#in a more symbolic and artsy sense

[bivproject]

To love is to consume, though mourning lies in the last bite

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Granted, tumblr’s search function may broken but I can’t find a post on your blog centered on Alya’s writing. As a person constantly on the look out for critical examination of Alya’s role in the narrative and the compromises on her principles, relationships and competences made to artificially engineer the episode’s story, I’d be very interested to see your thoughts

I use Alya's writing as an example of a character done dirty all the time, but I don't think I've ever done a sugar post focused on her and I totally should. Before we get into it, I will openly admit that her bad writing bothers me more than Marinette's or Adrien's because she is best girl and we stan her. What can I say, I'm a writer whose best friend is an artist with a diagnosed anxiety disorder. I like characters who are writers and with artsy, anxiety-ridden best friends. They are my people and that gives us a great starting point for this post.

Marinette is the unambiguous main character of the show, so it makes sense to design both her hero partner and her best friend around balancing her out, giving them strengths to fill out the spots where she is weak. It's how you make a strong cast. When Alya is allowed the shine, she fills that balance role wonderfully and I love it! Some of my favorite moments are when Marinette goes on one of her rants and cool-headed Alya drags her back down to Earth:

Marinette: We're gonna stroll over there real cool as if we just happened to be passing by. Alya: Then what? Marinette: Then? I'll invite him out for a fruit smoothie at the end of the photo shoot! Then, we'll get married! Live happily ever after in a beautiful house and have two kids? No, three. And a dog! Maybe a cat? Nah, forget the cat. A hamster! I love hamsters! Alya: Let's just start with just happen to be passing by and see if we can get to that smoothie.

This banter from Stormy Weather is fantastic. It's exactly the type of thing I want to see from these two as it gives Alya a very different flavor of supporting role from Adrien. While Alya and Adrien are both card holding members of the Marinette hype squad, Alya is more of a voice of reason while Adrien is there to validate Marinette and follow her crazy schemes without question.

This brings us to the first issue with Alya's writing: when the plot demands it, they make her a gullible tabloid journalist even though it goes against everything her character should stand for. The reasons I'm comfortable saying this are many. The first one is that Alya is very clearly supposed to be seen as a serious journalist. That's why you get scenes like this one from Feast:

Alya: Now you know back in the day sculptures were painted, right? Most of the paint vanished over time, but tiny microscopic pigments still remain. Thanks to this special app, witness how it originally looked. But here's the big thing. All these works of art have something in common. It's the same symbol! Look, everywhere. It's like some kind of secret society emblem. As if a kind of Order of the Guardians has been watching over the superheroes since the beginning of time!

This scene would not exist if Alya was supposed to be the kind of person who only cared about getting blog hits because this type of content isn't where the money is. But money and clout aren't what Alya cares about. She's just a passionate reporter (or fan girl) who wants to know everything she can and who is having fun sharing her obsession with the world. This is an extremely important aspect of her character because it brings us to reason two that she clearly wasn't meant to be a clout chaser: if she was a tabloid journalist who only cared about hits, then she should have never been given a miraculous.

I could go on a rant her about how poorly Alya's blog is used after she becomes Rena Rouge, but I'll spare you the word count and just say that, as soon as she joined the team, she should have stopped sharing secrets on the blog. It makes sense that a blog would initially fill her need to share the fine details of her obsession, but once she's on the team, the blog should have been replaced by her teammates. She could still have the blog, but it shouldn't have things like the freaking guide to how the miraculous work that we see in the season four episode Gabriel Agreste:

Alya: The Miraculous are magical jewels that give powers to superheroes, like Ladybug's earrings and Cat Noir's ring. But supervillain Shadow Moth also has two Miraculousbrooches in his possession, and they will give him his powers. We can figure out from this that the Miraculous can either make a superhero or a supervillain. It's all riding on who wears it, which is why these jewels can't fall into just anybody's hands.

Alya, you are supposed to be Marinette's sole confidante at this point. Why are you giving the world this information? The writers are doing you dirty, my dear, and I'm so sorry. The best I can do is to promise to never treat you like this in my stuff.

Now, to be fair, there is some nuance to this. Alya is a human being. She's allowed to have flaws, so I can absolutely forgive her for getting caught up in the moment and posting scoops to her blog without thinking (see: Oblivio). That's honestly a great weakness for her character to have as it makes perfect sense for a fan girl to fan girl. At the same time, if you want to have a fan girl character who becomes part of the things she's a fan of, then you usually need to give that character something that will tone them down and make full fan girl mode something other than the standard setting.

Making your fan girl a serious reporter is a great way to do that! It allows you to have that initial bust of fan girl hype that quickly switches into serious get-the-details mode. Without that kind of complexity, Alya would just be another Wayhem and one Wayhem is already one too many.

While I will give Alya some grace on this topic and even call it a good thing for her character, the same cannot be said for her writing because the writers fail to embrace her hype as an in-the-moment weakness and it ruins her character. To put it another way, a lapse in judgement about posting a photo is excusable as a photo is quickly acquired and posted. A lapse in judgement about a full interview with a total rando who is claiming to be Ladybug's best friend is not excusable (see: Volpina). It's a completely different flavor of poor judgement as - at a minimum - it requires Alya to stand there talking to a person for several minutes and never once question what that person is saying. Those are not the behaviors of a good journalist.

Of course, this brings us to the most glaring example of Alya's character assassination: the Lila thing. Almost everything about this arc paints Alya as a terrible friend, which is a massive missed opportunity as Lila is the perfect antagonist for Alya! Who better to take down a liar than a truth seeker? It's such an easy way to give Alya her own mission to focus on, especially if you make Lila more subtle. You don't even need to have Alya believe Marinette without question. Just have her be an investigative journalist who is like, "You know what, this new girl clearly bothers Marinette and I know Marinette can get caught up in her own head, but it doesn't usually last this long. I think something is up, so I'm going to use my skills to see if Lila is telling the truth that way I know if I'm supporting the right person here." Don't have your character claim that she checks her sources and does research if you're going to turn around and have her believe whatever she hears without checking any of it!

Even outside of the Lila thing, I wish we saw more of Alya's research skills! They were such a good thing to give Marinette's best friend as Marinette is great at focusing on a clear task, but research is the kind of thing that would overwhelm her, so it makes perfect sense to make her best friend a researcher as that lets the team have someone to help track down whatever Gabriel is calling himself this week. The writers even understood this to some extent as we saw in Mr. Pigeon 72:

Alya: Marinette, how long have you been working on this? Ladybug: I dunno, six-seven days, maybe ten. Now that we're on spring break, I finally have time to put my whole heart into it! Alya: When was the last time you worked on one of your own designs? Ladybug: I do loads of designing! Look! (pointing to the contraption at her door) I designed a security system so that nobody can enter my room when I'm not in it. And if I put on this hat (puts on modified hat) I hear everything that's going on in here, even when I'm out of the room. Alya: I'm gonna have to break it to you because I'm the only one who can. THIS IS TOTALLY INSANE! Girl, trust your BFF. When I'm researching something obsessively and I can't think of anything else, that's when my mind can get really blocked. You know what you need most right now? A break! Ladybug: No way! No breaks until I find out how to keep Shadow Moth from reakumatizing people!

Remember who ultimately figures out how to keep Shadow Moth from reakumatizing people in this episode? Alya! Because her creative style is all about researching and looking at the evidence. You know, the classic skill set of a reporter?

