#i feel like race is treated as this human concept

[superm4ks]

https://www.tumblr.com/maxarchive/767895471901507584?source=share

We've been knew but also I neeeed ur honest reaction lmao

Full post by the goat @rb19 @maxarchive here

BBC always insufferable but this just ridiculous. Asking an F1 driver if he wud naturally give somebody room in a corner exit might be most depressing shit I have ever had to read wid my own 2 eyes. Nvm that he's asking Max Verstappen of all people ... ‘racing another driver' by letting them complete an overtake just because they feel entitled to get to the front is literally antithetical to the whole concept of motor racing 😐 Its antithetical to 'competition' period .. Competition isnt fair, isnt deserved, isnt victimless. If it were, it wud not be ‘competition’, it wud be a game for children. Max was never treated like a child competing against adults and now 9 years later he’s getting grilled on what makes him such an aggressive competitor. I wrote a lil bit on dirty vs clean driving that I think sums up p well why Max will always get these kind of questions and others don’t.

The wdc exists to ensure that the human element remains the center piece of a motorized competition. Without the drivers championship, we wud grade these bitches on one lap pace and long run simulations and call it a day because a machine is easy to evaluate, a drivers handling of said machine over the course of 24 races is a much more interesting and compelling story. 'why wud u as an driver choose to utilize the full width of the track and not just roll out the red carpet for the pookie behind u 🥺' shud honestly get u sh0t as a journalist and I mean it.

If u give the full thing a read ((for @rb19)) Max is quick to mention how he cud tell even back in diapers karts which drivers were like him, and which drivers were more .. passive around the outside. He calls it a 'driver-related' thing. Some allow it, some dont. The ones who dont, who wud push him off track or pressure him into locking up, Max describes as having a lil more of a 'racing instinct'. What he leaves unsaid is that what separates these ‘passive drivers’ from the 1s ‘wid instinct’ is that this instinct is exactly what makes it impossible for him to just allow a driver to overtake him around the outside without putting up a fight to defend his position. It’s built into him. It’s how he races. And believe it or not.. and I’ll hold T Kravitz’ sweaty fucking hand when I say this, that’s completely fine. It’s fine to go racing wid a negative delta and not just roll over and let sweet Lando complete a single overtake. It’s fine to use the car and flirt wid guidelines if it keeps the point deficit as small as possible. It’s fine to fight for position in the. cars fight for position sport. It’s ok. I promise.

And lemme add 1 last thing. What people berate and insult and reprimand Max for now is the same shit they were checking off a list titled ‘future F1 champion’ when he was 13 years old. They knew, like Lauda knew, that to be as fast, as strong, as talented, quick in slow and fast corners, assertive, fearless, you need to be deliberate wid ur car as few in the history of the sport have been. U need to be so deliberate and confident in ur wheel that when someone asks u if u wud consider letting someone overtake u around the outside because 🥺 that’s so UNFAIR that u wud not let a car overtake u in the car racing competition 🥺 u can very calmly say ‘no lol’ instead of snapping ur fingers and unleashing Helmut Mario from a hidden hatch on the ceiling

[chainfen]

I want to preface this with the fact that response came from myself and OP directly discussing this post, and me offering to further elaborate on my own opinions on a universe I too enjoy very much.

As I've delved into the HDG universe over the last few months, I've found myself struggling to understand why I find a lot of the writing I'm really enjoying to in some way still be unfulfilling. Reading this piece helped me realise that for a lot of them, it's because they simply do not cement themselves in fantasy. As a group of widely diverse both creators and readers, whether that be race, gender, sexuality- we are choosing to engage in a collective universe, with established boundaries and context, that is high fantastical. That's the entire point of it, is it not? the concept of being allowed to build a version of yourself that is your 'idealised' form; free from the economic constraints of capitalism, the socio-political constraints of wider society and social perception, for some even the limits unbreakable by species.

I don't, like you said, want to put down the idea that there is a catharsis and a rawness in being able to do that. The things I would do to be able to do that. The sheer escapism that the HDG universe offers me- a chronically ill, disabled, transsexual butch plural system, is something I would struggle to find anywhere else. But it feels like there is trend within the content in the universe to build it's women out of a generic base model, one that I see every day on every billboard all around me. There's an almost sterile nature to it, that makes me feel uncomfortable. A woman is small, submissive, feminine, hairless... perfect.

Tangential talk about noncon here, but it's relevant. I'm willing to roll with the idea that noncon as a concept exists within the HDG universe because the Affini believe that they do things for the best interest of the sophont in question- this is not something I'm trying to bring into question. However, as we know it is very thematic for this override of control to include egg cracking, HRT, removal of body hair and body modification that ranges from minor health related changes, to limb changes and additions, as well as full SRS. And whilst I as a reader can not only enjoy these elements, but understand the necessity of them within the storytelling, it once again removes me from the fact that this is meant to be fantasy.

What does it mean to 'be feminine' or be made 'girly'. How does one define those words? How does one separate them from gender, if you can? I can understand that the responses to those questions might be different for each person- but putting that aside, the only actual prerequisite to being 'girly' is to be a girl. I am not ignoring the social implications of being called 'girly' and it's wider use to often mean effeminate, or weak, but I am calling to attention the idea that there is no one look to what is perceived as 'girly'. In regards to femininity, as a GNC butch who has femininity often imposed on me societally because of my stature, there is a pain in the norm of associating these things with the ideal woman without a much wider commentary on why we feel the need to do this.

The Affini are bound by a collective and paternal duty to, well to put it short, care. To ensure the safety, happiness, and realised potential of all xenosophont races they domesticate, every individual, even those who resist it the most. I don't want to have to suspend my disbelief in my escapist fantasy world to believe that they, as an entire race, believe that the best way to treat the damage done to transgender Terrans is to reinforce and comply with the standard that caused them the very damage and trauma they're trying to undo in the first place? This idea of what a woman should be. This perfect model of ideal sterilised femininity who is gorgeous, ageless, hairless and always youthful. That the path to healing the insurmountable harm humanity has committed against transgender, non-binary, and GNC people is to reinforce their home world stereotype that was constructed around an imposed colonialist view of gender that centred the subjugation of women as a gender and ensuring they would be subordinate

and a note, for those in the comments saying OP is 'holier than thou' for the way they express their trans-femininity, or their thoughts on hair removal. I need you to reflect on the fact that your perception of an ideal woman is racist. I am not, in any way saying that it is wrong for you to feel the way you do or to want the things you want. But there needs to be a reflection on the values you apply to womanhood. Idealised white femininity intentionally devalues non Eurocentric features and labels them as masculine to dehumanise and devalue women of colour. You are not being radical or subversive by continuing to uphold these values in a fantasy universe that is meant to be for all.

Trans Feminism and the Human Domestication Guide

Or

Wishing on a misogynistic star won't make your dreams come true

Thesis: A running theme in some parts of the HDG sphere is the unintentional chase and valorisation of misogynistic standards for women in the pursuit of validation.

“The most radical thing that any of us can do is to stop projecting our beliefs about gender onto other people's behaviours and bodies”

― Julia Serano, Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity

I would like to open by declaring my own identities, both as a shield against a particular kind of bad faith criticism, but also to demonstrate that I’m operating in good faith here. I’m a fat, hairy, physically disabled, transgender, butch dyke who writes within the HDG setting with great joy and greater love for the community. I’m also hot as fuck. That established, I’ll continue:

There is a particularly pernicious lie that revolves around the state of women's bodies; that there is a correct way to have one and that those who do not meet these standards are unfeminine or otherwise worthless. It must have a vagina, of course, but it must also be white, thin, able, hairless, youthful, fit but not strong and, of course, soft. 

Trans feminism, and by that I direct my attention to feminist speech within trans and gender non-conformist spaces, has managed to, if not defeat, then at least combat one of the great evils of cis sexism, the necessity of the vagina. The ongoing and necessary validation of the girl cock as beautiful, as wonderful, as feminine is a wonderful, joyful thing. We (trans feminine people) exist as part of the spectrum of womanhood, and that means that our bodies also exist within and without that spectrum of womanhood as well. 

