be dramatic about it. Even if Ice and Mav aren't together, he will be Dramatic about it to one of them.

I figured out what songs I wanted Bradley to sing a full three months before I even got to that point. Especially You're So Vain bc I just have the image of all the daggers singing it to Jake in good faith, and before it would've made him annoyed, but now its just friends ragging on friends.

I had a whole plotline I ended up discarding where the Daggers had a BBQ style thing for and Marcus, Jake's Dad shows up and Jake is just like DAD and Payback is like "the fuck you mean Dad" and Bradley's keeping a straight face through sheer force of will alone bc Jake was right, it is fucking hilarious trying to watch people try not to ask, and figure it out.

There was also a second idea where someone asked who's sister that was. And it was Jake's Mom, bc she is young.

I may also write this at some point bc it would also be when Bradley met Jake's parents and he is PANICING bc Jake's Dad is a SEAL.

I am forever enamored of the diea that Bradley is Mav's responsibility 100% and he is like THIS CHILD WILL NOT BE A TEENAGE FATHER and proceeded to give the most horrifying, in depth discussion of sex. Charlie, Ice, Mav, Sarah, Penny. Anyone he could talk to gave him input on it. Plot twist: Bradley got laid a lot in college bc he was respectful, understood consent, knew what the fuck he was doing, and like. Word got around and as a result, he had A Lot Of Fun. But he didn't knock anyone up.

One of the first scenes I had in my head was actually the end of the fic and it was this moment:

“You said you weren’t writing sad poems. Does this mean there are other kinds of poems?” Bradley asked. “Or a journal?” Jake tilted his head down enough to see the smirk curling the edges of Bradley’s mouth, and he used his free hand to pinch his side. “No journal, asshole.”

I'm also very proud of the limerick I wrote

There once as a man we loved to mock Ge was always racing against the clock. We called him Rooster cuz he needed a booster. But mostly, I just really like his big cock.

um yeah. so this is long lol so i should shush. but i have a lot of feelings about this fic and i had fun. so 🤣 HOPE YOU ENJOYED MY LOTR EXTENDED EDITION DIRECTORS COMMENTARY ON COCKBLOCK

[rmd-writes]

RMD RMD!!!

This image is from this post that @goodways shared.

As an Australian and our resident person who knows and explains things. Please!! Is this a real thing? If yes, for the love of god, why?????

Thank you for your time!

Lemon!

Oh dear. Yes, that map is a real thing. Australian time zones in the summer are a quite literally a (very) hot mess. What that map doesn't show you is that there is a tiny part of New South Wales (the bigger state in the red part) that observes South Australian (middle orange state) time zones for some reason that I don't understand. It's wild.

I'm going to do my best to explain this but the reality is that I don't entirely understand why myself.

Okay so, the first thing you need to know is that Australia is very big. It is about the same size as the continental US. The second thing you need to know is that we are a federation meaning that until federation, each state you can see outlined on the map essentially operated as it's own little country. Western Australia did not want to join the federation but eventually did. South Australia (orange, middle) has the distinction of being the only state that was solely a settler colony, no convicts. They think that makes them very important. Also yes, Australia was initially colonised by the Brits because they had too many criminals and needed somewhere Very Far Away to send them. So, lots of white people here are descended from convicts . Anyway, I digress, the colonial history of Australia is a matter of record and a disgrace and the racist effect of that history is still very present and is most evident in the referendum that happened on the weekend but this is neither the time nor the place for me to get into that and my absolute disappointment in the country I live in. (how's that for a run on sentence)

ANYWAY, sheer size means that many time zones are necessary. Federation means that the states are like squabbling siblings and no one wants to do what anyone else says.

Next fact, the top of Australia is quite close to the equator. The northern part of Australia is classified as sub-tropical to tropical. It's hot and humid. The sun rises very early up north, even in the winter. We do not have long winter nights here. The sun setting in the afternoon is not a thing.

Also Australian populations are concentrated on the coasts, the middle of Australia is sparsely populated. After the coastal areas, there is farm land and then desert in the middle.

In Queensland (big yellow state on the right) there is no DST because the top two-thirds of the state (mostly rural/regional) will not countenance it for reasons such as "the cows won't cope" but also because up there they do not want longer days in the sun because it's too fucking hot and actually they look forward to the sun setting and things getting cooler. The bottom third of Queensland (which is mostly urban) wants DST but the state government cannot implement it without the cooperation of the rest of the state.

As for Western Australia (big blue state on the left), they do whatever the fuck they want and quite often don't opt in to federal laws and do their own thing. I can't explain what's happening there.

Do not ask me about the 30-minute time zone thing happening in the middle. My only explanation is that, as per above, SA thinks it's better than everyone else and did it to be ✨special✨ (the Northern Territory (middle green territory (not a state) at the top) was part of SA until some time after federation which is why they follow the same time zone (except for DST).

Did any of that answer your question? I'm really not sure.

Anyway, Australia where time zones are in the future but are also fucked ✌🏽

[cookie-run-kingdom-story]

Two Years of Kingdom: Side Stories

The War Under Shattered Skies

Eclair Cookie: It’s the Cookie Alliance so… It was truly a thrilling experience. Eclair Cookie: To be able to record moments of history you’ve witnessed yourself! How exciting! Eclair Cookie: Wait, does that mean we should put this record at with* the Tea Leaf Knights records or the Beacon of Legends records? Eclair Cookie: Uhm… I wonder if it’s a good idea to store such important records in the same place… Espresso Cookie: Is Eclair Cookie here? Eclair Cookie: Oh, a guest. Did you come to tour the museum? Espresso Cookie: No. I’m here to return the material I borrowed. Eclair Cookie: Ah, if that’s the case, please leave it on the table. I’ll sort it out! Eclair Cookie: Hmm, should I just write a new book together… It’s good to look at history from multiple angles, but… Uhm… Espresso Cookie: You seem busy. Well then, I’ll be off… Eclair Cookie: Wait!!!!! Eclair Cookie: Since you’re here, I’d like to ask you for your opinion! Espresso Cookie: I’m a busy Cookie myself, but… SIgh, what is it? Eclair Cookie: You’re aware that the Cookie Alliance is a huge event that will make its mark on Cookie history, right? Eclair Cookie: I’m considering how to record and classify the incident. As always, the best thing to do is to compile more works from many various fields… Espresso Cookie: …I’m not sure. Is that necessary? Eclair Cookie: I’m sorry? Espresso Cookie: I’m saying, is there a need to do that when you’re already right there. Espresso Cookie: Conveying that which cannot be conveyed through writing. Is that not the job of a historian? Eclair Cookie: Oh?! Espresso Cookie: I understand the urge to share your experience of such a huge and important event, but… Espresso Cookie: There are always limits on writing. Espresso Cookie: Without your help this time, I would have had to search through all dragon-related materials one by one. Espresso Cookie: Who knows, perhaps there would have been no chance for the heroes who were forgotten from history to reveal them self again. Espresso Cookie: Well… that’s… Yes. Do as you please. Eclair Cookie: Espresso Cookie…! Eclair Cookie: Right. That’s it! I had forgotten that for a moment! Eclair Cookie: I thought he was a bad-tempered Cookie since he couldn’t even remember me* But I guess not!

