#its always about being a means to an end

[marciaillust]

your design of me

[bacchuschucklefuck]

while teen while goblin while aroace while injured while doing your best

[aroaceleovaldez]

What is the PR disaster in question that made Rick announce TSATS? I wasn’t active in the online fandom at that point

Of course! This was awhile ago so it figures people don't remember it/aren't familiar:

Basically a couple years back (2020) the fandom had some posts circulate discussing the ways different characters in the Riordanverse were written poorly or offensively. There was a masterpost that went around tumblr but the two major points people were particularly focusing on were Piper and Samirah (particularly because Piper had featured prominently again in Trials of Apollo recently and the third MCGA book had further emphasized and discussed Samirah being Muslim, since it was supposed to take place during Ramadan). Basically each had multiple posts breaking down the ways they were depicted incorrectly or offensively. The entire fandom for a little bit was VERY intensely discussing this (and it's around this time the "RR crit" tag got very popularized on tumblr - it did exist before, but suddenly was being used VERY frequently - cause it was that wide-spread - though the discussion took over basically every side of Riordaverse social media on different platforms). People really wanted Rick to respond to these criticisms, so he did!

He made two blog posts, one about Piper and one about Samirah. He has since deleted both so the links are to archived versions. The short version: he essentially tried to justify his poor research and double-down that he hadn't written them offensively, actually, people were just being mean to him. The fandom, of course, reacted poorly to this.

[Further elaborated events under the cut since this got a bit lengthy]

(Fun fact, this all happened within a month or so of the time i posted an open letter on aphobic tropes in the Riordanverse that Rick replied to, and then he immediately followed with announcing that Reyna was intended to be ace-coded [which cause a LOT of fandom debate] before Rick dipped for a couple of weeks, and then came back to post the blog posts in response to Piper and Sam stuff. So I like to jokingly refer to this as "The time I imploded the fandom/drove Rick off of twitter." Twas I that set the house ablaze.)

Rick fully left social media after this and the LT Musical social media manager became Rick's social media manager for the time being.

So this all happened June/July of 2020. Tower of Nero would end up being published in October of 2020 and a few months after that Rick would state that he was done with the series and wouldn't be writing any more series installments involving Percy, and also that he wouldn't be writing a Nico quest following Tower of Nero as it "wasn't his place to" and encouraged the community to write their own versions of Nico's story.

The community continued to circulate the tumblr posts and discuss the topics of Rick's offensive character depictions, and this is also where we see the dramatic shift in how the fandom depicts Piper in fanwork (though in most cases it is admittedly not an improvement 😬) because of all this discussion. This is also around the time when the fandom brought Viria under scrutiny claiming that she was whitewashing Piper as part of the same discussions, through the justification that she was drawing Annabeth as having tan skin (which she does canonically), and if Annabeth has tanner skin then Piper then that's whitewashing Piper? Except they were using completely separate images of not fully rendered Piper art versus Annabeth in dramatic lighting, so it's all very awkward and poor logic, and did actually get kind of racist. A lot of people were calling it "Tannabeth Blackchase" (yeah, i know) or similar and a common sentiment you'd see repeated is "Don't draw Annabeth as having darker skin than Piper, because that's offensive/racist/whitewashing." (Note: it was not phrased "don't draw Piper as having lighter skin than Annabeth" - we also won't get into certain offensive depictions of Native Americans, but I digress). But yeah, the Annabeth stuff in all that did not age well at all.

Anyways, in October of 2021 however Rick would announce that he was co-writing The Sun And The Star - with a lot of heavy emphasis on how Mark Oshiro works as a sensitivity reader, and some false advertising from the official social media that Mark Oshiro was the first time a non-Riordan author would be collaborating on the series (disregarding the ghostwriters completely). One of the big criticisms in the breaking down of issues in Rick's writing was his lack of ever seeking a sensitivity reader, and fans claiming that a sensitivity reader could solve a lot of the problems. This was basically Rick's "look! I totally listened!!!!" (though it did little to actually improve things, based on the book) and in TSATS as well Piper gets a large cameo at the end where the text very directly addresses a lot of points made in criticism of Rick's writing of her.

We also then of course got the CoTG trilogy later, explicitly stated to be for advertising purposes for the show.

