#i think about the lightning thing a lot

[phoenixkaptain]

I know that the scene is supposed to be very serious and dramatic and it is very emotionally charged (haha) but like what was Palpatine’s plan if he continued to electrocute Luke and Luke didn’t die?

Like, he’s been Force Lightning-ing this guy for a solid minute now. He has stopped and started, he has just tried the long wait, and nothing! And like, Luke just sort of shakes it off???

He stumbles for a minute, but then he drags his dad all the way to the hangar, literally dragging him during the last stretch, flies to Endor’s moon, gives Vader a nice pyre, hugs all of his friends, and hangs out to see the Force Ghosts; Luke is just unaffected! I guess you could suggest that he immediately just passes out right after the credits start rolling, but that is a long time to be moving on adrenaline, especially since the sadness of watching his dad die would normally have overridden the adrenaline, or the part where he flies to Endor’s moon, in which we can assume he’s sitting down for a good portion, or the part where he’s hugging all his friends and the relief and happiness would override the adrenaline-

Luke just got electrocuted for minutes on end, and he is just… fine.

Even Palpatine starts to look confused! Like, he starts electrocuting and he’s having a gay old time, but then he continues and it’s not working. So he continues longer, but the boy is still not destroyed. He continues further, yet the boy remains undying. Was there a plan B? If Palpatine had continued, would Luke ever even have died? I have to assume he would have died not from lightning but from starvation or dehydration since it does not seem to actually affect him that much. He’s clearly in pain, but he is also just… fine???

There is nothing funnier to me in all of cinema history than Palpatine trying and failing multiple times to electrocute Luke Skywalker to death. Luke just won’t die!!

However speaking of the scenes with Vader, Palpatine, and Luke, I want to point out how much I love the fight scene between Luke and Vader.

First of all, it only starts because Luke pulls a bait and switch where it look like he isn’t going to try and kill Palpatine, only to try and kill Palpatine, which is really funny.

Luke begins on the defensive, only really halfheartedly fighting back, but can we talk about how funny it is that he kicked Vader down the stairs?? Vader is a head taller than him, has to weigh several hundreds of pounds in mechanical parts alone, which speaking of, since his legs probably take up the most space, logically speaking, he’s probably weighed down, which makes it even more difficult to knock him down since he wouldn’t be top heavy — and Luke manages to kick him down a flight of stairs.

I know it’s fun to assume that Vader isn’t trying all that hard, as in he’s going easy on his son in hopes he won’t have to hurt him, but it’s also fun to assume that Vader got knocked into another unexpected tailspin by a rebel with a good shot and it is so funny…

Anyway, Luke hiding is also kind of funny.

“You cannot hide forever.”

Vader is the worst hide-and-seek player :(

We all know how it goes: Vader threatens to turn Leia instead of Luke, and Luke gets so upset at the thought that he starts actually fighting Vader.

And this, like Palpatine with the lightning, is a series of progression. At first, Vader isn’t taking him very seriously, which is what leads to him being overwhelmed by Luke just attacking constantly (the best strategy when facing Vader is to spam the attack button-) But, when Vader gets knocked down and his hand gets cut off, we can see him raise his other hand, like he’s asking Luke to ease up. Like, Vader got overwhelmed by Luke’s flurry of attacks, that’s just what happened, that’s why he grabs the railing to try and catch himself, leaving himself wide open to more attacks, and that’s why he tries to hold his hand up to stop Luke, an instinctual act when people are overwhelmed, and that’s probably why he doesn’t try to use the Force.

At first, he wasn’t taking Luke seriously, so of course he didn’t use the Force. Luke is correct, after all, that Vader is conflicted. He goes back and forth between trying to hurt Luke and trying really hard not to hurt Luke. But, Force users really can’t use the Force, the way they’d like to at least, when they’re distracted. That’s evident in this movie alone, when Luke uses the Force but then just throws a rock. Vader can’t focus enough to use the Force, he probably couldn’t focus enough to use the Force during the whole fight. Luke is distracting to him, and we can assume the reason he’s distracting is any number of things, but Luke is the catalyst, Vader doesn’t use the Force on or around Luke, like, ever.

But, Luke wins against Vader. And he stops. Even before Palpatine speaks, Luke stops. Because he knows he’s won, and he kind of has to take a moment to process the fact that he has knocked Vader down and literally unhanded him.