I really do mean it when I say that the show has a fantastic setup for telling a good story. Alya's character should have been a perfect addition to Marinette's team. My favorite lineup is the line up from season two with Kagami and Luka in non-love-interest bonus roles that I won't get into here since it's a little too deviant from canon to make sense without explanation. Instead, I'll just give you the clear roles they perfectly set up and then squandered for the original miraculous five:

Ladybug: Battlefield commander

Rena Rouge: Big Picture Strategist (basically Marinette excels at reactive thinking/leading during a battle while Alya excels more at proactive thinking/long-term tactics)

Chat Noir: Peacekeeper/Heart/Hype Man

Carapace: Protector/Stop Button (much like Alya and Marinette, Nino and Adrien should have been two sides of the same coin with Adrien being focused on making everyone happy while Nino focuses on keeping everyone safe)

Queen Bee: Wild Card/Chaos Element (I love a good chaos element who is there to suggest the options that won't occur to people who have been raised to follow the rules.)

I'll also point out that this lineup would show that the characters weren't interchangeable and make the two main couples feel more unique and meant for each other. For example, Nino's tendency to encourage others to stay safe would pair terribly with Marinette's need to not get too caught up in her own thoughts. The second Nino second guesses one of her plans she'd fall apart, so she needs Adrien to be her Chat Noir. Similarly, Alya's impulsivity weakness would make her a terrible match for go, go, go Hype Noir! She needs a partner who makes her take two seconds to second guess herself. There was so much potential here you guys! So much potential! It could have been beautiful! Instead, we got canon...

There you go, my broad love letter to Alya. I could keep going, but you didn't request a specific topic, so I'm just going to end it there. Feel free to ask for more, but please do it in another ask as this is already super long and - out of kindness to my followers- I try to avoid essay after essay on the same post unless they really need to be connected.

[ryanyflags]

cenelian4cenelian | turian4turian/veldian4veldian | lesbian4lesbian

cenelian4cenelian : a cenelian person who prioritises or prefers relationships with other cenelian people. Can also be used to describe a relationship between two or more cenelian people.

turian4turian / veldian4veldian : a turian/veldian person who prioritises or prefers relationships with other turian/veldian people. Can also be used to describe a relationship between two or more turian/veldian people.

lesbian4lesbian : a lesbian person who prioritises or prefers relationships with other lesbian people. Can also be used to describe a relationship between two or more lesbian people.

(Alt flags and symbols at the end of the post.)

(Also thanks to @julietianboy for the image ids (link).)

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I saw this pretty bi4bi flag, and didn't find any cenelian4cenelian and turian4turian flags, so I made some :3 (I did find a couple of lesbian4lesbian flags, but I wanted to make a alt one in the same style as the others.)

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The designs for all these, like mentioned, are inspired by this bi4bi flag.

The stripe colours just come from these cenelian, wintergreen turian, and aurora lesbian flags. I added extra colours so they'd have 7 stripes, and adjusted the colours to be brighter. (There's not really any reason for this, I just went with what felt fitting / looked nice with these flags.)

The symbols are also kind of inspired by the bi4bi flag. I liked the idea of overlapping symbols in the middle (which is also kind of like the overlapping gender symbols commonly used). I just chose suns for turian, moons for lesbian, and stars for cenelian. And I think the overlapping connects to the "4" and relationship part of the terms well. Since turian and lesbian can include nonbinary people, I added stars in the middle of the suns and moons for nonbinary (people who wish to be included under those orientations). The cenelian4cenelian symbol is a bit different. When I think of two stars, my first thought is having two stars rotate around each other, but that doesn't really match / make sense with the overlapping symbol style of the other two, so the final design here is a combo of both of those ideas.

I kind of just went with a more artsy style for these flags. The stripes don't have any specific meanings, and the symbols I picked based on nebulous "this seems fitting and nice" ideas, so not my usual flag style I guess. That's also why I didn't include plain stripe versions, since these flags really rely on the symbols to make some sort of sense / be distinct.

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turian4turian/veldian4veldian | lesbian4lesbian

While making these flags, I came up with two designs, one with sparkles on the outside, and on in the middle. Having the sparkles on the inside makes more sense, but I like both sparkle designs, so here's alt versions that use sparkles in the middle and on the outside. Extra sparkly versions haha.

Here are the transparent cenelian4cenelian, turian4turian/veldian4veldian, and lesbian4lesbian symbols if anyone wants them. I included outline and no outline versions, plus versions with transparent space around them. The transparent space ones are made so that you can overlay them on a 2000x3000px flag and they will be centred, same as on my flag.

[thecoolerliauditore]

Well! This is probably better formatted as an ask than as a reply to your comment, so... tumblr user thecoolerliauditore! Whatre your "#thoughts" on adolesence of utena?🎤

oh boy. mic'd up. okay crazy

(oh my god i wrote fucking a lot im sorry)

So first things first. Enjoyable movie! I liked it and it's high point for me is definitely the art, cinematography and overall spectacle. And I'm always happy for more Utena, so I'm very glad I got to watch it!

But just from that you can probably gather that I. Might not have the highest opinion of the movie otherwise.

Don't get me wrong it's still a very solid and fun watch and I liked it but I just think it's vibe is very. distinctly different from the series? It actually reminds me a lot of what I expected Utena to be before I watched it, if that says anything. Very artsy and symbolism-y, but the characters felt distinctly less human than in the show.

Utena herself I actually think is the biggest downgrade from show to movie, maybe as a consequence of so much of it being mainly from Anthy's POV (not a bad thing Ily Anthy <33) but her motivations felt very. ??????? to me several times in the movie. Especially when it came to her relationship with Anthy and Touga. The car thing is like absolutely my favourite thing to come out of the movie and I rewatch that car wash sequence and chase scene sooooo much but I do think it's funny she Literally turns into a vehicle for Anthy's development.

Anthy is cool I don't have any beef with Anthy and I never will. Her flashback scenes are really awesome, the sound design in this movie especially in those scenes is sooooo‼️‼️‼️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 I personally don't really know what to make of the "sequel" read of this movie but I do think it makes the most sense for how Anthy acts here.

Mixed feelings with Akio. On one hand I think it's very fitting that Anthy-in-recovery would now see through his facade and see him as pathetic instead of menacing, but on the other hand he really just feels like a complete separate entity to show Akio. His scenes are really funny though.

I think my hater tendencies might have a strong basis in the fact that I think it. grits teeth. understandably considering the runtime sidelines my favourite characters from the show -- Wakaba gets reduced to the plot-irrelevant best friend role her Black Rose episode worked to challenge, Nanami is entirely erased and Shiori. Is maybe the one I have the most thoughts about because they essentially gave her an entire new thing to do independent of her plot with Juri and it's??Actually really awesome to me. Like she WOULD is the thing she WOULD do this and I've talked about before how hilarious it is that while she's literally having sex with a guy all she talks about is Juri.

But the plot treats her with this? Idk if I'm just not getting it or what but it feels like she's treated very unfairly and her comphet isn't acknowledged as comphet. It's almost like they needed someone to fill the mean girl role and they knew Nanami wouldn't go down well so they shoved Shiori in there and said good enough.

The shot of her license plate being run over by the remaining black cars is heartbreaking to me but like. Hey Juri hey so your crush is um Fucking Dead yeah uh you should know?

Idk just. very strange treatment of her character that feels very anti-utena to me. Her depth is hinted at but not explored, and what we're left with is kind of. Making me sad.

