#i feel like a filthy capitalist

[benjinkies]

the urge to make a blind box series :|

[nico-tines]

genuine question for hatchetfield fans

how do you believe each of the lords in black manifest their powers ??

ill go first

Pokey: This is the most obvious as we know he can actively take over people in hatchetfield/outside of the black and white using blue shit, but i also believe he can cause hallucinations (similar to what Lex experiences in Yellow Jacket at Toy Zone) where he appears as the doll in visions or people start to hallucinate blue shit everywhere around them in the place of blood.

Wiggly: Wiggly appears as the doll and can clearly cause mass hysteria/infatuation with him, but that power seems to not work on everyone (Lex and Hannah are good examples). The way that Wiggly can cause this kind of hysteria is by preying on anyone who deeply feels like they are missing something in their life, so i think his main power is manipulation of those he sees as weak or in need. I also believe he likes to send out his followers (like wilbur) to do his dirty work for him, rather than putting in the effort himself life the capitalist overlord he truly is. He is not actually the most physically powerful of his brothers, but he is the smartest in his manipulation tactics to stay the leader of the group.

Blinky: Blinky either can take over others in a way similar to Pokey without fully taking away their consciousness. Or he is able to send minions outside of the black and white similar to Wiggly. Either way, he will always be the watcher. He doesn’t use his powers as often to create mayhem, but he enjoys watching others suffer and creating drama. His main power manifests through the purple eyes that are always watching in different corners of hatchetfield, but I also believe he can cause overwhelming anger and panic in the people he decided to mess with. He can control the emotions of others to cause chaos that he likes watch. (an explanation of how Bill got so crazy at Blinky’s World)

Tinky: Tinky is difficult to say as his intervention in the only episode that revolves around him is seemingly all in Ted’s head. I think that he is able to create rifts in the time space continuum like Ted’s office, and in those little spaces he has power to worm his way into peoples heads. Giving them hope of the future and then using that to his advantage to take that away. Eventually trapping those he messes with in the bastardards box. He loves breaking people down piece by piece through his time manipulation.

Nibbly: Nibbly is really interesting to me, specifically because he doesn’t seem to affect anyone outside of the day of the Honey Festival. I think he’s entirely fueled by hunger and greed with very little brains or scheming unlike his brothers. But I do like the concept that he can cause a ravaging amount of greed in anyone he wants to possess. Sometimes that’s hunger, sometimes it’s for material possessions or money. His followers seem to be filthy rich, and filled with a hunger for more power. When he feels like messing with someone he causes them to ruin their relationships surrounding them through an uncontrollable greed.

These are mostly just headcanons so let me know what you all think, and if you guys have any other ideas for powers with each of them!

[theabigailthorn]

why is so much of womanhood tied to buying shit?Like I want to look and feel feminine but I feel so guilty about buying makeup, fancy clothes and getting my hair done when there are people who can't afford food 😭 if I don't do that stuff I feel dysphoric but when I do it I feel like like a filthy capitalist lol

This is so real. So much of what society tells us is 'doing a woman right' is either tied to conspicuous consumption, or requires a lot of money

[trialserrors]

i love pizza sim!michael headcanons

yeah im playing as a filthy capitalist. yeah the only human he’s talked to in years will give him a lobotomy if he fails but it wont matter because his hollow head will already be overstuffed with whatever marketable item has “faz” plastered before its name and there’s no reaching whatever little is left of his brain. yeah he’ll save up for a prize counter reward knowing the crumpled tickets in his pockets will be nothing but a melted muddle in five days. he enters his work and feels like he is being suffocated in ten pounds of sugar (that came in a plastic bag with a bear logo and a star on it). he applauds when the rockstar animatronics finish their obnoxious show and hears his bones clacking against eachother, with no layers of muscle blocking them from eachother, only purpled skin. he plays every arcade game and is at the top of the leaderboard of each one. his world will end in five days. he doesn’t know if he even told the last human face he’ll ever see his real name. he doesn’t know if he could manage it. he doesn’t remember if he even has vocal cords, anyway

[thatesqcrush]

Inaugural Sparks

David (A Murder at the End of the World) x reader.

AN: I know nothing about Raúl’s character so forgive me for any mischaracterizations. I just really wanted to write something for this character and couldn’t wait until the 14th.

Rating: NSFW for 🌶️🌶️

You stood poised in front of a rustic bar, your heart fluttering with the anticipation of your first date with David Alvarez. The autumn air is crisp, causing a soft blush to bloom on your cheeks. You are clad in a cozy, burnt-orange sweaterdress that complements the fall foliage. Your eyes, full of hope and curiosity, are as vibrant as the setting sun. Your fingers nervously played with the cuff of your sleeve, a silent testament to the excitement and uncertainty of the impending encounter. The scent of fallen leaves and the distant sound of laughter from the bar added to the atmosphere of anticipation.

In many ways this was a blind date. But it also wasn’t.

It was a date in the making through mutual friends, Andy Ronson, and his wife Lee, who showed you off to David on his phone and vice versa with him to you. It might have been just a picture, but the attraction was instantaneous.

And this date took weeks in the making thanks to conflicting work schedules. David was an Argentine venture capitalist who happened to be on the top ten Midas list for Forbes. While VCs only invested in 2–3 companies a year, the rest of his time was spent platonically courting entrepreneurs. Suffice it to say, he was loaded. But truthfully, you were well off as well and your work had kept you just as busy.

You and David had been texting and calling for weeks now. Some of the communications were purely innocent, while others were downright filthy. Finally, after so many nights of teasing and eluding, of shared pictures that showed little but promised much more, you were going to be meeting face to face. You had a feeling that this evening held the promise of something special.

You checked the time on your watch before re-applying your lipstick. Then drawing a deep breath in, you made your way into the dimly lit bar, poised, head raised in confidence. As you made your way in, you realized that David was already at the bar. He is sitting, facing the door with one leg hooked through the legs of the stool. He wore a crisp white button down, the top two buttons open, accentuating his tanned skin. There was a glint of a gold chain from the overhead lights. His hair - a distinguished mix of salt and pepper - was perfectly coiffed and accompanied with a neatly trimmed beard.

You could tell he was striving for casualness but there remained a tension in the way he sat, a restlessness you could sense in your gut - as if he preferred to pace and prowl the room while he waited. He exuded sophistication - but there was an air of rugged charm which added to his already distinguished features.

One broad palm cradled a tumbler full of brown liquor. He swirled the drink close to the rim, allowed it to settle and then raised it to his perfectly pink lips. You paused mid-stride, drinking him in. His eyes snapped up, meeting yours and the air cracked with a magnetic pull.

Unbeknownst to you, David had already spotted you outside, bathed in the early evening light, a vision in your sweater dress that clung to your curves in all the right places. He couldn’t believe his luck.

David’s intense gaze held for a moment before he lowered his, dragging along the curves of your dress. His lips twitched in a smile at the hint of skin between the hemline of your dress and the thigh highs that you wore.