I’ve seen people complain that, if Palpatine hadn’t spoken, Luke would’ve probably killed Vader, but I sort of disagree. Both with the idea that Luke would’ve killed Vader and the idea that Palpatine should’ve known better than to try and taunt Luke into doing something.

Luke doesn’t actually want Vader dead, you know? Like, he just doesn’t.

But more important than that, the central theme of the movies is that Luke, despite being constantly told how similar he is to his father, isn’t actually similar to his father.

Like yes, okay, he’s a Jedi and a pilot and he’s loyal to the point of suicidal. But he really isn’t like Anakin. Anakin did respond when he was taunted to kill Dooku. Anakin got overwhelmed with hate and let it overtake him completely. But Luke isn’t like Anakin, and assuming he is is the mistake that Palpatine makes.

More than that, it’s the mistake the Jedi make too. Both sides of the conflict between Dark Side and Light Side are wrong on a few key things. They think Sith can’t turn back to the light, they think Luke is just like his father, and they think Luke’s ability to kill Palpatine is the deciding factor.

Luke not being like Anakin is the big revelation. Even as he says “I’m a Jedi, like my father before me.” Which, he’s likening himself to his father, yes, but it’s a double entendre, in a way, where I, for example, can say “I’m a doctor, like that guy down the street” like I’m not actually saying I’m just like the guy down the street. And even if Luke was saying “I’m just like my dad,” he’s just lying?? Like, I don’t know why people try to use that dialogue to point out Luke being like Anakin, Luke hardly ever says anything correct in these movies. Luke says “you won’t take me to the Emperor” and Vader takes him to the Emperor, like, Luke gets stuff wrong consistently, he’s just really good at winging it.

But, you can kind of tell that the Jedi think Luke is like Anakin, because they don’t actually tell him not to go? Like, if Anakin said “I don’t know if I can kill this guy” and they sent him anyway, the guy would’ve ended up dead by Anakin’s hand, that’s pretty much indisputable, so Ben just sort of being like “okay, yeah, sure, Skywalker, sure” makes a bit more sense, since Ben especially was one of those people who likened Luke to Anakin.

Also I saw someone say that Ben and Yoda never actually told Luke he had to kill his father, but like, yes they did? I guess neither of them ever explicitly said “Luke, murder your father” but that doesn’t mean they don’t expect him to kill him. Luke says “I can’t do it. I can’t kill my father.” and Ben literally says “Then the Emperor has already won.” That’s pretty clearly confirming that they wanted him to kill his father.

Everyone likens Luke to Anakin from the very beginning. Beru and Owen, Ben, Yoda, Palpatine; it’s set up from the start that people look at Luke and see mini Ani. And that assumption is what makes Luke able to ultimately overcome the Dark Side. Because Palpatine assumes he’ll act and react just like Anakin did, because why wouldn’t he, and Luke not only doesn’t act like Anakin, he doesn’t act like much of a Jedi, since he literally tosses his lightsaber (you know, the things that represent their “lives”) away.

Luke says “I’m a Jedi, like my father before me” while doing things that directly contradict those statements, and it is wild.

In conclusion, Luke is truly the most terrifying man to go up against. He’s a damage sponge, he cannot be killed, and he, unlike his father before him, basically said, “I’m going to do the opposite of what you want, just to spite you. And I’m going to throw my lightsaber away, just to prove how far I’m willing to go out of spite.”

[somewhereincairparavel]

can someone confirm to me whether it's canon that leo built some sort of lightning absorption tool in jason's cabin in the argo ii because jason started electroucuting things in his sleep when he got nightmares? I could've sworn I read about it somewhere and even saw like an art related to it a long time ago but I can't find it anymore and now I'm losing my mind over this because I don't even know if this is canon (about leo building that thing AND about jason sparking in his nightmares) or I just read someone's headcanon about it (along with the art) and it somehow morphed into my brain thinking it was canon

[nectaric]

i'm still not over zeus blasting the shit out of athena in god games for shock value when we all know that she's his baby girl Supreme and he knows full well how wise and incredible she is. that's literally why he keeps her around so much -

[ceiling-karasu]

World Building continued: Backstory for the wars involving Flower Hill, Teikoku, and Usuhan Jiyeog, and subsequent occupations.

