#i wish all politics was like this
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The single funniest thing in American governance is the line item veto, because it's LITERALLY tumblr black out poetry but rather than using it to make shitposts, governors can use it to change laws or budgets in a bunch of different states. Wisconsin is the most famous for it but you can find funny examples elsewhere.
Like if you're wondering how drastically a budget can get changed, in Wisconsin last year the democratic governor managed to change a school funding increase from 2024-2025 to 2024-2425. How?
Through this nonsense.
It's very funny and I hope this never changes.
#sif speaks#black out poetry#us politics#wisconsin#its been on my mind lately#i wish all politics was like this
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IT'S BUNNY TIME EVERYBODY
(feat. Dilla)
(bugle accompaniment by Yuu)
#art#twisted wonderland#twisted wonderland spoilers#white rabbit festival#ah...the eternal dilemma of 'is it hair dye or whimsical anime hair'. and so we roll the dice again.#so it's canon now that yuu is inexplicably great at bugling. everybody get ready to incorporate that incredible trivia into your characters#anyway HELLO THERE madam spade#i think we have enough evidence now to say that you're not allowed into nrc unless you have an absolutely smoking mom#(riddle's mom has a smoking crater where her heart should be but we digress)#dilla likes two things: BIG VANS and also telling her son's friends all about how he used to literally refuse to not dress like a bunny#and yet now he does not wish to dress like a bunny. :( deuce what HAPPENED#meanwhile epel is too polite to whine at his best friend's mom so he's just hoping vil never finds out he wore a bonnet#silver is like 'i'm the handsomest little marching band boy. i'm taking this outfit back to show everyone.'#and ortho put all his points into POWERFUL THIGHS#he minmaxed leg day and is going to go kick a tree in half#can't wait for part 2 to see if they resolve the exciting cliffhanger of whether or not silver finds an alarm clock
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Deliciously in dungeon, that is 👀
But also, the way that Dunmeshi progressively descends full on into horror and disturbing content is such a mood.
#Maybe it’s just me but I got into it under the impression that it was going to be fantasy comedy about cooking and on one hand it is#But on the other there are moments like the goat scene#You know what I’m talking about#Dungeon Meshi spoilers#delicious in dungeon#dungeon meshi#mithrun#the canaries#dungeon meshi goat#the vvitch#as usual my apologies if anything like this has been made already#all I could think of while reading this bit was the end of the vvitch though#Perhaps if a goat offers to fulfill your wishes you should politely decline#Just saying#Lesson one in talking goat interactions#Do not sell your soul or desires#Goats will eat that sh*t up
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really into his crepe ໒꒰ྀིᵔ ᵕ ᵔ ꒱ྀི১
#boynextdoor#malegroupsedit#kpopco#kpopccc#jaehyun#myung jaehyun#sophiegifs#Ummm ive been thinking about this part of the video for like 2 days straight i had to put it in gif .#I wish he was a jellycat like imagine#Do they have puppy ones i need to check .#Hes soooo cute omg my little 10cm doll is otw trusttt i will have that thing on me 24/7#UPDATEEE i found a really cute puppy jellycat it sits all polite too LMFAOOOO maybe ill buy it in nov so it comes for his birthday#Cus trust that will be a Celebration#like ive done with isa for many years
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So I’ve seen people making the argument that Percy canonicaly isn’t dumb + Sally taught him the myths, so it makes sense he’d recognize the monsters, and I’d like to put my two cents in.
Yes, Percy isn’t dumb, he’s an unreliable narrator who downplays himself because he’s not book smart like Annabeth. However, his smarts are more of the quick thinking on his feet and street-smart kind, which come out when he’s fighting and figuring out a way to defeat his foe. And yet. And yet we don’t get to see that in the show much at all, at least not Percy alone being the one to think up a strategy. And it takes away from his character.
“But Sally taught him the myths, of course he’d recognize the monsters-“ let me stop you right here. Because yes, it’s great Sally taught him, but she didn’t-couldn’t teach him how the monsters adapted to the modern world. Because that’s all the books are - myths brought into the modern world, myths adapted to the modern world, so that the demigods would have to display just as much skill needed to defeat the monsters as their ancient predecessors.
If you’re still not convinced, let me direct your attention towards this quote from The Chalice of the Gods, because there’s one more aspect a lot of people seem to disregard completely, and that is the Mist:
Even demigods need to concentrate to see whatever supernatural beings the Mist is hiding in plain sight. Even demigods can be easily fooled into thinking a monster is just a normal person.
We can also see that in the book Medusa scene, where it’s pretty heavily implied some sort of magic that affects both Percy and Annabeth is at play. They don’t immedietally connect the dots, which allows the reader to think for themselves who could this new character be and what their deal is. And the demigods are not any less smart for not immediately recognizing whatever foe stands before them, because the monsters have adapted and no longer are the complete same as they are in the myths, which is something neither the camp nor their mortal parents would be able to teach them. The camp cannot prepare them for how different the monsters and their tactics are.