However, trans feminism of a particular kind has - rather than continue the work done to uplift the gock - has embraced a particular kind of ugly lie we’re taught. In many cases - due to a perceived desire to be as close to flawlessly woman as we can be - the focus will instead fall on a particular kind of trans feminine person who manages to engage with and evoke those standards aside from the obvious. To paraphrase Julia Serano in illustrating this point:

“Whether unconscious or deliberate, the gatekeepers clearly sought to … ensure that most people who did transition would not be “gender-ambiguous” in any way”

― Julia Serano, Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity 

One of the beauties of the class-G is that it allows the character to experience their body in an idealised form. I recognise and applaud this position, it is beautiful to see a writer able to imagine themselves completely idealised, completely transformed into something that doesn’t hurt. However, therein lies the rub; the ideal depicted displays some of that ugliness, some of the roots of misogyny that thread their ways through our brains like poison and make us into useful fools for its goals.

The thought that brought about this essay is a repeated phrasing that appears across several works within the HDG milieu; that to be hairless and soft is to be feminine. A character will have their body hair, all their body hair bar that on their head, removed and thus will be made ‘girly’. They, and other characters, may remark on how much more they feel like a woman, unconsciously or consciously linking womanhood to that hairlessness. 

You may note that this directly plays into another cis-sexist standard of beauty; that to be feminine requires a certain girlishness, a pubescent budding that belies the possibility of cellulite or wrinkles or the consequences of living a life where one is not simply a doll.

What is my objection to that? Surely, every writer has the right to depict their own wish fulfilment fantasies. Certainly yes, but also… one must ask at which point we celebrate their dreams and at what point we ask people to engage with their biases and question what they consider to be true. Women, all kinda of women, are hairy. Women have pubic hair, arm hair, leg hair, chest hair, even facial hair. The seeming desire to be completely hairless is as ‘unnatural’ a goal as any other, as ‘unnatural’ as any expectation set for us by the white supremacist culture most of us are steeped in. To return to whipping girl:

“Rather than question our own value judgments or notice the ways that we treat people differently based on their size, beauty, or gender, most of us reflexively react to these situations in a way that reinforces class boundaries: We focus on the presumed “artificiality” of the transformation the subject has undergone.”

― Julia Serano, Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity 

It must be noted that at least part of this problem is with what the reader brings to the table. When something goes unstated, we resort to the baseline of our biases and, due to the way society is structured, that baseline is generally white, thin and physically able. Beauty and femininity are racialised concepts, and I think we fall into traps headlong that white supremacy establishes for us. I am not the person to write an essay critiquing race in HDG, but I recognise the consequences of race and the expectations of white femininity on the work. Thus, then, we must consider the text, and the text is very often pretty clear about its characters.

How many protagonists of a human domestication guide story are textually fat? How many are stated in the text to be people of colour? How many of them are, if not stated to be, then implied through lack of mention, white, and thin? These questions ignore the many that are actively identified as those things. (I will pause here to note that Dog of War - notable as the most popular piece of work in the setting - features a protagonist who is both brown and fat, and I’m extremely happy to see it).

Collectively, as writers, we have seen a future where everyone is accepted and have created a world where the depictions of acceptance come with conformity to modern misogyny. We create a world without boundaries, where a person can be digitalised or made into a dog, and our characters are still aping their ancestors of five centuries prior in seeking validation of self. We are, I would argue (and borrowing heavily from Butler), ‘uncritically mimicking the strategy of the oppressor instead of offering a different set of terms.’

This is not, I would like to be clear, an attack on any particular story. You may recognise elements of several stories in this essay, and perhaps there are particular things I am drawing on, however, this essay does not charge the product of the writer's work with anything. That body of text can exist and be critiqued, but does not exist as a thoughtful, philosophical actor. Rather, I would charge us writers, all of us, with being more thoughtful as we engage with what femininity means to us and what is and is not feminine in a world where anything is possible.

Finally, a quote from Gender Outlaw that I direct at myself as much as anyone else:

“Let's stop pretending that we have all the answers, because when it comes to gender, none of us is fucking omniscient.”

― Kate Bornstein, Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation

[odd-im-o]

I can be proudly black AND proudly nonhuman!!! We exist!!!!

[yarrayora]

On Adulthood in Dungeon Meshi Universe

i've seen multiple people use math to convert the ages of fantasy races in dunmeshi into a Normal Human Age, or in this case, a tallman's, as a metric of adulthood

i feel like that's obviously an unreliable way to go about it, especially since a half-elf like marcille exists, her growth is far too slow compared to the short-lived races, and we still don't know how that compares to an actual elf. and that's when you only consider the physical aspects of it.

we have chilchuck who became a dad at age 13, a year before he could be considered of age in half-foot community. maybe with that we could assume 14 in half-foot is like 18 in tallman and do the math from there? except 16 is considered the age of maturity for tallmen in-universe. and we also have to consider whether the concept of legal age exists in dunmeshi universe, because the term of "age of maturity" used in adventurer's bible could very well refers to puberty and not what the society at large consider to be adulthood.

hell, do we even know if different cultures in different continents agree on what age is considered 'adult' even when they're of the same race? probably not! the cultures in dunmeshi universe are pretty clearly insular

for example, back in the touden siblings' hometown, being a gravekeeper is considered an ill-omen, but marcille talked about it as a respectable job falin could have taken if she didn't run off to go dungeon diving with laios

people at the island don't know that rice is a staple food in the eastern continent. and so on and so forth.

so how do we figure out whether someone is an adult or not in dungeon meshi? by figuring out their role in society

let's go back to chilchuck

it could be because adventuring is really dangerous that he retires early, but considering the reasoning provided was "in terms of age" it's more likely 26 is middle-aged or older for half-foots. although since we already find out that he's already a father of three grown adults, nobody would argue against this.

the most controversial topic regarding this whole subject seems to be marcille. was she a child when she was in magic school? was she an adult? surely because she's more of an elf than a human she's actually still a child at the age of 50! especially when an elf's age of maturity is at 80 years old!

we don't really see a lot of children getting their own roles in dungeon meshi universe, but what little we see in canon paints a picture of how children are treated there. let's focus on the orcs

orc is considered an adult at 14, Leed is 14 and she leads her own hunts. and despite their pride as a warrior race, just like every other community they don't make their young hunt for their own food.

so what we got from here is that despite only reaching adulthood recently, Zon considers his sister competent enough to be in charge.

if we use that as a metric of adulthood, then Marcille who was a teaching assistant at the magic school, has reached adulthood for quite a while now. especially when her main job involved researching illnesses, a responsibility you wouldn't hand over to a child

don't forget that a lot of those who came from long-lived races are biased against short-lived ones and dismissing their metric of adulthood

southern continent where the magic school is situated is mostly populated by gnomes and dwarves, so clearly even to them marcille is already considered an adult

even in the real world the concept of adulthood changes depending on the eras and the culture. there were times in history when it was common for 14 years old children to shoulder the responsibility of a working adult in 21st century, and that includes marriage. in japan the legal age used to be 20, and only recently changed to 18 during 2016. but that's not their age of consent either, that's their legal age for being eligible to vote

maybe centuries later when comfort and leisure become much more common in the dungeon meshi universe people will balk at the idea of a 14 years old orc being considered a full-pledged adult, but as of the standard of the year 514, marcille is an adult, and her role in society proves that

[veganagenda]

fascinating new argument has entered the animal rights field: "it's okay to breed animals for a specific human-related purpose over a long period of time and then continue exploit their bodies for that purpose even when they are no longer obligated to because they enjoy fulfilling that purpose. because we bred them to enjoy it"

Not to sound like I was raised by protestants, but I think those kids who argue that it's animal abuse to put working dog breeds to work doing the tasks they were bred and born for have simply genuinely never encountered the concept that they, too, could be genuinely happier if they could do work they found wortwhile and enjoyable. Like engaging in useful and constructive activities might genuinely make life better than a life of doing absolutely nothing because nobody's making you do anything.

[frvmewxrk]

just thinking about the valiant again, i think it just shows the simm!master’s very need for the doctor: his attention. he needs him to see what he’s doing, he needs his audience, he had shown the whole thing on tv but the whole human race seeing it wasn’t enough, he needed him. he could’ve easily killed him before or locked him underground when he couldn’t see but no, he kept him there right where he brought his plan to action, he made him see every torture he inflected on the human race, he made him witness him turning his friend’s family into slaves, he made him watch his friend get tortured. he danced with him, he hurt him, he carried him around, he showed him to his wife like a precious trophy, i just know they had so many conversations that always ended in the same way “it’s not over yet” “i’ll kill them all and then you”.

what must have thought lucy about this? the faithful wife that never went against her husband’s wishes, even when he was defeated, watching him treat this alien in the exact same way he did with her, with love, with torture, with callous hands and attentive reverence? what did martha and jack think when they saw the man they considered their saviour, their friend, their equal, lulling the dead body of their capturer in his arms? did that ever change their conception of the doctor? them, that were both in love with him and knew it wasn’t reciprocated, did they realise that this was how the doctor loved? unconditional affection, painful adoration, obsessive needs of control, loyalty to a cause over his very heart. did they appreciate that despite his feelings, he still put the the human race over the master? did they loath him for that? what even happened between them? they’ll never know, he won’t talk about it.

i just need like a whole new spin off for the valiant, it is one of the main reasons i love tensimm so much, they’re both insane and everyone can see it.

