#i dont actually fully understand group theory

[cant-think-of-a-good-one]

[lyss-sketchbox]

(To start, I've been enjoying reading your and folks' various perspectives on Natlan, it's interesting to see different breakdowns/thoughts)

I do have a theory on the flippancy though, and I may very well be horribly wrong, but I suspect it's intentional. The whole nation is being taught, more or less, that this war they're fighting is a game. It's fine if you die, we'll bring you back. It's fine if you fight the Abyss, we do it all the time. And yet. We see that folks' Ancient Names can be lost and not recovered, that you can't fully recover from Abyssal corrosion, and that hey, actually, Kachina is a terrified kid when we see that projection of her. It may even be part of why the nation is struggling so much with creating their Contending Fire. I also think Mavuika plays into this narrative.

Primarily, I think (or maybe just hope) her overconfidence is going to be her hubris. Traveller expresses concern about the time she has to gather the warriors and she's non-plussed, "eh, I trust the Wyob". She's got A Plan and it's going to work, according to her. But I dunno about that ma'am. She also says weirdly definitive statements that I don't think are fully accurate like "humans can't know their fate" and "the only thing that unites the Fatui are collecting the gnoses" that lead me to believe she puts full stock in her conclusions as soon as she feels she has an answer and doesn't exactly question any further.

Honestly? It would be nice if they set up this whole thing of the nation being so casual and Traveler buying into it only to tear it, crashing down, around everyone. How long can the nation avoid taking things seriously before everything comes to a head? (Perhaps why Capitano isn't interested in brute-forcing things overall? Or maybe I'm giving him too much credit, lol)

What an interesting take, genuinely

So Mavuika

It would definitely play the part of being a pyro archon and how pyro vision holders are often extremely confident and high spirited. It would make sense if the pyro archon embodies that kind of value.

This also lines up with what the previous anon said about how she wanted to be reincarnated because its HER plan and she wanted to see it through even if it means offing herself early.

(I dont remember the ending dialogue was i did it all at like 4 am so yeah please fight me on my takes)

She also seems very quick to make MASSIVE decisions like using a good chunk of her power to keep the Contending Flame alive right then and there even with the concerns of some people. Then she was just as quick to burn all the mementos gathered for centuries when the group sent to find Kachina didnt make it.

I feel like maybe she couldve waited before keeping the Contending Flame alive. And while the Contending Flame IS more importang than a single girl, based on the time we spent in the Night Kingdom. It doesnt... feel all that long. She couldve waited. Use her power to save us. Rest for a while then fan the Contending Flame. Saving us from the Night Kingdom didnt feel like a permanent loss of power while keeping the Contending Flame alive does.

To be honest, she IS human, WAS human before archonhood. Shes been human TWICE now due to her reincarnation. I can understand humans wanting to prove to higher powers and beings such as fate that they CAN hold power over themselves. But being human, being NATLANIAN means she has worshipped to Wayob as well at some point. Hence putting her faith more into them and their ancient names.

The Plot of Natlan

I will admit here that i am biased and there is only 2 acts so far. For all i know theyre still setting up the chekovs guns and they may pop oh so beautifully in late acts and i am too harsh on the set up acts.

But i can understand if the people of natlan has been trained their entire life to numb themselves of the true horrors of war. Because they live constantly in it, if they are in constant fear, it is not good for morales or the ancient name holders either.

And if they were written to be so chill so that hoyoverse can pull the rug under us even harder then well good on them because i will be COMPLETELY honest.

I cannot see them pulling this without making it cliche or shallow.

Because we all already know SOMETHING is gonna go wrong. The abyss will reach natlan. The contending flame will die. The 6 heroes will reawaken and help Mavuika fight off the abyss for good. We know it will happen. The only issue is how to get there and how to not make it cliche as fuck.

Because for one they pulled the anime training montage for Kachina where we get told she is actually really good, she has been training so hard with Mualani but we literally dont get to see or feel it. But oop she defeated mualani.

They pulled the power of friendship when Mualani talked back to lector in the night kingdom.

They already spoiled how Ororon was the traitor because HE WAS STANDING NEXT TO CAPITANO IN THE TRAILER.

It feels way too messy for me, way too unserious and uncoordinated both in game and advertisement materials. I almost feel like capitano, 1st of the fatui harbinger, probably shouldnt have been responsible for natlan because dude can out espionage them (or maybe natlan and capitano are both as equally uncoordinated who knows).

Well for NOW i think they have a generic base plot. I would be very willing to declare how wrong i was about natlan if act 3-5 managed to fucking mindblow me. But yeah as you can see i am not hopeful that hyv have half the brain you have about the plot.

[sophieinwonderland]

the source for ramcoa coming from sra is the fact that all available literature on ramcoa from any kind of actual medical perspective actively comes from sra pushers (svali, springmeier, etc) or people sourcing directly from them (miller, lachter, etc.). there are no sources that aren’t sra pushing or referring directly back to sra pushers. they’re rebranding to save face since sra is widely known to be false now. can you give any sources on ramcoa that DONT come back to those people?

I assume this link is from you?

My problem with this Tumblr post is that it basically just says a bunch of terrible things Springmeier and Wheeler have done, and then draws a pretty tenuous connection to the ISSTD's RAMCOA.

So the chain here is that Svali was influenced by Springmeier and two members of the ISSTD who are part of the RAMCOA special interest group have cited Svali.

Without actual links about what the citations say, this is pretty weak evidence.

And in fact, I have not heard of "Jewel Programming" nor the other types of programming mentioned. I tried looking it up on Google Scholar and found no academic papers about it. Which makes me think that the influence of these authors on psychiatry is being vastly inflated to discredit RAMCOA survivors.

I skimmed through the bullet points because, terrible as they are, I don't think the link provides good evidence for them being the source of RAMCOA nor can I find evidence of them being involved with the ISSTD or its doctors.

I don't think criminals are known for keeping detailed documentation of their crimes. At least not ones who have brains.

These methods can be taught to others verbally without leaving a paper trail that can be used for criminal convictions. There are plenty of instances of cult abuse that are confirmed without anybody writing down the abuse that took place.

The fact that they didn't know much about DID at the time is a fair point. But just because they don't know much about the disorder doesn't mean people can't stumble their way into effective ways to control people without fully understanding what they're doing. Don't forget that we managed to figure out how to immunize ourselves to viruses centuries before germ theory was created and we actually knew what viruses were.

Much of the rest of the post goes on to repeat talking points from the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, a group founded to protect accused child molesters. That memories of abuse are confabulated and implanted by therapists.

There's never been much evidence for false memories being implanted at any sort of large scale, and most of the time, the therapist merely trusts their patients' reported experiences.

[jesuscrab]

Death Stranding 2 thoughts and "analisis"

Written from school becuse im cool like that. Bitch.

(this is not gonna be formated at all so sorry if reading this will be confusing lol)

First of, something i don't see anyone mention: Louise repatriate?

After (presumenbly) beign shot by an unkown soldier, we see in a flash of red light a bb appearing in a pod - and they have angel wings, just like the baby shown previously had on her (cute) outfit

And this baby is safely confirmed as lou, as she has that emborided in her thingy too

(i would put a screenshot here but i cant get a good capture for it - sorry)

Now, the elephan in the room - fragile has lost her scars? That's really weird. There is not enough information to say why is that, but i think it's notable to note that it's implied timefall has stopped after sam "defeated" amelie, as we see normal rain falling down in the ending. Or maybe that was timefall and that's why sam's hair is gray like that... but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

I think hideo will just pull some deus ex machina out of his ass that fixes timefall's effects. One i came up with myself was the idea of new reverse timefall, which reverses time - seems random but so does her younger body. I just hope it's gonna be explained in some capacity.

One common theory is that it's not actually fragile and it's older lou - that's dumb and im not gonna dwell into that. Moving on...

Cultists!

I fucking love cultists in video games. Not sure why? The vibes just click for me, i love a lot of weird video game shit. Im presuming that they are tied to higgs, since the ones we see on the end look vaugley the same with the red motife, but i guess i could be wrong.

Focus on them seems interesting, since DS never much focused on terrorists. Sure, higgs was a major antagonist which was a looming threat but the homo demens AS A GROUP was just cannon fodder and we dont even really see what they... do? What is their agenda, why they did they join higgs, what do they want, exacly? I really hope this focus in the trailer means that they are gonna be a bigger part of the story. The very idea of mules and demens where so cool and i loved fighting them.

But back to the cultists themselves. They seem to worship amelie, same with higgs. he has amelie hair with a mask of her face, the group has a thingy with her visage on it.

So, after learning of exticnion enteties higgs gathers some pepole to start a group to bring on the apocalyplse as some sort of death cult. But that doesnt make much sense, does it?

In the diary of higgs after his exile he seems pretty sad and remoursfull, understanding he was simply played by amelie to fuel her needs, thiking of himself as a stupid man blinded by a stupid goal. Doesnt sound like someone planning revenge to me.

So i dont think this is higgs - at least not entirely. Kojima loves his body doubles, repeated actors and scenarios to fuck with your expecations. I don't have any theories about that, but i do think it's probablly not fully him. Becuse lets be honest, how would he escape from that beach in the first place?

Now my favourite part to think about - fragile and her crew. And their cool as fuck ship.

It's a submarine. It comes from the tar, which is stated to be infittly deep and it has a sea monster logo on it. This is so fcking cool! I hope it's gonna be like the aac in mgsv, where you can have a mobile base to plan out your operations and fast travel around the map. We did have that kinda with the private rooms, but i feel they where a bit lacking. A mother-base type ship in death stranding where you can go around, talk to characters and maybe do some side mission stuff.... im smiling at the very thoughts, and i hope this is what kojima is going for with this. That would be so fucking cool!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, and maybe the whale dream added in the directors cut was supposed to tease this - underwater exploration. Shits cool as fuck.

Drawbridge.

"both stick and rope, to protect and connect. together, for tommorow"

This ties to the common belief that ds2 will focus more on action and combat. its not stick vs rope anymore, it's both of them together, working as tools in an union. could tie with the tagline at the end - world has been connected now by bridges, so now they have to "protect it". changing the uca into a dystopia, maybe? would be boring.

One thing i have yet to see mentioned about the logo is that it looks like an umbrella, which is an obvious fragile connection.

Oh hey sam appears here too - not much to say about him other then he is way older then he should be, but we have simple in-universe phenomana which can cause this so. not much to talk about here imo. cool he's back - where the fuck is deadman tho...

"It wasn't the UCA that made the final decision. It was APAC. A private corporation." obvusly related to one of the logos kojima teased.

I can't think of any decision the uca has made - only thing that comes to mind is the bb project, but idk, doesnt fit to me. The logo looks like a compas, which could tie into the submarine/ship shown earlier. "automated public assistance" is such mgs speak, it doesnt make sense and doesnt mean anything, what is public assistance? Like, security? Could make sense with the drawbrige thing about using protection and stick + ropes. Automated... like robots? Like the technology uca uses? It's all so vauge and not giving much anything, but the fact it's inlcuded in the picture teaser AND the trailer must mean its someting very important to the story of the game. Can't glean much else...

