#issues no. 29 and 30 respectively

[age-of-moonknight]

Variant cover for Sensational She-Hulk (Vol. 2/2023), #2 by Daniel Acuña.

[dlxxv-vetted-donations]

Tawfik needs to buy tent covers and other necessities.

My other promos

Updated: Nov 29

Member(s): @dev-tawfik (current), @devtawfik (shadowbanned), @tawfikblog, @90-tawfik (shadowbanned)

Verification: @/90-ghost

Payment methods:

Gfm for education: PayPal, Venmo, Google Pay, credit/debit (donation match $10 USD). Focus on Kofi instead until at least mid-December

Kofi for survival (mentioned here): PayPal, credit/debit. Focus on this until at least mid-December

Tawfik is a Palestinian currently taking online classes at an Egyptian university. His Kofi campaign needs to reach $3,000 to buy tent covers and other necessities for his family (see here). Any additional funds in the gfm and Kofi will go towards the next semester's payments and family care respectively.

More info:

Now he is focusing on getting his Kofi to $3,000 (fees included) to get his family tent covers and other survival needs. See here.

Nov 27: Tawfik has reached the Kofi goal to buy flu medication and a vaccine, so we are now focusing entirely on the gfm. His goal of $10,050 by Nov 28 (hard deadline) for his international student fees were also reached on the same day.

He plans to fundraise for this year's remaining academic fees (which will be significantly less than what we already raised), and hopes that the war will end by the next year so he can get a job and pay himself.

Update Nov 20: More details here. Tawfik has fallen ill with the flu and won't be online much. He needs USD $228 (fees included) for medications and a vaccine. This requires him to reach 71% of his goal on Kofi (which is specifically for non-education related needs). At the same time, he needs $10,050 in his gfm by Nov 28 to pay off his international student fees.

Update Nov 15: We reached the halfway goal for the international student fee of USD $9,050 by Nov 15. Now going for the full fee of $10,050 by Nov 28.

Update Nov 6:

Tawfik got an extension to Nov 30 to pay the international fee. New goals of USD $9,050 by Nov 15 and $10,050 by Nov 28 (to account for transfer time) were set. The final goal was reduced with some backup money. Grades will be withheld until payment is made.

Update Nov 5:

Currently, it seems impossible to raise the required funds ($10,050 - $10,150) by Nov 13. Tawfik has emailed his school to negotiate for more time.

Update Oct 29:

Now @dev-tawfik.

The next goal was $9,250 to pay off international student fees (due Nov 13, see math section below) that Tawfik just found out about.

The family urgently needed $1,000 for healthy food (Tawfik's father has health problems and needs vegetables).

Tawfik initially wanted to use the gfm money for education only as promised, but had to add the sum to the campaign goal (a total of $10,250) because the Kofi he made solely for his family wasn't receiving many donations early on.

There were some issues with the Kofi taking a few weeks to transfer funds, but that's been resolved. It is now for support of Tawfik's family and transfers money relatively quickly.

From Oct 17-27, we fundraised to $7,200 to buy some food for the family. This food money will last roughly 2 weeks.

We are focusing back on international student fees and set a short-term goal of $8,862 in the campaign by Nov 3. There will be another small goal set after this date.

We need roughly $10,050 (an estimate) in the campaign by Nov 13 (hard deadline). Again, this isn't a concrete number and involves some usage of Tawfik's backup money.

Campaign details:

Tawfik is a software engineering student in Palestine trying to continue his education by enrolling in online classes at an Egyptian university.

He already raised roughly USD $2,500 in late July through a now closed Paypal campaign and paid the school as an application and reservation fee. This is nonrefundable.

We fundraised $4,113 (5200 - 1087) and paid off his tuition for the year on Oct 7

The gfm is meant for education only. To support the family, donate to the Kofi. It no longer faces issues with long transfer times.

Tawfik has some extra leftover funds from paying off the tuition, but it isn't much and is to be used for emergencies.

Oct 17: Tawfik bought his textbooks ($800 incl fees → $6,000 in campaign) and got a small discount for being Palestinian. This money saved went into his emergency funds.

Math:

Please let me know if I screwed up the calculation somewhere.

The transfer fee is assumed to be ~$50 per $600 earned. My bad in earlier calculations where I set it after the bank fee rather than before.

Textbooks: base $600

Funds left after:

Gfm for 40 donations: 570.6

~$50 transfer fee: 520.13

12% Bank fee: 458.13

To cover the funds lost to fees, we need an extra $200 (assumed 15 donations). After fees on that, it's only $166 (enough to cover the short-term goal)

So we need 600 + 200 = $800 for the textbooks.

This is $6,000 in the campaign.

Slightly outdated: International student fees: base $2,423

900£ = USD $1,180.93

60k EGP = USD $1,241.29

Funds left after:

Gfm fees for 160 donations: 2304.74

Transfer fee, ~$200: 2,104.74

12% Bank fee: 1852.17

To cover the funds lost to fees, we need an extra $800 (assumed 55 donations). After fees on that, it's only $625 (enough to cover the short-term goal)

So we need 2423 + 800 = $3,223 for the international student fee.

This is $9,223 10,223 in the campaign, rounded up to $ 9,250 10,250

The rate of ~$100 daily is sufficient to get us to this goal before the deadline of Nov 13 (this accounts for the 2 days needed for transfers)

[acurtist]

Irritating Character Tropes:

1. Meddler: Had to share explosive commentary about everything and everyone.

2. Gossip-monger: Make up stories and spread them far and wide like a virus.

3. Riddler: Speaks in puzzles and keeps people on toes the hidden meanings in their tales.

4. Jester: Everything and everyone is a joke. Must crack a few ones to earn them wages.

5. Rat hole: Has to sneak in in nook and crannies like a rat to uncover secrets.

6. Interrogator: Wouldn't stop asking same questions with different angles.

7. Petty Thief: Kleptomaniac and pickpocket extraordinaire.

8. Quarreler: Need to pick a fight about everything and anything.

9. Idiot: Speaks out of turn, doesn't know what they are talking about.

10. Lame Poet: Make everyone suffer with their awful compositions.

11. Liar: Conjures up lies out of thin air without skipping a heartbeat.

12. Plotter: Manipulative, calculative, untrustworthy, and narcissistic.

13. Personality Divergent: Sucks living daylights and happiness from people around them.

14. Chaotic: Unorganized messy scatterbrain.

15. Peeping Tom: Needs jail time.

16. Impersonator: Either mentally disturbed or suffering from insecurities.

17. Man child: Regardless of gender acts like a child that needs supervision and extra attention.

18. Foul-mouthed: Starts and ends every sentence with one cursive word or the other.

19. Daydreamer: Always have head stuck in cloud and couldn't focus for more than 5 minutes.

20. Overzealous: Strict adherence to authority figures. Will not hesitate to commit crimes.

21. Righteous Prick: Nothing they do can be wrong or at fault.

22. Existentialist: Make others depressed with their annoying cynicism.

23. Overly-enthusiastic Schmuck: Out of touch with real world and impervious to any challenges. Thinks goodwill is enough resource and help.