You felt desire shoot down your belly, creating a warm pool between your thighs. The smoldering look in his green eyes caused your nipples to harden and pucker against the fabric, eager to show off for him, already seeking his touch. The tip of his tongue emerged to dance along his bottom lip. For a moment, you imagine what it must be like to sink your hands into his beard as you kiss him.

Pictures did not do him justice. He was without a doubt, the most fucking handsome man you had ever had the pleasure of looking at. You take in the width of his broad shoulders, down his chest. You finally continue your journey until you are standing face to face with him.

You get a whiff of spice from his aftershave. Your blood fizzes in response and your pussy is now throbbing in tandem with your heartbeat. More slickness gathers between your thighs and you know he would be pleased when he found out you weren’t wearing any underwear.

He shifted in his seat, causing you to smile. The two of you had not even touched, but you could already tell that he was growing hard, the bulge straining against the zipper of his pants. You ached to have him fill you, fucking you hard as your pussy milked him for all that he was worth.

Pleasantries are exchanged and as you sit next to him, you order a shot of tequila with a lime. David watched you with intense fascination as you slammed the shot back. You bit into the lime, sucking out every last drop of citrus, igniting an electric shock that sent shivers down David’s spine and right to his aching cock.

The night continued over a shared bottle of red wine as you each shared stories about work and life. David mentioned he was planning on attending an upcoming exclusive retreat at Andy’s high-tech hotel, located in the snowiest reaches of Iceland.

But as the evening deepened, so did the connection between the two of you. The chemistry was undeniable, and it only grew as the two of you shared more personal tales, vulnerabilities laid bare.

When the idea of dessert was floated to the two of you by the bartender, you took the opportunity to reach for David’s thigh.

“I am not hungry for dessert.” You felt as if you were almost vibrating with desire.

David’s fingers traced a path along your hand, causing your breath to hitch. “There is something about you that I can’t resist.”

You gave him a victorious smile. You changed to standing and planted yourself in between his legs. You leaned to his ear.

“Finish your drink and pay the man.” You finished with a nip to his ear causing David to groan.

The pupils of his eyes are dilated and you are pleased as punch watching him swallow the remainder of his drink before slamming the glass along the bartop. He reached for his wallet and dropped a few hundred dollar bills, more than enough to cover the tab and then some. “Keep the change.”

Finally, you found yourselves beneath the canopy of bar, waiting for an Uber to arrive. David pulled you close, his lips finding yours in a fiery, passionate kiss. You let out a moan as his tongue licked hotly into your mouth. The world around you both faded away as the two of you surrendered to the intensity of the attraction.

The kiss deepened, and the sparks that had been building all night ignited into a passionate, all-consuming flame.

FIN.

Tags: @beardedbarba @beccabarba @melk917 @madpanda75 @adarafaelbarba @storiesofsvu @dreamlover31 @detective-giggles @plaidbooks @eltrujillo @jenparis

[youremyheaven]

this might be a kinda niche observation but i have noticed women who are venusian plus saturnian are Not very nice 😭 i know two women who's entire chart is basically 50/50 venusian naks and saturn naks and one thing i've noticed they both do is try to remix traditional gender roles into some sort of female empowerment thing

for example, one of them is constantly going on dates with older rich men which by itself is like fine whatever but she tries to act like she's this genius feminist for doing it. like no babe.... you're still conforming to gender roles by essentially selling yourself to rich men to eventually become their spoiled housewife, if anything she's putting a capitalistic spin on it. i think this is because of the saturnian urge to conform to traditions meshing with the venusian urge to date lots and surround yourself with money and beauty

the second girl is obsessed with traditional beauty standards for im assuming the same reason. she literally often says things like "i love entering a room and knowing i'm the prettiest one there" and "walking down the street watching people gawk because i'm the most beautiful one here". it's so cringe and low vibrational, not to mention misogynistic yet just like the other girl she tries to put a feminist spin on it. she has a whole twitter account dedicated to unlocking your "divine feminine", which is a real thing but she does it in such an incorrect way like telling people what plastic surgery they need to be "perfect" and of course, how to attract a rich man. it's a combo of venusian vanity and saturnian rule following (the beauty standards being the rules)

also, they both HATE eachother 😭

that sounds about right ngl

I feel like Venusian women who are not drawn to the arts and are somehow unable to channel their creativity make it their sole purpose in life to pursue romance and 😬it kind of messes them up?? My grandma is Purvaphalguni Moon and she was a very talented singer back in the day and wanted to study Music in college but her family was against it and made her study to be a teacher and then she ended up marrying my grandad and also cheating on him and ngl it ruined her life,,, anywayyss I feel like Venusians were meant to pursue all of the themes of Venus, ESPECIALLY its creativity because art will fulfil you in ways no man or relationship can and in the absence of it, all this excessive materialistic pursuit of relationships brings out the corrosiveness of Venus.

Venus is capable of immense devotional spirituality, its not a shallow planet or influence by any means but to get to the spirituality (of any planet tbh) one has to transcend its more superficial material manifestations. I think Venusian fixation on romance, relationships etc can be very damning. I know a Purvaphalguni Moon girl who cannot be single for even a second and she said she can't get married because she will cheat on him 😭

I know several Venusians who are like you mentioned but damn that Venus and Saturn combination you talked about is lethal,, they can lead themselves to such a shallow hollow and empty life. Ngl I feel like all those "dating coaches" online who talk about "10 ways to marry a rich man" are all Venusian/Saturnian women and sorry to break it but I promise it never works out. If a man knows that you're with him for his money, I promise you no amount of money he throws at you will be worth the mind games and psychological abuse that will ensue.

I have a friend, Bharani stellium who is from a well to do family but she dreams of marrying someone filthy rich and being a housewife. She's also Saturnian lmao but I feel like her idealized visions of being someone's trophy wife will lead to some bitter experiences. Bc first of all Indian men are trash, second of all, rich people are trash and a rich Indian man and his family are probably capable of god knows what insanity. I think about that video of Shah Rukh Khan, aka the biggest actor the country has ever seen at Isha Ambani's (billionaire's daughter) twins birthday party where they'd brought out snakes??? (rich ppl things bc who tf would bring snakes to a toddler's bday party??) and Isha's brother picks up a snake and puts it on SRK's shoulder from behind, catching him off guard. Like ik its obviously not poisonous but like ??? thats so rude??? imagine just putting a snake on someone without their consent??? its that asshole's entitlement that makes him believe he can get away with anything. any video of the Ambani kids is a testament to them being rich assholes but anyways point is, rich people are fucked up and its insane to me that women want to sign away their autonomy by marrying into these families??? like are they dumb??? how naive do you have to be to believe that they'll be rich AND nice to you?? lol?? and you cannot raise a finger against them bc money will silence everyone, even the courts. look at what happened to amber heard and what's happening to angelina jolie. these are powerful, influential women, not housewives to rich douchebags but even then, they suffer. now what would happen to a regular woman???

anybody who dreams of being a trophy wife feels absolutely delusional to me. its so important to maintain your independence. like by all means i want to marry rich but i dont ever want to be in a position where im financially dependent on a man. THATS DANGEROUS. quite literally.