And that's the trailer! I think i gave my thoughts on everything in the teaser that came to mind. But now, let's hear some... baseless speculation, yippe!!!

I think kojima will be pulling a mgs2 and sam is not gonna be the main character. Well, he may be, but i think we will be playing as someone else too. Sam is older, his story is kinda finished at this point. Addition to elle manning who was fthe first person teased for the project who we have yet to appear in the actual trailer BUT was present at the VGA. With her placement on the poster pepole speculate she's gonna be older lou - its possible.

(look at her heart brithmark, appearing right in the middle of ellies name!)

But i think it very much just be that kojima was saving all norman reedus promotion for later to give a bigger suprise. But even if it's not lou i bet we're gonna play as her. Could be cool!

There where many speculation how higgs is back, i touched upon one earlier, but i liked the theory i saw about him possesing amelie. Would explain the different hair, outfit, the mask... higgs somehow got control over her and her powers and uses them for his benefit. We have so little info it's as plasubale as any other theory you can come up with.

Lou transforms into some tentacle thing, and we saw before that bts can appear as sea monsters and are ocean themed - is she becoming a bt? We kinda saw her die... kinda, becuse she's back in the pod. Eh.

I could speak about a ton of things now since i am a weirdo who has lots of thoughts, but the main thing i wanna say is higgs's new getup looks organic. Look at his odradek, it looks more like a tentacle then a robot arm- it's weird, it's lumpy, it moves very naturally... is he mutating or something? Is it the same thing that's happening to lou? Maybe beach exposare causes some effects to the body...

And that's it i guess! I could probablly say much, much more BUT this post is going on waaaaaay too long and i think i already tocuhed on all the main thoughts i wanted to addres, and the rest would be just me looking at all the extremly little details and saying "oh hey that's there. it probablly means something" and i think that type of writing would be too borning!

AND ALSO I SPENT THREE LESSONS WRITING THIS AND I HAVE A THINGY TO WRTIE FOR SCHOOL NOW LOL.

Anywya feel free to write your thoughts in the notes, i will gladdly read yalls speculation! i love reading that shit! you guys are amazing!

STRANDHEADS ROLL OUT!

[magnoliamyrrh]

sparknotes version here but when i actually wrote it it was beautiful and metaphorical and shit

this is set in america. undefined time has passed since the collapse of society due to climate change unsustainable system and nuclear warfare. humans now exist in small numbers, but they aint rly human no more. theyre mutated, skins of unnatural colours and four eyed etc something like that. most live in either small settlements or travel around in small groups.

the story is set in what used to be nyc. starts w a beautiful paragraph, describing this mutated deer drinking from a pond in a meadow, pans out to describing how in the background and ariund, nyc has largely become forested and taken over by nature, collapsed building entangeled in vines and giant trees etc. life continues but not as it was, its devastation but it has been reclaimed and it is beautiful

follows these two sisters, a younger and an older one. their parents died in either a hurricane or tornado or something else i dont remember. these kids after so long live in a cultural mindset different to our own and they largely dont even understand what happened in the past fully, but theyre trying to piece it together. the younger one is the one which throughout the story keeps coming up with theories from the remains that something horrible must have happened by these ppl called humans who they may or may not come from, kinda thinks they were responsible for it. the older sister on the other hand thinks theres no way a people which build such giant cities and other stuff could be so stupid as to destroy the planet

the journey follows them getting to nyc for a reason that i cant remember, maybe because theyre both kinda obsessed with trying to figure it all out, little anthropologists of the future ans anyway theyve got to keep looking for food and shelter. they get to nyc and que a series of sweet scenes of them exploring the city for the first time, its beautiful and sweet but also tragic. they have different views on it tho. they keep coming across things from thr past and keep having different interpretations of them, they get into a fight at some point over their very conflicting attitudes and understandings of the past and the world they live in. over how they are the way they are because they are mutated, over their parents deaths, over their struggles. the younger says any species which would live in such a concrete city would have been mad, so disconnected from nature, more proof, the older disagrees, tensions are rising but are mosrly calmed down and over it, when they notice the weather is changinf quickly. hurricane moving in, an unnaturally giant superstorm, acid rain gently starts and the winds picking up

they take shelter in a skyscraper. it keeps getting worse outside. the older is trying to comfort the youngest. they somehow find a tv which still has electricity, they turn it on and its still playing one of the last messages send out to humanity. talk about how the planet has been destroyed, the climate, the war, the resources, how the nuclear bombs will strike soon. the storn is raging outside worse and worse. the older syster finally breaks down. all her rage and fury comes. she tried so hard to have hope that these people of the past must surely be smarter, that they were victims of something they coulsnt control, she tried to look up to them. but she realizes that indeed theyre the ones that did this to the earth. she hugs her little sister tightly que u were right sobbing etc

anyway. they both end up dying in the hurricane, an unnaturally large hurricane, the leftover effects of the actions of humanity. they die holding esch other, bitter and knwoing the truth, in a skyscraper which collapses, the remains of an old civilization. they die, two innocent mutated kids, thousands of years into the future because of the failures of the past. they die like their parents did, by the hand of mistakes and atrocities which have left scars on the earth forever

[toftie]

orv spoilers under sorry

been reading some theories and like i love the idea so much about kim dokja being a co-author to orv, because that means i think everybody in the main trio was a co-author at some point now, possible even everyone in KimCo as well as others who have helped them

1863!revised HSY started writing TWSA in order to save KDJ → but the epilogue was never finished before her ego got integrated into her subconscious → then events of ORV starts (which everything we have been reading was actually recorded this whole time by 1864 HSY) but this was not fully completed by herself this time unlike the first time she wrote TWSA. in the epilogue she notes she actually had to get help from everyone they've met, extracting their fables and asking them to recount their experiences of everything up till now. then at some point she wasn't able to continue writing and YJH had to continue writing his own parts in when he was in space, maybe he even edited some parts where his point of view was needed, and then finally after KDJ wakes up, as the last piece of the final puzzle, he finishes writing the story together with them probably after he recovered, filling in his own point of view on parts that only he would know (which is a lot as he is the main character)

i just love how this was a story started by one person that was only able to be completed with the help of many people, something that would not be possible if KDJ wasn't able to help all of them as he did. it was written with love to bring back/save one person (KDJ) and when he did eventually come back as implied by the ending, he wrote the epilogue in a way that made it so that it was to save the reader (us). rephrasing the beginning texts of TWSA in order to tell the reader that they will be able to survive, just as he was able to survive

also. like i still cant stop thinking about the 0 turn, like i keep thinking is that right? did i read this right? did YJH really choose to regress of own his volition just so he could meet KDJ? like that was the beginning of his regressions right? i kept thinking why? why would he choose to leave his perfect happy ending and go through the hellish scenarios again over and over, granted that the scenarios will be hellish because he loses all memories and KDJ isnt there to help him, just to meet him?

i dont think i'll ever fully understand and i think maybe YJH doesn't understand either, and maybe thats fine and thats just how it is. maybe deep down he feels like KDJ should be a part of his happy ending, like physically a part of it, rather than just an observer or a constellation watching them live it (paralleling the 1864th ending with him watching his avatar live happy with KimCo) since if it wasn't for KDJ, they would not have lived happily ever after. maybe its just how YJH loves, i dont know. i mean even after they finish the 1865th turn and go back to normal lives, YJH literally becomes so restless and unable to do anything with himself that he becomes a terrorist to take the Ark and implying to go to another worldline to find KDJ again. AGAIN. like he was literally haggard and disheveled looking and couldnt even keep up his gamer job because maybe he felt like his happy ending wasnt complete without that idiot(?) he was willing to, and actually did, lose more years of his life going to space, for like an indefinite amount of time, and he knew this, he fucking knew this, and just like the first time he accepted the regression stigma, he went in the great beyond anyway just to find KDJ again. that is insanely absurd to me like explosions are going off rn

oh and actuallt wait no he wasnt alone, the group regression thing by itself was literally insane and also YJH reading ORV written by HSY with others really helped him cope with the burden he placed on himself, as hes the only one capable of doing the impossible (like KDJ with ressurecting)

it also kinda parallels with HSY again as she was initially alone when writing TWSA for KDJ (um i guess the dokkaebi king was with her too but like... that doesnt count cuz there isnt really a solid bond, more like employer and employee thing) which took up many years, and then she writes ORV with everyone's help later on which i think absolutely helped her and everyone cope with KDJ's absence. HSY lost many years of her life writing for one man, including the Kaixenix arc, just like how YJH lost years of his life fighting for one man while KDJ lost many years of his life sacrificing himself for everyone, by doing what he knows best, reading, to keep their stories alive while they lived out their happy ending. i think i am literally just talking in a loop now but when it comes to these 3 the parallels and symbolism are so insane with how interconnected and almost symbiotic everything is

also i was literally just doublechecking the definition of symbiosis and

[yonpote]

analysis of phil's cube time (make sure to read my previous post to understand wtf im talking about):

cube (self): giant melting ice cube in a desert. they mention things like maybe it could mean he's transparent, or keeps a cool head, or is ice cold, or is melting in a hot situation. i think phil definitely at this point in life and in general kept a very cool composure online but perhaps he was melting a bit irl. i do see him as someone who is a bit transparent in terms of being quite an honest person but at the same time maybe comes off as cold w things he keeps close to his chest

ladder (friends): a wooden ladder leaning on the side of the cube, causing it to melt a little. they mention that maybe phil likes when his friends rely on him or is generally a reliable person to his friends. i can definitely see this being the case, he's brought up a few times things like his party games being created so that people dont have to feel awkward at parties or always trying to be the person who includes someone in a group, and obv with dan he's always been a person he can rely on. tho phil also mentions the ladder melting the ice further, maybe meaning that even tho he likes having his friends rely on him maybe it puts further stress on him if not put in check.

horse (love): a brown, stallion-like horse trying but struggling to climb to the top of the ladder to cool down on the ice cube. OH BOY LMAO so, phil says that maybe it means he's "alone and single" since the horse couldn't get up the ladder. alex quotes the spice girls "if they wanna be your lover they gotta get with your friends" and phil says maybe he should lower his standards so the horse could be on top of the ice. now ok addressing the brown haired brown eyed stallion in the room, this video was recorded in 2012 which was a tumultuous time for dippy n pippy, they just moved to london, they're solidifying their work with the bbc, theyre in full force on their youtube channels taking a bunch of random sponsorships to pay rent, they're working crazy hard, and of course full on no-homo howell and The Leak is happening. my theory has always been this is when they took a break as romantic partners and were just friends for a while, but still very close. i read this a lot as them still wanting to stay best friends (hence the horse climbing up the ladder) but all these other forces getting in the way of anything further than that.

rain storm (troubles/stress): causing the ice to melt more. they mention phil not handling pressure well. again, 2012 was a very productive yet stressful year for phil (and dan). while i do believe its true he's not the best at handling pressure, i think considering everything that was happening, the ice cube was still there and never melted away completely. he also mentions the horse not liking the storm, again all of the work and online stress putting a toll on their relationship.

flowers (children/creative projects): small flowers on the floor surrounding the cube, not really consequential to the scene. phil considers the flowers to be more like creative children rather than actual ones, and i think it's interesting that they weren't affecting the scene at all. 2012 was a year where dan and phil tm were starting to get really popular (i would say they exploded a bit more the next couple years, but this was the year where i started noticing more people who were into them.) and they were doing radio stuff, doing videos all the time, doing younows and were active on tumblr and twitter all the time, and phil's video output was especially consistent. i do think despite all the stress that was happening with them, it never fully showed unless you looked further, and even then the extent of that stress wasnt really revealed until their comingouts.

