#i’m watching heirarchy

[kozumesphone]

oh when he places a gentle hand on the back of her head, tilts it a bit to the side and backwards, and kisses her and—

[oscargender]

to knowis to be loved and to be known is to b eloved. I want transgender friends who will know me and love me in a way that cis people usually do not

[akanesheep]

Devildom’s Heirarchy & Diavolo’s plan of unification

Diavolo couldn't have been more thrilled that Lucifer brought 5 brothers with him when he fell. Lilith being on the verge of death was unfortunate, but Lucifer’s pledge of loyalty was more valuable than another soldier. With the other brothers falling more or less in line with Lucifer gave Diavolo what he would desperately need in times to come. Powerful allies.

His father’s last act before falling into his long sleep was to rank the brothers in relation not only to themselves, but within the Devildom as a whole. Even as newly born demons with no experience within the Devildom, Lucifer and his brothers, and the newly born Satan, are the most powerful beings in the Devildom aside from the Prince and King themselves.

The old lords, hiss and gnash their teeth about these ‘angels’ who have usurped many a long held power structure. They refuse to accept these newcomers, and by proxy, refuse to accept Diavolo’s rule. They scheme and plot to find ways to be rid of the lot of them, since Diavolo would defend and accept the brothers.

What pisses them off the most is the King made them the avatars. See, demons, aside from royalty and a very few nobles are aspects of one of the seven sins… by naming the brothers the avatars mean that his problems with from thousands (or more) to less than 20. Sin-aspected demons are compelled to obey their avatar… they cannot disobey or rebel against them. That leaves the others. The old lords. They aren’t sin-aspected. They’re lords of Chaos. Just like Diavolo. Like most nobles in any scenario, they mostly share some sort of relation to the royal bloodline. Distant relatives that fall somewhere into the chain of succession, but not closely enough to have an outright claim to the throne.

A chaos demon is a rare thing. They do have aspects of all seven sins, but aren’t subservient to those sins, instead, they thrive on the unpredictable, chaotic events that take place around them. Because of this, they only have subservience to their King.

You see where this is going and what it means, right?

Diavolo stands atop a mighty pyramid. Instead of having to deal with so many things at once, he now has the brothers to not only stop-gap the problems from lower demons, but they field all issues themselves, only addressing the most critical of issues with the young king. (I’m convinced that his father may never awaken in the story of this game, or when he does, he will automatically allow Dia to fully ascend to the throne).

The old lords are his main focus now. He can work to get them all in line without too many major distractions. He has the ability to see the threats before they become a danger, and can take appropriate actions.

The brothers are an excellent source of chaos, keeping him well fed, so much so that anything else that occurs is gravy.

In Nightbringer, we’re watching the process happen. It’s the most unstable period in recent memory. The king falling into this strange sleep, the fledgling prince making bold strokes of change, the fallen angels creating waves of chaos as they struggle to adapt to being demons and being in the Devildom. Even for chaos demons, it seems too much to deal with. It feels like the kingdom is about to collapse under the weight of itself. They’re naturally unsettled and wanting to find a way to not only survive, but improve their own station as well.

I fear talking much more goes into repeating things I already said… but I hope you all like it ^_^

[tarisilmarwen]

So I haven’t been keeping up with Mando S3 at all but I had to go and watch the Shadow Council scene because oh man.

Oh ho ho man.

I love it????

It’s just so delightfully late 90s Legends EU ham and cheese with all the quarreling Imperial warlords in holoconference together bickering about where to spend their limited resources and infighting about who’s going to be heading up the Imperial Remnant.

Palleon desperately reassuring everyone, “Not to worry, Thrawn’ll be back soon and he’ll have a plan, ha ha ha, no for real guys promise, he’s totally coming!”

Gideon snarking back like, “SURE WOULD BE NICE TO SEE HIM OCCASIONALLY.”

Project Necromancer, AKA what I assume is Sequel Trilogy rehabilitation.  An admirable effort on the showrunners’ part, some kudos deserved there. (Though I’m one of the people who thinks the sequels are unsalvagable I do admire other writers’ efforts to at least try.)

And all around just the juiciest plot developments to marinate over.

I’ve not made it a secret that I am resistant and actively hostile towards any efforts to lionize Thrawn or downplay him as a villain so this was yet more petty vindication on my end, with his return to leading the Imperial Remnant implied to be all but a foregone conclusion.

With Ahsoka title-dropping Heir To The Empire in her show’s trailer and this scene confirming general plot ideas from that Legends series I am definitely a lot more intrigued by what exactly Thrawn has been up to in the interim.

What did you do to my blueberry son, you bastard?

My prevailing theory?  It actually comes from a bit of Thrawn’s dialogue with Nightswan in the first new canon book:

“Perhaps I have a more optimistic view of my fellow beings than you do.  So you consider tyranny to be a bulwark against evil.  For how long?”

“Explain.”

“How long will you accept tyranny as a necessary part of Imperial rule?” Nightswan asked.  “Until all resistance is silenced?  Until all evils are vanquished?”

“Perhaps your optimism is not as strong as you claim,” Thrawn said.  “The tone of a government is set by its leader.  But Emperor Palpatine will not live forever.  When it comes time for his authority to be handed to another, my position as a senior officer will allow me to influence the choice of that new leader.”

Basically, I think Thrawn still wants to have some control over who it is that will take over the infrastructure, supplies, scaffolding, and heirarchy of what remains of the Empire, so he can direct the machine more favorably towards his own interests and the interests of the Ascendancy.

Ultimately arriving at the conclusion of course that it’s himself. :)

The only other burning question is of course where has Ezra been in all of this and like I’ve said before, I hope he’s being a lovely thorn in Thrawn’s side and annoying the absolute crap out of him.

We’ll see!

[tachosnachos]

Thoughts on Heirarchy ep 1-2

I just watched the first two episodes so I’m only basing my opinion off of that. The girl who plays fl, Jae-i, her acting isn’t acting rn. I understand that she’s supposed to be having issues and she turned cold or something but then there should at least be more than one facial expression. I need her to cry like she means it, be a bitch like she means it. Not the lip licking thing she made. I only smoke casually but even I know she’s not getting nothing with the way she smokes. She’s like pecking it. If they’re not going to commit then just put some smoke effect or something. If she thinks her dad’s a monster then convince me girl. Rn she’s giving meh in everything which is disappointing because I saw the list of works she’s done, she’s by far has the most experience out of all of them.

