#it is going to destroy the environment agency

[machineheraldbabe]

Viktor's (subverted) Aristotelian Tragedy

A common sentiment I’m seeing throughout post-finale Viktor discourse is an understandable concern or distaste for the element of choice lost throughout his story. I know a lot of us – myself included – expected more time spent on his transformation, along with emphasis on the anger/rage/betrayal fueling it. But seeing him allow Singed to “begin the process” in episode 8 reminded me of Arcane’s origins – tragedy. Bear with me for another long analysis :)

Aristotle wrote the following on the tragedy: “A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself…with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish a catharsis of these emotions.” He also emphasized that the true tragic hero couldn’t be perfect, and his downfall into such catharsis-inducing circumstances was reliant on a fatal flaw, oftentimes pride.

Viktor fits this mold, as do many Arcane characters, and it stands to reason that this was intentional since the writing team has reiterated that the show is a tragedy, at its core.

Regarding Viktor’s fatal flaw, I’d argue it’s pride, but it manifests very uniquely. He never makes any grand declarations about his success and doesn’t draw attention to himself in any clear way throughout season one (“Progress Day” comes to mind). Instead, his pride manifests as staunch independence and self-reliance that lead to his downfall; his unwillingness to break his stoic mold arguably led to his use of the Hexcore…so it goes.

Fascinating caveat: Viktor’s pride is a defense mechanism, a necessary tool he built in order to survive and succeed in a hostile environment to people of his station. His self-reliance is increasingly desperate as his illness worsens. He’s cornered by fate but banks on the sanctity of choice at every turn – in season one, Viktor is bound by the conviction that we all have a choice. It’s why he’s so distressed when Jayce makes the wrong one regarding weaponizing Hextech.

“There is always a choice.”

Viktor’s choice to fuse with the Hexcore is the classic Aristotelian fatal flaw moment, the singular incident that opens the flood gates for eventual catharsis. We watch Viktor make an irreparable choice, one that we know to be bad, and endure the repercussions. He then makes the choice to abandon the Hexcore, and end his life, but audiences can’t shake the feeling that those consequences aren’t leaving anytime soon.

So why is Viktor so anti-choice in his final season 2, act 3 form?

Choice is Viktor’s weapon. Pride is what leads him to abusing it. Despite how uncomfortable and depressing it is to watch, Viktor’s slow descent into the Herald is a perfect twist of fate. The Arcane is even so insidious that it meshes with his original intent, to help those suffering in the undercity, while convincing him that their subservience is healing. He becomes responsible for their choices. He knows what’s best because he’s relieving the Gloriously Evolved of their suffering, right? The utopia is for the greater good, yes?

Admittedly, it was really hard watching act 3 Viktor descend fully into his choiceless ethos. But we can still relate it to his tragic flaw – his pride has mushroomed into coldhearted omniscience; not only does he know what’s best for everyone, evolution, but he also has the sense to make the choice for them to supersede their “baser instincts.” The grief we feel upon seeing this perverted, violent version of himself, as far removed from Viktor as possible, is the culmination of Aristotle’s treatise on tragedy. The catharsis is the rock-bottom Machine Herald.

"Choice is false."

But then Arcane decided to basically make Jayvik canon (get out of here, Christian Linke) and destroyed the early drafts of this post. I’m going to rapid-fire this next bit:

Jayce forces Viktor back to life. Viktor has no agency in his season 2 inciting incident. Again, it’s distressing when we mourn his agency, but it remains in accordance with Aristotelian tragedy.

Viktor clings to humanity as long as he possibly can. When Jayce calls out Viktor’s trajectory, alleging that his old partner had died in the Council chamber, whatever is left of Viktor gives way to the Arcane because his last tether has been snapped.

Jayce knows the game – Old Man Jenkins Mage Viktor told him so. Jayce becomes the linchpin in subverting Viktor’s tragedy. He knows what must happen. He understands now.

Machine Herald Viktor is given the chance to undo his fatal flaw, to reverse the catharsis, when he sees Old Man Jenkins Mage Viktor. With Jayce’s help, he takes it.

Given that it’s a version of Viktor who ultimately frees him from himself by empowering Jayce, we can gather that Viktor has liberated himself from his tragedy.

Aristotle’s catharsis is rapidly transformed from something based in release to something healing – Viktor’s tether to humanity returns. He grasps it. The walls of his pride and self-reliance collapse. He accepts Jayce’s help, finally being seen as the full individual he is. Catharsis ensues, for sure, but I don’t think it’s based in the typical tragedy genre.

All this to say, I think Viktor’s arc was, in fact, carefully constructed. He represents the Aristotelian descent into a fatal flaw and that’s very distressing to see unfold, especially since he embodied the tragic hero archetype so well from day one. However, Jayce undoes this narrative and we’re given an incredibly subversive ending that I, personally, never saw coming.

I’m sure that Mage Viktor has a much larger bearing on this analysis than I’m accounting for. But for now, suffice to say that he is Viktor’s way out of the tragedy. TALK ABOUT CHOICE!

This doesn’t erase anyone’s discomfort for Viktor having less and less agency, but I’d like to emphasize the logic and literary precedent behind the story decisions.

PS: here's a quick source I looked at about Aristotelian tragedies. I hope to re-up on Greek tragedies so I can get more specific about the parallels Arcane draws from them.

[a-feller]

Research project 2025. Vote knowing it exists.

[asgardian--angels]

Planet's Fucked: What Can You Do To Help? (Long Post)

Since nobody is talking about the existential threat to the climate and the environment a second Trump term/Republican government control will cause, which to me supersedes literally every other issue, I wanted to just say my two cents, and some things you can do to help. I am a conservation biologist, whose field was hit substantially by the first Trump presidency. I study wild bees, birds, and plants.

In case anyone forgot what he did last time, he gagged scientists' ability to talk about climate change, he tried zeroing budgets for agencies like the NOAA, he attempted to gut protections in the Endangered Species Act (mainly by redefining 'take' in a way that would allow corporations to destroy habitat of imperiled species with no ramifications), he tried to do the same for the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (the law that offers official protection for native non-game birds), he sought to expand oil and coal extraction from federal protected lands, he shrunk the size of multiple national preserves, HE PULLED US OUT OF THE PARIS CLIMATE AGREEMENT, and more.

We are at a crucial tipping point in being able to slow the pace of climate change, where we decide what emissions scenario we will operate at, with existential consequences for both the environment and people. We are also in the middle of the Sixth Mass Extinction, with the rate of species extinctions far surpassing background rates due completely to human actions. What we do now will determine the fate of the environment for hundreds or thousands of years - from our ability to grow key food crops (goodbye corn belt! I hated you anyway but), to the pressure on coastal communities that will face the brunt of sea level rise and intensifying extreme weather events, to desertification, ocean acidification, wildfires, melting permafrost (yay, outbreaks of deadly frozen viruses!), and a breaking down of ecosystems and ecosystem services due to continued habitat loss and species declines, especially insect declines. The fact that the environment is clearly a low priority issue despite the very real existential threat to so many people, is beyond my ability to understand. I do partly blame the public education system for offering no mandatory environmental science curriculum or any at all in most places. What it means is that it will take the support of everyone who does care to make any amount of difference in this steeply uphill battle.

There are not enough environmental scientists to solve these issues, not if public support is not on our side and the majority of the general public is either uninformed or actively hostile towards climate science (or any conservation science).

So what can you, my fellow Americans, do to help mitigate and minimize the inevitable damage that lay ahead?

I'm not going to tell you to recycle more or take shorter showers. I'll be honest, that stuff is a drop in the bucket. What does matter on the individual level is restoring and protecting habitat, reducing threats to at-risk species, reducing pesticide use, improving agricultural practices, and pushing for policy changes. Restoring CONNECTIVITY to our landscape - corridors of contiguous habitat - will make all the difference for wildlife to be able to survive a changing climate and continued human population expansion.

**Caveat that I work in the northeast with pollinators and birds so I cannot provide specific organizations for some topics, including climate change focused NGOs. Scientists on tumblr who specialize in other fields, please add your own recommended resources. **

We need two things: FUNDING and MANPOWER.

You may surprised to find that an insane amount of conservation work is carried out by volunteers. We don't ever have the funds to pay most of the people who want to help. If you really really care, consider going into a conservation-related field as a career. It's rewarding, passionate work.

At the national level, please support:

The Nature Conservancy

Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

Cornell Lab of Ornithology (including eBird)

National Audubon Society

Federal Duck Stamps (you don't need to be a hunter to buy one!)

These first four work to acquire and restore critical habitat, change environmental policy, and educate the public. There is almost certainly a Nature Conservancy-owned property within driving distance of you. Xerces plays a very large role in pollinator conservation, including sustainable agriculture, native bee monitoring programs, and the Bee City/Bee Campus USA programs. The Lab of O is one of the world's leaders in bird research and conservation. Audubon focuses on bird conservation. You can get annual memberships to these organizations and receive cool swag and/or a subscription to their publications which are well worth it. You can also volunteer your time; we need thousands of volunteers to do everything from conducting wildlife surveys, invasive species removal, providing outreach programming, managing habitat/clearing trails, planting trees, you name it. Federal Duck Stamps are the major revenue for wetland conservation; hunters need to buy them to hunt waterfowl but anyone can get them to collect!