Speaking of Shiori the sex scene with Touga might be my favourite thing to come out of the movie other than the final car sequence. It's not only gorgeously animated but horrifyingly portrayed, I always read it as Touga forcing himself to focus on the butterflies to avoid having to acknowledge his rape and thus they're shown so significantly in the flashback. Idk if that's. Right but I think it's neat.

Touga himself is. Interesting I guess? Idk it feels again very anti-utena to me to even attempt at redeeming Touga or making him more sympathetic when the message I walked away from the original show was that his actions are horrible but they can't really be judged by me, an audience member, when he too is a victim of the system. No problem with the CSA, I think it makes enough sense in addition to the rest of the character, but turning him into literally an innocent child who died trying to play prince instead of acknowledging that he is 1. an abuser and 2. still a victim of the system who can one day move on from it makes me feel. Again a little sad. Out of all the characters he feels the most detached from the original to me and I honestly wonder what the intention was here, especially if we're looking at this as a sequel to the show.

I think other people might have stronger feelings regarding Touga and Utena's kiss scene than me. Personally I just umm. Good for them but thumbs down hashtag just my opinion

The other student council members are fine, I think. Cuts galore but whatever it's a movie. I do think it's a massive shame that they had Utena just straight up beat Juri when one of my favourite things about their dynamic in the show for me was that she never actually beat her fair and square. But whatever man. Kozue is Also Here.

The film is also like. I don't like using this word because wOw UtENa Is CoNFUsInG but it is genuinely like. Very incoherent? It feels like to me a a list of scattered unused ideas from the show and some semblance of an epilogue for Anthy that got mushed together with some really beautiful visuals.

I don't really get who the target audience is? If I hadn't watched the show I'd be confused and lost. If I have watched the show I'm still confused and lost but for entirely different reasons.

The scene where Utena chokes Anthy the fuck out and then the really beautiful iconic dance sequence embody this to me where these scenes are GORGEOUS on their own and make my brain tick but the first time I watched it I was like. ???? weren't you fucking her ass up a moment ago.

Utena with short hair is cool I like.

I think that's about it holyyyy. Okay awesome I'm sorry man.

[walrus150915]

Have you guys seen my other post talking about how Ambrosius n Ballister would look when they're middle aged?

Yea okay nvm I drew them together as old men yaoi again bc it's very funny

Ambrosius, you old rascal!👀

I love depicting older queer people being in love and living a calm cozy life with their families bc idk man... It makes me hopeful for the future

Ft. their kid Aquila and their kid-family friend-aunt-uncle-grandparent Nimona being annoyed with them (and I mean- wouldn't you be?)

By the way this post is framed I guess you could tell where I'm going with this

Headcanon time for the Boldheart household when Nimona is 1030yo, Ambrosius and Ballister are in their late 40s and their kid is a tween

- Nimona is a free traveler. She's done so many round-the-world trips that Magellan may choke from jealousy while burning in hell

- No matter where she is tho, she always comes back to Ballister and always shares new things she's seen and new friends she's made - people and animals alike. YES SHE HAS A TON OF FRIENDS SHE ALWAYS WANTED BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT SHE DESERVES!!! MY BABY😭

- She always makes her comeback a surprise: jumps from the roof on Bal's head, flies dramatically, knocks on the door to pretend she's a deliveryman or a postman

- Ballister works as an engineer bc the raw SKILL this fella used to build an arm WHILE having one is unmatched. "If you're good at something, you gotta proceed to get a career in this field, otherwise you're just wasting your potential" © my Asian mom (jk don't do this. I'm no professional artist but I draw bc it's my hobby)

- He probably worked on the deconstruction of the wall. The symbolism would be great + it'd make sense for his character!

- My man is overworking because of course he does. Nimona tries her best to slap it out of him but this man is a workaholic and nothing can fix it I'm afraid

- I have no idea what Ambrosius's job is. Sry😭

- I know it must be something artsy and something which doesn't bring much money. Ambrosius is BLOOMING at work tho. He's doing something he likes! Not something his parents made him do! And he's enjoying it! Knowing he'll get back home to his kid and husband and Nimona and hug them all sweetly!!

- Aquila is mostly B-student who's described as "Your child studies well, Mr Boldheart, but they need to be more active and social in the class"

- Aquila doesn't have much friends outside of their family. Their parents and Nimona are worried about it more than they are

- Nimona made it her undertaking to make sure Aquila doesn't feel the way she used to in a situation like this

- When she's in the mood, Nimona takes Aquila to school by using her powers. It's pretty much the norm for Aquila to arrive to school on the horse or on the back of an eagle or on the rhino lol

If we've started with Goldenheart, I guess we could also continue with them? (a tiny bit of spice under the cut)

- They're still disgustingly in love. Like it's cringy how in love they are

- They try to keep the sparkle alive no matter how repetitive their routine gets

- Slow dancing (which is actually just cuddling and rocking side to side together) in the kitchen? Kissing each other before and after work? Having romantic dinners from time to time? Yea that's their kinda stuff

- That sparkle also includes trying out new things in bed. They don't have as much energy as they used to tho😭 Instead of going two or even three rounds like they used to they'd rather just sleep WJJSSJJAJJWEJSJS

- [seahorse dad Bal since trans!Ballister headcanon is one of my favorites] Ambrosius's worshipping of Ballister's body increased 100x after Aquila was born bc THIS FELLOW MAN whom he loves VERY MUCH beared THEIR CHILD in his body for 9 months, how's that not amazing? A thing this man has for competence of his husband is insaneeeee

- I feel like their love life has only got better as the time went on

- As all parents do, these two learnt how to do everything very quietly

- Nimona could finally sleep calmly thank the creator they had a kid who made them learn

Okay I'm done with spice. Let's talk sweet (aka random ig)

- Bal cracks his joints a lot (grandpa LLLLL)

- Aquila DOES NOT have it good on Father's day

- Nimona teases Ballister for getting older (as a joke) but she's kinda worried about him, since he does get grey hair, wrinkles n stuff and. Uh. She doesn't. So-

I'M SORRY IT WASN'T MEANT TO BE ANGSTY

- Aquila is trilingual so real of them

- Yea the Boldheart household is multilingual. One could say something in English and the other would answer in Urdu no problem

I think that's about it. I blogged this earlier than planned bc I pressed the wrong button but I hope you enjoy this whiplash of my brainrot nevertheless

Heading to school rn. See ya when I come up with new things to talk abt wfvbhhnj!!!

[awokennerd]

I absolutely love that our guardian was the one to figure out the 15th wish. Like I already headcannon that my warlock is super artsy and part of the Hidden, but this just cements it. Also, the young wolf must be really good at puzzles at this point for them to be like, "hear me out. Savvy has the long awaited 15th wish on her wing." Like, it makes sense when we think about us finding the Ahamkara egg, but idk how the YW went from dots on Savvy's wing to the actual symbols we need to punch into the Wall of Wishes. I would love to know more about how we came to the conclusion of the possible four symbols to use.

[luvtonique]

Sometimes I wanna administer my services as a person who just asks questions to creative writers to help them write.

I just watched a looping cartoon where a cyborg girl on low battery power is panicking due to that fact. Her battery runs out, and an automatic solar charger on her body recharges her enough for her to wake back up.

In this loop, the overlying conflict is "Low Battery," so you'd think the character on screen would be doing something to conserve battery power.

However, she focuses on fixing her voice module (likely because the animator wanted to do a cool little voice modulation thing where her vocal clarity is awful at first and slowly becomes more clear), and then starts to attempt to repair her missing leg before running out of battery power.

I know it's not some kind of masterful piece of creative writing that's supposed to be deeply engaging, it's just a little looping 40-ish second animation someone made.

