I’ve been pondering something since I watched The Witch From Mercury prologue, which is that the setting gives me the strong vibe of ‘this is probably what the pre-Calamity War era of the Iron-Blooded Orphans was like.’ You’ve got a solar-system wide colonial project, mass human augmentation, an corpo-cratic hierarchy running things without heed for the people beneath them, and the first episode even hinges on honour duels, something noted as being a pre-Calamity tradition.
If some bloke named Agnika wandered past, he wouldn’t look out of place, is what I’m saying.
Now, obviously, G-Witch is not an IBO prequel, nor should it be. That nagging feeling I’m getting is merely a symptom of Gundam’s long tradition of remixing itself with each new iteration. The honour duels have a precedent in Mobile Fighter G Gundam in much the same way the Calamity War has one in After War Gundam X, or the centralised industrial interests do in something like the Romefeller Foundation in Gundam Wing.
And that got me thinking about how successful Gundam in general has been at this kind of thing. While Doctor Who is my first fandom, the first one I got heavily involved with is Transformers and there is something similar in how various TF series have built upon, adjusted or assimilated innovations from each other. However, Transformers is a failure case for this process, where the gravitational pull of the original version has slowly swamped all developments, overwhelming them with a melange of nostalgia. Gundam fiction, on the other hand, seems to have largely avoided this trap. For all the tropes, call-backs and recycling, each entry in the series brings in something new or recasts the old in a new light, in a way that feels much more satisfying when looked at as a whole.
I have no singular thesis as to why this is the case, though I think having later Universal Century installments to continue the 1979 series is a benefit, allowing the original to develop without overshadowing the other versions per se*. Certainly, that a lot of those versions are complete departures from the UC helps a lot too. From what I’ve watched, Gundam seems to be at its weakest when it tries to retread exactly the same ground, rather than veering off in a completely new direction such as ‘what if Earth was a giant boxing ring’ or ‘what if our protagonists were actual child soldiers, not the teenage fantasy version’.
I find that refreshing after years of my interest in Transformers slowly dwindling to a cry of ‘will you please do something new!’ It’s all independent of quality, mind you, and I’m not making an argument for the artistic merits of endless self-cannibalisation. But there is merit in telling the same kind of story in different ways, with different tones and different characters, simply for the hell of exploring the possibilities. I’d almost like to see someone try to do it on purpose within the same series, contrasting competing visions of the same archetypes across varied iterations to do . . . something. Though perhaps that risks collapsing into every multiversal cross-over story ever. Or Into the Spider-Verse, if we’re being optimistic. Hmm . . .
Anyway, good luck to Gundam Aerial and all ships that sail within her. I remain interested to see where the variations run this time around. In the meantime, I shall be taking a gander at After War, which so far appears to be asking the daring question, what is the missing link between Judau Ashta and Duo Maxwell?
*Turn A Gundam’s self-positioning as the end point of all prior Gundam stories works best, to me, when seen as a conceptual conceit rather than a strict chronology. It’s ‘thing’ is working towards breaking an endless cycle of apocalyptic war through compassion and understanding. The actual continuity is irrelevant past the message being communicated by saying ‘all these stories stack up to this point.’ (Not that there’s anything wrong with saying all the effort in said stories was wasted because things kept going downhill again, any peace was fleeting, and nothing told afterwards matters until Turn A. That’s kind of the point. I simply mean, there’s no need for it to be a straitjacket, when it’s ultimately a neat meta trick.)
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𝐋𝐗𝐗. Parallels between the God of Wisdom's speech and the Twilight Sword.
Why are there still so many people striving to move forward even when they know the path ahead is dangerous and painful? It's because people don't only live for themselves. They have families, loved ones, friends, and communities. They have dreams that they are still trying to achieve.
[...] The path of life is long, and it's hard for us to see the destination. This leads us to ask a lot of difficult questions... What's the meaning of life? What's the purpose of my existence? Why do I keep experiencing pain and loss? Of course, the most comfortable choice is to stop progressing, give up thinking, and just keep repeating whatever you're already familiar with. Some venture in search of the world's secrets to prevent rapidly approaching, yet still unknown, world-shattering catastrophes. [...] Life is not just about yourself. Each and every one of your actions shapes you and the world around you. Therefore, many people will strive forward to forge new paths, even if they have to endure great pain to do so. Once you begin your journey on that same difficult yet rewarding path, you'll come to know the answers to those big, existential questions, yet they will no longer fell as life-defining as they did before.
—Nahida: Sapientia Oromasdis I.