I do think this could have been fairly easily portrayed in the show. You could have the show Annabeth and Percy be suddenly drowsy/sleepy when meeting Medusa, you could have Percy recognize Crusty after he’s already trapped Annabeth and Grover - he could suddenly remember Sally telling him the story, which would allow the audience to hear what the deal is here, and then have Percy manipulate + kill him.
So yeah. I hope this makes sense. Because I’m so tired of hearing “well it makes sense they recognized the monsters instantly” when no, it does not.
#rick riordan remember your canon challenge failed#also i’m obviously not trying to put down the people that like the show at all#and tbf the show’s not bad!#i just wish it had been marketed as the rewrite that it is instead of a faithful adaptation of the book#feel free to engage in polite discussion#pjo#pjo show#pjo show crit#percy jackson and the olympians#percy jackson#pjo tv show#pjo tv show crit#rick riordan#rick riordanverse
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there was some Twitter madness recently where someone left a comment on someone's art to the effect of, "Ed shouldn't wear a dress, he's a man!" which I do disagree with on principle, but unfortunately, it brought out one of my least favourite trends in the fandom
so, naturally, I had to write a twitter essay about it. and I already largely argued this in a post here, but the thread is clearer and better structured, so I thought I'd cross-post for those not on the Hellsite (derogatory). edited for formatting/structure's sake, since I no longer have to keep to tweet lengths, and incorporating a couple of points other people brought up in the replies
so
I want to point out that the wedding cake toppers in OFMD s2 aren't evidence that Ed wants to wear dresses. Gender is fake, men can wear skirts, play with these dolls how you like, but it's not canon, and that scene especially Doesn't Mean That.
People cite it often: 'He put himself in a dress by painting the bride as himself! It's what he wants!' But that fundamentally misunderstands the scene, and the series' framing of weddings as a whole. I'd argue that Ed paints the figure not from desire, but from self-hatred; it's not what he wants, but what he thinks he should, and has failed to, be.
(Yes, I am slightly biased by my rampant anti-marriage opinions, but bear with me here, because it is relevant to the interpretation of the scene, and season two as a whole.)
The show is not subtle. It keeps telling us that the institution of marriage is a prison that suffocates everyone involved. Ed's parents' cycle of abuse is passed to their son in both the violence he witnesses then enacts on his father, and the self-repression his mother teaches, despite her good intentions ("It's not up to us, is it? It's up to God. ... We're just not those kind of people. We never will be."). Stede and Mary are both oppressed by their arranged marriage, with 1x04 blunty titled Discomfort in a Married State. The Barbados widows revel in their freedom ("We're alive. They're dead. Now is your time").
But even without this context, the particular wedding crashed in 2x01 is COMICALLY evil. The scene is introduced with this speech from the priest:
"The natural condition of humanity is base and vile. It is the obligation of people of standing ... to elevate the common human rabble through the sacred transaction of matrimony."
It's upper class, all-white, and religiously sanctioned. "Vile natural conditions" include queerness, sexual freedom, and family structures outside the cisheteropatriarchal capitalist unit. "The obligation of people of standing" invokes ideas like the white man's burden, innate class hierarchy, religious missions, and conversion therapy. Matrimony is presented as both "sacred" (endorsed by the ruling religious body), and a "transaction" (business performed to transfer property and people-as-property, regardless of their desires), a tool of the oppressive society that pirates escape and destroy. That is where the figurines come from.
When Ed, in a drunk, depressive spiral, paints himself onto the bride, he's not yearning for a pretty dress. He's sort of yearning for a wedding, but that's not framed as positive. What he's doing is projecting himself into an 'ideal' image of marriage because he believes that: a) that's what Stede (and everyone) wants; b) he can never live up to that ideal because he's unlovable and broken (brown, queer, lower-class, violent, abused, etc); c) that's why Stede left. He tries to make himself fit into the social ideal by painting himself onto the closest match - long-haired, partner to Stede/groom, but a demure, white woman, a frozen, porcelain miniature - because, if he could just shrink himself down and squeeze into that box, maybe Stede would love him and he'd live happily ever after. But he can't. So he won't.
The fantasy fails: Ed is morose, turns away from the figurines, then tips them into the sea, a lost cause. He knows he won't ever fulfil that bride's role, but he sees that as a failure in himself, not the role. It's not just that "Stede left, so Ed will never have a dream wedding and might as well die." Stede left when Ed was honest and vulnerable, "proving" what his trauma and depression tell him: there's one image of love (of personhood), and he'll never live up to it because he's fundamentally deficient. So he might as well die.
This hit me from my very first viewing. The scene is devastating, because Ed is wrong, and we know it! He doesn't need to change or reduce himself to fit an image and be accepted (as, eg, Izzy demanded). Stede knows and loves him exactly as he is; it's the main thread and theme of season two!
(@/everyonegetcake suggested that Ed's yearning in these scenes includes his broader desire for the vulnerability and safety Stede offered, literalised through unattainable "fine" things like the status of gentleman in s1, or the figurine's blue dress. I'd argue, though, that these scenes don't incorporate this beyond a general knowledge of Ed's character. Ed is always pining for both literal and emotional softness, but the significance of the figurines specifically, to both Ed and the audience, is poisoned by their origin and context: there is no positive fantasy in the bride figure, only Ed's perceived deficiency.