*actual text

Espresso Cookie: Is that a compliment…? Eclair Cookie: Hahaha! Thank you for making me feel better! Eclair Cookie: Oh! Alright! We might as well hold a Cookie Alliance lecture in the museum! Eclair Cookie: What about inviting Espresso Cookie! As a special guest lecturer!! Espresso Cookie: No, I decline… Eclair Cookie: Don’t be like that! I’m sure everyone will love it! Espresso Cookie: Sigh… I’ll think about it when I have time…

The Heroes of Dark Cacao

Dark Cacao Cookie: …… Sugary Dark Cacao Watcher: …… Cube Choco Cookie: Uhm… Cough, cough. It’s quite cold today. Dark Cacao Cookie: …Is it long before the sun rises? Cautious Dark Cacao Warrior: The time for the sun to rise has already come… But the fog over the Licorice sea is particularly thick today, so it’s hard to see. Swift Dark Cacao Watcher: Oh goodness, that’s not good. It’s said that not seeing the sun for the Sunrise Holiday brings bad luck on the nation! Peanut Butter Choco Cookie: Stop with the nonsense. Can’t you see the people are agitated! Bittersweet Dark Cacao Watcher: But~ this sunrise spot is a pretty good neat!*

*actual text

Crunchy Chip Cookie: You there, would you stop talking such nonsense! Young Cookie from the Mountains: Will we really not be able to see the sun…? Even His Highness made an appearance… Snowfall Villager: Still, I believed that the sky would show us a sun as red as an apple today… Snowfall Villager: This is why it’s impossible to predict how the cotton farming will go this year. Bittersweet Dark Cacao Watcher: Ahh, I knew it! I shouldn’t have thrown away Affogato Cookie’s talisman! Dark Cacao Cookie: What nonsense! Bittersweet Dark Cacao Watcher: Surprise! Dark Cacao Cookie: The strength to lead for another year comes not from the weather, but the heart of a Cookie. Dark Cacao Cookie: Open your collar tightly. Make your resolve as firm as a rock, and live with sincerity, even on bitter days. Dark Cacao Cookie: That is the way of life in the Dark Cacao Kingdom. We will hold out this year as well, as we always have! Grandfather and Grandson of the Milk Village: His Highness is right~ Wooh! His Highness is right. Huh-huh! Cube Choco Cookie: Uhm… Listen carefully to His Highness’ teachings!

Caramel Arrow Cookie: That is indeed correct. But it is still too early to be disappointed! Dark Cacao Cookie: Oh, Caramel Arrow Cookie. You’re late. Did you stand guard all night? Caramel Arrow Cookie: Yes. Did you not witness a big white tiger while you stood at the mountain guard post?! Swift Dark Cacao Watcher: Oooh…! A white tiger? The symbol of good luck?! Caramel Arrow Cookie: That’s right. As I followed the tiger like a Cookie possessed, it disappeared into the mist and all I could see in front of me was our firmly rooted Black Wall! Caramel Arrow Cookie: It’s the castle I see every day, but today it stands tall like a tiger running through the snowy mountains. Caramel Arrow Cookie: The sun is sure to rise. This year, our Kingdom will be strong and proud! Dark Cacao Cookie: Step forward, Caramel Arrow Cookie. Caramel Arrow Cookie: Command me as you wish. Dark Cacao Cookie: It seems that the fog is too thick for the Sun to find its way to our castle. Dispel the fog and open the way! Caramel Arrow Cookie: Yes, I will shoot my arrow to the ends of the sky!

Caramel Arrow Cookie: Go-!!

Swift Dark Cacao Watcher: The arrow rushes forward with the momentum of a tiger… The fog lifts!! Cautious Dark Cacao Warrior: What a beautiful sight…! It’s the first time in my Cookie life I’ve seen a sun so big and red! Dark Cacao Cookie: Um. May it be a good year for all! Caramel Arrow Cookie: Long live his Highness Dark Cacao Cookie!! The Kingdom’s Subjects: Long live his Highness Dark Cacao Cookie. Long live the Dark Cacao Kingdom!

Cookie Odyssey

Strawberry Crepe Cookie: Oh goodness, this Wafflebot is so dusty! Strawberry Crepe Cookie: Espresso Cookie, hand me that rag over there. I’ll have to wipe it down before I start maintenance. Strawberry Crepe Cookie: I could’ve gotten that myse- Huh? What’s this? Strawberry Crepe Cookie: The postal ship came this morning. Most of them seem like ad flyers, though. Strawberry Crepe Cookie: There were quite a few letters from the Republic, so I put them here to show you. So what do they say? Any good news? Espresso Cookie: Well, most of them are advertisement flyers. Celebration of Mud town supermarket’s Grand Opening… News about funding for a fake pearl necklace that looks very real… Espresso Cookie: Why send this all way* across the ocean.

*actual text

Strawberry Crepe Cookie: Here, there’s a letter for Espresso Cookie as well. It’s from… Landlord Cookie? Espresso Cookie: Hm? I see. Dear Espresso Cookie, Espresso Cookie: How have you been? I’m writing to you because I saw that you still had some unclaimed administrative fees after you left. I’ll attach the details below... Espresso Cookie: That’s a very elaborately disguised chain letter, I see. Feel free to dispose of it. Strawberry Crepe Cookie: What? It didn’t look like it… Espresso Cookie: Ah! This is truly an important letter. It’s from Clotted Cream Cookie!

Clotted Cream Cookie’s Letter: How have you been? After your departure, we gathered our soldiers and began an extensive search as discussed. Clotted Cream Cookie’s Letter: Of course, the search involved finding a piece of Soul Jam as well as gathering information about Dark Enchantress Cookie. Clotted Cream Cookie’s Letter: As a result, I’m writing down the most important pieces of news. Clotted Cream Cookie’s Letter: First, for some more details on the Beast-Yeast Continent… And having obtained very specific rumors on the final ancient hero Cookie whose location has been undisclosed so far…

Espresso Cookie: Whoa…! This is quite exciting news? Espresso Cookie: I’ll go see Pure Vanilla Cookie. Ah, the coffee will have gone cold when I return… Hm… Strawberry Crepe Cookie: Huh? Didn’t I tell you? The weather was so cold that I developed this mug warmer. Espresso Cookie: Strawberry Crepe Cookie! Espresso Cookie: Right, here is the rag you requested. Strawberry Crepe Cookie: You should’ve done that earlier! Hehe! Have a good trip!