24. Undoctor: Has a home remedy for every disease and ailment. Usually a chain-smoker with a protruding belly.

25. Know-it-all: Grammar Nazi, encyclopedia, general knowledge enthusiastic. Insufferable.

26. Geek: Lack of boundaries and respect for privacy.

27. Dare Devil: Needs to get hurt before setting anyone else on fire.

28. Psychoanalyst: Wouldn't shut up about what you actually think, need, and want.

29. Fortune-teller: Spew nonsense out their ass and present it as divine revelation.

30. Manufacturer: Breaks more things than repairs.

31. Conspiracy Theorist: Busy in organizing telepathic peace talks with president and alien civilization.

32. Over-committed Logician: Acts like a machine until an emotional explosions.

33. Otaku/Fic Connoisseur: Spoilers spoliers everywhere.

34. Drama Queen: Nonstop emotional blackmailer.

35. Fatphobic: Anorexic, suffering from health and psychological issues.

36. Glutton: Overweight, hates skinny people. Could use some exercise.

I mean the list doesn't ends. I can honestly think of just as many more of these.

Gotta add them all!

[luckyroll3]

Crimson Lights

Summary: Kay moves to a new town after a tough breakup and falls in love with her neighbor Chris. Chris is young, handsome, and rich and he sweeps her off her feet. He's funny, sweet, loves to cuddle, and great in bed. As their relationship blossoms, Kay suspects that all may not be as it seems with Chris. She soon learns that Chris is also Bang Chan, the feared and respected leader of the SKZ crew and next in line to rule the infamous, ruthless, and powerful Crimson Syndicate, a global criminal empire.

Bang Chan x Original Character (f): Smut, Mafia AU

Warnings:  This work of fiction is intended for 18+ audiences only. Includes explicit sexual content, violence, explicit language, etc. Author chooses not to issue tags for everything that takes place to preserve elements of storytelling.

Updates currently posted weekly on Saturdays or Sundays.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

[infinityyrp]

Muse List: Teen wolf 🐺

☆Sundina Gloriana Deaton-Villanueva (TW/BTVS/shadowhunters OC)

☆Mieczyslaw 'Stiles' Stilinski

☆Isaac Lahey

☆Kira Yukimura

☆Malia Hale

☆Vernon Boyd

☆Romeo Bennett (TW/TVD OC)

RULES and what I'm looking for:

☆Always looking for partners.☆

•25+ MDNI.

•All Muses 21+, mature and dark themes will be present. Looking for MXF or FxF Roleplays, with me in the F role for mxf: I NO LONGER DOUBLE UP! I PREFER THE FEMALE ROLE DUE TO UNFORTUNATE EVENTS OF PARTNERS NOT BEING EQUAL AND TAKING ADVANTAGE OF ME AND MY MALE MUSES.

☆My Muse for my OC is always high: Replies, posts, and starters for her will be rapid fire. Medium-high activity.

♧My Muse for my cannon characters vary: so that means replies, posts, and starters for them will vary. Medium-Low activity.

•Looking for a partner to play as Derek Hale and Scott McCall: I am okay with Genderbent!F Muses for them as well! (If you need ideas for FC's I have a few in mind.) Please actually enjoy it and want to play them as well. It's not fun for anyone if both parties don't enjoy it.

•Looking for Clark Kent from Superman and Lois:

•Looking for a Faith Lehane from BTVS: My main OC has a slayer verse. She was a potential slayer (unfound) and when Willow did the slayer awakening spell, she arose to the occasion.

•Looking for Tasha Williams from The L word: But make it supernatural

•Looking for Angel Reyes from The Mayans: But make it supernatural.

•Looking for Ricky Underwood from SLOTAT: but make it supernatural.

•Looking for Jace Wayland from Shadowhunters: Post series.

•Looking for Zade Meadows from Haunting Adeline:

•Looking for Zeke Landon from manifest: But make it supernatural.

•Looking for someone to make an OC out of Devale Ellis.

•Looking for someone to make an OC out of Taye Diggs.

•Looking for a MALE OC of YOUR choice if the chemistry is there!

Thank you! ♥️

•Looking for all other cannon characters for platonic interactions— potential romance:

•No guarantee on interactions: just because you send a starter to me or reply to one of my open starters, does not mean I will reply to you. I will kindly decline a roleplay if I don't vibe with your style. I will never ignore you though, that's very rude and disrespectful. You will get nothing but kindness from me and I expect the same in return.

•Semi-selective.

•NOT GHOST FRIENDLY: Please be an adult and communicate the issue so we can either change things up or part ways respectfully.

•Mun is 29 almost 30: I am an adult and want to be treated as such. Drama will not be tolerated, if you can't respect me, you will get blocked.

•This blog is for entertainment purposes only: It's purely fiction and is supposed to be fun. I'm not here to fulfill some fantasy that you have, I am married and a mom and write for the storylines. Nothing more.

•No god-modding.

•Respect my limits and triggers and I'll respect yours:

No rape, pedophilia, blood incest, heavy mentions of abuse, heavy mentions of death, extreme gore, and bathroom play. Those are my HARD no's.

•My preferred method of roleplay is on Discord. My UN is: infinityyrp

TUPPERBOX IS A REQUIREMENT.

•I will roleplay here if need be.

•I prefer the female role, with the exception of my side/background male cannon characters.

•I will not accept anything less than a paragraph: Though my motto is always quality over quantity.

•I enjoy text style roleplays from time to time: Especially when things get busy for me/us.

•50\50 smut and story: Fluff will be kept at a minimum. I enjoy drama of all kinds(cheating, love triangles, double life, pregnancies, one night stands.) The list goes on. If that's not your cup of tea, then I'm not the partner for you.

•please be POC friendly: my main OC is a woman of color— Alan Deatons daughter.

•lgbtq+ friendly.

•I give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but I do have the right to decline a roleplay, just as you do.

•Communicate effectively.

•Please be consistent: Consistency is key in my book. If I'm waiting days for a reply (without communication), I lose interest. I understand life happens, I have a job m-f, but I also know most of us have our phones on us at all times, and it literally takes 2 minutes to send a message explaining your absence.