Further, assuming that a desire for vulnerability necessarily corresponds with an explicit desire for femininity, dresses, etc, kind of contradicts the major themes of the show. OFMD asserts that there is nothing wrong with men assuming femininity (through drag, self-care, nurturing, emotional vulnerability, etc), but also that many of these traits are, in fact, genderless, and should be available to men without affecting their perceived or actual masculinity. It thematically invokes the potential for cross-gender expression in Ed's desires, especially through the transgender echoes in his relieved disposal, then comfortable reincorporation, of the Blackbeard leathers/identity. It's a rich, valuable area of analysis and exploration. But it remains a suggestion, not a canon or on-screen trait.)
Importantly, the groom figure doesn't fit Stede, either. Not just in dress: it's stiff and formal, and marriage nearly killed him. He's shabbier now, yes, but also shedding his privilege and property, embracing his queerness, and trying to take responsibility for his community. In a s1 flashback, Stede hesitantly says, "I thought that, when I did marry, it could be for love," but he would never find love in marriage. Not just because he's gay, but because marriage in OFMD is an oppressive, transactional institution that precludes love altogether. All formal marriages in OFMD are loveless.
So, he becomes a pirate, where they reject society altogether and have matelotages instead. Lucius and Pete's "mateys" ceremony is shot and framed not like a wedding, but as an honest, personal bond, willingly conducted in community (in a circle; no presiding authority, procession, or transaction).
That is how Stede and Ed can find love, companionship, and happiness: by rejecting those figurines and their oppressive exchange of property, overseen by a church that enables colonialism and abuse. Ed is loved, and deserves happiness, as he is, no paint or projection required.
ALL OF THIS IS TO SAY: draw Ed in dresses! Write him getting gender euphoria in skirts! Write trans/nb Ed, draw men being feminine! Gender is fake, the show invites exploration, that's what 'transformative works' means! But please, stop citing the cake toppers as evidence it's canon. Stop citing a scene where a depressed Māori man gets drunk and projects himself onto a rich, white, silent bride because he thinks he's innately unlovable and only people like her can find happiness, shortly before deciding to kill himself, as canon evidence it's what he wants.
(Also, please don't come in here with "lmao we're just having fun," I know, I get it. Unfortunately, I'm an academiapilled researchmaxxer, and some of youse need to remember that the word "canon" has meaning. NOW GO HAVE FUN PUTTING THAT MAN IN A PRETTY DRESS!! 💖💖)
#OFMD#Our Flag Means Death#OFMD Edward Teach#gender stuff#Togas does meta#god this seems even longer as a semi-proper essay XD#I know this is the piss on the poor website of reading comprehension but please god don't misunderstand me#i'm not saying you can't draw ed (or any other male character!) in a dress or that it's The Wrong Interpretation or whatever#I AM saying this fandom sometimes emphasises feminising Ed to the point of over-simplification and dehumanisation#which certainly feels at least racist-adjacent and definitely misses the point of the show#but mostly I'm saying that THAT SCENE DOESN'T MEAN THAT and I wish people would stop talking about it like something sweet and positive#when it's one of the most miserable and heartbreaking scenes in the show. like. agreeing with ed's depression is a bad look...#my experience of trying to do meta in the last year or so has consisted almost entirely of trying to do#specific historicist analysis or textual close readings#and being met with broad political analyses and overall interpretations of character#like mate..... bless you for engaging but. that is not what I'm doing here. XD#shoutout to the couple folks on twt that mentioned Ed's desires generally or an outtake from the scene#neither of which are at all relevant to my point but thank you for your input
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popping in from my accidental semi-hiatus to share something that’s been on my heart lately…
my sims story / gameplay / whatever-you-want-to-call-it — the world I’m building in Rebuild A City — is about picking through the bones of society post-collapse and rebuilding something better. (sorry if you actually thought it was about zombie townies! it was socialism all along 😩)
I started this save because I was in a place where I didn’t feel a whole lot of hope, and I wanted to spend my free time and creative energy on something healthier for me than what I’d been doing previously (that is, killing sims slowly, on an island, with Nietzsche). I wanted to reinforce my faith in the best of humanity — mutual aid, community care, imagination, perseverance — and my belief that a better future is possible, in stories and in real life, even when the idea collapse starts to feel more and more inevitable…
and you know what, friend? I think it’s working 😳
and here’s the thing… in the endless discourse™ about the US election — and all the ways our candidate may or may not fall short of our own ideals as individuals, mine included! — I hold tightly to this hope I’ve worked to nurture, this feeling of promise that I’m excited about, but I refuse to let fantasies of building a better society from the ashes — in my silly sims story or in some hypothetical American future —to cloud the truth that we don’t have to burn it all down to begin with in the first place!