Festival of Dreams & Wishes

GingerBrave: Ahh… Time to wake up! GingerBrave: Huh? What time is it?! Last night’s festival was so fun! Maybe too fun… GingerBrave: The fireworks, the ballroom, the music…! Everything was tip-top! And the special guests from fairy tale kingdoms…! GingerBrave: It was a fantastic night! A festival I’ll definitely never forget!

Strawberry Crepe Cookie: Knock knock! GingerBrave, OPEN UP! GingerBrave: Strawberry Crepe Cookie! GingerBrave: Why are you here so early? Were we going to hang out today? Strawberry Crepe Cookie: What kind of nonsense is that? Get ready! The dishes won’t do themselves! GingerBrave: What? The dishes…? GingerBrave: THE DISHES!!!

Wizard Cookie: I knew you’d forget about your duties, so we brought them all here! There’s another basket, so make sure not to forget it! Strawberry Cookie: Here are the cups and cutlery as well.. S-Sorry… GingerBrave: Whoah… I didn’t even know we had this many plates in the Cookie Castle! How am I going to wash this up all by myself? Strawberry Crepe Cookie: Well, you should’ve thought of that first! I mean, before you suggested picking a Cookie to do the dishes with rock-paper-scissors! Ha ha ha! Strawberry Crepe Cookie: If you don’t wash up quickly, there’s no breakfast for you. The Sugar Gnomes were already up waiting! Sugar Gnome: Take your time… We’re already melting, but this is fine… GingerBrave: Oh! OH! Fine, I’ll do it! Cream Unicorn Cookie: Ahh… Looking at the pile of dishes, I can tell that last night’s party wasn’t a dream!

Princess Cookie: Right?! The ball was fun, but the slumber party with the princesses was the best! Knight Cookie: Your Highness, you were most well-mannered and eloquent, as always, Your Highness!!! Knight Cookie: Your eyes shone with genuine curiosity, just like when Her Majesty Queen Jungleberry Cookie read you to sleep! Princess Cookie: Talking to the fairy tale princesses was even better than reading about them! Just think about all the magical adventures they’ve been through! Princess Cookie: You could call them my… beautiful and brave adventuring mentors! Princess Cookie: We decided to keep in touch to further strengthen the friendship between our great kingdoms! GingerBrave: I’m glad you all had a great time! He he! GingerBrave: Listen, I’ve many fun stories to share, so why don’t you stay and he…

All: WE’LL BE ON OUR WAY! GingerBrave: Wa-wait… Help me just a little, I beg you!

Legend of the Duskgloom Sea

Black Pearl Cookie: Let it all sink!!!! Ahahaha!!! Black Pearl Cookie: Not a single ship, not even a Cookie crumb! You won’t be able to escape from this sea! Black Pearl Cookie: Hehe, hehehe… Black Pearl Cookie: … Black Pearl Cookie: It’s so still… Wait, could it be that was the last ship just now? Black Pearl Cookie: Cookies are very weak~ Black Pearl Cookie: Going against the waves, against the currents! Black Pearl Cookie: Throwing yourself into the sea… Black Pearl Cookie: Coveting pearls… Black Pearl Cookie: Argh, I’m fed up… Black Pearl Cookie: … Black Pearl Cookie: La… La… La… La… La… Black Pearl Cookie: To the deepest part of the sea… Black Pearl Cookie: What’s left… ♩ Black Pearl Cookie: Glory to the land, romance to the sea, Couldn’t I have dreamed of romance forever… ♬ Black Pearl Cookie: Pearls are eternal… …What I wish for is memories Black Pearl Cookie: Slowly sinking into the deepest darkness… ♪ Black Pearl Cookie: Pearls are eternal… Black Pearl Cookie: What I wish for is… Memories… Black Pearl Cookie: La… La… La… Black Pearl Cookie: La… La… Black Pearl Cookie: … Black Pearl Cookie: I curse you… Forever…

BRAVER TOGETHER

GingerBrave: Strawberry Cookie! You dropped something! Strawberry Cookie: Hmm…?

Wizard Cookie: This is… a ticket from the concert held here in the Cookie Kingdom. Why do you still have this? Strawberry Cookie: Of course…! But I want to cherish the memories of that day… Strawberry Cookie: Wizard Cookie, you still remember, right? GingerBrave: Surely he still remembers? Wizard Cookie cried when concert* ended after all!

*actual text

Wizard Cookie: Eh-hm… Uhm… Was that it… GingerBrave: At that time, the KIngdom was really in an uproar. Now, everyone has gone back to normal! GingerBrave: It seemed like it never happened! Strawberry Cookie: But even on the way home from the concert I could still hear the booming sound of music! ???: Dum- Dum- Dum-! Wizard Cookie: …? It’s not just who can hear it, Strawberry Cookie. I think I can hear it too? ???: That’s not it, not at all!

ZZ Skull: Have you forgotten all about loving yourself? You have to be sincere! HellHound: Sometimes I sincerely want to show a different side of my self. MUSHY P.: Spores~ They’re saying we can do anything~~ T.N.T: Don’t fight! We can become anything! Believe me, the leader! Wizard Cookie: So that was the sound of B.A.D 4 practicing… The concert must’ve made a big impression on them… Strawberry Cookie: But we all did, didn’t we…? GingerBrave: That’s right! And it makes me happy to think that this special day will remain in the hearts of other Cookies as well! T.N.T: I will go there again! By listening to the sound of my own heart! B.A.D 4: One, two!! ♪♫♪~!!

Stories by the Fireplace

Carol Cookie: Hmm~ Hmmm~ Carol Cookie: A Kingdom made by such small hands~ It’s full of laughter~ Carol Cookie: If I play it for Pinecone Cookies* they’ll definitely like it right?

*actual text

Carol Cookie: Uhm… I think it was around here… Did I get lost again… Carol Cookie: The way here is always so confusing!

Pinecone Cookie: Yes!!! Carol Cookie! Carol Cookie: Pinecone Cookie! I must’ve come to the right place~ Pinecone Cookie: What do you mean I still found you! You show up somewhere new everytime you visit the forest! Pinecone Cookie: I searched the whole forest in time for you to come again today! Carol Cookie: Is that so? Carol Cookie: But Pinecone Cookie finds you easily, no matter where you are! Pinecone Cookie: Hmm… Well that’s because there’s no place in this forest that I don’t know… Pinecone Cookie: Following your singing is no problem at all! Pinecone Cookie: So?? What song are you going to perform for me today? Carol Cookie: I’ll play you a song about the Cookie Kingdom~ I think you’ll really like it! Carol Cookie: Then sit back and listen again today~ Pinecone Cookie: Hehe! Yes!