But I just sat there with an eyebrow raised like a Dreamworks character and went "Now wait just a second, this plot makes no sense"

Why would she fix her voice module if she's alone?

Why would she try to repair her leg if her missing ARM might be a more functionally useful thing to repair in her current state?

Why wouldn't she do LITERALLY ANYTHING TO CONSERVE HER BATTERY POWER?

And most importantly, why would she be panicking if she very clearly has a solar charger that activates automatically upon her running out of battery power?

Again, I get it, it's not meant to be anything more than an artsy little looping animation, but these are things I swear to God so few writers even consider. If you're going to introduce a conflict that's the entire plot of something, why would you make the character(s) just completely ignore the conflict and panic about entirely unrelated things?

If there's a safety net that's in place specifically to prevent the conflict, why make the character(s) panicking?

Like why do so few people ask these questions???

I had a friend who had an android OC that had depression, and I asked them "Why did someone program them to have depression?" to which they replied "Oh, because they're a brain in a robotic body."

I then looked at some of their example art and pointed to an instance of them downloading a "personality matrix" that made them into an obedient pet-play kink character, and I went "So you've clearly established they can download new personalities, so why wouldn't they download something to cure their depression? You've shown that your character is constantly sad, constantly complaining about their mental health, constantly being used as vent-art for your real life mental issue, but you've also established in-canon that your character can easily fix that problem. So why don't they?"

They then responded by stating the pet-play part was no longer canon, because "Make an android OC with depression" was more important to them than thinking logically about the canon they've created. It just baffled me, and still does.

People are so much more concerned about creating a character that fits some kind of label or opinion or self-insert than they are about actually utilizing their own established canons to create potential resolutions for character conflict.

People don't want character growth, they want a walking symbol representing something they believe or some archetype they find attractive, and they want that character to never change, never improve and never overcome any issues they have because doing any of those things would change their character.

Am I just incapable of writing brief posts

[quillpokebiology]

Orbeetle Facts

(I have one named Joker and the entire time I was writing this, he was floating around and trying to type on it. I just felt the need to share this)

(Art by isoptin on Deviantart)

-The genus name for the Orbeetle line is "Coccinella Praedica" which roughly translates to "Scarlet Prediction" 

-Because of their appearance, with their eyes being all swirls, their antenna looking like angry eyebrows, markings resembling a mustache, etc, they're often Pokemon chosen to be the smart villains in a lot of comics and movies 

-Unlike most other flying (not flying type; just bugs thst fly) Bug Pokemon, Orbeetle's elytra don't protect any wings. They instead use it to protect their brain. The elytra evolved to be small buds from lack of use

-Orbeetle are related to the Ledyba line, with both of them having a common ancestor

-Orbeetle's name comes from Orb and Beetle, which would make Orbeetle sound like orbital, referencing the way it moves around (similar to a satellite)

-Because of their gigantimax form, there are theories saying that Orbeetle came from space. These theories are not true, and I can not express enough how misinformed this theory is

-Orbeetle have a very violent mating ritual. I won't go into detail, but it involves biting, scratching, stabbing, dragging, etc. They also have a very violent way of protecting their eggs, and I'll link the post talking about it at the end

-Orbeetle have been known to have hypnotize other pokemon and make them their 'minions' that would do anything they ask of them

-Because of their intense psychic abilities, Orbeetle are able to sense things with their antenna 15x more likely than the average bug pokemon

-Due to their intelligence, it is actually possible to teach an orbeetle how to read and solve math problems! There was an instance in 2015 Galar where an Orbeetle learned how to solve long division

-Orbeetle are known to be very violent Pokemon in general. We can easily understand where this came from; they're often bullied, picked on, and hunted by larger Pokemon, and the only thing they have going for them is their wits. But when they evolve, they have both the strength and intelligence to get revenge. They end up being really violent and vengeful as Orbeetle

-Going from the fact above, it can be very hard to befriend an Orbeetle if they weren't caught as a Blipbug or Dottler. In the wild, you'll often see Orbeetle have Pokemon close to them that were with them when they were still a Blipbug

-Because of their absolutely massive brain, they aren't able to stand up without using their psychic powers

-Orbeetle are violent hunters, and mostly ear smaller and weaker bug types (never Blipbug though. They tend to leave them alone). But there were some cases where they have taken down Scolipede

-Despite not being from space, Orbeetle actually do surprisingly well there

(Art by artsy-rc on Danbooru)

-There eyes have a hypnotic effect on them, which will swirl when hypnotizing someone

-Female Orbeetle have larger abdomens than male Orbeetle

-In the rare instances when Ledian and Orbeetle interacted, Orbeetle were shown to be passive and even quite friendly with them. This was a large shock to researchers, since Orbeetle would usually attack bug pokemon similar to Ledian. The most popular theory they have is that Orbeetle might see themselves in Ledian, with both of them being Coccinellidae pokemon

-In many spiritualities, the number 7 symbolizes intellect, wise, insight, truthfulness, and intuition. I theorize that this came from Orbeetle

-While Blipbug are seen as pests by a lot of farmers, Orbeetle are seen as a good thing for farmers since they eat the Pokemon that would eat their crops

-Orbeetle are not very affectionate with their trainers, but they'll often give gifts to them to show they care

(Art by Inesanemona on zerochan)

Joker is still hovering, so I decided to let him type something:

"Helo ddhduishejslauwbebfjdbsjsndx"

-Joker (I taught him how to spell "Hello." Be nice. He is still learning)

Anyways, here's the other Orbeetle post

[rebelwheelssoapbox]

Trauma & Accountability Regarding Zionism, Israel & Palestine

by Michele Sommerstein Generally speaking, when a person from an oppressed demographic expresses their feelings about their past and/or present persecution, be it social and/or systemic and the trauma that can ensue, it is unethical for those who are not experiencing said trauma, to police their tone in the name of one's own comfort.

At the same time, there are situations where there needs to be a certain level of accountability on the part of the trauma survivor.

For example, let's say as a woman, I am out one night, and due to no fault of my own, I am robbed at gunpoint. Since that event, traveling at night now triggers (in the psychological sense of the word, not just merely bothered as it's often misused) and brings me back to that moment of violence. In response, and not by choice, my body goes into fight or flight mode (which I am not aware of) and I feel desperately unsafe all over again. So, in the name of feeling any semblance of security, I start to have thoughts of how I "must" attack people around me, “before they can attack me”. A thought rooted in trauma that in time I have started to physically act upon. In reality, no one in these moments is attacking me nor has the intention to do so, but one's perception can be skewed during a trauma response.

And so in this case, while my trauma explains my behavior, it does not justify it. In that moment, we can truthfully say that I am simultaneously a victim of past violence and a perpetrator of such. One can be both for while present actions do not negate the existence of my past, my past does not negate nor excuse the immorality of my present actions.

But if you were to point out how unethical my behavior is, especially during a trauma response, and particularly without first acknowledging my trauma, though factual, this in itself would be triggering. "How could you say that? I am a victim!" I might say. Because in my mind, I "need" to attack these people for otherwise I will "never be safe". That's not actually true, but that is what I believe to be true, for when one has a trauma response, it can be difficult to separate what happened in the past from what is happening in the present.