Ri an, his acting isn’t giving me scary chaebol. I’m comparing them to the kids in the glory and penthouse. Like those kids act. This one didn’t scare me, all I’m being shown is what they did but they’re not convincing me that they’re capable of it. It was a cool entrance tho. idk if it’s his face or his acting. Also jae i and ri an isn’t convincing me that they had a strong relationship or they cared very much.

Kang Ha, him being the clueless new kid actually annoyed me for once and the plot twist if him actually having a motive for everything was okay ig. Which only tells me that he did his job pretty well. His character is overbearingly chippy. Good Job kid, you’ve convinced me. What irks me is the choices he makes to do his revenge. Not sure it’s working well. He doesn’t seem very bright so it’s hard to root for him. The writers could do better at writing his character.

Hera is actually giving me mean girl, the overly flirtatious party girl. I think the actress played her well.

So far the plot is interesting. But we’ve been there done that. I almost don’t care to know more about the mysteries tho. I’m probably going to finish it just because I’ve already started. The sets are very aesthetically pleasing in a dystopian way. Like the school kinda look like underground bunkers but fancy. The main characters aren’t giving much though. Again, if we compare it to penthouse and sky castle. Most of the kids there were only starting out as well but they acted their ass off.

[grapejuicegay]

the eclipse likes to do metaphors literally so i’m going to lean into it as well.

i don’t think it’s a coincidence that the episode where they spend a good chunk of time talking about 1984 is the episode where kan kisses thua for the first time with his eyes closed, surrounded my people with closed eyes

kan knows how he feels and he’s not afraid of his feelings. he’s tried to hold thua’s hand before, he calls him over to his house when his parents aren’t around, he finds excuses to hang out.

what he is afraid of is people. watching him, seeing him and just being able to tell what he’s feeling (there’s a whole bunch to say about how much observation these kids believe themselves to be under, that’s a whole other post, stay tuned).

but in this moment, where they’re finally away from the eyes of authority that are always on them (on all of them in particular - except namo - because they’re highly ranked in the school heirarchy), he feels free enough to lean in in the middle of closed eyes because they will remain closed - at least for the moment.

because he can only give himself a moment, it’s all he can muster. even when he feels free he can only give himself that for a moment.

i’m terrified of what happens with kan and thua next because even if kan doesn’t understand all of this, thua does. thua will take a risk and press in on the kiss before kan pulls away but then he will continue to pretend to sleep because he knows that kan can’t handle any more that what he took just now.

[calcium75-blog]

“Everything” I know about design I learned from my youth in theatre

“You are no longer an amateur human being” - 

Wendy Lehr told me that during an acting class when I was 13 and training and performing in a regional theatre company in Minneapolis.  She was referring to watching how humans walk, how power dynamics play out between people, how animals at the zoo have different gaits and interactions.  But this transitioned for me long ago into something more akin to “You are no longer an amateur see-er” Everything is inspiration. 

Every walk down a commercial street, I’m thinking about type usage on the signs, color palettes in the window displays and foliage, and proportion in the architecture.  I’m screen grabbing right and left into my swipe folders. Yes, folders. I don’t use proprietary tools. They don’t own my brain, I do.  And I’m not gonna see my archive go up in smoke when a company shuts down. And my folders are deep - and occasionally even organized.  I can tell you what inspired me in 2013 - and some of it even inspires me now!!

“There are no small parts, only small actors” - 

There are no small projects.  I genuinely get excited about how amazing literally every project I’ve done could be - from banner ad to social post to billboard to tv opening titles to national commercial. Every time somebody is paying me to make something beautiful.  What they do with it after I make it is their business. 

Every audition is totally random.  

You have no real control over whether you’re cast - it might be cause of the color of your hair or what the person in the casting chair had for breakfast.  Don’t take it personal. Give it your all, no expectations, nothing is precious.  The same goes for pitching, or throwing out ideas in comps. 

Telling a story is about showing people where to focus.  

I studied Theatre Direction in college while the dinosaurs roamed the earth and people first started using cellphones. I dreamed I might be and inscrutable director like German Expressionist Bertoldt Brecht.  I learned to treat the script - the words - as sacrosanct.  (This has both helped and hurt my relationship with copy, but that’s another story).  What was indelibly helpful was focus - when telling a story on stage, you need to tell the audience where to look - with light, with actor’s gaze, with movement.  In design, that translates to HEIRARCHY.  Too much stuff on the page…you’ll just glaze over it.  There is one to two things someone is going to take away - what is it?  Limit the colors, place things in position to get first look, second look, and then the stuff that if they get it, it’s ok, but they can live without it. 

[apexart-journal]

Caitlin Hespe in NYC - Day 7

Waking late.

Trouble sleeping again, had so many stories on the brain, talked to emilie last night. Decided a was not able to write the stories down last night, but definitely should have because i didnt sleep for hours.

Watched some of the radiant child basquiat documentary.

Went to St. Thomas. Sat inside for half an hour, looked at the huge wall of carved stone in front of me, filled with figures, probably symbolically arranged with some sort of heirarchy.

Noticed some beautiful mosaic stone panels at the front of the altar space, representing i’m not sure what, seemed to be a range of biblical imagery, and american buildings and the flag.

The style of rendering, cut pieces of coloured stone, was so incredibly beautiful and understated.

Saw a man walking along the street backwards. Seemed like some sort of personal dare or challenge. He was contorted a bit to be able to look behind him. He seemed unphased by the irregularity of it.

Saw a man flossing his teeth whilst walking in the park

Walked to bryant park for juggling. Could not find jugglers anywhere, perhaps because the lawn was closed. Walked around the park, which was packed with people having their lunches, and playing various types of games - bocce, bowls, table tennis, connect four, chess, cards. I sat and read for a little while, then walked back up to 51st looking at all of the buildings, and found a waterfall - greenwich place. Constructed calm.

Feeling the weight of all the buildings around me, and the cost of everything around me.

Caught subway back home to go to a bookstore that was closed so back in the apartment to sit for a while and read. I feel a bit queezy/unwell and am bleeding a lot, so think the private rest is needed.

Remember from Mike yesterday that there is a name for the columns that are shaped like women - caryatids. I didn’t know this. An Atlas or telamon is the male version. People holding buildings.

Back home

Overwhelmed. ‘this is for me’ and ‘it is not about me’

I affect nobody.

bit dark, and aimless: the subject of my consciousness right now.

Trying to fill out an application for a caretaker position, and struggling to find any way to describe myself genuinely. Key word - genuinely- is striking me, and triggers the concept of authenticity, and the performativity of authenticity (something I perceived a lot of in the church). I am struggling to discern ‘myself’ right now, as I float around in these strange settings.