•Please be willing to talk ooc and be enthusiastic about our stories: I like to make Playlists and plot and talk about our ships and be friends outside of the roleplay.

•Most important, have fun!

•Open starters will be in the comments: DM me about which one you like and I'll tag you in a starter on the TL or we can make a server on discord and go from there!

•You can add me on discord and message me anytime.

•My DMs are open for discussing potential partnership/plots.

•Kink friendly: Will discuss privately

•Taboo friendly: will discuss privately.

Are we besties yet?😉

Send an Emoji when you DM me to let me know you've read and understand my preferences and rules:

Thank you for your time! ❤️

[genderkoolaid]

I saw a post that was showing some statistics about trans women getting paid the least out of like al trans people like a way to discredit transandrophobia and compared us to cis mras and all I could think about was that trans men are the most likely to be suicidal out of all trans people and like I just wanted to scream at OP this isn't a competition we all are oppressed

Idk what study/studies they were citing, but I will say that this study suggests that trans pay rates are a bit more complicated than that?

They look at binary trans men (FTM), binary trans women (MTF), and genderqueer/nonbinary people AFAB & AMAB in the USA. Here are some findings:

Within the ‘Trans’ grouping, these estimates indicate that the income of FTMs ranges between 5–19% less than similarly situated MTFs. Within the ‘GQNB’ grouping, the income of AFAB GQNBs ranges between 9–22% less than AMAB GQNBs. For the ‘AMAB’ grouping, AMAB GQNBs income ranges 12–15% less than their MTF counterparts, with the exception of one insignificant decomposition estimate.28 Finally, AFAB GQNBs income ranges 13–26% less than their FTM counterparts in the ‘AFAB’ grouping.

Compared with this group, MTFs who transitioned from male-to-female later in life – between 25–29 years, 30–34 years, or ≥35 years – have incomes which are 30%, 43% and 52% more, respectively. In contrast, FTMs transitioning to male later in life is correlated with progressively lower incomes, with those transitioning at ≥35 years having 25% lower incomes than those who transitioned up to 24 years old

The two groups [identifying as wo/men vs. identifying as trans wo/men] of MTFs do not significantly differ along standard demographic or employment characteristics, while FTMs who identify as men have higher rates of education and income compared with their trans male identifying counterparts. The main differences in these groups are along trans specific characteristics. Those simply identifying as women and men are significantly more likely to have socially transitioned to living as their gender identity on a day-to-day basis, and to “pass” as their gender identity rather than their assigned sex. Of those who have socially transitioned, the age at which they began doing so does not significantly differ among these sub-groups of MTFs and FTMs.

Compared with ACS [American Community Survey] cis-men, those assigned male at birth (MTFs and AMAB GQNBs) have similar rates of labour force participation, while those assigned female at birth (FTMs and AFAB GQNBs) are around 4 percentage points more likely to be out of the labour force. Despite similar or lower rates of labour force participation, all transgender groups have higher rates of unemployment (5–8 pp) and, conditional on being in employment, being transgender is correlated with higher rates of part-time work (2–19 pp). All transgender groups have higher rates of poverty (8–16 pp) also.

This is just one study but I really like how it looks further into the issue and is inclusive of GQ/NB people. The authors actually point out how identifying as GQ/NB can result in worse treatment because of having a gender further outside the norm. I also find it interesting how they look at trans people who identify specifically as trans vs. just as men or women, and the result that trans-identified FTMs tend to have higher education and income- which could point to them having better access to transitioning through wealth and being more aligned with cisheternormative standards, giving them more experiences in line with cis men of their race and class, while FTMs who do not pass as cis(het) men feel their transness is more crucial to their experiences.

But anyways. Even if trans women are paid the least, that doesn't erase the real damage of anti-transmasculinity- but, also, it may be much more complex than that. There's a lot more variables to consider than just "trans or not trans." And, ultimately, we're all paid less as a result of being trans.

[britcision]

New day new conspiracy to be unhinged about woooooo

SO.

This right here.

The moment where Kabru reveals he’s Milsiril’s baby boy (and more relevantly the last survivor of Utaya)

Kabru telling them that he actually wanted to enlist in the Canaries directly, but couldn’t because of the racial barrier. How true that is……. Well let’s say I’m sure he wanted to when he was little, buuuuut by the time he left it wasn’t that they wouldn’t let him

And tbh the reason why is very much the next panel:

The Canaries learn he’s Milsiril’s little boy and immediately fucking claim him as theirs, asking if he’s been eating well, if he wants cake, telling him to cheer up and smile sometimes

It is notably the convicts, especially Otta and Fleki although Cithis has been leading the conversation; Pattadol is not in frame and Mithrun ruins all their fun by staying on track

Kabru is not 30 seconds out of saying he was raised by their vice commander before he is being babied, and there’s a fun read of just “well this is our child now we must care for him for Milsiril hello new nephew”

But. Given what we later learn Milsiril’s care is actually like. The room where Kabru could eat all the cake that he wanted, that he never ever wanted to return to even when freezing and starving.

Where she gave him such arduous and extensive sword training he thought he would die, with the stated intent of showing him how bad it could be to make him give up and stay with her forever.

“Wanna eat some cake” is suddenly a much darker comment, and doesn’t have a directional bubble, so I’mma pin it on Cithis on general Sketchy Bitch vibes

Now, that only makes sense if these folks know Milsiril directly, or have some way to know what her home life is like for her adoptees

(Or Cithis can read minds which let’s be honest absolutely no one needs to be true but she deserves it)

But. So does that immediate tonal shift

“Oh, you’re Milsiril’s kid. Now we care about you beyond being an interruption.”

We know Pattadol is on her very first mission. We know Cithis has been responsible for Mithrun’s care for long enough while he’s back on active duty that she gets bored of her new doll.

(And that she only started respecting him after they acquired Pattadol, whiiiiich. He got back to active duty 14 years ago. None of the other Canaries got their own timeline, but he’s also had long enough to have an established track record of getting his warden partners killed

When Flamela assigns Cithis to his wellbeing, she pretty clearly knows the extent of his caretaking issues, and this whole section of the timeline is fuzzy, but it is specifically Pattadol who is the first to tempt Cithis into telling Mithrun to hurt her

And specifically not until after he refuses that she begins to respect him)

Milsiril has been retired for the same 14 year period, taking Kabru and for some reason one of her own Canary convicts home with her, but she served with Mithrun when he initially became a Dungeon Lord 40 years pre series… and most of that squad died in Mithrun’s dungeon

(Also his lover became a snake person at some point for some reason sooooo monsterfucker ahoy)

(We know that’s the lover from both Mithrun’s initial vision and his Adventurer’s Bible comic which identifies his brother as the one with the short hair. Presumably they were not always a snake?)