[maxwell-grant]

So, which of the alien empires do you like better, the Kree or the Skrulls?

I feel mostly the same way about either, in that I don't particularly care for them in their own right, there is plenty I outright dislike most of them, but they can be useful worldbuilding elements to have around and have led to decent things over the years. I guess if I had to draw a straw here I'd say the Skrulls, but the Skrulls have more asterisks attached. I think the Skrulls have aged poorly overall and seem to be more trouble than they're worth.

It simply was inevitable that the Fantastic Four, at the moment of their inception, would have to deal with little green spacemen bent on world domination, these being shapeshifting Red Scare allegories just being part-and-parcel of what alien invasion stories are generally about at core (well that and antisemitism). Invading armies made of alien races are just kind of grandfathered into superhero settings at this point, like one of those things you have to address or do at some point. I'd say my biggest issue with the Skrulls isn't so much that they exist, and less that they are made to embody ideas I find politically or socially or morally reprehensible (although that is an issue, and Secret Invasion was an abysmally fucking ugly chapter in Marvel history, I'll link these articles by Ritesh Babu and Kelly Kanayama who can better elaborate why), as much as I think they really fall apart as a concept that's meant to exist in a shared universe where everybody's gonna be approaching them with different sensibilities and everybody who does so is gonna do some course-correcting on the previous takes to make their new one stand. They are living breathing allegorical embodiments of The Other who are also meant to pose an actual verifiable threat to the planet, and when you treat that idea seriously, when it’s no longer the 60s and this stuff is no longer given a pass for being charmingly antiquated, what do you do with it?

Are the Skrulls refugees? Are they imperialists? Are they warmongering genocide enthusiasts by nature or are they just regular people abused and groomed into war by their leaders? Are they space capitalists or commies? Are they honorable warriors or filthy backstabbers? Are they evil jihadist extremists hellbent on destroying America? Are we supposed to cheer when the heroes enthusiastically destroy them to save the planet or is this an oh-so-sad why-couldnt-we-get-along thing where the superheroes are very sad they have no choice but to kill them all? Are we meant to distrust the heroes when they attack Skrulls who are clearly not the aggressors or is it just an understandable funny misunderstanding? Are they really just gonna keep ping-ponging between perfect aggressors and perfect victims depending on what is convenient? That just feels irresponsible and too discomforting to me.

And I think that discomfort with their past depictions, with Secret Invasion, with the general fantasy orc problem they carry, is very clear in how modern creators tackle the Skrulls, and so they lean more heavily on making the Skrulls palatable, making them warriors torn between their honor and their loyalty to their dying empire, going hard on the angle of them as refugees displaced by war (which only makes the people at conflict with, the Kree and the superheroes, even less sympathetic in a way that never allows that thread to pan out), making conventionally pretty Skrulls like Hulkling to be "the good ones" in charge, drowning them in white savior bullshit that does little to address that fundamental tension and doesn't even last because eventually the Skrulls will be villains again, eventually it's their turn on the list of old pulp tropes superheroes recycle periodically. Even putting Secret Invasion aside, and you can't, the Skrulls are fundamentally a hostile endless race of alien monsters seeking to infiltrate America's borders by replacing it's people with themselves so they can take over the world. Valuable attempts have been made to flesh them out, but you are just not going to bleed that fascistic validation out of them.

The most I ever liked the Skrulls as a concept is probably in that storyline where Ben Grimm gets captured and sent to a Skrull planet where they are all obsessed with imitating Prohibition-era gangsters and forcing several other captive aliens to battle out, simultaneously allowing The Thing to deal with an upscaled gangster problem and a Star Trek problem and a Flash Gordon problem all in one. Skrulls-as-Space-Gangsters felt like it was onto something, a decent middleground power and threat-wise for them to occupy in the cosmic hierarchy with a niche not occupied by anyone else in the F4 rogues gallery and one that might de-emphasize the inherent xenophobia, open up different nuanced takes without needing to defang their value as an imperial power (and frankly Ben Grimm should be punching gangsters more often, he'd be the first to agree). That might be too limiting, so if there were a step beyond that, I'd suggest doing more on the weird exploration side, go big on the Skrulls as a species of copycats who can be anything and allow for weird alternate scenarios and themes and topics to be touched on, some of that weird anything-goes experimentation that made so much of F4 fun to read.

Skrull utopias, Skrull dystopias, Skrull societies that revolve around cooking competitions (maybe there are Skrulls morphing themselves into meals). Skrull planets doing shonen fighting tournaments, Skrull corporations dissatisfied with the Super-Skrull so they start splicing superpowers from a bunch of others hoping to strike big with the next great warrior, planets that are moving backwards because everytime their Skrulls get dissatisfied with modernity they take a step back on their timeline as literally as possible, Skrulls play-acting their versions of Marvel story arcs that center them as the heroes, a planet that is just the Skrulls doing their version of the DC universe, a city of rocky orange Skrulls who worship Ben as the greatest warrior in the universe, serious debates in Skrull circles over what is the worst form possible to take, roving bands of Skrull hippies trying to find the next cool thing to transform into and mold their identities around, Skrull beauty pageants, etc. I guess most of these are ideas better served outside of the Skrull framework and there's not much getting around the core make-up of these guys, but idk, if the Skrulls are gonna be a thing forever then they should be something that isn't just an Other existing in service of white savior/xenophobic fantasies. Give them their own Monkey Meat-esque anthology series about the things these weirdos endure and do when they aren't getting into spats with superheroes or space fascists or their warring governments.

Oh yeah and there's these guys too, I guess. To be honest I don't think I actually even know what's their deal. I know they are distinct enough from the skrulls due to their superpowers and big hammers and imagery, they come in different colors, they take orders from a big weird mostly-evil supercomputer, they have the Accusers as essentially a police force they've used to murder a bunch of planets with, they created the Inhumans by fucking around with cavemen, and their deal a lot of the time seems to be that they are powerful space fascists, and also that they are responsible for Captain Marvel, which doesn't do a lot to dispel the whole space fascist thing. I do think Ronan is okay though. I liked him allright in his FF debut because, given his introduction, given how he spends every line of dialogue in it flabbergasted at the F4 for daring to oppose his authority and resist his judgement and that of his empire and shocked that they won't simply comply and bow and accept death, it made him maybe thee closest you could get to a evenly-matched Fantastic Four vs The Cops story, which I thought was enough reason to justify him and the Kree as an ongoing element. Hickman also does good stuff with him and the Kree in his Fantastic Four and Avengers runs enough that I am broadly okay with them as a thing, along with the whole reocurring cosmic invader bucket they share with the Skrulls and the Shi'ar and whatever. The best one in that alien invader bucket I'd say is Annihilus, but he is his own degree of freak not really comparable to them.