So basically, short version: Rick came under scrutiny for a lot of offensive writing within the span of two months, made some bad blog posts doubling down about it, left social media. TOA ends. Rick says he wasn't going to continue the series/write what would become TSATS. Community celebrates the end of of the franchise but also continues to discuss Rick's poor writing and the blog posts at length. Rick suddenly announces TSATS and Mark Oshiro's involvement. Everybody gets distracted from being mad. Show announcement stuff also happens and the discussions peter out.

[sideblogdotjpeg]

ive been thinking about the red string superstition recently and also sol bufo always and it makes me sick how uncannily caldwell tanner has made sol to perfectly target me personally

(+ cropped versions !)

[senseearly]

One thing that I always think about post-dungeon recovery Mithrun who got home is that people were probably used to talking about him while he was still in the room.

Misiril's squad used to that when he was still in their care. Questions towards him were quickly redirected to others when he wouldn't (couldn't) answer their questions -- where was the rest of his squad? what happened to the demon? how did he even end up like this? Asking or talking to Mithrun is a pointless effort. So they stopped doing that.

And Mithrun, he's gotten used to this set-up, not like he could bring himself to care.

When his caretakers and visiting family started doing it, he continued to be apathetic to them (although, the numbness from this large, gaping hole in his chest makes him think that he used to care).

The caretakers would do their duties, but behind his back, they would probably gossip about Mithrun's chances of recovery. Others think there is still hope, a lot of them think this is going to be permanent. Which is good, at least to their business, because Mithrun's brother pays a lot to make sure he is alive. And Mithrun...is not in the state to do that himself. They at least try to whisper when they're around Mithrun, keep their voices low or mention him under an alias or a codename. But Mithrun knows they are talking about him. He is the elephant in the room.

His visiting family is less nice. They take one look at him and weep -- not out of worry, or pity, or sadness -- but of shame. There is no way they can show him to others anymore, they bemoan. There is no way he can represent himself as a member of the House of Kerensil, they cry. He's just like his brother! And, once upon a time, that comment would've hurt Mithrun, a stab right into his heart. But all he feels is a gaping numbness that cannot be filled (It used to be full, he can't help but think).

I wish he had died, someone from his family said while he was within earshot. And Mithrun, barely alive but still breathing, cannot bring himself to care.

The only person that I think would be delighted to see him alive, at least, is his brother. I can see him visiting Mithrun whenever he can (at least in elf time terms). Talking to him as if he can respond, asking him about things when Mithrun can't bring himself to answer. At some point, Mithrun's brother stopped talking to him when he visits; instead, he would just sit next to Mithrun and watch the birds and the flowers. He would drink tea and Mithrun would do nothing.

But once in a while, Mithrun's brother would tell him, I'm glad you came home, I'm glad you're still alive.

[navree]

"rhaenys could have ended the war by dracarysing all the greens right there" yes because a distant relation to the throne deciding to barbecue an anointed and publicly positively hailed king and his entire family who is well loved within the city and in multiple other parts of the country for the sake of the succession of a far-away princess no one was ever on board with who hasn't been seen by the populace in literal years, her psycho husband, her three obvious bastards, and two toddlers from the psycho husband would go over super well with westeros and especially in king's landing where scores of the still-cheering population were killed for no reason by that same dragon who would do the barbecuing, because when targaryens act unilaterally without thinking of how the people would react there's never any problem, which is why the storming of the dragonpit and robert's rebellion were actually just collective delusions dreamed up by readers who hate rhaenyra and not key parts of the story and house targaryen's history that directly contributed to their demise and are intrinsic to the plot

truly team black stans are made up of only the most genius and media literate amongst us

[s0fter-sin]

i’d love to know how much of early day's spn subtext was deliberate or just a happy accident bc the subplot of 1x08 bugs is sam and dean butting heads about how they were raised and sam hating it while dean tells him he should accept it as they protect a family; predominantly a father and son

the father and son argue bc the son is different and not who the father wants him to be while the son feels ignored and shunned (aka sam). sam spends the episode empathising with him and telling him he can look forward to going to college to get away from him just like he did while dean cuts in to say he should stick with his family

the entire episode, dean defends john and the way he raised them ("maybe he needed to raise his voice but sometimes you were out of line"), it even starts with him and sam arguing over their illegal ways of making money and how they were brought up in the life; dean adapting to and enjoying it and sam wanting to be honest and straight

