#i take any and all opportunities i can get to talk about star trek and i love this person so much for seeking me out to talk about it

[hollis-art]

as the local star trek nerd in my school's theater group, someone was asking me where exactly they should start in order to get into the whole thing, and YAYYY!!! not only will i have another star trek person to talk to BUT I GOT TO RAMBLE ABOUT IT IN CLASS!!!!! AND THEY WERE ACTUALLY LISTENING AND NODDING ALONG!! YAYYYY

[cherrysweather]

hi!! i'm unsure if ur still taking asks or anything, but i was wondering, if you still are, if you could write phoenix/miles with a nerdy s/o? just the type to ramble about random details from video games to things like star trek or even horror movies, they always have these little trivia facts they seem to have ready and manage to tie into the conversation.

of course if you're still doing asks!! thank you and have a wonderful day!!

Anon helluuuu! I'm sorry you had to wait a year +, but know that I really loved this ask and wanted to write it so much! I don't know if it could be useful, but I already wrote some headcanons about Edgeworth with a gamer S/O (It's this one!), so I hope you'll like this, if you still follow this blog! Thanks again and drink some water! --------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth x Nerdy!S/O:

Phoenix Wright:

Phoenix per se isn't really a fan of something in particular;

Sure, Maya taught him the ways of the Steel Samurai, Trucy taught him some magic tricks, but he prefers to not spend all his time and energy on just one thing;

But even so, he doesn't judge you, since sometimes he also understands how passionate you could be;

When he visits you, he always tries to understand what you're doing, and why it's so captivating;

Even after hours, film after film, game descriptions one after another, he just can't remember it all;

However he loves playing games with you and, depending on the film, watching your favorites and hear you afterwards explain all the detail he surely missed, the messages behind, each character personality and backstories...

Whenever he see a new film released that you might be interested in, he takes the opportunity to spend some time together doing something both of you can enjoy;

Surely, most of the time is the other way around, since you always watch out for every new announcement about a game, a film or a serie, so most of the time you're faster than him in asking to go to the cinema or buy a new game;

Whenever he can set aside some money, he happily buys you something in the lines of your passions;

The funniest part is however when you two start talking about a certain topic, and every five minutes it changes;

Starting from how the day was, to a new information you discovered about that particular character of that game, but then he answers telling you of that case where he defended someone with that exact same hair;

And it goes on;

But most of the time the talking is led by you;

He doesn't particularly hate horrors, but he surely prefers something that doesn't reminds him of any of his past cases;

So he gladly stars a quite long exchange of opinions whenever you finish to see one together.

Miles Edgeworth:

Miles probably knows a pair of films that you really like;

The rest? A mystery;

Whenever you start to rant about how that game could have had a way better sequel, he urges to find something else to do and listen to you "in the background";

Otherwise, he only comes out of there confused, speechless and sometimes with a headache;

He's taken by surprise each time you explain to him in the smallest detail how that game somewhat represents society, and the protagonist of that game is the perfect hero of who knows what kind of literature;

Don't expect him to sit alongside you while a horror film is playing;

And if he does (surely on his will) he won't watch it entirely;

In the years you two were together, Miles discovered a new way of falling asleep if he couldn't on his own;

He calls you and asks about some details or explaining of the most recent thing you played;

This is both to try and enter your world and to use your voice to empty his head and relax until falling asleep;

The first time it happened, you thought he found you boring or logorrheic, but he really just finds your voice relaxing;

And it's so cute when you get so hyped over something;

So you got along with his strategy, since you know too how difficult it is for him to fall asleep, and when he calls at impractical hours, you first check that he's ok, then just ramble about something;

Miles just puts his phone on his pillow and tries to get some sleep, answering you with "mhmh" or simply "mh" while he's awake;

Whenever he can, he does some research on what he remembers you nominated during the day and notes something of it, just to try and have a conversation with you;

Miles also tries to understand how you tie an argument with another with so much sense but at the same time with so little sense that he wants to learn to connect two things so far away from each other.

[rjmhereunderprotest]

Only Human: Species Bias in Fantasy/Science-Fiction

Let's get the premise for this little essay out of the way now: Humans are Boring. They are the most overused, overemphasized, overdone, overrated race in any fantasy/sci-fi setting. And I'm honestly SO tired of it. And by that I mean, humans, and human-like races, are consistently the primary characters of any story. Dwarves, Elves, Halflings, they're all overdone to death, but Humans? Those other races are generally just derivatives of them anyway and they are constantly placed into the primary focus of any story. Often to its detriment in my mind. We always complain about how we want other perspectives, different heroes, different narratives, but we always default to humans and frankly its gotten stale. For me, it's become even more so the longer this has gone on. So in a follow-up to my entry about Monster-Narratives with Sarah Kerrigan, let's talk about humans and why they're so goddamn boring.

Disclaimer First

I am not saying ALL human characters and ALL human centric stories are boring. I can name many a human character who is compelling and interesting and deep. My problem isn't humans as a central POV, my problem is when given the option in a setting to do ANYTHING and be ANYONE... a story will default to human. Every. Single. Time. And worse yet, they'll even make Non-Human races more human like.

Besides the aforementioned Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits, a lot of alien or fantasy races can end up just being humans with a slightly different coat of paint. You don't need to look any further than a lot of monster girl fiction, which has universally decided that you can just have any human woman put on cat ears or pop out a fox tail or grow some wings and presto chango they're a monster now I guess. It's cosplay, nothing more. No one actually has the dragon BE a dragon i full. They have to look like a human somehow.

And let's be clear here, the reason for this is obvious. Write what you know. Everyone knows how to be human, so it's easier to just WRITE a human. The perspective will ring more true if you know what a human is and can properly depict them. And since everyone is human, everyone at least has an idea of how they're supposed to be. I'm not blaming anyone for going to the default option on this, it makes sense.

But all across media there exists multiple opportunities to actually present a perspective or allow someone to step into the shoes of something that isn't human. That isn't just a derivative of humanity. That is truly foreign to them. Sadly they rarely take the chance and when they do... well, a lot of the times it falls into some bad writing clichés. Before we get into some of the main offenders, let's address one of said clichés of the bat to better understand why human centrism in genre fiction can lead to some terrible ideas.

Planet of Hats

The Planet of Hats is the well-worn concept that alien/fantasy races are monoliths. That every member of a species thinks like each other, acts like each other, builds their society around a singular concept, is entirely devoted to that particular concept, and is forever entrenched in that one state of mind forever. That is the Planet of Hats. You see it manifested in every Warrior Culture or Pacifist Society or Amazon Island or Gangster Planet. An entire people bent to serve a singular overriding "Problem of the Week" scenario to comment on a singular issue. Mostly by going completely overboard with it. And if you want to know the biggest offender of this... well, all those examples I listed come from one single IP who has done at least one iteration of those worlds over its very long life-span.

Sorry guys, it's true and you know it. For all the good Star Trek portends to be, all the progressive ideas it puts forward, for all the social commentary it has added to zeitgeist, one place it consistently falls short in is depicting alien races. How you ask? How is one of the most socially conscious and ethnically diverse franchises in history failing in this regard? Especially considering it has spawned some of the most iconic alien races in all of fiction?

Because as I just pointed out, a lot of their alien races are basically just one note stereotypes. Built around a single idea to create a "Problem of the Week" episode. This has been true as far back as the original series. Which was completely episodic and rarely if ever revisited alien races it ran across. Now of course there are mainstays and they've been fleshed out over the decades, but a lot of that fleshing out has been a result of Star Trek trying to push back on the Planet of Hats problem. And they still don't really address the crux of it.

The best way to explain Star Trek's problem lies in how one alien race was introduced to us, the Ferengi. You know them, the big eared hyper-capitalists who are best known for being the franchise's greedy assholes/Comic Relief. And boy, was their introduction a MESS.

It's fair to say the first two seasons of "The Next Generation" were... bad. As in... awful. "The Last Outpost" is one of those awful episodes where the Ferengi first showed up. Roddenberry, Star Trek's creator, wanted to evolve a lot of the concepts from the original series. The problem was he didn't have anyone to tell him "This doesn't work" The Ferengi were made to replace the dated "America vs Soviets" allegory that a lot of Trek's previous antagonist aliens represented. For Roddenberry, the real danger was unfettered capitalism. Hard to argue with that, problem was the Ferengi weren't a threat.

"The Last Outpost" presents the Ferengi less as an alien race and more like farcical clowns who basically exist to make the Federation (Humanity) look better by comparison. The Ferengi run around the entire episode, acting like unhinged monkeys, while Commander Riker struts about with his superior moral values and beliefs. At no point do the Ferengi resemble a legitimate threat to humanity. They're buffoons, made to present less a commentary on hyper-capitalism and more of a mockery of it. As a result, none of the Ferengi come off as characters, they're caricatures. Silly, nonsensical, idiots who are there to make Picard look righteous and humanity as more evolved.

Now let's not act like Roddenberry was supposed to be fair to the alien race he created to represent the things he hated. But he was supposed to make them a culture and not just strawmen he could beat up for an hour. Hell, decades earlier, he had bothered to give the Nazi Planet more nuance! And that was a planet, as stated, full of Nazis! But even that felt more like a culture than the Ferengi running around like baboons, hooting and hollering as they unconvincingly tried to pull one over on the natives they intended to exploit. Natives that the oh so perfect Federation, embodied by Commander Riker, easily protected by simple human fortitude and stalwart moral fiber.

Of course, years down the line, the Ferengi were finally developed into something that resembled a real civilization instead of punching bag. They actually had a degree of morals, not like the Federation, but they weren't entirely monstrous. Characters like Quark helped immensely in rehabilitating the image of the Ferengi without completely discarding their original characterization. But Star Trek has never really completely abandoned it's human centrism. Nor it's tendency to portray humanity in general as the "Better Way/Only Way."

