#interestingly the main character of the most recent thing i was working on in this world was totally a self-insert

[la-principessa-nuova]

I wrote something in the tags of a response to a poll and wanted to share it as its own post.

First, here’s the poll this is in response to:

To summarize in case that link breaks, it asks you to spin a wheel and get assigned a fantasy RPG role, and asks how well you could fit in the role.

my result was: “demon king who was sealed away and somehow returned”

I didn’t want to just be like “ew, gender dysphoria, no!” so I tried to think of a premise that could make it work, and here’s what I wrote:

After a long and deadly war, the demon king is sealed away, and the legend of his reign of destruction and terror is passed down for generations with one clear instruction: keep the seal secure or destruction will follow.

Then one day, the greedy queen of a neighboring kingdom invades. She is warned not to open the seal because it contains an unthinkable evil, and she’s like, "Pfft! Unthinkable evil??? What do they take me for? Surely it must be the greatest treasure of the kingdom!,” so she breaks the seal.

A great and evil laughter sounds throughout the room and a shadow emerges, moving like a sludge along the floor the guards take defensive stances around the queen and she steps back, true fear spreading across her face for the first time in her privileged life.

Suddenly it lurches at her, and the guards suddenly turn towards her‚ hesitantly readying to strike as they watch the shadow stream into her through her eyes, ears, mouth, and nose until finally she’s knocked back a step as it possesses her, and her arms and head hang forward as if she is suspended by the back on a puppet’s string.

They all stare at her in horror as she slowly smiles and looks up, her eyes now glowing faintly purple as she lets out a maniacal laugh. The old king of the fallen kingdom lunches in his shackles to no avail.

She opens her mouth and says in a growly contralto, "finally, i have ret-". and suddenly she pauses and moves her hand to feel her throat. "OH..." she says, looking down and noticing her new body. she waves her wrist and conjures a portal in front of her that leads to the same spot in the opposite direction, essentially a mirror.

She looks in the mirror, feeling her face, turning to notice the shape of her body as her astonished look turns to into a faint smile. "I'm... beautiful.." she mumbles.

In her astonishment over her new face, her focus drops, dismissing the portal and revealing the crowd of confused soldiers staring back at her as she just stands there awkwardly.

And basically the story goes on to follow her slowly realizing that maybe she isn't evil after all, and it was only because she saw herself as being fundamentally unlovable and bad that she thought she needed to take that path.

And she realizes that living in a society that held her to the expectation that as a man, she should fight and conquer lead her to overcompensate when she found that life meaningless.

And now she slowly realizes the harm she's caused and comes to terms with it while slowly learning who she is, what it means to be good, and what she really wants in life.

And she does this while defending her empire from the threats of the power hungry servants who turn against her in her new ways and outsiders seeking either power or revenge.

And also while dealing with the common people who believe that she is just the same greedy queen playing some long con, or the same evil demon king hatching some master plan for world domination.

[ablogofloveandtrash]

Diana and Damon: Similar yet Different (might be split into parts depending on length)

For the past few days, one of the lead artists for Project: Eden's Garden has returned to release the remaining "Imitation" Art Pieces that were initially released in March 2023. The intent of the pieces was to depict the characters in vague, and rather abstract ways. The first artbook only featured 9 characters. All of which were the female members of Project: Eden's Garden Cast. Just recently the second Artbook, which now features all 16 students and Cara was featured, and in light of the full Imitation book's release. I will be discussing, analyzing and comparing Damon and Diana's pieces and their answer to 'What are you?' as both books question this for every single entry. In both books, Diana answers with 'A change', and in the complete book, Damon interestingly answers with 'A hope'.

Hope is already one of the existing themes in Eden's Garden's main figure of inspiration, Danganronpa. Yet the way hope is being handled and regarded is different to how it was done in the past. Hope and Change are two words that are often seen as synonymous. Yet are not. They're separate concepts that often intertwine with each other, hope is defined as the feeling and/ or desire of a certain outcome or expectation. Most of the time hope is used with a positive connotation. Especially when a person may want a desirable outcome. Damon's hope can be interpreted that in his journey of becoming the Ultimate Debater, he desires a better life. He wants to stand among Ultimates as reward for working so hard to support him and more so his family. However, what we know of Damon now, is that he's become hardened from his experiences. From how the world has affected him, Damon puts on a cynical, unfriendly attitude around others. He seems to have little hope, if at all. This answer seems to be contradictory on the surface. However, it is reflective of Damon. In his art, we are met with him in his current state. Bleached hair, dressed in the clothes he has most likely worn to debates, and for the game. He is looking at his younger self, who is dressed in a simple outfit. Crouching and petting a cat. This implies that Damon was originally not very well off. His family was impoverished yet in the time Damon sees his younger self, his younger self is happy.

As far as what we've seen in the first chapter, though Free Time Events, Damon supports his family through debate competitions. His earnings directly go to support his family so they'd not worry financially. Eloise and Ingrid's Free Time events touch on this. Putting the piece of art and the answer together, it can be interpreted that Damon, despite enduring so much hopes that things do and will get better. He hangs onto his talent not just that it "defines" him, but also that becoming an ultimate and graduating from Eden's Garden Academy will set him up for a better life and future success.

In the previous and recent artbook, Diana's answer was 'A change'. Change can mean multiple things, especially for a character like Diana. What we know of her, as of now, is that her character is the complete opposite of Damon's stand offish, cynical personality. She is bubbly, social, and kind to everyone around her. In the prologue she was introduced by showing herself comforting Kai, who was notably upset for not recognizing who he was. She only speaks when rushing to the defense of others and when she was spoken to, in the case when Damon asks for her name and talent. Only so much was revealed about Diana, except that she is willingly going out of her way to look after the well beings of others and tries to handle stressful situations by calming the others around her. Later into chapter 1, we still get little revealed about her, so much as that Damon noticed that she openly frets about others, as shown when she rushed to his defense in the beginning of the chapter, and asked of his well being the night before the game tournament. In free time events, Diana struggles to speak about herself. This is noted after Damon attempts to get to know her better. And in the trial, Diana struggles to speak about herself when it came to being accused for Wolfgang's murder. She presents herself as someone who is hopeful by the end of the chapter, although her hope was done in an attempt to emulate Wolfgang, and not a full representation of *herself* as a character. Some theorize that Diana's personality maybe faked or some sort of act. But it's also not likely to be the case, as Diana appears to be a take on the running trend of the character with a beauty of fashioned related talent that has another secret to them. Diana's imitation depicts her, standing in front of a mirror and drawing a heart on a fogged portion of the glass. She, is a reflection of her past self. Likely from Diana's days as a student in high school. But something is amiss.

Her eyes appeared to be somewhat hollow. And in the reflection, her bracelet is missing. So this can be interpreted that the person drawing the glass and seeing this reflection, is the current Diana. The one we know and see in the game. Her rosy cheeks and smile are consistent with the one we see with her current self. Though it begs to question what is the 'change'? What exactly will be changed for Diana, past or present? Is it a good change or a bad change? Provided the imagery it is believed that change could be positive. In chapter 1, Diana aspires to be someone that is kind and helps others like Wolfgang does. In a sense, Diana is currently having hope, that despite the grim reality of this game, that she can help everyone around her. That she, despite being accused, ganged up on, hurt and traumatized, can still prevent the tragedies occurring to the others. But once her speech, done in poor taste gets shut down, Diana becomes quiet. She doesn't retort or argue. With what we know about Diana, is that she is change, in context to the imitation piece. Change is something that is uncertain. And rather scary for many. But change is constant. It is something that not only Diana herself will undergo over the course of the game. Change is a process of making something different. And hope is the expectation that something will become different and better. Despite both Damon and Diana being so vastly different (hence Hope and Change are not synonyms, contrary to popular belief), but they are also two words that constantly go together. It is almost like a symbiotic pair, especially if the two are intended to convey a positive message if any of the characters intend to survive the killing game. Without Hope there is just Change. Without Change, there is just Hope. It almost conveys that if Damon or Diana wish to survive the game, they may need to set their differences aside to meet in the middle. But as it stands it seems more likely that there will be tension built between them and a lot of clashing between the two. But in the end, both are necessary if they want to come any closer to surviving and making out of the game alive. As Damon had to defend Diana (Change) in the first chapter, had he not, he and the others would have died. Diana as of now aspires for change, and wishes to do so in order to help the others. But as it stands, Diana lacks the credentials and skill that Wolfgang once had to lead and help the others. Unfortunately though, she is not in good standing with Damon (Hope). With Change as the process and Hope as the goal, the two truly cannot work without the other. Which may play into how Damon currently isolates himself from the others and may choose to do so following chapter 1. In order for things to improve, both may be necessary to survive the game. That is my take on the imitation pieces so far. I will release something about the Echo pieces tomorrow or later.

[discord-lurking]

Dungeons and Daddies Wiki Drama: A Greek Tragedy Told through the Medium of Forum Posts (Part 1)

Prologue

Greek tragedies are typically formatted in three or more acts interspersed with choral interludes, beginning with a prologue, and ending with an exodus. In these, protagonists often meet their downfall due to their fatal flaw, or hamartia: the ways in which the protagonists are their own undoing. Our own human failings are the things that bring us the most pain.

When considering a three-act Greek tragedy structure for this, my first thought was to use the Oresteia as a framing device, a trilogy of plays written by Aeschylus about Agamemnon's family in the aftermath of the Trojan War. Upon reflection, though, the themes of the Oresteia (revenge vs. justice, perpetuating a cycle of violence, honor and punishment) didn't quite fit the story I was trying to tell.