when voices say there’s no hope, or there’s no substantive difference between Trump and Kamala, or there’s no point in voting because we’ll keep arming Isr*el either way, or that we should all vote third party to “send the Democrats a message,” or that it’s actually somehow better if Trump wins because the US will collapse faster… look at who is saying these things 👀 perhaps a white person in a blue state…? someone speaking from a place of privilege, using their platform to accelerate their political revolution fantasy at the expense of minoritised and vulnerable people living in red states across the country? too many people my age made this same mistake in 2016 and we are still reaping the consequences today.
say no to accelerationist thinking. say no to purity tests, say no to voting third party as idealist self-expression or political aesthetic.
say yes to mutual aid and community care. say yes to voting as harm reduction, and organizing under a president who doesn’t want to outlaw political protest entirely. say yes to protecting people with uteruses, trans folks, queer people, disabled people, people of color, living in red states.
say yes — deep breath — to the reality that you as an American were born in (or decided to move to and become a citizen of) a powerful, expansive, and deeply flawed empire, and accept your collective responsibility to vote strategically. and the only acceptable strategy — the only strategy that does not lead directly to the outcome of a second Trump term, doubling down on the worst political outcomes here and abroad, and the promise of the end of free elections in the US — is voting for Kamala Harris on or before Nov 5. 🇺🇸🗳️
#rambling about my sims?#or politics?#my brain said#why not both!#if these thoughts seem tenuously connected#or irrelevant to….. a lot of people#probably MOST people#that’s all true 😝#if you’re someone who thinks like me#or has in the past been the type to wish for revolution#and you read all of this#hey!#i see you#thanks for reading and i hope you consider what i have to say
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'I flirted with the idea that instead of being trans that I was just a cross-dresser (a quirk, I thought, that could be quietly folded into an otherwise average life) and that my dysphoria was sexual in nature, and sexual only. And if my feelings were only sexual, then, I wondered, perhaps I wasn’t actually trans.
I had read about a book called The Man Who Would Be Queen, by a Northwestern University professor who believed that transwomen who were attracted to women were really confused fetishists, they wanted to be women to satisfy an autogynephilia. And though I first read about this book in the context of its debunkment and disparagement, I thought about the electricity of slipping on those tights, zipping up those boots, and a stream of guilt followed. Maybe this professor was right, and maybe I was only a fetishist. Not trans, just a misguided boy.
About a year later, on the Internet, I come across a transwoman who added a unique message to the crowd refuting this professor. Oh, I wish I remember who this woman was, and I wish even more that I could do better than paraphrase her, but I remember her saying something like this: “Well, of course I feel sexy putting on women’s clothing and having a woman’s body. If you feel comfortable in your body for the first time, won’t that probably mean it’ll be the first time you feel comfortable, too, with delighting in your body as a sexual thing?”'
-Casey Plett, Consciousness
#this quote always moves me almost to tears when i remember it#i'm not a trans woman and i don't share the author's specific experiences with transition#but it really moves me that she frame transition as joyfully giving yourself permission to approach your body#not as something that has to be disciplined and deprived and made small in all these various ways#but as a means for experiencing pleasure and joy and delight and for insisting that our feelings and desires are worth#valuing and exploring and treasuring#i always used to think of prioritizing those things for myself as selfish and irresponsible#but who does it harm to want to experience pleasure in your own body?#it's such a beautifully simple and powerful switch to have flip in your head#and equally why are we forced to deny our own pleasure in transition and anything else related to our bodies in the name of moral rectitude#this is why i get so confused and pissed off when other trans people are fatphobic for example#like why are you so invested in politics of shame and disgust that never had any purpose other than#violently disciplining people as if they've violated moral codes by existing in a body#to say nothing of white people being racist in gay and trans communities#like again this system of violence is foundational to homophobia and transphobia#so why are you acting like it has nothing to do with you#even if you are unmoved by the urgency of other people's suffering which btw you should be moved by#what do you hope to gain by acting a collaborator and handmaiden to those systems#Casey Plett#she really is one of my favorite authors i wish more non-canadians read her#this quote is from a series of columns she did ont transition and every single one is a banger#i love when she talks about the people-pleasing elements of dysphoria and transition denial#she's so sharp about noting how many of us deny our own dysphoria on the grounds that others like and validate our bodies#that's how i always felt during my cis conventionally feminine era#it pleased other people so much and also that reception felt so hollow and joyless to me because i hated it#i get less of that positive feedback but that feels so unimportant next to the joy and pleasure i get to experience#said with the understanding that i'm very privileged in being able to prioritize those things without fear. but it was a switch flip#personal nonsense
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maybe a controversial opinion but while i really love jiang cheng as a character he is deeply self-centered as a person. and seeing people fight tooth and nail claiming he isn't, or is just misunderstood, or that he has genuine valid reasons to be selfish when plenty of other characters make the difficult choice to forego status and opportunities for what they believe is genuinely right to do (read: wei wuxian, wen ning, wen qing, lan wangji, jiang yanli, mianmian, etc.)
it's just odd to me. especially if they're talking about the novels.
mxtx didn't give jiang cheng the name "sandu shengshou" as a quirky coincidence. there's a REASON she named him & his sword after the 3 poisons of Buddhism (specifically ignorance, greed, and hatred). it's crucial to the story that jiang cheng is NOT selfless and that wei wuxian IS.