I feel very pushed and prodded and pulled by all of the messaging around me - telling me to be concerned about all of the company’s great outreach projects, to know about what is on, to download this app, to buy everything online, to check if your rent is standard (according to this app), to get this insurance, to secure your data, to sign up to become a member, to rest, to exercise, to lose weight with monthly injections (???)

Feel like sleeping, but will resist.

I need to leave in an hour.

Meditated for 20 minutes. Then left.

Made my way with wander stops to 106th st to the Jewish home to play casino games.

I was actually very nervous. Mostly because of feeling like an imposter.

I didn’t want to seem ingenuine, but the nature of only volunteering once in a place you are unfamiliar with, to me, comes across as insincere, or not able to care in a real way. But, I knew even if difficult (personally), this couple of hours means not much at all to any of the people there. To me, I saw some sweet people and played some games with them, which they seemed to enjoy.  

I was the card shuffler for the dealer of blackjack. There were two blackjack tables, (apparently, according to Lori and Tony, our table was the fun table), and one roulette table.

Our table had some characters, whose interactions with each other made the ‘action’ of blackjack quite amusing. Ms. Carol always referring to herself as “me”, as in, “me want a hit” or “me stay”, or “me unhappy with that deal, dealer”, and always spoke to the cards coming her way with instructions, either “downtown” or “uptown”. Ms. Lynette and Lori would be looking over Ms. Carole’s shoulder and be gobsmacked by her decisions. Ms. Carole began by sitting still on a 6 and 4, and progressed to a six card hand adding up to 38. Although, she did get a surprising number of 21’s.

Lori wanted everyone to “say it from the chest!” whenever they announced a number over 21. Pam was apparently a demon at another card game (cant remember name, something beginning with P) - when played with her rules - but seemed to have a mock-traumatic response to playing Uno, which made everyone laugh a lot, I can assume they have had some tough Uno games together…

Anyway, it was overall enjoyable, and I feel sad that I cannot (or can I?) go again whilst I am here for some more games.

Thinking about what it was about the volunteering session that had me so nervous, and what my real issues are with it. Whether my feelings of discomfort were ultimately fear around spending time with these people and a way to avoid, or, are these feelings relevant to listen to, that volunteering in places that serve people should not really be done flippantly, that there should be the capacity for consistency when participating, for the sake of the people being served. I guess I worry that the concept of volunteering is used to inflate oneself  and dehumanise the recipients of care, causing problems in the types of relationships that form, or types of care given.

But, I guess I wasn’t trying to do that, and I dont think I did that. But, I am and was worried that I would (inflate myself and dehumanise the recipients of care).

I think i’m thinking too much.

But, there is something in the particular discomfort I am feeling whilst here. It is about getting to ‘taste’ and experience so many different types of communities and connections through activities, without the possibility of continuation. It leaves these experiences with a certain shallowness, or even sadness, because of the ephemerality,

But I mean, this is technically true all the time,

But it is more pronounced in this situation. It makes me think of people who only go to places for free samples, never investing in the full thing. Like, I feel a certain guilt at not being able to say I am genuinely interested in this type of experience when I go to things, because I feel like not being it (interested) implies a negative or critical judgement.

As i think this, I realise I hadnt really been accounting for the possibility that I am just curious, not aiming to criticise, just to see. I guess I wasn’t built to be a documentary maker, or researcher?  

[thisismisogynoir]

So I was reading this article called “Black Females More Likely Than White Females To Be Portrayed As ‘Smart’ In Film & TV, But ‘Colorism’ Persists Around Skin Tone, Says Study” which is genuinely good and interesting and sheds light on colorism, misogynoir, and Black female underrepresentation. 

And then I get to the comments: 

Enough is Enough: Why is it only about black people? What about people with Asian, Hispanic, Native American, Armenian (no, they’re not considered white), Eastern Indian heritage? I know they don’t nearly complain even half as much, probably because they’re busy working and studying. Lol anyway, this is being beat to death already. Blacks are over represented in Hollywood. They’re only 13% of the population, and even at that they’re being replaced at rapid speed now that Bidumb and his administration has opened our borders. 

Chad: There is a clear heirarchy of victimhood developing, and White Women are near the bottom. So near that they are one of the few minorities that can be openly slurred without consequence.

Isn’t that right, Karen? 

Chad Chaddington The IV(wtf?!): Thank the gods for chads, telling it like it is. :-D 

Truthseeker: Really?  Viola Davis, Lupita Nyongo, Daniel Kaluuya, Don Cheedle and Wesley Snipes are some of the biggest African American stars. None are “light complexioned”. The sheer fact that I’m engaging in this malarkey shows how infectious this race obsessed rot is. There’s progress. We should be optimistic. Instead, I’m being led to believe that some segments will NEVER be happy. 

Mike Thompson: By falsely portraying black women as smarter than white women, the shows are also racist. More stupid, left-wing hatred and intolerance and systemic bias and racism. 

Penis Person(lol): I am “white” but half Southern European so technically olive-skinned. Every day I face hardships and trauma. I ask myself what if I was pastier then what? Would my life have meaning? 

I go about my day defining everyone I meet by categories and I see the world through a very narrow-lens that is based solely on identity. I obsess about everyone’s different identities then I go to sleep. 

Gary: This is the dumbest study I think I’ve ever read. What difference does it make if an actress chooses to get naked? It has ZERO to do with race. 

The Stats: Black girls and women — 6.5% of the U.S. population 

Anonymous: Watching Hollywood destroy itself is awesome. 

Anonymous: god forbid they dont 

Anonymous: Last time I checked there were other races besides black and white. What about the Hispanics? Asians? Middle Easterns? Its like Hollywood is allergic to any other minority than blacks. 

Anonymous: Equality for all hairstyles now!!! What an outrage about a bunch of nonsense….and now we have to make sure that light-skinned black actors are given the same opportunities as dark-skinned black actors….where does it end? this is why the right hates hollywood because time and money is actually spent on crap studies like this 

Anonymous: This is insanity 

Anonymous: Hahaha this is so ridiculous.

Libs are just robots at this point 

So yeah, miss me with the idea that Black women have any allies besides ourselves. 

They ALL hate us. 

[bondsmagii]

i don’t want to put you through a bad train of thoughts or anything so if it bothers you a lot just ignore me. but your allusion to having two separate friend groups get slowly sucked into cultish intellectual/activism circles....would you mind elaborating on the like....process of what this looks like, what it looks like while it is happening? i’m really really searching for idk, an example of what it looks like when this happens to a friend group......especially to be able to recognize it and articulate it in my own life and stuff.