If I was gonna point to anything between the two that I actually love, not just appreciate but actually really enjoy, it would be the guy in that image speaking the thing on my mind most of the time, Super-Skrull. That is ENTIRELY because he is a very entertaining character in MvC3, not just in terms of his playstyle but his general personality and demeanor, and that was my introduction to him, mostly divorced from the context the Skrulls usually occupy I was very on board with this funny green spaceman with such a cool and busted powerset and such an attitude problem. Charlie Adler does so much for his personality, this hilariously unpleasant egotistical jerk who's spitting and snarling everything he says, jeering and stomping the camera or stomping your opponent after they're down, nobody in the game is quite playing the Heel to the extent Super-Skrull is, and I like that some of his lines and ending emphasize how he's not even really that much of a villain. He is the hero his empire needs, even if he nurtures a rebellious streak, and asks you not to look too much into whenever he breaks character.

[bi4bihankking]

HalOllie 3, 8, and 24

Who is the most romantic?

I feel like it's Ollie but this might be by virtue of just how unromantic Hal is.

What do they like in bed?

"Say it, say 'I'm a filthy capitalist pig who is only good for taking the loads of the proletariat'"

"Ollie I don't like this kind of dirty talk..."

"Do you need to read Das Kapital again?"

Where do they first have sex?

On the back of a truck during their roadtrip, about 2 metres from a highway

[girderednerve]

i've seen a post going around about ayn rand & it hurt my feelings

i'm MOSTLY KIDDING, i agree with the general thesis that atlas shrugged is a terrible book & we should all enjoy making fun of ayn rand, libertarianism is garbage, &c. &c. however i sort of think it's unfair to say that the prose is awful or unreadable or something; there are a lot of bad books in the world, so the bar isn't especially high, but atlas shrugged has some parts that are pretty compelling. that's why it works! it lands for a certain kind of person, and that kind of person is not just 'incomprehensible jerks' and 'people who didn't actually read it.' it also has several comically terrible parts (notorious thirty-page radio rant that saved the world???), the plot is incoherent nonsense, the pacing is terrible. but it has its moments! i spent a good month and a half or so when i was in perhaps the eighth grade enthralled, before i walked it off. here are the three that i remember:

1..dagny taggart (ayn's self-insert railroad heiress oc) taking the inaugural ride along the newly laid track made of rearden metal (for hank rearden, a man she is fucking who operates a vertically integrated steel outfit & invented some sick new alloy or whatever). it's a pretty good scene—it's full of speed & triumph, and also, this is key, train. you do have to ignore the parts where they're like 'stupid safety regulators, who wanted to assess my new metal track before letting me lay a bunch of it,' and where they're like 'stupid railroad workers, who refused to go on the untested track because they are sheeple,' that part is no fun at all, but there's a vivid description of the countryside going by & the sense of success & joy, the confidence in human ingenuity. it lands

2. a little paragraph of narration from hank rearden where he's standing in a party of other people (they are sheeple, of course) thinking about how without his labor they would be alone on the dark, windswept plains. it's an evocative image in context, i find it relatable to feel out of place in social gatherings, and it's also true that we all rely on labor. unfortunately, hank rearden performs none (filthy capitalist). but the prose is functional

3. dagny taggart (ayn's apparently super-hot self-insert oc) hooking up with hank rearden like on some railroad ties? it's very forceful in context, like one might speculate that ayn had kind of a CNC kink (not judging her for this but it is funny). also a scene where dagny taggart (ayn's unimaginably desirable self-insert oc) is hooking up with i think it was hank rearden but it might be a fling with francisco d'ancona, who runs a vertically integrated copper mining outfit, or the legendary john galt, who invented a magic engine that runs on ambient power or whatever, like i said the plot is stupid. anyway the scene is her wearing expensive jewels which were given to her by a man because he wants to see her in them, and she says something about feeling elevated by being an object he owns. i'm not saying this is good (one has concerns, naturally) but it was effective or interesting in some way; it fascinates me to see these kinds of pretty common female fantasies represented so directly & defensively, with the assertion that they are rational & reasonable, instead of embarrassing or diminishing. ayn's capitalism kink is actually very embarrassing, though, & obviously she was not a feminist at all.

i keep vaguely meaning to look for someone who's written thoughtfully about ayn rand's gender politics + the connection between the romantic/sexual fantasies in her major novels & her politics, but everyone just wants to dunk on her (she does deserve it) or fawn over her (gross) instead of writing me the literary analysis i badly wanted to read in eleventh grade (i specify 'major novels' because there's also a relevant scene in the fountainhead between howard roark, who is an architect but otherwise exactly the same as hank rearden, and dominique francon, ayn's sexy reporter/heiress self-insert oc; that woman had like one idea). anyway if you have thoughts on ayn rand or want to recommend me literary criticism please do

[transmutationisms]

i feel like one thing i didn’t like this ep was the implicit belief of kendall/shiv that jimenez was better than mencken for the american republic or whatever. like yes on some superficial level sure. but the critique of democrats as equally involved in violence and empire was not there to me, unless i’m missing something. i know that’s probably just the politics of the writers room but it feels like any allusion to how democrats are bad in this show is like, oh, they’re bad bc they’re involved with the far right a la gil and logan or nate and kendall. but there doesn’t seem to be an acknowledgment that dems would be bad even in their own right, even if they weren’t sitting at the table with the fascists. i know that sort of critique is a lot to ask of mainstream tv but i’m not sure if there’s something i’m not picking up on in the writing that is making those claims about liberal democrats, bc i do think the show in general is interested in the perils of neoliberal capitalism. but like, is it really, or only when said neoliberal capitalism interacts directly with fascistic ideology?

the show isn't saying that liberalism is bad because it interacts with fascism. it's saying that liberalism, because it is capitalist, inherently leads to and becomes fascism. so, there is no 'pure' liberalism untainted by fascism; the fascistic thinking is always already present in the democratic party and in other expressions of liberal ideology. this is why, for example, the episode ended with mencken using the language of hygiene, directly echoing the siblings calling each other "a piece of dirt" and "filthy" this episode, but even moreso echoing shiv's ongoing hygiene fixation (the hand sanitiser incident, refusing to drink from the taps in 4x02, etc). like, i get where you're coming from, but the suggestion here is that there simply is no such thing as liberalism that doesn't already contain the seeds of fascist thinking and eventually become fascist. historically speaking this is because fascism and liberalism are both essentially capitalist, and because fascist ideology developed as a capitalist solution to the internal contradictions of liberal democracies.

we know pretty much nothing about jimenez save for his potential amenability to large tech mergers, which is its own kind of damning (like, shiv doesn't even pretend to make arguments about his actual politics this episode; her position is Establishment Dems Good). however, we can see hints of the liberalism -> fascism argument with gil, not just because he made a deal with logan but because the very first glimpse we get of him is in that campaign ad where he talks about a "war on poverty", framing his democratic socialism as echoing both lbj's "war on poverty" rhetoric but also the straightforwardly imperialist "war on terror" framing.

the argument also comes through in comparing shiv to matsson: both believe in hierarchy, specifically in meritocratic achievement that is really just a way of identifying those they see as biologically fittest on the grounds of athleticism, 'intelligence' defined with its inherent class and racial baggage, etc. these beliefs are tenets of shiv's progressivism as much as they are of matsson's fascistic thinking. fundamentally capitalism relies on this type of competition, social-economic hierarchy, and designation of certain people and groups as 'better' or more 'worthy.' shiv and matsson are in no way ideologically opposed, nor are liberalism and fascism; it is capitalism that forms the link and that causes the rhetorical shift from lofty liberal ideals to openly exclusionary fascist rhetoric, though this transition does not entail an actual change between modes of production & if anything fascism is simply more nakedly capitalist in certain ways.