Because let's be honest here, the Federation is just humanity. Sure other races are in there, work with them, and we are TOLD their customs and beliefs are respected, but be honest. How often have you seen an alien on Star Trek in a Command position? How often are aliens in Star Trek the central character? Has any captain or lead character in any Trek show ever not been a human?

You may point out Spock or Worf, and fair, but Spock is half-human and Worf was raised by humans. They're also not the Captain of the ship of their respective series. Even then, Vulcans and Klingons don't get off so easily. How many times have the Vulcans and their reliance on logic being criticized because they don't express outward emotion like humans? How many times have the Klingons had their culture scrutinized as purely violent? Yes, they've always come back around to highlight the value of their differing perspectives, how their voices at the table are worth listening to, and how there is more to them than just the warrior and hyper-logical. But ultimately, a lot of Star Trek comes back to how each of these alien races REALLY should become more human. Oh the Federation won't FORCE it on them, but they'll just kinda neg them on it. You should really show more emotion, Spock. You should really stop being so war-like, Worf. Be more human, be more sensible, conform! Why don't you conform already?

You might argue that's not the case, but it kinda is. Star Trek will always come around to how if a lot of these alien races were more like the Federation's ideal of humanity, they'd all be much better off. And it all stems from the Planet of the Hats cliché. Which purely exists to give the Federation some problem to preach about and argue against. The Federation won't conquer you to be like them, but they will kinda pressure you to change. And sure, a lot of these cultures could do with reform. But a planet existing purely to be used as a soap box isn't a culture, it's just the Ferengi of "The Last Outpost" again.

I'll sum this section up in terms that were expressed by Chuck Sonnenberg of SFDebris. Star Trek's tendency to put alien races in a box is detrimental to its world building. If Germany was a fictional race in Star Trek, it would be defined by industrial power, a love of war, and expansionist foreign policy coached in racial purity. That even after being defeated, said society would constantly be trying to claw back to its perceived glory days, never changing, just constantly being stuck in its singular mindset for all eternity. The only thing keeping them in check being the Federation of United Planets, mostly dominated by humans, who shake their heads at how awful Germans are for refusing to change and be more like them.

Doesn't that sound stupid? And if the Federation of Star Trek, the epitome of Optimistic Science Fiction, can make such a mistake, how do franchises that aren't so hopeful and cheer faire? Star Trek is an incredibly influential series in genre fiction. It informs a lot about how its done even today. If it can't help but put humans on a pedestal, even though it shouldn't because that's antithetical to its own world-building, how have other IPs faired in that regard?

Well... not good. Not good at all.

Center of Everything

I could list so many examples of humans being positioned as the most important element of any fantasy or sci-fi story. It almost feels redundant. Star Wars generally has humans as its main protagonists. A good deal of Lord of the Rings involves the nations of men being the main bulwark against the forces of Mordor. Earth is basically the most important planet in both Marvel and DC and humanity is the most special of all races out there. How many humans get to be a part of the Green Lantern Corps? Overall, humans are going to be the focus of any story. Even if they exist in a setting where they aren't the only sapient race out there. Humans get to take center stage and lead the plot. Even if they really shouldn't and they aren't supposed to and you know where this going...

I think this is probably the best example I can use to point out how Human Centrism can be a problem. Because I think enough people at this point recognize what went wrong with the live-action Transformers movies. Yeah, I know some folks keep trying to rehabilitate them, I don't care. I'm dying on this hill! They were never that good!

A movie about the Transformers should not be so reliant on the squishy humans that no one ever cared about. A series of dynamic characters who, at the point of the first Bay Movie's premiere, had carried several stories on their own despite not being human! A race of alien robots with intriguing inter-cultural dynamics, opinions, philosophies, so much character and complexity. Sure they were toy commercials at the end of the day, but no one who watched Dinobot's sacrifice in Beast Wars' "Code of a Hero" would be able to deny that the series could not transcend that stigma! The Transformers were always meant to be the center of their franchise, as they rightly should be because they can carry it just fine on their own.

Then Michael Bay showed up and decided to turn the whole series into an extended US Army Recruitment Commercial instead. I think we can all agree Military-Industrial Complex Propaganda is far worse than making kids want to bug their parents for toys. But that's neither here nor there, even if Bay hadn't been jerking off to the US Military in these movies, the problem with them was apparent from moment one. When the films became more about Shia LeBeouf wanting to get laid than the alien robots. The films excessively/progressively revolved around humans and their interactions with the Transformers. They became the primary focus more and more until they essentially took over huge swaths of the plot and narrative. Autobots and Decepticons alike, no matter how important, iconic or well-known, were very casually tossed aside and killed off over the various sequels. And no one really cared because the Transformers on both sides became so highly interchangeable and forgettable that sometimes you could blink and miss them. Remember Arcee? Prominent female autobot? Strangely split into three motocycles for some reason? Murdered to death! With only one line of dialogue!

Oh sure, Optimus and Bumblebee got to be front and center, but mostly because they got to be colors that were just a mess of greys, browns and blacks. That and Optimus is by far the most popular of all the Transformers and the face of the franchise. But if you want an example of humans taking over a narrative to its detriment, Michael Bay's Transformers movies are the singular defining example of just such a problem. And you probably heard the defenses, it gave audiences a anchor point, a relatable view, something they could connect with.

Strange, none of the fans over the years needed humans to help them connect to any of the alien robots that were the main narrative focus of countless tv shows and comics. But I suppose Hollywood Executives know better. When have they ever been wrong, right?

To be honest though, this is nothing new. Science-Fiction especially has always had a problem with positioning humans as ultra-super special. And some people could recognize it for the dangerous prospect of what it was. Issac Asimov noted John W. Campbell's tendency to position humans as the most important or superior race as opposed to others it encountered in fiction. And to Asimov, that also appeared to extend to the smaller scale of reality and Campbell's... well, let's say belief in American Exceptionalism. Asimov didn't like arguing with Campbell, so he tried to avoid using aliens too much.

You can see the problem though, insisting on the exceptionalism of humanity often denotes a general sense of racial/national superiority. There's nothing wrong with rooting for the home team, but not everything should be a competition and humans shouldn't take over every story for themselves. Especially if it isn't their own, like the Transformers. Their franchise is proof enough that humans don't have to be central element to be successful. And yet, until now, most theatrical films felt the need to involve humans in some aspect. And sadly, because of "Transformers One's" not so stellar box office performance, that belief might persist. And it will continue to hamstring the Transformers property like it does with other stories in genre fiction.

Illusion of Choice

Even if this mindset doesn't inherently compromise a story's narrative, it can still kneecap it. The best example of how involves gaming, specifically RPGs. Despite portending that our "choices matter", so often in games they do not. Because, here again, too many franchises decide that the only perspective that matters is one that looks similar to you.

Discounting the many video games that might allow you to be an alien, monster or even just an animal, because they are out there, I feel far too many RPGs can be very limiting. Does Fallout let you pick if you want to be a Ghoul or Super Mutant? No. That's only been a recent development and only for one game and its an MMO. Video games in general, when set in a fantasy or sci-fi world will default to one of the pre-approved human or human-like races, if they present the choice at all. Dragon Age 2 famously hard locked you into being a human despite the last game letting you pick your race. Now you can say that's because they had a set story to tell that needed the characters to be human. But it's still jarring.

And I think there's one instance where BioWare itself had a huge opportunity to change things... but decided they were just going to play it safe.

After three games of playing Commander Shepard, who had to be human because that made the most sense for the story they were telling, BioWare had an opportunity to shake things up. They had a whole new story, not tied to Shepard. A whole new galaxy, again, not tied to Shepard or humanity itself. And they decided to just go with another human character... again. Mass Effect has probably some of the most diverse alien races out there and even now, you can still only play them through multiplayer. The main games? Stuck with human protagonists.

I'll freely admit I probably defend Andromeda more than most Mass Effect fans. Not completely, because it does have a lot of problems, but I admire it for what it was TRYING to do. What I can't forgive is what it didn't even attempt. It could've easily crafted a story that enabled the player to pick whatever race they wanted to play as. Turian, Asari, Salarian or Krogan! Quarians! They could've let us be quarians, but NO! We are always stuck as humans, never given the opportunity to experience this galaxy through any other eyes but human ones! Even when given the perfect opportunity to do so, Andromeda chickens out and just sticks us as an ordinary human again.

It's so painfully sad. And while being given the option to be something other than a human probably wouldn't have fixed the game's other problems, at the very least it would've been looked at as some admirable. As something that tried to expand Mass Effect's unique setting and give more dimension to the aliens it had crafted.

Humans are simply the safe option. Safe to animate, safe to draw, safe to craft stories for, safe to empathize with. The second you have to do it for something that is properly alien or decisively not human, that's when you run into trouble. Because if you can't get the audience to connect with a character, it's over. And that becomes harder if the alien or fantasy creature does not share something in common with us.

It's kinda sad honestly that the biggest departure from human-based races that Dragon Age has even done is qunari. And they're technically just horned giant people. They're not exactly inhuman enough, hell if character creation teases are anything to go by, they've actually tried to make them MORE human looking for the next game.

Which brings us to a whole other issue that is pushing us further down this hole within the confines of gaming itself. For far too long now, the gaming industry has become increasingly obsessed with hyper-realism, both in graphics and design. Unique artistic styles and aesthetics have slowly been eroded away by an obsession among developers and publishers alike. A need to force characters and games themselves to be grounded in the real, no matter how fantastical the setting is.

lately, people have often complained about how the faces of game characters have gotten "ugly" over the years. The stupid among these people think its a conspiracy to get rid of sexy ladies in video games and alter beauty standards in the mainstream for some agenda. The reality is known to the smarter set of folks, who have seen the industry cultivate motion capture technology to reduce their reliance on artists to craft characters for them. Just get a recognizable face or literally anyone you can find and make them act out the lines while wearing a facial capture rig. You wanna blame anyone for making women in gaming less sexy? Blame LA Noire for proving the viability of facial animation capturing, not some evil conspiracy of developers obsessed with some innocuous message.