[nothorses]

Interview With An Ex-Radfem

exradfem is an anonymous Tumblr user who identifies as transmasculine, and previously spent time in radical feminist communities. They have offered their insight into those communities using their own experiences and memories as a firsthand resource.

Background

I was raised in an incredibly fundamentalist religion, and so was predisposed to falling for cult rhetoric. Naturally, I was kicked out for being a lesbian. I was taken in by the queer community, particularly the trans community, and I got back on my feet- somehow. I had a large group of queer friends, and loved it. I fully went in on being the Best Trans Ally Possible, and constantly tried to be a part of activism and discourse.

Unfortunately, I was undersocialized, undereducated, and overenthusiastic. I didn't fully understand queer or gender theory. In my world, when my parents told me my sexuality was a choice and I wasn't born that way, they were absolutely being homophobic. I understood that no one should care if it's a choice or not, but it was still incredibly, vitally important to me that I was born that way.

On top of that, I already had an intense distrust of men bred by a lot of trauma. That distrust bred a lot of gender essentialism that I couldn't pull out of the gender binary. I felt like it was fundamentally true that men were the problem, and that women were inherently more trustworthy. And I really didn't know where nonbinary people fit in.

Then I got sucked down the ace exclusionist pipeline; the way the arguments were framed made sense to my really surface-level, liberal view of politics. This had me primed to exclude people –– to feel like only those that had been oppressed exactly like me were my community.

Then I realized I was attracted to my nonbinary friend. I immediately felt super guilty that I was seeing them as a woman. I started doing some googling (helped along by ace exclusionists on Tumblr) and found the lesfem community, which is basically radfem “lite”: lesbians who are "only same sex attracted". This made sense to me, and it made me feel so much less guilty for being attracted to my friend; it was packaged as "this is just our inherent, biological desire that is completely uncontrollable". It didn't challenge my status quo, it made me feel less guilty about being a lesbian, and it allowed me to have a "biological" reason for rejecting men.

I don't know how much dysphoria was playing into this, and it's something I will probably never know; all of this is just piecing together jumbled memories and trying to connect dots. I know at the time I couldn't connect to this trans narrative of "feeling like a woman". I couldn't understand what trans women were feeling. This briefly made me question whether I was nonbinary, but radfem ideas had already started seeping into my head and I'm sure I was using them to repress that dysphoria. That's all I can remember.

The lesfem community seeded gender critical ideas and larger radfem princples, including gender socialization, gender as completely meaningless, oppression as based on sex, and lesbian separatism. It made so much innate sense to me, and I didn't realize that was because I was conditioned by the far right from the moment of my birth. Of course women were just a biological class obligated to raise children: that is how I always saw myself, and I always wanted to escape it.

I tried to stay in the realms of TIRF (Trans-Inclusive Radical Feminist) and "gender critical" spaces, because I couldn't take the vitriol on so many TERF blogs. It took so long for me to get to the point where I began seeing open and unveiled transphobia, and I had already read so much and bought into so much of it that I thought that I could just ignore those parts.

In that sense, it was absolutely a pipeline for me. I thought I could find a "middle ground", where I could "center women" without being transphobic.

Slowly, I realized that the transphobia was just more and more disgustingly pervasive. Some of the trans men and butch women I looked up to left the groups, and it was mostly just a bunch of nasty people left. So I left.

After two years offline, I started to recognize I was never going to be a healthy person without dealing with my dysphoria, and I made my way back onto Tumblr over the pandemic. I have realized I'm trans, and so much of this makes so much more sense now. I now see how I was basically using gender essentialism to repress my identity and keep myself in the closet, how it was genuinely weaponized by TERFs to keep me there, and how the ace exclusionist movement primed me into accepting lesbian separatism- and, finally, radical feminism.

The Interview

You mentioned the lesfem community, gender criticals, and TIRFs, which I haven't heard about before- would you mind elaborating on what those are, and what kinds of beliefs they hold?

I think the lesfem community is recruitment for lesbians into the TERF community. Everything is very sanitized and "reasonable", and there's an effort not to say anything bad about trans women. The main focus was that lesbian = homosexual female, and you can't be attracted to gender, because you can't know someone's gender before knowing them; only their sex.

It seemed logical at the time, thinking about sex as something impermeable and gender as internal identity. The most talk about trans women I saw initially was just in reference to the cotton ceiling, how sexual orientation is a permanent and unchangeable reality. Otherwise, the focus was homophobia. This appealed to me, as I was really clinging to the "born this way" narrative.

This ended up being a gateway to two split camps - TIRFs and gender crits.

I definitely liked to read TIRF stuff, mostly because I didn't like the idea of radical feminism having to be transphobic. But TIRFs think that misogyny is all down to hatred of femininity, and they use that as a basis to be able to say trans women are "just as" oppressed.

Gender criticals really fought out against this, and pushed the idea that gender is fake, and misogyny is just sex-based oppression based on reproductive issues. They believe that the source of misogyny is the "male need to control the source of reproduction"- which is what finally made me think I had found the "source" of my confusion. That's why I ended up in gender critical circles instead of TIRF circles.

I'm glad, honestly, because the mask-off transphobia is what made me finally see the light. I wouldn't have seen that in TIRF communities.

I believed this in-between idea, that misogyny was "sex-based oppression" and that transphobia was also real and horrible, but only based on transition, and therefore a completely different thing. I felt that this was the "nuanced" position to take.

The lesfem community also used the fact that a lot of lesbians have partners who transition, still stay with their lesbian partners, and see themselves as lesbian- and that a lot of trans men still see themselves as lesbians. That idea is very taboo and talked down in liberal queer spaces, and I had some vague feelings about it that made me angry, too. I really appreciated the frank talk of what I felt were my own taboo experiences.

I think gender critical ideology also really exploited my own dysphoria. There was a lot of talk about how "almost all butches have dysphoria and just don't talk about it", and that made me feel so much less alone and was, genuinely, a big relief to me that I "didn't have to be trans".

Lesfeminism is essentially lesbian separatism dressed up as sex education. Lesfems believe that genitals exist in two separate categories, and that not being attracted to penises is what defines lesbians. This is used to tell cis lesbians, "dont feel bad as a lesbian if you're attracted to trans men", and that they shouldn’t feel "guilty" for not being attracted to trans women. They believe that lesbianism is not defined as being attracted to women, it is defined as not being attracted to men; which is a root idea in lesbian separatism as well.

Lesfems also believe that attraction to anything other than explicit genitals is a fetish: if you're attracted to flat chests, facial hair, low voices, etc., but don't care if that person has a penis or not, you're bisexual with a fetish for masculine attributes. Essentially, they believe the “-sexual” suffix refers to the “sex” that you are assigned at birth, rather than your attraction: “homosexual” refers to two people of the same sex, etc. This was part of their pushback to the ace community, too.

I think they exploited the issues of trans men and actively ignored trans women intentionally, as a way of avoiding the “TERF” label. Pronouns were respected, and they espoused a constant stream of "trans women are women, trans men are men (but biology still exists and dictates sexual orientation)" to maintain face.

They would only be openly transmisogynistic in more private, radfem-only spaces.

For a while, I didn’t think that TERFs were real. I had read and agreed with the ideology of these "reasonable" people who others labeled as TERFs, so I felt like maybe it really was a strawman that didn't exist. I think that really helped suck me in.

It sounds from what you said like radical feminism works as a kind of funnel system, with "lesfem" being one gateway leading in, and "TIRF" and "gender crit" being branches that lesfem specifically funnels into- with TERFs at the end of the funnel. Does that sound accurate?

I think that's a great description actually!

When I was growing up, I had to go to meetings to learn how to "best spread the word of god". It was brainwashing 101: start off by building a relationship, find a common ground. Do not tell them what you really believe. Use confusing language and cute innuendos to "draw them in". Prey on their emotions by having long exhausting sermons, using music and peer pressure to manipulate them into making a commitment to the church, then BAM- hit them with the weird shit.

Obviously I am paraphrasing, but this was framed as a necessary evil to not "freak out" the outsiders.

I started to see that same talk in gender critical circles: I remember seeing something to the effect of, "lesfem and gender crit spaces exist to cleanse you of the gender ideology so you can later understand the 'real' danger of it", which really freaked me out; I realized I was in a cult again.

I definitely think it's intentional. I think they got these ideas from evangelical Christianity, and they actively use it to spread it online and target young lesbians and transmascs. And I think gender critical butch spaces are there to draw in young transmascs who hate everything about femininity and womanhood, and lesfem spaces are there to spread the idea that trans women exist as a threat to lesbianism.

Do you know if they view TIRFs a similar way- as essentially prepping people for TERF indoctrination?

Yes and no.

I've seen lots of in-fighting about TIRFs; most TERFs see them as a detriment, worse than the "TRAs" themselves. I've also definitely seen it posed as "baby's first radfeminism". A lot of TIRFs are trans women, at least from what I've seen on Tumblr, and therefore are not accepted or liked by radfems. To be completely honest, I don't think they're liked by anyone. They just hate men.

TIRFs are almost another breed altogether; I don't know if they have ties to lesfems at all, but I do think they might've spearheaded the online ace exclusionist discourse. I think a lot of them also swallowed radfem ideology without knowing what it was, and parrot it without thinking too hard about how it contradicts with other ideas they have.

The difference is TIRFs exist. They're real people with a bizarre, contradictory ideology. The lesfem community, on the other hand, is a completely manufactured "community" of crypto-terfs designed specifically to indoctrinate people into TERF ideology.

Part of my interest in TIRFs here is that they seem to have a heavy hand in the way transmascs are treated by the trans community, and if you're right that they were a big part of ace exclusionism too they've had a huge impact on queer discourse as a whole for some time. It seems likely that Baeddels came out of that movement too.

Yes, there’s a lot of overlap. The more digging I did, the more I found that it's a smaller circle running the show than it seems. TIRFs really do a lot of legwork in peddling the ideology to outer queer community, who tend to see it as generic feminism.