[yanderes-galore]

Asum 'Mdama / Bakar (Halo) with a platonic obsession over someone he got attached to as a parental figure at Onyx. His mom is dead and his dad abandoned him for petty revenge and then died too so I can see him having an unhealthy obsession towards the next person he sees as a parent. Just headcanons are fine.

I have never read Legacy of Onyx but I heard it was... poor. However, I did my research on this character, so I can write a little something for him for you :)

Yandere! Platonic! Asum 'Mdama (Bakar) Concept

Pairing: Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Slight manipulation, Clingy behavior, Overprotective behavior, Violence, Blood, Murder, PTSD, Isolation, Dubious companionship.

Asum, now Bakar once his parents passed and he was separated from his brother, is much different from your typical Sangheili.

Sangheili males are often depicted as hardened warriors, always choosing the path of violent glory and honor.

Since the death of his mother, Bakar had been turned off to violence.

He's a young male Sangheili yet he always avoided fighting.

Even when human orphans threatened him, he held back.

Although he could easily slaughter a human without even trying.

Bakar is definitely someone who avoids conflict due to what he's been through.

He's not typically a fighter, although he has the strength for it.

Due to Bakar's past, I can see him becoming attached to someone he views as a parental figure.

Like... unhealthily attached.

Due to the nature of what happens on Onyx, I can see Bakar being attached to a Sangheili or human.

Bakar is not judgemental of humans, even if other humans dislike what his race has done.

After all, Bakar knows his species glassed many human planets.

Hate is expected.

Bakar would feel at home with a Sangheili he's close to and views as a mentor.

Yet a human could be interesting as then it makes him feel... accepted in a way if you were a mentor.

Bakar is already considered an outcast by his kind and was cast aside.

But with you? No matter your species?

He feels accepted.

Bakar knows regardless he isn't going to be raised as a warrior.

Yet he never wanted that.

Honestly, you could be teaching him tech or something mundane and Bakar listens wholeheartedly.

You originally are around him to mentor and watch over him since other orphans mess with him.

You sometimes wish he stood up for himself... He's capable but just refuses....

You could just be doing work and Bakar often shows up to check on you.

It's sort of adorable for the young Sangheili to be so curious and attentive.

Honestly, you may not mind the bond he tries to make with you at first.

You've briefly heard of what he's gone through.

His parents died and he's been abandoned by his species for being a pacifist.

With a story like that you may feel inclined to step in and aid him.

Bakar is quite well behaved around you and other misfits.

Due to his nature I see him as rather tame.

Protective yet tame.

The most intense he'd be normally around you is the fact he hovers around you to listen and learn from you.

You didn't even foster him and he treats you like you're meant to be his parent.

It would be even stranger as a human since he had a Sangheili foster parent... yet he connects with a human more?

He seems needy or upset when you suggest he leaves you alone for a bit at times too.

However, Here's the most yandere thing I can think of for him...

Bakar is a pacifist, yes...

But would he remain that way if you were going to die?

Bakar's already lost so much.

He may not be the most affectionate with you... but he respects you and looks up to you!

You didn't entirely pick up on the extent Bakar cared for you.

His worst behavior would happen if your life was threatened.

Maybe some other Sangheili who believe in his father's teachings get their hands on you?

They're threatening you and interrogating you... long fingers wrapped around your neck like they could snap it in an instant.

Bakar tries his best to speak and talk them down.

Yet he's threatened and ignored.

Seeing you struggle stirs something in Bakar...

He thinks back to the news of his mom...

He thinks of you dead.

Just when you're about to pass out...

Thick Sangheili blood splatters onto you.

Bakar hasn't handled a weapon much.

Be that human or Covenant in origin, he struggles a bit but...

Something took over him when he saw you on death's door.

From that moment, Bakar is a changed Sangheili.

He struggles but by the end of it... you're safe... albeit a mess.

Bakar is immediately by your side when he sees you.

He apologizes, yet says he's saved you as he drags/carries you somewhere safer.

I imagine after this event, Bakar momentarily drops his pacifist beliefs.

He realizes how easy it is to lose even you.

It scares him into acting, the event of you almost dying in front of him forces him to give into instinct.

Imagine if Bakar becomes more suffocating and protective, now always hiding a weapon in case you're hurt.

At first he was scared to take a life.

Yet when he realized it's them or you...

Suddenly it didn't seem so bad.

Imagine Bakar training himself to use guns in order to look out for you.

You advise against it but the Sangheili refuses to comply.

He may even tell you he's scared to lose you.

To the point he knows he needs to be violent to keep you beside him.

Bakar would be the most intense during this time when he saved you.

He never leaves your side and gets antsy around others near you.

It's sad to see... He used to be such a kind pacifist.

Now he's scared, anxious, and looks panicked at the thought of being alone again.

Nearly losing you makes him a monster.

He may beg you to stay beside him.

He doesn't even care about the blood at this point.

Bakar would sacrifice everything to protect you.

You're the closest to a parent he's ever had.

Nearly losing you breaks him.

Call it wrong... but maybe he should lock you in a bunker.

Then you'll be safe, right?

Maybe he should be more violent like his brethren...

Will that keep you safe?

Bakar is driven into fear, it fuels his obsession.

To him, he needs to be as unforgiving as the world to keep you safe and with him...

He won't let anyone pry you from him... He'll die fighting to keep you before losing you like his previous parents.

[not-terezi-pyrope]

There's a recurring issue that keeps happening in fantasy discourse that keeps happening to creators where including monsters in your worldbuilding gets distorted into a sort of fascist intent as people get gradually lore desensitised to said monsters and they become more and more a "mundane" or "natural" part of the fictional world in people's minds.

Here's how it works, from my observation.

The monster, as a concept, is an ancient mainstay of all fiction as it is a mainstay of the human psyche, representing primal fears and the abstract (unrealistic!) horror of the other. It has carved out an important role in media as an element that is broadly understood to be a thrilling antagonistic force that is removed from anything in the real world.

An author wants to write a story about heroes who regularly encounter and fight multiple monsters, because this is mechanically important for the type of media or narrative (maybe a video game world needs many creatures to fight, the high fantasy protagonist needs a "monster force" to threaten the world, the ghost hunter type hero needs various ghosts and ghouls to fight off each week.

The story gets released into the world and people become used to the monsters existing, to the extent that they begin to lose the narrative lens of the monster in their minds. They begin to treat the otherworldly monster as an element of the world, and then the idea of the monster as a purely antagonistic or evil force begins to sound absurd, as it is for any type of being in the real world, especially if the monster is intelligent. People get interested in subverting these elements of the monster, and derivative works including the type of monster begin to explore stories in which the monsters are actually neutral/good, but misunderstood, actors, due to their monstrous appearance or similar.

This interpretation of the monster as another kind of person, or benign animal, becomes widespread, with the monster solidified as a concrete part of the world in a way that is divorced from their conception as an unrealistic, otherworldly threat.

People look back at the original source work, and go, "hey! Why was the author so intent on displaying this group of creature as inherently gruesome and evil? This sounds like fascism!" And it makes sense why they think that, except that they have forgotten that said author was writing about a type of monster instead of an analogy for a human group or race. As such, with enough time and reinterpretation, people can find grounds to accuse authors of fascism for the crime of merely writing about monsters, which kind of sucks as a thing to do, in my opinion.

I think the Tolkien/D&D style Orc is the prototypical example of this, although there are many others, really it happens to some extent with any sort of "monster species" where there is more than one horror creature in your world. This is not to say that you can't interrogate issues with how certain monsters are portrayed - why evil orcs are portrayed with darker skin colours sometimes, for example, or... Pretty much everything going on with a lot of goblin-esque creatures, but I think it's important to remember that this is a different sort of criticism from, for instance, "Tolkien and the D&D people believe that certain types of being are inherent evil and need to be wiped out".