THERE ARE DEFINITELY MORE, but these are a start.

Additionally, any federal or local organizations that seek to provide support and relief to those affected by hurricanes, sea level rise, any form of coastal climate change...

At the regional level:

These are a list of topics that affect major regions of the United States. Since I do not work in most of these areas I don't feel confident recommending specific organizations, but please seek resources relating to these as they are likely major conservation issues near you.

PRAIRIE CONSERVATION & PRAIRIE POTHOLE WETLANDS

DRYING OF THE COLORADO RIVER (good overview video linked)

PROTECTION OF ESTUARIES AND SALTMARSH, ESPECIALLY IN THE DELAWARE BAY AND LONG ISLAND (and mangroves further south, everglades etc; this includes restoring LIVING SHORELINES instead of concrete storm walls; also check out the likely-soon extinction of saltmarsh sparrows)

UNDAMMING MAJOR RIVERS (not just the Colorado; restoring salmon runs, restoring historic floodplains)

NATIVE POLLINATOR DECLINES (NOT honeybees. for fuck's sake. honeybees are non-native domesticated animals. don't you DARE get honeybee hives to 'save the bees')

WILDLIFE ALONG THE SOUTHERN BORDER (support the Mission Butterfly Center!)

INVASIVE PLANT AND ANIMAL SPECIES (this is everywhere but the specifics will differ regionally, dear lord please help Hawaii)

LOSS OF WETLANDS NATIONWIDE (some states have lost over 90% of their wetlands, I'm looking at you California, Ohio, Illinois)

INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE, esp in the CORN BELT and CALIFORNIA - this is an issue much bigger than each of us, but we can work incrementally to promote sustainable practices and create habitat in farmland-dominated areas. Support small, local farms, especially those that use soil regenerative practices, no-till agriculture, no pesticides/Integrated Pest Management/no neonicotinoids/at least non-persistent pesticides. We need more farmers enrolling in NRCS programs to put farmland in temporary or permanent wetland easements, or to rent the land for a 30-year solar farm cycle. We've lost over 99% of our prairies to corn and soybeans. Let's not make it 100%.

INDIGENOUS LAND-BACK EFFORTS/INDIGENOUS LAND MANAGEMENT/TEK (adding this because there have been increasing efforts not just for reparations but to also allow indigenous communities to steward and manage lands either fully independently or alongside western science, and it would have great benefits for both people and the land; I know others on here could speak much more on this. Please platform indigenous voices)

HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS (get your neighbors to stop dumping fertilizers on their lawn next to lakes, reduce agricultural runoff)

OCEAN PLASTIC (it's not straws, it's mostly commercial fishing line/trawling equipment and microplastics)

A lot of these are interconnected. And of course not a complete list.

At the state and local level:

You probably have the most power to make change at the local level!

Support or volunteer at your local nature centers, local/state land conservancy non-profits (find out who owns&manages the preserves you like to hike at!), state fish & game dept/non-game program, local Audubon chapters (they do a LOT). Participate in a Christmas Bird Count!

Join local garden clubs, which install and maintain town plantings - encourage them to use NATIVE plants. Join a community garden!

Get your college campus or city/town certified in the Bee Campus USA/Bee City USA programs from the Xerces Society

Check out your state's official plant nursery, forest society, natural heritage program, anything that you could become a member of, get plants from, or volunteer at.

Volunteer to be part of your town's conservation commission, which makes decisions about land management and funding

Attend classes or volunteer with your land grant university's cooperative extension (including master gardener programs)

Literally any volunteer effort aimed at improving the local environment, whether that's picking up litter, pulling invasive plants, installing a local garden, planting trees in a city park, ANYTHING. make a positive change in your own sphere. learn the local issues affecting your nearby ecosystems. I guarantee some lake or river nearby is polluted

MAKE HABITAT IN YOUR COMMUNITY. Biggest thing you can do. Use plants native to your area in your yard or garden. Ditch your lawn. Don't use pesticides (including mosquito spraying, tick spraying, Roundup, etc). Don't use fertilizers that will run off into drinking water. Leave the leaves in your yard. Get your school/college to plant native gardens. Plant native trees (most trees planted in yards are not native). Remove invasive plants in your yard.

On this last point, HERE ARE EASY ONLINE RESOURCES TO FIND NATIVE PLANTS and LEARN ABOUT NATIVE GARDENING:

Xerces Society Pollinator Conservation Resource Center

Pollinator Pathway

Audubon Native Plant Finder

Homegrown National Park (and Doug Tallamy's other books)

National Wildlife Federation Native Plant Finder (clunky but somewhat helpful)

Heather Holm (for prairie/midwest/northeast)

MonarchGard w/ Benjamin Vogt (for prairie/midwest)

Native Plant Trust (northeast & mid-atlantic)

Grow Native Massachusetts (northeast)

Habitat Gardening in Central New York (northeast)

There are many more - I'm not familiar with resources for western states. Print books are your biggest friend. Happy to provide a list of those.

Lastly, you can help scientists monitor species using citizen science. Contribute to iNaturalist, eBird, Bumblebee Watch, or any number of more geographically or taxonomically targeted programs (for instance, our state has a butterfly census carried out by citizen volunteers).

In short? Get curious, get educated, get involved. Notice your local nature, find out how it's threatened, and find out who's working to protect it that you can help with. The health of the planet, including our resilience to climate change, is determined by small local efforts to maintain and restore habitat. That is how we survive this. When government funding won't come, when we're beat back at every turn trying to get policy changed, it comes down to each individual person creating a safe refuge for nature.

Thanks for reading this far. Please feel free to add your own credible resources and organizations.

[thehumanwiki]

hi and welcome to

✨bullshit that has ACTUALLY happened somewhere in the Pokémon franchise✨

-a teenaged boy runs away from home because of his abusive mom only to join a crime gang funded by his abusive mom.

-the player character is given a smartphone by and with direct contact to God.

-a man cosplaying God (the same God you got a phone from) attacks you with a demon banished to another dimension.

-a suicide cult led by an evil snowflake kills like one hundred other protagonists.

-there is an entire elemental typing consisting of abused and evil Pokémon that is super effective against everything else.

-the player falls into an alternate world and one of their friends is immediately arrested for playing sports.

-in the thrilling sequel, a bunch of ghosts kidnap children in their amusement park in the Shadow Realm.

-now that I think about it there are like three different games where the player character starts by falling from the sky.

-the protagonist of the TV adaptation has died like seven times, been crucified in Paris, watched several apocalypses, and has watched SO many people die in front of him, and I don’t think he’s brought it up like, ever.

-in one game, you can go on a crusade to brutally conquer the entire continent.

-the player of one game is part of a time loop caused by a magic turtle that indirectly kills one of their friend’s mother. Or father. Depends on the version.

-the player’s adoptive father is possessed by the personification of hate and sends them directly to Hell, then tries to do it again when they get out.

-the mafia’s plan for getting their boss back after he left is to violently hijack a radio station and ask really nicely.

-a space agency’s plan for stopping a meteor form colliding with the earth is to open a wormhole to another dimension. this plan is stopped by a woman in a torn cape who destroys their equipment and robs them.

-the protagonist’s father had a godlike clone fuse his consciousness with a mouse, and fights a man who fused his own consciousness with an alien.

-the one a cult leader chose to be king of his new religion is an abused autistic boy with green hair and wearing a baseball cap.

-you literally rob people’s Pokémon in one game and you’re still the good guy. …is there a gender neutral version of “good guy?”

And now for a BONUS ROUND!

✨shit that has gone down in the Pokémon manga adaptation alone!✨

-terrorists blow up an ENTIRE port city!

-one protagonist spent two years trapped in a Dream Realm™.

-you think that’s bad? TWO protagonists are trapped in the depths of space for like six months!

-you think THAT’S bad?! FIVE protagonists are turned into stone for an indefinite time period!

-a little orphan girl is hypnotized and trapped in a suit of armor.

-they crucify the gym leaders???

-one boy is whipped in the face with a chain used to subjugate the Gods Of Time And Space and he’s literally fine.

-a father punches his son in the face and hurls him down a staircase. The American translation censors this as a lightning strike.

-this same son fell into the ocean because of an earthquake like five chapters after he was introduced.

-one of the current protagonists is basically Wednesday Addams.

-two protagonists were kidnapped by birds and raised by a supervillain.

-two villains try to destroy the environment of an entire country, cause an apocalypse, and are stopped by being trapped in a flying car which crashes.

-a mysterious supervillain saves them— SOMEHOW— and makes them fight to the death for a suit of armor. The one that survives causes the apocalypse AGAIN but dies.

-they both get brought back from Hell to save the world, and after that’s over, they turn to dust and go back to Hell.

-the supervillain who saved them the first time also summons like ten gods and dips out, never to be seen again.

In other words Pokémon is weird (affectionate).

[bakugosworld]

Bitter not sweet

Endeavor x f! reader

platonic shoto x reader

Enji Todoroki and Y/N used to be a power couple. They used to be the most applauded couple at UA. Key words, used to be. Something disturbing happened to destroy their relationship, and now years later Y/N (a pro hero) is now helping teach and support her ex’s son in the same school she met his father.