New Year, New Adventures

Pancake Cookie: Let’s play! Please? Come on, play with me! Fig Cookie: You’re a cute one I see~ Alright, what should we do? Pancake Cookie: Wow, so exciting! Hehehe* The prediction from my fortune cookie came true!

*actual text

Alchemist Cookie: Huh? Your fortune cookie prediction came true? Pancake Cookie: Hehe~ My fortune cookie said, ‘If a nice Cookie passes you by, hold on to them. They’ll have fun with you.’ Fig Cookie: Mine was ‘Your surroundings will be filled with sweet laughter.’ Pancake Cookie smiled at me, so I guess mine came true too~ Alchemist Cookie: What? That’s too vague to be a prediction. Alchemist Cookie: Writing down such natural things and pretending you’re telling the future is pure nonsense! Pancake Cookie: Ooh, is that so? Alchemist Cookie: Then me saying ‘Pancake Cookie is going to eat Acorn Jelly today’ also qualifies as a prediction! Fig Cookie: Ahh, so that’s what it is~ Alchemist Cookie: Prophet Cookie really gives out some strange things. Isn’t it also a lie to say he’s a miraculous prophet? Pancake Cookie: Ah that’s right~ Alchemist Cookie, what was written in your fortune cookie? Alchemist Cookie: Me? Mine was ‘There will come a time when your logical thinking shines through’.* That’s not even a real prediction!

*actual text

Alchemist Cookie: Everyone will have a logical thought at one point or another, so isn’t that a given? Fig Cookie: I see~ Alchemist Cookie is really smart*

*actual text

Pancake Cookie: But according to Alchemist Cookie, do fortune cookies not provide accurate predictions? Fig Cookie: That’s right~ But Alchemist Cookie might be upset to hear that you believe in such vague prophecies, so let’s keep it to ourselves! Pancake Cookie: Hehe sure!

[clarafell]

what your theories of what the new movie might be about and other things?

unprompted / always accepting

Welcome to my blog, dear anon!

One of my biggest theories is how Homura is handling contracts after deciding Kyubey is not fit to handle them, which is long overdue punishment ever since the Incubators created the Isolation Field to ultimately confirm the existence of the Law of Cycles through Homura. I've had this theory for a pretty long time, immediately incorporating this theory into my headcanon. I've always enjoyed the potential of Homura making contracts for a long time due to her self-proclaimed title as a devil / demon. But ever since I saw Devil Homura's symbol in the background of the shot with new bow-wielding character in the first trailer is when I've been 100% convinced that Homura is handling contracts and wishes. Even if this theory turns out to be incorrect, then I will still happily accept it as canon to my portrayal of Homura.

Another theory that I support and adore is the way the Clara Dolls are now being put to very good use by being made to disguise themselves as Homura in the new movie. I always liked the idea of them fighting when they aren't doing their own thing in the Rebellion movie, but I always wondered what kind of future the Clara Dolls had in the future. Their designs and inner lore are very unique, so I always had a soft spot for them. To use the existence of the Clara Dolls to make even more different versions of Homura, their mistress, is something that I instantly fell head over heels with as soon we began to see different versions of Homura. All the little yet new changes you see in Homura, such as how the Homura dancing with Madoka has red eyes, could easily be written off as a disguised Clara Doll.

Why, Lia, do you love the theory of the trickster Clara Dolls being Homura?

Because it can be tied back into the world of ballet. In the Swan Lake story, the Black Swan (Odile) chooses to impersonate the White Swan (Oddette) in order to win the heart of the fooled Prince Siegfried. As you can tell in Rebellion, Homura is a big fan of ballet dancing. It is no wonder for Homura to pull inspiration from one of her favorite ballet stories. Even her Devil form outfit is heavily inspired by the Black Swan character in the Swan Lake, dark yet beautiful.

(Fun Fact: Another important thing to note is "Clara" in "Clara Dolls" comes from the main character in the Nutcracker story, which is yet another famous ballet story!)

One of my rather neglected theories about the new movie is the existence of Ai...

Ai means Love in Japanese. For anyone who is unaware, Ai is mentioned in the Wraith Arc manga. Not only is she mentioned, but she also makes a brand appearance. She is a new principle, classified as a miracle, born from Madoka and Homura’s joint wish. Ai is the the embodiment of Akemi Homura’s emotions, but she also seems to be connected to Homura's very magic.

In my opinion, I would suggest everyone to try to read up on the Wraith Arc because it really does explain how Rebellion occurred. Ai does play a big part in the Wraith Arc, but I won't go into too much detail on that part of the story.

Let's take a look at her, shall we?

Ai has to be one of the most healthiest sights of Homura ever. Anyone, I hope, can tell Ai is more certain of herself with just one glance at her. She has no shame, not a single speck of doubt, and certainly no anger... Or self-loathing. She is proud of herself, perfectly content. She is pure, confident, and more wise.

As shown in this visual poster above, two sides of Homura are facing each other. The smirking Homura the viewer sees, I suspect, has to be one of the Clara Dolls in disguise. Not only does she wear a different headband, but everything about her presence screams it has to be one of the dolls.

But what about the Homura that we cannot see?

I suspect that Ai has to be the same Homura, the one with the red ribbons. If you look very closely at the red ribbons, even the red ribbon is not the same as Homura's regular ribbons near the end of the 12th episode. There is more detail on these ribbons. Either way, one of my more wilder theories is that Ai is going to face down with Homura. One of my personal theories is that Love, the Homura with the red ribbon in her hair, is fighting against Homura in order to make her face the light.

This is a really wild theory, so I'm not 100% sure about the strength of this theory. I can, however, see it happening. Devil Homura may have realized that concept of love in Rebellion, but she is still running away. Ai is soooo done with Homura at this point, probably, so it wouldn't be surprising if Ai decides to get her hands dirty.

One of the theories I don't really enjoy is Walpurgisnacht actually being Homura. I've never liked this theory, but I've never hated it... Even now, I'm hoping they don't go down that route. Walpurgisnacht and her mysteries are occur through the course of history, so I would prefer to see Walpurgisnacht with more flesh and bones. I want to see more original work attached to Walpurgisnacht, not somehow actually being Homura. At the end of the day, I'm eager to see what they do with Walpurgisnacht.