I'll use the more straightforward example, because the other one is... very convoluted and a much smaller and more intricate group, and I don't think either of us have time for that lmao.

to begin with, a quick distinction. there's a huge difference between being politically active and aware of social issues, and being a Terminally Online Leftist. the first group of people are fucking normal. the second group of people are not, and from my experience, any kind of community or friend group that contains people in this group becomes incredibly cultish in many ways. it becomes less about the actual issues involved and more about power; a heirarchy quickly develops, and it becomes a constant battle to protect oneself from accusations. very quickly it all devolves into paranoia, backstabbing, and completely ridiculous accusations, all under the guise of a Good Cause. it was this type of group that an old group of friends of mine formed, and that I immediately identified and got out of.

this was way before the kind of environment we're in now. thankfully a lot of people these days seem to be aware of how ridiculous the Terminally Online are, and there's a welcome pushback towards these kinds of attitudes and their often very guilt-trippy and exaggerated tactics. this was not the case way back in 2012, when this kind of attitude was really beginning to kick off. at the time this sort of thinking was brand new, and to a lot of people, it looked reasonable. it was all for good causes, after all. there hadn't been enough time to watch the power dynamics develop, so many people didn't see any reason to be suspicious or worried when these attitudes began to take off. unfortunately it very quickly escalated, and very soon, even people who were a little unsure about it or who outright thought it was a bad idea couldn't speak out, because the consequences were often vicious.

I don't know how familiar you are with this kind of time period on Tumblr, but in my opinion it was in some ways worse than it was now. now, if someone calls a person out for something utterly ridiculous, it's usually seen as more funny -- and a lot of people are so against this kind of Terminally Online thinking that they do their own research, or simply immediately identify the fact that these accusations cannot possibly be true. back in 2012, and the years following, this was not the case. a lot of people had never been exposed to this kind of rhetoric before, and so people immediately took all accusations at face value. the only way to ensure one's safety was to comply, but even then, people would nitpick and go into everything looking for a reason to call you out. this was because of the attitude that if you weren't seen to call others out, it might mean you had something to hide -- so to assure everyone that you were Good and Unproblematic, you had to carry on the crusade yourself. an offshoot of this was your reactions to accusations: if you didn't immediately denounce this new enemy, it was assumed you were supporting them. this was the kind of environment that my experiences occured in.

at the time, I had a group of friends and acquaintances that numbered about 30-odd people. the core group was maybe about 8 or 9 people, of which I was dating one of them but remained on the outskirts of the Inner Circle. this was because I had a really bad feeling about a couple of them in particular and wanted to avoid them, and my bad feeling turned out to be 100% correct, but that's actually a sidenote to this story. I mention it because it explains why I only really saw the warning signs through my boyfriend at the time -- I wasn't involved with the core group, and only saw what was going on via how my boyfriend was behaving. and it was... odd. he went from being a really thoughtful, creative guy who had interesting things to say, to being very cautious and particular about what he said. he was always a pretty shy dude, but with things that he was passionate about (and when talking privately with me) this wasn't very evident at all. however, over the months, it seemed like he was censoring himself more and more, and while I asked about it a few times, I never really got an answer.

at the same time, I was following quite a few of the Inner Circle on Tumblr. I noticed a huge uptick in social justice posts, that started off being reasonable and straightforward but quickly became Terminally Online reaches. they all became much more aggressive, beginning to police and correct the acquaintances who weren't as involved, most of whom curbed their behaviour either out of sincere belief that the criticisms were correct, or fear of consequences. I stayed out of it, but immediately I found myself incredibly suspicious. I often felt like I was going absolutely insane, because everyone was just accepting this, my boyfriend included, and it seemed like I was the only person who had a bad feeling about it. I didn't like the clique-y attitude, I didn't like the constant criticising of everyone, and I didn't like how nervous and aware everyone had become. this was very evident in my boyfriend, who eventually seemed too paralysed by fear of what the others would think to do anything at all. gradually, even he started parroting the bullshit they were coming out with, and I was seriously starting to get annoyed at the whole thing.

throughout all this, I just went on as I always did. I started getting really nitpicky anons on the semi-regular, which I had never got before, and it was obviously several members of the Inner Circle. I confirmed this via StatCounter, an add-on that was popular back then that showed all the IP hits to your blog and where they came from, but it didn't take a genius to work it out. they started off condescending but not otherwise unpleasant, and gradually ramped up to calling me -ists or -phobics over the slightest thing and insulting me/telling me to kill myself. I deleted most of them, because like, lmao, and I didn't bring anything up because honestly I thought it was cringe and I didn't like these Inner Circle people anyway, but it continued over time and my boyfriend started getting sucked into it deep enough that he started acting the same way towards me, and eventually I had enough. there's a lot of personal shit going on between my boyfriend and I at the time that I won't get into, but one of my criticisms at the time was that it was impossible to have a relationship with him because he had turned into a complete asshole who thought he was some moral crusader, while at the same time he refused to work on a lot of unsavoury behaviours of his own that were complicating things between us. he took this back to his friends who interpreted it as me being an abuser who was trying to isolate him from his friends, and who was victim blaming for daring to say that his constant bad treatment of me due to his depression was not acceptable. several weeks of callouts and hate messages later, and I'd dumped my boyfriend and been cast out from the whole group. over thirty people unfollowed me in that time, and at that time I had about one hundred followers total, lol.

the formula is pretty clear in all this:

start small, with reasonable beliefs and ideas

gradually ramp up these beliefs and ideas once people are on board

begin adding in social consequences for non-compliance

once the core group has been established, recruit those willing (either passive recruits, ones who just want a quiet life, or active recruits, who begin to mimic the behaviour themselves)

once everyone who can be recruited is recruited, get rid of any dissenting voices by casting them as unsavoury characters (they failed to tar me as an -ist or a -phobe, so they went with "abuser" instead)

this behaviour didn't work on me because I never really liked them much to begin with, but it continued to fail to work even when a person close to me was recruited. this is often how cults get you, by recruiting those you care about, so why didn't this work on me when it was my boyfriend of almost two years? I imagine it's because a) I have no desire for community if the community makes me betray myself in any way, and b) I'm just naturally good at seeing through bullshit because I have a very strong sense of self. this doesn't make me inherently better than those who have been sucked into such things; it's just an observation, as groups like this need people who are uncertain -- like my boyfriend at the time. I believe this is the core reason why he fell into it and I didn't.

as a conclusion to this pretty depressing story: they stuck it out as a friend group for a while, touting social progression on the surface and being horribly abusive behind the scenes, as these things tend to go. a bunch of them dated and then fell out, and my ex went on to abuse several new partners. he was eventually outed as a sexual predator, along with several others in the core group. eventually the group collapsed, for reasons I'm not entirely sure of but can guess at, and most of them have now vanished off the face of the internet. I remain the sexy and cool, and have even reconnected with several people who cut me off at the time, who realised they were fed bullshit and got out of there themselves. I remain incredibly glad that despite the best efforts of these freaks, I did not touch that bullshit.

also remember the point I made way back at the beginning, about how the accusations get completely ridiculous? another fun fact to round this off: one of the reasons cited for me being an abuser was that I didn't find the doge meme funny. apparently this was "suspicious". it made it onto a callout.