Warnings: slight angst? Endeavor being Endeavor, trauma dumping, personal grudges

Endeavor could hear nothing but his own boots walking through the halls of his own agency. The place is empty due to the major villain attack that had happened earlier that day, and many of his sidekicks stayed to clean up the fight while Endeavor went to file some important paperwork due that day.

He shuffled inside his office and slowly shuts the door. As he makes his way to his desk his cell phone begins to ring. He quickly fishes it out of his pocket, recognizing the tune to be Fyumi calling. Thinking that there was an emergency he tenses up as he answers it. “Fyumi, what’s going on?” His voice alert. He hears her laugh from the other end of the line, his shoulders relaxed a bit. “Hey dad, I just wanted to know what you wanted for dinner? Shoto just finished his first day of UA and I want us all to eat together to celebrate tonight!” She seems excited as per usual.

Endeavor wraps up the conversation and stuffs his phone back into his pocket. Sighing as he sits down.

*earlier that day, Y/Ns perspective*

I had been hired as a new Heroics and Law teacher at UA high this year. I walked into the building for the first day of school and had passed a few familiar pros along the way. Once I reach my classroom I set down my bag and log into my computer. I had gotten the class environment set up during my orientation with Nezu who had provided me all the safety protocols and instructions. Once my computer is loaded I pull up my seating chart that EraserHead had provided and projected it to the wall, not even bothering to look at it.

I didn’t have a class untill an hour or two later considering I’m not a homeroom teacher, so I had decided to sit in the Faculty Room while I waited and caught up with a few long term friends. Once the bell went off I started walking to my classroom with Present Mic whose class is right next to mine. We stand outside the door chatting while watching the students trickle in one by one.

Eventually I had walked in to begin class. “Hello class my name is (pro hero name) but you can all me miss (last name)” I greet as I stand at the podium in the front of their seats. The class greets me back and I hear a few students talking amongst themselves quietly. “I going to call attendance so when I call your name just say a simple ‘here’. And if I mispronounce your name, please inform me right away. Understood?”

The students mutter words of acknowledgment. Going through the list, I seen a few surnames that are recognizable. “Next is shoto todo…roki…?” My jaw slightly agape as the last name rings in my head like a steel drum. The name Todoroki repeating itself over and over again. “Here” a monotone voice rings from the back of the classroom. I slowly turn my head up to look at the boy with split dyed hair. There’s no way. He looks exactly like him. Like her too. My heart squeezes in my chest. I thought I was over it.

I break myself out of the thought. I’ll just look into it after class. “Katsuki Bakugou?” I continue with roll call despite being shaken. I hear an angry grumble “here” from the opposing side of the classroom. I sigh and continue with class as normal despite me screaming internally.

A few students came to talk to me after class, some of them wanted to know more about my pro hero life *cough midoria cough* while others wanted to know more about the subject I would be teaching them this year. One student in particular left the class without a word to anyone. Yep. That’s his kid alright.

*back to the todoroki household*

“So shoto.. how was your first day?” Endeavor asks before shoving food into his mouth. Shoto sighs “it was fine..” Endeavor looks up to his youngest son. “What about your teachers? What teachers do you have, I want to make sure you have the best of the best so you can reach your goal” endeavor shoves more food into his mouth while waiting for his son’s response.

“My homeroom teacher is Mr. Aizawa. Then I have Miss (L/N) for Heroics and Law. Then I have Present Mic for English.” Shoto muttered quietly but it was loud enough for Endeavor to hear. Endeavor choked on his rice and slammed one hand on the table to stabilize himself while the other beat at his chest to dislodge the food from his throat.

Fyumi panicked and started to pat her father on the back, while asking him if he’s okay. Natsuo held back a very slight smile and kept eating. Endeavor finally cleared his throat and started down at the table in disbelief. ‘…y/n??’

After that incident he had finished his food and left to his room muttering a small ‘thank you’ to Fyumi for the dinner. Endeavor sat on the edge of his bed, looking towards the ground and his hands cupped around his mouth to help calm him down. He sat there for hours, thinking back on memories of you two in your high school days. It had been a long time since he had thought of you, he tried to suppress the memories due to the guilt that ate him alive.

—flashback—

“Enji!” Your voice rang through the halls of UA, he can hear your footsteps grow increasingly louder. He glanced over his shoulder to see you running his way. He smirked slightly and faced away from you, unsurprisingly, you jumped onto his back, like you always did, and wrapped your arms around his neck, and legs around his waist. He chuckled a bit “Hey hun, have a good day?” He asked while pushing you up his back by your thighs and holding you there. You nod into his neck. “It was good, Toshinori helped me push even harder with my quirk today during training” you say smiling. Enji slightly frowned at the name but was still happy for you. The truth is Enji never cared for Toshinori but didn’t absolutely hate him either. “That’s great darling, I’m happy for you” Enji bounced you on his back jokingly. You laugh as he spins you both around. “Thank you beef cake” you tease, and plant a sweet kiss on his cheek.

—End of flashback—

Enji sighed and sat up a bit more. He looked around his room, seeing pictures of his kids and a few with Rei. He walks to his closet and grabs out a small box. He sits down on his bed again and opens the box that contains photos. Sifting through a few, he finally found what he was searching for. It was a picture of you and him together outside of UA on the first day of your third year. You were wrapped in his arms standing infront of him, both of you smiling widely.

He set the photo on his bedside table and threw the box under his bed. Finally deciding to go to bed since he had to leave early for work tomorrow morning. He lays down and stares at his ceiling. Little did he know, his dreams will be filled with memories of you that night.

A week later

You were sitting in your empty classroom, it was half hour before first period started when you heard a knock on your door. You looked up from your computer, wondering why anyone would be here so early to talk to you. “Come in” you project your voice so they can hear you. Slowly the door opened to reveal Shoto Todoroki himself. “Sorry to bother you so early Miss (L/N)” he gave a small bow to you. “You’re not bothering me at all Todoroki. Is there something I can do for you?” I say turning towards him to give him my undivided attention.

He looks sort of puzzled. “Yeah actually, I wanted to talk to you about something” he says still standing at the door. You pull up a chair next to you and pat it, signaling for him to sit down. “What’s on your mind kid?” You say as he sits down.

“I guess I’m just confused.” He says tilting his head slightly. “How so?” You asked him, slightly mirroring his actions. “I found this in my dad’s room.” He says lifting up the photo of you and Enji together. You sucked in a breath and felt your heart drop, now understanding what this is about.

“What is this about? Clearly you and my father know each other. Very well. So what exactly happened?” He says looking up to you. noticing your shocked face he immediately felt bad. “I apologize if I had made you uncomfortable Miss (L/N).”

Finally, you shake out of your shocked state. “No, no. Don’t worry about it Todoroki. And to answer your question, your father and I.. well.. we used to be together.. but that was a long time ago.” You say quietly. Todoroki nodded.

Todoroki had asked a few more questions to which you were happy to answer them. He then left to go to his first class, leaving you completely alone to think about Enji.

Aizawas class had a field trip today, so the only classes you had to teacher were 1-B and 1-C. Which was relatively easy considering they are both calm classes. For the most part. That was untill you were getting ready for your next class when Mrs. Midnight burst into your room. “(Hero name)!! we need you to help immediately!! Class 1-A has been attacked by villains at one of our training centers! Your class is getting covered by nezu, please hurry!!”

Chills ran cold down your spine. You immediately bolted out the door and ran as fast as you could to your car. Breaking the speeding limit as a hero looked bad, but your students were in danger. You were doing 80 in a 30. The only thing you can think of was how scared your students must be, but you know they can handle themselves.

You were, unsurprisingly, the first hero on scene. Bursting through the doors, you took in the battle before you. Immediately jumping into action, you protect your students with your life. You hold off the villains untill the rest of the pros show up.

—a sort few days later—

(I’m not good at writing fighting scenes sorry)

You thought it was a horrible idea. Anything can go wrong. It was absurd. Hosting the sports festival directly after a villain attack?? That’s just disrespectful to the students who fought hard to stay alive during the attack.

You angrily grumbled to yourself. You were walking around the stadium to ease your mind. The first task just finished, Midoria taking first place which shocked everyone. You huffed and leaned your back against a wall. “Enjoying the festival so far?” You heard a voice ask.

You peak up to see nezu approaching you. “Yeah I guess so” you mumble. “What seems to be on your mind (y/n)?” Nezu asked while sitting on the ledge next to you. “Is this the right thing nezu? Having the festival right after the attack? Won’t it put everyone on edge? What about the villains? Wouldn’t they show up here if they really wanted to?”

Nezus face never changed. “I see why you’re concerned (Y/N), but this festival is supposed to take the students minds off of what happened. And for the safety, we have plenty of pros here incase anything does go wrong. It would be the villains downfall to prey on the kids now”

You relaxed a bit more with that statement. “Yeah you’re right” Nezu nods. “I am, well I do have to go now. If you need anything else you know where to find me” nezu says as he wanders away.

You once again are alone. You stand up and start walking down the hall. “So. You’re a teacher now?” You shiver at the deep voice and you stop in your tracks. “Yeah. What about it?” You snap back. You turn around to see endeavor who had just turned the corner. “You’re teaching my son.” He replied with his casual RBF.

Scoffing, you cross your arms over your chest. “Really? I had no idea.” Your voice dripping with sarcasm. He didn’t seem to appreciate that but he stayed quiet for a moment. “Is that all you wanted? If so, I’ll be on my way.” You turn around to leave once again.