None of the names he gave Kabru in his backstory refer to any of his current party members

Otta and Fleki mention Milsiril in Otta’s comic when teasing Otta about being a pedophile because she only dates halffoot women and breaks up with them when they turn 30

(This being past middle age for halffoots, who become adults at 13 and live to around 50; Chilchuck is 29.

One might expect… say… visible signs of aging to show up around 30. Reminders of how little time they have left. Although, frankly, how much free time does Otta actually have to be dating outside of work???? They’re so shorthanded Mithrun made captain the minute he could serve after Utaya)

Ahem. We digress.

Otta’s reaction (directly saying Milsiril treats shorter lived people like pets while she loves them as individuals, which Kabru Does Not Deny) might be because she’s seen Milsiril’s behaviour directly, or just being sick of the comparison. Hard to say, but Milsiril already doesn’t like elves

No, the conspiracy theory today is that CITHIS in particular has worked with Milsiril between Mithrun being rescued and Utaya’s destruction, possibly with Fleki and Otta

They’re all close to Mithrun’s age so there’s a very real possibility they were serving when Utaya fell, and either were lucky enough not to get sent there (there are so many dungeons in the world) or unlucky enough not to retire in the aftermath

Dumping Mithrun with Milsiril’s survivors makes perfect sense - the two had served together as wardens and Milsiril Barest Possible Minimum took a personal interest in Mithrun returning to duty after Utaya

She’s the one getting him to take his first steps and tells him she’ll get him back in a dungeon

Milsiril, known hater of elves, left the Canaries on good enough terms with her convicts to take one with her (Helki, shown in Mithrun’s story and Kabru’s training flashbacks - the only other survivor we know of from Mithrun’s dungeon)

And these particular convicts immediately brighten up knowing that Kabru is one of Milsiril’s; he’s in a very different position from Mithrun, who basically has direct power over their lives and deaths, but if you have a potentially unstable new captain who’s gonna be extra dependent on his convicts coming in…

Well, it’d be nice if the convicts have a reason beyond “well if both of our wardens die we can’t use magic so we will too” to keep him alive and moving

Note: they did at some point hand him directly over to fucking Cithis, who has an established track record of wrapping her captains around her little finger and doing whatever the fuck she wants anyway

(To the point that she’s left and “rejoined” the Canaries multiple times, and her behaviour with Mithrun is considered her having calmed down… while actively trying to have him hurt his subordinate wardens and plotting to kill Pattadol)

So. Not. Y’know. Convinced that anyone necessarily was thinking that particular assignment through. Although you could argue that they were just heading off the inevitable and letting her know this one is high maintenance

ANYWAY.

Tl;dr: Mithrun’s a monsterfucker, this is established fact and not a conspiracy theory

Kabru’s been adopted by the Canaries the second they know who his mom is, which may explain why no one actually tries to stop him when he grabs Mithrun later despite him not having a weapon

(Fear of Milsiril finding out they’ve hurt her boy > rescuing Mithrun or later even stopping Kabru from helping Laios repeatedly)

And Cithis, Fleki, and possibly Otta worked directly with Milsiril at one point before Utaya, which is why Mithrun was given them specifically - he was one of Milsiril’s projects too, Milsiril’s personal involvement unclear

How much this has to do with Mithrun getting all his warden comrades killed but apparently not his convicts: unclear

(Still bet Cithis “helped” with the warden before Pattadol)

[evidence-based-activism]

did you see the New York Times article with Biden and Trump’s heads photoshopped onto half naked bodies on weighing scales. I thought body shaming is bad? Imagine if it was Kamala or another female politician who had this done to them. If it’s wrong for women it’s wrong for men

Quick notes:

No, I had not.

It wasn't the New York Times it was the cover of New York magazine’s Health Issue (from July).

The photo illustration was by Martin Schoeller and the source images were from Seth Wenig and Mandel Ngan. In other words, men. Men made the image.

I personally find the illustration to be in poor taste. But that's pretty much a standard for political cartoons (vaguely offensive and poorly done).

Calling Harris by her first name while referring to Biden and Trump (and all the other male politicians) by their last names is sexist. You're demonstrating less respect for her as a professional.

---

My main point:

I don't need to "imagine" this being done to female politicians, because they are already facing something significantly worse: deepfake pornography. In fact, "ninety-six percent of deepfakes online depict women in non-consensual pornography" [1]. For example, a recent British investigation found "found evidence of over 400 instances of digitally altered deepfake pornography of more than 30 high-profile UK politicians" [2], all of whom were women.

Importantly, there is substantial evidence that this form of harassment is impacting women's ability to continue in their line of work [1].

So, that magazine cover was in poor taste, but it's also not impacting their (or any other man's) ability to continue in their line of work. It's not pornographic or even remotely sexualized. (I think you'd even have a hard time arguing it's objectifying – that is, reducing them to objects.) Notably, I've never seen a photo-shopped image of a woman in her underwear that wasn't explicitly sexualized.

In addition, please see this post for evidence that women face more issues concerning body image and sexualization/objectification in the media.

---

As an additional, important note: nonsexual deepfakes are also an increasing concern [3], such as the fake campaign ads and photos being passed off as real (e.g., the recent one of Harris spread by Musk). Please do not blindly trust any videos or photographs without some verification.

References under the cut:

Shukla, Vandinika. “Deepfakes and Elections: The Risk to Women’s Political Participation | TechPolicy.Press.” Tech Policy Press, 29 Feb. 2024, https://techpolicy.press/deepfakes-and-elections-the-risk-to-womens-political-participation.

Politico. (2024, July 2). How deepfakes could upend 2024's elections. Politico. https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-nightly/2024/07/02/how-deepfakes-could-upend-2024s-elections-00166347

Floreani, Samantha. “From Politics to Porn: Will 2024 Be the Year in Which Deepfake Fears Finally Become Real?” The Guardian, 25 July 2024. The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/25/ai-celebrity-deepfakes-generative-chatgpt-impact-politics-future.

[kakyoinmonth]

Introducing Kakyoin Month 2024!

Welcome to Kakyoin Month 2024! A month dedicated to Kakyoin Noriaki from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, focusing on his character, evolution, and interactions with others. This also doubles as a birthday celebration, since all we have for his birthday date is his zodiac sign (Leo). The month has been broken up into four different weeks and a finale. Please feel free to pick and choose what days/weeks/etc you wish to participate in – you don’t have to do it all!