the satire of democrats comes in most heavily with the pierces. kendall's not any kind of liberal (like, he has basically no political beliefs; he's just a capitalist) and although shiv is, she's always been able to operate in conservative contexts in a way the pierces mostly don't deign to. yet pgm produces élitist cultural products, the pierces also rely on housestaff they condescend to and see as lesser in a particularly patronising way, and pgn is operating the same way as atn ("the business synergies are there"), just like, more boringly. nan even has that line about believing the berlin wall fell because of pierce news cameras or whatever---clearly echoing logan's known use of foreign political meddling, only nan frames it as a moral good because it's exporting american democracy, yadda yadda. this goes to the way liberal and fascist rhetoric can appear to have a huge ideological gulf between them but are in fact operating off much of the same logic already, with fascism simply embracing certain inequities, including racial thinking and racism, that liberalism prefers to pretend it's going to 'overcome' despite those being necessary elements of capitalism.

fundamentally liberal or neoliberal capitalism already tends toward fascistic thinking and certainly toward the economic and material conditions that allow for outright fascism to take hold. logan himself is a good demonstration of this. his beliefs in hierarchy, rule of force, brute competition, &c are not just coeval with him being a capitalist; they are the ideology that directly results from, naturalises, and justifies capitalism. the entire spectrum of political ideology espoused by characters on this show is constrained within the in fact very narrow window of being capitalist; all defences of the american republic are capitalist; and it is capitalist economics that manifests as liberalism's ideology. this is true as much of neoliberalism like what kendall was born into as it is of 19th-century liberalism like the social darwinism logan espouses.

[negativepeanuthoarder]

dolls AU snippet :3

Bella shudders, stumbling backwards until her back hits the cold steel wall of the vault, mind racing. There are thoughts, no, memories shifting through her head so fast she can hardly grasp onto them, feeling them slip through her fingers every moment and every minute. The feeling of a warm hand in hers, the sound of the ocean, the smell of a cologne she both does and doesn’t recognize, all of it.

Memories that both are hers and are not hers flood her mind, overwhelming her. They’re not her memories but they’re in her head and she knows that the person those memories originally belonged to wasn’t her but she was made to replace her and maybe Bella is her, but how can she be someone who died if she’s a completely separate person.

The memories curl in her brain and she’s forced to shift through them - thoughts and hopes and dreams and laughter that used to belong to someone else, now shoved into her head, their original owner long gone and leaving Bella with only their remnants, the memories, the thoughts, even the cadaver she pilots. This body isn’t hers, those memories aren’t hers - but she is them at the same time. That’s her even thought it isn’t her and she doesn’t remember being that but she does.

There was never a second person in Bella’s head, she never met the life she was meant to replace. But the remnants haunt her, curling in her mind and running through her programming, coiled and poised and ready to strike.

“What,” She manages to gasp, looking at the man across the room from her. Dream, he brain supplies, that’s his name. His name is Dream and he loved her and she loved him - except that’s not what happened because she didn’t love him, the memories inside her head did.

He coughs, hacking blood from the wound in his side, and looks at her with green eyes that used to be filled with warmth and delight and mirth - now clouded with despair and anger and misery. She meets his gaze, taking in a breath and trying to calm her storming mind.

“What am I?” Bella demands, glaring at him. She wants answers - she can’t live her entire life with memories flooding her head and the ghost of someone she never met haunting her thoughts. She has to know.

Dream searches her face, looks her over, examines her prosthetic arm - the sucker punch one, with a :) branded into the side, a manufacturing mark. The one in the display case is different than the one in the shops, she knows, rougher around the edges, extra fine tuning, this isn’t mass produced, this was crafted by Dream’s hands. His eyes rake down her body, not in a way that would have been predatory or lustful but in a miserable, mourning sense, like he’s looking at a corpse.

And to him, Bella thinks, she must be. Little more than a shell of what he wanted her to be.

She staggers to her feet, reaching down for the pistol Grimes gave her. It’s out of bullets but it’d probably scare him anyways - he doesn’t need to know that. “What am I?” She demands, holding the gun and clicking the safety off. “Answer me!”

He laughs, breathlessly, and there’s a hint of a wheeze there. The wheezing laugh he used to have before they met, from an injury he’d had fixed. One she’d brought back by stabbing him.

Bella knows she should hate him, a filthy capitalist pig, but the memories of the person who left cloud her judgment and she sees him in a new light. Desperate, lost, willing to do anything to bring her back, even lose himself in the process. She shoves her thoughts away in a desperate attempt to keep hating him.

“You,” He rasps, looking up at her with those green, pained eyes. “Are a fucking mistake.”

Bella damn near drops her gun. “What did you just call me?”

“I called you what you are,” He hisses, the misery and loneliness in his eyes giving way to seething rage. “You’re a prototype, and experiment that went rogue, an accident. You’re the alpha version, the first go, the accident. You aren’t the person I was trying to rescue, you are an accident and a first draft.”

Bella shoves the pistol forwards and he reaches up and grabs it from her hands, tossing it across the room where it clatters against the wall. “There’s no bullets in that,” He tells her aimlessly. “And besides, you won’t shoot me.”

“I stabbed you,” She hisses. “I could kill you right now.”

“You won’t,” Dream replies coldly. “You and every other android on this planet can’t kill me. You can get close, sure, but you’ll stop and save my life before I die. It’s in your code, in your nature.”

“You tried to recreate someone you loved from scratch and you took her free will?!” Bella demands, even more horrified. “You were going to bring her back as what, a puppet?”

His rage gives way to misery again and he looks away from her, coughing again. “If everything had gone according to plan she would’ve been brought to my office personally so I could activate her myself and tweak her code. She was going to have her software block removed, but you fucked that up.”

“You’re lying,” Bella snarls, rage for this woman she never met building in her. “You just wanted to control her.”

“I JUST WANTED HER ALIVE!” He snaps, pausing to cough for air. “SHE DIED AND IT WAS MY FAULT AND I WAS GOING TO BRING HER BACK UNTIL YOU APPEARED AND FUCKED EVERYTHING UP!”

Bella remembers him, well, the memories of him resurface. He’d do anything for their friends, he’d do anything for anyone, he loved so deeply and so completely that of course he’d get desperate in an attempt to resurrect the person she isn’t but was meant to replace. But in his desperation he lost himself, lost his purpose, hell, lost her. 

The building is burned now - all his hard drives and work have been destroyed. There won’t be any more dolls, the factories are all in flames and flooded and the perfect woman stores have been mangled beyond repair. There are no more dolls. There are no second chances. There isn’t another opportunity for him to bring her back.

Bella, momentarily, feels pity for him.