it's important to accept that wei wuxian is, by their society's standards, not morally gray; he represents several Buddhist ideals in direct contrast of jiang cheng and multiple people attest to wei wuxian's strong moral character, which is a lot of why jiang cheng even feels bitter about him to begin with.
it's crucial, because by the end of the novel jiang cheng realizes the extent of this and begins to let go!
the twin prides thing wasn't jiang cheng wanting them to 100% mirror the twin jades. he does care about wei wuxian, but he wanted wei wuxian to stay his right hand man, in part the way wei changze was for jiang fengmian.
and if there's one thing you can notice about wei changze in the novels, it's that literally nobody talks about him. he is only ever mentioned when his cool mysterious mountain sect wife cangse-sanren is mentioned, or (even more rarely) when they discuss him as a servant to jiang fengmian. regardless of jiang fengmian's own feelings, wei changze was considered lesser to him and didn't seem to outdo him, since nobody's out there years later still waxing poetry about wei changze's skills.
it may not be the only thing jiang cheng wants out of a twin pride dynamic, but it is a big part of it. regardless of his parents' intentions in taking wei wuxian in and treating him certain ways, this twin pride right-hand man thing is what jiang cheng has felt owed since childhood. he gave up his dogs for wei wuxian, people gossip about his sect heir position with wei wuxian there... jiang cheng wants the reciprocation of what he views as personal sacrifices.
he is ignorant to the depth of what wei wuxian must've suffered for over 6 years as a malnourished orphan child on the streets. he hates how wei wuxian's intelligence, witty charm, and cultivation abilities are naturally stronger than his own. he does care about wei wuxian a lot and want them to be together as sort of-brothers, sort of-friends, sort of-young master and sect servant...
...but if it's between that unclear (yet still caring) relationship and being able to save himself just a little bit more, jiang cheng nearly always manages to clam up in the face of danger and choose the latter, which ultimately benefits himself most. maybe it's a stretch to call that sort of thing greed, but it certainly isn't selfless.
there are of course plenty of justifications for this. it's his duty as sect heir. his home and sect was severely damaged by the wen attack and subsequent war; he had to protect himself, etc.
but doesn't that prove the point?
wei wuxian may be charming, but in terms of pure social standing, he is lower and far more susceptible to being punished or placed in harm's way by people who have more power and money. to protect wei wuxian, yunmeng jiang's long-term head disciple and semi-family member, even in the face of backlash and public scrutiny would've been the selfless thing to do. this is what wei wuxian does for the wen remnants in the burial mounds.
jiang cheng does not choose this. it's not even an unreasonable choice for him to make! nobody else in the great clans is doing such a thing, stepping out of line to take on a burden that could weaken them in the long-run. wei wuxian himself doesn't hate jiang cheng for it; he lets go of these things and focuses on what good he can do in the present.
jiang cheng thinks further into the future - what would happen to him if he continued vouching for wei wuxian and taking his side? what about jiang cheng's face, his sect's face? would wei wuxian even care to reciprocate somehow? everyone expects him to cut off wei wuxian for being dangerous, for threatening his position, for...
do you see what i mean? to call jiang cheng selfless for falling in line with exactly what people expected him to do after the war is not only wrong, it's foolish.
"but they faked their falling-out!" okay. why fake it to begin with, except to protect jiang cheng and the jiang sect's own face? is that selfless? who does it ultimately serve to protect? wei wuxian canonically internalizes the idea that he stains all that he touches, including lan wangji, and agrees to the fake fight because he doesn't want to cause the jiang sect harm. regardless, it eventually slides into a true falling-out, and in the end jiang cheng is more or less unscathed reputation-wise while wei wuxian falls.
that isn't selfless. it's many things! it's respecting his clan and his ancestors, it's making a good plan for the future of his sect and cultivation... but it isn't a truly selfless in the interest of what's right rather than in the interest of duty and what's good for him and his family lineage.
that brings me to my next point: even though wei wuxian hid the truth of the golden core transfer, jiang cheng spent nearly 20 years believing that the golden core "renewal" he was given was a birthright gift of wei wuxian's from baoshan-sanren, an immortal sect teacher of wei wuxian's mother's and a martial elder to wei wuxian.
of course we all know that's a big fat lie, but jiang cheng believed that wei wuxian gave up a critical emergency use gift to him for decades! he was lied to, yes, but jiang cheng immediately agreed without even needing to be convinced. the light in his dead eyes came back with hope the moment wei wuxian even said baoshan-sanren's name. he accepted wei wuxian's offer to give that up to him and take it via identity theft without missing a beat.
with how mysterious and revered baoshan-sanren is, that's obviously not a light sacrifice to just give up to anyone, no matter how close they might be to you. pretending to be wei wuxian to take the gift could even be considered dangerous. what if she found out and got offended? could wei wuxian be hurt by that?
jiang cheng doesn't even hesitate. wei wuxian is the one who mentions that if jiang cheng doesn't pretend to be him, the immortal master could get angry and they'd both be goners. and funnily enough, the day they do go to "the mountain", jiang cheng is the one worried and suspiciously wondering if wei wuxian was lying to him or had misremembered.