If they can make that theory work, then I'm willing to give that particular theory a shot. Personally? I will always prefer Homulilly as Homura's witch form. I can understand the temptation to make Homura be connected to Walpurgisnacht, trust me. I simply want Walpurgisnacht to be given a more unique role. There is so much potential with her, after all.

This isn't a theory, but I'm really hoping that we still see bits and pieces of the Concept Movie trailer in the Walpurgisnacht Rising. I have cherished that video for way too long to let it be forgotten. Even now, I'm still analyzing both the Concept Movie and the two trailers for Walpurgisnacht Rising.

If you made it this far, what is one of your theories on the new movie?

[ambyandony]

Monster AU - Colloquialisms [P1 A]

[P1 side note A: why can't I just call a vampire a vampire]

Why not just call a vampire a vampire?

I mean, you can, but that can contribute to a prevalent (if seemingly innocuous) issue that puts you, dear (or not dear) reader, at risk - the unfortunate consequences of generalisation, miscategorisation, and the ever-prominent implications of... colloquialisms.

Now, I already touched upon this in the main post and pretty much explained why it matters, but I want to go a little more in-depth as to how there are potential downsides to the lack of taxonomical classification.

A colloquialism is, as defined by Oxford Languages, "a word or phrase that is not formal or literary, typically one used in ordinary or familiar conversation." In other words, a word is a colloquialism when it is an informal variation of a word that would be used in more formal contexts.

For example, the way that humans refer to all creatures in the genus Vulpes as 'foxes', which are a separate genus from dogs, but the term 'canine' is used for both the subfamily Caninae and as a word simply referring to dogs - which can lead to the confusion that dogs and foxes are, loosely, 'the same thing'.

There's also, similarly, the way humans call Ailurus fulgens 'red panda' and Ailuropoda melanoleuca the 'giant panda' although the two are not evolutionarily close as the giant panda is considered a bear and the red panda is not a bear. Referring to both the giant and red panda as 'panda' is likely to confuse people into thinking that they're both panda bears (as the bear is a bit more familiar on a broader scale) when they're not.

There are issues here that mirror the problems that only using colloquialisms brings (which is why I'm adamant about at least trying to classify and distinguish as pretty much the only cryptotaxonomist I happen to be aware of).

What I'm saying is that when colloquialisms are used to generalise (and then, conversely, generalised terms are applied and associated with one individual of the category), important nuance can be lost. This is especially true and important to acknowledge when it comes to dealing with cryptians (monster is a colloquialism, too, and a pretty derogatory one at that merely because of how it’s negatively used, but it’s the most common way to refer to them), especially because it then concerns a category of powerful creatures not comprehensively understood (as cryptoscience is considered pseudoscience).

If you don't quite understand, allow me to illustrate with an example:

"Vampire" is a colloquialism for a group encompassing sanguisuges, a plethora of distinctly different blood-drinking creatures.

Pop culture has done a real bang-up job of conjuring up an image of what a “vampire” is to people, particularly in the West. Pop culture would have you believe that a cryptian with fangs that drinks blood is a vampire, weak to garlic, sunlight, and crosses.

Now go ahead and try that with Risotto Nero, an Italian, and see how well that works out for you. (Hint: IT WILL NOT WORK OUT WELL!!! (I'D ADVISE USING A COMPASS!! OR BETTER YET MAYBE JUST DONT GET IN A FIGHT WITH THE MAN!! NOT GETTING IN FIGHTS WITH ASSASSINS IS ALSO AN OPTION!!!!!!) Do NOT rely on pop culture to elucidate to you the weaknesses of a species!!!! EVER!!!!)

Vampires are called different things in different places because, by and large, there are so many different kinds of vampires and the different names generally refer to different kinds. They have different abilities, different weaknesses, different existences.

Pop cultural depictions will probably have you colloquialising lycanthropes as 'werewolves', thus making the assumption that all lycanthropes come out in the full moon and revert in the morning, and that the big wolf werewolves are just the same as the humanoid ones. THEY'RE NOT. FOR THE LOVE OF FUCK NOT ALL LYCANTHROPES ARE WEREWOLVES! I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH! "WEREWOLF" AND "LYCAN" ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE! They're so fucking different!!!!

It is SO important to make the distinction so that YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DEALING WITH! THAT'S why you don't just call a sanguisuge a vampire!

Just to elaborate on one example of many; because of the generalisation issue, while there are werewolves (and lycans!) who ONLY change by the full moon and revert by daybreak, people (believers, usually ones who are not monster-friendly) apply this logic to all lycanthropes and go out on nights that aren't the full moon like 'i'm not gonna run into a werewolf it's not the full moon' WRONG, SUCKER!!! Some werewolves turn EVERY NIGHT! And a lot of lycans DON'T HAVE EXCLUSIVELY MOON-BASED TRANSFORMATION!!! The Full Moon is just the only night that ALL ZOOANTHROPES, including both lycans and werewolves, WILL ALWAYS TRANSFORM! And it's ALSO when they're more active and aggressive which is why the public perception assumes werewolves turn on the full moon and always become aggressive in lycanthropic form! Because the Full Moon is when most lycanthrope attacks HAPPEN! Because it's the only GUARANTEED SHIFT TRIGGER! AND THE MOST LIKELY CONDITIONS TO INDUCE LUNACY! (more on lunacy and moonsickness later when I divert from the taxonomy and document other stuff too.)

(And please don't EVER think that wolfsbane will keep you safe from lycanthropes!!!! Wolfsbane is fucking poisonous, btw, and you can absorb it through the skin and fucking die, so I would recommend just staying away from it! IT DOESN'T EVEN REPEL LYCANTHROPES. IT'S MORE LIKELY TO SEND THEM INTO A FRENZY. It is SO fucking dangerous!!!!)

Monster Taxonomy Page 1:

Monster Taxonomy Page 2:

You can always ask me questions about my research and notes! <3 Send me an ask <3

[dearweirdme]

Hey!! So i have heard many instances of the members referring to the other members as brothers. So i always try to look at Taekook's interactions from a different lens to see if it can be rationalized as a bestie thing or something siblings do.

What do you think are some incidents that just can't be explained as anything but romantic in nature?

Hi anon!

I love asks like this! It makes me use my critical thinking skills and that’s always a good thing. But also, this is such a hard question isn’t it? We see so little and of the things we see a lot is unclear. Things are possibly being hidden, there’s fanservice and cultural differences to take into account. All of which makes it hard to actually be certain of anything.

If you want to look at these kind of things objectively, you have to be able to be honest and erase a lot of stuff. All fantheories for instance, so no secret handsigns, no ‘important’ dates or colors or numbers. After that, erase stuff they also do with others. And the last step would be to poke through their mediatraining.