[image description: An artsy collage with a black background. Two women standing near each other but their backs are turned to each other.. They have the same pose where one arm is bent so the hand is resting on the shoulder and the other arm is bent so the hand is behind the head. The woman on the left represents Israel & the woman on the right represents Palestine. While they are both wearing a black top to represent mourning, they are wearing accessories that represent the colors of their flag. On the left the woman representing Israel has a lot of large blue gems that decorate her shirt, earrings, and headband (to show the power and wealth of Israel). She wears a white pearl choker necklace. the word "trauma" in a semi-faded white is by her eyes. The woman on the right (Palestine) is wearing the same black top, but her decorations are more simple. red and white flowers, with green leaves. She wears watermelon earrings (a symbol of Palestine's liberation) The word trauma is also near her eye. The top text: ceasefire now. free the hostages. bottom text: stop the genocide. end the occupation] Now, let's apply that to the topic of Israel, Zionism, and Palestine.

RELATED: "Countdown to genocide: the year before October 7" a timeline from Jewish Voices For Peace

Obviously, the logistics are far more complicated than the previous example. While it is true that antisemitism thankfully no longer occurs at the level that it has in the past, it certainly still exists. But the example remains applicable because while trauma explains what is happening, or at least partially, it does not justify it.

Ideally, people who have survived trauma would be empathetic to others who have also experienced such things. And yes, sometimes going through trauma can make you more compassionate to other survivors, but sometimes it can lead to one becoming hyper-self-preservational.

That said, some might find it odd that Zionists (more than not) do not see the similarities in the trauma that both Jews and Palestinians have experienced. For example, both Jews and Palestinians have experienced violent Pogroms. Many Zionist Jews do not view Palestinians as full-fledged humans, but rather as animals, just as the Jewish people were viewed in The Holocaust, which was then used to justify their oppression. (It's not okay to oppress actual animals either, but that's another article.) How can Zionists not see the similarities in what Jewish and Palestinian people have endured? Perhaps at their core, they do, but Zionists go to such great lengths in their minds to justify the persecution of Palestinians, because they're convinced that without the state of Israel, "they will never be safe".

[image description: Video thumbnail from AJ+. Image of a Palestinian artist and the illustration of a slice of watermelon, a symbol of Palestinian resistance.] But what makes it even more complicated is that many powers of the world, benefit from the Jewish People not healing. They are so quick to weaponize our trauma and grief literally and otherwise (going way before October 8th.)

[image description: Video thumbnail. Brown background with a centered video still from C-SPAN of a much younger Joe Biden. The white text on top reveals what's the real reason behind the US supporting Israel] And then there is Zionism which does not benefit from the collective healing. Remember the holocaust?! Remember these horrific events? Perpetually poking the wound by bringing up these moments and then insisting we (the Jewish people) will never be safe unless we have Zionism and The State of Israel. Zionism needs us to never fully relax. Zionism needs us to need Zionism.

However, one could factually state that despite their supposed goal of safety, Zionism has not taken many constructive actions that would work towards this. Now. before we delve a bit deeper into this point, the following should be noted: 1.) When they say Zionism speaks of a Jewish state and keeping The Jewish people safe, really what they mean is Zionist Jews. Not all Jews are Zionists and The Zionist movement isn't fond of the ones who are not.

[image description: Video thumbnail from the movie Tantura. Film by Alon Schwartz. The background is an image of a map in a very faded yellow with the image of an Israeli soldier on top. Covering the soldier's eyes and mouth are two horizontal blue stripes representing the stripes of the flag of Israel. To the left are short reviews of the film.] And 2.) Yes, it is true that some people do use the topic of Israel, Zionism, and Palestine as an excuse to be antisemitic, which must always be called out (just as it must be called out when people use the topic as an excuse to be Islamophobic), That said, one can validly speak out against Israel's violent policies without being antisemitic. Despite the great lengths Zionism goes to falsely equate even valid criticism of Israel with being antisemitic, there is a difference between being antisemitic and anti-Zionist. That said Zionism can not factually say that Jews will never be safe without Zionism or Israel. Besides the fact that consequences exist (see October 8th, 2023), it is also impossible for any group to oppress their way to safety. It is also immensely and grossly unethical to do so.

And yet Zionism continues to dangerously provide Zionist Jews with very different information than what the rest of the world has access to. They falsely claim that people hate them and are against Israel, not because of unjust policies, but because they want Jews to never be safe and free.

This is not true, but because Zionism tells Zionist Jews that The Jewish people can never be free without Israel, it creates this multi-layered trauma-induced desperation that results in the support of violent policies, which then creates a greater risk of violent consequences, which highly works against the so-called goal of safety.

[image description: Video thumbnail from AJ Plus. It is a screenshot split in half showing on one side a Jewish settler debating with a Palestinian woman on the ethicality of land theft in Palestine. At the end of the day, nothing should be beyond valid critique, and certainly not something as powerful as Israel. And the way Zionism works to silence even valid criticism is dangerous because to do so is unethical and a red flag, but it also waters down the impact & validity when something is labeled as antisemitic. Now when the word is used, people have to question: did you mean actual antisemitism or just anti-Zionism? And how many people are not even bothering to ask and are automatically assuming that even valid claims of antisemitism are false? This is not what safety looks like.

[image description: Video thumbnail from AJ Plus. In the center is a journalist. In the background are two images one of the murdered journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and one of an Israeli politician.] And If Israel has to go to such great lengths to censor and suppress valid criticism of their actions, if they need to intentionally misinform their supporters then what does that say about their actions and the Zionist movement? It also begs the question, what else is Israel claiming to be true, but is not? Related: Take Action! Demand A Ceasefire Now!

[image description: Video thumbnail of an Irish politician speaking to the Irish government about the topic of Israel and Palestine.] To be clear, I am in no way negating the trauma of October 8th, when Hamas attacked people attending a music festival in Israel. The attack was validly traumatic and unethical. But if we are factually labeling the event unjust and traumatic, then we must also use these labels regarding what the Palestinians have been and continue to experience due to policies from the Israeli government.

(Israel often says that we must free Palestine from Hamas, but it was not Hamas who created the Nakba. It was not Hamas who turned Gaza into what is essentially an open-air prison. ) [image description: Video thumbnail from AJ +. Image of a city with many buildings and a large prison gate behind it. The text reads how Israel made Gaza the world's biggest prison] And while the trauma of the past explains the behavior of Israel, (or at least partially so, for can we factually say that the policies of the Far Right government of Israel are solely rooted in trauma?) it will never justify what they are doing to the people of Palestine.

[image description: Video thumbnail from AJ +. In the background is a faded photo of an old city, I assume Palestine. On the left is a Palestinian flag, in the center is a yellow illustration of  the shape of Gaza, and to the right is the flag of Israel] Israel continues to claim that the Jewish people will never be safe unless we have the state of Israel. And while Zionism has yet to provide this safety that it has been promising for decades, I have seen Jewish-led activist groups such as Jewish Voices for Peace, and Jews for Racial & Economic Justice (among others) who do not isolate themselves from other marginalized groups, creating solidarity and community.

Jewish-led groups who knows that the powers that be strive and benefit from pitting Jews against Palestinians, and refuse to fall into their trap.

Who unapologetically decries the persecution of Palestinians and is clear and loud when they say #NotInOurName Who knows that isolating ourselves will not only fail to keep us safe but also does not honor the fact that many marginalized identities intersect with the Jewish identity.

Who knows that “the people united will never be defeated” is not just a meaningless chant you hear at protests, but that all marginalized people are safer and stronger when we stand & unite together. This is what safety looks like. And lastly Jewish-led groups who are letting the world know that despite the trauma, groups who honor the trauma, who are mindful of the trauma, who refuse to let the fear from the trauma, cause more pain to others as well as ourselves while failing to keep us all safe.