they talk about sam being sure john is and always has been disappointed in him just for dean to say john used to go to stanford whenever he could to check on him and something about his expression is so bitter; like he knows john would never express that care for him

but at the climax when they're trying to get matt to convince his dad to leave, sam is the one telling him to tell the truth and make his dad listen whereas dean tells him to lie; implying he wouldn't trust his son enough to believe him

he outright scoffs at sam and asks him what he was thinking for trying to get matt to tell the truth

the entire episode, dean is advocating for the kid to work it out (almost to just take it) and stay with his family but when push comes to shove, he tells him to lie

sam who spent years resenting john and his family for how they were raised, fell back on "making him listen"; echoing all the arguments he had with john, trying to force him to understand who he is while john's too blinded by vengeance to even begin to try. the same way sam refuses to see how they were raised and why they were raised that way from john’s point of view, hinting at how similar people they are (which still isn’t an excuse but also not the point rn)

dean winchester, the king of repression and masking (and fawning), dean who at this point is still staunchly defending john, tells a shunned kid with a harsh father to pretend in order for his father to care enough to listen to him and believe him

dean knows reasoning won't work bc he's watched it happen over and over again with sam and john

even the way matt tries to say, “but he’s my… (father)” feels like he’s coming over to dean’s point of view; that matt as a son respects his father to enough to tell the truth and no matter how much they’ve fought, that should trump everything. but dean still insists he lies. and matt tells the truth. and his father doesn’t listen

there's no way they intentionally made dean subconsciously know that a man raising his son in a mimicry of how john raised them wouldn't respect or trust his son enough to believe him about something potentially life threatening after half a season of john ignoring them about something potentially life threatening

right?

[902186]

thinking about kurapika and chrollo and parallels and this circle of horrors where they are the victims AND the tools of their fates.

they both think they are neither or more like they don't care about it at all. they don't see themselves as victims, and they see absolutely no other way to live other than this role they took upon themselves. kurapika had such a strong sense of identity and what he wanted to do with his life and understands himself perfectly at all times. he was a part of his clan, but he was more an individual than anything else. kuroro, on the other hand, never knowing, never thinking what his motives are, deliberately not understanding himself and desperately holding on to the spider. he can't be an individual but with others, he can be the spider.

and for both of them, it all started on vengeance. kurapika abandoned himself in order to become a tool, a weapon, to avenge his clan, and to collect scarlet eyes. he stopped being himself and became his people. kuroro didn't know his family, didn't know where he actually came from, didn't know who he was or what he was supposed to be. so growing up in meteor city, he held on to his people strongly. and in order to avenge and protect his people, he would become a tool, a weapon, he would give himself to them. he started being himself as he became his people.

kuroro could be something for his people. and kurapika could be nothing for his people.

kurapika took on the role of judgement for vengeance. kuroro took on the role of villain for vengeance. kurapika acted his part by diminishing everything he was, and kuroro acted his part by filling up his identity with it.

but one thing stays clear and fixed with them throughout it all. they would do anything for their people. for whomever they consider their people. "he'll put his friends before his mission." a weakness kuroro sees in kurapika so quickly and so easily. but the same thing he considers a strength in himself. "i am not your top priority. it is the spider that must be kept alive." as long as his people are alive, his identity will live on. and as long as kurapika is alive, his people’s identity will live on.

"now you will get to experience the pain of losing your home." kuroro (and the spiders) killing the kurta clan set this parallel in motion for himself as the circle began for kurapika. and (speculatively) kurta clan hurting his people was what set the circle in motion for kuroro, too. now thinking about where they are in the story and how their end could be, it is very clear that they are finally ending up in a place where they mirror each other (as they have from the beginning) and they can recognise it in each other and themselves. kurapika ending up empty after his mission and kuroro ending up empty after losing spiders. both of them purposeless and with no self left outside of it. in a way, this is how the circle ends. "i can hear that he accepted death." they walk with death every day with no fear and full acceptance and after losing the only thing they live for, not even something they hold on to because they don't see a point in being alive outside of the fact that they must keep going for their people, for their purpose, and if not then there's no reason to exist, they are meaningless.

kuroro's vengeance left kurapika all alone, with everyone he knew dead, and feeling hollow at the end. by fate, he ended up all alone, with everyone he knew dead and feeling hollow at the end.

and at that point, they will have to start a new page and build a new self for themselves.