“It wasn’t my choice”

—flashback—

“What the hell enji?!” You screamed at him. His eyes dropping from your face down to the floor. “Did you have this planned the whole time??” You you yelled a bit louder once more, tears brimming your eyes. He, too, teared up. Feeling ashamed of himself.

It was the day before your graduation from UA, and Enji was here before you telling you, after three years, that things won’t work out. “Was I a joke to you?” He didn’t respond..

What was worse. Is he had proposed to Rei, your best friend of thirteen years. “How long were you together for?” Your voice filled with venom and tears. You weren’t even sure if you wanted to know the truth. Was this even real? Who would propose to your girlfriend’s best friend and not the girlfriend?

Even after all the talks of ‘I can’t wait to marry you’ ‘we should have kids’ ‘I’m gonna grow old with you’. You had foolishly believed it all.

He wanted to say something to soothe you, he wanted to hug you, to kiss you, to tell you everything is gonna be okay. He wanted to make the whole situation go away. He felt a deep hatred for himself, and for his father.

—flashback ends—

“The hell do you mean ‘it wasn’t your choice’” you mock, growing more irritated. He sighs. “I didn’t want to marry her” you scoff “yeah right. Now you’re just wasting my time.”

Enji grows agitated now, but still hurt. “It was my father. He forced me into the marriage. For benefits of the quirks. He threatened to ‘get rid’ of you if I didn’t cooperate. I knew you’d be safer staying away from me, so I left. I did as he said. Because I loved you. And truth is, I believe I still do.” He mumbled the last part. Sure, you’ve seen him several times throughout the years. You kinda had to considering he’s the number two pro hero. He’s at your meetings, on the same patrol route sometimes, on the scene of a crime. He’s everywhere. But this is the first time he’s addressed you since the break up.

Hearing his words though… you wanted to believe him. You had found the piece of yourself that still loved him too. It that didn’t change the fact that he was married with several kids. And you couldn’t do that to them. Especially shoto as you’ve grown fond of the boy.

“I’d love to believe you. Truly. I still care for you Enji, dare I say I love you. If I could, I’d be with you right now. But we can’t be together. Never again. As much as I do love you, you must think of your family first.” You say as you turn away and walk down the hall, heading towards the stands to watch the rest of the festival. Enji watched her walk away for what felt like the hundredth time, and his heart shattered.

But little did either of them know, shoto was standing just around the corner, listening to the conversation. He too, had grown fond of you. He had even started looking up to you as if you were the mother that he never really had. Needless to say, he was just as disappointed in his dad as his dad was with himself.

[mmikmmik]

One underrated aspect of Mouthwashing is that it's really good as a video game.

I thought the player feedback was super strong. There's so many little gimmicky nightmare worlds and "minigames" and the game really helps you understand them very quickly and keep up the momentum. There were only a couple times I got stuck for long enough that I felt like it was breaking me out of the narrative, and I was able to resolve them pretty quickly. And one of them was my own fault - I was trying to use an item somewhere the devs had already indicated it was impossible, because I forgot about the little framing that pops up to indicate you can go into "interaction mode". That's a great little UI mechanism for making it super obvious what is and isn't interactive while still being unobtrusive and letting you feel immersed in the ship environment. Oh, and using the birthday cake scene to introduce the sawing mechanic? So when the player saws at Curly's leg, it's an incredibly powerful callback and the player already knows what they're supposed to do, defending the emotional punch from a "wait... which buttons am I supposed to press for this...?" moment? Brilliant.

Mouthwashing also has beautiful interplay between its gameplay elements and its storytelling. I think of Mouthwashing as "movie-like", because I feel like the pacing + tone + themes remind me very much of horror movies, but this story is meant to be a game. Think of the scene where Jimmy is basically telling Curly that he intends to destroy the ship. It starts with the player controlling Curly in first person POV. But right as Jimmy is talking about how Curly doesn't have agency in his own life ("You're standing at the top. Feet in cement. I get it now.") the camera escapes Curly's perspective and moves into a third person perspective, giving us our first look at pre-crash Captain Curly.

That was the last moment Curly had to avert the tragedy. He knew Jimmy had attacked Anya. Anya told Curly that Jimmy must be physically prevented from accessing the means to hurt the rest of the crew. Jimmy said it would be best if they all just died and then walked away saying "I'll take care of it" and Curly stood there watching him and did nothing. In chronological order, the next scene is the first time the player controls Jimmy. The agency and control, the status of "player character", has left Curly. He let himself become a character in Jimmy's story. And by the time he gets control again, it's already too late.

(Not that I think the game is actually presenting "player character" status as something that's true or real. Look how much Anya's internal life and deliberate choices shape the story, before and after the crash, even as Jimmy casts her as an annoying quest-giver NPC.)

I also really like how much playing through the little nightmare vignettes have the player recreate Curly and Jimmy's decisions. Like when Jimmy is forced to stare directly at the post-it note that's telling him to take responsibility (or whatever the exact words are), but he simply backs away from it. It's all about the way he finds mental and emotional loopholes to get away from what he's done, no matter how directly he's forced to confront it. What other medium could so intimately guide you through that metaphor, to express its internal logic so clearly without words? God, I love video games.

[electronicdelusionstarlight]

You know, I was just thinking about the UA entrance exam.

Specifically, how terribly designed it is, but not for the reason they seem to give in the story itself.

Like, here's how it is: Aizawa is shown criticising the UA Entrance Exam once, during the Sports Festival. And the ONE criticism he makes, is that the use of Robot enemies during the exam would disproportionately affect people whose Quirk work against biological opponents, essentially.

His one criticism, is that the exam is not designed to also cater to people like him, and that's it. The way therefore it's set up, it'd be logical to assume he'd ask for a restructuring to the exam to remove the Robots and substitute them with live enemies, possibly Ectoplasm clones.

This is never brought up again, aside from maybe a stealth bring up during the mid term exams when they switch the exam from fighting robots to fighting teachers.

The exam is, and I just got to it myself while watching this video about how Copaganda paints police training and the relative risk police officers face on the job, set up in a very specific environment:

An empty town, where what is essentially a murder spree is taking place. The ONLY entities in the place, outside of fellow examinee, are robots that have been literally designed to attack everyone on sight, and that need to be destroyed to pass. The points granted from saving people are hidden, so they can be more "genuine" of course, and are, ultimately, also part of the problem.

Because here's the fucking thing.

When the fuck is that ever going to happen.

When the fuck, is a superhero, after their 5 years of Hero training in high school, then entering the work force without a need for a decree in higher education, ever going to find themselves in an environment where they can use LETHAL FORCE on civilian targets? With no restraint or care for collateral damage?

And where they are ENCOURAGED to kill as many criminals as they can, and NOT collaborate with other heroes? Because that's another thing, you need to steal points from other people to pass, by culling the number of limited robots, much like heroes are paid by the arrest and by popularity.

You do understand how fucked up that starts to sound right? The other, the enemy, is reduced as a caricature Droid from star wars, there only to kill and destroy, and against whom your only TWO methods of defeat are outright destruction or sneak attacks on their off buttons.

And here's the cherry on the shit too, because, AGAIN, when is that EVER going to be the case?

Do you know how many heroes show up in the first villain attack in BNHA?

Five.

Two are engaging a purse snatcher, three are doing crowd control, the Slime Villain, who may I remind you was guilty of robbery at a convenience store before he got the hostage, gets THE NUMBER ONE HERO, as well as those same FIVE heroes involved, of which only BACKDRAFT is actually doing anything.

Now, imagine you are a hero school, and you produce 40 heroes a year, just like every other hero school out there. How many of those heroes will see active duty, if the rate of crimes demand FIVE heroes to react to ONE criminal?

And people will say "but EDS, this mentality is later rewarded when All Might retires and it all falls to shit," Except NOT REALLY, because that's an externally forced situation caused by, and I can't stress this enough, a hundreds of yeas old NEET boomer who read too many Doctor Doom comics as a kid and decided to become a supervillain, the riots, the open air warfare, is only caused by AFO forcing the hand and inciting popular unrest, which is an unrealistic thing to expect off any society.

In one of the movies, Class 1-A is sent to open an hero agency on a small island with barely a village on it. 20 Heroes. Until the movie truly picks up, the best they do is help kittens from trees, and Bakugou, the sort of person for whom the Entrance Exam was designed, is useless, left in his tent like Achilles, the perfect cowboy cop who peeked in highschool and didn't realize just how much paperwork and dead time his dream job actually entailed.

So that's the ACTUAL Issue with the entrance exam. It take no account for any other mean to beat the robots but brute force, it takes no account for collateral damage, or the sanctity of life of your opponents, and it tests nothing but how good at ending lives you are.

Which is a problem when you're picking future heroes.

[21loveatfirstsight]

Agatha is a genius witch part 2

I just rewatched it so why not. For convenience, I will name some info so I don’t have to rewrite it everytime:

Agnes: Agatha while under Wanda’s spell.

Nosy Spell: Wanda’s spell, or Agatha’s subconscious mind filling in the world of the spell.

Episode 1: Without her power and under Wanda’s spell, Agatha can still sense magical activities. And she is quick on action too.