I just finished Nahida's character quest and to be honest... I'm at a loss of words. I was already finding it interesting due to the potential connections with the Akasha and the manner Rhukkadevata made it happen to heal partly the world from this forbidden knowledge (which it ended up having solid connections), but this last part of the quest wrecked my feelings thinking about Dain.
We have this man who used to be the captain of the royal knights of a country that fell by the hand of the gods, thus he lost everything. He found himself in the position of need to find what his destiny is, most likely to understand the purpose of his existence after being denied death. After 500 years, he'd have every reason to wallow in the past. Every day he pursues the Abyss Order is a reminder of his failure to protect them, or to try to change the mentality of great part of Khaenri'ah at the time following King Irmin's belief if he was under the last Regent's orders, who seemed to want to change this but ultimately failed too.
But despite how painful his road of self-imposed and not enjoyable solitude is, for all the grief he still feels in his dreams, despite finding every obstacle one could ever find in his way, he managed to move forward and his destination in life is clear and guided by his actions. What this destination may be or what he truly wants to achieve remains a mystery, but I can only imagine that based on the Travail trailer and his strong belief in human potential in this world (which there is, so much that it gives Archons strength and in company to celestial beings they can achieve a lot —see the 2.6 Interlude Chapter—) he truly wants to fight for humanity. Even if that means fighting against the same people he once protected before Khaenri'ah's fall.
Maybe in all his sorrow, Dain still may have moments of existential doubts along the way. He discarded himself to the point of not even being able to name one place he likes in the entirety of Teyvat, thus maybe he lost all sense of self-importance. But as Nahida says here, it's not about himself alone. His actions, the people that will benefit from it even if they'll never know who made it possible and the way the world will be shaped thanks to them, these will become part of who he is, too.
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commonly confused words
accept: to receive
except: with the exclusion of
advice: recommendation (noun)
advise: to recommend (verb)
adverse: unfavorable
averse: opposed to
affect: to influence (verb); emotional response (noun)
effect: result (noun); to cause (verb)
aisle: space between rows
isle: island
allude: to make indirect reference to
elude: to avoid
allusion: indirect reference
illusion: false idea, misleading appearance
already: by this time
all ready: fully prepared
altar: sacred platform or place
alter: to change
altogether: thoroughly
all together: everyone/everything in one place
a lot: a quantity; many of something
allot: to divide or portion out
angel: supernatural being, good person
angle: shape made by joining two straight lines
are: plural form of "to be"
our: plural form of "my"
accent: pronunciation common to a region
ascent: the act of rising or climbing
assent: consent, agreement
assistance: help
assistants: helpers
bare: nude, unadorned
bear: to carry; an animal
beside: close to; next to
besides: except for; in addition
boar: a wild male pig
bore: to drill a hole through
board: piece of wood
bored: uninterested
born: brought into life
borne: past participle of "to bear" (carry)
breath: air taken in (noun)
breathe: to take in air (verb)
brake: device for stopping
break: destroy; make into pieces
buy: to purchase
by: next to; through the agency of
canvas: heavy cloth
canvass: to take a survey; a survey
capital: major city
capitol: government building
choose: to pick
chose: past tense of "to choose"
clothes: garments
close: to shut; near
cloths: pieces of fabric
coarse: rough
course: path; series of lectures
complement: something that completes
compliment: praise, flattery
conscience: sense of morality
conscious: awake, aware
corps: regulated group
corpse: dead body
council: governing body
counsel: advice; to give advice
dairy: place where milk products are processed
diary: personal journal
descent: downward movement
dissent: disagreement
dessert: final, sweet course in a meal
desert: to abandon; dry, sandy area
device: a plan; a tool or utensil
devise: to create
discreet: modest, prudent behavior
discrete: a separate thing, distinct
do: a verb indicating performance or execution of a task
dew: water droplets condensed from air
due: as a result of
dominant: commanding, controlling
dominate: to control
die: to lose life; one of a pair of dice
dye: to change or add color
dyeing: changing or adding color
dying: losing life
elicit: to draw out
illicit: illegal, forbidden
eminent: prominent
imminent: about to happen
envelop: to surround (verb)
envelope: container for a letter (noun)
everyday: routine, commonplace, ordinary (adj.)
every day: each day, succession (adj. + noun)
fair: just, honest; a carnival; light skinned
fare: money for transportation; food
farther: at a greater (measurable) distance
further: in greater (non-measurable) depth
formally: conventionally, with ceremony
formerly: previously
forth: forward
fourth: number four in a list
gorilla: animal in ape family
guerrilla: soldier specializing in surprise attacks
hear: to sense sound by ear
here: in this place
heard: past tense of "to hear"
herd: group of animals
hoard: a hidden fund or supply, a cache
horde: a large group or crowd, swarm
hole: opening
whole: complete; an entire thing
human: relating to the species homo sapiens
humane: compassionate
its: possessive form of "it"
it's: contraction for "it is"
knew: past tense of "know"
new: fresh, not yet old
know: to comprehend
no: negative
later: after a time
latter: second one of two things
lead: heavy metal substance; to guide
led: past tense of "to lead"
lessen: to decrease
lesson: something learned and/or taught
lightning: storm-related electricity
lightening: making lighter
loose: unbound, not tightly fastened
lose: to misplace
maybe: perhaps (adv.)