As a result, gaming has emphasized realism more and more in its aesthetic design philosophy. Particularly among the Triple A Games, where they seem to think that if the characters don't look real, gamers will feel that things look too old and ugly. There's no room for artistic interpretation, that costs money. No, slap a rig on some actor's face and make them do all the work. You wanna know why MJ in the second Spider-Man game looked off to you? Well that's because the actress is a real person and faces don't always stay the same and alterations to a face scan can potentially mess things up even more.

She also suffered a car accident that required doctors to reconstruct her face, but that's probably only a minimal issue since she you can't really tell the difference as I understand it.

The point is, hyper-realism has damaged gaming to an insane degree artistically and further harmed non-human characters. Because in order to get that hyper-realistic look, games have compromised themselves. Now the qunari look even more like SyFy channel aliens than ever. The boundless creativity of CG reduced to what can be produced on a budget within the make-up chair.

And I don't expect Mass Effect's eventual fifth entry to be much better. If BioWare is still this scared about letting us play something truly non-human in a fantasy setting, then they're not even going to try to let you build your own turian in Mass Effect Beyond or whatever generic subtitle they shove onto it.

And yet its doable, they can let you craft an non-human character to be the main hero. The fact Elder Scrolls was letting you do this for years is proof enough of that. Baldur's Gate 3 revealing I could be a Dragonborn was enough to convince me to pick it up eventually. Admittedly, any game that lets me be a lizard or reptile of some kind instantly has my attention if not purchase. Purely for this very essay's stated hypothesis, it's almost impossible to find any game that will let me play as something that isn't human. Because far too many games and stories prefer to just fallback on boring humans.

And yet, nothing I've mentioned so far is the worst example of this problem.

Ultrabores in the Grimbore Future

I'm not going to mix words here. The Imperium of Man of Warhammer 40k is boring. There I said it. And it's this feeling that is impetus for this entire little article of mine. In the lead up to the release of Space Marine 2, and looking further into the lore of 40k itself, I came across two inescapable truths for me.

1: Every other race in the setting was 10x more interesting and compelling, both character and lore wise.

2: Every Imperium of Man Fanboy is an Insufferable Douche Canoe of the Highest Order.

I might be overstating that last point, but it's hard to be subtle about this because I don't think anyone is going to listen otherwise. The Imperium fucking sucks! And I don't mean as characters, I don't mean as a faction gameplay wise, I mean in-universe it SUCKS. There is NOTHING admirable about this future human civilization or anything they stand for. They're objectively fucking horrible and Games Workshop itself has admitted this. And yet, despite this fact that even the most ardent hobbyist of this tabletop will admit to, you still will find more than enough Stans of the God-Emperor of Mankind who will INSIST they are the good guys. Or at the very least, necessary for the survival of humankind.

My answer to that is no. Very emphatically, NO. The Imperium of Man is not neccessary, at least it didn't have to be. It did not have to be this cruel, this dogmatic, this blindly loyal, this xenocidal and racist. It did not have to be at all like what it is, but because of the choices of Emperor himself, it is now! And it probably can't unfuck itself, because it's already fucked over so many other people within and outside its realm of control. It does emphasize the good things about humanity, it's oozes all the worst aspects of it. That's its point. That's why this universe is Grimdark. That's why it's not a good thing that humanity has become what it is in this future.

And yet, Imperium fanboys will refuse to budge. Insistent that the Emperor did everything right and it was only everyone else not just laying down and dying that screwed anything up, if at all. And while Games Workshop itself has stated the opposite, explained in detail that this franchise is satire, that you should not take the actions of the Imperium of Man as a lesson for how to run a civilization or your life... guess what the biggest seller and face of 40k franchise is?

Yep, humans.

You might think that's a contradiction, but it makes sense you realize those are the figures that sell the most. Therefore, the Imperium gets the most books, the most lore, the most focus on media outside the main tabletop. Sure they've made games where you play as the xeno factions and books with aliens as protagonists. But the majority of 40k lore is all about Humanity and it's really affected how this franchise is viewed at this point.

You see it doesn't matter how often you say something is satire or that it's aspirational. If you place the spotlight on it long enough, people start to gravitate towards it. The Imperium of Man, being the most popular of 40k's factions, is a victim of its own success in this regard. It has become increasingly difficult to separate the satirical dark comedy of the Imperium from the lore's various attempts to make them the most badass of all badasses. People like watching struggles for survival, conflict of epic scale, heroic sacrifices, it makes for really compelling drama. It also more often than not whitewashes all the bad things the Imperium does if you overly focus on all the cool shit the Space Marine chapters pull off.

You tend to forget that the only reason anyone survived the Fall of Cadia is because a bunch of Eldar showed up to help evacuate humans. Or that Cadia only stayed standing for so long because a Nekron helped out. You ignore the pointless war that turned Kreig into a wasteland, when all anyone talks about is how the Death Corps can take down Tau with a shovel. You can point out how the Emperor is in fact, for all intents and purposes, fucking dead, but when it's coming out of the mouth of a dude who's following a sadistic murder god, it's not very convincing. People always come back to this when the Imperium is involved. "So what if they suck, they're humanity's best and only option at survival. And they're fucking badass!" And Games Workshop doesn't push back on this, mostly to not piss off its fans, generally though because tried to do that once before and it backfired.

The Tau Empire used to be an up and coming foil to the Imperium in many ways. They were ruled by reason and science, not blind dogmatic faith and religious zealotry. They believed in harmony among the races, not genocide and supremacy. They had an optimistic and hopeful view of the galaxy, as opposed to the fatalistic one the Imperium had. As it stood, they were the most heroic out of all the 40k races... and a bunch of fans, mostly Imperium as I understand it, hated them. They felt they ruined the grimdark setting by being too goody good.

So Games Workshop eventually just gave in and decided to change the lore. The Tau were only like that because their leadership was essentially mind controlling them. Great, so they're no better than anyone else in this future. Wonderful. Can't have an opposing view from the Emperor's that might turn out to be a better path forward. Nah, turn them into a brainwashed cult essentially to further justify the existence of the Imperium. Forget that an earnestly good society in a galaxy that is probably fucked beyond repair is probably sufficiently grimdark since they're such a young race but probably equally doomed. We need to make EVERYTHING in this setting so completely utterly hopeless, because anything less means the Emperor is wrong for creating the circumstances that made everything worse.

And as a result, the Imperium of Man is the one major roadblock for me getting into this franchise. Now, don't misunderstand, there are things about the Imperium I like and find interesting. Like many, I like Captain/Lieutenant Titus, because he's not a dogmatic sycophant who acts like a religious zealot. I do actually like the Death Corps of Kreig if only from a history buff perspective because I'm into the WWI Aesthetic they have going on. And of course there are the Salamanders, the only Space Marines I will ever consider truly heroic because they give a shit about things besides duty and honor, as well as possess some degree of empathy for other lifeforms. I enjoyed the first Space Marine game a lot! It's why I picked up the sequel.

However, all of these points have asterisks next to them. The Death Corps of Kreig are cool VILLAINS to an extent. I don't think you can ever present them as heroes given their mindset or origins. That's true of a lot of things within the Imperium. The Salamanders are still beholden to the dogma that has consumed a good deal of the Imperium and they are not really going to do anything to break off from it. And while I enjoyed the first Space Marine game and had fun with Boltgun, let's just admit something right now... half the enjoyment of the original Space Marine Game came from this dude.

Grimskull was probably the most fun antagonist to go up against in any game. Him just yelling "Space Marine!" in his ridiculous Cockney accent always made me smile. Titus, as badass as he is, lacks quite a bit in the personality department. The sequel doesn't do much better, even if his character arc is at least serviceably good in that game. But he remains stoic and loyal, he isn't exactly a dynamic figure like Grimskull was. And be honest with yourself, that first game got real boring after you killed the Warboss.

That's the problem I have with 40k. There are so many more interesting, compelling, fascinating alien races. Sure, none of them are perfect good guys and a lot of them are downright evil... but they're at least unique! I had a lot more fun learning about the Orks honestly than I did listening to the one hundredth iteration of something super epic and cool an Ultramarine did. We get it, they're Master Chief and Doomguy on Steroids! Do they do anything else besides pontificate about how awesome the Emperor is and go on about duty and honor more than Zuko in season one? The Orks might be idiot rampaging soccer hooligans, but at least they're funny.

And yet there are far fewer Ork, Eldar and especially Tau related books and media than the plethora of Imperium related works that have overstuffed everything. And if you admit to liking anything other than the Imperium of Man, especially the Tau, you are instantly ridiculed. I would honestly pay way more money just to play as Commander Farsight than Titus. Because Farsight feels like a natural progression for Titus to take, but never will. He just can't. While Farsight will leave his government behind and strike out on a new path to pursue the Greater Good as he now sees it, Titus can't, because that would only be seen as heresy, both by fans and in-universe.

Imperium Stans will look at this picture and honestly claim this fucking sucks without hesitation. That's the degree of brainrot they give off. Calling some of the coolest looking shit lame.

I just instantly felt Farsight is a more compelling and complex character by default because of his arc. Whereas Titus will never really change much beyond what he is, a reasonable enough Ultramarine in a sea of equally super serial hardasses that aren't much different from him. He just thinks a bit more for himself.