1. Wanda’s death and the Darkhold.

The fight at Mount Wundagore would probably only known between Kamar-Taj and S.W.O.R.D (I don’t know what agency is still standing now, I don’t watch much); because quite frankly, that kind of news (witches/sorcerers exist, universe traveling, etc.) is not something you just drop to the public population. I suspect that Strange and Wong might not even disclose that information to non-magical users. So how could Agnes know? Remember that when Herb said “Oh, she’s really, most sincerely dead”, it’s from Agatha’s pov, while under Nosy Spell. And after Agatha wakes up, Westview people are still afraid of even speaking Wanda's name.

Wanda destroyed all copies of the Darkhold from every universe. Again, Strange and Wong might let others know that Wanda is dead, but there’s no need to go around and PR the (past) existence of Darkhold, because god knows what will happen. So how could Agnes know?

2. Billy being a witch.

Preferred when she “interrogates” him, there is a spelled dialogue “It’s ink from the fingerprinting” from “Teen”. Like I said in a previous post, her subconscious mind knows he is a witch, or warning her more like, because Agatha lives and survives by killing witches, of course she will learn to notice who is a witch.

3. The talk with Herb.

The moment she wakes up, she appears angry while asking Herb for information, but as Herb seems confused, she quickly changes the way of talking to fit Herb’s “sheep” mind and gets information she wants (aka she doesn't want to waste time on explaining her situation).

4. Rio’s domestic banter, aka literally playing with Death.

Now we know Rio is Death, we should all agree that if she wants Agatha dead, she could do it with Agnes. “You can’t kill me. It’s not allowed.” - This could be a seed for future reveal, or it could mean Death can’t go around, actively killing people. She’s a guide to the afterlife, not a killer. So Rio’s visit is a rescue and warning mission. This is the result of Rio visiting:

It’s Rio’s power that breaks through Nosy Spell after Billy loosen it.

Agatha knows the Salem Seven is coming for her ass.

My conclusion is, subconsciously, Agatha still has her sense when it comes to magical activities, which is honed after years and years of practicing magic. Or, the Nosy Spell using Agatha’s memories and sense to fill in her world, much like how the Hex environment and people are based on Wanda’s memories of those old tv shows, changed and reflexed by Wanda’s emotions; and because it based on Agatha’s sense and memories, the moment Wanda died and the Darkhold is destroyed, Agnes’s reality changed to fit with her sense, aka she knows what happened.

Episode 2: Agatha’s detective and manipulation skill at work.

1. The talk with “Teen” - She knows Billy is lying or hiding something from this exact talk.

From how Lilia and Jen behave, it's common knowledge to avoid Agatha Harkness - the witch's killer, if you want to stay alive. So what is wrong with this kid? If he knows “an egregious amount” about her, he should have stayed away. Does he have a death wish?

“If you’ve got the goods to break a spell cast by Scarlet Witch” - same point from my previous post. Why has no one tried to break Agatha out of Nosy Spell or kill her while she is under its influence? Because (and this is my assumption) 1-No one has Chaos Magic, 2-Nosy Spell might hide Agatha’s location as well. And from episode 9, we now know it’s Rio’s power that actually breaks Agatha out. So Agatha knows this kid has Chaos Magic, and she knows he was lying about wanting to get more power.

But with the Seven coming, she needs to put the “Teen” mystery on hold. The “Nope. Too risky. No time” is more for her than for “Teen”. Remember, the last time she tried to mess with a young Chaos Witch, it didn’t turn out well. But she kept him by her side for the future when she got her power back and killed the Seven.

2. She suspected “Teen” is Wanda’s son the moment she picks up her pendant.

While being emotional and looking at Nicky’s hair, Agatha snaps back at Teen, asking who he is. Because it suddenly clicks for her. 

Chaos Magic is not some random magic. Wanda, who has it and is still an inexperienced witch, is capable of extraordinary creation and has her own chapter in the Darkhold. And she knows Billy has Chaos Magic. So someone who has Chaos Magic suddenly spawn between her 3 years gap. The possibility that he's related to Wanda is there in Agatha’s mind.

So she kept him by her side, to deal with him later when she had her power back. That’s why the “protective” behavior: telling people he’s her pet, familiar, etc. So what’s about the black heart thing? She knows “Teen” has a sigil on him, so the black heart should be him (can’t be Rio because Death can’t take a side), and she hides it not because she wants to protect him, but because she can’t have him down there with her and the coven when they sing the Ballad, aka when she tries to provoke witches and steal their power. She failed to absorb Chaos Magic once, god knows how this could turn out.

3. Gathering her coven quick and effectively.

Agatha needs Lilia’s power, that’s why she comes to her first. Divination witch is gifted talent, so she goes to the best near her. That’s why Agatha actually tries to convince Lilia to join/to help her with her coven list, by answering her questions.

With Jen, clearly Agatha doesn’t like her, so maybe she also doesn’t like the idea of absorbing Jen’s power, but the list said she needs Jen. So Agatha half-asses “convince” Jen. Noticing with Jen, all Agatha did was provoke and humiliate Jen to get her to join, and when that didn’t work, she quickly gives up because she doesn’t have time to work on Jen. It was Billy who got Jen to join but this belongs to a different post.

Lilia and Jen know Agatha’s reputation, that’s why with them, Agatha can’t use her manipulative tactics. But she can be with Alice, who is a young witch (probably around 20s-30s), so she did by using her “familiar”, Toto (lol). When Alice protests the idea, Agatha thought over and decided that she doesn’t need Alice that much, because a young witch doesn’t have much power for her to drain anyway.

She did make a mistake by telling Lilia how her power works tho.

4. The door to the Road appears, confirming “Teen” identity to Agatha.

(Now we know the Ballad to the Witches Road is a con Agatha run to take the power from other witches. That’s a crazy and success con I must say)

Agatha knows there’s no Witches Road, as she continues telling “Teen”: “The Witches’s Road doesn’t exist” - She told him at the start of the episode. So when the door appears, she knows it was created from thin air, a spontaneous creation, by Chaos Magic.

And she knows everyone there, all definitely don’t have this kind of power. So it leaves “Teen”, as he running into the scene.

Given her unique power, Agatha lives and survives by talk her way out or in of stuffs, so naturally she gets more information out of single conversation, and thinks of any posibilities there'll be for her to use. Billy's Teen persona is not even a match for her.

(Of course the "keeping him by her side" is backfired because then she starts to truly care about him like her son)

[itsror9]

❗️Urgent Appeal

Please share here, on other social media, and with anyone you know that could help share and donate! With an impending Rafah invasion, the agency charging $5000-$7000 to register for evacuation could close registration at any time!

“Recently, Saed's world turned upside down. The war in Gaza not only stripped him of his livelihood, as he lost all his contracts due to interrupted internet services, but it also destroyed the very tools of his trade - his laptop, screen, and other essential equipment, totaling $2,700 in losses. This setback has tremendously affected Saed and his family, who are all striving to build their paths in ridiculously challenging and dangerous circumstances.

On top of all this, the entire family of 6 are now displaced to central Gaza, living in unbearable conditions.

They left to escape the bombardment. There's no way to go back to their home, as there are reports that it may be destroyed.

The Al Mugharee family members are Riad Sameer (father), Manar Said (mother), Saeda (sister), Reham (sister), Sameer (brother) and Saed.

Saed's elder sister, Saeda, a talented freelance software engineer, UI/UX Designer, and artist, is doing her best to support the family. His younger sister, Reham is a dedicated student in her 4th year of software engineering at the university. Sameer, his 15-year-old brother, is still in school.

The reality they face in Rafah City is grim. With ongoing airstrikes and escalating tensions, their safety and well-being are in constant jeopardy. This is why we are urgently seeking your help.

We aim to raise $60,000 to provide Saed and his family the means to rebuild their lives and relocate to a safer environment. $30,000 of this fund will be dedicated to ensuring their safe passage through the Rafah crossing. The remainder will help them settle in a new home in Cairo, where they can pursue their careers and education without the shadow of fear and terror looming over them.

Your donation, no matter how small, can make a significant difference in the lives of Saed and his family. It's not just about financial assistance; it's about giving them a chance at safety, stability, and a future filled with hope.

Thank you for your kindness and support. Together, we can help Saed and his family step into a safer, brighter future.”

[mariacallous]

United States intelligence officials have been quietly issuing warnings to government agencies all summer about a rising threat of extremist violence tied to the 2024 presidential election, including plots to destroy bins full of paper ballots and promote "lone wolf" attacks against election facilities throughout the country.

In a series of reports between July and September, analysts at the Department of Homeland Security warned of a “heightened risk” of extremists carrying out attacks in response to the race. Copies of the reports, first reported by WIRED, describe efforts by violent groups to provoke attacks against election infrastructure and spread calls for the assassinations of lawmakers and law enforcement agents.

Last month, the agency’s intelligence office emphasized in a report that “perceptions of voter fraud” had risen to become a primary “trigger” for the “mobilization to violence.” This is particularly true, the report says, among groups working to leverage the “concept of a potential civil war.” Fears about “crimes by migrants or minorities” are among other top “triggers,” it says.