[thelazyvehicon]

Vehicon Headcanon, Part 1: Origin and Construction

I'm labelling this as Part 1 because I have LOTS of headcanons about these guys.

We all remember the humble Vehicons, don't we? Those poor souls we feel sorry for, but we love to watch them get pummeled anyway.

They're the identical punching bags of TF Prime. Destined to be blown up, crushed, or, more likely, shot.

They're not even safe from their own officers. They're so interchangeable, that no one can tell them apart. Even when they have different vehicle modes.

They're the perfect cartoon henchmen; sturdy enough to put up a fight, but just fragile enough that they can be taken care of with no problem.

Even the show creators seemed to be of similar mind. In The Art of Prime, it was stated that the producers weren't even sure that the Vehicons would even speak, hence the lack of mouth. Their voices ended up being a late production decision.

The narrative seems to portray them as drones (Starscream even calls them as such). Given their identical appearance, it's easy to assume they're highly sophisticated AI instead of true Cybertronians.

I found myself baffled that the Vehicons weren't fleshed out more. Other shows sometimes have single episodes that shows the perspective of such background characters, but Prime never got that chance.

And so, I took it upon myself to breathe some life into these grunts. Starting with the question: where do they come from?

Vehicons are basically MTOs Constructed Cold.

Those who've read the IDW comics know that there are two methods by which new Cybertronians are created in that continuity: they're either 'Forged' or 'Constructed Cold'.

'Forged' Cybertronians are, for lack of a better term, 'naturally occuring'. Their sparks are generated by the planet's core, and their bodies gradually grow around the spark, accumulating the 'sentio metallico', or 'living metal'.

On the other hand, Cybertronians who were 'Contructed Cold', had their sparks artificially ‘frozen’ and stockpiled. These sparks were then implanted into pre-fabricated bodies, manufactured according to standardized blueprints, and then ‘thawed’ out.

Reading further into IDW, I also learned of MTOs.

MTO is an acronym for 'Made To Order', a term for Cold Constructed soldiers who were hurriedly created in response to military campaigns. They were given a limited education program (which would be slowly done away with to save time), basic combat training, and then deployed to war almost immediately.

After reading the comics, things began to fall into place, and I reached a conclusion: Vehicons are Cold Constructed soldiers.

The reason they're all identical is that their frames are all manufactured according to a standardized blueprint. Team Prime is able to take them out in droves because their bodies are weakly armored, presumably so that they can be manufactured in large numbers without causing a drain on resources and time.

They appear in such large numbers because there really were that many sparks frozen and stockpiled before the War; Cold Construction was likely a huge industry on Cybertron.

I'm imagining entire platoons of Vehicons being Cold-Constructed in warehouses. They have some basic education and indoctrination downloaded onto their systems (adherence to the Decepticon way, loyalty to the cause, some basic combat training, and not much else), and then they're marched out for assignment.

Or even worse, maybe they were hastily Made To Order, instantly deployed onto a battlefield before they even knew what was going on.

Imagine a dropship soaring over a battlefield, containing rows of Vehicons in harnesses, sparks recently installed. Cables dangle from the dropship’s roof, plugging into the back of the Vehicon’s heads, streaming all the knowledge they would ever need.

With a jolt, the Vehicons come to life, visors flashing red. They only have a moment to process what’s just happened-to process that they’ve just been born-when the floor splits open, the harnesses unclamp and they’re suddenly dropping down to a raging battle below.

Vehicons are not drones. Vehicons still have sparks, and they're still sentient. Which means that they can make decisions, take initiative, and make judgment calls, like any other soldier.

However, their identical appearance, lack of a proper faceplate, their large numbers, and the prevalence of serial numbers in lieu of names, means that almost all other Cybertronians, especially the Decepticons, are unable to empathize or connect with them (with very few exceptions).

With all this in mind, is it any wonder that the Vehicons are treated as expendable?

In the next part, we'll take a look at my headcanons regarding Vehicon heirarchy, promotions and the role body modification plays. Stay tuned.

[sylver-drawer]

A friend in a discord server I’m in told me I should talk about it on Tumblr, so I said why not.

Many people in the WMMAP (Who Made Me A Princess) fandom really belittle Jennette’s character for a variety of reasons, which I will gladly write about in a separate post. However, one reason people claim to dislike about her character caught my eye.

“Jennette’s idea of familial love being the strongest is stupid, and she’s stupid for believing she will ever get accepted as Claude’s daughter.”

For context, Jennette’s character. In the story, Jennette’s origins involve Anastacious and Penelope doing an experiment where Anastacious cursed his own unborn child with black magic. However, no one knew that Jennette was not Claude’s daughter, so Roger Alpheus raised Jennette as if she was Claude’s. That includes constantly telling her that she is Claude’s daughter from hen she was a young age and throughout her life. This is only one of the reasons wh Jennette is so adamant on familial love being the strongest form of love, due to her upbringing within the Alpheus Estate.

Now, here’s the ironic thing about this statement. The comment about ‘familial love being the strongest bond’, as well as the belittlement of Jennette’s naivety for this idea.

Jennette... isn’t wrong.

Now let me explain. It is true that her idea of the praise of familial love is strongly created by her sheltered upbringing and her naivety, but when you take a look at the whole story of WMMAP, she isn’t wrong at all. After all, we’ve seen proof of it throughout the whole Manwha.

Strictly analyzing and taking a look at Jennette’s interactions with other characters as a first example. Jennette, from as young as she was being a child, could identify herself the difference between different types of ‘love’ just by watching Ijekiel and Roger interact. This already separates her and the Alpheus’, because the Alpheus’ despite being vaguely related to her through blood, never actually considered her as family. Yes, including Ijekiel. And, Jennette realizes that disconnect.