The prompts are as follows:

Week 1: Variation

Day 1: Part 3

Day 2: Part 4 au

Day 3: Part 5 au

Day 4: Part 6 au

Day 5: OVA

Day 6: Irene-verse

Day 7: SBR-verse

Week 2: Friends and Family

Day 8: Jotaro

Day 9: Joseph

Day 10: Avdol

Day 11: Polnareff

Day 12: Iggy

Day 13: Family

Day 14: Hierophant Green

Week 3: Character

Day 15: Screenshot redraw/alternate palette/missing scene

Day 16: Hair noodle/scarf/wide mouth

Day 17: Sand/water/blood

Day 18: Sunglasses/fashion/gems

Day 19: Dreams/knives/dogs

Day 20: Art/anthropology/video games

Day 21: Water tower/clocks/night

Week 4: Headcanons/Favorites

Day 22: Favorite romantic or platonic pairing

Day 23: Pride (sexuality/gender headcanons)

Day 24: Favorite color

Day 25: Favorite music

Day 26: Favorite animal

Day 27: Job/career/hobby

Day 28: Favorite fashion/aesthetic

Finale:

Day 29: Scars/disabilities/blood

Day 30: Message/pride/flaw

Day 31: Knowledge/love/triumph

Current rules are as follows:

No NSFW for this project! Dirty jokes are allowed, so long as they aren’t too graphic, but limited nudity and no sex!

Do NOT participate if you are “proship”/“anti-anti”/"profiction"/etc. Beyond the given moral complications, the moderator has experienced personal issues in their life that make it so they don’t want to work creatively with proshippers — so if nothing else, respect that.

No EARLY submissions please, but LATE submissions are 100 percent allowed! Hell, if you see this two years after it’s over and still want to participate, or if it takes you two years to finish a submission, please do still submit and tag!

Submissions must be related to prompts, but for days with multiple prompts, such as days 15-21/27-31, you do not need to incorporate every prompt listed! For example, if you have an idea for "sunglasses" but not "fashion" or "gems" on day 18, please feel free to only focus on the "sunglasses" prompt! There is no need to include everything. There are multiple prompts listed just so there are plenty of options to draw inspiration from.

That's it! Please feel free to reply, send an ask, DM, etc if you have a question! More information and all the answers to any questions that may arise can be found on this Google doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19ySJ9Xnjc0Um7I3NHYZIeCuh_Rjkc_PuCNB4PrGSLts/edit?usp=sharing

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy Kakyoin Month 2024!

[sensualnoiree]

full moon in sag 5/23

Thursday, 5/23, the Full Moon in Sagittarius at 2° shines a spotlight on issues of freedom, expansion, and exploration, emphasizing attitudes of faith and optimism. Sagittarius expects the best from the world and others, often failing to see the darker side. This noble stance can lead to difficulties, particularly when one is beyond innocence and cannot engage with complex aspects of reality.

The inherent tension of the Full Moon, with the Sun opposing the Moon, is more pronounced this month. The Gemini Sun is accompanied by an entourage of planets in the preceding sign of Taurus, creating a disassociated opposition of Venus and Jupiter to the Moon. This adds a layer of complexity, making the tension palpable but its cause less obvious, and solutions harder to pinpoint.

Venus and Jupiter are conjunct at 29° Taurus, adding urgency to the situation. Taurus symbolizes security, stability, satisfaction, and enjoyment, favoring quality of experience over quantity, and comfort over stimulation. This sets up a fundamental conflict between a thirst for excitement and a desire for constancy.

The 29th degree of any sign carries a "do or die" attitude, where energies are intensely focused on achieving a result. Venus and Jupiter, traditionally benevolent planets, represent forces of blessings, prosperity, kindness, and peace. Yet, accessing or offering these blessings may be challenging due to various limitations. The task is to find a balance between extending ourselves and respecting others' boundaries.

The Moon will trine Mars later, helping to cut through confusion. The Moon is also in and out of a trine with Neptune in Pisces at 29°, which might allow for some comforting haziness and mental rest. Therapies that rebalance the nervous system or chakras could be beneficial, especially those focusing on the feet, helping us rise above conflicts.

Jupiter's conjunction with Uranus, though in a wide out-of-sign opposition to the Moon, suggests ongoing detachment processes or recognition of future changes needed. Uranus in Taurus indicates steadfast alterations whenever focus and energy are found.

The Moon enters Sagittarius at 1:24 AM, minutes before Jupiter and Venus exactly conjoin at 29° Taurus. This alignment, occurring in the final degree of Taurus, suggests fated developments in Venus-ruled areas like romance, the arts, and personal resources. Both Venus and Jupiter are sextile compassionate Neptune, enabling graceful endings.

The Full Moon in Sagittarius at 2° occurs at 6:52 AM. The Gemini Sun is in an out-of-sign conjunction with Venus and Jupiter, bringing new awareness about hopes, dreams, beliefs, and values. Venus enters Gemini at 1:30 PM, opening hearts to new possibilities and sparking curiosity in different romantic or artistic pursuits. The Jupiter-Neptune sextile at 29° Taurus-Pisces encourages exploration of new creative or spiritual paths and taking an intuitive leap of faith in some area of life.

follow for more astro insights like this and support me over on yt @quenysefields or instagram sensualnoiree

[kiragecko]

Cass and Babs

Updated version, since Tumblr REALLY doesn’t like me editing lists that were made in the old text editor. (The original, the rest of the lists, and a reading guide, are HERE):

Cass to Babs-

CIVILIAN NAME

Barbara - 6 | 4 (Batgirl 12, 2001, but not to her face until Batgirl 30, 2002)

CODENAME

Oracle - 18 | 13 (Batgirl 9, 2000)

FAMILIAL

Like a … Mother – 1 | 0 (but deletes the recording before sending, Batgirl 25, 2002)

OTHER

Baby – 1 | 0 (“You bet ya sweet patootie, Baby!” – This is the issue she starts putting in work to improve her casual English, Batgirl 52, 2004)

Babs to Cass-

CIVILIAN NAME

Cassandra - 28 | 13 (to face first in Batgirl 17, 2001, second not until Batgirl 30, 2002)

Cass - 29 | 2 (Batgirl 39, 2003)

Cassie - 9 | 0 (B: Gotham Knights 35-36, 2003)

CODENAME

Batgirl - 35 | 20 (Batgirl 1, 2000)

The Dreaded Batgirl – 1 | 0 (Batgirl 2, 2000)

Cass -- sorry -- Batgirl – 1 | 0 (Cass doesn't want people using a civilian name yet, Batgirl 7, 2000)

STATUS

His Daughter - 1 | 0 (referencing David Cain, Batman 567, 1999)

Our Protégé – 0 | 1 (Batgirl 3, 2000)