The documents show that DHS alerted dozens of agencies this summer to online chatter indicating potential attacks on election drop boxes—secured receptacles used in more than 30 states to collect mail-in voter ballots. The text highlights the efforts of an unnamed group to crowdsource information about “incendiary and explosive materials” capable of destroying the boxes and ballots. An extensive list of household mixtures and solvents, which are said to render voter ballots “impossible to process,” was also compiled by members of the group, the report says, and openly shared online.

“The United States remains in a heightened, dynamic threat environment and we continue to share information with our law enforcement partners about the threats posed by domestic violent extremists in the context of the 2024 election,” a spokesperson from DHS tells WIRED. "Violence has no place in our politics, and DHS continues to work with our partners to evaluate and mitigate emerging threats that may arise from domestic or foreign actors. DHS, through CISA, is also helping  election officials and election infrastructure partners bolster resilience in their cyber, physical, and operational security.  The Department continues to advise federal, state, and local partners to remain vigilant to potential threats and encourages the public to report any suspicious activity to local authorities."

The FBI, which is on a distribution list for several of the reports, declined to comment.

The reports were first obtained by Property of the People, a nonprofit focused on transparency and national security, under open records law. The reports contain details about how to commit crimes and avoid law enforcement, which WIRED is not publishing.

Wendy Via, cofounder and president of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE), says the conclusion reached by DHS matches the consensus of experts in the field: “Election denialism is going to be the primary motivator—if there is going to be violence.”

For decades, a growing number of states have adopted election drop boxes as a way to offer voters a dedicated, secure, and convenient way to submit voter ballots ahead of elections. Today, as many as 35 states allow drop boxes in some capacity, though a handful—nearly all southern—have outlawed their use, mostly over baseless claims about fraud and ballot stuffing. While drop boxes are no less secure than other forms of voting, Republicans have scrambled to block their use in key states, including Wisconsin, where Donald Trump blasted legislation expanding drop boxes as “only good for Democrats and cheating.” Via points to the Republican-led campaign aimed at banning and restricting access to election drop boxes in Wisconsin as a flash point for election denialism and possible violence.

The obsession with the otherwise mundane practice of dropping off ballots prior to election day stems in large part from the widely discredited film 2,000 Mules. The “documentary” depicts a shadowy network of operatives attempting to sway the 2020 election by stuffing ballots in Joe Biden’s favor; the film’s publisher, a conservative media company, has since issued an apology.

While the film’s evidence turned out to be false, it nevertheless provoked a surge of intimidation from far-right groups targeting drop-box voters and the officials defending their use. For the November election, some groups have committed to fundraising in order to surveil the boxes around the clock over public livestream. Others have hosted events near the locations to push conspiracy theories about immigrants. Election denial groups such as True the Vote, meanwhile, are working with myriad others across the country, as WIRED reported this summer, and are establishing a web of operations for waging legal warfare in the aftermath of the vote—if Trump fails to retake the White House a second time.

Spurious claims of voter fraud have remained a mainstay of the former president’s reelection efforts, with Trump preemptively and baselessly claiming that should he lose in November, the election will have been rigged. Claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen have been exhaustively investigated and debunked by countless judges and state election officials across the country. Property of the People executive director Ryan Shapiro says that though DHS does not mention the political leanings of the subjects in its reports, he believes “the documents make plain that US intelligence is bracing for election- and immigration-related violence from Trump's MAGA minions.”

The concerns of DHS today are reminiscent of warnings shared by the agency two years ago during the midterm elections. Similar bulletins leaked then showing fears among federal security officials that extremists would mount an attack, threaten poll workers, or sabotage infrastructure. The concerns proved largely unwarranted, outside of scattered instances of armed men in paramilitary gear showing up to “monitor” ballot boxes across Arizona—an effort quietly spearheaded in part by True the Vote, which helped make 2,000 mules, involving militias that included the American Patriots Three Percent, an anti-government group.

The election threats flagged in the reports by DHS appear to be growing more extreme over time. No longer restricted to aggressive surveillance and loitering outside polling locations, the risks associated by DHS with election fraud conspiracies today more closely resemble traditional acts of terrorism.

There are, however, some deterrents. The arrests and prosecutions of rioters involved in the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol building are credited by DHS, as well as groups such as GPAHE, with stifling much of the enthusiasm that far-rights groups once held for turning out in big numbers.

“In my lifetime of working in civil rights, the January 6 arrests are the only time I’ve ever seen an arrest or prosecution work as a deterrent,” says Via. “They really do not want to go to jail.”

[defectivehero]

“They’re fashioning you into a weapon and you can’t even see it,” the villain remarks loftily at the hero’s turned back. The hero doesn’t even flinch and it annoys the villain more than they’d like to admit. Instead, their adversary remains staring out at the horizon. The villain rolls their eyes and comes up to stand next to them. They miss the days when their enemy would wince and scramble away from them in fear—they miss when the hero was lively. Now, they seem to be a husk of their former self. 

“Oh, I am more than aware of that, trust me,” the hero eventually scoffs, crossing their arms over their chest defensively. The villain chances a sidelong glance at them, only to find that their rival is still gazing out at the horizon. 

“I don't understand,” they remark, squinting at their enemy. “How can you be comfortable with that, with how they treat you?” The villain has always felt a strange sort of kinship with this particular hero—they both have similar superpowers and grew up in rather gruesome environments. The villain has long given up on wishing the hero joined them. They’re not sure what they wish for the hero, anymore. Perhaps they just want the light to return to their enemy’s eyes. 

“We’re all monsters,” the hero says with a casual shrug unbefitting of the statement. The villain sucks in a sharp breath at the resignation that seems to roll off their enemy’s body. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It doesn't matter?” The villain can’t help but snap. Their fingers clutch at the railing of the building with renewed fervor. “Have you heard the whispers, the rumors? Surely you see the fear in their eyes. Do you understand-?”

“What do you suggest?” The hero interjects, finally turning to look at them and meet their eyes. The villain nearly recoils at the dark circles under the hero’s eyes, the grief written in the tight lines of their foe’s shoulders. “Should I switch sides, perhaps? You know that won’t change a damn thing. This way, I'm at least on the winning team.”

“It’s more than that-” The villain tries to say, only to be interrupted once more. 

“No,” the hero laughs disbelievingly, shaking their head. “It isn’t. I think you’re the one that doesn’t understand. People like me, we don’t have the luxury of choosing when and where we’re wanted. Hell, we’re never wanted. We just go where we’re least feared—where we’ll at least be regarded with some semblance of humanity.”

“Even when that same humanity only regards you with fear and disgust?” The villain questions, despite already knowing the answer they’ll hear. The hero nods silently. This time, it’s the villain’s turn to look out at the horizon with an indiscernible expression. They can’t quite find the words to say. “That's a sad fate.”

“Of course it is,” the hero acquiesces, biting their lip. The villain isn’t sure why their chest feels so tight at the sight, why their breaths are suddenly much harder to come by. “Doesn't mean I can change it,”

“Have you ever considered... not taking a side at all?” The villain remarks. “Just because you have superpowers... doesn’t mean you’re automatically responsible for protecting or destroying the city.” Regardless of what hero agencies might tell you, the villain thinks loathingly. They themselves were nearly taken in with that kind of rhetoric, all those years ago. 

“I never thought of it like that,” the hero admits. 

“Of course you haven’t,” the villain sighs, hoping their voice sounds closer to irritation than the fond exasperation they’re feeling. “You’re so committed to torturing yourself, you know that?...You seem to think this is about choosing the lesser of two evils. Why choose at all?”

“Why choose at all, indeed,” the hero repeats, staring at them with an enlightened expression. The light is slowly starting to return to their eyes. There’s an easy grin on their face and it robs the breath from the villain’s chest. The hero reaches out and it takes every ounce of restraint the villain possesses not to flinch. Thankfully, the hero simply puts a hand on their shoulder. “Thanks. You’ve left me with a lot to think about.”

“Don’t hurt yourself,” the villain says with a smirk. “I know your mind might not be capable of all that free thought.” It’s incredibly amusing to see the carefree expression on the hero’s face morph into indignation.

“Shut up.” The hero rolls their eyes, their hand falling from the villain’s shoulder. The villain watches as their enemy turns around and walks away. The hero’s shoulders already look looser. The villain waits until they’re far enough away to smile to themselves. 

©2023, @defectivehero @defectivevillain All Rights Reserved. 

reblogs are welcome <3

endnotes below

this was a fun snippet to write. I like the idea of a villain being the one to convince the hero that life is about more than conflict. typically, I see interactions like that being the other way around, so I thought I’d flip the script. 

thanks for reading, everyone!

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[mitigatedchaos]

Regarding Chevron

From what I understand, the new 'Chevron Deference' ruling does not state that congress cannot delegate authority to the executive agencies, it just requires that congress actually delegate that authority.

I don't think it means that congress itself needs to set the ppm lead levels, just that the laws authorizing the agency's actions say they can regulate lead or even just heavy metals, etc.

a - The Moderates

For both parties, we can think of a district's representative as being roughly in the middle of the range of opinion of the party's primary voters in that district, with some natural variation based on individual circumstances and with different districts having different opinions.

That produces a party's extreme representatives, and a party's moderate representatives.

Nerf the filibuster by requiring representatives to actually keep talking the entire time (apparently it used to be this way and isn't anymore?), and peel off some moderates, and you can update federal regulation.

b - Friend-Enemy Politics

The problem I see is from friend-enemy politics.