Apologies in advance for this being so long. I wanted to know how widespread Japanese weasels are in real life, and found something interesting I could use.

Japanese weasels originate from three areas of Japan, that being Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku.

Coincidentally, Japan famously has three Ceremonial Regalia in the form of a sword, magatama beads, and a mirror. These items are not seen by anyone other than the royal family and certain priests (images on the internet are recreations of what they could possibly look like, and those seen in public are symbolic stand-ins), but they symbolize the authority of the royal family.

Which allows me to make a backstory for my AU to help explain the wars and occupations, very loosely based off of events and locations in history, especially since animal biology limits certain events from happening.

In the past, there was an Emperor, who preferred for Teikoku to be in isolation. Under his rule, and of those before him, are smaller prefectures run by princes, lords, or other lessor royal families.

Contact with the United States Alliance and other nations led to a period of aggression and imperialism surrounding the empire of Teikoku, as they strove to fight against a stagnating economy that believed in its own superiority in the world, as well as a strict caste system preventing innovation.

Eventually, after some time, three princes are sent out to conquer the final few neighboring islands, so that may join the empire, and provide a larger force for when they make a move for the peninsula and the mainland.

The three princes are named after their prefectures, and the Emperor has given them each one of the Imperial Regalia as proof of their superiority.

The Sword

Honshu is the main island of Japan, and is also known as the dragonfly island. Teikoku will call it Tonbo, which refers to dragonflies, which are fierce and deadly creatures. As such, their Imperial Regalia is the sword, Yūki no ken (the sword of valor), and is based off of Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi (Grass-Cutter). Tonbo is the main physical fighting force of Teikoku.

The Magatama Jewels

Kyushu is smaller than Honshu, but it had a lot of trade circuits around the ocean and the mountains. So I will make a prefecture named Kairo (Circuit), and have the area be responsible for trade and roads around the empire, as well as in the fighting forces. I would use the famous Magatama jewels (Benevolence) to symbolize their rule.

The Mirror

Shikoku means four provinces, and is the least populated area of the three areas. Shikoku also has a lot of temples (perhaps run by green pheasants, the national symbol of Japan), which draws in a lot of pilgrims. But they also maintain a lot of gateways to other prefectures. So maybe Genkan for entryway. They are responsible for planning and strategizing for the other two. They can have the Michi no kagami, mirror of the path to represent wisdom/truth, based on the Yata no Kagami.

VERY loosely taking inspiration from The Tale of the Heike, a collection of Japanese epic poetry with many translations and retelling (actually written down 200 years after said events supposedly happened), which says that the royal families that held these Regalia were defeated in a naval battle, and threw themselves and the treasures into the sea. Subsequent legends suggest that many search and diving parties have been led to recover the Regalia.

In my AU, I hold that the items were thrown into the sea, with the princes believing that they could return for them later even if they were captured, although they managed to escape. It was a complete disgrace for the Emperor, as without the Ceremonial Regalia, the legitimacy of the entire palace was thrown into question.

And then the box holding the Magatama washed up on the shores of the peninsula.

It is returned as a gesture of good will, but as no good deed goes unpunished, Teikoku believes that they must have taken the other Imperial Regalia for themselves, starting a land invasion. The small army is annihilated by farmers, fresh out of overthrowing their own monarchy, wielding guns, which Teikoku has never seen before.

Which results in a larger army being sent, which is also defeated and the princes captured and possibly executed by the hedgehog army in the north of the country. At this point, without the authority of the Ceremonial Regalia, and increasing economical desperation, the country is forced to undergo a reformation. While there is still an Emperor, he does not hold as much political power as he once did.

Teikoku left behind settlements of soldiers and colonists controlling the southern portion of the peninsula, which they name Usuhan Jiyeog, who take up ruler-ship and fish farming.

The hedgehogs use the proof of their power in defending their areas to take control of what they would name Flower Hill.

It is a strongly held belief that before they backed away from Usuhan Jiyeog, the Emperor promised that anyone who managed to retrieve the Ceremonial Regalia from Flower Hill would be reinstated as the next emperor, and be rewarded with power beyond their wildest dreams.

Did the other two, heavier, items, even wash up on the shores of the peninsula like the jewels, locked in an airtight box? Or did they sink to the bottom, as they were heavier? Who is to say...