[image description: a video thumbnail showing a massive crowd, including Jews and allies, protesting in Grand Central Terminal in New York City in support of a ceasefire]

[ow1et]

@ofsoul — i've been wondering, because you've indulged me w/ masked attie writing, do you think her aura/soul changes when she's with the mask vs when she's without it? as in, her aura gets darker or harder to see, or any symbolism you might consider showing up.

in short, i think it does change when she does and does not wear her mask. i also think there are some changes between when she's in public vs in private and some subtler changes between her usual roles/facades that she puts on. i don't think every act she puts on results in a lot of change to her aura/soul, just the ones that she frequently slips into ( socialite, happy-go-lucky, airheaded, cold ). though, i think there's always some amount of wrongness that can be picked up on.

when she's acting, i think her soul almost feels stressed or strained, like she's trying too hard and pushing the boundaries of being something that she isn't. i don't know if that makes any sense at all, but i think you would be able to tell on like a spiritual level that something is off even if she's a good enough actress that you would never know based on physical cues. it's like trying to fit into a dress that is several sizes too small and the seams haven't started to pop yet, but they are stretched to their limit.

her aura's original, base color was a yellow-orange. from what i've read, those colors are tied to taking risks, valuing wisdom and knowledge, and determination. a lot of the suggested career paths were artsy, creative, and athletic, which also fits what athene would have chosen for herself as a career had she had the freedom to do so.

a couple of things kept coming up when researching yellow especially : happiness and generosity. both of which athene does not seem to be at face value, but she is generous in ways she knows how to be ( buying expensive gifts, charity, mostly monetarily ). happiness is a little harder because there are so very few instances when she is genuinely, truly happy at this point in her life ( this aspect burnt out the fastest and while she was still young ). so it goes back to her originally being a happy kid. a troublemaker for attention, but always happy. you can still get notes of it if you're lucky enough to see her genuinely smile or put in the work to actually have a positive relationship with her.

at this point, i think her aura is very desaturated with a brownish tint. it's that gross sort of yellow that doesn't even seem appropriate to call yellow anymore. i read that this usually happens as a result of fearing a loss of power or control, instability, or feeling trapped or stuck. all of which definitely apply to athene. it's at its darkest point ( a murky brown like a creek after the silt has been disturbed ) around her lower back. this is where her worst scars are : five lines from her right side across her left hip. they're from her first training session with the court. they run deep and they still burn.

as far as differences between owlet vs athene, i think the overall color is the same. with the mask on, there's more of a faintness or wispiness to her aura. it's harder to get a feel for, almost like it's a snake that is constantly shifting and moving, hiding behind stronger souls, and always slipping through your fingers. owlet is a hard catch ( even harder to keep ahold of ) and her soul is no different. while athene absolutely tries to hide in the shadows and conceal herself on a physical level, she isn't consciously trying to do so on a spiritual level as well. her own deception just runs deeper than even she realizes.

on a less visual note, i think that approaching athene always feels akin to approaching a cornered prey animal. this is worse when she has the mask on. the two aspects i don't believe she has ever and will ever be able to hide are her fear and her guilt. as far as body language, she absolutely can hide both. but she cannot wrench the fear and hurt from her soul. i don't think she's pleasant to be around and i think these two emotions just bleed out of her wherever she goes, taints the air and the world around her.

all of this is also applicable to change as well. there are some dynamics that i already have where i think her aura/soul would be at least beginning to heal and be less clouded. the opposite is also just as easily possible. in fact, i'd say in instances where athene becomes a talon that her aura is almost imperceptible and is entirely that murkier brown color.

[astroyongie]

obviously October is over, but I was wondering if maybe you'd consider doing the rest of the magic info parts

☾𖤓 Magic Info 2 ☾𖤓

All questions from the questionnaire are answered here <3 enjoy !

Recently I've been seeing spiders in my room more often. Within the last week or so, I saw four spiders (3 in my room and 1 in my bathroom which is right next to my room). But what I find kinda weird is that they would show up within a couple of hours of each other. So I would see one spider and then an hour later for example, I would see another one. This happened twice. I might be overthinking this, but for some reason I feel that the spider's presence could be related to a spiritual message. I did some research on spider symbolism and thought maybe my spirit guides could be telling me something, but I'm not entirely sure what. Just for some context, I've been going through a difficult period with my skin for about a year and a half now, and while I've made a lot of progress on my own through research, I feel like the spider's presence is trying to tell me something about my skin. I was wondering if maybe you have any insight on this or at least could help me break down the potential spiritual symbolism here. 

When it comes to spider symbolism, I only know about 3. 1: creativity and artsy symbolism, where the spider is a meaning that you need to be less focused on your thoughts and rational side and more on your intuition and your art. The spider is trying to tell you, that you need to go with the flow and use your hands to create movement to go forward. 2: Patience and building. Like the spider does its webs, it says that you need to be patient and to keep manifesting when you are working toward something. You cannot give up and remember that everything you do is interconnected to something that will be created so even when you feel like it’s not worth it, well it’s always for something. 3: Ancient and illusion. The spider can in the last meaning say that you are someone of an old soul but instead of listening to your intuition, you are allowing yourself to be softened by illusion. Be careful, if you don’t move, you will get bitten. 

I really want to connect with my spirit guides, but for some reason I'm so afraid to try. I've been dealing with this feeling for quite a long time and want to be able to take the leap. How can I overcome my fears of the spiritual world?

It is okay not to feel ready to enter into the spiritual world and you can take your time by doing so. It’s also important to remember that some people have to go through spiritual awakenings and those can be very painful to live through. So taking your time is key. Also, try to see why you are feeling so fearful. What puts so much fear? Is it because of your religion? afraid of ghosts? Of the unknown? Of doing something wrong? Start by searching why there’s fear and then do your search in a soft way. Spiritual work can be a long process and you are allowed to take your time. Start with small things (read about angels, or about crystals or even herbs). And slowly search more. Knowledge is key to feeling more reassured <3 

why is tarot forbidden in christianity? Is it really demonic? Because I have never sensed anything demonic about you so i was wondering 

Firstly thank you for not sensing anything demonic about me, because Gods be blessed, I do not wish to work with any low astral entity. Not into the questions. Why is tarot forbidden? From what I know, it is not forbidden but “not well seen” because Christianity sees tarot as being something practiced by witches and for them witches are linked directly to the devil (which is not true at all). Keep in mind that the whole witch hunt is misogynist and anti-pagan propaganda done throughout the 1st century to around the 17th century. It’s so deeply rooted that still today, such spiritual practices aren’t well seen. So no, Tarot isn’t demonic ^^ it’s simply a tool people use in order to connect with their spiritual guides or to have some info about the future or even advice on how to proceed. Now are the cards true or coincidences? That’s up to you to decide  

why does the year start with the zodiac sign with capricorn? In older scripts of past civilisations they usually started with aries of something else. 

I have honestly no idea why it starts with January. In the pagan culture, it does start indeed with Aries (which is why it’s the first sign) since in their year wheel, the year begins around 19-22 March (spring solstice, Ostara in the wheel) and it starts with Imbolc 1st February (Aquarius) and Pisces being the last which is the time during Imbolc and Ostara. But really, I don’t know why although if I recall the Romans were the ones who installed the year and January comes from Janus a God of the Roman Pantheon. Since the roman empire then got Christian, they probably adapted the year wheel to make it more acceptable. 

What herbs can help heal the small intestine and bladder?