Under friend-enemy politics, every institution that's roughly aligned with the other guys is "enemy infrastructure" to be captured, looted, or destroyed. Democracy is no longer a decision among family or friends about how to best proceed, but a long-rolling, low-intensity conflict.

In order to peel off moderate Republicans, there have to be moderate Republicans. There can't be moderate Republicans if the Democratic platform is that Republican voters or Republican voting demographics are not "fellow Americans," but the center of an identitarian threat narrative. If any power that's given up will be weaponized, then the appropriate stance is to not give up any power.

c - To Govern

Public investment (provided it is actually investment), social insurance (provided it is actually insurance), and regulation (to reduce externalities, improve information for market actors, or make it easier to make contracts, including by reducing search and legal enforcement costs), are all natural parts of governing. There are reasons for Republican officials to agree to a well-regulated market, with sound infrastructure investments, and for voters to treat them according to whether they can deliver.

That requires separating investment from consumption, insurance from extortion, and good regulation (that's aligned with the interests of the broader country) from bad regulation (for regulation, quality is more important than quantity). (That doesn't mean that you can't do consumption spending - consumption spending is just the sort of thing parties will disagree on after accounting for investment.)

That, in turn, requires a focus on reality and a shift away from managing reputation and 'public relations' as the dominant mode.

d - Compromise

Making the agency behavior more closely bound to the law may actually make it easier for legislators to compromise. Collapsedsquid has made it clear in past posts that he doesn't think this sort of thing is important (in the general sense), but I disagree - legislators and political operatives can actually notice what's going on around them, see expansive interpretations of law being used to justify agency behavior beyond what the law-as-written would be expected to authorize, and then adjust their behavior.

The less binding a deal is on future behavior, the more players have to focus on maintaining or improving their relative power position (more zero-sum) instead of making positive-sum deals.

With that said, I find it difficult to estimate what the effects will be - will the party-aligned constellations actually reduce their level of polarization to respond to an environment where getting policy requires negotiation rather than coordinating to influence executive agencies, or will they follow local and internal incentives as we saw with 2014-2022?

As one Twitter user said, "We've been electing legislators to represent us on cable TV."

I think @centrally-unplanned assumes that knowledge-generation and alignment within the political structure for both the left and right in America is utterly cooked for structural reasons (such as the Internet and economic changes), so they won't come together on truth-oriented policy (especially as that might be rather painful - to pick an uncontroversial example, giving the YIMBYs a win might reduce the de facto retirement savings of many Americans, even as it improves things for the younger generations).

[brazenautomaton]

I should come up with a name for this because I think it's the unifying thread I see between communism, and fascism, and censorship / anti-shippers, and homophobia, and a bunch of other shit. some theory that seeks to unify all that really should have an elegant name, shouldn't it? but it doesn't

rambly

I've said that it's impossible to deplatform fascism or communism because their ideas are so fucking childishly simple they can be independently re-derived by anyone who is upset at the world. "I'm upset. This is the fault of someone, who hates me and did it on purpose. Oh, I hate that guy so much. He does all the bad things, and if I kill him, there will be no more bad things." and that's why nobody's able to give a coherent definition of fascism, because you can't peg "emotional immaturity and righteous ignorance" to any specific teaching, you can't keep the concept of being emotionally immature and blaming others secret.

but despite the basis of these ideologies being so simple they don't need language, communism and fascism didn't exist until after the industrial revolution. what i think happened is, there's a personality trait people have that can expand immensely, that wasn't able to expand until the railroad and telegraph shrunk the world.

and that thing I wish I had a good name for is "the belief or assumption that a person's immediate environment includes everything they're aware of."

I think it's a thing people noticed but haven't identified as the causative factor, they just use it as an insult. but people want to be in control of their environment. they want things they don't like to not be there. the ability to control and affect our immediate environment is the basic definition of agency. if it's your house, it's your rules. that's reasonable!

but with the antis, and the homophobes, and the commies, and the fascists, they clearly behave as though their "house" encompasses everything that they are aware of.

the easiest example is the early 2000s homophobia where the refrain was "do what you want in private but don't get in my face about it," used to justify fucking with people who were in nobody's face. back then we all said "that's an agentically laid lie to justify their real opinion!" and guess what with an uncoordinated group of people it's never an agentically concocted lie. they did act only to get the gays out of their faces, but their "faces" encompassed everything they know about. gay dudes are gross, gross things make them upset, the only way to not be upset is to know there's no gay dudes being gross everywhere! and this mindset is something that only happened with the telegraph because before that, the area of your awareness wasn't that big! (the exception is probably Muslims in the Holy Land)

communism and fascism are both the assumption that everything you're aware of is right in your face, it's simple, it can and should be given to you to just Do Right. you can't have this idea that you have figured out everything wrong with the world until the area of your perception is big enough that you can think you're seeing the world. once your zone of perception is wide enough you instantly believe that all of it is directly your business, everything that upsets you is happening right in your face and you have to use your personal agency to control your environment by making the upsetting things go away.

this is why antis act the way they do. it's not an agentically crafted lie to get power. their behavior is compulsive like all political behavior is compulsive. the idea that someone is Doing A Bigotry somewhere makes them very upset, and it's right in their faces, and they want to make the upsetting thing go away, and the only way to do that is to take control of anywhere the upsetting thing might happen and make it not happen. the only way they know how to do this invariably destroys everything they touch but they cannot stop themselves, they have to take control of every environment so they won't be upset by the thought of people doing bad things. the communists have to take control of all economic activity so they won't be upset by the thought of someone getting rich. the fascists have to take control of every life so they won't be upset by the thought of someone not bowing to their supremacy. this mindset cannot conclude something is none of your business, because if you're aware of it, it's your business.

[acoffeemug]

What If's in Transformers Earthspark Seasons

Spoilers: Warning!

I just want this ideas out in the open cuz it has been eating me for quite some time.

I'm sorry if my writing style gave you an head ache. English ain't my first language and thanks for reading my ideas? Prediction? Ramblings? What if's?...

Well, this is going to be quite long, so yeah. Buckle up.

In the end of Transformers Earthspark that last act/scene when the Emberstone revive the Terrans, Autobot and Deceptions.

An idea? or curiosity got me thinking all the deceptions or autobots in bot brawl has been revived? Or bots that died/stasis in the war.

Or the power of the Emberstone made more Terrans around the world, where as the energon/life force is found (creepy water cave).

Or maybe it's just in Witcky's vicinity all because the fragments of Quintus Prime is only there.

Or the mix.

So my point is, it's a given that they could add any bots in Season 2 like, maybe Rachet went into stasis and can't be revive with only few Medic Bots or resources. There's a few Autobots in Earthspark so yeah they could add any bots in the soup (or maybe some autobots are still in hiding same situation like Bumble bee or Grimlock.

Sidenote: Grimlocks situation is mostly about the Bot Brawls. Handling that problem, like a secret mission. Putting an end to it but got caught and got controlled by Mandroid, easing the problem of Agent Croft the one that initiated the Bot Brawls hinted in Episode 18

And that is a story for another time.

I think they would probably add Prowl (he has a action figure) Rachet, Ironhide or the other cast in the opening when they destroyed the spacebrige.

Or this could be just Alex perspective in the story.

This is Megatron's perspective...

Or the idea of other Terrans are around the world with the other Cybertronians who just been revived. It could be a Good version or Bad version, like for example the good idea would be the other revived Cybertronians would treat the newest Terrans as their child, like they would act as a guardian to them and the bad version would be Terrans without guardians. Like without the Maltos or other Autobots, Deceptions that knew their existence. So... they could play with the idea of Terrans having to grow up in a bad environment or influence or both.

Or A few years later when G.H.O.S.T. changed, reformed with the leadership of Agent Schloder, Optimus Prime and Megatron.

Sidenote: Prowl could be the prickliest prick with this new found peace saying

"I don't approve this" or "This ain't going to last" and Prowl could be the only problem in this season. No villains, just him being the "No no guy" then we could have it like a parallel of Twitch holding out a hand to Mandroid but this time it could be Thrash lending out a hand also Prowl accepting it and that's another idea for the other day.

Making the Agency what it was meant to be, having a safe haven for all bots and connecting with Earth's population.

And G.H.O.S.T. could be a rescue operatives saving bots and people! (One of the things Agent Schloder wants) or sending bots all around the world with the help of the basement spacebrige.

(The spacebrige is only accessable for travelling from places on earth for now the same function as in TFP)

And having new life at hand, the Terrans all over the world. The last act of the Emberstones power.

Looking for them with the help of the Maltobots, Robby and Mo's cybersleeves connection. (Or having a hard time locating most of them considering they're so far away for the bond to respond) Helping them integrate with their new lives on Earth.

Then the idea that some Cybertronians could adopt Terrans!

(Aye another wholesome fam or problematic fam. Who knows? that's another idea.)

Like Rachet (or Dratchet, I would do anything just for them to show up), adopting a Terran then that Terran got inspired with Rachet's Medical Knowledge and you know where this is going...BOOM! a Terran Medic bot.

So they could go hard with the plots with bots being injured or explore with their physical or mental state? Terrans being taught basic medical practices, self-care or their body parts.