of course they've both been traumatized like hell prior to this point. but still: it speaks to how broken he was at the moment as well as to his character overall.
i digress: jiang cheng "gets his golden core back" via what he believed was a gift that should've been wei wuxian's to use in serious emergencies. rather than use it for himself, wei wuxian risked his own safety and gave it to jiang cheng... and jiang cheng still ends up embittered and angry, believing that wei wuxian is arrogant and selfish.
if he truly views them as 100% brothers and equals with no caveats, why would he think that way? it's not like he needs to grovel before wei wuxian for doing that, or to reciprocate... but this is what i mean when i say jiang cheng feels he is owed things by wei wuxian. wei wuxian's actions hold a very different weight in jiang cheng's mind, and jiang cheng himself doesn't ever act the same way, except once.
is it wrong for him to feel like he is owed something? it depends. many asian cultures, including my own, feel that a person owes their family in ways that may not make sense to westerners. for example, it's considered normal for a child to owe their parents for giving birth to them, or to other caretakers for feeding, clothing, sheltering, educating them, etc.
however, something like verbally saying "thank you" or "i'm sorry" to family is considered crazy- why would you owe that? you're supposed to inconvenience your family; saying thank you or sorry is the sort of thing you say to a stranger or acquaintance. i get half-seriously lectured by my elders on this a lot even now, even though they know such phrases are just considered good manners in the US.
this muddies up the idea of wei wuxian being jiang cheng's family vs his family's charge or servant even more. jiang cheng wants wei wuxian to be close... but ultimately doesn't really choose to use what power he DOES have to protect wei wuxian. he considers himself still owed something that in his mind wei wuxian flagrantly never repays.
this isn't even getting into how despite spending a majority of his time with the yiling patriarch he never once noticed that wei wuxian stopped using any spiritual power-based cultivation. even lan wangji, who met them far more rarely, realized that something was wrong and that wei wuxian had taken some sort of spiritual damage, hence the "come with me to gusu".
of course manpain is fun and i'm not immune to the juicy idea of them reconciling and talking things out... but jiang cheng is deeply mired in his own desire to be "above" wei wuxian in multiple ways, and doesn't realize the extent of wei wuxian's actions, the intentions behind them, and the consequences wei wuxian knowingly faced for them.
to not recognize this about jiang cheng, especially in the novels, is really revisionist if you ask me. i reiterate that i really do like him a lot. he's flawed, angry, traumatized and has poor coping mechanisms, an overall fascinating character... but he is not selfless nor ideal, and i seriously draw the line at people saying he is.
wen ning shoves this all into his face at lotus pier to disastrous results. it is the reason why jiang cheng's a total mess at guanyin temple, and the reason jiang cheng ultimately doesn't tell wei wuxian about the fact that he ran towards the wens on purpose.
for that one last act of his to have really been selfless, he needs to not seek anything in return. he did it purely because it was right to do to protect someone else. if that means wei wuxian never finds out about it, so be it.
that moment that ended up causing jiang cheng irreversible harm is not a debt that wei wuxian owes him. it hurts, but no matter how bitter it is, that realization is so important to him changing in the future.
#keri chats#mdzs#mo dao zu shi#jiang cheng#long post#this is NOT anti/crit for him btw i like him a lot i just feel like nobody interprets him the way i perceive him#which even then my interpretation is p nebulous... worth saying i also heavily disagree w ppl who think of him as an evil shithead#he's upper class & steeped in jianghu politics/self preservation. flawed as hell human being but they're all war criminals lbr it's#Magical Genocide and War Crimes: The Novel#anyway this post is messy as fuck but if u read all of it: thank u. if u agree with me: ilu. i wish more ppl understood revenge ethics#as they stand in asian cultures and history vs in western (almost always culturally christian) cultures#it's unclear how far in the future the extras are but at one pt he's ''the same as ever'' which at best indicates slow emotional growth#and like. ykw? i don't think he'll be repressed bitter angry thinking abt his losses n pain forever. i think he can grow i believe in him#i have so many thoughts on this i could've made this post go on forever augh
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so embarrassing how many self proclaimed leftists/communists/anarchists are prioritising individual feelings and identity over structural class analysis based on material reality and dont realise that is in fact liberal ideology lmao
#mine#‚individual freedom over everything‘ yes i have heard that before and that is not what marx was talking about at all#i think it makes sense that this is a very usamerican thing#because even ‚leftists‘ there grow up on a diet of ‚this is the land of the free‘ and a sense of entitlement as well#anti communism efforts stronger than anywhere in the world#i wish more usamerican progressives reflected on how even if they outwardly hate the usa#growing up as a usamerican in the usa you still internalise a certain self image and view of the world#unless you critically reflect on that and not just on usamerican politics and history#i feel like that would help this phenomenon
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I know we collectively agree that Hiccup isn’t romantically inclined, and his getting married and having kids didn’t make sense in the epilogue, but consider: Hiccup getting married for political reasons.