may be: might be (verb)
meat: animal flesh
meet: to encounter
mete: to measure; to distribute
medal: a flat disk stamped with a design
meddle: to interfere, intrude
metal: a hard organic substance
mettle: courage, spirit, energy
miner: a worker in a mine
minor: underage person (noun); less important (adj.)
moral: distinguishing right from wrong; lesson of a fable or story
morale: attitude or outlook usually of a group
passed: past tense of "to pass"
past: at a previous time
patience: putting up with annoyances
patients: people under medical care
peace: absence of war
piece: part of a whole; musical arrangement
peak: point, pinnacle, maximum
peek: to peer through or look furtively
pique: fit of resentment, feeling of wounded vanity
pedal: the foot lever of a bicycle or car
petal: a flower segment
peddle: to sell
personal: intimate; owned by a person
personnel: employees
plain: simple, unadorned
plane: to shave wood; aircraft (noun)
precede: to come before
proceed: to continue
presence: attendance; being at hand
presents: gifts
principal: foremost (adj.); administrator of a school (noun)
principle: moral conviction, basic truth
quiet: silent, calm
quite: very
rain: water drops falling; to fall like rain
reign: to rule
rein: strap to control an animal (noun); to guide or control (verb)
raise: to lift up
raze: to tear down
rational: having reason or understanding
rationale: principles of opinion, beliefs
respectfully: with respect
respectively: in that order
reverend: title given to clergy; deserving respect
reverent: worshipful
right: correct; opposite of left
rite: ritual or ceremony
write: to put words on paper
road: path
rode: past tense of "to ride"
scene: place of an action; segment of a play
seen: viewed; past participle of "to see"
sense: perception, understanding
since: measurement of past time; because
sight: scene, view, picture
site: place, location
cite: to document or quote (verb)
stationary: standing still
stationery: writing paper
straight: unbending
strait: narrow or confining; a waterway
taught: past tense of "to teach"
taut: tight
than: used to introduce second element; compared to
then: at that time; next
their: possessive form of "they"
there: in that place
they’re: contraction for "they are"
through: finished; into and out of
threw: past tense of "to throw"
thorough: complete
to: toward
too: also; very (used to show emphasis)
two: number following one
track: course, road
tract: pamphlet; plot of ground
waist: midsection of the body
waste: discarded material; to squander
waive: forgo, renounce
wave: flutter, move back and forth
weak: not strong
week: seven days
weather: climatic condition
whether: if
wether: a neutered male sheep
where: in which place
were: past tense of "to be"
which: one of a group
witch: female sorcerer
whose: possessive for "of who"
who’s: contraction for "who is"
your: possessive for "of you"
you’re: contraction for "you are"
yore: time long past
commonly confused words part 2
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I forget why, but I was on the Wikipedia page for polycystic ovarian syndrome, and I started researching hirsutism in women, and I learned the following things in this order:
there's a diagnostic criteria used to evaluate how hairy a woman is
This is important because being too hairy is a diagnostic criteria of most disorders that cause hyperandrogenism
Disorders that cause hyperandrogenism can be diagnosed by...measuring how hairy you are (this is the main and most important diagnostic criterion for PCOS)
Disorders that cause hyperandrogenism are important because they are correlated with obesity, infertility, and...being too hairy?
I think to myself, wait, what is a normal range for testosterone in women? I find this article...which set reference ranges for "normal" testosterone levels in women...EXCLUDING WOMEN WITH PCOS?
Quote: "Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is another notable condition in genetic (XX) females, which is characterized by excessive ovarian production of androgens. This condition is included for comparison with DSD, as the affected females with PCOS are genetic and phenotypic females. The elevated levels of testosterone in these females can lead to hyperandrogenism, a clinical disorder characterized variably by hirsutism, acne, male-pattern balding, metabolic disturbances, impaired ovulation and infertility. PCOS is a common condition, affecting 7%-10% of premenopausal women."
So: the study claims to demonstrate a clear distinction between the normal range of hormone levels in "Healthy" men and "healthy" women...with "healthy" being defined in the study as...having hormones within the "normal" range.......................