No, this is a classic tale of hubris: excessive pride and its ultimate downfall.

After all, what position could come with more power than that of wiki moderator for a Dungeons and Dragons podcast series?

Act One: The Beginning of the End

The D&Dads wiki has historically been... unhelpful, at best. (Source: Myself.) Trouble had been brewing for a long time.

Forum posts from spring 2022 began noting issues cropping up around the wiki. First, it was a complaint about anonymous users "disrupting" the wiki (specifically on Jodie-related pages) while also fixing mistakes in articles.

I'm unsure what specific "disruptions" were meant, but the proposal to ban anonymous users didn't garner much traction.

March 21st, 2022:

After little activity for months (only one forum post, related to infoboxes), wiki user TwoRatner had a radical proposition: wiki migration.

December 17th, 2022:

TwoRatner suggested an alternate platform that would have different editing options, then made a potentially-prophetic statement: the wiki might be cursed.

This warning went unheeded.

December 27th, 2022:

Ten days after the migration suggestion, TwoRatner came back to ask if there were any recent changes. This went unanswered for months until new user Penguinwithafancytophat reported adding art to character pages (including Glenn, a main season 1 character since the start of the podcast in 2019, who incredibly might not have had any official art on his wiki page before March of 2023).

Spring of 2023 seemed to bring along a revival of the wiki, with new editors coming in, engaging with the forum, and attempting to make suggestions on how to improve wiki organization.

March 31st, 2023:

May 27th, 2023:

July 17th, 2023:

October 2nd, 2023:

Interestingly, the only administrator seen to be interacting with these enthusiastic new editors? Gaycowboyrats. Let's put a pin in that.

Enter: the drama.

It started out simple enough- a forum posts for administrators to discuss changes that needed to be made.

November 3rd, 2023:

76 replies.

Seventy. Six. Replies. Each deeply interesting in its own way.

However, this is a Tumblr post, not an Hbomberguy video essay, so I'll keep it brief.

The discussion started out as one might expect a wiki admin discussion to start:

Mods discussed blocks, deleting stub pages, spam, etc. Standard wiki business.

The first reply to ping my interest:

Removing cast pages from a wiki about their work seemed like an odd decision, in my non-wiki-editor opinion, but the last line is what really stuck out: "Besides, I hate the idea of someone vandalizing the pages to defame them."

Several questions arose for me:

Was this a known problem? Were people constantly vandalizing cast pages?

Would a vandalized fandom wiki page really defame somebody?

Isn't the point of wiki editing to remove vandalization on articles?

The administrators began to stand out to me as deeply invested in a very specific sense of wiki justice.

Users TwoRatner, Brazil86, and TheOneTrueGod41 agreed with Honic's take.

Another thing to ping my interest: these users seemed to share a similar odd, slightly stilted, writing style. Almost Tommy Wiseau-esque.

Brazil86 expressed optimism about users engaging with wiki pages, something that would begin to set them apart from other administrators.

As I read, themes began to emerge: wiki justice, and incongruous one-liners.

Quoth Honic Washington: "I just found a wave of nonsense fish. My backyard is full of them. Hey, TOTG41, do you like jazz? I like jazz."

Truly, modern poetry.

Administrator Marth8204 suggested giving people more time. More time for what? Unclear. It seems a plan was afoot.

TwoRatner came in with a hot take: "I feel like we need a community more right now, than adding links that people can search for in the search bar."

Brazil86 agreed: Changing the navigation was less important than getting people editing and making friends.

Another theme began to emerge: wiki community as more important than wiki functionality.

Gaycowboyrats had some (incredibly reasonable) objections to this, pointing out that the wiki was a resource for many visitors who might not participate- something that is generally true of wikis as a form of content.

Honic Washington responded to this, the signs of wiki-related stress beginning to show.

Honic posts a long rant about the thankless task of moderating a wiki, which goes largely unacknowledged.

Notable TwoRatner quotes:

"You can't crack open a few omelets without punching a few egg-rolls."

"Now Freddie will get more money. What do you all say? I think I helped quite a bit."

Another theme emerges: discontent in the wiki moderator ranks.

Honic reaches full Joker mode. Again, this goes largely unacknowledged.

Honic: "I am leader. I am a painter! Keep your rules. Keep your status. Keep your friends."

"Keep your status"- words that will reverberate throughout the rest of this tale.

The final theme? Wiki moderator status, and the maintenance of it.

After Honic's bomb drop, conversation about regular wiki moderation continued, with mods considering the addition of a bot to make edits.

Admin Discussion Zone, first started by Honic Washington, ends not with a bang but with a whimper.

Over nearly a year of forum posts, patterns emerged.

Firstly- users attempting to engage in the wiki, wiki administrators not engaging with these new users, then wiki administrators bemoaning the lack of user engagement.

The notable exception was Gaycowboyrats, the only wiki administrator to engage with new users in the forums. Gaycowboyrats, the administrator whose (incredibly reasonable) suggestions ended with Honic Washington's villain-esque monologues and denouement as a moderator.

Secondly- administrators putting forth large-scale, drastic solutions to real or perceived wiki problems. This includes Cheesoid4 wanting to ban anonymous users, TwoRatner suggesting site migration, Honic deleting cast pages to prevent vandalism, and more to come.

Thirdly- wiki administrators seeming to share similar styles of speech and occasional non-sequiturs. Interestingly, this mainly seems to include the wiki administrators who agree with each other.

Funny how that happens.

Chorus

Stay tuned for Part 2, where the forum drama really starts to heat up.

[uelman]

Welsh & Shedar posts by Kim Bruges

Recently Kim Bruges, lead animator for Ankama Animations, has created new social media accounts in order to share various concepts, animatics and credit the work of animators that were sadly left out of the credits, or simply inform of who made what parts of the series we all know and love. You may follow him on Twitter (https://x.com/kimbrugesanim) and on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/kimbruges)

And you may have noticed this from the title, but he has recently shared with us various concepts of the scrapped Welsh&Shedar series from 2011! As claimed on each post, anything he shares is either scrapped content or things we already saw on the trailer, but it's still really interesting to analyze.

First of all, we have some concepts of Bechamel, the Ecaflip girl in the main cast! The final design was made by Carlo Toselli, whereas the concepts were made by Kim himself.

We also got to see some concepts of Sipho, who was originally created for this series and then re-used for the Wakfu OVAs. Most interestingly, in this story he would have had a pretty boy humanoid form, and he would keep some of his draconic features while shapeshifting!

This next character is one that did not appear in the Welsh&Shedar trailer we all know, but she did appear on concepts of other iterations of the series, notably the ones shared by Fabrice "Ntamak" Nzizi and in one Dofus cartoon illustration that was mistakenly used for Kerub's Treasure by FranceTV, which I'll also share here. She is a Bellaphone by the name of Rillette.

And last but not least, we have the name of the main antagonist of the series, Zabel! Just like how Sipho was re-used for the Wakfu OVAs, he too was referenced there: the place where the Forgotten Siblins group together to discuss is the ruins of Zabel's Tower, in the Kingdom of Winds. Here's some of his concepts, and the last one is his final design that we saw on the trailer.

Sadly we didn't get any new concepts or information on the little guy with the winged facemask, but honestly this is already A LOT, I am always really excited to find new Welsh & Shedar stuff.

I hope you all enjoyed this, don't forget to check out the other stuff Kim has uploaded to his social media accounts, it's incredible work!

[luyi]

oh, man (gender neutral), i can't believe they are actually making a three body movie?! back in may, the movie project was already announced, and filming was scheduled to start in 2025. and just now, it was announced that zhang yimo will direct this film. he is for sure one of the most famous directors in china, but many fans are doubting if he's the best choice for the scifi genre.

interestingly, in a past interview, liu cixin was asked about how he felt about zhang yimo. he said the director's works were pretty far from scifi, but they seemed to share similar aesthetics. he looked forward to seeing zhang yimo making a scifi film.

that's all we know about the movie project for now. we don't know for sure if the movie will be about the 1st book (it probably will be), but a lot of fans sure feel that we don't need a third live action adaptation of the 1st book since most are happy with tencent's tv series. EDIT on june 22nd: according to three body universe's ceo, the film will focus on the 2nd book.

btw, back in 2016, there was actually a three body movie made. however it was never released. rumor says that there were two higher ups in the administration agency who were liu cixin fans. this movie turned out to be really bad. the higher ups hated it so much and didn't allow it to see the light of day. when tencent was about to make the tv series, the production team was actually invited to watch this movie as a warning lol. rumor says they made ye wenjie and a trisolarian fall in love lol...

ok...i'm going to ramble about casting which has not been determined at all below the cut. feel free to ignore if you don't care about actor stuff. edit: you can ignore this since my rambling was about book 1 cast (eg. shiwang), but now we know the film is going to focus on book 2, so it's not relevant anymore.