OTHER

(That) Girl - 4 | 2

Young Lady - 1

“Unstoppable Fighting Machine,” huh? – 0 | 1 (Batgirl 1, 2000)

Sleepyhead – 1 | 0 (Batgirl 2, 2000)

Teenage Female Vigilante Martial Arts Experts – 1 | 0 (Batgirl 7, 2000)

A seventeen-year-old Girl – 0 | 1 (Batgirl 17, 2001)

Kid - 1 | 0 (Batgirl 36, 2003)

A Lonely Child with a Lot of Bad Memories and a Life full of Pain – 0 | 1 (Batgirl 39, 2003)

Honey – 1 | 0 (Batgirl 39, 2003)

An eighteen-year-old Girl – 0 | 1 (age repeated in 48, Batgirl 39, 2003)

Another Weapon to Deploy in Your Never-Ending War – 0 | 1 (to Bruce, Batgirl 40, 2003)

A Strong, Intelligent, Beautiful Young Woman – 1 | 0 (Batgirl 49, 2004)

Girls – 1 | 0 (Batgirl 53, 2004)

Comments:

Babs tends to use ‘Cassandra’ the first time she addresses Cass, and then sometimes ‘Cass’ or ‘Cassie’ as the conversation continues.

Babs switches between ‘Batgirl’ and ‘Cassandra’ based on how personal and emotional the conversation is, not whether a costume is being worn.

Cass practices social skills on Babs, and then later Steph.

Babs respects Cass’ distaste of civilian names at first, and slowly starts peppering it in as Cass starts recognizing the value of more than fighting. She tries to lead by example - slowly adding in skills and practices that she wants Cass to pick up.

On the other hand, Babs learning style seems to be INTENSELY reading/writing based. She consistently ascribes Cass' issues to her lack of literacy, even when they are obviously trauma or neurodivergence based. She responds negatively to Cass trying to learn through TV, never suggests people-watching, etc. It's not until Babs leaves Gotham that Cass starts exploring other communication options (she gets a tape recorder!), and actually gets confident enough to explore social situations on her own (Robin 132/Batgirl 58, 2005).

There's a reason that Cass makes a recording saying that Babs is like a mother to her (before going to a fight where she thinks she will die). There's also a reason she deletes that recording. Babs has been an amazing support, but has also hurt Cass deeply. (She still did better than Bruce, though!)

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Roevember

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

August 29, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

Aug 30, 2024

And now the U.S. Army has weighed in on the scandal surrounding Trump’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery for a campaign photo op, after which his team shared a campaign video it had filmed. The Army said that the cemetery hosts almost 3,000 public wreath-laying ceremonies a year without incident and that Trump and his staff “were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and [Department of Defense] policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds.” 

It went on to say that a cemetery employee “who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside…. This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the… employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked. [Arlington National Cemetery] is a national shrine to the honored dead of the Armed Forces, and its dedicated staff will continue to ensure public ceremonies are conducted with the dignity and respect the nation’s fallen deserve.” 

“I don’t think I can adequately explain what a massive deal it is for the Army to make a statement like this,” political writer and veteran Allison Gill of Mueller, She Wrote, noted. “The Pentagon avoids statements like this at all costs. But a draft dodging traitor decided to lie about our armed forces staff, so they went to paper.”

The deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh said the Department of Defense is “aware of the statement that the Army issued, and we support what the Army said.” Hours later, Trump campaign manager Chris LaCivita reposted the offending video on X and, tagging the official account for Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, said he was “hoping to trigger the hacks” in her office. 

In Talking Points Memo, Josh Marshall reported that the Trump campaign’s plan was to lay a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery to honor the 13 members of the U.S. military killed in the suicide bombing during the evacuation of Kabul, Afghanistan, in August 2021. They intended to film the event and then attack Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden for not “showing up” for the event, which they intended to portray as an “established memorial.”

Another major story from yesterday is that the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has finalized two rules that will work to stop corruption and money laundering in U.S. residential real estate and in private investment. 

This is a big deal. As scholar of kleptocracies Casey Michel put it: “This is a massive, massive deal in the world of counter-kleptocracy—the U.S. is finally ending the gargantuan anti–money laundering loopholes for real estate, private equity, hedge funds, and more. Can't overstate how important this is. What a feat.” 

​​After the collapse of the Soviet Union in late 1991, the oligarchs who rose to power in the former Soviet republics looked to park their illicit money in western democracies, where the rule of law would protect their investments. Once invested in the United States, they favored the Republicans, who focused on the protection of wealth rather than social services. For their part, Republican politicians focused on spreading capitalism rather than democracy, arguing that the two went hand in hand.

The financial deregulation that made the U.S. a good bet for oligarchs to launder money got a boost when, shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks, Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act to address the threat of terrorism. The law took on money laundering and the illicit funding of terrorism, requiring financial institutions to inspect large sums of money passing through them. But the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) exempted many real estate deals from the new regulations. 

The United States became one of the money-laundering capitals of the world, with hundreds of billions of dollars laundered in the U.S. every year. 

In 2011 the international movement of illicit money led then–FBI director Robert Mueller to tell the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City that globalization and technology had changed the nature of organized crime. International enterprises, he said, “are running multi-national, multi-billion dollar schemes from start to finish…. They may be former members of nation-state governments, security services, or the military…. These criminal enterprises are making billions of dollars from human trafficking, health care fraud, computer intrusions, and copyright infringement. They are cornering the market on natural gas, oil, and precious metals, and selling to the highest bidder…. These groups may infiltrate our businesses. They may provide logistical support to hostile foreign powers. They may try to manipulate those at the highest levels of government. Indeed, these so-called ‘iron triangles’ of organized criminals, corrupt government officials, and business leaders pose a significant national security threat.”

Congress addressed this threat in 2021 by including the Corporate Transparency Act in the National Defense Authorization Act. It undercut shell companies and money laundering by requiring the owners of any company that is not otherwise overseen by the federal government (by filing taxes, for example, or through close regulation) to file with FinCEN a report identifying (by name, birth date, address, and an identifying number) each person associated with the company who either owns 25% or more of it or exercised substantial control over it. The measure also increased penalties for money laundering and streamlined cooperation between banks and foreign law enforcement authorities. That act went into effect on January 1, 2024.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration made fighting corruption a centerpiece of its attempt to shore up democracy both at home and abroad. In June 2021, President Biden declared the fight against corruption a core U.S. national security interest. “Corruption threatens United States national security, economic equity, global anti-poverty and development efforts, and democracy itself,” he wrote. “But by effectively preventing and countering corruption and demonstrating the advantages of transparent and accountable governance, we can secure a critical advantage for the United States and other democracies.” 