But alongside the greed, desperation for power, and food production issues, the temptation of finding the supposedly stolen Imperial Regalia locked away in some distant stronghold is a good enough reason as any to attempt to occupy Flower Hill.

Now, I'm not about to retcon what I have already written and say that Commander Jogjebi wanted the sword and mirror, and Huinjogjebi is a weasel of science who would likely not be interested anyway. But claiming that Flower Hill stole precious items and symbols of their country in the past, and them not being able to disprove it, is enough of an excuse to make quite a few countries in the international courts turn a blind eye to the happenings surrounding Flower Hill.

Oil Production

I did figure out the oil and gas situation. I did go ahead and give the Jindo Empire a large amount of oil. The Venezuela country below the United States Alliance is now the República de Cultivos Oleaginosos, and is trying to prevent the wolves' country from occupying their regions.

Meanwhile, the vast majority of the world's oil in my AU is being produced in this country.

While it used to be many different nations in the past, the leaders understood that their vast oil and gas reserves would result in large scale invasions, and agreed to band together into the Equatorial Allegiance.

[thevegetablewhichnoonedaresname]

I'm starting Mission to Zyxx Season 5 now, and I have feelings about that.

First, it generally scares me when people hype anything up at all because there is no guarantee that anyone values the exact same thing I do to the same degree. Even if I trust the creators of a thing to value something and try to do right by it, that doesn't always necessarily mean it will be successful, especially if that involves doing something wildly different than what made it good in the first place (I have been burned this way before). I guess I'm just hoping they continue the format of goofy improv shenanigans for the majority of it with something more planned and emotional in the finale if they want, like they've been doing all along. I'd think they would, and I've heard nothing bad about the ending, but I guess it still makes me nervous because I'm so close to the end and I want it so badly to stick the landing. I'm setting my expectations on the floor so I can be surprised instead of disappointed, but honestly, I don't need it to be better, I just need it to be on par with the rest.

Second, and more briefly, I'm happy it's (hopefully) ending before it has a chance to decline. I am so on board with that philosophy. But on the other hand, finishing a thing that I really, really like and knowing there's not another one out there gives me a special kind of heartache. Like, I know there will be other good media, and stuff that's good and unique in other ways, but I know for a fact that there are no other podcasts out there that have the same mix of a balance of off-the-wall improv and structured narrative, quality comedy, fantastical sci-fi setting and loveable characters, and high quality production. There are other things out there with many of those qualities, but nothing that checks every one of those boxes. It's a lightning-in-a-bottle thing that very much feels like the right people had to be in the right place at the right time to do it. Attempts to do it again would feel hollow because it had to be born out of necessity and passion and the talents of the people involved, so if you switch out the people it loses the reasons it's great, and if the same people tried to do it again it'd feel tired. That makes me so, so grateful it exists, but also so, so sad that it doesn't, and I'm 80% of the way done. When it's over, it's over.

Anyway. Now that that's all out there, I'm just gonna finish listening and have fun. Wish me luck.

[cain-e-brookman]

Happy Worldbuilding Wednesday! So, I know a little bit about the gods of your setting, but how does your average citizen worship? Which gods get the most attention and which are less well known?

ahh, thanks for the ask! i need you to know, every time i'm asked about world building i become this image

this is undoubtedly going to get long so answer under the cut

the the short answer is: it depends. i think i mentioned in my post about Raschic but i'm not sure, but there are the 8 main gods who give power to one of each of the Mage Kingdoms. (Light, Shadow, Fire, Water, Plant, Stone, Sky, and Force. This doesnt really matter for the context but there it is.)

So Mages are expected to be somewhat religious, but depending on the god they're tied to, it changes what that looks like. The Sea God isn't horribly concerned about day to day life of his Mages, but they must still do certain rituals and pay proper tribute to allow them to remain attached to him for their power and immortality. As such, the kingdom of the Water Mages as a whole isn't super immersed in religion. On the other hand, Shadow Mages are very devout, to the point where even those without magic are still incredibly religious because it's so steeped in the culture of the ruling Mages.