I am not the best at herbology, so please talk to a doctor before you try any of these. When it comes to bladder and urinary infections in general, you can get teas or anything that contains bearberry leaf, garlic, or cranberry. Also, Green and chamomile tea as long as it’s the real flower and not those little baskets you buy in supermarkets. For your small intestine, it’s important to make sure you aren’t suffering from any underlying issue. Using probiotics, drinking lots of water, and eating lots of fruit can help with the fiber. For the herbs, I would say Licorice root (Raveendra et al, 2011) while avoiding refined sugar and alcohol. 

Yongie, how do I know if I'm undergoing a spiritual awakening?

You just feel it in your gut. Like honestly, spiritual awakenings aren’t always funny to go through, and for some, they are potentially painful and traumatic (although necessary once we finish the whole process.) I have gone through two spiritual awakenings and in my case, it always involves death of something or someone dear to me. And although I usually hate it so much and can spend lots of time blocking it, once the spiritual awakening is done, I usually feel much better. For some people it includes healing instead, so it really is one thing experience that isn’t the same for everyone. But how do you know? You just know. Deep down things shift, things feel more intense and you have experiences that are just not explainable. 

i once read that if an animal pops up into someones dream very often, it is a sign that it is their totem/spiritual animal. What are your thoughts?

It could be yes, it would all depend on the feelings and the settings of the dream and how you feel about it every time they appear 

how do i detect ghost/spirit? I have been trying to improve this for a while but have no idea if my mind is playing tricks on me.

It’s important to understand that seeing things isn’t a thing that everyone can do (and one cannot become a medium as we know, you can be clairvoyante for exemple, feel things and see things as a shape but seeing them as people are a gift that only mediums have). Now into the question! How can you improve if you want to see things? First make sure you understand that if you do that, you will be seeing things that will be scary and not everything is nice and gentle. So be ready to protect yourself and your energy. I would say to keep working on your third eye development but also to keep pushing it within your time. But also remember that energies will only show themselves to you they want to be seen or felt, so if you don’t see or feel anything.

Is it possible to see your spirit guides while you're conscious? Or is it something that you can develop?

I have personally never seen spiritual guides while being conscious (only in dreams or during a semi-unconscious state through meditation). I don’t think we are able to see them that way since their vibration is way too high and even developing it we won’t be able to do so. You can see signs they send, but seeing them physically isn’t possible. 

[libertys-lovers]

*sigh*

Guess who's brainrotting over the Kareedom proposal again-

(I'm writing the chapter for it in my Karamatsu journal and now I'm ascending, so please deal with me for a minute here)

...

It's just... that damn proposal is such a perfect summary of their relationship, isn't it?

Like, I kinda had that thought going into it; it overall represented that despite the hardships and piss-poor luck the universe threw at them, they still persevered, & in a way it only strengthened their love.

But like... there's so much more to it. Like, completely accidentally. I did NOT mean for any more symbolism, but it's just so perfect.

In general, their relationship defies the status-quo; they're painfully poetic and cheesy, and the things they find sentimental or deep don't always correspond with the... I don't know... stereotypical idea of it all.

Case in point, the original plan for the proposal was a classic proposing-in-the-middle-of-a-restaurant shtick; Kara thought it'd be super romantic and cute and he'd be able to show Freedom off to everybody! But that didn't work; Totty reminded him that public attention wasn't Freedom's style. So Kara had to change his plan. And really, if Karamatsu went through with it anyway, would it really have worked in his favor? Like even if Freedom was cool with being in the spotlight? Knowing his luck, a customer would've yelled at him to be quiet, or literally everybody would've ignored him when he tried to announce it. A fucking light could've fallen on him right when he was about to pop the question, and then the credits for that skit would've started rolling.

...I think you get the idea. I should be the last person giving ideas on how the universe can torment my husband BHSFAS

The important thing is that Kara didn't propose at the restuarant; he still took her there, but that wasn't where the question was proposed. You know where he did propose though? At some ordinary, sketchy bridge. By any other standard, it is just some random ass bridge, but to the couple, it was their bridge. They were chilling on this bridge during a cold, rainy day, and yet that's STILL where they had the most fun. They got to engage in their cheesy banter freely, they got to use the inconvenient weather as essentially romantic atmosphere, they got to really shine as themselves. They twisted this ordinary, dare I say negative atmosphere into their perfect romantic playground!

It's not like the two don't genuinely enjoy the normal romantic stuff, right? I mean Kara's whole shtick is him trying to be suave in some sort of a stereotypical sense, and Freedom's an artsy type so of course she appreciates the "normalized" expressions of love. But their personalities also warp the normalized expressions of love and turn it into, like, a sub-breed of it, if that makes any sense? Karamatsu's attempts at being stereotypical romantic turns into him bastardizing the stereotype, and Freedom's artsyness makes her see aspects of love/romance/romanticism in things that aren't normally associated with them, or perhaps even shouldn't be! (I mean, I think this entire post can be a slight example of that, lmao-)

...Man, I could've swore this felt more coherent in my head SAJKAGIAU

Anyways, there's also the minor aspect of subverting expectations? Mainly just with the weather, I guess. Ya know, the standard "rain is used to hint at tragedy in media" sorta shit, except that was a lie and it actually worked out! Hell, it's like a positive mirroring of Jyushi's confession to Homura.

I think I at least sort of got my point out. But oh well; I gotta get back to finishing this chapter lol.

[strawb-aripocalypse]

My rating of feminine rage movies & books

Note: this is just my opinion and what I would and wouldn’t recommend

Movies:

Jennifer’s body: 9/10 (amazing but would’ve been better if girls supported girls if ya know what I mean. Definitely altered my personality for a bit)

Midsommar: 4/10 (not very feminine ragey, more like feminine sadness. Also why is it called a horror movie, it wasn’t scary. It was very interesting, but very predictable to me.)

Orphan: 7/10 (very underrated and iconic! I watched it when it first came out and she def girlbossed)

Orphan first kill: 8/10 (I thought the originals are aways supposed to be better! Not in this case!)

Girl, interrupted: 9/10 (a lot of pent up emotion released from the girlies in this movie. Shows a lot of things that different girls go through. It took me a while to fully appreciate it. I haven’t read the book, but I bet it’s a 10/10 if the movie was this good.)

Black Swan 4/10 (Maybe I’m just biased bc I don’t really relate to the perfectionist problem to that extent, but I really don’t like how artsy, abstract and symbolic the movie is. It was too confusing for me. Also, was she really enraged or just stressed and sad?)

The virgin suicides 9/10 (it’s so well suited to how much it sucks to be raised as a girl. So perfect that any guy who watches it won’t understand it fully. Its subtle and quiet, but it makes so much sense. I’m impressed that it was a man who man that book, because I doubt most men would get it. I didn’t read the book, but the movie is wonderful.)

Marie Antoinette 8/10 its so girlhood!! Shows that women get blamed for everything. Technically the king was in charge of finances so he literally couldve told her no. Welp!

Books

The bell jar by Sylvia plath: 3/10 (wildly overrated in my opinion, is more “feminine depression” than feminine rage. Very boring tbh. Also the sprinkle of racism. “It was a different time back then” my asscheek.)

Ariel by Sylvia plath: 1/10 honestly… I only read it because my name is Ariel. I’m not one for poetry to begin with, but these were so pessimistic and ungirlboss that I couldn’t bear to finish it. I’m convinced all of plath’s work is not for me

I will update this list whenever I watch/read new media! Also, comment some things you’d recommend!

[thedreamparadox]

What would you like to see in a new NiGHTS game?