Farsight's crew of mech piloting badasses at least have variety. But to my surprise, so many others didn't agree, annoyed apparently that Farsight was able to resist corruption of demons, baffled at how it was possible because he lacked faith in the glorious God-Emperor of Man! None of them considered that maybe, just maybe, Farsight was able to resist corruption because he's not governed by religious dogma at all. Maybe his open-mindedness and ability to reason protected him just fine! But can't have that I guess, humans have to remain special after all.

Despite everything going for him, actually retaining a proper sense of heroism, being a truly good person who wants to do the right thing even in a universe full of shit, I still saw Imperium fans giving Farsight shit over the stupidest of things. I found a video on YouTube not long ago concerning how Farsight rightfully pointed out the weaknesses of the Imperium Titan Mecha. Oversized bulky machines that are millennia old. But while scary, Farsight noted how they can be defeated and are not as efficient or effective as the Space Marines were. The comments were FILLED with Imperium stans laughing at this bit of lore, calling Farsight names and declaring that the Titans were older than his whole civilization as if that was some kind of gotcha.

Everything the Imperium uses is older than shit though, that doesn't make it better. The reason it's so old is because the Imperium does not know how to make this shit anymore. They lost the knowledge when they rejected science in favor of their stupid religious dogma. Now their old as fuck spaceships are finite, same as their Titans. The Tau can replace their losses, the Imperium ultimately cannot. And yet here were the fanboys, praising how cool and awesome the Titans were, ignoring Farsight beat one easily, had video to prove it and that they essentially sound like those weirdos who jerkoff constantly about how awesome the Tiger Tank was. Despite it being an overly expensive over-designed mistake. One that both the Americans and Russians put to bed because their tanks didn't need special parts to function or guzzled up fuel like a thirsty pig.

Treating Titans as superior because they are older than the Tau is like arguing a Trebuchet is better than an Abrams Tank. Sure, one is way older than the nation that created the other. Doesn't mean its going to last very long in a one on one fight. But because humans have to be super special and awesome in 40k, we can never point out how their various systems, beliefs and strategies are outdated and costly.

Frankly, I'm more interested in Warhammer Fantasy by default by this point. Not just because they have a full faction of lizard people, although that is a plus. But because the factions of that universe are more diverse, interesting and not as mired in adherence to the grimdark lore mindset. Even the human civilizations are more compelling because they're not all one singular entity and have differing ideologies and strategies. I'll take that over being expected to look at the Ultramarines in awe simply because they do something badass every Tuesday which will get them six more books whereas Farsight still only has two.

And I don't think I need to point out what this has resulted in. As Asimov feared, placing humans on the superiority pedestal has emboldened that very sentiment in reality. Look no further than the current fervor over the existence of a Black Space Marine and a female guardsman officer in Space Marine 2. Even with fans pointing out how both of those things are both perfectly fine in canon, it doesn't change just how much 40k has attracted a lot of racists over the years. So much so they had to change tournament rules to prevent people from wearing actual Nazi uniforms to events because one asshole did so.

If there is any franchise that truly showcases the dangers of humancentric narratives it's Warhammer 40k. Because we are hardwired to root for the home team and we've also proven that we're incapable of reading satire. Creating the perfect storm of events that leads to far too many people stanning a literal Fascist-Dogmatic Forever War Machine. And while Games Workshop has tried to get the other factions more time in the sun, I'm not sure they can ever manage to get them up to the same level of prestige as the Imperium if they keep holding themselves back from just giving the Space Marines a damn rest for a second.

Room on the Party Wagon

I don't want to make it seem like it's all so hopeless. That there's no way for mainstream audiences to overlook their inherent human bias. I do believe it is possible for non-human protagonists to take center stage in a property and remain there. I believe that because I've seen it done before. In fact, I was quite literally there.

If there is any more miraculous franchise than the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I don't know of it. There should be no reality where two guys making a sketch of a nunchucking turtle for funsies in an apartment while chowing down on pizza could launch something this everlasting. And yet they did it. Ninja Turtles, 40 years later, is still going strong. And all with a lead cast made of decidedly non-human lead heroes. Better yet, it didn't stop with Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikey. Over the years, countless heroes and villains have been added to the mythos. A good number of them fellow mutated animals, all with distinct personalities, motivations and interpretations over countless adaptations and timelines. It is truly astonishing to have been there from the start of Turtle Mania and to have never had them go away for very long.

And again, all with primary character who aren't human. How? Simple enough, people gravitated to the Ninja Turtles. They had distinct vibrant personalities. They were fun and colorful and different. They connected you to them by getting you to recognize their relatability.

There is still an interest in non-human protagonists, and not just dwarves or elves. I'm not alone in my desire to have something other than my own species take the spotlight now and then. Wings of Fire is fairly popular series that stars no humans at all for the most part. In fact they rarely show up. The real stars of the franchise are dragons, big fire-breathing dragons who all have unique cultures and perspectives that incredibly well-fleshed out and intricate. They're also not entirely humanized either, as dragons have very different morality and cultural cues from humans.

Another interesting take on things can be found in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Which, despite having him out for most of the runtime, was all about Rocket. He was an absent protagonist, but he was the primary because everything revolved around his story and towards him finally accepting his species' name and moving past his survivor's guilt. Rocket is probably the most prominent non-human hero in the entirety of the MCU as a result and that's a big deal.

What I'm saying ultimately is that there is room for multiple perspectives. Not just the ones we're the most comfortable with. Because if we only accept the experiences of those we consider familiar, we will never understand those that are other. The road to a society like the Imperium of Man is based in one of mistrust, fear and prejudice. To avoid that, we must be willing to look through the eyes of others and learn about the human experience from something that is not. That is what the best of science-fiction and fantasy can allow for.

If such genres are meant to be an escape, what greater escape can be found but one that is outside our limited human experience. We can never know it is like to fly, or swim deep beneath the sea, or see from a dozen eyes or just one. But we can imagine ourselves in that role and empathize with that which is alien to us. If we limit our fantasies then we limit ourselves, our imagination, our ability to connect. If all you desire in your sci-fi or fantasy is for some big burly human with a sword, regular steel or chainsaw, to murder orks and aliens, then that's fine. But there are others among us who don't want such arbitrary limitations. Humans are not boring by nature, but picking the same old fantasies and escapes IS boring. We could do with changing things up more.

What I'm saying is, it would not hurt anyone if they just did one Triple A Title in the style of the Space Marine games but for Farsight instead. We don't always have to be the Space Marine. Notif we've be okay being a Ninja Turtle. There's room for all perspectives, human or otherwise, in genre fiction. We should be doing more to open up the gates for those experiences. Sooner rather than later.

[brooklynislandgirl]

Dear Nonnymouse... Who sent me this:

it’s only friendly advice, but you’ll never get far in the star trek rpc with some of the people you keep around. {redacted} is fine. it’s the people close to {redacted}. one of them being the biggest issue. even if {redacted} is the only {muse}, i understand wanting to interact with the canon muses. her {muse} isn’t even bad. she is. it’s unsolicited advise, but it’s trying to warn you about someone in the rpc. you don’t need to be apart of her collection when there are a lot of us who would love to write with your oc. {redacted} only wakes up for popular canons. don’t let yourself be disappointed when she won’t give your oc the time of day.

this really is being sent with a true hope this finds you well and to help you in your future rp journey.

~*~ Howdy. First, let me explain. Normally I don't tend to respond to things like this but I feel there's merit in posting this just so that everyone can understand where I am coming from and we can all get on with out day. Also, I redacted the names and muse of the two people you specifically named in this PSA. Why? Because I do not engage in call out culture and I wish to be respectful to all parties involved in this. Secondly, I can only assume that you are both young and/or maybe wrote this on your phone, but I appreciate punctuation, complete sentences, grammar, the Oxford comma, capitalisation where appropriate, and the like. Call me elderly if you wish but as a librarian and a teacher, I can say that this almost hurt to read, though not as much as other anons I have received in the past. Third, you acknowledge that this is, in fact, unsolicited advice, and on that front you are absolutely correct. I did not ask for it. Where your advice fails is such: I. You assume I need a warning label about the people with whom I interact. I am actually quite capable of choosing with whom I wish to write, when and how according to our schedules and availability, the nature of what that writing entails, and other details that should matter only to my writing partner and myself. Whether canon or oc, whether rookie or veteran a mun, I will give anyone a chance on my blogs and with my muses based on their merit and not the gossip of others. II. You assume I want to 'get far' in the Star Trek rpc. Nonny, darling, understand this; I have a multitude of books, television, film and other mediums to which I have great love and respect, and am ever so happy to create a verse for should the opportunity arise. But I. Do. Not. Participate. In. Any. Specific. RPC. Mostly because they are little incestuous and toxic little echo-chambers that breed mostly only contempt and favouritism. Every single one I've come up against reminds me of high-school with cliques, tropes, petty squabbling, and other behaviour I find absolutely appalling. Really, honestly, y'all can miss me with this mess. III. You don’t need to be apart of her collection when there are a lot of us who would love to write with your oc. {These are your words, not mine}. I'm looking around here. I've seen exactly...none of y'all... following me out of the blue, knocking on my metaphorical door, engaging with me in any way to make this a valid point. The friends I make are mostly organic; if I see a blog where I enjoy the writing, I will read the rules and peruse the muse or muses that are available. I will follow and try talking via DM or discord, and work out what we're going to create. I take people who follow me at face value and offer them welcome, support, and my best efforts. Sometimes we are not compatible as people and that's fine. I feel that maybe this could be put under the first section but here we are. IV. Finally, we come to the most important address of this post. The specific Mun you oh-so-cordially needed to warn me about.