After all, why else does she open up to the shadiest man she had met? Take a closer look at Jennette’s interactions. She can never truly open up to anyone. Not to Roger about her feelings. Not to Ijekiel about her feelings (which, I will also talk about in another post). But the one person she was able to open up to at all? It was her father. The man who is the most blood related to her. This also explains why her reaction and grievances over Rosalia’s death was so emotional. Despite most likely rarely meeting Rosalia in person, Jennette herself felt like she could open up to Rosalia, as Rosalia was the only one she felt she could open up to in a home where no one gave her that strong bond that is, ‘familial love’.

Every single person she has been able to open up to, was someone directly related to her as well as acknowledged themself as a part of her family.

I’m sure many people reading this, however, dislike listening about Jennette so I’ll use another example. Roger and Ijekiel.

Roger is an ambitious man. Despite being a Duke, the highest in the royal heirarchy other than the royals themselves, he wants more. Not for just himself, but for Ijekiel and Ijekiel’s future. That’s what his whole plan is about. Climbing the social circles, kissing Claude and Athy’s ass and manipulating a child—it’s for Ijekiel. Jen, the most oblivious and naive character in the story, had taken notice of their bond with eachother since she was a mere child.

That’s because Roger and Ijekiel are family.

They have their ups and downs with one another and disagree with one another, but ultimately, Ijekiel still calls Roger ‘Father’ and Ijekiel is still Roger’s ‘Son’. If Ijekiel truly does not agree with nor want to do something, Roger takes it into consideration because Ijekiel is his son. Because they are family. And that is the bond, the familial bond, that Jennette is referring to.

If that’s not enough evidence, then fine.

Athanasia and Claude.

Many argue that Jennette’s naive and idealistic hope is invalid. But the proof has been with our main character and her father this whole time.

Think about it. Before his amnesia. Before bonding with Athy. Claude had drawn interest in Athy because Athy was his and Diana’s daughter. Because he remembered Athy was his and Diana’s daughter. That’s the whole reason why Athy and Claude have a bond, because of their familial connection.

And you can’t even argue that’s not the reason their current relationship is how it is now, because the manwha always reminds us. Who does Claude always think about when he sees Athy? His lover, Diana. Their familial connection. That familial love. The whole reason why Athy remains with Claude to this day, because of their familial love. The familial love that everyone bashes Jennette about.

Haven’t we already known? The whole reason why Lovely Princess’ Athy suffered was because Claude never considered her as family. Because he forgot about their familial connection. Their bond. Even recently, Claude threatened Athy to the point of being seconds away from killing her because he forgot about their familial bond.

EVEN THE CONFLICT. Even the conflict derives from the concept of ‘familial love’. Anastacious and Claude, who loved eachother so much during their childhood. Their whole conflict, the reason why they even turned on eachother was because Anastacious was manipulated to doubt him and Claude’s bond. That’s what began their whole conflict.

And Aeternitas? He first became evil because Lucas questioned his origins and magic. Lucas questioned if he was truly the king’s son, questioning his and his father’s familial connection.

It’s been there this whole time. Jennette’s ideal of familial love being the strongest bond is the literal theme of WMMAP, and no one realizes that. Jennette was the original heroine as well. Why should it be so strange that her motivation is the theme of what is still the world of Lovely Princess, now Who Made Me A Princess?

WMMAP’s theme is ‘familial love is the strongest bond’. The proof of it has been in front of us the whole time, but we’re too blinded by our hate for the character to even listen.

[sword-dad-fukuzawa]

I saw your last request post and I was wondering if you could write something for fukumori (how are these two still a rarepair, I still don't get it lol). By the way, your fic "the colors of Yukichi Fukuzawa" is great, I love how you portrayed the complexity of their dynamic, especially when they slowly start drifting away. Thank you!

Hiya anon! Thank you, and I'm glad you like 'em! Here's a slightly different take on FukuMori that I wish I had time to write ;)

What Uneasiness Lies in Being Loved

-- in that time before Fukuzawa had an agency to lead, and Mori was still clawing his way up the underground heirarchy of Yokohama --

"Fukuzawa."

Fukuzawa, standing by the door in his usual capacity as the bodyguard to the most questionable man in the city, turned slightly to keep Mori in his field of view. The sun was setting, and the buttery light of golden hour streamed through the window. Mori sat illuminated in that puddle of sunlight, leaning an arm on his desk and smiling at him with the sort of expression Fukuzawa knew well. It was the sort of smile reserved only for when Mori was actually having fun.

He raised an eyebrow in acknowledgement, waiting for Mori to go on. But the doctor only smiled wider. His violet eyes, such a startling color against his almost ashen skin, met his gaze gently.

Gently, what a word to describe Mori Ougai.

"What will you do, after Natsume releases you from your obligations here?" he asked. He propped his chin up on his hand and crossed his legs. Almost like it was an entirely casual question, and they were merely coworkers instead of...whatever they were. Partners in crime. Conspiracists. Odd bedfellows.

Fukuzawa found himself answering honestly. "I don't know," he said, leaning against the shadowed doorframe. "Maybe check on a few old friends. Spend some time away from Yokohama." He shrugged. "Maybe I never come back."

The sunlight fell on Mori's hair at a strange angle, turning the black almost white where it bounced off. Mori, sitting in that chair in his pristine labcoat, looked like he was drowning in sunlight. It made for a strange picture--Mori, awash in the sunset, and Fukuzawa, half-concealed by the hallway.

The clock on the wall counted its seconds loudly, a chime against the dark.

"That would be a waste," said Mori softly. "You'd be wasted anywhere but here."

"Here, in the city?"

Mori's violet eyes were so bright in the sunlight and yet so deep, like he might fall in and drown. He barely paid any attention to what he said next.

"By my side," said Mori, with a dangerous gleam in those eyes. "We work well together."

An offer, or was it a warning? Fukuzawa didn't know for sure. Whatever the case, the instinctual denial rose up in his throat before, to his surprise, dying on his tongue.

"We do," was all he said, turning back to watch the hallway.