(I heard that they plan to add Dratchet in Season 1 for them to teach the Terrans to maximize the full potential of their Cybersleeves but it got scrap. Glad they scrapped it. I don't want them just to be seen in a few episodes, I would want them in all episodes, still guiding the Terrans about the cybersleeves or just "life" in a way. Heh I'm becoming quite greedy here...)

Or other Cybertronians giving them advise, broadening their options then adding the Terrans being observant with the major details also them working out with those passed wisdom and what they have observed. The example to that is Trash being the most observant in some episodes

Sidenote: Rung being a therapist. We got like... A ton of traumatized bots in the last scene being controlled and what not. I think Megs is going to be more traumatized seeing that they almost made Megs cry in the cut.

Then they could add Megs thanking Starscream for being the Terrans backup. Tadah! "Connection" for the two of them dun! dUN! DAHHH! Making a deeper connection between the two so they could understand each other well. We could already see Megs starting to realize what he has done to Screamer or just stick to the other traumatized bots that being Starscream, Hashtag and Grimlock.

I noticed when Megatron got injured in Episode 10 it was still there until to the last episodes.

(This pic is from Episode 25)

One of the reason why he seems weak in the Episode 16 and that fact alone, they don't have a medic, resources or Megs being stubborn not wanting medical attention or making it a badge for G.H.O.S.T. to see those scars or a reminder.

So that idea comes in full circle bots being revived or adding more Terrans in the mix and having a Terran medic since they lack in it. 

Season 2 for me is almostly establishing connections with Cybertronians and Humans, Autobots then Deceptions and for Terrans to be that connection or the  bridge. That's why the idea adding more Terrans in this situation seems most likely to mend and connect.

Then adding some preparation plots for the Season 3's opening. (Mainly the spacebrige and the lack of energon for me)

And the ideas I have in Season 3 is that they could establish the connection on Cybertron. (Most bots has been revived on Earth. It could be Perceptor or Brainstorm or both. They would be helping Wheeljack and Shockwave with the rebuild of the main spacebrige that OP destroyed or the basement spacebrige then maybe enhance it a little. Resources are low so ye.)

Sidenote: oh, OH there's that Quintus Prime Ship just hovering outside of Earth's atmosphere? That may have resources to rebuild the spacebrigde? Or maybe that ship could be in the past that crashed landed or landed on Earth million years ago, and boom creepy water cave but that's a low possiblity for the ship to be in the past.

With the Terrans, Autobots and Deceptions had adjusted to earth and fixed the main spacebrige. They can now travel all around the universe.

The Terrans could have Earth and Cybertron as homes. The older bots could teach them the culture of Cybertron in deeper aspects.

They could add the idea why the war really started or other cultures in Cybertron. They could spice this idea up! for example in Episode 7 where as Alex shares his history and culture.

Or they could explain the the history of the Thirteen Primes? Well, maybe they couldn't "for the bots" cause they know so little details about them but you get my point.

Or they could just stick with the history of war, how it started.

How Megatron came to be then who is Orion Pax and why was he been choosen? Or they could make a movie about this topic.

And they could add other bots perspective, Autobots or Deceptions, their lives in Cybertron. I want to know their POV in the war, like for example Tarrantulas didn't want to join the war but needed to join to survive.

The idea in this, it's like in the Episode 16 "Warzone" Megatron explaining to the Terrans their histories, past mistakes and not repeating it again.

And we can dive deeper in the plot on how's and why's 

Idk if the other animation franchise has that deeper lore in their history in Cybertron but if Earthspark would add it to their plot mix, I would gladly drink that shot.

And they could add the other (lost?) colonies of Cybertronians for like example Caminus, they could introduce Windblabe and Chromia or Velocitron like Knockout or Eukaris where as Airazor and Tigatron or Cheetor.

All that good stuff you get the idea.

So Terrans wouldn't feel that their the only other colony. Well, Terrans are quite unique, maybe the other Terrans could have like an Insecton or Beast Alt modes or even a Combiner? Who knows earthspark has a lot of potential for Alt modes or they can make them connect with the other colonies with their alt modes.

And that's all for now folks my social battery has ran out.

Thanks again btw for reading this heckin' knotted of ideas ~(°^°~).

Have a good day.

[nadezhda-wexler]

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[blackwaves]

obligatory note to stream the fic i wrote about post-canon beast!gin (due to finding her sibling issues extremely compelling etc) but— the beast version of the akutagawa siblings is incredibly, incredibly interesting to me. gin is central to beast, and it is equally central that she's on-page for so little time.

the first time akutagawa sees her, the narration calls her a painting come to life; the metaphor took me aback the first time i read the beast ln as opposed to the manga because of how fitting it is to how akutagawa sees her: a static, 1-dimensional image and ideal; a child stolen away by his man in black. it's an illusion she shatters cleanly and all at once.

gin getting a knife into akutagawa's gut and telling him he hasn't gotten her back, that he's pursuing destruction and using her as an excuse, that the mafia's violence is rational whereas his violence is an aoe attack that destroys everything in its proximity is:

one: extremely funny to me. sorry gin. sometimes you call your brother inherently evil for his glorified suicide attempt (-> this is, in practice, my view of him leaving gin alone pre-meeting dazai in both canon and beast. do i think it is unfair to gin to leave her abandoned and alone, and that it reflects on the way he is associated with destruction-despite-the-cost and similarly on the way dazai in beast canon addresses him? yes absolutely. do i also think it is unfair to say the suicidal twelve year is inherently evil for semi-explicitly trying to kill himself via extremely abrupt vengeance quest? yeah. sorryyyyyy)

two: not incorrect re:destructiveness. we see time and time again in both canon and beast that akutagawa moves in a straight line to action without consideration for consequences or the deaths that follow. it's the tendency that both canon dazai and canon atsushi object to— atsushi primarily for the fact that he places no inherent value on life and his actions put that on display, dazai primarily for the lack of strategy and rationality in how he operates. he's more feral and uncivilized in beast (/affectionate), but the point stands? (skimming over sections of beast for this and: interesting to me that when he's getting his stamp from kunikida, it's explicitly said: "To make a long story short, destruction was his go-to answer for everything. [...] It appeared to be more of an innate trait of his rather than something he learned from his environment or experience." similarly, it's interesting to me that the way he gets his stamp from kunikida is through the channeling of that destructive energy into a purposeful violence. the concept of mindless destruction vs rationality is the core internal conflict in beast which (relatedly) is why i think it's so fundamental to the trajectory of his arc in canon, but i digress)

three: not fully incorrect re:using gin as an excuse. this is actually the most important point to me, because: akutagawa cares about gin and cares about the ideal of his younger sister stolen away, regrets deeply his initial abandonment of her and hates himself for it, but his actions with regards to "saving" her are fundamentally undermined both by his pursuit of dazai and his own impulsiveness. he repeatedly prioritizes vengeance and impulse over the actions that would actually put him face-to-face with him, and he doesn't consider her as a person with her own agency. when he collects oda's stamp (via threatening to kill himself in front of a child. etc.) there's a point made about him viewing anger as the center of his world. when he is a child facing dazai for the first time, it's said the first clear emotion he feels is hatred. this is without getting into the events of the final sequence, in which he is repeatedly called out for prioritizing his anger over finding gin.

—

okay! at the fun part now, which is to say. how does this reflect on gin herself.

basic facts we know about gin in the present are that

she's dazai's secretary who's always with him, and she views him as lonely (the implication given is that this was also her first impression of him, when she went with him willingly)

she's highly protected because of her position of secretary and anyone who asks about her should be attacked immediately (this may be a set-up for an sskk meetcute via dazai, but presumably it comes into affect via how she's treated by others)

atsushi believes she has no family, which is either 1. again, set-up for the sskk meetcute, or 2. what the pm as a whole usually believes

she's quiet and very observant (presumably, reflected in canon)

she believes in rationality placed over emotion (fascinating contrast. obviously) and doesn't object to the port mafia's violence because of how its violence is impersonal

atsushi refers to her and akutagawa as having bloodstained hands, which may be solely a jab at akutagawa, but in equal measure may be a reference to her position in the pm? she stabs akutagawa easily and respects the violence of the pm, so it's possible/probable that it also refers to how she's associated with the pm.

she was convinced by dazai to enter the port mafia because she didn't feel safe remaining solely with akutagawa

she pleaded with dazai to sacrifice her life instead of killing akutagawa (which indicates that despite it being a ploy and bait, it's real to her. alternatively, she could be in on it being a ploy and maintaining the lie with akutagawa, but i think that's less likely context-wise.)

she disappears post-lightnovel, according to akutagawa because she can't return to his side. akutagawa doesn't go after her because he thinks rushing after her would drive her away once more.

the majority of what we know about her is her emotions towards akutagawa: she thinks he uses her as an excuse to commit violence, and she wants to think he functions more rationally than he does. she thinks he was born to do evil and she cares about him anyway. she thinks he's incapable of keeping the people he loves safe from himself, and she wants him alive anyway.

i am always, always thinking about o-gin in relation to beast!gin, but particularly when she is saying "I don't care what kind of person you are. All I want is for you to live." o-gin is the story of a girl who renounces her beliefs and the idea of heaven for the sake of living in heaven so that she may meet her family again in hell. gestures incredibly wildly. you know.

sorry for the recap i just think. they're so so interesting. i just think they're insane. i want to lock them together in a room and make them argue with one another.