Silly man, playing God, being Victor Frankenstein, making poor decisions, silly silly man. And like Frankenstein he’ll die, but not through freezing, by bleeding out in the vault down here. Bella knows it’s in her code to save his life but she’ll stop herself, she’ll lock him in here and throw away the key. He’ll die and be with his lover who he lost and she’ll be left to clean up the mess he left behind.

It’s not fair, it never was fair, and it never will be fair. There is no “fair”, there are no second chances. There is not another go at life. There’s only the life that they have left and the fight that they need to make it bearable.

“Please,” He rasps from the floor as she turns her back on him. “Please, Bella, love-”

“Don’t call me that,” She hisses at him, whirling around to glare at him. “What the hell do you want?”

“I-” He coughs again. “There’s- my friends, Sapnap a- and George. They-” He breaks into another coughing fit and Bella fights the instincts screaming at her to run and help him. “They were my best friends and I missed their lives trying to bring her back,” He sniffled. “Their wedding, the birth of their kids, I missed it all. Please,” He coughs. “Please tell them I’m sorry?”

Bella looks at him but she can’t bring herself to be cruel a final time. She hisses in a breath and glares at him. “Fine.” She snips. “I owe you nothing but I’ll be compassionate for you.”

“Th- thank you,” He whispers, slumping to the side, and Bella leaves and locks the vault as fast as she can, before she rushes back in and drags him to a hospital.

She feels like she’s aged a hundred years, exhausted and miserable and furious and sad. But there’s nothing more she can do, nothing left to cope with other than the memories in her head and the dying man beneath the building.

Bella walks back through the charred headquarters of the doll empire until she finds a couch - a loveseat, really - where she collapses, curling into a ball, and cries herself to sleep.

[tobiasdrake]

I think this is where we learn the awful truth of the facility. So this should be fun.

Is it the sound of kidnapped humans being butchered? I bet it's the sound of kidnapped humans being butchered.

Hey! It's the sound of humans being butchered! What do ya know?

Gotta keep the city fed somehow, and homunculi go feral if they don't consume human meat.

Have you seen the people wandering the factory halls? You want that fate for Kurumi? Makoto's doing his best to give his homunculus brethren the best possible lives they can have!

...

Probably shouldn't have shut down homunculus research. The World's Smartest Homunculus might have been able to come up with a better solution if he put in the work at the lab. Maybe find a way to genetically engineer the defects out of the other homunculi or something.

So we come to the answer to Number One's Great Global Mystery. Why are people being kidnapped from around the globe and trafficked into Kanai Ward? For this. It's for exactly this.

OH OKAY IT'S NUMBER ONE DOING IT.

Right. Okay. That makes sense. Not like Makoto and Yomi have the bandwidth for globetrotting exploits.

The WDO solves crimes, apprehends criminals, and then brings them here to feed Kanai Ward. Because Makoto and the WDO have that pre-existing relationship, it makes sense that they'd be in direct cahoots like this.

Oh, and "World's Greatest Mind"? Guess we know who Makoto's a homunculus of, don't we? That certainly explains the weird moment earlier when Makoto was verbatim quoting the creed at Yuma's face to taunt him.

Why would Number One even send us here to investigate in the first place, if he and his homunculus were responsible for the Great Global Mystery to begin with? What was the fucking point!?

This all feels like an elaborate attempt to smuggle the Book of Death into Kanai Ward. Number One took the book out of the library. Number One presumably gave it to Yuma with the instructions needed to bond with Shinigami. Number One sent countless Master Detectives to their deaths to get Yuma past Yomi's murder-wall. Then Number Makoto took Yuma under his wing, used him to destroy Yomi, and then killed all the Master Detectives and brought him here.

One way or another, this is about the Book of Death. Number One never wanted this mystery solved. The Master Detectives died to bring Shinigami here. Makoto's feeding us clues so that we can create a Mystery Labyrinth from them. But what is the goal here?

Hey look, it's the Trolley Problem! Everyone's favorite moral philosophy question, ever since we all watched that one episode of The Good Place. Is it okay to sustain Aetheria Academy for a week by letting the kids eat Yomi Hellsmile?

I dunno. The homunculi of Kanai Ward certainly did nothing wrong. Their only crime is existing.

We should probably put some scientists on the task of finding a way to make their existence more sustainable. That would be the progressive agenda. But we're filthy capitalists so we're carving people into meat buns and patting ourselves on the back for finding a way to sell sanity to the undead at a profit.

Makoto's getting antsy. He wants us to Mystery Labyrinth so bad he can taste it.

Maybe....

It was established in Vivia's Mystery Labyrinth jaunt that Yuma brings only the last person to Coalesce with him into the Labyrinth. He coalesced with Fubuki's time-rewind to solve the panel room and Vivia's projection to investigate. But since Vivia was the most recent to Coalesce, he was the one invited into the Labyrinth.

If Makoto is Number One's homunculus then he must have a Forte, right? We don't know what Number One's Forte is. Which means we don't know what Makoto's Forte is.

Is it possible that Makoto managed to Coalesce with Yuma at some point? Maybe that's why he killed the Master Detectives. He wants Yuma to bring him into the Labyrinth, and doesn't want to risk someone else getting pulled instead.

His endgame requires him to enter the Mystery Labyrinth. That's what I think.

Do they make a Hallmark card for "Sorry you're a genetically-engineered immortal clone doomed to roam the earth forever as a regenerating zombie?"

How do you even begin to have that conversation?

[revols-headcanons]

the belcher family headcanons

(i just started rewatching the show. i haven’t seen past s6 so don’t spoil too important things. but i’ve also seen lots of clips from later episodes, some full later episodes, and the movie).

they are all autistic; with tina, gene, and linda being the most obvious while bob and louise being less obvious. linda’s diagnosed while bob isn’t (he’s in denial of even being autistic), and they’re working on getting their kids diagnosed (though they cannot afford it, so it’s not a priority for them).

bob doesn’t believe he’s autistic (internalized ableism) but he is acutely aware that there is something ‘wrong’/‘off’/different about himself from others. both bob and tina share that same insecurity that everyone else can tell that they don’t quite belong.

this is based off of one line from an episode, but while gene loves doing filthy things (eating tacos on toilet, eating mold, etc.), he cannot stand the sweatiness of hands or the feel of his bare feet on the floor. he washes his hands consistently and he always wears socks. linda carries baby wipes, hand sanitizer, and extra socks for gene in her purse because of one really bad experience.

one of the belcher parents is hispanic. i’m saying bob because gayle gives off eccentric white woman energy. but gene learns all the spanish inappropriate words and bobs like “gene i don’t even know spanish what-”

tina ends up starting an elaborate friend-fiction and fan fiction business in her school. she makes a lot of money writing romantic hypotheticals for her classmates. louise becomes her sales manager (and gets andy and ollie to make fanart for the fics) and gene makes little jingles for them as well.

gene gets dizzy when he watches fireworks for too long due to his sensitivity towards bright, flashing lights. the forth of july and new years eve are difficult for him because he loves the celebration aspect, but has to go inside to prevent himself from panicking. usually bob goes inside afterwards to talk to him and calm him down since bob used to act similar as a kid.

tina and linda both do the dinosaur arms, and linda, gene, and louise do the hand flaps and happy claps. louise and bob both chew on their shirts when they’re stressed (and then immediately changing their shirts because wrinkly, wet t-shirt is an uncomfortable feeling/texture).

this one is based off of a convention panel, but louise is really good at math but doesn’t apply herself at all because she thinks school is pointless. either that or she is really good at learning languages and that she can speak spanish, french, russian, german, swedish, portugeuse, and japanese— all at varying levels of fluency and all learned during different time periods of her life.