=====rambling starts here=====

man, i feel so conflicted about casting. i do want the main cast from the tv series to be in the movie, but in actuality, i know it probably won't happen. AND it's actually good to not have any overlaps between the movie and the tv series. the movie script will likely be very different from the tv series', and having the same cast will make things too weird.

also director zhang yimo definitely has a group of actors that he loves to use. he's so "enamored" with lei jiayin in recent years, and zhang yi is definitely another one that he likes to use too. while i like these two actors, gosh...please don't cast them as wang miao and shi qiang...

another thing is zhang yimo actually really likes yu hewei as well. i watched 3 zhang yimo movies in the past 6 months or so, and he really made yu hewei the star of 2 of the movies...so he might go for yu hewei again which is actually problematic to me, because i don't want to see yu hewei's version of shi qiang being with a wang miao that doesn't have zhang luyi's face lol. the idea of yu hewei being shi qiang and lei jiayin being wang miao is terrifying.

i mean we want this:

but not this:

BUT considering when zhang luyi went to the premiere of under the light, he actually promoted himself (very shyly lol) and asked zhang yimo to consider hiring him. i know this is kinda out of character of him, and a lot of people felt that maybe yu hewei encouraged him to say that. so idk...we might have a very slim chance of getting the tv version of shi qiang and wang miao in the movie...

lastly, considering the shooting will start next year, maybe yu hewei won't have time because he'll probably use most of his next year shooting the dashi spinoff and the dark forest...

lol i warned you this is a bunch of messy rambling...idk where i'm going. i guess i've always wished that yhw and zly will work together in a movie, and zhang yimo seems to be someone that can make this happen, but it might not be the three body movie. i guess as long as i don't see yhw's shi qiang with another wang miao, i'm fine. also I really hope zhang yimo can go beyond his comfort zone with casting.

[milesonthenet]

Earthspark has the potential to do great things.

Welcome to the House of Milesverse, and today we will be reviewing Transformers: Earthspark. Releasing in 2023, Earthspark is a 3D-animated Transformers cartoon. Like many series before it, it takes place in its own continuity. Interestingly, it is also not that far removed from the first series.

First, i have to apologize for putting it off for a while. I was set to do this earlier, but another topic just grabbed me at that moment. It felt more interesting to pull my thoughts together for that one. I hope you guys are still able to bear with me through this, though.

And without further ado? We jump in.

What is Earthspark about?

Earthspark is a unique Transformers series, in a way. Earthspark addresses the creation of the first 'earth-born' transformers. These are called Terrans, and they are the first of their generation. They are quite the anomaly, even gaining a different power source, as well.

Earthspark's story is also remarkable for adapting a post-war setting. Unlike prior series, it is not just an "Autobots versus Decepticons" story. Optimus Prime won, and now he's working alongside Megatron. Most of the 'conflict' in the series stems from escaped decepticon criminals, or other monsters of the week.

Or you know, Doctor Mandroid, the aptly named cartoonish villain. This second-rate Doctor Arkeville is the series' main antagonist. He represents the hatred against Transformers taken to the xenophobic extreme. After all, he's the type of guy to replace his arm with a cybertronian arm. I still do not know how he manages to lift that thing.

The series is also similar to the Generation 1 universe. The flashbacks do a lot to showcase the similarities, right down to animation styles. It is easy to see it as some sort of offshoot sequel, but I do not imagine there's much to actually focus on beyond being an homage.

Meet the Terrans:

As mentioned above, The Terrans are the evolution of Transformers. They are a new generation that's only just recently been born on Earth. They also act as the main viewpoint characters in the series. They are the fresh eyes from which we, as the audience, see the Transformers' stories unfold in a post-war setting.

The Terrans are the product of two children: Robby and Mo Malto. They act as usual human characters who tag along with the Transformers. Their contact with the Emberstone created the five main Terrans.

It's important to note that the Terrans are very 'human-like' in a sense most cybertronians are not. Their experiences make them more akin to awkward, giant robot children. This is important with how they play off with Robby & Mo. The two children act like their 'older siblings' in a way, which helps them learn about the world.

There are at least five Terrans we see in the series. All five of them have their own distinct personalities. The Maltobots is a recurring name that they have, and frankly? It is adorable.

The five Terrans are:

The competitive spy drone, Twitch.

The carefree motorcycle-and-sidecar, Thrash.

The extremely online SWAT truck, Hashtag.

The serene and calm owl, Nightshade.

The big-hearted stygimoloch, Jawbreaker.

Of the five? I believe Thrash is the one who needs the most development. Jawbreaker, Nightshade, and Hashtag have had major focus episodes based around them. Twitch also had this earlier on, including an episode with Wheeljack, her 'father'(he invented the drone she uses as her alt-mode). Thrash is rife with potential for storylines, and I hope season 2 takes a crack at it.

The Evolution of Megatron:

This series is, for a lot of people, the first time that they get to see a "good guy" Megatron.

Megatron is iconic for being an 80s menace with his various kooky powers. He's Optimus Prime's rival, a consistent thread between the two that is prevalent in every incarnation. Megatron's entire history has, for the most part, been him being played as the bad guy.

IDW is one of the most prominent examples of Megatron making a path to redemption. He's still committed numerous acts of hatred and destruction. He's ruined lives for the sake of conquest. Yet, that version of Megatron is content to face his path, and still believes he doesn't deserve true redemption.

Earthspark Megatron is, like IDW, a villain who's chosen to reform. He believes in a peaceful future for Cybertron, in spite of what many others think of his past tendencies. Megatron believes in the terrans as the future of what Cybertron can be. Megatron cares for his troops and detests the treatment and abuse that rogue decepticons are given.

Earthspark's Megatron is off to being a wonderful character already. The way he interacts with the humans, and Terrans, is a refreshing sight for fans only familiar with the cartoons. I am excited to see where his path goes. I would hope that the franchise does not decide to twist him into being a villain.

How Earthspark tackles human hatred:

One of the biggest pulls from Earthspark's history is its focus on war. It's hardly the first piece of media that has adopted the "War is obviously bad" stance. Other series have shown the damage and destruction that war has caused. With Earthspark, I just think it's taken an interesting approach to it. The way the world is set up, it's just brimming with potential.

Earthspark starts off with an interesting status quo for the Autobots. They are working together with the secret organization G.H.O.S.T. to protect the world from rogue decepticons. G.H.O.S.T. was on the frontlines helping stop decepticons during the great war on Earth. They formed an alliance with the Autobots, and saw much of the havoc that followed from the war.

On the surface, G.H.O.S.T. seems fine, but their ethics are morally dubious. They incarcerate decepticon prisoners with devices that lock them into their alternate modes. They basically control the autobots and how they act in public. G.H.O.S.T. are not the conventional "good guys" you would expect.

This leads us to Karen Croft, a high-ranking agent, and a real piece of work. Yes, her name is Karen, get it out of your system. Karen Croft is a driving presence in the war against cybertronians. She's the one who teamed up with Doctor Mandroid to accomplish her goals. All Karen wants is payback for the destruction wrought by the war. And how is she going to get that? Through conquering Cybertron, obviously!

Croft's genuine hatred of the cybertronians is played out over the course of her appearances. Her willingness to use her brother, and G.H.O.S.T. to get what she wants is frightening. Croft proves the angle that humans can be the real monster when they let their hatred blind them.

Speaking of Mandroid? He's no saint in the park either, he's just as bad. Mandroid, originally known as Doctor Meridian, lost his arm in the conflict years ago. Since then, he's become a delusional monster who seeks to destroy the cybertronians on Earth. Mandroid envisions himself as a defender of humankind.

Mandroid is a monster, and over the season, he becomes more monstrous. At first, he simply stole the arms off of cybertronians to make himself stronger. This causes him to require energon for sustenance. By the season finale, he's become an advanced, alien war machine. Mandroid goes even further when he kills Croft, by disintegrating her alive.

Mandroid and Croft stand out as being such visceral depictions of hatred. Their willingness to abuse and experiment on Cybertronians - even Decepticons, is cruel. Yet, I find that quality makes them fascinating for what they represent. They are what happens when humanity brings out their worst qualities. They are greedy, selfish, hateful, and full of spite.

The Transformers are often to blame for all the things that the war caused. The Home two-parter does a good job at displaying this. In the first half, Robbie Malto, one of the main protagonists, visits his old friend Stevie.

Stevie's first encounter with Twitch and Hashtag is meant to come off as insensitive and hurtful. The group comes across a graffiti piece that reads "TRANSFORMERS GO HOME". Stevie tries to play it off, indicating that the graffiti probably meant 'Decepticons'. The last straw for Robbie is when Stevie says that his father told him the Transformers "invaded" the planet.

Stevie is innocent, and he genuinely sees nothing with anything he's saying. However, it's easy to see how that mindset can influence people. In the end, Stevie grows, and he changes the graffiti to read "TRANSFORMERS ARE HOME".

It's likely that a lot of humans out there have disdain for the Transformers. I like the way that this story is structured. I feel like more focus on this could have been interesting to look at. What other stories could they have spun out of this plotline?

And why Transformers are people too:

That's enough focus on all the negatives. Now how about we focus on the positives?

As I said before, I think the 'maltobots' as a nickname is hilarious. It also is doubly fitting for the Terran cast. They are just as much a part of the family. This is heartwarming, even for Alex and Dot Malto, the parents. They adopted a bunch of sentient earthborn alien robots into their family.

The series really hammers in how close the Terrans are to the Maltobots. They are literally connected to Robbie and Mo, even emotionally. Because of this, the Maltobots can feel the humans' own reactions.

What i also love is the dynamic that the Terrans have wih the Cybertronians. Optimus Prime doesn't look at them and think that they are not real 'people'. He treats them just the same as any other cybertronian. He accepts them as they are, even in spite of them being untrained.

Megatron sees them as the future of their species and embraces their hybrid nature. They are lucky to be born in this current era, where they would not suffer from the effects of Cybertron's long-drawn war.

The series makes its effort to show how not all Cybertronians are 'bad' guys. This is even true of the Decepticon characters. Some of them are especially sympathetic in this iteration.

Tarantulas is a name usually related to laughing mad spiderbots who also might eat people. Earthspark reinvents him into being a reclusive spider bot with no interest in evil. Or eating people. All Tarantulas wants is to just be left alone so he can start a new life. Tarantulas may have been a decepticon, but he does not carry the usual lust for war that's commonly associated with them.