Seriously, it took me almost 4 hours to stop laughing about this. This mun has disappointed me. She has enraged me to the point of contemplating murder. She's also consoled me when my heart was broken. She's eaten at my kitchen table and made my husband laugh so hard I think a little beer came out of his nose. She's made me fall in love with things I vowed to hate, and we've given each other untold worlds and lives and loves over the years. There are things we will harbour grudges into the afterlife and beyond with one another. Even when we reach a point that we're contemplating what we would look like in prison orange, we still have each other's backs. We have also been friends for nearly a quarter century. This is no exaggeration.

We have written together, created communities, talked ad nauseam about via text/messages/on the telephone and in person for longer than a lot of people in these rpcs have been alive. We could fill my library with the amount of things we've ever talked and written about. There is nothing anyone can 'warn' me about that I don't already know. That same is true for people telling her things about me that they feel are valid.

So, in conclusion. Nonnymouse, you are swimming up some deep streams that you know nothing about, about people you've formed an opinion about without any substantial information to go on except for maybe some hurt feelings and jealousy, if I've read between the lines, and let's face it... You're not exactly Willy Wonka so the sugar-coating about being concerned for my emotional welfare and stability and wishing me happiness in my rp journey {which I've been doing just fine in for the last 8 years}, comes across as fake as William Shatner's toupee.

TL;DR version: Well aren't you precious. Bless your heart. <3

~Sincerly, Turtlemun.

PS: I promise if I have to do this again, I will decline being so polite.

[dwell-the-brave]

Six Sentence Sunday 09/06/2024

Surprise! I'm not dead!

I've been really struggling with getting Part 5 of Heavy Weighs the Crown off the ground. I've started it about 3 times but never found a groove with it. That said! I might've, now. 👀

Please enjoy these (a little bit more than) six sentences.

1. He can and will take public transport at every opportunity, despite security concerns. (The day he announced he’d be taking the train from and to Windsor every was the day the head of the PPO service decided to hand in his retirement notice).  2. He can and will talk to any member of the public who so much as murmurs his name. (Alex has made it his life's mission to make the Royal Family seem approachable and not so out-of-touch. He has held fussy babies on train platforms before to give frantic Moms a breather, and he’d do it again).  3. He can and will refuse to be treated with the security befitting his station, and that makes him a liability. (If he can’t run The Long Walk in Windsor, he will run in St. James’ Park, and the PPOs better keep up). 

I've also been tapping away at dom!Alex/actor!Henry.

“A swim?” he asks and Alex nods. He claps his hands to his thighs and pushes himself to standing, turning to offer a hand to Henry. Shy, he takes Alex’s hand tentatively and allows himself to be pulled to his feet.  “I was on swim team in high school. And the lacrosse team,” Alex adds with a smile. Henry allows his eyes to rove briefly - that explains the broad shoulders. “A swim is good for the body and the mind. We were all ensconced in water once, in the womb,” he explains conversationally and Henry blinks.

And some Trans Dad!Eddie fic that hit me out of nowhere...

Thankfully, Winnie is too distracted by the Frozen (ironic) soundtrack to notice Eddie’s rising distress.  “Let it go! Let it go!” she sings in her sweet, high (slightly off key) voice, kicking her legs in her car seat, eyes trained on the snow outside. “It’s like the film, Daddy,” she tells him and Eddie gives her what he hopes is a winning smile in the rear view mirror. “Sure is, baby,” he replies, eyes back on the road which is quickly being lost to the settling snow. Was that road sign for Elm? It’s hard to see, it feels like he’s witnessing warp drive from Star Trek through the windscreen.

So, I'm chipping away. Little by little. 😊

See you next time! 💌

[whovianwatchingstartrek]

A Whovian Watches Star Trek for the First Time: Part 114 - Spock is on the Run

Star Trek: Discovery - Season 2 Episode 3 - Point of Light

With Christmas over, I can get back to doing this properly.

This time, we're still on the lookout for Red Angel Signals and for any clues about Spock's situation. Sylvia Tilly is still seeing the ghost of her childhood friend May. Discovery stumbles across Sarek's ship, who requests to transport someone over. Everyone expects it to be Sarek, but it turns out to actually be his wife.

After the Intro we cut to the Klingon Empire, and things seem to be going well under L'Rell's rule. The Klingon houses are all together, even if there it a bit of tension about Tyler/Voq's presence.

Back on Discovery, we find out that Amanda tried to visit Spock in his psychiatric ward, but they wouldn't let her see him, and apparently any info about his situation is being kept secret, even from Family. So, she stole his medical file, and hands it off to Michael who in turn takes it to Captain Pike.

After a bit of Convincing, Pike calls up the Facility, but tactfully doesn't mention Amanda or the Stolen File, he simply words his request as a simple check from a captain, and we find out that apparently Spock escaped and is wanted for murder. This call convinces Pike to allow Michael to crack open the medical file.

We get this really good scene with Amanda opening up about how she regrets raising Spock in the way she did, and wishing he would have been allowed to express his emotion more, but this is interrupted by drawings of the Red Angel flickering through in the medical file, and then further interrupted by a call from Ash Tyler, which Michael needs to take. Michael's call with Ash is just a general catch up, and a nice heart to heart, but nothing immediately pressing. Later, we do find out that L'Rell and Voq had a child together, a complete surprise to Ash. L'Rell didn't tell Ash because she wanted him to be able to return to a human life without any need to return to Chronos. L'Rell knows that Ash called Michael and basically has seen the writing on the wall from Day 1. The way she wants to protect Ash/Voq's happiness is really sweet. Ash says he wishes to remain committed to staying on Klingon though, and agrees to raise the child. As to go to meet him however, they find the child has been kidnapped by one of rogue noble houses. We get a pretty good action scene out of it, although I wish it was a lit a bit better, it fell into the trap of thinking Visually Dark = Good. L'Rell and Ash lose their fight however, but are rescued by none other than Georgiou, who for some reason has a vested interest in L'Rell remaining the Chancellor of the Klingon empire

On Discovery's Bridge, where the Command Training Program people are beginning their "Shadow Exercises" which is a lot less badass than it sounds. Basically, they're studying directly under another officer. Sylvia, still her ghost, is studying under Captain Pike himself, which is definitely a golden opportunity. They have built him to be considered one of the best captains in the fleet, after all.

Apparently May's ghost is urgent to talk to a Captain, but not Pike, and not Saru because what she described sounds Human. I really wonder where this ghost falls on the Malice vs Incompetence Spectrum, throughout this sequence it does seem like she's pushing to block Sylvia from command. Pike notices something is up, but it's too late because May pushes Sylvia into an open outburst, which, because only she can see may, everyone on bridge thinks is directed towards Pike. I really like the idea of this ghost as kind of a metaphor stress or pushing yourself too hard or something, she did first appear in a scene where Saru gave her a little pep-talk about that.

Elsewhere, Michael's conversation with Amanda continues, and we learn a bit more about the Red Angel. Apparently the first time it appeared for Spock was during an incident where Michael ran away from home, and it told Spock exactly where she was. Additionally, we find out a bit more about what happened to damage Spock and Michael's relationship so much. Apparently, Michael Traumatised him to protect him from the logic extremists, because he kept following her around everywhere. We don't find out exactly what.

After both Michael and Sylvia's emotional moments, they both meet up in their bunks, and Sylvia finally opens up about how she's seeing a ghost. Michael manages to build Sylvia up a bit, which was really nice to see. And also, she manages to throw down a bit of logic about her situation: May isn't a hallucination, and whatever she is, she isn't the real Ghost of May. Additionally, because Michael has held a rock from the Asteroid and not suffered this effect, it must be connected to the Spores, and they agree to visit Paul Stamets.

Paul and Saru, now informed on Sylvia's situation get work and find out that May is a spore from the Terran Universe, but they make quick work of Extracting her. The fungal organism is huge however, and ends up contained.

I enjoyed this episode, especially Sylvia and May stuff, although I do wish we could have got a few more episodes of weird ghost stuff before it was resolved, I guess. The Klingon stuff was also great here. Apparently Georgiou is part of a black-ops unit called Section 31, I'm really interested to see where that goes now that she's back in play. Overall a pretty good episode.

[procrastinatorproject]

I think I might have had a bit of a revalation this fine morning.

Last night, @horizonproblems and I attended this truly amazing talk in a public lecture series on Star Trek that my uni is hosting this term. (It was all about the Third Age of Star Trek and some very valid, nuanced perspectives on hope and optimism and writing utopias under neoliberal capitalism and it was just... amazing. But that's not the point right now XD)

Afterwards, we chatted with the presenter about "Trekademia" (I love that concept so much!). I mentioned I'd seen the call for papers/talks for this lecture series that went out over a year ago (I was working for the English dept. at the time), but I never applied, because the only remotely Trekademic writing I'd ever done was my in-universe essay on holo-sentience and holographic food "The Cake is a Lie". And he asked me to send him a link, even though I never managed to finish writing and it's essentially missing the most interesting section.

But I took the opportunity to reread what I have posted and then look through my WIPs and I realized something: One of the reasons I think I was never able to finish writing the findings section of this "paper" is because I had So Many Ideas that I wanted to weave in. So many little moments with the holos, so many character facets and worldbuilding snippets. And it doesn't work with the extremely academic tone I'm going for.

And after sleeping on it, it occurred to me: I can still post all the outtakes that don't make it into the actual paper! I can keep the tone and focus of that essay and cut out any extraneous bits that don't work in that fram -- and then post a separate work that's like... the researchers field notes or something, where I put aaaalll the little details that didn't make the cut of the official writing!

It will be in bullet points and disconnected and self-indulgent as all heck -- but I'm sure there will be at least a handful of people out there apart from me who would still enjoy that particular take on various holo-headcanons. And even if I'd only be writing it for me, that would still be allowed!