[numberonetribble]

Stuck at my mom's house until the 27th, can't finish the comic I was working on until then :( here's a rough Cowboy!pinup sketch of Bumblebee and some Breakbee + Piston angst:

[satorugojoswiife]

don't think or talk about gojo for one (1) day challenge (FAILED)

[arsenicflame]

Hornigold's Izzy was the worst, of course. A version of himself that never escaped that terrible place, who lived his life as little more than an object. He still has nightmares about all the things Baz told them, about all the things he didn't.

It doesn't really surprise him, after the first ones, not at its root. To be Izzy Hands is to be someone's after all, though seeing his own face on someone so fundamentally different to him never gets less weird. The people who these other Izzys attached themselves too often left him with more questions than answers. Jack's Izzy, he can understand, from a certain view, though the man himself felt like a fever dream. The less said about Stede's Izzy the better, he's never going to forgive him for the ideas he put in his Stede's head.

Then there was Sam's Izzy.

The first thing anyone noticed about him was that he was happy. He smiled and laughed without thought, and went through life with an ease Izzy didn't think he had ever felt. The crew took to him immediately, accepting him in a way they never did the other Izzys, and certainly not their own. They prodded him and asked him endless questions, and he took every touch without a flinch and answered every question without a hint of a grumble. This Izzy was free. He was open, unburdened, trusting. He was happy.

Sam's Izzy was the one that hurt the most to see. He could accept the worst that Hornigold could've offered, that he would have suffered and been broken. It was infinitely harder to see that he had a chance to be this happy. That it slipped through his fingers.

He's never looked back before, but now? Seeing what might've been? He can't stop himself from considering the possibility that maybe he made the wrong choice back then, going with Ed.

[ywpd-translations]

Ride 756: The third Inter High!!

Pag 1

1: The Inter High starting line is impartial

2: Those aiming for victory

3: Those filled to the brim

4: Those who are scared

5: Everyone who put on their number bib

6: The line calls everyone to a new path

Pag 2 / 3

1: No2, Onoda Sakamichi's last Inter High!!

Pag 4

1: “Kyushu” was once divided into nine countries, and that's why it has that name*

(NdT.: The “kyuu” in Kyushu means nine)

(Currently is divided in seven prefectures: Fukuoka, Ooita, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Miyazaki, Kagoshima)

2: It has a lot of active volcanoes, and people coexist with the harshness of nature while enjoying hot springs, geothermy, and tourism

3: Trade with the continent has been active since ancient times

4: Formerly, the distribution of goods by ships, which was the mainstream

5: Passed through the Kanmon Straits, separating Honshu and Kyushu

6: And transported to Osaka, Edo, the Japanese cities by the sea, and every corner of the country

Pag 5

1: Even today, the Kanmon Straits, which passes through Shimonoseki, and Kitakyushu City, and Moji, is the shortest route that connects the Inland Sea and the Sea of Japan, and is a key point for the shipping through sea

2: 1000 ships a day pass through the complex strait, which is 500m wide in its narrowest point

3: As for the land route

4: An highway crosses the Kanmon Strait with a huge bridge 1068m long

5: Ordinary national roads and railroads pass through specialized tunnels

6: As for bicycles and people... they use the “pedestrian bridge tunnel” at the bottom of the huge bridge

From Honshu to Kyushu, they can cross over the Kanmon Strait by walking

Pag 6

4: Waaa

We're at the bottom of the sea here?

That's right

5: So above us is the sea?

Yeah

And we can walk to Kyushu?

That's right, it's around 400m from here

Amazing....

6: There's even people with bikes

Yeah

7: Look! There's a line!

It's the prefectural border

8: One, two-

9: Yes! I landed in Kyushu!

Pag 7

1: The entrance to Kyushu is in the northernmost town, Moji, in the prefecture of Fukuoka, Kitakyushu City

Pag 8

1: This is where this year's Inter High will start

Pag 9

3: Where do I put this baggage?

Put it in the tent for now

Thank you, senpai

4: Look, The bikes are all lined up

So pretty

Pag 10

1: I took a picture

So cool

2: Two portions of Mijiko curry, please

Yessir

3: A pressure of 6.5?