It’s a marriage of alliance, which is recognized both by him and his partner, and they enter it without expectations of romantic involvement. Since they’re now married, they live in the same castle, spend time together, and Hiccup finds he really likes his spouse. They’re funny, get along with his friends, and has the same interests and values. They both probably speak multiple languages. She understands why Hiccup is so dedicated to making the Wilderwest better, and holds similar views. She’s a good politician (her job after all, was to be an ambassador). Hiccup likes spending time with them, and the feeling is mutual. They’re not in love, they have their own lives, but they’re dedicated to each other and eventually decide to raise children. They teach their kids how to train hawks and hunt with dragons, riding, history, the Languages, and all the necessary skills of their world. They’re not in love and they’re happy together.
#pushing the aromantic hiccup agenda and also the queerplatonic agenda#as much as the idea of hiccup getting married was always a little off to me it was more the romantic angle#which I why I like the idea of a marriage of alliance and a partner who understands that#and then of course the montage of them being a good team and getting along#and going ‘yeah I like this person. I think this is the person I want to spend my life with.’#also a) a lot of arranged political marriages did have the foreign spouse function as an ambassador#b) polyglot hiccup is canon and I think it would be neat if his spouse was as well. it is a marriage alliance after all.#she isn’t from the small area of berm#(actually give all the Vikings regional accents. I think it’s neat)#c) she/they because I didn’t feel firmly about the partner’s gender and the nords were pretty gender diverse#anyway I think the partner would probably be fond of the library and admire hiccup got it open way back when#get along with Fishlegs and camicazi well enough#and enjoy dramatic stories of their adventures. maybe have some of her own#also: normalize people having their own lives outside their partners. hiccup and they are happy together but also have their own friends#oh and you know hiccup would be a great dad. he loves Stoick but he would so much be the dad he wished he had growing up#are the kids bio related? are they adopted (cast off and No Names)? who knows!#I could build in my head what hiccup’s spouse is like but I’ll leave it here#they exist as we construct them#httyd#httyd books#my post#book!hiccup#hiccup the third#hiccup horrendous haddock iii#book hiccup
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With the election results, I wanna take this opportunity to put out a quick reminder.
If you voted Trump, or support him in any way, shape or form, get the fuck off my blog. Block me, do not interact with me, unfollow me if you do for some reason.
My blog is not, and will never be, a safe place for you
#I’m not even American but I despise everything trump stands for and won’t have people like that here#‘b-but you’re judging me based on my opinion🥺’ yeah I am. because your opinions are going to result in people dying.#also how else would I judge someone other than by their opinions thoughts and beliefs? that argument is so fucking stupid#my heart goes out to all the Americans who will be affected by this election. the BIPOC community and LGBT+ community#I wish you all a safe 4 years#donald trump#kamala harris#us politics#us elections#fuck trump
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i'm getting towards the end of the skypeia arc, & i'd like to say just how much i adore the way the female strawhats have been treated.
just... every aspect of how the way their characters have been previously contextualized influences the story-line is treated with a masterful amount of consideration. we're given so many layers to both of them that enrich not only their characters specifically, but the arc, and the one piece world as a whole. without nami & robin having their specific skills, and their specific values, without those being built upon, the story would have come to a halt.
you could not have skypeia without nami & robin being who they are as individuals. not just because they never would've gotten there without nami, but also because the way these women think is itself foundational to the machinations of the arc as a whole.
to be totally upfront, if you think any other strawhats were more central to the skypeia arc than nami & robin were you are full-on fucking lying to yourself.
#obligatory disclaimer that i’m aware luffy is the protagonist & a lot of interesting stuff is explored w him. this isn’t abt him though.#part of me wonders if this is an aspect of why people will write off this arc sometimes tbh... like that & the political themes.#but yeah anyway i get why people say that for all there are 100% misogynistic tendencies in oda's writing & character design#it is very very hard to say that he as an individual is an ideological misogynist. like the level of care he puts into his female cast mem#-ers generally speaking & how he approaches what existing as a multi-dimensional individual would look like in their specific contexts is#like... in a lot of ways still something that is unprecedented across all forms of media.#but also not the point but anyone who says nami in particular doesnt get real fights/is unskilled um... no you're wrong read her fight in#alabasta & then all of skypeia.#like in alabasta she takes on arguably a stronger opponent than sanji when considering the structuring of BW. not only that but she does s#with a weapon she has never used before while actively reading the instruction manual. and she WINS. she wins based on sheer intellect &#the ability to utilize skills the audience already knows she has. the pre-existing basic fighting skills she's introduced with are elabora#-ed upon by incorporating her skill w navigation. same with the way her cunning is used in skypeia to cover her lack of sheer brute. &#the best part about it is she's fucking tough in a way that makes sense! she isn't strong/weak just for the sake of positioning her as such#it is thoughtful & it strengthens her as a character rather than just like giving the power-scaler types smth to mindlessly chew on.#like do i wish nami got to fight more & take a more active role in that regard even if i don't think she needs to be a fighter in the same#sense as the monster trio? yes absolutely. i'm guessing this is going to be smth that bothers me potentially even more with robin.#but that does not mean her fights are not masterfully written when she gets them or that she isn't tough as a bag of nails.#respect my darling woman or die.#skypeia#nico robin#nami#grey's one piece tag