So, no promises that anything might happen, but I just wanted to put it out there as a reminder to myself, if nothing else. Being deeply attached to your ideas and self-indulgent bits of writing is allowed! And even if you need to cut them from the concrete story you're trying to tell because they hurt the pacing or structure or tone, that doesn't mean you have to completely abandon them. There are always ways to share your outtakes and additional notes, on AO3 or tumblr or Discord or whatever, and you're always allowed to share them. Even if nobody but yourself will get a kick out of them, you're still allowed!

(And chances are, somebody else will be interested in reading your rambling thoughts and delighted to find them, actually.)

[intosnarkness]

things that happened on work travel this week:

i agreed to get matching vasectomies with a very drunk man. i do not have any of the parts required for this surgery.

a similarly drunk woman showed me the tattoo on her ass in a crowded restaurant. it is a nicktoon.

a suspiciously bearded man had a waitress deliver me two toothpicks on a plate at a fancy steakhouse and then she reported my threat to "kick his ass" to him verbatim. (this was an inside joke that she got pulled into.)

one guy's wife announced that she had heard so many wonderful things about me and thanked me for giving her husband 1099 work to finance his pin collection.

i had to take someone's microphone away in the middle of their presentation because it was fucking up and very distracting. he had been forewarned that this may happen, but it was still stressful for all of us.

during a presentation on mental health wherein i was acting as a remote control/slide advancer, i had the opportunity to quote star trek and i took it. ("it is possible to do everything right and still lose. you can say all the right things to a person and not reach them. that's not your fault, and you have to forgive yourself for it.")

the head of the av team came to see me to find out about an incident with one of his techs and it took me 2 solid minutes to figure out what he was talking about.

i got told by multiple people that i am the glue that holds shit together

had a guy i have worked with for 7 years say to me, after two days of doing presentations together "oh, your hair is getting long! that's why you look different!"

i was able to discuss t1 diabetes intelligently enough that i was declared deeply knowledgeable because i know what a basal insulin drip is.

my job is very silly sometimes.

[yellowhollyhock]

For 03 Donnie 4 5 and 21

you’re the best ❤️

4 If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

Hmm… I went back and forth a lot with this. Star Trek is right there… but I choose Over the Garden Wall. His skillset would be distinct there, and it could be interesting to watch how his mechanical mind does, or sometimes doesn’t, come in handy in the various metaphysical situations they find themselves in. Also, it’s a story about family, and trauma is a big recurring theme. I think there could be interesting opportunities both for him to grow and to help. He’d be older than Wirt and Greg and would definitely try to help—but would they trust him? He’s a big talking turtle and he’s carrying a weapon. He and Beatrice would get along I think, but Wirt also doesn’t trust her. Greg would remind him so much of Mikey it hurts.

I don’t know, I feel like this one is a nice compromise between others I was thinking of. He’d get to use his skills but wouldn’t be too useful, lots of new different things for him to explore and learn about, some friends for him to make, some horrors to be had.

5 what song comes to mind

Quitting Time by The Roches. Partially just because The Roches are on his wiki as one of his faves, which is the original reason I looked them up, which is how I discovered this song. Also because though

It’s got this sort of daydreamy quality. To me being a dreamer is essential to Don’s character. It also has a theme of being overworked or caring too much about your work, maybe even missing out on what’s really important because you were working instead. Also this verse

Old industrial skyline

Drawing away from you

You are the one that’s moving

You are the fool that flew

You are the fool that flew

^SAINW

21 if you write fanfiction, what do you enjoy doing with this character? what do you dislike?

I like making Donny heal. Whether it looks like telling someone about what’s been weighing on him, a slow adjustment to a new situation, pursuing a healthy relationship and making himself an identity outside of his trauma… the common thread is, it’s comforting and fun to write about his life getting better after all the horrors he’s seen. I project on this guy like crazy, legit sometimes my stories start out as personal pieces exploring how I might take action to heal from past events, but make him do it instead because his hurts are more concrete and healing is easier to imagine. Then if I think it’s in character or a fun concept, I polish it up for sharing

What I don’t like? writing technobabble. I want him to come up with clever solutions and show off his tech skills, but that would require me to think of clever solutions and understand science well enough to pretend to talk about it. Especially difficult when it’s not just real science, I gotta try to figure out which ideas I’m taking from canon and whether I have to/even can expand on them in a way that makes any sense. So it’s figuring out how to make real science mesh with canon science, usually ending up with something that is… neither 😑

[firstofficerrose]

OK, I'm most likely never going to do anything with the idea, but it's been swimming around in my head for the past three days, and I need to Let It Out.

Star Trek (TOS) and the Aubreyad would be a hilarious crossover. I don't really care how it happens, it could be that the Enterprise gets once again flung back in time due to shenanigans, or it could be that the Aubreyad takes place on a planet like the Gangster Planet or something that's just weirdly parallel to Earth history. But y'all, it would rock! So much camp! So much style! Details below

Can you imagine Kirk, Spock, and Bones aboard the Sophie? It would be so funny. Kirk trying not to let on that he's a captain of a very different kind of ship ("Yes, my ship is a very fine vessel, first rate" Kirk says, sweating. "Oh, a first rate? Well done sir, I wish you joy of her!" says Aubrey, should it ever come up). Spock trying to keep the ears hidden (and in the possible circumstance in which he gets injured, Stephen's extreme curiosity about the green blood). Bones trying not to scream about the state of 19th century medicine. I really can't decide whether Stephen would get on better with Spock or Bones, I think he would be friends with both but in very different directions (he's friends with Spock in an identically autistic science and music way, and friends with Bones about medicine and also about not being quite sure what all these naval types are up to). Spock would probably be having exceedingly restrained excitement about getting to see extinct Earth species. The three of them are all having a difficult time because the accent they speak with hasn't been invented yet (Bones is probably the closest to passing, ironically, because Southern USAmerican English is relatively close to what was being used in England at the turn of the 19th century. This is hilarious, to me).

And the other members of the Enterprise crew would also be having a fantastic time, given the opportunity. If Scotty is there, then he's probably having a fantastic time looking at how you run a square-rigged ship. If Chekov's there he's probably claiming that Russia invented everything aboard and a few things that haven't been invented yet. If Sulu is there, then you know that he's going to be losing his entire mind over the cannons, and he's probably giddily excited about a chance to use a sextant.

Uhura, Rand, and Chapel would have a harder time, given that women were generally unwelcome on Royal Navy ships. But we could possibly have a scenario where they end up on Minorca or something and have to do Society Lady stuff. Uhura's harp skills could well endear her to Molly Hart, and Molly seems to be the person you need to know in order to Get Stuff Done on the island. There's also the possibility that you end up in a scenario where Chapel ends up doing some lifesaving and then the ladies need to do some very fast talking in order to escape suspicion. And I get the feeling that Rand is the sort of lady to be able to work her way into any kind of administrative hierarchy she needs to in order to get the job done, whatever the job at hand might be (and she also seems the sort to read enough romance novels that she'd have 19th century speech patterns already living in her brain. Tell me that Rand doesn't have Pride and Prejudice memorized. You can't tell me that with a straight face, you know that she would).

In conclusion, the crews of my two favorite ships need to be friends :).

[nazmazh]

Finally started watching The Acolyte this evening - First episode did a good job hooking me in.

Joking with my dad about how Carrie-Anne Moss was well-suited to play a Jedi due to her role in The Matrix - Familar with both sci-fi technobabble and wire-work fight scene choreography.

This led to a half-joke that at this point it does kind of feel it's sort of inevitable that *every* celebrity is going to make an appearance in the Star Wars universe.

Dad quipped - "Except Shatner"

Which, yeah, that's accurate.

And while I wouldn't necessarily want Shatner himself, given the turn towards being a real asshole these past few years (far beyond just the pompous egotist he kind of always was), I think honestly, in another world, it would actually kind of be a great bit to have a chair turn and reveal him as a Jedi Master.

And the thought occurs - Having any of the Star Trek cast members s appear as Jedi (or any other role) would be pretty great for a chuckle. Like, give Brent Spiner or Robert Picardo voice roles as droids. Marina Sirtis already knows the schtick for playing an empath, it'd translate completely well to being a Jedi.

Then, the thought occurred to me - Star Trek characters with their basic personalities, but in Star Wars (And I'm sure there's plenty of fanfic already written of this, out there).

Kirk as a hotshot young Jedi, on the frontlines with Anakin. Sisko and Janeway (I mean, assuming she's not a Sith...) running the strategy of The Clone Wars alongside Mace Windu, and proving absolutely ruthless in battle.

Archer doing his "Ah, Sucks" diplomatic routine alongside Obi-Wan, convincing the galaxy that the Jedi are toothless and will try to talk everyone into their way of seeing things, while Kira, Worf, and Seven are busy coordinating and organizing resistances alongside Saw Gererra, and Garak and Bashir work with Cassian Andor and/or The crew of The Ghost to steal all the Empire's secrets (I realize I'm heavily intermixing timelines here, I don't care).

Chewie and B'Elanna Torres either are best friends or bitter rivals.

Picard would rather be happily exploring and studying ancient Jedi ruins, but he keeps being called on by the council as one of their more effective generals. He's somehow found a way to avoid ever taking a Padawan.

Q and Yoda frequently debate all manner of things. It's often unclear how serious either of them is with *literally* anything they say. Mostly, it seems to be a game of who can frustrate the other most quickly/thoroughly. Nobody's quite sure how Q fits into things with the Force. He refuses to elaborate.

Quark is tending bar in Mos Eisley or somewhere similar. Or maybe still DS9/the equivalent of it - Which, either way, of course, ends up being in the outer rim near enough to Tatooine. He thinks he's a bigger deal in the Hutt syndicate than he actually is. He of course still is fundamentally not ruthless or craven enough to fully be an outright gangster/mobster. Nog bucks the trend of Ferengi generally not being Force Sensitive and is a Padawan (Perhaps to Obi-Wan).