These men are highly mediatrained. They wouldn’t have come this far if they weren’t able to act professionally at different circumstances. Jikook fans claiming Jimin and Jk can’t control themselves is silly to me. To state that Jimin and Jk can’t be seen together because they would out themselves by not being able to act ‘normal’ is an insult to their professionalism. A lot of the physical closeness and a lot of the comments made by one member about the other I would classify as fanservice. That doesn’t mean the words and actions aren’t true, it means that we are being shown those things with intent. When a member for instance makes a comment about another member being handsome or cute, that is done with the intent to point out desirability. They (the label, and by extension BTS themselves) want fans to think of the members as desirable (boyfriend/bff material) so if they themselves start pointing out certain traits… fandom will also start thinking them (don’t kill me for popping some bubbles, it’s just how marketing works). All members do this.. They are trained to do this. Taekook and Jikook are no exception here. So personally I don’t take those comments as proof of any relationship. Physical actions between members are also shown with intent. I do believe those are used to keep all ships alive. I’ve made this post about Taekook a while ago that explains how I see them a bit more.

All of the above doesn’t mean it’s all fake though. Genuine connections do shine through and bonds between members are really strong I think. You can tell more about those by subtle comments and actions than through bold ones I feel. Knowledge about one another for instance, touches that are more soothing than trying to cause an actual reaction… just more subtle things. Fanservice is the bold, almost theatrical interactions. It’s not a bad thing though. Because of how common it is, it also protects them by giving them a cover. It’s like hiding in plain sight a bit. It allows Jk to sit in Tae’s lap in the middle of a concert for instance. While we see the tiny smile Tae had to suppress, all everyone else sees is fanservice.

What’s actually left to look at objectively is very little (but there is some stuff still) and that is why we cannot ever be certain of anything. We will never get to see anything ‘big’, like a real kiss or them walking around holding hands privately. It’s okay though, that is not for us: it theirs.

What kind of interactions can we expect from romantic partners, but not from brothers/best friends? Brothers and best friends can be: affectionate, proud, to a certain degree physically intimate, admiring, comforting, and even tender maybe. What they are generally not are: aroused by each other, trying to be seductive, and certain degrees of hurt and jealousy (I know these things do happen between friends… but in those cases I believe the friendship is not in fact purely friendship). So, which instances do I think are linked to a romantic relationship between Tae and Jk. Well… here I go. These are my interpretations, so they might not mean anything to anyone else (always be aware of your own biases;) ). These are all instances I feel they thought their actions wouldn’t be noticed or where they were surprised by something and it made them react automatically.

1. Tae and Jk playing footsie under the table during Festa 2017. I think the whole world sees playing footsie as flirting behavior with the intent to spark feelings inside each other. Some of Tae’s expressions in particular are seductive and Jk is having a hard time trying to keep his head straight. It’s innocent, but it’s romantic in origin I feel. A lot of analysis videos are cringy to me with how they overanalyze every move, but they are playing footsie and it’s definitely flirty. It’s also not a standalone moment, they have ‘cuddled’ (for lack of a better description) with their feet more than once.

2. Jk getting into the bunkbed with Tae in Bon Voyage. This one:

Again it’s very innocent, but the way Jk puts his hand in Tae’s hair, the way Tae turns towards Jk, the ‘seems like’ kiss, it’s so soft and intimate. Brothers and best friends may get into bed together, but to let someone this close into your personal space when you are at your most vulnerable (asleep) just screams relationship to me. Brothers and friends would turn their backs and just keep sleeping, partners welcome each other. I feel the way we’ve seen Tae and Jk sleep together is quite intimate altogether. Their legs are intertwined, they face each other instead of spooning at times. Very intimate indeed.

3. The nape kiss.

Such a soft kiss especially considering the surroundings. It’s not done jokingly. Tae is serious here. Would a best friend kiss you this tenderly when surrounded with an audience? Would a brother? Jk’s reaction to it is also very shy, a best friend or brother would play it off as a joke I feel.

4. In my eyes the most important one.

Not a cute one, but a situation full of hurt. What other explanation than their love could there be for them having to separate and consequently show the hurt on Jk’s face and the despair on Tae’s? Only love can hurt like this has never rung more true. This is not the only example even, there’s more instances like this… all of them show hurt to an extent that would not be normal for a brother/friend relationship.

5. While friends and brothers do get jealous of each other, it’s not over another person touching your bff or your bro.

This clip to me is clearly Tae getting jealous of Jimin touching Jk’s knee. Jk’s reaction actually gives away the tension. I cannot think if an alternate reason for this jealousy. Combined with the desire Tae’s expressions communicated from the moment Jk joined them.. this live to me points to them being more than friends. As does the vminkook live where Tae and Jk stared at each other so hard they made Jimin cringe.

A lot of other moments to me read romantic in nature. The touches that go on and on and never seem to be enough. The flirting and seducing. The stares. The magnetism. All of those I personally would include, but I know others might interpret differently so.. I’ve left a lot out. Interpreting body language is and will always be somewhat subjective. But the moments above I feel are very simple, yet they convey a clear message.

There’s a lot (a whole, humongous lot) of moments that, when looked at in context and as a whole, point towards a romantic relationship, but when looking at those moments individually those may be seen as a brotherly or bff kind of love. When you are in a romantic relationship most of the time (not all of the time) friendship is part of the whole relationship. That makes it very hard to dissect which moments are romantic in nature and which are friendly.

Here you go anon, I tried my best 😊. I do wish to hear your thoughts about this. Through communication we get clarity.

[sharkneto]

What would be Number’s reaction to learning Reginald is an alien?

You know, I've thought a bit about what he'd think about learning he's not totally human, but I hadn't thought about the Reggie angle.

I think it's a bit of information he legitimately wouldn't know what to do with. Like, as Klaus would point out, it makes perfect sense - how could a man like that be anything but inhuman? But Five has such a specific and complicated relationship with Reggie - he's both huge and tiny in his mind. This figure that's defined so much of his childhood and shaped who he is, that he's set himself in opposition to. It's important to him and his identity that he's classified Reggie as "just a man" and a shitty father. Now you introduce that part of why he's been so uncaring and pragmatic and cold is because he legitimately isn't human? Sure, they joked about it as kids, but this still comes from fucking left field. How the fuck do you react when your father figure and abuser turns out to be a goddamn alien? It's a messy, messy thing he'd have to process -- or not process. I think it's a thing he'd say "doesn't matter" if any of the siblings asked him - he was still shit, wasn't he? He doesn't get a pass just because he's an alien - while he spirals a little bit trying to figure out what that means for what his relationship with him is/was.