even when you get into human kingdoms, it's going to look different depending on who a person is and what they do. Uslaria, (the setting for my current WIP) has the most concentrated group of witches in the known world, so much so that one town is known for being the unofficial capitol for witches. everyone in Uslaria can tell you a bit about the Goddess Lythis, Grandmother of Witches, but few actually worship her. a farmer in Uslaria might pray to the Sky God to bring his godly children through with warm winds and generous rains, may also pray to the Goddess of Stone to bless his crops with good soil, may also attend festivals or holy days for the main pantheon if they live close enough to a city or town that might make a big to-do about it, but as far as most gods go, especially the main pantheon, they're so distant from the reality of most people. gods in the minor pantheon, like the Trickster, are more the topic of superstitions and tales to tell by a fire. day to day worship might be done for a lesser god residing in their area, or sometimes house gods that follow a family line, but the names of those gods are too intimate to the area to be remarked upon outside of that circle.

tl;dr: the average citizen (except maybe in the Marshes with the Shadow Mages,) only really cares about the gods that affect them and treat any others with a distant respect. (for the most part)

[lilydvoratrelundar]

dc is doing a little mini relaunch after the current crossover finishes and honestly thank god because literally only two of their current ongoings interest me but there's a bunch of fun looking stuff happening in november that i might actually look at. and also it's starting series for several guys who should have had ongoings this whole time like the fucking JUSTICE LEAGUE

[seithr]

Randomly remembered the half-reason i call my oc-verse by the name it has while laying in bed. One-half of the reason i still knew, but I had forgotten what had truly, really cemented it jointly until now

(it was a song from my favourite band I haven't listened to in a while.)

(the song fit so well at the time, still does, that i needed to hold onto it for the main protagonists forever, by partially naming their story in reference.)

Does this explanation make any sense? Does anyone know why I'm tearing up remembering this. Aahh

[arolesbianism]

I’ve been having a rough few days, but I’ve been feeling a bit better so I decided to make some lil thingies for some spiraling upwards kitties :3

[grumpyoldsnake]

Hiking

.

My father brushes past a pine branch

Freeing snow into the sun;

For just a moment, the air gleams.

.

12-26-23

[wabblebees]

never never never in my life gonna be able to beat the weirdo theatre nerd allegations. its midnight and for the last few hours ive been (voluntarily of my own free will At No-One's Behest) doing some character research for the show we're working on (which at a certain level is Absolutely Necessary!! but at *this* level is Absolutely Not. lmfao)(and so... ik for a fact if i mention this in rehearsal tomorrow im gonna get a whole lotta blank stares ((or TERRIFIED looks from the freshmen wondering if they should be doing this much work lmao))

but anyway so about 10 minutes ago i found a fucking essay (just 9 pages out of this philological collection from the 60s) that just the idea behind the Very Simple title made me so excited i had to stand up at my desk to start reading it and fully forgot to sit back down until i realized i wanted to start TAKING NOTES..... WHICH I GENERALLY HATE DOING WHILE READING........ BUT IM TOO EXCITED AND DONT WANNA FORGET ANY OF IT.................. SO IM TAKING FUCKING NOTES

but anyway beyond tHAT the thing that actually made me pause to start typing this post though is the fact that just now, four pages in, this essay finally put something into place that ive been puzzling over in my head since i very first read the play which... made me happystim so hard i almost knocked myself out of my fucking chair. hdkdgsjfkfhdgskdgwrdjfk.

so yeah. never beating the nerd allegations. lmao

[forcedhesitation]

the nere fight without a sorcerer is hell on earth. that fight is always unpleasant, but without corydalis? it was so so so much worse. he can immediately kill the sergeant & nere in the very first turn. unfortunately with the way that battlefield is structured & how the enemies are dispersed, it is impossible to achieve that with a paladin. or any other class, I think.

sorcerers are just. better.

[aberooski]

Even after all these years, and Noel being one of my favorite characters in Final Fantasy period, part of me still wishes they had ended it at 13-2 and committed to the idea that changing the timeline would cause Noel to disappear. Because even if the future changed to one where he still existed, he wouldn’t be the same person and our Noel would then cease to exist as a consequence.

[arnold-layne]

i never write confessions of love into my fics because i dont want to subject my characters to that kind of torture

[exopelagic]

i am now entering finals mode so very sorry i’m gonna be dead for approximately 12 days

[stinkb0mber]

here is hope i will actually write on that predator headcanon post today because. he has so many issues.