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i swear every rendition of this opening every instance of the coronation scene across all media is like. they just keep showing us more and more scenes of silly happy little n having a good time and then more and more scenes of harsh contrast with him looking so dull when part of team plasma. like while they were deciding what to put in the final cut they knew one thing for certain and that’s that they wanted to hurt us right off the bat. like really drive home the cruel irony and tragedy of n’s character through images. first thing you see when you boot up this wretched pocket monsters game
genuinely one of The best intros in any video game ever which also means aughhh this is the WORST. every other game intro is all lighthearted and cool like hey look at the cool pokemon and characters you can encounter before you play! aren't you excited!! but bw sits you right down and goes ok before you go. you need to know that we Royally fucked this one kid up. you see how happy he was in that forest with his friends? no more of that we took that away. ok Now back to the usual fun intro while you're still reeling from whatever that was. it sets SUCH a good tone like this game is something really standout and special compared to the others and you know it the moment that cartridge loads
the final version having only one scene of his memories instead of the others multiple is Heartbreaking. esp bc in the beta versions n is an adult. there being many scenes of him still having fun implies like he's still had a long life of good things! he's not always this dull and gloomy! but in the final its like his Only good memory is back when he was a kid so you wonder what happened between then and the coronation. what ruined this happy kid so badly. where are those pokemon friends he was seen with. its so so so so SO good i love you forever black and white
#clai speaks#asks#i adore the silly frames of n and still kinda wish we had them officially somehow but i cannot deny they Nailed the final version#just aughhhh. n always having been happy and polite but only while in plasma is he rude and bossy and holier-than-thou#its part of why replaying black back in like. 2022 hit me so hard and brought me to this point like#for all that time i'd been used to bw2 n from fanworks and masters ex and all that#forgetting how he was in bw1 because i omly played it when i was 7 and wasn't really grasping the gravity of his situation#so being made to look at how he really was and what that meant for him was like a wake up call. like ohh Thats why this character is stellar#ily n.........
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if chibnall was the one writing this season you lot would be talking VERY differently
#anti rtd#oomfs ur so right#s14 is the kinda mid that people think his era was#and yet#you throw in that razzle dazzle written by rtd and all of a sudden there's no criticisms!#or worse somehow#is how its a polite and gentle reframing of chibs criticism#like with him it was hey he ate this singular one thing But I KNOW CHIBS IS BAD HE'S TERRIBLE DONT WORRY I KNOW IT#and with rtd its oh i disliked this nonsensical and objectively bad writing but ummm guys i lOVED LOVED everything else i swear#its soooooooooooooOOOOOOOOO#it must be studied#but i knew yous were a lost cause when we had 14/15 running around calling men hot bc yes totally something the doctor just does#not ooc at allllll#bc this is how we know the doctor is queer now guys#dont you know it#i have like a million other complaints i miss being like oh hey that was mid/bad and moved on with my life 😭😭#god i think 13 era killed me bc now i do care about u hypocritical losers#rip 15ruby i wish i cared and that you had any development#ncuti millie i would like to hang out with you though#15 maybe you'll cry less next season so that the emotional scenes have impact perhaps 🙏🏾🙏🏾#ramblings of an insomniac#god i just remembered the whole real mum antics#fuck i need to go i gotta go!!!!#ps the ncuti conundrum where he's the most charismatic dr in nuwho whilst also being the worst actor is driving me nuts#idk if its the characterisation or his lack of ability in creating that inner psychology that connective tissue between his louder acting#which he's great at btw!#idk maybe that one monologue in boom made me go yes okay here we goooo#but then every other moment has been like hmmmnnnmtgodhd okay whateve#i think he needed more acting prep before he got this role bc he's got Something he could be Great but the subtle stuff is lacking#sooo hoping he can grow into that but it's giving perfect actor wrong time.... and if ur white ur not allowed to agree with me shush go away
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Wow I sure love being psychologically tortured by an anime
#This episode is... Heavy. I get why b/sd is a seinen (tm)#I cried again. Btw#Idk what else to say. The animation is so pretty and detailed.#Mori is so ruthless and despicable to watch but it all makes for a moderately interesting political commentary?#Shuzen is so pretty!! And even though we've seen so little of him he's so likeable and symphatetic...#(Still tho. Believe me I GET the mental instability and depression–#but did you really need your last words to be something to plague a 11 y/o forever. Like I get it but c'mon dude help me out here)#This arc is daunting.#The only time I cried in the manga and the only time I cried in the anime and you'd think I wouldn't cry after all this time right?#Wrong I cried again#I still sense. The usual underlying morals that I don't share with b/sd. But I don't want to get into it I probably wouldn't make sense#Still this episode poses such a good new moral interrogative I love it#Love it! Let's see what comes next!#random rambles#Once again I wish chapters 84-88 had this kind of budget too (╥﹏╥)
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