Anyway, bonus snip of the angle I've thought about this from in regards to Five finding out he's not exactly fully human himself, featuring some creative liberties with how genetics works.

Amanda looks up from her laptop with a frown as McKenzie plops into the seat next to her with a noisy sigh. The Union bustles around them, the other students oblivious to ‘Kenzie’s apparent bad mood. “You good?” she asks, turning back to her paper that refuses to write itself.

“My experiment didn’t work.”

She looks up again, eyes widening in sympathy. “The big genetics one? The one worth half your grade?”

“That would be the one!” McKenzie says, slouching in her chair and letting her head fall back dramatically.

“Oh my god, what are you going to do—”

“I mean, it mostly worked. I had enough data to do it all and present but one sample was totally fucked and my TA couldn’t figure out what was wrong so my statistical accuracy was—”

Amanda smacks her arm. “I thought you fucking failed!”

McKenzie rolls her eyes. “Who do you think I am? I got extra samples just in case one got fucked so I wouldn’t be fucked. And I’m choosing to believe it was one you got for me from someone at the physics lab. I know I swabbed right, I got good cells.”

The crisis not the crisis Amanda thought it was, she relaxes. “Maybe you fucked your reagents,” she defends, although she’s not a biologist and it is entirely possible her favor for her friend is what messed up the experiment. Cells are tiny and alive and so outside of her interests, she doesn’t know what they need to be happy or whatever. She jammed swabs into the boys’ cheeks at the lab, shoved those into the tubes ‘Kenzie gave her, and then delivered them.

“I did the same thing for each sample, boom, boom, boom, assembly line style. If I fucked that part they’d all be fucked and I would have actually failed.”

She shrugs. “Well, sounds like we’re going out tonight either way, celebrating the end of that project from hell.”

Her friend straightens with a coy grin. “You know me so well. Juan’s has fishbowls tonight.”

“I cannot do fishbowls again, I almost died the last time we went there. If I even think about that shitty margarita I’m going to hurl…”

It’s not until Amanda has returned to her paper (that still tragically hasn’t written itself) and McKenzie has left to find a snack to munch on around distracting her that she realizes there might actually be a further implication to McKenzie’s failed experiment sample.

She sampled the boys at the lab.

Which included a certain person who can do the fucking impossible and teleport.

“Paper so boring it melted your brain?” McKenzie asks as she returns and breaks Amanda from her thoughts. She drops a basket of fries between them.

“How was your sample fucked?” Amanda asks.

She frowns. “Since when do you care about bio? It’s not theoretical, so you don’t care.”

“Maybe I want to defend my honor as a sample-taker.”

McKenzie acquiesces with a shrug. “It didn’t amplify right. All the others had bands in the right spot in the gel, which makes sense because every human on Earth has the gene, but this one’s band was like six hundred base pairs bigger. The primer was scuffed for the PCR or the sample was degraded or some shit so it went weird.” She pauses. “Although then it should have been nothing or smaller, not larger, if it was falling apart…”

“What’s the gene responsible for?”

Her friend raises an eyebrow at her, a fry paused in the air on its way into her mouth. “Who are you, caring about genetics? You usually glaze over when I’m talking about this stuff, like how I nod along and think about Love Island when you and Taylor get into physics crap.”

Amanda shrugs, hoping it’s nonchalant enough. “Your experiments usually work, I’m curious.”

McKenzie sighs. “Whatever, I never get to talk about this shit, and it’s really cool. It codes for proteins involved in cell maintenance and DNA repair. So if it wasn’t user error on the sample, which it had to be because it’s a super conserved mechanism across the animal kingdom for how we’re all still up and multicellular, they’re either in big trouble and going to die soon or they’re a freak of nature and probably should get studied for cancer implications or something. A clump that big, if it’s actually functional, means they’re probably either making really shit copies of the proteins or they’re making a shitton for some insane cell maintenance.”

“What would they need all that maintenance for?”

“The point of it is to not get cancer, right? If you’re keeping all your genes in order to copy right, then you have happy healthy cells that aren’t mutating and dying to save you from how shit they are or mutating and not dying and they’re multiplying like crazy to give you a lovely tumor. I guess having an overactive system like that would be great if your constantly stressing your cells out? But if it was doing it like that like this sample implicates, you’d have to be inhuman. A real freak to have a functional gene like that.”

Like if you were ripping through space on a regular basis. That seems like it would stress the cells out. “Can I see a copy of it?”

“For real? Yeah, here, I’ll send it to you…” McKenzie shoves the fries aside to pull her laptop out. “I should have fucked my experiments earlier if it made you actually interested in genetics…”

The email appears in Amanda’s inbox a couple minutes later, after McKenzie has pointed on her screen why the image is weird and comparing it to the regular samples.

Amanda has one last question: “Did anyone else keep this?”

“Did anyone keep my fuck up? No, Amanda, you’re so weird. And I’m not either, I don’t need a bad sample taking up room on my hard drive. Project is turned in, it’s flagged as an outlier in my results, and I’m sure my TA isn’t going to hang onto it. Why would he?"

Good.

Amanda isn’t really sure what to do with this info that she is pretty sure proves Five isn’t totally human. Or at least has some weird shit going on, which makes sense when he can do what he can do.

She decides it needs to be in his court. McKenzie hadn’t thought anything of the results, and – to be fair – they could really be from an experimental error. But the fact that Five was in the sample group and that, for all her distractions and partying, McKenzie is usually meticulous when it came to her lab work makes Amanda think it’s unlikely just that.

So, she prints out the results, shoves them in a manila folder, and then deletes the email and files.

She catches Five at work the next morning. “Hey! Number!”

He pauses in his math to glance over his shoulder and nod a greeting before turning back to his whiteboard.

“Can we talk for second?” she asks as she dumps her bag in her cubicle, digging the results packet out.

“Shoot.”

“Over here.” She jerks her head to the conference room.

He frowns but follows. “Everything good?” he asks when she closes the door behind them.

“Yeah,” she says. She thrusts the manila envelope forward.

He cautiously takes it but doesn’t open it. “What is this?”

“You remember McKenzie’s big project for her genetics class?”

“Sure, when you shoved q-tips down our throats.”

“Swabbed your cheeks. Yeah, that one. Um. You had weird results, and I thought…” Amanda trails off as Five just stares at her. His expression is unreadable.

“I thought it was anonymous.”

“Yeah, it was. Like, she knows who she got samples from, but the samples themselves weren’t labeled. But…”

“But?”

“She had one sample that was wonky. I don’t totally understand it, and she and the TA assume she messed up the reagents on it, so they don’t think anything of it, but…”

“But?”