TERFs joke a lot about how non-radfems will repost or reblog from TERFs, adding "op is a TERF”. They're very gleeful when people accept their ideology with the mask on. They think it means these people are close to fully learning the "truth", and they see it as further evidence they have the truth the world is hiding. I think it's important to speak out against radical feminism in general, because they’re right; their ideology does seep out into the queer community.

Do you think there's any "good" radical feminism?

No. It sees women as the ultimate victim, rather than seeing gender as a tool to oppress different people differently. Radical feminism will always see men as the problem, and it is always going to do harm to men of color, gay men, trans men, disabled men, etc.

Women aren't a coherent class, and radfems are very panicked about that fact; they think it's going to be the end of us all. But what's wrong with that? That's like freaking out that white isn't a coherent group. It reveals more about you.

It's kind of the root of all exclusionism, the more I think about it, isn't it? Just freaking out that some group isn't going to be exclusive anymore.

Radical feminists believe that women are inherently better than men.

For TIRFs, it's gender essentialism. For TERFs, its bio essentialism. Both systems are fundamentally broken, and will always hurt the groups most at risk. Centering women and misogyny above all else erases the root causes of bigotry and oppression, and it erases the intersections of race and class. The idea that women are always fundamentally less threatening is very white and privileged.

It also ignores how cis women benefit from gender norms just as cis men do, and how cis men suffer from gender roles as well. It’s a system of control where gender non-conformity is a punishable offense.

[captn3]

pissed off again at ppl only liking my comm post instead of reblogging it. time for infodump to feel better

i think old human technology including game consoles and game disks are still surviving out there and are just hard to find but theres probably a group of ppl that get them and duplicate them so everyone can play the stuff humans made (explaining crossover splatfests). its just that no one can really.. translate it. if it has a story, it becomes a story without words. and in a poetic irony, i imagine some games (staring at undertale) would be much more heart wrenching when you dont know what theyre saying

like trying to learn a language- no, MULTIPLE language of an entire worldwide species- from scratch with no remaining people who speak it is. probably really hard. not impossible, but near it. i dont think the mammals we Do have can really. help them with learning human languages anyway.

also, the existence of recoverable games, movies, pictures etc, would change the knowledge of human history immensely. be it good or bad. they wouldnt know what is fictional or not, but also would have better references for human anatomy. like, they might think dinosaurs are just mythical creatures we made up. and think fairies were real and common..

there are new games being made in the present by the current society, but games slowly being found from humans are like game releases- very exciting, especially when they probably arent found in order, its like piecing a puzzle together.

anyway all this to say agent 3 would play sa2 and fully understand shadow's issues and relate to him a lot. doesnt know what the fuck he is hes just a spikey bitch BUT would recognize his name is shadow because whenever people look at him they say shadow. shadow the thing. theyd say shadow is a gender name and no one can make fun of them cause the majority of the agents just stole their agent number for their name.

obviously theres a paradox in splatoon the game existing in the splatoon universe following this logic but like. It Simply Doesnt have to Exist. same for smash bros ultimate and mk8deluxe. hell those tow that just feature the characters and arent based around it can probably just. Not have the splatoon characters in universe. paradox solved its not even that hard. its a fictional world anything is possible.

ACTUALLY the smash games would be insane to find for them. like HOLY SHIT ALL THESE GAMES ARE CONNECTED. WOW. and people making theories on whether or not these unrecognized characters have games that we just havent Found yet or if theyre original to the smash bros series. god its just so neat life finds a way. infodump over thank you <3

[miladysatsuki]

ok my post about talking about 3.0+1.0 kawoshin & kaworus development got a few likes so I’m going to ramble under the cut about mostly kawoshin & kaworu but actually about all of the pilots & the whole movie.

SPOILER WARNING FOR EVANGELION 3.0+1.0 also out of context spoilers for pmmm in the second to last paragraph I’m just comparing the two

So, first of all I’m going to say some general movie thoughts: I liked the movie, I know there are some polarizing opinions. I agree that Asuka and Mari both deserved more development and attention. However Asukas “confession” at the EoE mirrored scene really did not feel romantic to me like it felt very much just accepting that like no I do actually care about you Shinji despite always pushing you away I do want well for you and always have, but I didn’t know how to deal with that truth and my own pain at the same time. Asuka is not tsundere, she does not have romantic feelings for Shinji and never has. I will die on this hill. She may have wanted him to want her to validate herself but, thats a different can of worms.

Mari and Shinji running off together at the end, OBVIOUSLY the implication is they’re together but I feel like they intentionally left it a bit ambiguous for people who didn’t need/want to see Shinji in a romantic relationship. Like they easily could have shown her pregnant or kissing him or something and that would have been very blatant. I think the fact that she is the one who came up to him at the end instead of Asuka Rei or Kaworu is mostly fan service with a dash of letting the other three have room to be their own people separate of Shinji. Rei and Kaworu have never been their own person without their entire worlds revolving around Shinji and I think the visual of the two of them talking together at the end but still on the other side of the train station was a good way of showing like they are still relevant to Shinjis life but they get to explore their own worlds too. Obviously same goes for Asuka because she is the other side of the same coin with Shinji, she deserves to be her own person too. I also like to pretend after running off the train platform together they go to the other side & meet up with the others :)

ANYWAYS MORE ABOUT KAWORU SPECIFICALLY

I think its really interesting that almost every popular fan theory about him got confirmed in this new movie, even ones that had barely any basis in previous movies, and that they also dismissed the main popular homophobic opinion of “he was just using Shinji”. He truly wanted Shinji to be happy, because he wanted that to be enough to make himself happy. & I genuinely think he was aware and fully willing to keep living the loop for Shinji infinitely but Shinji recognizing the loop existing and acknowledging all that Kaworu had done for him already was also extremely releasing. Probably freed him from something he didn’t even know was trapping him at all. Kaji and Kaworus father/son moment was really sweet as well considering Kaworu is his own parents and has never known any kind of family.

I also have read some online takes that Rei and Kaworu are meant to be “together” at the end? but I really dont think standing next to one another constitutes a romantic relationship LOL. They’re definitely still/always siblings in my book. I also would like to think all the pilots kept their memories from the rebuild timeline, Kaworu keeping them from every timeline & Shinji having a blurry understanding of the existence of multiple timelines but not every detail.

I wonder if this implies Kaworu and Rei are fully human, I’m not sure how that works. Maybe he still is Tabris but angels pose no threat without evas anymore so he can just live amongst them like anyone else.

I also wanted to say like PMMM is another one of my dearest animes and something about Shinji pulling the Goddoka card to rewrite the universe without evas (without witches) but Yui facing the burden for him is so sweet. I can’t see it going any better way. Unit 01 obviously was taking as much damage for Shinji all along and her being able to be his final release from that pain is just, I don’t know how it could do any other way. I also don’t think I could handle it if it was exactly the same as PMMM and no one remembered Shinji. Shinji my beautiful baby boy who represents hope for humanity?? Completely forgotten?? thats too much even for me 😩 also this is a side note: I am absolutely in no way a Gendo apologist but I really appreciated him getting his loose ends tied off too, for Shinjis sake mostly. I don’t think Evangelion could have ended without Shinji gaining understanding for his father. Shinji understanding his father is another important aspect of Shinji representing humanity. It probably also allowed him to heal a little from Kaworu being “just like my father” like yeah, we all are, a little bit he’s also just a guy just like you. Gendo is the absolute tail-end of the spectrum of losing your hope and your humanity. The visual of Shinji using the lance of hope and Gendo using despair is obvi a very classic anime trope but I still liked it. Gendo losing Yui and letting it destroy him and Shinji losing Kaworu but using that to move forward and grow and keep Kaworu alive in spirit (also in real life but he didn’t know that at that point obvi). Chefs kiss.

anyways Shinji and Kaworu get a house together and live happily ever after :) idk I haven’t thought much about how they would live on post movie but I feel like the whole group would all be good friends + Toji and fam + Kensuke too of course. I could do a whole nother post about Toji and Kensuke 😫 I have so many feelings for evangelion lmk if u wanna hear LOL

[magickfromscratch]

Hi! Ive read your wordpress blog and a few others where people talk about ritual possession and I found that very interesting! If you dont mind I have a few questions:

What moments did you have when you realised “this is 100% real”? And did the Gods ever act in a way different from what you would expect? And then, is this something that will only happen in groups, or can you do this on your own too?

Thank you, I hope that I will experience this one day too!

It's an interesting question.

I see myself as a natural philosopher or occult scientist rather than as a person of faith. So I will never say that I know anything 100%.

While some people view science and magic as opposites, to me, science is a method, not a belief system. And you can apply that method to anything you can observe.

Likewise, I don't have beliefs, I have models for understanding things I observe. And as I sit here typing this, I fully accept the possibility that my explanations for what I experience may be completely wrong. And I'm ok with that. Hell, I'm proud of that.

You can tell how accurate a model is by how well it allows you to predict what will happen regarding a certain phenomenon. However, any model built from the observable facts will have SOME predictive power, even if it's dead wrong. Kepler thought that the planets somehow fit together in the solar system in some kind of system of Platonic solids inside one another. People at one point thought the Earth was the center of the solar system. It seemed to resonate with what they observed.

The way I do trance with my friends is that we call down a deity into the room first, rather than directly into a person. The medium in question has to be able to feel the deity's presence in a tactile sense before them occupying the same space and doing an alignment between the deity's body and the medium's body.

I consistently observe that people can feel this energy. During the alignment process, people's limbs and extremities will start to move without the medium willing it, even before full possession occurs. And watching people new to the process saying things like "holy shit that's WEIRD" when it happens is also pretty consistent.

But then again, if you know much about trance states, that's not proof that there's actually a deity there. Pre-hypnotic suggestions are just as powerful as post-hypnotic suggestions in some cases. How people culturally expect trance states to feel, and what they expect to happen during them can powerfully shape their experiences. Trance states, hypnotic states, liminal mental states... neurologically, it's all part of the same phenomenon. And it's no guarantee of 'accuracy', even if the trance is deep.

Much more convincing to me are the experiences I have had where people called down a deity and tranced, and I felt absolutely nothing. The air did not move when the deity came down, I did not feel the rushing of energy or heat or cold over my skin, and when I looked at the medium, I discerned no second presence within them, even though I fully expected to. If I can expect to feel an extra something, if I can expect to see an extra light in the medium's eyes, if I can expect to feel something on my skin, and I am surprised to note its absence, then it validates for me the times that when I felt it, it wasn't just because I expected to, and it wasn't just in my head.

The unexpected, in general, is what sells me on the realness of the phenomenon. Real forces of nature do things you don't expect. People have written entire proofs as to why bumblebees can't fly, and it took a long time before anyone really understood why they could. They had to look deeper based on the surprises in nature before they could come up with theories of aerodynamics that had the capacity to predict such a thing as a flying bumblebee.