Tarantulas makes good friends with Nightshade, and the two are able to bond over science. They helped Tarantulas create his holographic projector. Tarantulas in addition, helped expand Nightshade's mind on what their alt-mode could be.

Starscream is a name everyone knows, as he's one of the most popular characters. He's typically portrayed as a treacherous force working to undo Megatron's reign. Any abuse that he suffered through those incarnations was warranted, due to his incompetence.

Earthspark's rendition of Starscream is notably tragic. Compared to his other incarnations, Starscream's abuse is played straight. Megatron's actions traumatized Starscream, and he's still deeply scarred. Starscream is able to find a sympathetic ear in Hashtag, who believes his stories. This act endeared Hashtag to him, and the two of them bonded.

Breakdown is a Stunticon, and the Stunticons are all generally crazy. Breakdown's usually the paranoid one, whose always superstitious of others. In spite of his scaredy cat nature, Breakdown is not a threat to be trifled with.

Earthspark's Breakdown humanizes him and gives him a relationship with Bumblebee. The two of them are old friends from before the war began. Now that the war is over with, they spend their time racing together.

Breakdown chose to sacrifice himself to save Bumblebee from being detected by G.H.O.S.T. This was during a race that Breakdown wagered with Bumblebee. If Bee won, he would lay low and hide. However, if Breakdown won, he would get Bee's energon suppressors. Ultimately, he lost, but he managed to help Bumblebee escape from their trackers.

These there are stand-out examples of Decepticons who aren't just "villainous". They might have joined the wrong side, but they always step up for their friends. I'm hoping that we see any of the three in the next season. It just seems natural to want another appearance.

Conclusion: Earthspark is one heck of a road, but one worth paving.

Earthspark's ideas are certainly worth exploring. However, I feel like there's more depth that can be explored through the series. I want to see them really engage with the cybertronian hate in later episodes. I want to see the Terrans get more acquainted with Earth's interesting customs. I want to see so much happen with this series and watch it blossom int osomething amazing.

I am hoping that Earthspark finds a way to tie Cybertron into it's storyline. It just feels like a natural path to take with the series. I am just curious on how the residents of Cybertron would react to the growing life on Earth. You could even make a divide between the Cybertronians and the Terrans.

Earthspark is filled with so much potential for a Transformers series. I hope that it's not squandered over the course of it's series. Things are just starting to heat up, after all. We have another season or two to deal with. Even more, there were some funny allusions to the iconic Quintessons in the last few episodes...

What's next?

That was my review of Transformers: Earthspark! I hope you enjoy it. I will try to keep up the pace with these Tumblr posts. I'm trying not to get lazy on ya'll with my next few.

I'm going to finally start dealing with Moon Girl season 2 (Hallelujah!), do a top 10 on the X-Men's 'silliest' mutations, and maaaaybe dip into some of my favorite Moon Knight moments? Look forward to some more Unseen Stars as well!

And while we're at it?

HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY, TRANSFORMERS!

Seriously, turning 40 years old for a franchise is a really big achievement for them. We have been watching these Robots in Disguise for the last 40 years. I'm glad to have been a fan of the franchise. I'm even more excited for what the future will hold.

[purpleheartskies]

In my recent post, Robby's rejection of toxic empowerment, I talked about many of Robby's positive traits that exemplify healthy/positive masculinity. These traits are one of the main reasons why I find Robby to be such a lovable character and why I continue to support Robby each season. No doubt I want him to get all the wins in life because of all the traumas he's experienced and continues to experience, but also because of who he is as a character. His traumas and trauma responses don't define him. No matter what happens, Robby tries to stay true to these traits, and when he falters, he course corrects. (This of course doesn't include his unhealthy fawning behavior in s5.)

Interestingly, Johnny wants to be like Rocky Balboa. In s5e8, Johnny and the Sekai Taikai judge bonded over the fact that Rocky is their hero. Later in the episode, Johnny quoted Rocky to him, "If I can change, and you can change. Everybody can change." This in context to Johnny and Daniel now combining their karate styles. There have been other references to Rocky in the show and some specifically in relation to Johnny. In s4e1, Miguel tried to convince Johnny to reach out to Daniel to work together like Creed had with Rocky, but Johnny didn't want to be Creed. He wanted to be Rocky in that scenario, even though "striking first is badass". In s4e5, Johnny dressed kinda like Rocky and trained to the song "Burning Heart" from Rocky IV in his silly training montage.

Johnny, Chozen, and Daniel also sang "Eye of the Tiger" in the limo in s5e9. Interestingly, the lyrics of the song have two meanings in the context of the story. For most of the song, they're happily singing. They didn't really "win" against Silver, but they're still in the fight against him by getting accepted in the Sekai Taikai. And, that was after they'd snuck up and snagged a chance to try out.

Rising up, back on the street

Did my time, took my chances

[Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet]

[Just a man and his] will to survive

It's the eye of the tiger

It's the thrill of the fight

Rising up to the challenge of our rival

And the last known survivor

Stalks his prey in the night

And he's watching us all

With the eye of the tiger

They're the tiger in the song. But then they realize that someone's hijacked the limo. Earlier in the episode, they assumed that Silver's been stalking them because they've been trying to thwart his plans. The lyrics that play after Chozen suggests that Silver had their limo hijacked feel different in this context:

It's the thrill of the fight

Rising up to the challenge of our rival

And the last known survivor

Stalks his prey in the night

And he's watching us all...

With the eye of the tiger...

implying Silver's now the tiger in the song and they're his prey.

John Avildsen, who directed the Karate Kid movies, also directed Rocky and Rocky V, so these Rocky references in general have a special meaning for the series.

Rocky is a popular example of a character who exemplifies healthy/positive masculinity. Johnny in turn exemplifies toxic masculinity. Johnny aspires to be like Rocky, but to be like him, Johnny has to outgrow his toxic masculinity traits and adopt the healthy masculinity traits that Rocky has. In this regard, Robby is more like Rocky than Johnny is. Actually, Rocky is a popular example of an underdog too, and Robby is the main underdog in the series.

I've heard that there's some criticism of Rocky's portrayal of masculinity especially because he was a boxer. However, it's really his many character traits, like his kindness, sincerity, respectfulness, vulnerability, accountability, accepting influence, etc that people refer to when they speak of his portrayal of healthy/positive masculinity. Especially given the time, a character like that exhibiting those traits while being athlete is an interesting thing to see. And although Rocky was a boxer, he hadn't wanted to break people's thumbs for the mob. He kept his aggressiveness for the ring. With Cobra Kai being a series about karate, I think it's an okay comparison to make, especially since we're focusing on the emotional journeys of the characters, their struggles to be better versions of themselves, and how they interact with those around them.

After 5 seasons, I continue to stay for Robby because he is the superior character 😌. He always has been. If Johnny wants to be more like Rocky, then Johnny should learn to be more like Robby.

[camelcasebestcase]

recent things

Tagged by @drumlincountry

Last song you listened to: Fault lines, by Craig Finn, a cover of the Mountain Goats song. There's some artists where I love their lyrical work, but I just really don't like *how* they sing/play it. I have tried and tried again to listen to the Mountain Goats, but it's very grating to me. I love almost every cover I hear though! Anaïs Mitchell is similar for me, though she's been growing on me a bit lately.

Last movie you watched: The most problematic of problematic faves: I went to a screening of Die Feuerzangenbowle at my university with some friends, which was fun. As you can see from the wikipedia page, it was made in Germany in 1944. You do the math.

It's not only very funny, it's also a fascinating historical document. This is a movie, made not as an explicit propaganda movie, but still catering to fascist sensibilities. So it's not a coincidence that such a nostalgic (even at the time) movie about someone going back to school and playing pranks of the teachers was made. One teacher does not exist in the novel the movie was based on- and he's also the youngest teacher, who other teachers tell that his 'new modern ways' are superior, who is the only one the main character can't play any pranks on. Or the way the main character ends up leaving his 'decadent big city girlfriend' and settles down with a 'good girl from the countryside'.

It's not a propaganda movie, but there's absolutely a fascist worldview in there. And that's really interesting in this time where fascism is usually not packaged as obviously as a Leni Riefenstahl movie.

Last show watched: The fallout TV series! Which was much better than I expected. Not a masterpiece, but I liked that everything about it was so fallout, from the sets and characters, to the music and story. Good comedy, and some truly emotionally moving bits as well.

Currently reading: 'Through the Iron Curtain - The Taizé Ecumenical Experience in Eastern Europe (1960-1989). I heard that this book was in preparation in 2022, and when I came across it a month or so ago I knew I needed it even if it was pricy. A really interesting historical work based on archival work and interviews of those involved at the time and their descendants. It's really interesting to see how they (Taizé is a French monastic community started in 1940 who started attracting young (16-35, generally) visitors and started organizing retreats) very sensitively navigate the different realities through time and space under these repressive governments to bring people into contact with each other, and the crazy things that would sometimes happen (for example, it turns out one of the people who helped organizing meetings in the GDR later turned out to have been a stasi spy- a stasi spy who, interestingly enough, in his reports had not made any mentions of the people from other Eastern European countries being present at these meetings, leading the stasi to classing these meetings as low-priority and those people being a lot safer!)

Current obsession: Just bought Hades (the game) it's fun!

tagging: @takokotakopus @daisies-on-the-windowsill @lizarddad @offthephones

[tzigone]

What age first comes to mind when you think of each of the original NTT?