[bunnykawa]

The seijoh 4 yandere gangbang was HOT! This concept is now living in my mind rent free and i love that. I'm interested in knowing more about the dynamics and im not sure if you've thought abt it that deeply haha but here they are. Do the 4 ever get genuinely jealous of one another? How do they deal with it? Is there a hierarchy btwn them? Who initiated in your opinion, or was it a team effort? Who fucks the best 👀 and who's the worst 👀 who's the kindest and who's the meanest?

yOOOO THANK YOU FOR READING AND WOW I DIDN'T EXPECT A QUESTION LIKE THIS HAHA but here's an in-depth analysis of your questions if this dynamic was real 😎 (tiny break from writing thirsts to answer this)

♡ Do the four ever get jealous of one another?

considering that they decided to pursue a relationship with the reader, i don't think they get jealous of each other. they get jealous of other people, but not of each other. while at times there may be moments that one of them takes up more time than the others (which does happen, reader is one person being shared with four other people), then it's teasing and slight passive aggressiveness towards each other. their feelings are never malicious, though. trust is very important to them.

♡ How do they deal with jealousy?

haha they most definitely take it out on you afterwards. when the situation comes up (like in that drabble i wrote), they were most likely aggressive to whoever made them jealous. i mean they're all big guys so they strike fear into anyone who they see as a threat anyway so they don't need to physically harm anyone else to assert their dominance, but they'd imply that someone might not come out alive. this is where it's malicious and they need to take care of their jealousy or else it won't turn out good, for you and for the law.

♡ Is there a heirarchy between them?

i feel like it depends on the situation?? in social situations and speaking in general, oikawa is at the top bc he's the mf who talks the most and is the most outgoing/confident out of all of them (cocky bastard). so, he's more likely to lead the way when you're out and about. however, in your personal space, the heirarchy shifts where makki, mattsun, and iwa are more domineering and take control of the relationship. i think oikawa is just super playful with the reader so his treatment of her is different (less serious) than the other three. he's instantly at the bottom of the heirarchy. because of his confidence, you'd probably think that he's at the top but nahhh. iwa walks over him. makki and mattsun walk over both of them. mattsun walks over all of them (but he's kindest to makki).

♡ Who initiated it? Was it a team effort?

i think the decision to pursue the reader was mutual among the four and they understand each other on an emotional level to be able to coexist in reader's life. they rely heavily on teamwork so it's no surprise that they would work towards their goal together. and since they work so well together, they don't have a problem sharing one person.

♡ Who fucks the best? Who's the worst?

me, trying not to let the oikawa stan inside me come out: 👁👄👁

IN ALL HONESTY THO, i think iwa would fuck the best. he just seems to know what he's doing and he shows the most selflessness!! oikawa or mattsun would be the worst, and not that i think they'd be absolutely terrible tho cs for sure all of them have your best interests in mind. oikawa would be the worst because he probably cums fastest or he's going too fast to where it's uncomfortable or he's very picky and wants it a certain way so it makes him seem a little selfish sometimes. mattsun? he'd be the worst cs he'd be the roughest and won't be able to control his strength and no i'm not taking any criticisim HAHAHA idk why i see him going apeshit. like you're trying breathe but he's like *growling noises* and forcing you take all of him. 

♡ Kindest? Meanest?

from kindest to meanest: iwa, makki, oikawa, mattsun

i think iwa would show the most care for your wellbeing and be king of aftercare (and he’s the boyfriend you'd be able to talk to the easiest), makki would watch over you to make sure you're okay and take care of your necessities, oikawa would constantly tease you and instigate conflicts or arguments if he feels like it and is the MOST patronizing, and mattsun would beat you into submission no cap. he's the one who decides the punishments and doesn't hesitate to teach you a lesson if he feels that you really need it. he's like the scary dad. but once again, they all have your best interests at heart and their personalities as yanderes are supposed to balance each other out to create an equilibrium in your relationship.

anyway, this made me want to write a whole oneshot/fic about yandere seijoh third years...😗😗

i really appreciate your curiosity, anon!!

[rotationalsymmetry]

General gripes about DS9 and gender (some spoilers) (content notes: some references to sexual abuse/trauma, and specifically spiritual abuse/sexual misconduct in religious leaders, also death/murder):

I swear to fuck these people do not know how to write female characters without shoehorning them into romance plotlines. (Or weird fucked up stuff, like when that Cardassian serial murderer kidnaps Kira.) Especially noticeable with Ziyal -- when Kira takes her to DS9, the writers apparently can't think of a single thing to do with a young woman other than ship her with a much older Cardassian. Then, she's starting to get her own life and make a name for her as an artist, and they fucking refridgerator her. The fuck. (And: the focus is on how her death affects Dukat, that fucker. Which, obviously sure it's going to affect him...but it's also going to affect Kira, who sees Ziyal as like a younger version of herself and was trying to protect her. And then Ziyal dies. That should have some sort of effect on Kira! And did no one else on the station make any sort of connection with her when she was there?) This is arguably not primarily a gender thing, but it is partly a gender thing: the show keeps demanding Kira find sympathy for her oppressors, over and over again. (This is a gripe fest: of course there's a lot of things about Kira's character that are done really well.) She keeps getting thrown in situations that show (some) Cardassians in more nuanced lights and that more or less force her into relationships with them, while meanwhile her old resistance cell friends all get killed off, her parents are dead, if she has any other family we don't hear about it, and she's basically left with no Bajoran friends even, as far as we know. She gets Bajoran lovers who... OK, about that. First, Vedek Bareil. Now, Bajorans are shown to have a pretty relaxed attitude towards their clergy (eg Kira is frequently rude to Winn even after she becomes Kai with apparently no consequences) -- but still. Vedek is roughly equivalent to, what, cardinal? He's high up in the heirarchy. And, he's put himself in a role of spiritual authority relative to Kira: she gets access to one of the Orbs through him. They've got a power imbalance and one that's connected to Kira's ability to do her religion. I don't care what the social norms are on Bajor that is 100% sexual misconduct on Bareil's part. If something went wrong in their relationship, it could fuck up Kira's connection to her faith. And in the show it's presented as no big deal.

(Star Trek seems to be aware of this when it comes to ship's captains! For all that Kirk notoriously fucks everyone, he never voluntarily (/outside of the mirror universe, outside of odd transporter malfunctions that split him into two parts, etc) came on to a crew member. But it's no less important for religious authorities.) (Also: this has nothing to do with celebacy. I'm fine with Bajoran religious figures being allowed to have sex and being allowed to have sex outside of marriage. But: a religious leader having a sexual relationship with someone who they're in a pastoral relationship to is wrong, and while Bareil isn't exactly Kira's pastor I think there is some level of, he's providing spiritual guidance to her. That means she's off limits to him, or should be. In the same way that bosses shouldn't fuck their direct reports, college professors shouldn't fuck their students, therapists definitely shouldn't fuck their patients, etc. Regardless of how they handle their sex life outside of those restrictions. And regardless of whether there's love involved or not -- romantic love absolutely does not make it better.) And then there's Shakaar, the former leader of her resistance cell. That she joined as a teenager. It's...yeah, it's been many years, yeah she's not directly under him any more, and yeah goodness knows a band of resistance fighters is probably not going to have a clearly written up sexual harassment policy so it's not necessarily unrealistic...it's not as blatantly "oh god no" as Bareil, but it's got some...is anyone thinking of potential abuse of power issues here? Anyone?