Hermes doesn't always behave as I expect. I recall one time trancing him, and he lost his temper at someone. That was a really unpleasant experience. The guy deserved it, of course. He was a scum bag, a sexist, and was actively making anti-consent comments during the devotional, in addition to insulting both party guests and his hosts. But I think it must have taken hours for my heart rate to actually return to normal after the deity departed. And yeah, that guy was like, 'oh that wasn't really Hermes that was a fake deity' because his other option was to admit he was wrong and that a deity he worshipped was actually mad at him.

But the fact that Hermes had that setting? I mean. I'd never seen it. I'd never imagined it. I figured he could just stay calm and use persuasion for everything, right? And that whole thing was insane. People were telling me that he pulled that dude aside, and it was like there was a cone of silence in that small room. No one could hear what the god was saying except that one dude. And then he BOLTED and was dead certain, not that I was channeling nothing, but that he'd encountered a medium carrying a metaphysically potent evil demon.

Could that human have been correct that it wasn't Hermes? Sure! But consider the message. "If you don't wake up and smell the consent culture, you have a hand in undoing our community." That's what this 'demon' said. And this was prior to the "me too" movement, I think, if only by just a little bit. Which he told the guy all but privately so as not to humiliate him publicly. So evil. Much malevolence. Very demon. Wow.

But then again, I also believed strongly in the importance of consent culture. So even at that, ymmv. And the cone of silence thing is WEIRD, right? But even though I was working in a Hellenic framework, and even if I'm not the right archetype of person to call on Silence as a power, it's still something that one of my (non-Hellenic) magical systems can consistently manifest. So maybe the weird magical effect came from somewhere other than the god. And you can, absolutely, do this all day, and second-guess yourself into the ground.

And that brings me to my last, and possibly most important point: it's fine to ask yourself if it is real, but a far more important thing to do is to ask, "Is this spiritually fruitful?"

Are we giving deities a chance to speak, or giving our clergy a bully pulpit? Are the messages we receive helping people and communities to grow, or is it causing an increased level of fear, anxiety, anger, angst, and strife? And that's a question you can really only answer on a clergy person by clergy person basis, or maybe a community by community basis. And the answer generally revolves around another question:

Have your mediums done their shadow work?

Well? Have they?

[mysticmeadowscamp]

FAQ

Important anouncement!!

In the near future this characters will become fully original! But for now we're merely switching the names every now and then to slowly get used to them

You can still call them by their old names, but im writing the changes so people wont be confused!

Dee -> Dee (but now hes ok with everyone calling him by his full name "Amadeus")

Vee -> Vee

Roman -> Florian

Remus -> Cadmus

Patton -> Lawrence (legal name [NOT a deadname]) / Achilles (chosen name)

Logan -> Nate/Nathan

---------------

Welcome to the Campfire AU! This blog gets lots of asks everyday so it can be kind of hard to find the basics of everything. So hopefully this can answer your questions if you’re new to the blog! 

 The AU doesn’t really have a plot. Just the sides being teens dealing with everyday stuff. The reason of why it’s called Campfire AU it’s because it all started with a comic where they went camping, but in all honestly it isnt even about camping at this point. Whoops!

(I have a in-character blog for Vee! Just for the fun of it lmao its @littlemothsandtinyvees )

What’s the AU about?

Are there any ships?

 This AU is 100% platonic! Many people get confused mainly because Dee and Remus are usually kinda flirty with each other. But they’re literally just messing around. Although, Vee and Logan get together in college (If this ship makes you uncomfortable, you can block the ‘’cf!analogical’’ tag!). But besides that, nothing else.

Is Thomas/Remy/Emile/etc in this AU?

 Yes, but actually no.

 Thomas and his crew are in this AU. BUT!!!! They have a very small, unsignificant role. Kind of like a cameo. They’re some cool yet scary looking monsters that appear on Vee's dreams. Vee also has a bat plushie named Count Joan.

 And Remy and Emile are Patton’s super cool toads. They just vibe.

What are the characters in the AU?

 Primary characters: Patton, Roman, Logan, Virgil, Janus (who still goes by Dee), and Remus.

 Secondary characters: King Creativity (Romulus), The Dragon Witch (DW), Annika (Vee’s biological mom), Celeste (Dee’s biological mom), and Mama and Papa Ruiz (Roman, Remus, and Romulus’ parents), Azariah, Nona, and Poppy (Dee and Remus' group of friends at school)

We dont really talk that much about Logan’s parents nor Patton’s dad, but they’re still there.

Blog’s ‘’Inside Jokes’’

The blog has some inside jokes that newcomers usually dont understand because they’re so bizarre and out of context, so here’s a quick guide. Beware, these are very dumb. I would like to apologize in advance:

The Jirt Dar: Its a jar full of dirt that Vee carries around and makes their friends put their hands inside of it if they catch them swearing.

The Sock Shirt: Remus owns a plain white shirt with the word ‘’sock’’ handwritten. That’s it. I have no idea why people find that hilarious.

Boneless Logan: Logan once had this theory that since he had never broken any bones in the past, he was, in fact, boneless. And still claims it to this day. Before you ask, no. He’s not serious about believing that, he just claims it to annoy or make people laugh. Has he ever broke a bone after that claim? Yes, he has.

‘‘Addy’‘: ‘’Addy’‘ is a nickname Vee has for Dee and it immediately triggers his Big Brother Mode because Vee only calls him that in scenarios when they’re sad, sick, etc.

‘‘Patton with an E‘‘:  When Vee and Patton first met, Patton had pointed out their last names where the same, except his had an ‘e’ at the end, and Vee thought it was pretty funny. Nowadays Patton sometimes introduces himself as ‘‘Patton with an E’‘ only to make Vee chuckle.

About OP

Hello! My name is Hay/Danny/OP i really dont mind how you refer to me as. I decided to make a little about me because I feel like I should set some boundaries for the sake of my mental health, basically some "please do not do this" because theyre personally triggering for me or make me uncomfortable.

Please never send asks talking about weight. Its a super triggering subject for me. Im fine if its asks like "Oh everyone lifts (X character) up a lot cause theyre very light" but thats it

Please dont vent in the asks, I have no idea what to do to help and as very empathetic person it stresses me out not being able to help. I am not a therapist

*Sometimes food is a subject that makes me extremely uncomfortable. Sometimes. What im trying to say is that you can send food related asks but if i dont answer it, its because at that moment food is a big no for me. I'll try my best to remember to give a heads up

(* Its totally okay if the subject is only passing. Its if the ask is focused on food what makes me extremely uncomfortable)

(Primary) Characters basic information (full name, age, height, etc)

● Janus Amadeus “Dee” Callaghan

 18 years old // 5'10 // Agender/Bisexual // he/him (but doesnt care about pronouns at all)

●Virgil (Vee) Harper Storm

 15 years old // 4'9 // Non Binary/Queer/Asexual // they/them (They’re chill with any pronouns though)

*Important Fact: Vee is autistic

●Patton Jonathan Storme

 16 years old // 5'8 // Demiboy/Homosexual // he/him and xe/xem

●Logan Keith Rowell

 16 years old // 5'5 // Questioning // he/him

●Roman Florian Flynn Ruiz

 18 years old // 5'11 // Transgender/Aromantic // he/him

●Remus Amadeus Ruiz

 18 years old // 6'2 // Transgender/Homosexual // he/him

Character’s specifics

(Before we start, I’d like to mention that the sides are quite further away from canon. Its called an AU for a reason, if you dont like how they’re portrayed, that’s fine, but please do not complain because, again, its an AU for a reason.) 

Patton: Patton is a complicated character. Let’s say hes bittersweet.

Pat has a very complicated relationship with his family, which would be the main reason of his anger issues and poor self esteem. He doesnt have any siblings and his mother left when he was around 9 years old. Leaving him only with his dad. Who is currently the Mayor. As time passed by, Patton as his dad started becoming extremely distant. Patton tried to fix his relationship with his father for a very good while. But nothing seemed to work, so he gave up and nowadays avoids him as much as he can.

At school Patton puts on this happy-go-lucky facade and hes known for being a very sweet and happy guy. Mainly because hes ashamed of the fact that hes, in his words, “an angry person.”

So he tries to come up with a friendly “mask”. Colorful clothes, and round glasses. Because colorful and round things come out as friendly, right?

Patton rarely wears black, unless it something like jeans or shoes. The thought of wearing all black will never cross his mind because hes so desperate to try and come off as a friendly guy.

But with his friends is a whole different story, Patton allows himself to be “his true self”, he allows himself to be mad at some things, he stops repressing the “ugly feelings”, he actually swears, and plays around in a more “rough” way in general. All in good terms, it will never be his intention to hurt his friends.

Facts:

Sophomore in highscool

Vee's best friend. They met each other in 7th grade because Vee was new in school.

He’s on the cheerleading team. Meaning that he’s quite strong, agile, and even flexible. Emphasis on strong. He once broke a guy’s nose because he was harrassing a girl.

Has been doing gymnastics since he was very little

He’s pescetarian. He strongly avoids meat, but still eats fish.

Absolutely loves horror movies, especially old ones. (His all time favorite is Halloween)

Actually has better grades than Logan. He’s a straight A student. Focuses too much on his grades because he wants to get a full scholarship for college.

Ends up majoring in law once he gets to college

Vee: Vee is a rather hyperactive person, and is very into mysterious subjects, such as cryptids, the paranormal, you get the vibe. They aren’t really that anxious, but the anxiety is still there. Especially when it’s about people they don’t know. Once they warm up to you, they barey shut up.

Vee still has some anxiety issues because they were bullied from 3rd grade to 6th grade and never said a word to anyone. Whenever their mom picked them up she’d always notice how sad they looked, sometimes even with puffy eyes from crying. But no matter how hard she tried, Vee would never tell her anything out of pure fear they’d get in trouble. The moment Vee admitted everything, she immediately changed them from that school.

On 7th grade they met Patton, and he was pretty much the one who managed to make Vee come out of their shell, he never forced them to do something they didn’t want to, but he slowly started to introduce them into doing new things that Vee once considered scary.

Vee had made huge progress regarding their self esteem thanks to Pat. And they are now trying to make the exact same thing for Patton.

Facts:

Sophomore in highscool

Patton’s best friend

Dee’s little (step) sibling

Theirs and Dee’s moms were best friends in college (Dee’s dad was also Annika’s childhood friend). So these two have known each other since Vee was born. When they were 11-12 years old, their and Dee’s moms got married.

Even before that, Vee always saw Dee as a big brother.

They keep a dream journal. But if you happen to read it, you’ll realize that what’s written are not dreams, but nightmares. There are some drawings of monsters in some pages, even.

They says that they’re not  scared of most of them, though. That they’re used to it.

Ends up majoring in digital animation

Dee: He’s the most calm guy in the whole group. Usually the leader, even. He’s either a very responsible big brother with Vee or an absolute chaotic teenager with Remus. There’s no in between.

Dee has a really hard time trusting people, the only people he genuinely trusts are Remus, Vee, and his moms (Roman, Patton, and Logan are there too, but not as much as the ones mentioned.)