I've asked this previously with the JLI. It's not about how canonically old they are or you think they should be (absent de-agings, universe reboots, etc.). But when you first think of each of these characters, how old do you think of them as? So much depends on the eras you read with them, and what of that sticks with you, and which eras and aspects and relationships you most value. Not to mention how fast in-universe time was moving in your favorite eras.

Wally, of course, got married and had kids. They never let Dick do so in main timeline, but he has associations with younger Batfam members that make me think of him as older. Poor Raven and Gar were deaged and kept on younger teams even before the universe reboot. And we have Vic and Kory after.

For me, so much depends on the era I read them in. All have eras I just don't read them in, either because I don't like what's going on with them or because of general disinterest in what's going on with DC at the time (that especially covers recent times, as I kept waiting for continuity to settle, then the constant Events, which aren't my thing).

Speed-aging Wally's kids throws him off to me, too, as I'm not fond of speed-aging kids at all (or skip-timing as with Jon Kent). So in my head he ends up a new dad in his mid twenties.

Dick ends up late 20s in my head. Relative ages of other Bats play in, but I sort of cut off for him before New 52 (and I honestly never think of him as Batman) because I've never really gotten into anything of his after that (hate the de-aging). He should be older, of course, but I don't first think of him that way, again probably due to not reading later stuff much.

The others haven't had the same degree of solo work after the team, and I abandoned NTT shortly after Titans Hunt. I've read stuff with them here and there since, but never consistently read a Titans title since.

Raven and Kory pretty much stop for me then. It's hugely important from a storytelling perspective, but I simply dislike the whole concept of Dark Raven or Rachel Roth or the goth-y influences from the cartoon (which I liked when I watched it, but didn't want to influence the comics I didn't read comics then and now resent character being largely remade from it), and even though I know they exist, they don't enter my headspace. So Raven ends up in her early twenties.

Kory, as I said, is in a similar headspace to me. I know other storylines happened, but I'm even vaguer on those than Raven's. Another dead husband, more pain for Tamaran - sounds like basically story on repeat to me, though I didn't read it, so can't speak authoritatively. Don't get me started on having her and Jason (or Roy as Jason) as a team or even worse on putting her on Damian's Teen Titans. Anyway, I always think of her as early twenties, too.

Gar, interestingly enough, I tend to think of in his slightly older, more mature fashion. Not making his obnoxious jokes and sexually harassing female teammates. And operating in a time when Dayton simply isn't around (and Rita is dead). I'm not at all sure it isn't some not just amalgamated, but constructed version of him built out from what I wanted him to grow up to be. Anyway, he sits in his early twenties for me.

Now Vic - I kinda feel in some aspects like I do with Gar and in some aspects like Raven and Kory. Certainly the post Titans Hunt events don't factor in at all (I didn't like storyline even a bit before like, quit reading a few issues after, and forget a lot of what happened after that era with Vic even happened). More like Raven and Kory and less like like Gar, he was older and more mature. I think of him early or mid twenties and having found peace with himself and belief in his own humanity (which happened a couple times before he'd reset on it), but don't think of that as having just happened, so ending up adding a couple years.

Donna is the wonky one. I tend to stick her in two categories - recently married early twenties or recently separated mid twenties. While I think motherhood and her son were extremely important to her in-universe, I didn't read that era, so it doesn't stick with me. I have the before, when I was reading NTT. And I have some of the time during the separation (when she showed up in other comics I was reading) and cutoff before Robert dying, as that was really part of a soft reboot of the character/origins that didn't work for me. I mean, her origin has always been a mess, and moreso since COIE, but another changeup was not the solution.

[l-e-morgan-author]

Writing Newsletter #2: April 2024

Still not figured out website hosting, so this is still on here. I also haven't edited the two stories I plan to provide as a signup gift, so that's not ready yet. Anyway, if you want to be on the taglist for this monthly newsletter, say the word and I'll add you.

Writing update

My main project is still Patience, Changing. The mental health aspect to it has been more pronounced in the last few weeks, although my writing has been variably swift. I’ve enjoyed getting to know my characters, and am eager to work on more that fleshes them out after I’ve finished with this; I’ll probably write a novella about both Connie and Hannah at some point. Novellas are an incredibly freeing medium: they can be filled with Plot, or they can just be a whole lot of vibes packed together. They won’t be the Best Novella Ever, of course, but it does give a chance to explore vibes without necessarily having a significant amount of plot going on.

I’m getting closer and closer to Hannah’s death. I know I’m going to have to go back and write her properly into the story, since she barely occurs and her death is going to have a significant effect on Patience. I’m not looking forward to writing it, but anyway. It has to be.

As far as word count goes, I’m up to 115k total, being around 35k written since last month. Most of that is on the novel, with some drabble work (some of them shared and some put in the novel so effectively serving double duty) and a couple of specific scenes from different planned novellas (like the one I wrote for the Furious Fiction that didn’t get anywhere but I’m pretty happy with—that’s 500 words or fewer). My momentum is not as strongly forward carrying as it was, but I think that’s just something that varies anyway. I’ll be glad when I finish this novel; I hope to finish writing it this month and then do further work on novellas while I let it rest, or perhaps back to the Inklings story I am tentatively titling Metamorphosis of a Girl, Hadassah’s story. I could go back to Hands Made for Gentleness, but that may be darker than I should be looking at at present. I’m not entirely sure what this month will bring, hence.

Reading update

Since last month, I’ve read a bit more of Walking on Water and Cry of the Raven. I’m loving both of them. I’ve also completed Wintergirls (a reread—an excellent though disturbing book), Billabong Adventurers (reread—one of my favourite books), Billabong’s Daughter (reread—also one of my favourites), The Sound of Music (another reread—and one I absolutely loved, more than I expected) and Captain Jim (another reread—the Billabong books again).

So all of the books I’ve read recently have been rereads, but I’m really enjoying them. I’m currently reading From Billabong to London, Cry of the Raven, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, and Walking on Water.

Ramble

Oh hello, it’s the ramble section again. My mental health has been comparatively amazing lately, which helps with some things but means that I’m not doing as much “aaaaa I’m feeling So Bad let me Write The Pain Away”, which is… both good and bad. It’ll take a bit to adjust to feeling Like This (positively), and I’m still struggling with motivation and all that (in part because, interestingly enough, a lot of my motivation in the past has been stress-related, and now that I’m not as stressed (either that or Too Stressed) I’m not sure how to motivate myself).

I’m sure I’ll figure something out here presently. Anyway, please contact me and let me know what works best or what you’d most like to see! I need the advice.

Drabble

I Will Be With You

I need someone to guide me, Connie wrote in her diary. I need someone who I can believe to tell me that it’s okay to care about myself. I know all the stuff the psych says about being worthy of attention and love but I don’t believe it. I need someone to believe in me, I think. But I don’t know how to find someone who’ll do that in a way I won’t just discard what they say like I do so many people. I need someone who’ll be there. But then again—they say the sun rises every day.

No photo of Ransom this time, sorry!

[twistedtummies2]

Gathering of the Greatest Gumshoes - Number 17

Welcome to A Gathering of the Greatest Gumshoes! During this month-long event, I’ll be counting my Top 31 Favorite Fictional Detectives, from movies, television, literature, video games, and more!

SLEUTH-OF-THE-DAY’S QUOTE: “I don’t believe a detective exists who likes to see his trenchcoat ruined…”

Number 17 is…Blacksad.

In my previous pick, I talked about Sam Spade – arguably the most quintessential of all noir-style detectives. Today, we’re discussing another noir-style detective, but a very…different one. Unlike Spade, this character is far more recent, and originates neither from novels nor the cinema…but instead from the world of comic books. I am referring to John Blacksad, the titular protagonist of the graphic novel crime series, “Blacksad.”

This series is the brainchild of two Spanish creators: writer Juan Diaz Canales, and artist Juanjo Guarnido. Canales has been a comic book author for many years, but never really made a big splash till “Blacksad.” Guarnido, however, is actually someone many more people will recognize: even if you haven’t heard his name, the chances are you’ve seen his work. From 1993 to 2004, he was an animator and layout artist for Disney! Among other things, he was one of the lead animators for two recognizable Disney Villains: Hades in Disney’s “Hercules,” and Sabor in “Tarzan.” His final project with the studio was a short cartoon called “Lorenzo.”

It was not long after Guarnido left Disney that he reconnected with Canales, whom he’d met many years before. The two decided to collaborate and create a graphic novel that paid homage to classic film noir crime stories and pulp magazines of the 1930s and 40s. This novel was entitled “Blacksad: Somewhere Within the Shadows.” The book was highly successful, earning several awards and being translated into various languages; the English translation, interestingly, was handled largely by comic book veteran Neal Adams. (May he rest in peace.) Since then, there have been three sequel tales, and a four-part tale called “They All Fall Down,” which has yet to be finished; only the first two parts are currently complete, if I’m not mistaken. There has also been a video game based on the series made, called “Under the Skin,” which tells a new story all its own; I have not played the game, but I have seen some video of it, and it does a good job capturing everything great about the comics. In the English version of the game, Blacksad is voiced by Barry Johnson.

As you can guess from the cover shown here, the conceit of “Blacksad” is that all of the characters are anthropomorphic animals. (And yeah, it’s easy to see Guarnido’s Disney background through his art in several places throughout the books…and I mean that in a VERY good way, because the art is AWESOME on so many levels.) However, this is not a kid-friendly or heavily satirical series. While there are moments here and there of meta humor, paying homage to and occasionally poking fun at various tropes of the noir genre, Blacksad takes itself seriously: it’s telling more or less dramatic noir-style crime stories, it’s just that the characters are covered in scales, fur, and feathers. Many have compared it to the somewhat controversial graphic novel “Maus,” where creator Art Spiegelman uses different animals to represent different kinds of people. This is SOMEWHAT similar, but I think it’s more appropriate to say Blacksad is what would happen if “Zootopia” had been Rated R. The fact these characters are animals is often part of the story and many details in it, rather than just a mask, so to speak. As a fan of film noir, it’s interesting to see how these stories play out, with legitimately surprising mysteries, dark secrets to be discovered, and many murders most foul.