There was one episode where Jake and Nog were double-dating and it goes badly due to Ferengi, uh, gender roles not meshing well with Federation egalatarianism. And, then the rest of the episode is all about how they're going to repair their friendship. And I was thinking: we didn't see either female character either before or after, and why is a sexism issue being shown from the lens of "how can I, a nice guy, stay friends with my male friend who has sexism issues" and not "how am I, a young woman, going to deal with this affront to my basic personhood" or "how am I, a young woman, going to repair my friendship now that I talked my friend into a double date so I could date the guy I liked but his friend turned out to be garbage?" Like...out of all the potential relationships there, why is Jake's friendship with a guy with sexism issues (who's made it clear he's not going to change, at least as far as dating goes) the one presented as being in most need of preservation? I know, it's because Jake and Nog are more central characters and their friendship has been significant in the show for seasons now. But...that just brings up more questions. Like why does this show have a significant bro friendship between two teenage boys, but there's no friendship between two women (or between a woman and a man for that matter) that's given as much weight? There's some bonding between Kira and Dax, but it doesn't have the same presence and significance as Jake and Nog or, say, Miles and Julian. (I'm having first name/last name inconsistencies here. Ah well.) Keiko has no on-camera friendships. Kira has no on-camera friendships that have Jake & Nog or Julian & Miles weight. Dax maybe does with her Klingon buddies from Curzon's lifetime. (Benjamin Sisko also doesn't.) Ziyal could have, but doesn't. Molly could have, but doesn't. Miles doesn't seem to have any (on-camera or otherwise acknowledged) parent friends (like...there's one couple mentioned who can babysit Molly at times? That's it? We never even see them?), which is weird because fuck knows parenthood can make it hard to have any friends who aren't parents. Odo's got his weird frenemy thing with Quark. Garak has his standing lunch with Julian (if you read that as platonic, which ... yeah, there's not a lot of arguments for seeing it as platonic beyond "they're both men.") I am, don't get me wrong, extremely for showing male friendships. Very much for it. It's just...I want friendships that aren't between two guys also. And I want them to be shown as significant and meaningful and worth overcoming obstacles for. Friendships between women, friendships between people of the same race or culture (or alien species, since we are talking Star Trek here), friendships between men and women that aren't just a precursor to romance. And...parenting that isn't just...I want to see Keiko have problems with parenting that she overcomes with help from other people. I want to explore the emotional ramifications of Kira being a surrogate mom to Kirayoshi or being a semi adopted mom to Ziyal and then having her die. I want Kira to talk about how her own upbringing in times of famine and war and occupation affects her sense of her ability to potentially be a parent. I want a female character to calmly talk about her decision to not become a mother and have that decision be treated with the utmost respect. I want the sort of struggles that male characters have with parenting on the show, like Worf's difficulty connecting with his son or Benjamin's conflict over watching his son grow up and get less interested in spending time with his dad, be shown for female characters as well. And the joys, like when Benjamin remembers holding Jake as an infant, like when they reunite after Jake gets caught in a war zone. Rather than parenting be this thing that mom characters apparently do on autopilot without any internal conflict or feeling out of their depth or particular moments of joy and amazement. There's so many plot lines and moments and bits and pieces that could be amazing moments that give

mother characters balance and nuance and characterization, but they only ever get shown for fathers. (And this is not just Star Trek either...look at all the kids movies that are about father/son or father/daughter bonding, and somehow the moms...just aren't there. It's so good when there are single father storylines, just...where are all the mom storylines that could be like that?) And why do teenage boys get focus and their own stories (especially with Jake in DS9, but also TNG has Wesley Crusher and Alexander, and TOS had one story centering on a teenage boy) but girls either aren't there at all or don't get to have stories that are about them? Ziyal's stories aren't about her, she doesn't get to form her own friendships and only barely gets to develop an interest of her own before her life is taken away from her. Molly doesn't get stories that are about her. (And yeah, Molly's a lot younger than Jake, but those are still choices: DS9 could have been set when Molly was a teenager, or the show could have introduced a different teenage girl as a significant character, or Jake could have been a girl rather than a boy, or Benjamin could have had two children...)

[ybyg]

i know i’m literally the last person on earth to watch the uncanny counter, but i’ve just finished it a few hours ago and i thoroughly enjoyed it!

love the found family dynamics between the unnie’s guksu gang from the get-go. you’d expect for ga motak to learn to become mun’s father figure, but that typical i-dislike-you-but-give-it-5-more-episodes-and-you’re-my-child-i’ll-protect you crushed pretty quickly. he pretty much liked mun from the start!

i’ll be honest, i skipped a lot of scenes with the bad guys whenever the unnie’s guksu gang’s not on-screen (possibly major plot points) but i had no problem understanding the plot, so it’s all good.

spoilers for the next 3 paragraphs!

downsides: they put ms chu in danger all the time. i was so heartbroken when she almost died, but of course she survived it. i might’ve stopped watching the show had they killed her off. i’m so pissed that jungyeong was killed off to progress motak’s arc. also, the there are too many bad guys for my liking. even if i sat through the entire thing (trust me, i tried and gave up), i’d not understand the heirarchy and relationship between them. best to keep up to 2 (elusive yet smart!) antagonists.

can’t comment about the pacing of the show nor how compelling are the bad guys’ motives since i skipped scenes.

i didn’t read the manhwa, but i wish they had taken the tokyo ghoul route and make mun a dark character. that would’ve been fun, but too many similarities would’ve killed the show, and kdramas hate turning good guys into anitheroes.

oh yeah. if you like tokyo ghoul, you might like this show.

at first i skipped the uncanny counter (and many other shows) because ocn hasn’t released a decent enough show, and the last one being hand: the guest, which i had some qualms with, but the guest was a good show nonetheless. it’s been so long since i last enjoyed a kdrama that i didn’t ended up hate-watching. since vampire prosecutor 2, to be exact. yes, it has been almost a decade.

the 4 leads are great actors! love it.

there’s probably more i’d want to say but i’m just too lazy to think about it. heard that they’re making a 2nd season for this. i’m excited and at the same time, i hope that they don’t fuck it up.