In March 2023 the Treasury told Congress that “[m]oney laundering perpetrated by the Government of the Russian Federation (GOR), Russian [state-owned enterprises], Russian organized crime, and Russian elites poses a significant threat to the national security of the United States and the integrity of the international financial system,” and it outlined the ways in which it had been trying to combat that corruption. 

Now FinCEN has firmed up rules to add anti-money-laundering safeguards to private real estate and private investment. They will require certain industry professionals to report information to FinCEN about cash transfers of residential real estate to a legal entity or trust, transactions that “present a high illicit finance risk,” FinCEN wrote. “The rule will increase transparency, limit the ability of illicit actors to anonymously launder illicit proceeds through the American housing market, and bolster law enforcement investigative efforts.” The real estate rule will go into effect on December 1, 2025.

The rule about investment advisors will make the obligation to report suspicious financial activity apply to certain financial advisors. This rule will go into effect on January 1, 2026.

“The Treasury Department has been hard at work to disrupt attempts to use the United States to hide and launder ill-gotten gains,” Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen explained. “That includes by addressing our biggest regulatory deficiencies, including through these two new rules that close critical loopholes in the U.S. financial system that bad actors use to facilitate serious crimes like corruption, narcotrafficking, and fraud. These steps will make it harder for criminals to exploit our strong residential real estate and investment adviser sectors.”

“I applaud FinCEN’s commonsense efforts to prevent corrupt actors from using the American residential real estate and private investment sectors as safe havens for hiding dirty money,” Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said in a statement. “For too long, vulnerabilities in the system have attracted kleptocrats, cartels, and criminals looking to stow away their ill-gotten gains. I hope FinCEN will apply similar safeguards to commercial real estate, as well as due diligence requirements to investment advisors. These are all welcome steps toward keeping our country and financial system safe and secure for the American people—not those who wish to abuse it.”

The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (also known as the Helsinki Commission) brought the history of modern money laundering full circle. It said: “We welcome the Treasury Department's decision to close off crucial pathways for Russian money laundering and sanctions evasion through real estate and private equity.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[jotaromonth]

Jotaro Month 2024 is now live!

Welcome to Jotaro Kujo Month 2024: a celebration for Jotaro's character during his zodiac month (January 20th to February 19th), since we don't have an official date for his birthday!

The month has been broken up into individual weeks plus an extra day. Feel free to participate in only one week, or one day, on-and-off, etc, whatever works best for you! If you want to join at all, feel free!

The prompts are as follows:

Week 1: Variation

Day 1: Part 3

Day 2: Part 4

Day 3: Part 5

Day 4: Part 6

Day 5: OVA

Day 6: Irene-verse

Day 7: SBR-verse

Week 2: Friendship

Day 8: Kakyoin

Day 9: Polnareff

Day 10: Avdol

Day 11: Iggy

Day 12: Morioh

Day 13: Italy

Day 14: Florida

Week 3: Family

Day 15: Joseph

Day 16: Holly

Day 17: Josuke

Day 18: Giorno

Day 19: Jolyne

Day 20: Jonathan

Day 21: Ex-wife

Week 4: Character

Day 22: Ocean/desert/home

Day 23: Pride (sexuality/gender headcanons)

Day 24: Graduate student/teaching/stress

Day 25: Favorite platonic or romantic ship

Day 26: Screenshot redraw/favorite scene/missing scene

Day 27: Make up/clothes/fashion

Day 28: Alone/comfort/reflection

Finale:

Day 29: Star platinum/time stop/speed

Day 30: Scars/loss/mistakes

Day 31: Healing/avenge/redemption

Current rules are as follows:

When submitting something for this project, please tag @jotaromonth and tag it #jotaro kujo month 2024! This way your submission will for sure be seen

No NSFW for this project! Dirty jokes and tenderness are allowed, but limited nudity and no sex!

Do NOT participate if you are “proship”/“anti-anti”/"profiction"/etc. Beyond the given moral complications, the moderator has experienced personal issues in their life that make it so they don’t want to work creatively with proshippers — so if nothing else, respect that.

No EARLY submissions please, but LATE submissions are 100 percent allowed! Hell, if you see this two years after it’s over and still want to participate, or if it takes you two years to finish a submission, please do still submit and tag!

Submissions must be related to prompts, but for Character Week (week 4) and the Finale, you do not need to incorporate every prompt listed for one day! For example, if you have an idea for "teaching" but not "graduate student" or "stress" on day 24, please only focus on the "teaching" prompt! No need to include everything. There are multiple prompts just so there are plenty of options to draw inspiration from.

And that's it! Please let me know if you have any questions. Here is a google doc that will record the rules (including updated rules), prompts, dates, and a compilation of the answers to any questions that may arise: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10KPq0aE-HXJj1c8Rudtf9bd7givEhe41UCGPqNhbkA0/edit?usp=sharing

[stxleslyds]

✨31 DAYS OF DICK (GRAYSON)✨

2023 EDITION

Hello and Welcome everyone! With February here, the 31DOD prompt list had to make its appearance. This time we will be exploring a bit outside the realm of comics; we will make our panel presentation and writing... Limitless. There is far too much for all of us to say, so this time around the structure has been made more flexible. I also think these prompts are varied and quite fun! (I do hope you guys think so too!)

Just to make something clear before I continue, this prompt list is for the 31 Days Of Dick (Grayson) event that will start in March! Now, as you will notice, this prompt list will be separated in three different sections, this is, of course, to make this 31DOD experience different from the previous one and to maybe test the waters for future editions. Just like last time, you can join 31DOD whenever you like. If you want to do three, nine or twenty days of the event, you are completely free. None of these prompts require you to follow along each day. Also! Enjoy yourselves, have fun and even though there are some prompts where a choice must be made, be respectful and share your thoughts!

Well, without further ado, the 2023 Edition of 31DOD!

FAVOURITES (can be multiple):

1. Quote 2. Nightwing Issue 3. Headcanon 4. Suit 5. Team-up Issue 6. Weapon 7. Fanfiction 8. Skill 9. Dynamic with another character 10. Appearance in a non-Nightwing/team related issue 11. Trope 12. Nightwing comic artist 13. Nightwing comic writer 14. Headquarter 15. Vehicle

THIS or THAT:

16. Dick in Bludhaven or Dick in Gotham 17. Dick in Arkham Knight (video game) or Gotham Knights (video game) 18. Nightwing by Chuck Dixon or Nightwing by Tom Taylor 19. Dick and Roy or Dick and Wally 20. Dick and Bruce or Dick and Clark (choose your favourite parent) 21. OG Teen Titans team (1960 comic) or OG Young Justice team (show) 22. Robin!Dick mini or Dick!Bats mini (mini meaning short comic run)

WHAT IF...?:

23. Dick teamed up with a non-DC character, who would you like it to be? 24. Dick was a character in another universe of your choice, what role would he have? 25. Comics!Dick was sent to another universe, which one would you like it to be? 26. Dick had powers; what do you think they would be? 27. Dick had never lost his parents, what would his life look like? 28. Dick had adopted Jason Todd instead of Bruce? 29. Nightwing had a Black Label book? Would you like it? What would you like to see explored? 30. You had the chance to build the next creative team for a Nightwing run, who would be part of it?