Six, please

4: Do you have an allen key?

Yes

Pag 11

1: Ohhhh

2: There's so many huge buses!!

Teh!!

3: Nara

4: That one is from Miyazaki

5: Na-Nagano!!

6: And there's so many people, too, teh....!!

7: Are they participants in the race!? All of them!?

You're kidding, they look so strong!!

8: The attendance!! Is on this scale!!

So this is....

Pag 12

1: A national competition!!

2: Teh?

3: Ohh.... suddenly my knees started trembling, teh

Ho- how do I stop it, teh, Ki....

4: Kinaka-kun!!

6: Ki.....

7: “The competition is in Kyushu, so there's no way we can bring everyone along”

8: Kinaka.... kun

Pag 13

1: I'm here!!

Ah, you're here....

2: I'll be a mechanical help for the next three days

And I was entrusted to be your lucky charm

De-he.... oho, ohoho, fuhoho!! What's that enigmatic way of laughing!!

3: Don't act like I didn't come!!

No... I just wanted to reaffirm again how grateful I am that you came, Kinaka-kun...

Ah!? That doesn't make any sense

4: It does!!

Pag 14

1: Because I really am grateful to you, Kinaka-kun!!

3: And I think this jersey is for the both of us!!

5: Don't say you're grateful so directly

It's embarrassing!!

6: Let's go to the tent!!

Yeah!!

You

7: It's your first Inter High but you're not all that nervous!!

That's somehow incredible

8: Yeah!!

After all

Pag 15

1: We have the strongest senpai!!

Pag 16

1: Ohhh

Waaa

2: It's Sohoku!!

It's Sohoku, the two-times in a row champion!!

Sohoku is in Kyushu!!

3: What a terrific aura!

Waaa

Onoda.... Naruko, Imaizumi!!

They look serious!!

Are they aiming for the championship again this year!?

Pag 17

1: They're going to get their number bibs

They're heading straight for the reception!!

Yes, all the participants are lining up in a row there

2: Oi, you're interrupting....

3: Sorry-

Ah

Soho-

Waa

Waaa-

5: -ku's...... bibs....

Pag 18

1: ….. please

2: Is he..... nervous....!? The reigning champion, Sohoku!?

Did he have a nervous aura?

Maybe the two guys behind him.... were supporting him?

3: They were supporting him, but the jersey came off

5: They're going back to their tent....

So that's Sohoku... right

7: So-so- sorry, I got nervous!!

Yeah

Right

8: La-la-la-la-la

La?

La?

Pag 19

1: I was thinking it's the last Inter High!!

3: For us

Pag 20

4: Yeah

5: That's right

6: That's right, Onoda-kun

We're third years

7: It's our third and final

8: yearly grand stage

Pag 21

1: Once this is over, we'll retire

This Inter High is our last race!!

Pag 23

1: Honestly speaking, I my heart too was pounding when we were on the ship coming here

I was really nervous

2: Naruko-kun....

3: Naruko

4: But then I thought

When we were first years and ran in the Kanagawa competition..... maybe, at the starting point in Enoshima

5: The old man, Kinjou-san, and Makishima-san, too, were as nervous as we are now

Pag 24

1: They must have been

3: But they didn't show it at all to us kouhai

4: Well, we can't afford to show it, either

5: That's why, Manager, we talked and decided to go back to our beginning!!

6: We chased and caught up with those people's back, but this time we're gonna surpass them!!

7: Huh

8: We're changing our numbers from last year!!

Pag 25

1: The old man carried number 172, so I'll take number 2!!

Hotshot will take the number Kinjou-san wore, number 1!!

Pag 26

3: And Onoda-kun....

I....

7: The number Makishima-san carried

Pag 27

1: I'll run wearing the number 3!!

[todayisafridaynight]

sometimes i think about daigo interacting with the mundane and thinking about mine and i throw up a little bit ngl

[cerealmonster15]

i forgot grunt meant like henchman or whatever for a second i thought they were like yeah leonas bitch ass grunts and growls are partial proof to savanaclaw being an athletic leaning dorm lol

[queer-ragnelle]

I don't know who needs to hear this but if you go onto a post featuring a certain character and comment or reblog to tag that you hate them, particularly if it's someone's creation, you're the asshole and I'm blocking you. Nobody is making you interact with it. Shut the fuck up.