Because we can't forget that they were not writing a real type of person or creature, but a type of monster, and monsters are understood to be an unrealistic, otherworldly narrative contrivance. You have problems making them fit into the real world with a just mindset because they do not exist in the real world, they exist as monsters, and were written with this understanding that there is a common understanding of what that means and how it should be understood.

I feel like people need to keep that in mind in their analysis, else pretty much any creative can be smeared retrospectively for writing about monsters whatsoever. I think monsters are pretty cool in fiction and important to the human psyche, and think that they have a crucial place, as long as we remember the lens through which they should be considered in their conception, which is inherently outside of material reality.

That's also not to say we shouldn't subvert and interrogate and adapt monster tropes either, but doing so doesn't mean throwing out the original ideas as having gone rotten.

[animatorweirdo]

Falling In Love Eonwe/You

Requested by @lamemaster

Heyyy ✋🏻 I miss your Elves/ Maiar reactions posts. So I wanted to request Elves/Maiar reaction to falling in love with their human s/o in all their different lifetimes🙏🏻. Feel free to plan it however you want, headcanon or one-shot 🥰🥰 I just love this concept so much it lives in my mind rent free :D

(Author note: Hey, I couldn't come up with a perfect scenario that could have added several characters with a human s/o, then I was reminded of Mairon Fallin in love, so I made another analysis like headcanon with Eonwe that goes his lifetimes of falling in love with his s/o. I hope you are okay with this one. )

Warnings: some angst, fluff, relationship stuff, mentions of the kin slaying, wars, death, Eonwe being a confused birdbrain, and hope you have the patience to read it all.

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

- Eonwe gives me the impression that he would be a very devoted type, taking his role as Manwe’s herald. He would be loyal and treat you well if you somehow ended up in a relationship with him. However, he also gives me the impression that he would have no idea how relationships work, especially if you aren’t from the same race as him. 

- If you were a maiar, you two would have probably been good friends from the beginning and close in general and the thought of being in a romantic relationship had not crossed your minds. You two would give the vibe of being obliviously in love.  

- Eonwe would have been more young-minded and would probably not realize how much he likes being in your presence. 

- If you serve under the same valar, you would spend a lot of time together doing your duties. You would be each other’s loyal companions and it would be uncommon for you two to be on your own. If you serve under a different valar, Eonwe would then visit you often in the domain of your valar. 

- If you are a loyal type yourself, then you two would most likely survive through the thick and thick of the first years of Arda, and perhaps when Eonwe realizes his deep feelings for you and becomes more mature in the matter of courting, he would ask you to be his spouse, especially if you two have a strong foundation of loyalty and companionship. 

- Manwe and Varda would have most likely pushed him to confess and eventually ask you to marry him. 

- However, if you were tempted by Melkor and joined him, Eonwe would have been confused and heartbroken. He would have realized his feelings too late and be left hoping you would eventually return to the light. If you did, then he would be there to welcome you with open arms, if not, then he would only feel sadness in losing you. 

- If you were an elf, Eonwe would have some idea of how to interact with you but be very confused about his sudden rise of feelings toward you. He would worry it is appropriate for him to seek a relationship with you, and try not to step over your boundaries. 

- Eonwe would likely need a lot of reassurance, and perhaps a push from Manwe, to finally have the courage to ask to court you. 

- You will most likely have to teach him the basics and the norms in courting an elf. He would be familiar with the Vanyar, but not on deeper levels. He had likely interacted with them on official business. 

- Physical touch would most likely feel strange for him at first, but if you are patient and gentle, he would grow to like it. 

- It wouldn’t matter much to Eonwe from which elven clan you come from. He would focus more on your personality and what kind of person you are. 

- Eonwe values loyalty and a good heart in a person. He would not mind if you were slightly mischievous and caused harmless pranks, even finding some amusement in them. However, if you were a teaser type, he would be pretty shy and wouldn’t know how to interact if you kept teasing his poor heart.

- He does not appreciate evil and harm caused to others. If you were part of the Noldor and joined the kin slaying, then he would be upset and heartbroken. If not but decided to leave Aman with your people, he would understand your loyalty to your family, and patiently wait for the day when the valars would grant you mercy and allow you to return. 

- If you were a Telerin and survived the kin slaying, he would have a close experience of what losing you felt like. He would be there for you as you tried to recover from the whole ordeal. However, if you didn’t survive the kin slaying and ended up in Mandos, he would feel awful sadness and try to plead with Eru himself that you would be able to recover in the soul. 

- If you were a Vanyar. Eonwe would likely be familiar with most of your kin’s customs, having interacted with them way more than the other two clans. There is a high chance you two met at a party or by chance when he had some errands. 

- If you were a Sindar, you two would have met during the war of wrath. He would not be most familiar with Sindarin customs, but if you manage to catch feelings for each other, he would ask you to join him in Valinor at the end of the war. If you accepted, he would be ecstatic, but if you still had business in Middle Earth, he would respect your decision and wait for the day when you would finally sail to the blessed realm. 

- If you were a human, things would be slightly complicated. There could be two ways how you two could have met. 

- One, you two met during the war of wrath. Eonwe would have heard his fair share of things about humans, so he would be intrigued about you once you met. 

- If you didn’t have the most positive view of him and the valars due to their absence in the whole war, he would have difficulties befriending you. However, he would slowly understand you when he learned about all the losses and tragedies you endured. He would feel empathic and become protective of you in a way. 

- He would respect you if you were trying to contribute to the war in your own way.

- He would feel conflicted when he realized his growing feelings toward you since you were not immortal like him or the elves, and neither you nor your kind were permitted to enter the blessed realm. 

- Your time would be limited. He would do his best to ensure your safety during the war, hoping you will live through it and allow for a peaceful life. You two would probably not share anything about your feelings until the last minute when it was time to say goodbye. However, if you did not survive the war, he would silently mourn for you and perhaps feel regret for not telling you of his feelings. 

- If Eonwe decided to stay in Middle Earth for some mission Manwe bestowed upon him, and incidentally met you. You most likely end up as his guide in Middle Earth.

- He would be wearing a disguise or a form that would help him blend in with the people, so you would have no idea he was a Maiar. 

- Eonwe would learn more things about humans from you. He would still share the same conflicted feelings about his growing feelings toward you, but after some counseling and advice from old acquaintances, he may be more open-minded about it. 

- He would eventually reveal the truth about himself to you, and you will either be accepting or there was a chance you already knew about it. It would be impossible not to notice things when you’ve traveled together for some time. 

- If you two got together, you would be a happy pair, and spend as much time together as possible. 

- Eonwe would think you were adorable if you got a big fascination toward his wings and allowed you to play with them even if they were slightly sensitive. 

- Eonwe would most likely stay in Middle Earth to be with you at the end of your days. Or if you contributed to fighting evil and protecting Middle Earth, then maybe the Valars would allow you to stay in Valinor, or perhaps grant you an immortal life so you could stay with Eonwe. 

- There could be a chance becoming immortal would mean that you would be bound to the world and have the same fate as elves, but if you willingly chose that, then Eonwe would be forever devoted to you. 

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

This question is based on a reblog I saw of one of your posts. In the reblog they suggested that if Malleus was a normal human them lurking at an abandoned building at night would be viewed as just as creepy as Rook’s behavior and that if someone who had normal creepy behavior like Rook was fae or nonhuman then he would be viewed as less creepy. Do you have any thoughts on this? I’m not sure how to feel one way or another.

[Referencing this post!]

No worries, I think I know what you meant!! ^^ But thank you anyway for clarifying, it's definitely appreciated! asdhlbyioyqiqhubq I didn't mean for my reply to that original ask to be taken that seriously, but this does open up an interesting topic of discussion!

I do feel like this is really an issue of the perception of humans versus non-humans (fae, merfolk, beastmen, monsters, direbeasts, ghosts, Phantoms, etc.). We can excuse a lot of things that creatures of fictional races do because the "standards" for what is and is not acceptable shifts to adapt to the concept that these races are otherworldly and thus play by different rules, have different cultures, or operate under different expectations. Meanwhile, if it's a regular human, we can easily compare them to our real-life standards and expectations for human behavior (even if it is not done at a conscious level). Because of this, it is more "palatable" to hear "oh, this fairy killed someone" compared to "oh, this human killed someone" or “oh, a vampire drank blood” compared to “oh, a human drank blood”. It's also more likely that we attribute what is normally perceived as odd or, as this anon puts it, "creepy" behaviors as something else entirely when done by a non-human race. (Conversely, things considered normal for a non-human race to do may be strange if a human did the same.) Suddenly it's no longer "creepy", and the atypical behavior is attributed to being a characteristic that "makes sense" for that non-human race trying to adapt to life among humans.