FREE DAY!:

31. Do as you wish! Maybe I missed something that you would have liked to see in this edition… Enjoy your free day!

There it is everyone! If you have any doubts, ideas, questions, feedback about anything relating to 31DOD please do not hesitate and send me an ask! This is meant to be fun to everyone who wants to celebrate Dick Grayson in one of his birth months! If you want to join 31DOD in March, don't forget to use the #31DOD tag so everyone can find the posts relating to the event!

AND! This time, thanks to the always brilliant @hood-ex (who had already helped shape this new edition of 31DOD), we have created a side blog where we will also reblog all your posts! You will find the official 31DOD blog HERE! I hope I see you in March!

[aralenorimaki01]

Peacemaker

“I made a vow to have peace, no matter how many people I have to kill to get it.” – Peacemaker

Picking up where 2021’s The Suicide Squad left off, DC’s recently released series Peacemaker follows a violent vigilante who believes in achieving peace at any cost - no matter how many people he has to kill for it in the process. He was one of the members of the second Task Force X strike team sent on a mission to Coro Maltese.

In response to the immense fame of the character, I think we desperately need a decent Peacemaker CC outfir on our Sims 4 games.

Sophisticatedly converted with striking likeness of Peacemaker’s appearance, this CC outift features a helmet.

Be sure to pick up the fantastic Peacemaker The Sims 4 CC outfit now to add to your proud DC collection!

Info:

Include custom thumbnail

Body/ Hat

2 swatches

Male

Teen-Elder

Specular map

Terms Of Use:

Please Dont re-upload or claim as yours

Do NOT Reupload or Put Behind Paywall!

DO NOT CONVERT TO ANY OTHER GAMES

Download:

Patreon Early Access 30/10

Public Access 29/11

IF THERE ARE ANY ISSUES PLEASE BE SURE TO LET ME KNOW

IF YOU USE ANY OF MY CC PLEASE TAG ME ON IG I WOULD LOVE TO SEE IT

(ALL CHARACTERS/MODELS/STAGES/FRANCHISES ETC BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE & RIGHTFUL OWNERS AND NOT ME)

[varenykmeson]

The ages in Gungrave games and Gungrave anime do not match up: an unhinged rant

Hello and welcome to "Varenykmeson goes on a long tirade about discrepancies in ages of fictional characters".

Apologies for any mistakes (English is not my native language) and strap in because this post gets pretty long:

The games tell us little to nothing so I had to refer to the Gungrave Archives, copy of which I do not possess, and therefore had to scrape off all the following information from this video on YT and especially this page (approx. 7:00 time mark):

Even though the quality of the screenshot is pretty ... bad, with some desperate squinting you can dig up this information:

Beyond the Grave - Age: 29 (at time of death) Mika Asagi - Age: 14 Dr. T (Tokioka) - Age: Late 50's Bob Poundmax - Age: Around 33 Balladbird Lee - Age: Around 35 (unfortunately, the paragraph for Bear Walken is an accidental copy of Bunji's. Shame.) Bunji Kugashira - Age: Around 36 Harry McDowell - Age: 42 Big Daddy - Age: Mid 50's (at the beginning of the story) Maria Asagi - Age: 29 (at the beginning of the story)

Now, is that consistent with the information in the anime?

Well-

When it comes to Brandon himself, according to his tombstone in episode 15 he died at age 27, which is slightly off.

(also on an unrelated note, damn, the anime is taking place really far in the future and also guess we now have an official date for the infamous elevator incident :( )

Mika is mostly likely 13 years old (or 12 and approaching 13) in the anime as in episode 18 Bear and Lee say that Brandon has been dead for 13 years. Also, in episode 17 Maria says that "it's been our 13th winter here".

If we try to figure out Harry's age then things get slightly messy because from episode 26 we know that he is the same age as Brandon (he pulls out a 43 year old bottle of bourbon and says it was made the same year he and Brandon were born). However that contradicts the fact that Brandon died aged 27 and then is "dead" for the next 13 years, therefore Harry should be 40. To make things even "worse", when Harry pulled the same bourbon trick on Big Daddy in episode 15, which takes place shortly after Brandon's death, he claims that the bottle is 28 years old. Help.

Now this section might get somewhat unhinged.

In episode 7 Bob compiles a file on Bunji, which is also shown on screen.

The whole thing is full of grammatical mistakes and general nonsense, but the first line says "This man appears to be in his 15 years old and has the characteristic skin." (????), which,

well,

if that information is true then this is the roughest anime teenager I've seen in my whole life (and i've seen the Stardust Crusaders OVA).

Now, in episode 15 Widge tells Maria that Brandon was 17/18 when he worked for him and Gary, which means that in episode 7 (which as the name implies takes place "5 years later") Brandon must've been 22 or 23. If you pair that with the fact that he dies at 27 and returns 13 years later, then approximately 18 years have passed between Bunji's introduction in episode 7 and episode 17 (5 years of working with Brandon + 13 years during which Brandon is presumed "completely dead") in which the anime timeline arrives to the plot of the first game, and Bunji would be somewhere in his mid 30's.

On the other hand the ages for Bob and Lee do not add up at all.

They are both introduced in episode 5 and the issue is pretty much evident right away as if we went by the ages in the book, they both would be younger than Bunji (33 and 35 respectively). Since Bunji is approx. 15 in the episode 7, here he would be a measly 10 year old and these two definitely aren't children.

Also, in the english dub Lee introduces himself as "Balladbird Lee, Esquire", which means this bastard is already a full fledged lawyer (however, in English subtitles for the Japanese dub there was no mention of this and he introduces himself just by his name).

As for Maria, we know that in episode 6 she is atleast 15 or 16 because Jester adopts her as an infant (shown in episode 3) and Big Daddy tells Brandon that it happened 15 years ago. However, in episode 25 Harry says that she seems to be same age or older than him and in episode 7 she tells Brandon that she used to view him as her "little brother".

I don't think there's been any mention of Dr. T's or Big Daddy's age.

TL;DR: help.