Dee’s parents got divorced when he was around 8. And his and Vee's moms got married when he was 14-15 years old. To this day his relationship with his dad is kind of complicated. He doesnt hate him, but he’s not quite sure how to feel about him. He calls every now and then to check up on him, and he appreciates it, but those calls usually end up with Dee feeling sort of awkward afterwards.

There isn’t much to say about him, mostly because hes very reserved with pretty much everyone. But hey, between us? Hes has a very soft spot for Vee 

Facts:

Senior in highschool

Vee’s big (step) brother

Remus’ best friend. They met in 3rd grade and have been inseparable ever since.

The scar around his eye is a burn scar from hot water when he was little (7-9 y/o), and the one on his cheek happened because him and Remus were playing with a knife when they were 14-15.

He knows how to drive, but usually Remus is the one who always does do.

Is on the theatre club. Both as a techie and as an actor

He’s 100% sure that he’s  bisexual. But the fact that he has such a hard time trusting people makes it hard for him to imagine himself in a relationship.

Ends up going to college for around two years before he decides to drop out.

Remus: He’s your local hyperactive guy that lives for that sweet, sweet adrenaline. He’s always looking for reckless things to do and he ALWAYS drags Dee to them (not like he minds). But he’s also a very loyal friend, especially to Dee. If he asked Remus for a favor he’d be 100% willing to do ANYTHING without doubts. He’s also highly protective over Vee, Patton, and Logan because theyre the youngest of the group.

His and Roman’s relationship went from horrible to amazing. Him and Roman absolutely despised each other when they were little, if they were put in the same room, 99% of the time they’d end up fighting, as time went by, they started to avoid each other as much as possible, then they kind of tolerated each other, but still never spent much time together. When Remus found Roman chopping his hair off while bawling his eyes out at 2 in the morning, their relationship definitely started to change for the best.

Facts:

Senior in highschool

Roman’s twin, Romulus’ little brother

Dee’s best friend

The scar near his chin is because him and Dee were playing with a knife and both of them got a cut. They called them their “Friendship scars”

Spanish is his first language. But mainly speaks it at family runions, sometimes with his parents, but never with Roman and/or Romulus

Is on the volleyball team

Got top surgery, but doesnt want bottom surgery.

Ends up majoring in mortuary science

Roman: He’s the kindest and sweetest guy in the group. Hes always willing to help and listen to whoever needs it. He’s actually quite popular at school because of the fact that hes so kind. A ray of sunshine. Roman had a very hard time for a good while, but it all crumbled down on him on his freshman year. He felt super lonely, was absolutely lost with who he was as a person and had no idea who he wanted to be, what he wanted to do with his life, etc. He struggled with school and his grades dropped horribly because he had so much in his mind. No matter how hard he tried to concentrate, he just couldnt focus in school. He ended up repeating the year.

Like it was mentioned before, his relationship with Remus went from horrible to amazing. Unfortunately for them, because of this, they barely have childhood memories to look back to. But now they’re trying their best to make up for it. Roman would say that his and Remus relationship got better when Roman repeated his freshman year; Remus apologized to him for a straight hour because he admitted to notice Roman having a hard time, but decided to ignore it because he was “too damn prideful”. After that, little by little, they became closer.

Facts:

Junior in highschool

Remus’ twin. Romulus’ little brother

Logan’s best friend. They met on freshman year (the one that Ro had to re-take)

Spanish is his first language.But mainly speaks it at family runions, sometimes with his parents, but never with Remus and/or Romulus

Is on theatre club. But to contrary belief, he barely takes leading roles.

He absolutely loves to hear Vee ramble about what they enjoy. His grandma used to tell him about the fae folk when he was younger. So unlike everyone in the group, he absolutely understands what Vee is talking about and they can chat for hours about it

Hasn’t had any surgery yet. But wants both top and bottom surgery.

Doesn’t end up going to college, and instead works at his mom’s flower shop alongside Dee

Logan: First things first, while Logan is smart, he isn’t super smart, at least not academically speaking. He has really good grades, but he isn’t a straight A student. People tend to assume he’s a gifted student because of the fact that he skipped a year. But in reality that only happened because he had an advanced reading and writting comprehension so they made him skip first grade.

Logan used to be quite a loner when he was younger, and he was way too serious and cold because of it. When he met Roman, Logan realized that he was actually unhappy back then, and little by little he started to losen up more, joking around and not really minding what people think of it. Now look at him! He’s absolutely chaotic and his favorite hobby is annoying Patton (in a loving way, dont worry.). He still has a somewhat ‘’smart kid’’ reputation at school, but those people in his class are aware that he jokes around every now and then and is actually super chill. He’s known for either fixing people’s laptops/cellphones/tablets or because he can write your essays. He definitely makes money out of both of these things. Unless you’re his friend, he’ll do it for free

 Lo’s parents work a lot and travel every now and then because of it. So they are barely home. But they still talk and text quite often. If his parents happen to be travelling, they videochat. But because of this Logan is most of the time alone at home and learned to be VERY independent. Not like he brags about it, but hes kind of proud of it.

Because of his parents always being away, and the fact that Logan is an only child and never had any friends growing up, he learned to do many things in an attempt to fight the boredom, some of those things are cooking, fixing his own laptop, crafts (im talking about, cosplay worthy crafts), origami, among other things.

Facts:

Junior in highschool

Roman’s best friend

He has a job at a videogame store

Yes, he also loves videogames way too much. Sometimes he messes his sleep schedule because he stays up late playing (usually with Patton)

Plays guitar. Learned how to do so one time he was burned out, and his dad suggested he learned something entirely knew, like playing an instrument. Nowadays he really enjoys it and plays very often.

He could learn how to drive. But he 100% prefers using his bike

He actually despises school and complains about it and about how flawed the educational system is on a daily basis

Ends up making a very last minute decision and going to an art school to study music composition instead of economics

PHEW. That was quite a lot. Anyways, if you got to the end of the page, congrats! If you feel like something should be added please do let me know!!

 Welcome to the Campfire AU, where the campfire is mostly ours rather than theirs

[wisteria-lodge]

exploded bird + lion secondary (badger model)

Good afternoon Wisteria! I was hoping for your input with my sorting. This MAY become a novel, and i apologize ahead of time for that. Hopefully its interesting, if nothing else.

I am having trouble with both my primary and secondary. Ive thought i had it figured out so many times and then i would reanalyze myself and get confused. So i guess ill start with primaries. I can tell you for sure that i am not a snake primary. I just cant love another person quite like that. I grew up in a very snake primary environment and never felt i really fit in. I really appreciate snakes and i understand them, but i dont think i am one. I also very much pride myself on my individuality and dont bond to groups so i believe that may rule out badger. I think ive narrowed it down to exploded bird or really confused lion.

Interesting. So far so good. Let’s hear what you’ve got.

Right now in life, with all the information coming at me, all the data, all of the twists and turns, media bias, conspiracy theories, rabbit holes and objective realities, i cant figure out the truth.

… sounds like an Exploded Bird to me.

I think all theories are worth investigating and rabbit holes are fun. But i hate hypocrisy. And its everywhere.

I mean, everyone hates hypocrisy… but I think Birds find it *unforgivable.*

I cant organize all of this information.

Exploded Bird.

Dude. Whats gonna happen if deep fake becomes the norm?

eh, Photoshop has been the norm for a long time and we do okay. Some fakes have always been better than others, and there have always been fakes.

I feel like the safest thing to do is to fully understand myself. Then i can analyze and understand the world.

I would agree with that.

I would say that hands down i was an exploded bird, but i feel very strongly about things right away. But then i learn about them more and if my feelings were wrong, ok. Whatever.

This is still Bird. It’s not that Birds can’t feel strongly about things right away. They do, they just don’t feel safe TRUSTING those feelings. Instead they do… exactly what you’re describing here. Learn more, and then if it turns out their initial feelings were wrong… that’s fine, actually. The feelings are of secondary importance.

BUT i also WANT black and white. I want right and wrong. Grey, though necessary and true, bugs me.

… there’s a reason why I call young Birds Black-and-White Birds.

Deep down i crave to just understand something as it is. But one persons truth is not anothers. I get that. But it still bothers me in my bones.

That’s a very Bird primary angst. Birds can have this *fantasy* that if only everyone had all the information and thought it though properly, that everyone would come to the same (correct) conclusion. And then have to grapple with the fallout when they realize things don’t work that way. As a Lion… I’ve never had to fight that particular monster.

I can also seem like i make snap decisions based on feelings to others, but i just know what i want. If something sounds good, i want to do it. At that moment. No hesitation… i think im meshing into secondary territory here

I agree. Improvisational secondary, sounds like.

so ill just go with it. So my bedroom walls are lilac purple and my kitchen is BRIGHT yellow, because those colors sounded interesting. At that moment. I tend to jump into a project having no idea what im doing. I just thought it sounded like fun.

Comfortable making decisions on a whim, just jumping in. Very improvisational.

But thats not really a way to problem solve. When i start said project and then run into a problem, usually ill read about it, or ask someone who knows more than me. The “i know a guy” bird kind of applies here. I know how to make connections within my community and i plan for that. I think about who would be useful to know, based on my goals.

You know, this could be Bird. But I’m kind of skewing more Badger because of the emphasis on community and asking for help. And keeping an eye on ‘who is powerful, who is useful to know’ is a pretty common Badger secondary model manifestation.

But i dont think i build tools like a bird. In fact, binge watching videos on how to do something annoys me. Takes all the fun out of it.

I still think you’re an Improvisational secondary - and a Badger secondary model is *more* likely than a Bird secondary model.

I am always honest with people and i like that about me, but its not out of some need to stay true to myself. Its just because i have learned that honesty works the best most of the time.

So not Lion *primary* then. This is all about method. You don’t lie, because you don’t find it to be a very practical problem-solving method. Being very direct does work, so at this point… Lion is more likely than snake.

Now, dont get me wrong, i am an excellent liar. But only if its on the fly.

Hmm. Maybe a Snake who’s in neutral all the time?

This conflicts big time with my primary, however, so i rarely ever do.

Interesting. Lying conflicts with your (hypocrisy hating) Bird primary, so you don’t do it. Instead you are very direct, and that works well for you. You *can* lie (on the fly) but you generally don’t. Neutral Snake? Snake secondary model? Depending on how you define lying, could even be Courtier Badger. (I am ruling out constructed Actor Bird.)

I feel like ive gone all over the place in a highly disorganized way, so i will state that now i am going to give some anecdotal data. One time, as an adult, i was hanging out with a bunch of kids on a hayride. A little boy killed a butterfly. I was outraged. I called him out. I told him that he just took away the only life that creature would ever have and that was cruel.

Very loud Idealist primary.

This somehow turned into a question and answer school session about human biology, mammals and why on earth is water in a cup clear, but when you dive into the ocean, its blue?