Postgame ability to free roam ALL LEVELS without dealing with Awakers/Alarm Eggs/a potentially new wake you up "enemy." JoD doesn't let you free roam super far from my recollection, and NiD has a larger capacity to free roam by base since you can stun the Alarm Egg but it doesn't last forever. Plus the levels in NiD are small, I have tried to explore zones but straight up the areas in Mare 4 do not exist until they're called in by completing the relevant laps. You can do unlimited freeroam via a Game Shark on the Saturn version (which I have done, but I don't have a capture card to show it off), which is very neat, but I'd want that to be a basic feature.

New outfits for NiGHTS and Reala because I love seeing them in new costumes.

A Jackle cameo if it wouldn't break the plot. I like the idea of getting new Second Levels every single game, but Jackle is a fan favorite. Maybe have them as a bonus unlockable skin in the vein of Reala being playable in Christmas NiGHTS on April 1st (Reala Day) sort of like Claris and Elliot were unlockable in JoD if you got all the Dream Drops. (I did, in fact, go out of my way to get all of the Dream Drops in JoD. It was a nice little addition to the game even if some of them were fiddly as HELL to get.)

I've warmed up to the light puzzle platforming as the kids thing from JoD, so I'd want to keep that in to some degree. There NEEDS to be better control over Blue Chips though, those controls felt so fiddly.

Fix the My Dream system or remove it entirely. A-Life was the reason we later got Chao, so there's no reason we can't have a Chao-adjacent system. I love the idea of which levels you play the most influences the space, but in practice the changes are so minimal it's really annoying. Maybe let some features of the level be unlockable based on X number of replays or Y score.

I don't really have any particular wants for the story. I guess "less clunky" from JoD. The original NiD is a masterpiece, even if most of the plot is hidden in the manual. I was able to enjoy its story not having the manual as a kid and having zero concept of what was really going on. Owl can stay, but they NEED to not use his voice clips to the point of annoyance.

I've floated the idea of reversing the sporty and artsy thing, ie having an artsy inclined boy and a sporty girl, before, and I still think that could be nice. I've toyed with this concept for my own fics, but ultimately after writing Journey into the Dream Within I don't think I could do anything that interesting in this concept in a way that wouldn't be retreading what I'd already written with my JoD fic. Piano boy is my vote if we gotta pick an instrument, I don't sports so idk on the girl front. (In theory you could get away with a customizable Dreamer character but given how entrenched in symbolism and how much the series leans into Jungarian ideas, this could make the levels wholeass make no sense. I'd be down for doing the Pokemon or Balan Wonderworld thing of "you have a set protagonist but can pick their appearance" though.)

Soundtrack just needs to keep consistent quality. For all the flaws of both games, the OSTs always slap. Bring back the Nightopian mood mechanic from NiD though that's awesome. Love those remixes. I'm a sucker for variations on a theme.

MAKE PARALOOPS INCENTIVIZED! Having Nightmaren eat half my Nightopians after paralooping them because it throws them into the My Dream area was annoying as hell and I hated that.

Remove Personas unless it's for cosmetics. Honestly remove Personas entirely. NiGHTS fluidly changing form in NiD made much more sense than in JoD. (Attempting to justify their existing in my fic was suffering honestly.)

I'd really like it if the game leaned more into NiGHTS' origins. Not their backstory, but the fact they're a Nightmaren. They're not all sugar and rainbows they were made to torment humans. Lean into that. More gremlin former Nightmaren energy in my protagonist please. (It wouldn't even effect their characterization much. NiD NiGHTS can be sassy too, if you make them bonk their head on the Ideya Palace enough times they'll refuse to Dualize with you.)

[theherds]

Random Bella Sara Thoughts #2

Which Legendary Herds Match Which Hogwarts Houses?

The most obvious imo would be Herd Valeryk and Gryffindor as both have heavy themes of Courage. As a negative trait I would say both may sometimes not always use their head and are more reliant on impulses.

The next most obvious one would be Herd Valeryk and Hufflepuff. Herd Islandar focuses more on kindness tho while Hufflepuff has heavier themes on Loyalty. However, due to the I guess maybe stereotype that Hufflepuffs are soft and kind I believe this works the best. I feel the negative trait for these two is that they can be too trusting or kind at times, even to those that clearly don’t deserve it.

Next up is Herd Airistos and Slytherin. Now the reason why I have been adding a negative to the others is because of Slytherin being stereotyped as the bad guy or shady people. In the world of north or north there really isn’t a “bad” herd. Though I like to think north of north in general has its own issues and problems (outside of things like the Wolfe riders) and isn’t all positive vibes with sunshine and rainbows. Anyways both Herd Airistos and Slytherin have heavy themes of ambition. Both are very determined to achieve what they want. They negative trait here being that they may use some more underhanded techniques in getting what they want.

Last but not least we have Herd Shahazar and Ravenclaw. Probably the least matched but I can still pull something for them. Ravenclaws are known for their intelligence. There really isn’t any heard that solely focuses on intelligence. There is herd Bellasara with the themes of kindness and wisdom but I don’t consider intelligence and wisdom to be exactly the same things. On a lesser note Ravenclaws are also known for their creativity. Something that herd Shahazar has heavy themes on. Herd Shahazar isn’t just about creativity in an artsy way. Their creativity helps spark new and amazing ideas. I like to think of them as creative problem solvers. Something that I think Ravenclaw could fit in well with. Plus herd Shahazar’s symbol is a book so that too. As a negative well tbh I can’t think of much. I would say maybe their creativity sometimes takes them out of reality at times? Or well looking up Ravenclaw negative traits they may be judgemental towards others which makes sense. Either way Shahazar is the Ravenclaw of the legendary herds.

[hope--fully]

In high school there was an artsy fashion guy, the kind who would collect many pairs of shoes and watched but also painted, who often wore a skirt. He was in the grade above me but I once took a class a year ahead so had one class with him. Also in that class was this guy who was the star of the basketball team and his style was more “‘hood.” So I had to hide my smile when the basketball bro leaned over to artsy one day during seatwork and very genuinely, innocently, and earnestly went “hey dog, I gotta ask, why the skirt?” “Why not?” “Well just… like are you gay or something?” “Nah, bro, I just think they look cool.” “So not a gay thing?” “Nah.” “They don’t dress code you for that? Like with shorts or a ball jersey with the big arm holes?” “Nope; I’m wearing pants under it; it’s not like people can see shit.” And you could see the loading symbol and hear the dial up internet tone go through Basketball Star’s head with his brow furrowed, REALLY thinking about it and then he went “I guess that makes sense; I’m Somali and our traditional clothes are kind of like that.” “Yeah! I’m South Asian and we have stuff like that too. So I don’t see why we can’t do it with the Western stuff too. Shit’s comfy and it looks cool. Wouldn’t be wrong if it was gay either, you know, but it’s not; it’s just a fashion thing. Just me dressing how the fuck I want and not letting people tell me not to. If I was to wear my traditional clothes I wouldn’t want people to say shit”. “Of course, of course” and Basketball Star’s ears continued to smoke with his brow furrowed as he reevaluated all the “that’s shit’s gay (derogatory)” stuff his friends has been saying about various expressions. Like I watched this man have an epiphany about self expression and inclusivity in Grade 11 Geography class.

sorry, it's a GOOD thing if cishet people use non-conforming pronouns or dress in non-conforming ways or whatever else. for one, that person may not be cishet. but more importantly, living in a society where more people feel comfortable exploring their relationship to gender and sexuality is an undoubtedly GOOD thing