As an example, let's consider some merfolk. Jade and Floyd have the hobby of collecting objects from along the seafloor. If you walked into their rooms and saw a chest full of miscellaneous things (combs, forks, pendants, shards of sea glass, etc.), you'd probably go, "they might not have these items under the sea, maybe they're curious about them!" If you found the same thing in like... Trey's room... You might be more confused and put off by it. "Why does he have all this stuff? He doesn't seem to be using any of it, they're just sitting here and taking up space."

Going back to the Malleus vs Rook scenario, let's now consider the original (with fae Malleus and human Rook). We will assume that you have zero prior knowledge of these characters, their backstories, or personalities, so treat it as though you're seeing them for the very first time ever. Think about the circumstances. You're alone in this new world, at the mercy of a headmaster who provides your (precarious) housing and food, and you JUST witnessed the horrors of what magic can do when pushed to its brink (since Malleus first shows up in book 2, not 1). You're in your rickety housing and, in the middle of the night, you cannot sleep. You decide to go on a walk to clear your head, knowing that it should be fine to be out even though the surroundings are dark because no one frequents this part of campus. But then you see a figure that shouldn't be there... lingering. Discomfort would be a perfectly acceptable emotion to have here. In the situation where it's Rook, you might be apprehensive. What's this guy doing here and what does he want from you? His big old hat does not help because the brim of it might obscure his face and make him appear like he's purposefully trying to hide his face. You might not be so eager to confront this guy and instead might look the other way or not engage at all in a conversation. In the situation where it's Malleus, you may also be apprehensive, but you'd also be significantly more curious. Because of his horns (a trait of being a dragon fae), he casts a very unique silhouette unlike any other student at NRC. You might be so surprised or curious that you approach him and try to learn more about the weird horned guy. I'd also like to again point out that the horns are the basis for Yuu's nickname for Malleus, so one of his fae traits ends up being a means of connection and socialization for the two. This would not be so for a human character that shows up on your front lawn late into the day.

Now let's reverse it. Let's say that Rook is the fae and Malleus is the human. Even if we assume that Rook maintains his hat but lacks the horns (since that's a trait of dragon fae specifically), he would still have the pointed ears of a fae and perhaps unique eyes. That alone could draw others in. Malleus would have no discerning physical traits to dismiss his behavior. He would most likely be seen as a weird human who likes to wander the campus at night. Rook would meanwhile be granted the benefit of the doubt, something like "oh, he's not human; is it normal for creatures like him to be active at night?"

In both cases, Malleus and Rook are "trespassers" (Yuu even gets the option to call Malleus that in 2-14). Your perspective would shift considerably based on whether you think of the "trespasser" as human or non-human.

Of course, this is not taking personality, social status, or other behaviors (like Rook's stalking or uncanny ability to collect details about his peers with but a glance, which Malleus does not engage in) into consideration. I'm only giving my thoughts on the first encounter with Yuu. However, I do believe that the change in one's perception due to human/non-human labels does extend into other interactions. For example, maybe fae!Rook's fascination with beauty and even him being invasive toward other students would be dismissed because this would be attributed to "oh, he's a fairy; he's curious about humans and wants to explore the world because his race is usually so sheltered and isolated from it all". Regular ol' human!Rook doing the same things is viewed as stalkerish and unsettling. Human!Malleus might be seen as more of an awkward loner that doesn't know how to interact with his peers as opposed to fae!Malleus, who has these same characteristics chalked up to him being a long-lived fae who hasn't had the chance to engage with people outside of his country.

I think that about sums up all my thoughts on this topic. Please let me know if you think I overlooked anything ^^

[ssalballoon]

Wait but how do you draw faces???? ): Do you have more suggestions for that sort of thing?

oh faces! i'm going to assume you're drawing in a semi(?) realistic/ anime-ish style? that's kinda the style i'm familiar with, if you're going for a super 2D graphical style then a lot of my advice won't really apply! i'll put it under the cut

1) I think the most important thing for faces is to always keep in mind the 3D form and planes of the face. Looking at a lot of simplified art (like anime) is a little detrimental for this because it's easy to think the features of the face are just kinda pasted on

Here's a tool from William Nguyen that lets you play around with any angle and light source you desire for heads! It really emphasizes the 3D form and especially the planes of the face. It's helped me out a ton!

Sinix has a video on drawing faces from any angle from imagination (no reference), again focusing on the 3D nature of faces. For individual features of the face (eyes, nose, mouth, etc) he has a playlist of anatomy tutorials!

- I advise against turning to memory and iconography for features of the face (like 👁️ and 👄) Icons like these are useful when the 2D shape is more important for communicating information quickly like in standardized hazard signs. But for more realistic drawing, you want to rely on the 3D form so these simplistic drawings can be jarring in certain styles when in the context of a full human face. This Proko video mentions that you should treat the features of the face like the eye as just another abstract form and not think of it specifically as an "eye" (Proko's channel is also a good general art resource)

2) basic proportions

This is about where specific features of the face are located. I never really studied this on its own, but I think drawing a lot just got me familiar with it. I'm hesitant to link a specific resource here because I didn't really use any myself;; while this isn't as exhaustive as I'd like, I like how Marc Brunet explains it! (Although I'm not a big fan of how he delineates male/female faces and facial features so black and white...? like don't feel obligated to stick to that specific face shape for female characters TTOTT i think it can get pretty redundant compared to the diversity of the male faces he draws)

- Facial proportions change with age! So you should be mindful of it depending on how old the character that you're drawing is

3) expressions

Drawing faces means you're gonna have to draw expressions, even if that expression is a neutral face. I'm admittedly not the best at this, but try pushing the expressions to their extremes to make them more interesting (of course depends on context). 2D disney expressions/concept art accomplish this perfectly and are a good reference to study from (I personally enjoy Shiyoon Kim's concept art!)

- Note how when you cry, the entire face (+body) moves to create that expression. It's not just a tear falling down the cheek, it's the eyebrows furrowing, the muscles around the eyes scrunching in(?), mucus running down the nose, mouth and lips tightening, eyes and nose becoming red, shoulders hunching up, etc.

- as a small aside I want to emphasize the importance of eyebrows because I avoided drawing them/ moving them around more when I started learning to draw, don't do that!! they're crucial for drawing expressions!

4) diversity

Try depicting facial diversity to make a character unique and more interesting!

- semirealism helped me turn away from the hyperstylization of certain anime styles where a lot of these unique features are smoothed away. Things like wrinkles around the brows/eyes/mouth, eye/nose/mouth shape and size, facial bone structure, facial hair, etc really help to individualize a character/ capture their likeness

- also people of different races have different facial features that you should be mindful of. I don't feel knowledgeable enough to give specific advice on this, but if you're unfamiliar with something please use references!!

This can be challenging especially in stylized drawing, since you tend to have to pick and choose what you choose to depict. For example, I find that trying to draw out all the wrinkles of a character, while it may be accurate, it just doesn't fit my style. I therefore have to balance the amount of details to include to achieve a character's likeness. However, stylization also allows you to emphasize those unique features which makes a character more memorable to me!

as another example this is a personal trick i use but i've found drawing the bottom lip helps make a more masculine face, and drawing the top lip as well for a more feminine face...??? idk why this works for me (and it may not work for you!) but yeah try playing around with what details you include/exclude and see what you end up liking!

okie I think that's all I have for faces..? hopefully i'm not missing anything... again I prefer to let actual teachers give specific advice on how to draw, I feel more comfortable talking about general ideas and referring you to better sources that you can learn from first-hand!

also I think in my efforts to explain the key aspects of drawing faces I've kind of made it seem like I follow strict delineated steps... no I truly just wing it every time I draw TTOTT I just think these points are important to keep in mind so that when you amass more knowledge about them you can internalize it to become a habit!

enough yapping from me thank you for your ask! i hope this can be of help to you 🫡💞

[blackbloodteeth]

@rennikun's Soultember prompt 14: Energy / Soul Resonance

Energy: Succubi are a strange but highly social race known for feeding off of the energy of others. Like most personalities in people, their dispositions vary between each other, ranging anywhere from forming tight-knit biker gangs to personally ruining humans' relationships for amusement. Regardless of this, it's generally widely frowned upon to keep feeding from someone until the point of death, being treated as any murder would and greatly alerting any surrounding warrens.