Some kind of social secondary… and I know the obvious thing is to say 'trotting out a lot of facts, that’s bird.’ But I’m seeing you defuse a situation by leveraging your immediate community (Q&A session)? Badger.

I like being the person that gets the scary bugs out of the house because i feel brave when i do.

Sounds pretty Lion secondary.

When in an emergency situation i completely disconnect and become a calm, knowledgeable person.

This is actually a pretty common just, human thing. When things get bad enough, your lizard brain takes over, and everything is very calm and dreamlike.

I suddenly magically know what needs to be done and work with my environment.

Improvisational secondary.

Im also very aware of how everyone else is doing in that situation and i have an innate need to make people feel better so im usually the first to lighten the mood. Ill focus on others before myself if im hurt. Im more aware of how they are doing than how i am doing and i will make an effort to help them first.

Ah yes, the 'tend and befriend’ threat response. Very familiar. And yeah, going from this description I’m going to say very social badger.

In video games… skyrim is best here i think. I want to be a sneaky mage thief. But when something attacks me, without thinking i run right up to it and hit it with my fists without armor.

lol lion. (The classic Badger secondary strategy is BUFF ARMOR. I always play tanks.)

But i get really sad if its an animal.Those wolf whimpers get to me every time.

No one likes the wolf whimpers.

Ok. Ok. Ive rambled enough. Thank you for reading! Any input is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Exploded Bird, easy. And probably a Lion secondary with a very social Badger secondary model that’s working well for you.

[dangerous-disposition]

On Tragedy vs. Bad Endings

[Image ID: user @frostyfrogz​ replied to your post “my mag171 #thots: I fully agree with. I love jonmartin I want nothing but the best for them. I know my answer today was an obvious twisting of dialogue but its just frustrating sometimes because it seems like people dont understand some sort of tragedy will indeed happen. I have never and will never suggest that something will happen to Jon and Martin’s relationship I’ve just been saying the shows not going to end well no matter what.]

So I have a lot of thoughts about this very subject, and too much for the replies on my post, so allow me to try to articulate what I mean, and what a lot of us mean when we say “it does not make sense for either Jon or Martin to turn evil in the end,” even in a show that has been advertised from day one as a tragedy.

First of all, no one thinks this is going to end happy. The few who do are usually unaware that this show is billed as a tragedy, and are quick to be corrected. I didn’t know it was a tragedy until I was on season 3 and someone told me. It’s overall just best to assume that the OP knows it’s not going to be a happy ending, because “reminding” people or “explaining” to people that the ending is going to be sad is a fast way from people to get annoyed and defensive.

Anyway! It appears, above all, that people have either fundamentally different ideas of what a tragedy is or accomplishes, or that people have a fundamentally flawed understanding of tragedy and it’s place as a narrative device/theme.

My thoughts are that tragedies hurt, and tragedies can be devastating, but they have to have a message and they should not be cruel to the audience.

A cruel ending would involve leading the audience to believe one thing for the entire book, show, movie, podcast, what have you, just to rip it away at the last minute like a big “fuck you” to the audience. Those sorts of endings are inherently mocking of the audience, and ultimately disrespectful. The only people in the audience that “benefit” from this sort of writing are the cynics who spent the entire show talking down to everyone for seeing the silver lining in the impending tragedy, even if, up until the finale, the silver lining was always part of the narrative. Like it took actual twisting and outright ignoring of the narrative as it’s written to be cynical and sceptical all the way until the end.

That is, plain and simple, bad writing. Jonny Sims is not a bad writer.

Now tragedies often have “happy endings,” they just also have an element of sadness colouring that ending. A good, tragic ending should, in my opinion, feel bittersweet. We should see it coming, we should know it will hurt, but it should be for the greater good and should further the narrative that has been told from the beginning.

I said a few weeks ago that a tragic ending without a silver lining is just torture porn, and I stand by it.

Now, if Jon or Martin are revealed to be Actually Evil in the end, where is the silver lining in that? What narrative has even possibly hinted at this outcome, without putting on cynic glasses?

Every single plot point and plot “twist” in TMA has been clearly detailed, never relegated to pure subtext that you would have to comb through a single interraction and analyzing the tone in which it was said (which could easily be actor shortcomings or error). They have always been obvious, at least in hindsight. This is why, for a while, I subscribed to the Web!Martin theory, but due to recent episodes I’m more inclined to believe those “obvious things” were red herrings.

Throughout The Magnus Archives, the common theme in every. Single. Season finale is that “we are stronger together.” What do I mean by that? Well, here’s the general idea:

Season 1: The one time someone gets separated by the group for any significant length of time, like I mean the main group, she gets killed by the NotThem and replaced.

Season 2: Jon is alone, due to his intense paranoia and his reluctance to reach out for help. This leads to a disastrous series of events that leaves him a suspect of murder, and his friends even more doubtful of his character.

Season 3: In the episode just before they deal with the Unknowing, Jon literally says that isolation was his downfall, and he was going to work on trusting his friends more. When they got separated during the Unknowing, things went to shit. When they found each other again, they were able to rally and they “succeeded.” Conversely, they are also teamed up with Melanie and Martin who hung back to bring down Elias. They were successful, working as teams on separate objectives, etc.

Season 4: This is, by far, their most “successful” feats while simultaneously their least. The whole season was again showing the downfalls of isolation. In the season finale, Jon has Basira and Daisy’s help, and while bolstering himself with their strength, and the strength in his conviction to save Martin to be with Martin, Jon was successful in stopping Peter Lukas and saving Martin. Conversely, Martin and Jon’s isolation in Scotland could be, theoretically, implicated in how Jonah Magnus was able to succeed in the end like that.

Now evidence of this same train of thought in season 5? Jon literally says it: Gertrude would not have done well in this post-apocalyptic world, because she had no friendships, no anchors, no reason to stay human. And then Jon says “you are my reason” to Martin.

It is in the text of the story that the only way to succeed, or win, or survive, is through trust, friendship, and love. One of the main factors in so many of the statements, on why the statement givers succumbed to the fear in their story, for even a moment, had to do with very little personal ties to anyone else. Many of the statements feature isolation and, as Jon put it, “lack of corroboration.” On the flipside, many of the statements that ended with the statement giver escaping successfully, and surviving long enough to be reached out to for follow-up questions, involved them having close personal ties to someone else that kept them safe, somehow. Like the girl from Italy; remembering her mom saved her from the Lonely. Or, more ridiculously, the guy and his dog that escaped the spiral because he was so distracted by his dog and had to be home for dinner. In MAG170, it was Martin’s love for Jon, and his trust in the love from Jon and his friends, that saved him from the Lonely again. Jon’s incredible amount of love, and respect, and trust in his friends is what’s kept him from becoming another Jared Hopworth or Jude Perry. In MAG155, Cost of Living, he expresses open disgust in how that particular avatar of The End justified her actions, killing and killing and killing again because she viewed herself as more worthy of life than that person. In that same episode, he talks of not blinding himself because he hopes to use his powers to protect his friends, that without them they’re too vulnerable. Honestly, this is the same reason Peter Lukas is unsuccessful, because Martin only helped him at all to protect his friends. The fact that he didn’t see his failure coming was hilarious.

Gerry said in Family Business that there is no “entities of love”, and that might be true, but love and trust is literally what saves you from fear. How many of us deal with things that are scary in our lives, if only because we have some level of trust in the people or things around us. How many of us have been brought out of a panic attack by someone we love and trust?

So all of this has been presented to us, over and over and over again, which is what I, and others, mean when we say “it does not make sense for one of them to be evil.” That’s what we mean when we say “it would be Bad Writing to make one of them evil in the end.” The entire show has driven home the message that we need love, we need personal connections to survive fear. To rip that away from the main characters at the last minute and call it “tragedy” would be a spit in the face of every single listener who took the story at face value, without picking it apart and reading lines out of context. And Jonny Sims and Alex J. Newall have both said they hate lazy writing.

Now, none of the JonMartin fans I follow are deluding themselves to think this show will have a happy ending outside of very self-indulgent fix-it au fanfics.

The way I see this going down is that Jon and Martin will figure out how to put the world back to the way it was, but Jon will not be able to be part of the new world with Martin. That’s the tragedy; that the world gets saved, and Jon helps save it, but he doesn’t get to benefit from his efforts in any way. The tragedy is Jon loves Martin so much, and they deserve their happy ending, but they don’t get it. But, they still saved the world so others can have their happy endings.

Idk about you, but between the “Jon turns evil in the end” and “Jon stays good and sacrifices himself to save the world” endings, only one of them has me in tears right now as I type this out, and it’s not the former.

I’m not against sad endings,I’m against bad endings that punish the audience for having even a bittersweet hope. I’m against sad endings that are just sad for the sake of being sad, with zero pay-off or reason to happen, especially when those endings throw out 5 years of hard work.

And hey, I might just be forced to eat my words in the end, but not before I fly all the way to England and make Jonny Sims eat a knuckle sandwich.

This was a lot longer than I meant for it to be, but I just have a lot of feelings.

[enderspawn]

so now that we’ve had a few days since the syndicate stream, i think ive managed to cool down and step back to look at it more neutrally. ended up long and pretty rambly since its all pretty flow of consciousness so its under the cut, but heres some thoughts on the syndicate (and a bit on c!techno, since hes the originator)

in universe, techno has only just heard a new place was made. he doesn’t know jack abt it, so he goes over to check it out and learn whats happening. he meets w tubbo, who explains they arent a gov, and accepts it then goes. hes hesitant abt the nukes, but frankly? also understandable, they are nukes. any kind of mass weapon of destruction is something to look out for, same as if tubbo revealed his own wither vault. 

i think the reason that i, and many other ppl, had such a NEGATIVE reaction to what is a mainly harmless and completely reasonable interaction is. well, bc we’re the audience. we KNOW more than c!techno does. we know that snowchester very explicitly was formed without a government because they’re afraid of techno attacking. we know that the nukes are made to defend them, based off what happened to lmanberg. we know that ranboo joined partially to try and spare snowchester if worst came to worst. 

the reason we the audience were afraid of him going is bc we feared what would happen if he DID deem it a gov. bc we know the effort they’ve done to NOT be one, bc we have a connection to the town that c!techno doesnt. 

after then came calling the syndicate/techno tyrannical. after all- if they strike down every government then they are forcing ppl to follow their beliefs under threat of destruction or death. which is uhh pretty fucking tyrannical. 

the thing is that in the end the syndicate hasnt even done enough for us to like. KNOW if thats true. techno himself said hes totally fine w just group of people living together, hell hes in a damn SYNDICATE. you can def argue in general abt what gives the syndicate the right at all to decide if a gov deserves to exist, if being “”the deciders”” makes them inherently hypocritical. (this also is pushing that “they decide” bc, well, w the exception of tubbo now, theres very little chance the other ppl would win against techno and crew. it Would just be decimation. if they attack, they’re destroying it all). 

after all, they preach abt giving ppl the right to choose but then dont let them choose to form a gov. paradox of tolerance i suppose, since in anarchistic views there isnt like a “non-corrupt” government so every government is worth dismantling. (note, this is all based off my p limited understanding of anarchy theory and also Very Simplified for ease of speaking)

another reason we the audience may have been so afraid is bc, historically, techno doesnt lose. he may suffer personal losses and feelings of betrayal, but narratively hes won every battle hes really been in. its the status quo, so any possible conflict in the future you kind of expect the same. we were afraid of any kind of conflict starting. 

i think this stuff does kinda work in character too. c!tubbo admits himself he doesnt rlly know government stuff, and he doesnt seem to really know what techno would or wouldnt DEEM one- thus he has a similar fear to the audience of being struck down for it. ranboo, like stated before, partially joined bc he was afraid FOR snowchester. 

again i get that anarchy is against that greater establishment, but theres something to be said for the fact that. well. this is a block game. its systems work a LOT differently than real life, and real life anarchist theory may not transfer over well. there are a lot of good posts ive seen recently analysing lmanberg (specifically early lmanberg) and like. it genuinely worked to protect its citizens. they were able to pool together their resources and man power and protect each other from outside threats that would overpower them seperately. there IS no big overarching societal and deeply built in system to overthrow like in real life, if anything “having a government” IS the new system trying to form instead of anarchy (bc, to my knowledge, lmanberg was the first real “government” and the dream smp’s gov kinda formed as a response) it could def be another reason so many ppl are against enforcing anarchy-- this isnt the real world, and being in solidified groups could help the weak. without that, instead its the strongest survive and thrive while everyone else suffers. 