So I researched what the clinically established "normal" range for testosterone in women is
THERE ISN'T ONE????
Quote from the above article: "Several different approaches have been used to define endocrine disorders. The statistical approach establishes the lower and the upper limits of hormone concentrations solely on the basis of the statistical distribution of hormone levels in a healthy reference population. As an illustration, hypo- and hypercalcemia have been defined on the basis of the statistical distribution of serum calcium concentrations. Using this approach, androgen deficiency could be defined as the occurrence of serum testosterone levels that are below the 97.5th percentile of testosterone levels in healthy population of young men. A second approach is to use a threshold hormone concentration below or above which there is high risk of developing adverse health outcomes. This approach has been used to define osteoporosis and hypercholesterolemia. However, we do not know with certainty the thresholds of testosterone levels which are associated with adverse health outcomes."
What the fuck?
What the fuck?
It's batshit crazy to make a diagnostic criteria for medical disorders by placing arbitrary cutoffs within 2-5% of either end of a statistical distribution. What the actual fuck?
"The results came back, you have Statistical Outlier Disease." "What treatments are available?" "Well, first, we recommend dietary change. You should probably stop eating so many spiders."
Another article which attempted to do this
Quote: "Subjects with signs of hirsutism or with a personal history of diabetes or hypertension, or a family history of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) were excluded."
"We're going to figure out the typical range of testosterone levels that occur in women! First, we're going to exclude all the women that are too hairy from the study. I am very good at science."
Anyway I got off topic but there are apparently race-specific diagnostic tools for "hirsutism." That's kinda weird on its own but when I looked more into this in relation to race I found this article that straight-up uses the term "mongoloid"
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Alright so one of the DCxDP Aus:
It's vaugley inspired by another post I can't find where Amity jumps around the country and sometimes field trips turn into week long road trips. Only vague because I saw: Fentons make the school buses turn into alien invasion shelters and brain went burrrrrrrr.
Anyways, so Superman is fighting off against aliens who have kryptonite. He's trying his best but he's failing, he can't get up.
Meanwhile, a school bus full of kids are watching. Amity Park, after their own world nearly killed them all being led by the GIW who managed to convince everyone ghosts were evil, had displaced itself and now bounces around dimensions. Usually it stays for a week so it's safe enough for trips but this time it didn't. No big, Danny can sense a portal in a city called Gotham so they were on their way when BANG invasion.
Danny thinks it's fun and frankly so does everyone else but Lancer who is exhausted.
Then they see Superman being hurt and…
Danny’s Obsession is both Protection and Space. They know Superman is an alien. He is the Ghost King and the class has become his Fraid through time. They all feel the need to protect.
So they do.
Danny bursts out of the bus first as Phantom and starts blasting. Sam is next, vines erupting from the ground to grab and drag aliens away, one of which she drags to Tucker so he can steal their tech to start hacking. Paulina is out with teeth bared and breathing fire, scales appearing. Dash is using his enhanced strength as Kwan using his super speed. Other kids pour out fighting. Then Star shouts: “KRYPTONITE IS HARDENED ECTOPLASAM! WE CAN EAT IT!”
The kids start snatching and chowing down as other heroes arrive. There are no adverse affects so they let the kids have their fun as they help Superman stand up.
At the end of the invasion, Mr. Lancer (who had come out to with a Blastor in hand) sighed. “Is there paperwork? We were trying to get to a portal in Gotham.”
Que: What?
Danny: “Yeah our home town we had to displace from our him dimension after they wanted to experiment on all of us. Amity pops up in a lot of universes and it's fun!”
Star: “Sometimes our field trips end with us finding the nearest portal though. Danny can find them.”
This just gets questions but like, Lancer is filling out paperwork and the teens are chatting with heroes happily so it ends up they just kind of roll with it.
The conversations are weird though.
Danny: “Ranking for this world?”
Sam: “Top ten. Not higher then Faerun.”
Tucker: “You just liked how you got involved in that one cult and helped summon a Nature God to murder a bunch of polluters.”
Sam: “And?”
Paulina: “I like that one world where everyone had some sort of power. That Midoriya kid was cute. To bad we got caught before we could sneak him on the bus.”
Lancer: “No kidnapping anyone to Amity!”
Tucker: “I liked the time we ended up on that one planet- Palaven? That was fun.”
Danny: “Yeah it was!”
The kids move on and Batman escorts them to Gotham. The portal turns out to be the Lazarus Pit (oh joy) and then life moves on.
Until a month later when Flash sees the kids at a Museum and learns Amity Park came back. The city begins hanging around more and we discoverAmith likes this dimension. It eventually settles near Gotham and Metropolis. Sometimes it vanishes but it always returns.
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