But I digress; Their biggest oddity is how they usually appear as women with the heads of mouthless rabbits, shifting from pose to pose as if in interpretative dance for communication. Despite this, from an outsider's perspective, anyone seen talking to them will respond as if they'd spoken verbally.

Rarely do they ever show their true faces to anyone, but Maka will often comfortably wear her's around Soul when they're alone as an upmost sign of trust. She has a complicated relationship with her parents and especially her father, who is indeed an Incubus – A counterpart to the Succubus that relates more closely to hares, and usually found much more scarce.

Soul Resonance: Old, old concept of mine called Fusion Resonance, which initially originated because my character Dantae had such an unstable physical form. Either way, this heavily specialized type of resonance basically combines the weapon's form into the meister's body, upping their physical power and opening up all sorts of new special attacks. It takes a lot of training to be able to maintain this connection for an extended duration of time, but with a truly strong partnership, their bond is surely capable of shining through.

Given Dantae and Hawk canonically later go on to perfect this technique and find a way to teach it to others, feel free to explore this concept for yourself if it strikes your inspiration haha

[yakkety-yak-art]

not to unnecessarily thinkpiece at 1 am (this might be incomprehensible) but i feel its odd when people talk about spock being half human and half vulcan like its completely literal. like somebody just put two legos together and can just separate them or turn one on or off at will. i know that in tos its explained similarly in that way a lot, but a lot of the times when it is it just seems like a more shorthand explanation for the complexities spock deals with culturally and biologically rather than it being entirely literal.

the reason i feel its weird is for two reasons: 1. spock is quite literally biracial and his personal story revolves around that a LOT. leonard nimoy even spoke before about receiving at least one letter from a biracial girl talking about how she related to spock/wanting advice because she was a "half-breed", which to me points pretty clearly to how spock functions as an analogue for multiracial people or someone of a different race and culture living somewhere where they are a minority and have to conform to the majority cultural/racial expectations. spock is treated as too human for vulcans and too vulcan for humans, but this is entirely due to cultural stigma and not because of his actual biology (and even if his biology was extremely divergent from both, that wouldn't justify bigotry anyways). spock is not actually "worse" at controlling his emotions than other vulcans, and is not more emotional than them (vulcans are very emotional, of course, and they are also quite expressive--they just express themselves differently than most humans), nor is he inherently less of a person and more like a computer, to use bones' sentiments, just because he does not emote in ways his human crewmates do. humans and vulcans both treat him as if he is fundamentally deficient, but it's not that he actually is, or that any multiracial vulcan or human COULD be, but that they are so prejudiced that they are making reasons to mistreat him or view him poorly. the only thing that actually makes him fundamentally different from other vulcans or humans is his physiology, because unlike with the current human social concept of race in regards to skin color, vulcans and humans do actually have physical differences as two different races--as in species. but, in universe, this physical difference in spock's case is nearly as minor (in a purely physical sense) as someone having more melanin than another, and is only important to those who aren't himself, his direct family, or his doctors because of the social construct of race.

this also reflects in how spock views himself; he's not cagey about being biracial, and references it relatively often (though mostly only when it's relevant), and seems to feel no shame towards his human mother herself, but he otherwise tends to exclusively racially identify as vulcan and shies away from wanting to associate his own person with humanity. he was raised on vulcan and "as a" vulcan, and aside from his human mother, he has no tangible connections to earth human culture. yet, most of the humans he meets and even his own mother judge him as being an "abnormal" or "deficient" human in the same way that spock's mixed race status is used as a reason to judge spock as being the same, but as a vulcan. spock is just as emotional as any human or vulcan, and acts in accordance with the culture he was raised in, but even as an adult has internalized racism because he considers his emotions inherently human (aka bad and wrong) even though emotions are not traits which exist only in humans, and himself not really a vulcan in some fundamental way, solely because of the racism he's faced since a child. to put it another way, if spock had been raised on earth, with the majority of his influences being in human community and family aside from his father, would he identify primarily as human, or more generally as biracial, rather than just vulcan, feeling some internal shame in regards to that aspect of his heritage and identity? i think it's entirely possible. his differences are largely based in social responses to his existence and cultural differences based on where he was raised.

(to note: i'm not saying it's bad that spock himself identities primarily as vulcan or that he should identify more as human, i'm simply saying that it highlights how much of his racial and cultural identity is directly tied to how he was raised and is treated rather than some inherent biological trait he has because he's biracial. spock is clearly visibly vulcan, which would be the racial minority on earth, so even then he would face stigma related to his race based on his appearance--on vulcan, it stems more from simply the knowledge that spock is biracial, as his family is very well-known and prestigious, rather than looking human.)

reason 2 is also because spock serves as an analogue for neurodivergent people, but in particular autistic people, people who display with a flat affect or otherwise don't react or emote in a "normal" sense, miss or ignore social cues, etc. in fact, generally, spock is a character which many socially marginalized groups and people who feel like outsiders gravitate towards because his situation as sci-fi biracial in an entirely human crew feels familiar to a lot of these people.

so, treating spock like he's literally split down the middle, fundamentally inhuman and invulcan, only halves that can be separated or a switch that can be flipped where he's "more vulcan" or "more human" feels incredibly strange because then...what does that imply about real people who are biracial, or people who are autistic? i'm sure most people don't think too hard about it, but to accept the reasoning of the people being racist to spock is conceding to the idea that something is wrong with spock. that he is two unfinished halves and not one whole, and that he either is one or the other or is in a permanent gray area where his existence is wrong. spock is different, yes, but almost all of the differences outside of his daily bodily functions are entirely because of the concepts of race that other people have. what is that meant to tell someone who's mixed race? "sorry, you'd be normal if you were just one race"? someone who's autistic, "but you're not really a person"?

again, i'm sure many people haven't thought about it that deeply and aren't meaning to imply those things, just as i'm sure plenty of people have probably written nearly identical thinkpieces in the decades since tos aired, but it's just been bugging me and i needed to get it out of my brain. by the time i'm wrapping this up, it's a little past 2 am, and i've tried to proofread this but it might still be a slog and/or entirely incomprehensible. if anyone has any thoughts--whether you agree with me or not, or felt like something in the post could be added to/reworded--i'd definitely be interested in hearing them (like i said, this is almost 100% unoriginal thoughts lmao).

anyways don't become english majors kids it gives you media analysis brainworms.

[glasskey]

I’m Gonna Cut Your F#cking Heart Out - The June Osborne Hit List Pt 1.

You guessed it, time for our girl to finally get her own playlist. She’s been busy to say the least, so there’s certainly surplus to requirement here. Let’s start with some of her most memorable hits from The Handmaid’s Tale season 1.

Nolite te Bastardes Carborundorum (Don’t let the bastards grind you down)

The infamous words of defiance and hope scrawled on the inside of June’s wardrobe from the previous Handmaid, who tragically, ultimately, let the bastards (Fred) grind her down. It was fitting that at the beginning of season 1, June had absolutely no idea what these words meant, but by the end of S2 she’d plastered them across the wall of her prison in foot high letters. Suitably she found this secret call to freedom destroyed upon her unceremonious return at the beginning of S2. We watched as Aunt Lydia and Serena proceeded to join forces to crush her spirit, leaving June catatonic and bleeding in the garden bed. It seemed poetic that June had to ask Fred their meaning, for their very essence incited rebellion and he was after all, her jailer. His response that it was a joke, indicated that the very concept of kicking against the system was laughable. It was a message contained in one of Fred’s boyhood school books, signifying a long since dead rebellious youth. Here in Gilead these words belong to June and she treats them like a prayer for strength against the resident “bastard” Fred, and his unending onslaught of rape and obsessive creepiness. The moment Fred is confronted by the words on June’s bedroom wall as he is held at gun point by Nick, is juxtaposed with his demise in that dark forest at the hands of Nick and June. The phrase signed off across his hung lifeless body marking June and Fred’s separation and the end of a sinister chapter. In her testimony June had asked for justice for the nameless, voiceless many and here it was at last, for the previous anonymous Handmaid who had hung herself in despair in the Waterford's attic.

Standing there in her room staring at those words, Fred of all people should have understood their subtext, but consumed with obsession and arrogance, he chose to ignore them. How was he to know they weren’t just a good old fashioned fuck you from Osborne, but also a prophetic warning.

What else is there to live for?