As to the main character himself…Blacksad is a pretty typical noir detective, but for some reason he still manages to stand out from the crowd in a fun way. While he’s a cynical and sometimes grouchy guy, he’s also a charming ladies’ man, and has a sense of humor about himself as well as the rest of the world. One of my favorite elements of his character is how he seems to DELIBERATELY play up his own noir-esque elements: it’s as if he’s putting on this show for the rest of the world, in-universe, creating this very specific façade for others to notice. Out of universe, of course, it leads to some wonderful jokes, such as him getting peeved about his trenchcoat being ruined (a-la the quote I selected). The supporting cast around him is a lot of fun, too: most notable are his two best friends. First, there’s Smirnov, a German Shepherd police commissioner who has a long history with the tuxedo tabby. Second, there’s Weekly, a literal weasel of a journalist (with notoriously terrible B.O.) who essentially acts as Blacksad’s sidekick in some stories. Both are fun characters who adhere to classic tropes, while also being unique and interesting in their own right; again, much like Blacksad himself, and the series as a whole.

If you’re a fan of comics, a fan of detective stories and film noir, or a fan of seeing former Disney animators do very un-Disney things with topics like racism, the Red Scare, serial killing, and other unspeakable forms of nastiness…then definitely check out either the comics or the video game I mentioned earlier. They’re definitely worth your time.

Tomorrow, the countdown continues with Number 16!

CLUE: “We're smart people. So why do we always do things that make us look like we have the intelligence of beef jerky?”

[theradicalace]

hii i recently got into htf and if one wanted to,, write an enemies to lovers fic with sniffles, who do you think would be the best match for that trope? (skimmed the wikis but really want someone’s opinion on this lol) sorry if this is weird 😭

that's a tough one! the thing about sniffles is that he gets along with pretty much everyone he's interacted with in the show. you'd probably be best picking a character he just doesn't have a lot of canonical interactions with, because that'll leave you more room to work with.

this might sound a little silly, but your best bet here is probably going to be pop. the two don't have a lot of appearances together, and their biggest one was in "a hole lotta love" where they spend most of the episode arguing and fighting over the controls to the drill. interestingly enough, the wiki lists them as "minor enemies", making pop the only character on sniffles' relationship page other than the ants to get an outright negative status. even the twins are listed as "neutral"! (although they are listed as rivals on his main page)

speaking of the twins, either one of them would also make a decent option (i'm not biased i swear). they're pretty much the exact opposite of sniffles in that they don't get along with just about anyone, to the point that the "enemies/rivals" section on their main pages literally just says "almost everyone else", with the only names in their "friends/allies" section being each other, "lumpy (at times)" and "cuddles (occasionally)", so it doesn't stretch the imagination too much to say that they'd probably not start on good terms with sniffles, especially since one of their only direct interactions with him was when they accidentally ripped off his arms to drive by steal a genie lamp from him.

beyond that, your options are pretty limited. you could pick someone that has NO canonical interaction with sniffles, like one of the ka-pow characters. you could write any character you want and just make it an au. or if you're really brave, you could pick a character he's actually friends with in the show, and write it as a pre-canon "how did we get here" situation.

of course, "canon" when it comes to happy tree friends tends to run pretty loose anyway. you could just pick your favorite character and go "yeah these two are usually friends in the show but they're enemies for the plot now" and not explain. the show does pretty much that exact thing when it's convenient, so you wouldn't really even be off base!

when it comes down to it, the best character for it is just going to be one that you find compelling. there's already no rules to fanfiction, and especially happy tree friends as a source material, there's nothing set in stone. the show plays pretty fast and loose with the characterizations, and the fandom does even more so! i can talk about how i see the little guys, but it might be entirely different from how you see them, and both of us might have a completely off the wall idea from how someone else might see the characters!

so yeah, that's my two cents :] the sky's the limit, really

[valiantvillain]

Free ramble card for any WIP you may be working on! (Even if that WIP has yet to be written down.)

I recently posted the first chapter of a bg3 fic I'm working on called Duty, Diligence, Devotion following my half-orc paladin tav Miraz and what's been very fun to explore with that character has been exploring my own relationship to beauty, self-perception, and self-worth through her and her backstory. She's someone who has essentially been informed by society's attitudes towards her as a half-orc that she is both set up to fail and yet expected to exceed expectations by virtue of trying not to be the "bloodthirsty orc" and her race always being this undercurrent to her achievements. If she is smart or pretty it's always underscored by "for a half-orc" whether outright spoken or implied. She's someone constantly trying to prove that she is worthy, whether it is for respect, trust, or love to the point even if she denies that she has anything to prove. To the point, she doesn't quite know how to exist without the feeling of everyone around her weighing her worth.

I admit that I have also put some of my own experiences regarding love and relationships into Miraz's character, mainly my history with insecurity about my appearance. Granted, I'm not part orc or anything, but growing up I experienced a significant amount of bullying when it came to my looks and even was asked out by boys "as a joke". To this day, even as I am much more confident in my appearance, I still meet compliments from men with very guarded skepticism and distrust. Much like Miraz. And I just pondered on how much worse would that feel for someone like Miraz in the universe of D&D. After all, at various points in bg3 you will meet NPCs who have some nasty things to say about a half-orc tav. Guex is frightened by your face in the grove. The duergar with the rothe calls you a brute. Chef Roveer in the Elfsong Tavern makes what is pretty much the most ignorant remark by suggesting Tav use their "cutters" aka tusks on the rats down in the cellar. How much of that would weigh on your perception of yourself over time? How ugly would that make you feel even as you know those comments are cruel, wrong, and indicative of ignorance? Whether intentional or unintentional, the harm is still done and it still eats at you years down the road. Even if logically you know you are not brutish and monstrous, you have been reminded that this is how the world perceives you due to factors of birth outside of your control. And so those feelings and that trauma manifest as pride, stubbornness, distrust, and cynicism in Miraz when confronted with the grueling game of romance and attraction, genuinely thinking it's a lie or objectification when someone finds her attractive. It's a very interestingly messy thing to explore with a character, even if it is just in the confines of fanfic.

Duty, Diligence, Devotion mostly focuses on the enemies/distrustful allies to lovers romance she develops with Astarion but it is also about her growing more comfortable in her own skin and building a sense of worth separate from her notions of duty and proving herself. That she is worthy of being appreciated, loved, and praised on her own merits.

So I guess this is more a ramble about an OC rather than a fic but hey, she is the main character of one so I guess it counts lol.

[lonelywretchjervistetch]

My DCCU Interlude: The Legion of Super-Heroes (Part 4)

Chapter Four: Places and Peoples

OK, in the last essay, I finished up describing the members of the Legion, as of the first season of my theoretical TV series. Since the main characters are set up, this essay's going to address two things: setting and supporting characters. To be fair, there are a lot of possibilities in both categories, but we'll be looking at the major supporting characters for the Legion as a whole, the most prevalent settings we'll see in the first season, as well as some of the conflicts they face as a part of the setting.

As usual, I'll mostly be using my own versions of thee characters and places, rather than using the comic book versions of these things. And lemme tell you, the comic books never seem to agree on some of the things I'm talking about. Also, I'll be talking about these in order of relevance, making a story of sorts that describes the past and present of the Legion in this series, while setting up stories for the future. And so, without further ado...let's start with the only person I really can start with.

R.J. Brande: Eccentric Benefactor

Few characters are as important to the Legion's history as R.J. Brande, their friend and benefactor, as well as their original sponsor. One of the characters that's stayed the most constant throughout the incarnations of the Legion (save for JUST recently under the Bendis run), Brande is one of (if not the) richest men in the galaxy, and uses his well-earned money for both good and eccentric causes. Having gotten his money from a stargate industry, he's got a pretty impressive amount of influence and pull.

So, while we don't see this event until later on, let's talk about how R.J. Brande's relationship with the Legion began, by talking about this universe's founding of the Legion. And interestingly enough, this'll also serve to introduce some of our antagonists of the series, so that's useful. The whole thing starts during the 8th anniversary of the formation of the United Planets, a multi-system organization that seeks to bring disparate planets and cultures together. Basically, space United Nations.

Unsurprisingly, not everyone is a fan of the United Planets, for a number of regions. At the moment, only planets connected through the new Brande Stargate Network are a part of this organization, and those planets or colonies are usually rich or well-connected. Granted, the UP is hoping to expand beyond that at this point, but the memories of cultures galaxy-wide are quite long. Some planets refuse to join if their historical rivals are involved, while others aren't interested in the oversight and judgement from other planets. There is no united force to bring the planets together. And that's all that Brande wants to do.

See, Brande is a trillionaire, sure, but one who's made his fortune through surprisingly altruistic means. Additionally, he made this company with the help of his brother, Doyle Brande, who was at one point the business-savvy one with more selfish motives. Still, his efforts helped to make the company what it was, despite his own proclivities and frivolities. And now, with their deal with multiple planetary governments to connect their worlds to the Stargate Network, the United Planets movement was born from the increased closeness of these worlds.