(then again to devils advocate my own point, a lot of times they’re referring in those posts to a time where wilbur, who was actually “in charge” wasnt around a ton, so there was less of a power structure in place. also, you CAN still have a group of ppl without being a “gov” (like snowchester or the syndicate) but then we get back to “what is a gov by the syndicate’s standards” as well as if they want to remove a gov at its start or JUST when it seems “tyrannical” (so if they believe a gov is inherently tyrannical). like if i started a direct democracy gov and explicitly called it a gov, do you take it down? its taking the opinion of all citizens and allows everyone equal power. is that corrupt just bc its ALSO a gov, or does it get to stay? where is the line?  idk man maybe give the gov like a free trial. if it starts being corrupt then step in but if they’re vibin they’re vibin. chill w the anarchy /lh /hj JFKDLSJF)

idk man this isnt fully conclusion imo i just wanted to long think abt this. also fuck this block game for getting into legit political theory and ethics and shit. “is someone valid in doing something for another person that they believe will help the other person if it limits their personal freedom” (or, is techno correct in enforcing anarchy bc he believes it is the best form for ppl, EVEN at the cost of their personal freedoms to make a gov) is too deep to be asking for a fuckin block potato pig. this is why i dont do a ton of discourse im just stupid and it starts getting philosophical at some point FDSKLFJ

yall can respond w your own thoughts to this if you want, even debate it!, but idk if ill respond bc uhhhh Brain Empty fdjsklfj i just wanted to ramble and sort out my own thoughts on the matter now that im not uber pissed at c!techno JFKDLSJFKL

[sanstropfremir]

So I have opinions on the other stages but like most of us I can’t stop thinking about the SF9 stage. Hanya said it really well in her response but I think we have to break up the members into the ones who tried to emulate Taemin’s androgyny and those who just flat out didn’t try. So in order I’d put it Taeyang, Jaeyoon, Zuho. Those three stood out to me the most as really pushing into more feminine ways of carrying themselves and dancing especially Jaeyoon-like where did that man come from it was very unexpected. Then Chani and Inseong were both more neutral. I can’t put Chani in the first category mostly because of the contrast between his dancing and style with the female dancers that made it obvious that he was still trying to be more masculine despite having certain moves that definitely lend to a feline style like all the hip movements(whether consciously or unconsciously). And last Hwiyoung, Youngbin, and Dawon. I think this is the distinction that some people were making with “sexy” and “Taemin sexy”. Like everyone just associates him with sexiness but opening your shirt to show off your abs doesn’t fit with Taemin’s usual sensuality. Taemin seems to be more focused on movement (throwback to your post on his dancing style) so in order to emulate him there a certain attitude and way in which you carry yourself through movement is necessary. Also youngbin’s rap part did not fit with the concept either-it was too energetic and chill (too much swagger?). Like the way he moved compared to say Zuho was more in line with his usual stuff rather than fitting the way he moved to the stage and song. It’s also interesting to see that the outfits seem to also keep in line with this. Zuho and Taeyang have their midsections showing in a way that’s more common in women’s fashion then in men’s, Chani and Inseong are almost completely covered (so neither in one direction or the other) and Hwiyoung has his arms bared to show off his manly, manly biceps. And of course there’s Dawon. It’s fascinating to compare the members with the more revealing outfits. Like they all have their midsections uncovered but to be more feminine it’s only just a crop top and to be more masculine you open the shirt up completely. It makes sense. Also I’ve been obsessed with Jaeyoon and I can’t exactly pinpoint why he stood out so much especially when Taeyang is RIGHT THERE (though I don’t really think Taeyang got a solo scene but rather was center on the group dances which kind of dilutes his parts). Like his outfit is pretty plain but I love the cutout and the fact that he has long sleeves but they aren’t mesh. It’s simple but effective. I kept thinking this was the Hetero man’s Move especially during Youngbin and Dawson’s parts.

ok this took a really long time because honestly i changed what i was writing about like four times in the middle of the process and i changed my mind like four times because this is a very complicated topic and i could not settle on what the best way to come at it was. tbh i dont think i did the best job even though this is over a thousand words but i have no clue how to make this any more coherent without re-reading all of my flatmate and i's gender theory books and that's just way too much. but here we go.

EDIT: here is hanya’s post about the stage for reference!

where i'm at right now is that i think we are overlaying taemin’s current gender antics with what the actual move was. move has transformed along with taemin, and as such we look back at it with the understanding of what it becomes, but if we take a moment to forget that context, well... let me show you. here’s the 171019 comeback stage. and the 171027. and the 171029. now, here���s the 190223 stage from sketchbook. and from almost a year later, at the 2019 mbc music festival. and now here’s it from a month ago on the tiktok stage. it’s changed a significant amount not only in how he performs it, but in how the costumes and his body affect what it looks like. the cutoff muscle shirt of october 2017 absolutely has a different connotation than the lace back and velvet princess glove and the diamonds of december 2019.

i still do believe that sf9’s cover is missing a huge dimension because it comes from a fundamental non-understanding of what people who present even the slightest bit outside of the gender binary go through, i don’t think they were wrong in interpreting it as ‘man doing non-aggressive but seductive dance moves’ because on the surface, that’s what it is. taemin has actually spent a significant portion of his solo career doing what you described as traditionally 'masculine' dressing; he did famously rip his shirt off for the first non-music show performance of danger, after all. what we associate as 'taemin sensuality' is relatively new for him, it's more prominently a post-want mannerism because pre-move (and for a lot of move itself) he was very focussed on being perceived as masculine.

if we look at sf9's costumes individually, the breakdown looks like this:

chani - skinny trouser, chiffon shirt, and a cropped wrap suit jacket with a tie back

dawon - straight leg trouser, open silk shirt

jaeyoon - asymmetric open shoulder mock turtleneck, wide leg trouser

taeyang - wide leg trouser, faux leather open shoulder crop top

inseong - silk/silk blend shirt, cropped asymmetric suit jacket with a crossover back, tailored trouser

hwiyoung - sleeveless mock neck faux leather vest, straight leg cargo pant

youngbin - mock neck asymmetric crop top with a mesh underlayer, wide leg trouser

zuho - skinny trouser, mock neck crop top, cropped suit jacket with a pointed front

taemin has worn most of these looks. cropped wrap jacket? ngda beyond live velvet suit. open silk shirt? the move album cover. asymmetric shoulder cutout? several want performances. the only exception is that he doesn’t often wear non-skinny trousers, but even then he did for his beauty and the beast moment with the jinro frog. and sleeveless was the whole costume concept for move in the first place. even youngbin’s look is very similar to this outfit from the offsick concert series. but silhouette is only one factor of a complete costume design - you have to take into account the performer’s body, and how that silhouette is perceived on that body. it’s interesting that you specify that hwiyoung’s biceps are ‘manly’ and grouped him in with the more ‘masculine’ of the sf9 members; as i showed at the beginning of this, taemin was at his most physically muscular for move promotions. hwiyoung has just as pretty a face as taemin, but we perceive him differently in this outfit because his body is categorized as more masculine because his muscles are bigger. and this is fundamentally a gender essentialist argument because bigger muscles are not actually ‘more masculine,’ muscles don’t have gender they’re just how humans move around. it’s just our societally impressed gender binary that makes us think that.

another costume point i want to make is how you describe chani and inseong as being completely covered so ‘neither one direction or the other,’ which i would like to break down a bit. for starters, jaeyoon is also essentially fully covered, but you perceived him as being one of the more androgynous ones over chani or inseong. why? because his silhouette was more form-fitted? because there was an uncommon area of skin showing? chani has a tightly fit silhouette as well, and you can see a fair amount of his skin because his shirt is chiffon. why is a suit neutral but something cut to follow the contour of a body not? the fact of the matter is, the suit is the most symbolically gendered garment in the world; it is loaded with western colonial and patriarchal implications. we just view it as 'neutral' because we’ve been normalized to see it as neutral. now neither of the suits chani or inseong are wearing are traditionally cut, and chani’s especially is quite subversive in its construction, but taemin is no stranger to using the implications of a suit for move, here’s the stage from 171105. grey double breasted pinstripe suits were the most popular style for businessmen in the postwar west, and still maintain a prominent indicator of class and power to this day.

you are correct in pointing out that the movements and mannerisms of the members don’t all match the same level, but i want to specifically talk about the intro moment with chani, because you mention him as trying to be more masculine, which i very much disagree with. chani actually does the best at retaining the body neutrality of the original choreo because the original choreo as a stand alone isn’t that seductive or ‘feminine.’ yea he doesn’t have the attitude down pat but the guy’s 20 and is clearly not as comfortable with being this kind of sexy. the reason why you’re perceiving him to be more ‘masculine’ in his movements is because the backup dancers are frankly, being pretty aggressively sexual in a feminine coded way around him. of course he’s gonna look out of place! part of what gives move its uniqueness is that the backup dancers are doing the exact same choreo as taemin, at the exact same intensity. not an altered version where they slut drop behind him.

like i said at the very beginning, i think taemin’s been tipped into the ‘feminine’ category under false assumptions, so it’s doing a bit of skewing of the responses to this stage. if i were to make a very reductivist diagram, i think a lot of responses have been (taemin) <- neutral -> masculine, with the implication that taemin is the feminine analogue, but in reality what taemin is and is aiming for is feminine -> (taemin) <- masculine. because we have been socialized to see things in such an aggressive binary, it can be very difficult to pick out what a true neutral is.