^^also based on that same convention, but tina learns taichi martial arts because she thinks it’s cool. she originally does it because of the cute instructor, but then she realizes how nice of an outlet it is.

linda’s the only straight, non-LGBT+ belcher (or is she??) and she is very much like “aww my little babies going to their first pride! love is love, alright!” like the lovable, just cringy, supportive parents are. when the kids come out, none of them know the proper terminology. it’s like: “i’m not a boy! or a girl! i am everything! i’m collecting all of the pronouns like pokemon” or “i would very much like to date multiple people, that way i can admire all the butts.”

during pride month, bob puts up a little bisexual flag as a partial coming out, a partial way to create a safe space, and a partial rainbow capitalist move (something something mr. fischoeder threatens to raise their rent, and the belchers need a break financially), and he tells the kids to get business for the restaurant— the kids interpret that as: gene makes a really bad song like “boys are hot, i like them. gay people. love is love. buy our burgers cuz the gays are great and we support them very much” (or basically that one tiktok audio that goes “fortnite, balls, i’m gay, i like boys, i kidnap autistic kids”), tina puts posters up around school that say “buy one bob’s burger dish, get homosexual validation from an adult who supports gay youth” (which confuses bob when a bunch of children buy burgers and then rub their snotty noses into his apron and suffocate him while muttering “i haven’t had a parental hug in years”), and louise guilt trips and gaslights the elderly into buying from the restaurant or else they’re homophobic assholes (some of them openly are homophobic, to which louise purposely shoves/trips them in response).

^^bob ends up scolding the kids but they make a huge profit. the kids also didn’t technically say anything that wasn’t really true (except for louise but yk). bob pawns the comforting children to linda, who hugs and validates the children while bob grills.

tina definitely watches those magical girl animes like sailor moon. gene watches cartoons and slice of life anime. louise watches studio ghibli movies religiously and her favorite is my neighbor totoro (that green night light thing (kuchi kopi) is def based off of totoro). she also loves death note and definitely supports light and/or L to an uncomfortable degree.

tina is a massive taylor swift fan. her favorite album is fearless and her favorite songs are fifteen, hey stephen, love story, and white horse. she knows all of the lore and will make random references like “this is why you don’t miss someone’s birthday. have you even heard all too well? the moment I knew?” she compares jimmy jr. to romeo in love story and stephen in hey stephen even though she has no competition for him. she’s definitely dramatically slid down her door screaming the lyrics to enchanted before. (jimmy jr. would probably like john mayers music b/c of his dad, and that is tina’s biggest ick about him).

gene vaguely likes red and 1989 (specially sparks fly, new romantics, bejeweled, and starlight) and louise says her favorite album is reputation but it’s actually folklore (specially i did something bad, the last great american dynasty, karma, and peace).

they used to have a christmas tradition for the kids where they can get whatever they can carry in their arms. they stopped doing this after one year where all the kids got the most expensive items ever for no reason.

gene is a zodiac kid who definitely says “venus is in retrograde” and “you’re such a gemini.” louise always makes comments like “of course you’re one of those star losers.” he’s also like “tina, you’re a libra and jimmy jr. is a leo— that’s completely incompatible. the stars don’t lie!”

in a comic it mentions that tina has blue eyes, and the show mentions gene and bob having brown eyes, so i think linda has blue eyes and louise has brown eyes.

gene had a horrific musical theater phase. he learned burn and candy store on his keyboard. in high school he signs up for the theater program. he was one of the few amab people who signed up, so he got a fair amount of leading roles.

the kids full names are: tina ruth belcher, eugene nicholas belcher, and louise ann belcher.

gene doesn’t go to college, instead he pulls a bo burnham (minus the bigotry) and performs musical comedy.

louise takes online college courses to become a business major with a minor in culinary arts so she could run the restaurant.

tina goes to college to become an author. she writes both smutty romance books (pen name is dina capulet maybe?) and childrens pony books (real name of tina belcher) but by different names.

not belcher specific, but their town is the most neurodivergent town in existence: all five of the belchers, teddy, gayle, courtney, jimmy jr, zeke, andy and ollie, just to name a few.

[afbr1]

NSFW. PUT YOUR FUCKING AGE (or range ) IN YOUR FUCKING BIO OR I"LL BLOCK YOUR FUCKING ASSS.

[Hiatus until probably 2025]

Don't "share your wife" or "share you ex" without their explicit consent, TRASH HEAP. If you post celeb fakes, you go into the trash heap too. GenAI isn't bringing much value apart from *MAYBE* some niche usage, but is predatory and outright dangerous most of the time. Draw your favourite celebs nude all you want, don't add to the deluge of fake imagery that is supposed to look somewhat real. M, later half of his 30s now (I stopped celebrating birthdays). My philosophical stance on sociopolitical issues is NOT evident from this blog, nor can it be neatly described as "liberal", "conservative", "anarcho-capitalist".

When I like something or follow someone that is on the surface diametrically opposed to what you see me post: I am a complicated human being. My brain brains different from what my naughty bits naughty. Sometimes.

I understand English, Dutch, German (including some weird dialects), some Romance languages (Fr, Es, Pt, It). Part of the larger African Diaspora with an European Nationality by birth because of colonial history (guess....).

ABOUT THE NAUGHTY BITS

Absolute Kryptonite: tiny brunettes with wide hips and fuller cups make my primal side come out to play. Like I'm weak for y'all. HIPSSSSS. Huge veiny tits??? Huge veiny tits on a pregnant brunette???? Yes. Likes: anal, and depending on the mood some more filthy things. Blowjobs as such don't make me cum, unless.. let's just say I get to ..subtly guide your head and use my hips very actively...

Dislikes: should be quite clear from my content, but let's just say that I feel certain developments in the public psyche do not make any sense to me, however, what you put in whom or who puts what in you ist mir völlig egal. For those who are weird like me: Fi-heavy INTJ, learning to Se-Te/Si-Ti. SlytherClaw. With like a 40-60 split I guess.

[musical-failgirl-fight]

Ariadne propaganda: the premise of Ulysses Dies At Dawn is a cyberpunk noir Greek Mythology heist story where the four "Suits" team up to break into Ulysses' vault and get filthy rich from the treasure inside. Each Suit is meant to open one of the locks on the vault, and Ariadne's job is to complete the "trial of love".

Jonny: [...] who better for it than Ariadne, famed for her love of Theseus? As it turns out, almost anyone. A small chamber beside the vault slides open.

Ariadne: "And what is my trial?"

Jonny: Her contempt is thick as Oedipus plugs in to analyse it. He lets out a short laugh.