At the moment, the First Ring of United Planets are Earth, Braal, the Moons of Saturn, the Moons of Neptune, Mars, Bgtzl, Winath, Cargg, Venegar, Rimbor, Bismoll, and Imsk. These worlds are, for the most part, connected and welcomed into the UP Alliance, although Cargg, Venegar, and the Moons of Neptune actually lobbied for their inclusion. Still, this is nowhere near enough of the galaxy, and there's a lot of work to do. And even then, the worlds of the fledgling UP aren't exactly friendly. Imsk and Braal have had building tensions for much of their recent history, while Winath is barely influential enough to be here.

Brande, in particular, has some issues with worlds wishing to be included in the United Nations, as he regularly tries to lobby for the less-affluent worlds for membership, but is regularly refused. Most prominent amongst these refusals is Durla, which Brande has proposed for aid and membership numerous times, to no avail. Durlans are trusted by essentially nobody, because of their shapeshifting ability and tribal culture. But why does Brande lobby so hard for Durla? Well, like I said in the last essay...IYKYK. Plus, I said this in the last essay when talking about Durlan Legionnaire, Chameleon.

Oh, and if you're getting some heavy-ass Star Wars vibes from this whole thing...yeah, that's not gonna change anytime soon. The United Planets isn't a multi-world government in the same way as the Republic in Star Wars, but it is a democratic overarching body that reviews and monitors intergovernmental relations in the same way. And more parallels are going to come later, believe me. Anyway, the United Planets is having trouble all over. That's not including threats and protests directed towards them by some the main antagonists of the first season of the series, the Dark Circle. More on them later.

In the lead-up to the UP meeting, three teenagers from the First Ring are incidentally travelling to Earth on the same trip as R.J. Brande and his brother, Doyle. Also here is an assassin, hired by the Dark Circle to kill R.J. Brande in order to dismantle the United Planets' most ardent herald, and ensure that chaos remains within the galaxy. This assassin is Cadis Thar-ok, an exile from the planet Zadron, which is attempting to join the United Planets. His attempts are thwarted by the three teenagers, who save the life of R.J. Brande, inspiring him to bring them together as a living symbol of interplanetary unity. With the help of his assistant, Marla Latham, the first members of the Legion are brought together.

After this, history continues forwards, as the Legion is formed with R.J. Brande's backing, and with the tentative blessing of the United Planets. By using the Legion as a diplomatic force, the UP plans to entice planets into joining with the promised protections of the Legion as a membership perk. However, what they didn't expect was the fact that the Legion would protect planets outside of the United Planets as well, again with Brande's blessing. Through this, the Legion gains interplanetary reputation, and the UP benefits in turn. And that's a problem for three separate forces. Let's start with the first of these.

Science Police: Bad Cops, Good Cops

OK, the Science Police, in the comics, have had varying degrees of influence and distribution. Sometimes they're limited to NuMetropolis, sometimes they're an Earth-based police force, and sometimes they're the paramilitary group employed by the United Planets as a whole. And I'm leaning between options two and three in this case. In this series, we'll quickly be introduced to the Science Police as a semi-corrupt agency with branches throughout Earth, and within the Sol System to a certain degree. They're on the verge of a connection with the United Planets at large, which is a huge deal for them.

And then Brande comes in with the Legion. Again, in comics and other media, the Science Police have complex relationships with the Legion, mostly bordering on the antagonistic at least. In most instances, though, the Legion's first major enemy is the Science Police, and that's also going to be the case here. The Legion is not only composed of super-powered teenagers with no law enforcement experience, but they're also on the verge of replacing the Science Police as the United Planet's main enforcement unit. And unsurprisingly, that doesn't sit well with the cops.

As I mentioned in the last essay, the leader of the NuMetropolis Science Police is Director Ryna Norg, a traditionalist cop who dislikes the Legion for what she sees as vigilante work. Her supervisor is Chief Jarik Shadder, who also disapproves of the Legion for financial and power-based reasons, rather than moral and professional ones. Therefore, both of them advocate for the inclusion of Lyle Norg, AKA Invisible Kid and Ryna's son, into the Legion to gather intelligence on them.

However, this plan somewhat backfires on them. Predictably, Lyle falls in with the Legion and turns on his mother's machinations. The Legion also gains the favor of the Deputy Chief of the Science Police, and their United Planets liaison, Gigi Cusamano. She'll be stepping in to replace Shadder after...stuff happens. And even Ryna will begin to come around, especially after another concession is made, come the second season of the series. At that point, the relations between the Science Police and Legion will have somewhat warmed up, and the Legion will even agree to have a sanctioned liaison that works alongside them in the form of Shvaughn Erin. And yes, she's trans in this universe as well, obviously. Not sure of a fancast for her, but I'm open to suggestions!

Now, real quick, the Science Police are not horrendously incompetent. I realize that a trope of superhero media is that the cops pale in comparison to the heroes. But it's the 31st century, and Earth has experienced a lot of superpowered nonsense over the centuries. So, as a police force, they're pretty good at everyday stuff. However, interplanetary threats are still a bit too much for your average Science Police Officer, and the powered individuals of the Legion stand a better chance against these threats than the Science Police do, on many occasions. Still, some of the situations where the two groups clash in this series will be the Legion's fault.

Some members of the Science Police, by the way, do have powers like the Legion. But, because of the nature of the organization, they're discouraged from using their abilities except in emergencies. After all, superpowers can be less-than-controllable, and the Science Police is all about control in the end. And teenagers with superpowers aren't exactly controllable, so some conflict is inevitable. Still, these guys are a first season threat, at best. Let's get into another first season threat, while we're at it.

The Dark Circle: Agents of Chaos

Now for some overt antagonists. The Dark Circle is a terrorist organization, firmly opposed to the United Planets, and with an unknown history or motive. And honestly, in the comics, that's all you get. Despite being a major antagonist for the Legion there is so little about these guys, that they're essentially a blank canvas to paint upon. I'll be giving them a bit of motive and context, but these guys are some of the main villains for the first season.

As I mentioned above, the Legion's first interaction with the Dark Circle is through the attempted assassination of R.J. Brande, which kicks off the formation of the Legion. This action is performed in association with Brande's partner and brother, Doyle Brande, who was manipulated by members of the Circle through his gambling debts to give them information on Brande's activities. The assassination was meant to cause the downfall of the Untied Planets, of which Brande was a noted advocate and backer. But why is the Circle against the United Planets? Because they're opposed to order.

OK, OK, I realize that bringing Doctor Fate into this universe through this series would be insane...and I'm not planning to, don't worry. No, he'll be introduced through Wonder Woman's side of the Trinity, at some point down the line. However, his role as a Lord of Order is important here, because the roots of this version of the Dark Circle can be traced back to worship of the Lords of Chaos, and therefore to the Lords of Order. Without going too far into this, let's just say that the mystical forces of the DC Universe are constantly in balance between chaos and order. On Earth, the person who maintains order is Doctor Fate, who bears the Helmet of Nabu to enforce the laws of the universe.

But it's a big universe out there, so it stands to reason that there are more Lords of Order, governing over different corners of the universe. This has barely been touched upon in DC Comics, and it really needs to be, because having ONE DUDE in charge of the entire mystical universe makes no sense, no matter how powerful Fate and Nabu are. So, let's assume there are multiple Agents of Order out there. This means that, for there to be balance, there should also be Agents of Chaos, seeking to tip the balance into eternal chaos, or the kali yuga. Some of these Lords of Chaos eventually gathered followers across the universe, eventually forming into what we call the Dark Circle.

So again, why the United Planets? Easy: what's more ordered than an interplanetary organization seeking to bring the universe into a more unified and controlled entity? Additionally, the United Planets are in some ways directly responsible for the Legion, and once the Legion forms, they become new targets of the Dark Circle. Again, though, to what end? What does the Dark Circle accomplish by sowing chaos across the universe? What's their end goal? Well, they're actually acting in service of a Lord of Chaos, one of the only ones still alive in the 31st century. And this Lord is a pretty major threat.

And it's at this point you might be asking..."wait, wasn't the Dark Circle the antagonist of the recent Legion of Super-Heroes animated film, and didn't they also serve a mysterious lord?" And to that, I say, yes, and fuck that movie. Not only does it ruin a great Legionnaire (spoilers), but it makes the Dark Circle boring by tying them in with Brainiac, making him their secret leader for some reason. And yes, I'm aware that Brainiac 4 in the comics was a leader of the Dark Circle, but this was original Brainiac. And it feels...uninspired. Especially because that action didn't really give the Dark Circle a good reason to exist, and also created some MASSIVE fucking plotholes in the process.

No, no, no, there's a much better answer here. A character who can be (and in some comics is) a Lord of Chaos, wants to take over the United Planets, and a major Legion villain. So, in my universe and theoretical series, the Lord of Chaos that the Dark Circle serves is...

Mordru the Merciless is one of the most important villains in the Legion's history. And mostly, this is because he's near-impossible to defeat when at full power. A wielder of magic, and one of the most powerful figures in the DC Universe, Mordru's only real goal is to obtain power over the universe. As a Lord of Chaos, he only lives to put an end to order. And on multiple occasions, it's taken the entire Legion to help take him down. But with that said, how in the hell is the first Legion roster supposed to stop an all-powerful wizard? And the answer is...they absolutely can't.

The Dark Circle's purpose is to generate enough chaos to weaken the forces of order, allowing Mordru to emerge from his ancient crystal prison. The Circle will be prevented from doing this throughout the first season...for the most part. Because their ultimate goal, to destroy the United Planets permanently, won't move forward thanks to the Legion. But not only does the first season's actions guarantee his eventual arrival, it allows the Legion to win the battles, but possibly lose the war to come in a few seasons. We need the Legion at their best before they fight Mordru.