As much as I hated Fred, he did get some of the best lines and this one scene has three of his greats. This quote from Fred and the philosophical debate he has with June is one of my favorite Osborne moments. It encapsulates the difference in nature between their respective two worlds. Fred’s musings about life pre Gilead come loaded with allusions to men and women’s displacement from their traditional roles. Fred, and later Lawrence, argue that as these lines blurred and women attempted to exceed their “biological destinies”, men felt they lost their purpose and society crumbled. Fred believes that the sole purpose of humanity is to breed and perpetuate the human race, anything else such as love, is nothing more than sentimental garbage invented to facilitate this process. “Now you’re free to fulfil your biological destinies….what else is there to live for?” he asks “Love” June replies almost astonished at his ignorance. To her the answer is so self-evident and obvious; because unlike Fred she’s actually experienced it, and isn’t the emotional equivalent of a cavernous black hole. He scoffs dismissing it as lust, and she unfortunately overestimates the length of the leash Fred has her on. She drops the careless quip; “Maybe for you, but not for me”, questioning both his emotional depth and the authenticity of his feelings for Serena. He is less than amused. He proceeds to give her a not so subtle warning by telling her exactly what they did to Emily. It’s clear that in this world women’s needs or pleasure are not only irrelevant, but a hindrance to the cause.

Fred then drops what is possibly my favorite line for this entire series; “Every love story is a tragedy if you wait long enough”, it speaks volumes about the deterioration of his and Serena’s relationship. Once loving and affectionate it has become bitter and resentful within the bounds of Gilead, for in Gilead, anything beautiful decays. These words are both heartbreaking and loaded with foreboding, and it’s poetic that upon leaving his study she runs straight into Nick. The similarities and differences between Fred and Serena’s and Nick and June’s relationship are played out time after time throughout the seasons. This moment in particular leaves you wondering, will the other shoe indeed drop? Or are Fred and Serena actually the antithesis of what Nick and June will eventually become? Fred’s a cynic, he’s a monster but he can also recognize that Gilead comes at a personal cost to June and here we see the closest thing to an apology or at the very least an acknowledgment from Fred: “Better never means better for everyone. It always means worse for some.” It is notable that June, quotes this back to Nick in season 2, reluctant to abandon both he and Hannah in a place where love is not a purpose but merely a device.

What are you gonna trade us for? Fucking chocolate?

Here June gets her first lesson in just how much of a commodity women have become, on a global scale, even to other women. Alma lets her know from the very beginning the seedy details of the deals that are actually being made, and it sure as fuck isn’t for oranges. June unfortunately thinks that the Ambassador has some sort of interest in June’s imprisonment and if she only knew the appalling conditions June was being kept in she would undoubtedly do something about it. She’s wrong. When they first met she dutifully kept her trap shut, but then Serena had to go and parade all those children around in front of her. The spoils of Gilead and the consequence of the Handmaids enslavement. When the Ambassador turns up toting a tin of choccy to thank June for her candor about life in Gilead she lets her know exactly what being a Handmaid is all about, complete with the eye gouging and cattle prods. Contrary to belief she hasn’t sacrificed herself to the glory of Gilead; she was kidnapped, enslaved and her own child stolen. The Ambassador is of course horrified but willing to do exactly jack shit about it lest it endanger her trade deal for a shipment of Handmaids.

June’s suitably stunned and angry; she’s demanding some answers. Turns out the Ambassadors country desperately needs repopulating; although I was challenged to see what shipping over some fresh wombs would do without the whole Gilead old timey scrub down to go along with it, as this actually seemed to be the secret sauce. June accuses the Ambassador of trading the Handmaids for chocolate, it’s a stab at her moral fiber; chocolate serves no purpose but pleasure, it’s a trivial luxury, and as such she must view these women as mere chattels to trade them for it. If these people want to start trading red tags, June will make sure they see exactly what it costs them personally, and it’s a lot more than oranges and chocolate.

I’m sorry Aunt Lydia

Here we see the birth of Mayday or rather June’s true baptism as its unofficial leader. When faced with the prospect of stoning Janine to death, June chose instead to give Aunt Lydia the equivalent of the middle finger in front of her peers, complete with a smug “I’m sorry Aunt Lydia.” Much to Aunt Lydia’s horror her buddies all followed suit…..it was enough to make a cuddly old fascists blood boil. As the Handmaids walked in lockstep back to their respective homes, there was an undeniable new confident swagger to them. Nevermind, Gilead will shortly torture and terrify that out of them, but the damage is done, the rebellious rot has now set in for good.

Janine was the best behaved one out of the bunch and even she ended up a stone’s throw away from a salvaging; it could have been any one of them and they all knew it. In your run of the mill dictatorship, unquestioning loyalty is bred through fear and the reward of remaining alive. However, Gilead seemed to have made the fatal mistake of punishing it's innocent, leaving the Handmaids to reach the logical conclusion that they were fucked either way. Regimes such as these are ripe for rebellion. Gilead had unintentionally turned their handmaids attire from a ritualistic binding into a rebels uniform in one fell swoop, and unfortunately no amount of stylistic alterations were going to change it back now. This was the moment that the Handmaids realized that they had nothing to lose, and there’s nothing more dangerous than solidarity amongst those who are willing to sacrifice themselves for a cause.

While we all wait faithfully for S6, I'll be back with more playlists. See you then.

[lilareviewsbooks]

4 SFF Books For (Humanities) Nerds

Hey guys! I know I promised this like, last year, but life got in the way :( But now I can finally present to you - my list of books for humanities nerds!

To put it simply, these are books I think broach topics that are close to the humanities nerds' interests - sociology, history, art, anthropology, political sciences... And sure, they could be considered "boring", but if you're into the humanities - you'll have a ball with them! (and, of course, anyone can enjoy these!)

The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison

5 stars | 446 pages | standalone, but there are spin-offs | queer side character

This is the book that spurred this list, so, if you want a longer review, I have it on my blog. But suffice it to say that The Goblin Emperor is a fairly long and detailed account of what happens in the court of a country of elves when the youngest, unfavoured and half-goblin son of the king ascends the throne. This book is masterful. It seemlessly weaves in personal and political concerns as we follow Maia, the newly crowned emperor. The writing style is slow - we follow the emperor's every day life. We are with him when he rises in the morning until when he wakes up. It waits for something to happen, and is quiet and slow. It's absolutely delightful: despite his politicking, Maia is mostly and more ardently concerned with kindness. He wants to treat people fairly. This not only makes for a sweet main character, it also means the book is a fascinating character study, as well as an incredible feat of world-building. I think nerds will enjoy its slow and traquil pace, its dedication to politics, language and customs of this world and its charming main character.

A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine

5 stars | 462 pages | completed duology | queer main characters

For a sci-fi twist, I think A Memory Called Empire is the way to go. The duology follows Mahit, a citizen of a small satellite of the Teixcalaan Empire, who is chosen as the next ambassador for her home. She must journey to the capital with a very important mission - find out why her predecessor mysteriously disappeared. Again, what there is to enjoy here is lush, expansive world-building. The Teixcalaani feel so, so real. Every little detail was thought of, from their language to their smiles. It's truly impressive, and the prose, I remember, is also beautiful, making these details pop out even more. This is also incredibly political, as Mahit descends into the belly of the beast, so to speak, in search of answers. But it is framed by a pretty straight-foward murder mystery, which might be fun for people used to mystery stories. And the second book broaches first contact! - it's just so much fun! I also have a longer review for this series, if you would like more details! Nerds will be drawn to the expansive world-building, attention to detail, and reflections on empire, memory and legacy.

Elder Race, by Adrian Tchaikovsky

4 stars | 201 pages | standalone | no one's queer, I don't think :(

This one might be a good pick for veterans of SFF - it has a fun gimmick! You must've heard the phrase "any science advanced enough in undistinguishable from magic", attributed to Arthur C. Clarke. This book takes that concept and runs with it. For Lynesse, a princess in a medieval society, Elder Nyr's "giant tower" is magical, and he, a magician. For Elder Nyr, an anthropologist come from a different planet, his interests are scientific, and his "tower", a spaceship. The fun of the novella is that we flip-flop between these two people's perspectives, so that half the story is a sci-fi, and the other half, a fantasy. I found this story to be unique, and to understand its place in the speculative genre quite well. It defies expectations and conventions in a creative way that I think nerds familiar with them will enjoy!