[It still feels like a huge wasted opportunity that they never gave him another one on Clone Wars. Also makes the "a pupil of mine until he turned to evil" line in New Hope retroactively weird - "A" pupil, Obi? He was your *only* pupil!]

Anyway, like Toydarians, Ferengi are resistant to Force mind powers [I guess that's just something you get if you're a race of hyper-capitalists that have some unfortunate design implications?]. You would think they were likely to be members of the Trade Federation, and therefore part of the Confederacy - And many are - But, by and large, they're too individualistic to have their whole culture join any one side.

Vulcans, naturally, make for powerful Jedi - But, I'm sure to some people's surprise, so do Klingons. And their concern with honour means they have a shockingly low rate of turning to the Dark Side [Klingon Jedis are much more like Worf, having that formal, controlled environment they're raised in]. Of course, those without force powers get along swimmingly with Mandalorians. There's probably more than a few Klingon foundlings under those Mandalorian helmets.

[kiki-shortsnout]

Thanks for the tag @magicaltear Sorry it took me so long to respond! 😊😊

How many works do you have on AO3?

Too many,🤣 seventy-nine at the moment, but it’ll be eighty soon, once I finish this new mammoth story!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,127,841, holy hell!🤯

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently, Marvel, although I am starting to slide into the Star Trek fandom, late as always. I’m working on a long retelling of the Wrath of Khan fic from a Spirk perspective.  I did use to write for Final Fantasy XV a while back, and I’d like to revisit that someday. I’m also eyeing up the My Hero Academia fandom and Yuri On Ice.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

OO, interesting question, for some reason I just cracked my knuckles in excitement.🤣

Stringless – 2,044

Betwixt – 2,023

Obstacles and Opportunities -1,523

Counterfeit Boyfriend – 1,368

Ternion- 1,299

You know what, I’m really surprised by number four if I’m honest. I was always under the impression that one hadn’t done very well, as usually the fics people talk to me about are Stringless, Betwixt and Love, Dreams and Coffee Machines. It’s a pleasant surprise, but I’m a little shocked!

5. Do you respond to comments? Yes, I try to respond to them all, sometimes things get in the way, and I forget, but I’ll always respond, it might just take a while! But I do appreciate all of them and the kudos, and occasional screams in my Tumblr inbox. It really does act as a motivation for more stories!💞

6.What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oh, this one is easy. It’s Without You, it’s the only really sad story I’ve written. I mean, I love putting angst in my writing, but this is the one where Tony was dealing with his grief of losing Stephen, and he doesn’t get him back.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I think all my fics have happy endings if I’m honest.💞

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Yes, unfortunately, they tend to range from: Why are you writing about this couple? Why aren’t you writing about the couple you just did? I don’t like reading about this pairing. I’ve recently had a few saying my writing is awful, or my take on a story is awful.

I think that’s the risk you take with posting things online, which is saddening as I don’t think people always appreciate how much work, effort, time goes into any creation, be that art, fics, or mood boards. I’ll be honest, it can drag you down at times, and it has made me want to quit a few times, but the fandoms I’m in are incredibly supportive and welcoming, so I try not to let the few bad comments overwhelm the positive ones I have.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I think most of my fics have smut in, unless they’re the small prompt pieces I worked on, and I write all kinds, to enhance the plot, without a plot, multiple partners, solo self love.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I haven’t no, but I I do have a request sitting in my inbox for a IronStrange/ Star Trek crossover which I really want to work on!

11.Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Back before my AO3 days yes, and when I confronted the writer about it they were very apologetic and took it down. I’ve had people take my stories and post them on Goodreads and I’ve had to fight with them several times to take down

12. Does not exist apparently

I’m not even 100% I exist if I’m honest.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I haven’t, I’ve worked with artists on stories before and that’s been incredibly fun.

14.What’s your all-time favourite ship?

I’ve had loads, but the one I’ve written for the most is IronStrange, although I enjoy writing for FrostIronStrange more.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I actually have a half-written JohnLock one sitting on my laptop, but I’m not sure I’ll ever get back to it. I love the idea and I love writing it, but I don’t know if I can get their voices quite right and I keep losing faith in it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I’ve always been told it's my characterisations and emotive writing, which are huge compliments.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I would say it’s writing action/fighting scenes, I always leave a place card saying ‘Write fight scene here’ and go back to it at the end. I just…find writing them tedious and I don’t think I always get the movement right, or the stakes, if that makes sense?

I struggle with pacing too sometimes….like I want to get to the good bits of the story and skim over the other bits.

18.Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

The only other language I know is French from what they taught at school, and unless you want me to write a story where I need to order stationery and tell you where the library is, it’d better if I just stuck with English.😂😂

If I did need dialogue in another language, I’d reach out to an author who I knew could speak the language.

19.First fandom you wrote for?

Beyblade, way back in the olden days…..or actually, maybe it was Lord of The Rings?

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

I’ll always have a soft spot for Stringless because it was the first IronStrange I’d ever written and I was so nervous about writing for Marvel and posting it, and Ternion because again, I’d never written a poly couple and I was really anxious about writing Loki.

But the fic I enjoyed writing the most was Betwixt. I was devastated when I finished writing that because I’d poured my soul into it. I wrote it on pieces of scrap paper during meetings, I stayed up late working on it, and I got up early to write it. I always enjoy the stories I work on, but that one holds a special place in my heart.

I’m desperate to write a sequel for it.

Tagging @the-elle-kat @atypical-snowman @jeromesankara @xoniarainforest and anyone else who wants to play!

[lightningarmour]

I have several thoughts I want to try to articulate about an episode of Star Trek

Revisiting Star Trek: The Next Generation Season6 Episode 15: Tapestry

I've only ever watched TNG all the way through once, a few years ago at this point, so I don't have a precise recollection of every episode. Going back and revisiting it is interesting because I'm able to sort of absorb more of it than I did the first time. Since the sort of awe has worn off, I can look at it somewhat more analytically this time around, and that results from time to time in being let down by an episode that I remember liking quite a lot originally.

In specific, today I rewatched Season 6 episode 15, Tapestry, which more or less is Star Trek doing It's a Wonderful Life. I remember really liking this episode the first time I watched it but this time it just didn’t sit well with me and I’m going to try and explain why. 

The episode starts quite boldly with Captain Picard fucking dying. I'm pretty sure this is the first time it's ever mentioned that he has an artificial heart, so it's kind of jarring to hear them talk about it like it's totally normal. But yeah, his artificial heart shorted out or something and he dies on the operating table. He then appears in like, limbo or heaven or whatever with Q belittling him for dying. Picard explains that when he was a young man he got into a fight with some aliens and was stabbed in the heart, so they had to replace it with a fake heart, and he laments that if it weren't for him being so foolish and getting into that bar fight, he might not be dead now if he had a real heart instead.

So Q sends him back in time to relive the day he was stabbed, giving him the opportunity to prevent his eventual death by changing the moment that would domino effect to his fake heart malfunctioning. Long story short, Picard changes the past so he never gets into that fight, and Q then brings him back to the present, except that the ripple effects have changed the course of his life and he is not the captain of the Enterprise in this timeline.

It's all a pretty solid set-up and I for the most part quite like the episode, but this here is where I take umbrage. So Picard comes to and in this version of his life, he is just a random crewmember aboard the Enterprise. They mention specifically what his rank and position are but I don't remember exactly. He's a junior science officer who has had an "unremarkable career." He goes to ask Troi and Riker to like, give him an on the spot evaluation and they both tell him that he's like, a reliable officer, but has never had any real ambition to move up or whatever. He just like, does his job adequately. Picard asks if they think he would ever make for like, command material and they're both like, eh, probably not my man. You just don't really seem like the kind of guy who has the gumption to be in charge.

And with that, Picard beseeches Q to send him back again so he can make things right. Like, he effectively says "I would rather die" than be an average person. So he goes back, ensures that the events play out as they originally did and wakes back up on the medical table, having survived his heart malfunctioning and wondering if any of it was real, or if Q had just kind of been fucking with him.

The whole kind of "moral" to the story ends up being "don't be a boring person" or whatever. Both Q and Riker tell Picard that basically not being stabbed when he was 20 made him a loser because he never experienced what it was like to take risks and live dangerously, so he wound up being just some guy who doesn't stand out and, kind of most revolting to Picard, isn't important. And the thing is, I can totally believe that for that character. Like, Jean-Luc Picard is a tremendous leader, he's devoted to his work and clearly finds fulfilment in the challenges and the demands required of being in charge of a starship. It's not an easy thing to do. So having a humble life would seem lame to him, but the problem I really have with the episode is that he doesn't really even try to live this new life. They spend so much time doing the flashback sequence that his time as "some dude" is incredibly glossed over and it all ends up feeling very like, dismissive and contemptuous of the sort of "little people" aboard the ship. I feel like there should have been something where instead of the lesson of the episode being "oh you should put yourself in mortal danger more often if you want to be cool and have a big boy job," Picard kind of instead learns the value that other people have on board the ship.

Like, he effectively sees that he is wearing a blue shirt and says "I'd rather be fucking dead" than not be the guy in charge. He doesn't try at all to even like, do a day in the life of Lieutenant Picard, learn about like, what this version of his life might be like, or anything. Like, who knows, he could have been fucking married? Had kids? Had friends? Like, if you are going to imagine a version of his life where he is not a total hard ass who has isolated himself from others and has like, no life outside of being the ship's captain, then I dunno, it's possible that in this version of his life he has like, actual meaningful relationships with others, or that like, maybe the job he has as a junior science officer is like, actually something this version of him enjoys doing, or if he's not like even an exceptional worker, then like, oh well, he's dedicated to his job, and like, we could get a whole sort of sequence where he comes to realize that even if the work he is doing is not glamorous, in some way or other, it IS important to the continued function of the ship or accomplishment of research or whatever. Like, the moral of the story should have almost been Picard gaining a newfound sort of respect for all the extras in the show. All the people who may not be big important members of the command structure, but who nonetheless contribute to the mission.