So who exactly is heading up the Dark Circle? In truth, it doesn't really matter. After all, they're only acting in service of Mordru, so their individual identities matters little. Still, we should see them as background and bit characters throughout the series, appearing in places where the Dark Circle has struck or will strike, like looming and lingering shadows. Even though the characters themselves don't matter so much, I will highlight one whose name we should know: Ontiir.

Ontiir is a Science Police officer from the planet of Tsauron, and he'll be acting undercover for the Circle. It's through Ontiir that the Dark Circle will gather a lot of information and connections, and he'll go completely undetected throughout the entire season, more likely than not. He'll definitely appear in the series, of course, maybe even interact with the Legion here and there, but his tie to the Dark Circle should come as a surprise. When the end of the season rolls around, we'll discover Ontiir's allegiance, and the goal of the Dark Circle to create enough chaos to free Mordru.

With that, though, that leaves one more threat against the Legion associated with the United Planets. And for that one, I think her own essay will do. Well, her and four of her friends. And yeah, I realize I've teased her through three separate essays at this point, so let's end a little of the mystique.

Emerald Empress is, almost certainly, one of the most prominent enemies of the Legion. Through a portion of her history, she played second fiddle to Tharok as leader, but when she has the chance to shine, she is truly terrifying. And in this series, I'm putting Sarya in position as the head of the United Planets. Because firstly, it's an interesting place to see her exist and eventually fall from. And secondly, those who know that Sarya is the Emerald Empress know her eventual fate. Understand when I say that Emerald Empress is very much meant to echo Palpatine in theme, backed by a power unfathomable to most.

But she's here...so what about the rest of the Fatal Five? And what actually is Sarya's role in this series? Well, that is going to be the next essay, I think. And honestly, it's a long time coming.

See you in Part Five!

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Daww, this is so cute! We got a big ol happy certified sweetie Kawamatsu hanging out with Hiyori and some cranes. I’m loving the teahouse setting, especially a nicer one with grass growing again. That’d actually be a pretty cool party trick if Hiyori could keep an oragami aloft with a folding fan. The more I think of these two the more I think of Wano’s penchant for parallel stories and why Kawamatsu sought out Ringo to commit seppuku. Yeah, makes sense if 13yo Kiku missing Izo was not unlike younger Hiyori. I could see a guy like Kawamatsu really taking it poorly if he already had baggage about not being able to snap his big sis out of a funk and that old wound resurfaced with Hiyori putting him first again. Let’s forget that though, best Kappa is smiling and entertained. You know, if you get Kin’emon drunk enough he can keep that bird in the air too...

I’ve had my fun. This is still the 1080 Musings. We wanna talk about how much this crane motif rears its majestic head within as well?

Ooh, big Blackbeard chapter. Pairs nicely with Shanks, and with a dash of Koby to make this as deeply atavistic in this series as we can. First off, we’ve talked about that “Part 2″ or sho wrapping up recently. This is two chapters now that don’t feature the Straw Hats after leaving off on a rather dire cliffhanger. Yeah, feels like an Act Break without the curtains right? First one with Law growing boobies was half a chapter same as between 1/2. This one feels a lot like the extended segment between 2/3. Next chapter might be a little more of the world or we might slip back into Egghead proper, who knows? But I wouldn’t be shocked at all to see us return to an advanced story. Scrambling to get out of there. Thing about “part 3″ of a Kishotenketsu plot though...ten by design should be a jarring shift.

Not to undermine the substance of Blackbeard & Co’s. story though. It’s...all about infighting, too much sheer power, rushing into things. In contrast with Koby being selfless, looking out for the common people, and so cutely humble. Not to mention this reputation as a hero. It’s all over, we’re deepening the ties between SWORD & Thriller Bark characters through Perona. All while Drake remains the unfired Chekov’s Gun. Interestingly, and making for a great potential tie to the post-Act 1 break, using a very “Wano” trick we can now ascertain which of the BBs is there at Egghead. Some combination of Kuzan, Lafitte, and Catarina Devon. The Crescent Moon Hunter is obviously the one I’m most interested in. Opens up another fun mechanical way to play with these themes, whether or not they directly include Kiku somehow.

This is where my mind goes when you have a copycat impostor thing going on. Yeah Bon was fun but they knew about him. This is from Yu Yu Hakusho again, start of Chapter Black. Yusuke had to pick who was the copy. That’s it. You could even make Jinbei suss it out and give him a good moment but it’s perfect for a newbie to show they belong. If you have something like I’ve suggested for Kiku though, it could work just as well in reverse. We the reader know the threat. Catarina corners say...Nami while impersonating Franky. Acts sus, easy smoke out right? “Hey! See the newbie around?” “Oh Jin--” ZAP! Either way, Catarina interests me because of how she factors into that cutaway right after Act 1 and meeting Kiku. Blackbeard is always a foil for Luffy, so there’s definitely a reason we’re seeing themes like infighting and making the same mistakes as Rocks. But now...our main event!

This girl is rocketing up the Blorbo Rankings. Combat pacifist with Vegapunk’s flower gun? Being all coy about radiating that wife energy? Lance Corporal Bearington back there guarding some peach cobbler and sweet tea for Koby? Remember when we saw Stussy/Sentomaru side-by-side, noted how they’re both like if you made one of Kiku’s halves a whole person? Yeah...so for SWORD we have this sweetie next to cutesy dominatrix Kujaku doubling up on both crane & peacock nods! Hibari’s a lark by the way, and her name means Skylark. Check out the fan theory more popular in Japan about some noteworthy similarities between her and Akainu though. That’s compelling...especially since Akainu is one of the big reasons Luffy needs to be composed. Either way, yeah Kujaku & Hibari together give me that same vibe as Sento/Stussy. I’d dare say even closer, but maybe that’s because of the actual crane here.

Prince Grus! Grus meaning “crane” in Latin. First, Glorp-Glorp Fruit is amazing Viz. And the lil golem is so cute! Maybe you could say something about how the golems are a little like Basil Hawkins’s power, which was always antithetical to the virtue Kiku’s story displays, but here it’s obviously a lot more benign. Main thing to me though is look at how coordinated SWORD are in contrast to Kidd/Blackbeard. This was a hitjob and a damn effective one. Setting up Garp for the easy layup. I love this as a thematic contrast to what’s going on in the main arc! I’ll just say it too, SWORD’s gonna be a favorite if they keep this up.

[0thsense]

3/6/2024

Interestingly it's been less than a month since I last posted. I'm watching a Docker tutorial right now. It's really really boring, and I'm worried im not gonna retain anything from it. I thought it'd been longer since I last posted, part of the reason I came to post today was guilt at not posting sooner.

One of the main challenges I'm facing right now other than the obvious job search is finding a way to keep my oxytocin high. I'm alone in the house for this whole month and I'm trying to survive I guess. I'm already doing better than last time when I was cooked after living alone for like only four days. I'm trying all sorts of things to increase oxytocin, like heavily committing to seeing people like driving up to SF for brandon's bday party. I met a cute girl there and mordekaiser ulted her, and it was kinda awkward. I've forgotten how to 1v1 people and ask interesting questions. I also try to watch content and be parasocial for oxytocin because I'm pretty sure it works.

Random tangent - a useful product/potential startup idea would be a chemical reaction based air conditioner that maintains a steady temperature in a room, and is fueled by the ingredients for the chemical reaction.

I have one recruiter and two tech interviews coming up. It's about what I expected I guess going in. If I fail these im cooked probably. I haven't been great at applying myself to applications/prep. This docker video is really putting me off. My energy is split between leetcode, system design, and personal projects.

Going meta here, I dislike that I'm mostly just being expository in these posts. I wanted this diary to be more of my random personal thoughts. But because I'm writing out of guilt and not out of a burst of mental energy, I don't have those thoughts on hand. I definitely had something worth writing yesterday but I've forgotten it.

I cried listening to Theme of Love from FF4 distant worlds yesterday. I've recently started listening to music in the car which seems to help unlock my emotions. I think about how beautiful the heart and soul put into games like FF are, and I cry thinking about how I feel like I can never create something with that much heart and soul put in. Surely my cope to maximize these mental chemicals will lead me to the goal right?

Currently I'm leaning towards the position that my life isn't worth living, but it's not bad enough that I can justify ending it. For the sake of my family I have to live. I thought about a video game character who ends up with a kid as his reason to live, and realized now that that is like the most cliche character ever.

I remembered what I thought about yesterday. People hate nepotism and always complain about how networking and adjacent things are so important. But for most jobs it makes sense because knowing someone is a really strong signal compared to seeing their resume and a couple interviews. People always say to network but never really explain (at least not to me) why networking is so important from a fundamental level, and why the capitalist economy has agreed that networking plays a massive role in finding jobs/opportunities. I'd like to compile some of these truths you can find just by thinking a little bit about into a book.

Another thing I've been thinking about is that truly everybody is different. It would be easier to reason about things if you could abstract people better, but if you abstract all the way, the commonalities you find between people are pretty scant. You pretty much get things at the base level like maslow's heirarchy of needs. Another way of framing it is obtaining the pleasure chemicals in the brain. But the ways those needs manifest and the methods to satisfy those needs varies so much across person to person. That's why sciences like exercise, nutrition, and psychology and so fragmented and contradictory is because there's so much variance in these. And that's also why parents are so important for development and teaching because genetics mean their advice/experience will be so much more applicable.

I've noticed that I basically hear nothing about the upcoming election. Especially compared to the last time trump was the republican candidate. I guess the novelty has worn off, and I wonder if that's good or bad for trump's chances.