The Traitor Baru Cormorant, by Seth Dickinson

5 stars | 399 pages | uncompleted series | queer main characteres

Another good bet is The Traitor Baru Cormorant, the first installment in the Masquerade Series, which is not finished yet. It follows Baru, who, as a child, watches her country be colonized by the Masquerade Empire. She vows revenge, and to destroy the empire from the inside out. In this installment, she is finally trusted to be sent as an Imperial Accountant to Aurdwynn, a famously ungovernable territory... This one is very, very brain-y. It's dense political fantasy, and I admit I had some trouble following the economics, sometimes - that was never my strong suit!! The tapestry of betrayals, alliances and twists is rich, intricate and realistic. People have diverse interests, are multi-faceted individuals, and yet have a reason to be acting they way they are acting. This makes for satisfying plot lines, and incredible twists. I still haven't recovered from what the first book did to me, to be honest. Nerds, if you want to be dazzled and made to work for it, pick this one up. The Traitor Baru Corumorant will have you scratching your chin, thinking hard and having a lot of fun with (yay!) economics and accounting!

I have a couple more of these if anyone is interested :) And as always, if you need a book rec, feel free to send me an ask!

[sol-consort]

So you know it’s human instinct to help your neighbor. And canonically some species get annoyed because they interpret our desire to help as humans solving everyone’s problems for them to make them look bad. Even when that concept has basically been beaten out of us currently we’re still doing what we can to help the community or people who need it. We see people in trouble and we want to help, not to gain anything but because it’s the right thing to do.

A turian falls in the presidium lake, and turians are so physically dense that they sink, a gaggle of humans around all dive in after the turian to haul them out.

A quarians suit gets a rip and humans will rush them to the closest sterile area and help them patch it up.

A hanar becomes dehydrated and humans will sit there gently pouring water over them until help arrives to properly rehydrate them.

A random human ship, maybe a civilian ship, maybe the ship is a mailing ship. they hear a distress call out in the cosmos and despite having no armaments or defenses, the captain of the ship b-lines it for the call to help whoever they can.

Humans don’t like seeing people suffer. Even when we hesitate, even when we tell ourselves it’s not our business, that instinct is still there. We want to help them and it’s intimidating to the other species because everyone else is generally out for their own people.

I love this concept!

We've always been a community based species ever since we became hunters and gatherers. It is in our genes to be as helpful as we can. It gives us a sense of purpose and makes our brain release the reward hormones. That's why we love giving gifts to others, showing love in acts of service, or sharing compliments with whoever we can.

That's how we domesticated the dogs, cats, and even pigeons. We were so kind and helpful to them that they saw it in their benefit to form a symbiotic relationship with us. We have to prevent humans from feeding other wild animals or interacting with them just so we don't accidentally domesticate another whole wild race because we thought they could use some food and shelter.

We're empathetic by nature. We see someone in distress, and we understand how it must feel even if they're in a situation we can't relate to. We still understand the emotion. Our kids grow up thinking everything should be fair, and everyone deserves food and the best toys.

We still tell them our fairytales where goodness prevails, and people are always fair because even when we know, they'll grow up and be hit with the harsh indifference of life like we were. Because we hope, we hope that maybe just maybe they'll be better than us. Maybe they can make these fairytales a reality one day, that if we shove enough kindness and love into a child, then hopefully they'll grow up to be a kind adult who helps others.

Even our philosophies of morality always waters down to "treat others how you wish to be treated" we try our hardest each time to achieve a utopia with no suffering despite knowing humans are flawed by nature, much like an asymptote we always strive for a goal we may never reach yet we always try nonetheless. To care in the face of an uncaring universe, that is the human condition, our greatest strength and biggest weakness.

It will definitely be met with suspicion from other aliens at how helpful we can get at times, especially when we ask for nothing back. It will make them feel uneasy how fast integrated and adapted with the other species, even making space for them and accommodations amongst our own planets in case they visit.

Inviting out turian friends to visit our beaches on earth, making sure they're safe while we slowly guide them in the water. The nearby human lifeguard keeping a close eye on them and coming to the rescue the second the turian slips into deeper water and begins to sink.

Maybe a turian forgot to bring their lunch at work and all the humans nearby chip in with whatever pieces of food they can manage that are safe for turian consumption. Triple checking that they're not contaminated. Ever since that day, everyone in that office started taking turns bringing an extra lunchbox that's full of food both humans and turians can eat, seperate from their own lunch just in case the turian forgets theirs once more.

There is nothing humans hate more than eating while someone else in the room doesn't have food, we share our dinner with our pets just to make them feel included even if they already had their dinner a short while ago.

So a turian or quarian coworker not having something to eat during lunch will absolutely bring out the community instincts in the humans who will pool money and have someone run to the nearest store and bring them dextro food. Absolutely no one is allowed to be left without food.

The dehydrated hanar one is too adorable. Imagine you're in a trip with a group of people or maybe on a transport ship much like our current trains and a hanar faints because of their water levels getting dangerously low but there is no water source on board to take them to.

So all the humans give up their waterbottles and pool them together to give to the hanar. From the cute ones with stickers and charms to the sleek sporty ones with antibacterial lining and the everyday plastic waterbottles that are a little bit crinkled.

Every single one counts, everyone gives their own bottle. Some mother who apparently prepared for the trip beforehand comes in with 10 whole large water bottles that she was carrying just in case. Every human is fussing over the hanar and making sure they're well, the word gets spread around throughout the whole ship from one room to another and a steady stream of water bottles is being brought as every human who hears this immediately volunteers their own.

The adorable hanar waking up to be surrounded by a gaggle of concerned humans who are pouring water on its tentacles from a bright pink waterbottle with an anime charm.

Maybe the mass effect field of one of the hanars malfunctions, and they flop on the ground like a fish as their legs fail to lift them up, a couple of humans passing by stop and carry the hanar to the nearest hospital.

A drell struggling to breath and a human lends them their asthma inhaler, teaching them how to use it and telling them to keep it, they have a spare one afterall.

Maybe after curing the genophage, krogans find themselves struggling to fit in the parental roles. Especially the new fathers who never known what having a father is like before. They'd try their hardest to bond with their kids but find themselves absolutely clueless in certain areas.

I see humans helping the lost krogan in the baby diapers aisle to pick a brand, reassuring him that their human babies sometimes headbutt things too and giving him advice on which brand is the most comfortable and which might give them a rash so he should avoid.

Humans sharing their own lullabies and children TV shows with the krogans who didn't have the time to make any until now and they need something fast for their kids while they're building their society but the asari shows are too asari centered and the salarian ones feel insulting.

So they find the human kids shows which to their surprise, features so many nonhumans! Especially earth animals like sharks, dinosaurs and lions which quickly become a favourite amongst all krogan children. They also learn how destructive and a bit psychopathic the human children can be, and how it is just a normal phase every human goes through and feel a since of kinship with the humans. Too bad their adults outgrow that phase huh?

It's confusing to other species who aren't used to receiving kindness out of pure kindness. It's especially confusing when the humans themselves start protests and petitions against their own human government to lift the laws banning turians from visiting Earth, or the heavy mistreatment of them because of the war.

It is especially baffling when humans are ready to defend any cause they believe in, even if it doesn't involve their own kind. The Krogans are fighting for the right to get two new planets to house their new population while Tuchanka recovers? Count the humans in, we are ready to go defend them in the galactic court and everything, we will give them our best lawyers because they deserve compensation for the unfairness they suffered.

The vorcha are struggling to conduct a proper case against the asari who enslaved them because of their 20 years lifespan and the asari lawyers who keep stalling? Fuck you the humans will get involved

We will fight and pressure the asari government to negotiate with them or we will be bringing this up in the galactic court since with the humans involved, it became a council matter and not just an asari inside problem.

We are stuffing our nose in wherever we could fit it, standing in between every fight and choosing our own morale stand. Defending and helping who we deem right while condeming the unfairness.

It can range anything from one human helping an elcor pick something they dropped to whole arranged protests and petitions for other's rights.

Imagine the humans congratulating the krogans on the cure by sending them baby blankets and cute krogan shaped plush dolls they custom-made. Giving them all the baby supplies their charities could spare and sending human relief programs to start daycares and babysit the krogan kids while their parents work together on building their society.

And those humans have their own kids and bring them to the daycare with the krogans. The two species having their offspring become best friends for a moment in history as the krogan rebuilt and the humans stood at their back.

The drell who get curious about the natural deserts on earth, it quickly becomes a huge attraction for them because of how much it resembled their homeplanet. The humans quickly welcoming them and making accommodations for them and any hanar they may bring on these trips.