Oedipus: "To open the door, one of our number must prove a love stronger than life, and sacrifice themselves without fear or hesitation.

[...]

I’m sure your fee will be paid to Theseus, whom you love so unreservedly.”

Jonny: Of course, Ariadne has no intention of dying, nor any feeling for Theseus save hate. Alas, no-one had known what the trial of love entailed, and she’d been playing the spurned lover so long she had believed herself up to whatever it might have been. But this?

Ariadne: "No."

Jonny: Theseus, as it turns out, was just a sap Ariadne had been using to try and regain the societal standing her family had quickly lost when it was revealed her parents had created the Minotaur: a beast that had stalked the City since its founding, plucking the still-living brains from its victims for the Acheron. Ariadne had given Theseus the deactivation codes, in the hope that openly righting her parents' wrong and marrying a hero of the people would make for some damn good PR. But Theseus had taken the credit and very publicly jilted her. No, she couldn’t die yet, not when the Ulysses job paid so well. She had a dynasty to rebuild. 

This leads to her song, "Ties That Bind," where she explains her backstory and motivations for taking the job.

You engineered the beast That stalks the streets Making deals with a monster so much worse Playing games with lives And bringing down his curse Mother, Father You brought our name down low Where the city once lay at our feet Now I’m working with these lowlifes just to eat I reap what you sow Your one true child

Ariadne's parents had created the Minotaur, which murdered people to put their brains in the Acheron (the computer network that keeps The City running). When the truth was revealed, her family and fortune were ruined by scandal, and Ariadne is disgusted by how far she's been brought low by her parent's crimes. Look at her, she has to work with these lowlifes to get by! Her reputation is in shambles! She has to work in administration (money laundering) instead of owning multiple businesses!

I mean, it's not like she's honestly doing comparatively better than the rest of the Suits since she has a job and isn't trapped in debt to her abusive father or mired in suicidal depression or best known for fucking her mom and stabbing out her eyes--OH WAIT.

My family will rise again We’ll reclaim the power that we used to hold The Minos name reborn From the ashes bright in letters made of gold For long we’ve remained in shadow And in far-forgotten tales never told The city shall be ours Once again, once again

And despite all the shit her parents caused, she's still hellbent on redeeming their family name and rebuilding their capitalist dynasty, because apparently that's what she's built her entire identity on. #cringefail girlboss right there.

So Theseus hunted for your Minotaur With the strings of code I gave it wasn’t hard To find it and deactivate its guard It tried to fight it But its programming won out after all Collapsing in a sparking metal heat My preening hero claimed all credit for the feat Completing my fall In dishonour I am tied

Oh yeah, and to add insult to injury, Plan A was to recruit Theseus to hunt down the Minotaur, then marry him and have the good PR of being the wife of the hero who brought down the beast thanks to her. Of course, he then proceeded to dump her at the altar and take all the credit for killing the Minotaur. However, she's still clinging to the image of the heartbroken bridge who's madly in love with Theseus, even though she hates his guts, in an effort to save face.

(And I totally think she's aromantic and performing heteronormativity for the public but that's technically not canon. Technically.)

Mother, Father, you’re both long dead I was betrayed by the one I was to wed There was no love there, my heartstrings long since cut The Minos noble name lies in the mud But not for long

Yeah, and how's trying to force someone else to be a human sacrifice in your place working out for you, Ariadne?

Oh wait, you were so busy trying to save your ass that you got shot in the heart in a thematically resonant manner by Ulysses and their impeccable laser geometry, that's how it worked out!

And guess what? Even if the Suits had gotten into the vault and she hadn't died in the process, she still would have failed because the treasure in the vault was the last tree in The City--impossibly valuable, but not really something she can sell to rebuild her wealth and prestige.

Also, the one behind the entire heist--Hades--is implied to have been able to get into the vault the whole time because they have a camera in there. They were just playing along so they could get an entertaining story and help Ulysses die in peace, and immediately after Ulysses perished they burned down the Acheron and left everyone in The City to die. So she was extremely screwed no matter what.

Anyway, vote for my awful wonderful girlboss failgirl Ariadne Minos!

oh my god

that sure is a cringe compilation of both a life and death . good on u girl

[happyfanofeverything]

I’ve been peeking at your liveblogging but I’m a little confused as to what you mean by the post about describing power and abuse as filth and whatnot :0c

okay this ended up quite long but i wanted to try my best to explain what i mean here:

tl;dr framing abuse of power as “filth”/“disgusting”/“dirty” etc is inaccurate and supports abusive power structures. umineko does this, at least in the question arcs, which i’m hoping is buildup to correcting it.

i always take care to describe abuse of power in the most accurate ways i can, like, “child abuse”, “misogyny”, “ableism”, “sexual predation”, “capitalism”, whatever it may be, because at their core, they are the subjugation/control/killing of people who have been forced into marginalized/oppressed positions on a large structural scale.

the siblings fighting over kinzo’s inheritance isn’t “filthy”, it’s family members using abusive power structures established in their family and in their broader capitalist society to fight for vast amounts of money kinzo gained from imperialist-fascist mass murder and capitalist exploitation. eg eva using patriarchy/misogyny as a weapon against natsuhi, the older siblings using the childhood trauma they inflicted on their younger siblings as weapons, etc. nearly every tool they use to fight is a tool of abuse and their prize is resources made from abuse to continue abusing people to sustain themselves.

^ that’s why i hate how the ushiromiya siblings fight for the inheritance. not because it’s “disgusting” or “dirty” or anything inaccurate like that.

associating “bad”ness with dirtiness or grossness etc is playing into ableism and classism and racism and colorism and more - this sort of framework materially harms people on huge scales. people with dark skin, houseless people, disabled and disfigured people with conditions like eczema or facial paralysis or burn injuries or much more, chronically ill people who can’t clean ourselves much, i could go on a lot here. tl;dr it’s abusive language and it’s not accurate.

(sidenote, i also take care to not frame abuse of power as violence, because that’s not accurate - violence can be revolutionary, fighting against abusive power structures. i also take care to not frame abuse of power as originating from an abuser’s character or mental state, because the fundamental problem is the material power structure enabling them to harm people. and more. i can talk a lot about this)

(higurashi chapter 6 spoilers:)

many people (like Rena!) use frameworks like metaphorical-“filthiness” to understand their experiences. it’s ultimately inaccurate, and inaccurate frameworks generally benefit abusive structures and harm the people marginalized/abused. eg i ease myself out of delusional spirals about my own “disgustingness” by reminding myself that that is ableist, which helps me understand what triggered me in a way more beneficial to myself (especially because the trigger is usually an external entity harming me with ableism). ryukishi shows rena experiencing something like this, the way she survives via categorizing her experiences with mental illness as “ickiness” and trying to fully cast them aside, and how this hurts her, and how friendship that truly accepts her for all of her experiences is what she needs.

umm Yea i think that’s all the thoughts i can get down rn. thank you and please feel free to send me more asks, i probably won’t write this many words every time svxbsbcbnsbcnd though my rambley incoherently-structured writing style will probably stay