But instead the episode just seems like, kind of cruel. Like the fact that Picard finds death a more welcoming proposition than doing what he sees as work that is beneath him. It feels just very insulting towards anybody who isn't a big special important person, which I think is kind of antithetical to the whole egalitarian future thing. Like, belittling people who are doing necessary work. It just resembles a bit too much of the kind of contempt people in the modern day have for like "minimum wage workers." The idea that oh if people don't want to work at Mcdonalds they should just try harder to get a better job, but also acknowledging that some people have to be doing that work.

It also feels somewhat inconsistent with what the show will later do with the Lower Decks episode, and has previously done with that same kind of theme in the character of Reginald Barclay. Barclay is basically supposed to be the biggest wiener on the ship. He's just a total loser dork. He's nervous, he's unsociable, he's weird, and he doesn't excel at his job. And yet the kind of entire arc he gets when he's first introduced is that the main cast are all trying to help him out. Geordie and Troi are like, trying to encourage him to succeed, and to make friends and show him that like, just because he's kind of a dork doesn't mean he's not a useful member of the crew, and like, he becomes a semi-regular reoccurring character, and I kind of love him.

So in Tapestry, Picard basically rewrites his life so that he's effectively Barclay and he's like okay I'm going to kill myself. Which feels just kind of shitty. Again, if he had actually tried even a bit to understand what kind of life he was living and then still decided he couldn't give up the life he had I might be more amenable to the situation, but he doesn't even give it a chance, and that feels wrong. He should have like, learned something from the experience beyond "being a regular person is fucking lame."

Which, brings me to Miles O’Brien. I love O’Brien. He’s great, he’s fun, he’s charming. And he started out as a bit character. He was, for 6 seasons of TNG, one of those “little people” (this is not a leprechaun joke) who are just there to do a seemingly mundane job in the background, but then he gets moved up to being a lead character in DS9, but it’s not like he even gets a promotion or anything. He doesn’t become Lieutenant Commander or whatever, he’s still the same rank as he ever was and I really really like him as a depiction of a fairly like, working class member of Starfleet. He’s just a regular guy doing his job and he’s important for doing it.

[an-obsessed-cactus]

Ello ello ello!

honestly not sure yet what this page will be about(i do know i just don't want to admit to myself it'll be a random stream of consciousness à la James Joyce) but i thought I'd make a kind of introductory post about myself at least so here goes.(fandoms are listed at the bottom cuz at the heart of it tumblr is a place for obsessed freaks like myself). also I'm new to tumblr so its ways and etiquette are still unknown to me. but i will learn promise. anyway.

Name's Dorian/Bree(still deciding so take your pick and I'll see what sticks). I'm omnisexual aroace(went down the traditional pipeline surprise surprise) and go by she/her tho atm whole gender identity is kind of a mystery to me so that could change. edit: trying they/them rn to see how it feels

I'm finishing high school this year so my life'll be a bit hectic for a while(was for the last 4 years tbh). Cause I'm interested in one thing too many and can't make decisions to save my life and also cause I'm an anxious mess who can't relax, I'm taking a gap year. I'm planning on getting some rest to get back what remains of my mental health (which sadly ain't much but such is life). I'm gonna go travelling around a bit(rn pretty sure about Norway, UK, France & myb Japan) and honestly if I make any friends on here it'd be sick if someone joined me so that's always open.

Then next year, when I finish my soulsearching, I'll prolly go study sth cuz that's how the world works. I'd love to be either a writer or film director (or myb a therapist). My dream is to study film in UK(as a career writing and filmmaking is pretty much a tie, but filmmaking sounds just a tiny smidge more stable. Not giving up on writing in the least, but I feel like studying is more necessary for film than writing?) I love watching series and films not only because of the story, but because of the way it's told. I love to overanalyze the storytelling, the characters and different dynamics between them(and honestly just everything about the film) or read others' post overanalyzing it, so a film/series(does that exist?) critic sounds like an awesome job as well. But I'd like to be in the middle of the making and tell my own stories. Cinema's a bit sad in my country (non-existent more like) so studying abroad sounds like the only real option if I wanna make it in the industry. It's also an opportunity to meet more people interested in the stuff that I am so hopefully it works out. Fingers crossed 🤞🤞

Obviously, if one's obsessed with cinema, you can hardly avoid falling down the rabbit hole that are the fandoms. I'm currently fixated on Good Omens and would love to find some humans I can discuss it with cuz my irl friends(tho I love them with all my heart) just don't go temporary insane over fandoms the way I do.

I get random moments of revelation about other fandoms as well, so here's a list:

Good Omens

MCU(pls no spoilers post Wakanda Forever. I'm kinda runnin a bit late but I'll catch up I promise)

Sherlock

ATLA

MLB

Star Trek

TOH

Lucifer

Megamind

Umbrella Academy

BBC Merlin

Hannibal

Stranger things

Witcher

TVD(was my first real fandom so it still persists even tho I'm not really into it much anymore)

myb some more that I forgot

I'll prolly be adding stuff here as I figure out what I wanna talk about, but one of the things I'm working on is getting rid of perfectionism so this is it for now. I tried to keep it brief but that obviously hadn't worked out lmao. Could be worse(much, much worse)

[sapphosewrites]

you do realize that not every jew is religious, right? i couldn’t care less about jesus, but me celebrating christmas as the end of the year because i’ve lived all my life in a place where it’s a regular occurrence doesn’t make me less jewish. i understand your point but i’d argue that my experience isn’t any less valuable than that of a jew refusing to celebrate or just not caring for it at all. why wouldn’t i write about my own experience? i can be bitter about the daunting prevalence of “casual” christianity and i can enjoy culturally significant holidays simultaneously, those are not mutually exclusive, and people’s experiences and feelings about those things have multiple layers to them… and any jew choosing to find joy in any meaningful or completely meaningless celebration is in their own right to tell about it. what i’m saying is i’m not less of a jew for not practicing judaism or for giving presents to my friends on december 31st

Hello, anon. I have gone back and forth about whether or not to respond to this. My sister advised me not to, because it is just going to start discourse on the blog. But I get the sense you are a real person who is really hurting. It sounds like you feel insecure about other people not viewing you as a "True Jew", and that's a deeply painful thing to experience. Believe me, I know where you are coming from. I'm a Jew who didn't get a Bat Mitzvah, and I often feel embarrassed or defensive or insecure about how others see that. I'm sorry that others have made you feel that way.

I said at the start of the post in question it was hostile. That wasn't humorous or ironic. It was a clear declaration that I was not going to be thoughtful or kind. I was angry. I will be angry when I read fics about Jewish characters celebrating Christmas, just as you will be angry when you read my complaints about it. Neither of us is wrong for feeling what we feel, and both of our emotional experiences are valid. Unfortunately, we have conflicting access needs, and sometimes that's part of living in a society. What one person requires will be triggering for another, and we still have to respect each other and muddle through as best we can.

We always read and perceive things through the lens of our own experiences. That's being human. However, sometimes that means we bring things to the text that are not there. I did not write a post about "real Jews don't celebrate Christmas." In fact, my post was not about how I feel about the holiday practices of contemporary Jews at all. I wrote a post specifically about how frustrated I feel when Star Trek fanfiction writers portray a homogeneous future based on their own experiences in a cultural majority rather than taking the opportunity to learn about and celebrate religious diversity. I am not an authority on what makes someone Jewish or not, nor am I in any way trying to be.

You will continue to create and consume the media that you want and need to create and consume, as will I, and both of us have the right to do so. I empathize with your frustration and experiences, and if you would ever like to talk to another Jew I'm happy to have a longer conversation with you off anon about how we are both navigating complex religious and national identities. My ask box and my direct messages are open. However, if you are just looking for some random stranger with a blog to be a convenient personified strawman, I am not available for that.

[edzephyr]

If you could take any college course you wanted (or get any degree you wanted) without having to worry about time or money, what would you be most interested in? My mom and I have been talking about taking some classes at the local community college so I'm just curious what other people might pursue if we humans had, like, free time and didn't have the specter of Debt hanging over us 🙃 (theater is one of those things I would love to study so that made me think of you 🤗)

Hmm! If it were up to me I would spend infinite time studying many things... I might do a long drama course (degree or similar), because I always want to learn more and while I did train I never went that route, for many reasons - I knew I was uncomfortable in myself as a teen, and I didn't know why; but when I embarked on my transition years later, I found acting was a fantastic help to self discovery. Acting is not about pretending or masking; it's the opposite. It's about raw truth; and there (should be) safety in an actors' space; no shame, no judgement, and great freedom.

I'd do museum and library studies; one of my hobbies is collections and curation. I also love archaeology, zoology, palaeontology and geology. I'd study space; want to help develop space exploration, because it interests me. But perhaps outside my skills remit; I am not very mathematical. Maybe more realistically I could turn my Trek and fandom research into an inspiring PhD. I'd take art courses ad infinitum; just to give me space to experiment and enjoy myself. I'd learn more about medicine and how human bodies worked; I'd like it if we could extend life so there was more time to do all these things and keep growing and learning. There doesn't strike me as enough time in one lifetime to learn about and experience everything that's interesting. And a lot of the time we're held back by the obstacles of the present society. That's where I think Star Trek presents an optimism; a time where the values system is different: the idea that technology and social development can provide everyone with basic living needs, and allow people to be free to pursue what they're good at or passionate about.

So anyway; dive in - take the opportunity! Good luck!