“I sampled you and you’re, um. You. With the Jesus birth and everything.”

Five’s expression doesn’t change. He glances down at the envelope in his hands. “You think the weird results are me because of my powers.”

“Yeah.” She shifts slightly.

“And you printed them out and gave them to me in a dramatic envelope because…?”

“I didn’t know what else to do. Felt like if it was something explaining how you’re… different, it should be yours. I deleted the files and I think McKenzie will, too, once her grade is finalized. That should be the only copy.”

He nods and turns the envelope over in his hands. He still hasn’t opened it.

“So, um. Yeah,” Amanda says as the silence stretches.

“This is the one copy?” he confirms.

She nods.

“Cool. Thanks.” He straightens and walks past her, dropping the packet in the garbage as he exits the conference room. He doesn’t look back.

Amanda looks after him as the door hangs open. She follows him a minute later, almost running into Sarah as she’s unlocking her office.

The envelope stays in the garbage, unopened and to be forgotten.

Maybe that’s for the best, Amanda decides.

[rockybloo]

Since I'm drawing some more Red Beans stuff, I think it's VERY important that I start breaking down Lupines (or at least some context to them). Most of this is prob confusing and can best be summed up as "JUST TAKE MY WORD FOR IT AND IF YOU GET CONFUSED JUST ASK ME"

Lupines are my story universe equivalent to werewolves. That means they're basically Rockyfied werewolves where I do whatever I desire with them and spice them up for my specific fav flavor of creature.

They originate from Lore, the planet Beanstalked takes place on, but after the great division event (when Earth and Lore officially split apart) some winded up on Earth where they basically evolved and adapted into the more standardized werewolf you expect. Lupines live primarily on Lore and Werewolves live primarily on Earth.

The biggest difference between a Lupine and a Werewolf, besides some features Lupines have an amalgamation of other creatures aside from wolves in them due to being classified as dragons, is that a Lupine has in total 3 forms verses a werewolf 2.

The three forms for a Lupine are their default, feral, and were while werewolves only have human and were.

And Lupine wereforms are very LARGE compared to a werewolf wereform which is much smaller due to evolution leading to them having to shrink in size to better fit into human society. Lupine wereforms could rival a larger dragons due to the way Lore works where there is much more space and magic.

The default form for a Lupine is also relatively human in appearance save for the pointy furred ears, darker colored nose, sharp teeth, and tail. Basically, there are way more pronounced monstrous features because in Lore, there is a much larger variety of mythical beings around so there is less of a necessity to blend into human.

Werewolves, on the other hand, look much more human with their features only coming out when they are midshifting. With werewolves living on Earth, it's WAY more important that they blend in with humans because you know how we get with shit we don't understand. ESPECIALLY with certain shit looking very similar to creatures from horror films that eat us.

Lupines cannot bite people and turn them into a Lupine. However, there is a special kind of magic involved with Lupines that is a bit of a protection spell that they can cast when they imprint on a soul mate where they give them a crumb of their abilities. This is usually limited smaller things like sharper canines, the ability to imitate more Lupine-like sounds such as growling, purring, trilling, etc. Nothing too big. This is mainly to add more self defense to a mate and for more intimate bonding.

The werewolf version of this ability is much more on point with the side effects of being exposed to a werewolf we'd expect where they can only cast said spell after biting or scratching someone of their choice. Sadly, due to Earth's less friendly interactions with the magical than Lore's, the original loving intent of this spell still remains but some werewolves have resorted to using it as a curse and raise it's efficiency to creating other werewolves.

You will def see me toss around the phrasing of werewolf for Nana even though she is a Lupine (specifically half human and half Lupine) but it's to make things simpler than having to constantly explain what a Lupine is to new people.

[funkymbtifiction]

Hi! I have a question regarding the instinctual variants. I recently read John Luckovich’s book and I found it to be very interesting. I do however have one question. Quite early on in his book he mentions how each instinct essentially covers three needs. The self-preservation instinct therefore includes the needs of physical well-being, sustainable self-regulation and resources and foundation. The sexual instinct includes sex, chemistry and loss of self. The social instinct includes relatedness, belonging and context/vocation.

Now according to Luckovich being dominant in one instinct means attending to/being aware of all three needs, a secondary instinct means being aware of two needs of that instinct and being blind means only being aware of one need of that instinct. So technically one is not entirely blind to their blind spot because one is still aware to one need of that instinct? Personally I think that makes sense mainly because it’s really hard for me to believe to be entirely unaware of one entire instinct but I am still learning so I am curious to know what you think? In your answers regarding instincts and blind spots it always seemed to me that being blind in one instinct means having ZERO awareness of that instinct but in Luckovich book it seems more like being blind means minimal awareness as opposed to none at all? Therefore a sp-blind could technically attend/be aware of their physical well-being but not aware of their other sp- needs (sustainable self-regulation and resources and foundation) or a soc-blind being aware of their need for relatedness but not of their need for other social needs (belonging and context/vocation)...

What do you think about that and what do you think about categorizing the instincts that way (that each instinct covers three needs related to that instinct)?

Dp you believe we are really entirely blind to one instinct or do we really have a minimal awareness to our blind spot?

It's been a long time since I read his book in its entirety, so I don't recall him dividing each stacking into three areas of interest, but I'd say that's a valid theory. For example, sx-blinds ignoring their need for chemistry and loss of self in favor of attracting a partner. I see that a lot with most people who are sx-blind.

I think "blindness" is maybe the wrong way to classify it, because most people are aware of the needs of that instinct (or think it may be important or long for it), but they choose to prioritize their higher instincts instead. Those things are easier for them and seem more important to their life. So an sx-blind may want chemistry or even feel it for someone, but not pursue it at the cost of sp and soc, due to being aware of what it would "destroy" (loss of reputation or loss of income, as two examples). I also sometimes think we shouldn't leave the third instinct off (sp/so/sx instead of sp/so), since it's not invalid in a type so much as it's ignored.

One Enneagram teacher, I now cannot remember which, theorized that we move between all three instincts as needed, when focused on that area of our life -- which seems entirely possible. When looking for and dealing with a partner, we use sx to hook/attract, then soc to build a relationship with them outside of chemistry/heat, then nest together using sp. Being on your own requires you develop sp, and interacting with the outside world casually requires soc. So it may be possible that at different parts of our life, we use one instinct more than the rest of the time.

I recall being very neurotic about "social" concerns as a teenager; I was obsessed with being close to people, maintaining friendships, creating a platform, connecting to people, being influential. But now most of my thoughts revolve around "adulting" and boring stuff like money, food, and making my house a nice place to live that suits my tastes. *shrug* Who knows?