#media: solicitations

[batbabydamian]

December/Early January DC Solicitations are out! There’s a couple of Damian features!

Batman - Santa Claus: Silent Knight #4 - 12/26/2023

It's a Christmas Night Fight: The search for a stolen child leads to Santa versus Krampus in the final, climactic battle for the soul of Christmas! The Justice League are stretched thin battling the mightiest monsters of the ages when the true menace is revealed!

Damian’s shown in the preview of #1 out in November, but not sure if he's in #2 and #3. ALSO ANOTHER DAN MORA DAMIAN!! although he’s chained up 😭 FREE HIM

Batman and Robin #4 - 12/12/2023

Batman and Robin have been separated! Batman works with White Rabbit to track down the new femme fatale Shush while his son, Damian, hunts down the criminal mastermind who is targeting his father! But Damian won't like who he finds! Don't miss out on the shocking ending!

Covers in order - Simone Di Meo, Kael Ngu, David Finch, and Gleb Melnikov (the non-Santa is a 1:25 variant)! There’s black and white versions of Ngu and Di Meo’s covers as 1:50 and 1:100 variants

Wonder Woman #4 - 12/19/2023

With the world losing trust in the Amazons, Wonder Woman takes a moment to grant the wish of a dying boy and gives him the perfect day. Meanwhile, the Sovereign constricts his grip on the government. Will Wonder Woman be able to hold out hope as the world around her grows darker? Plus, Trinity spends the night at the Fortress of Solitude with her babysitters, the Super Sons!

Another future Super Sons feature with Trinity, and going by the “babysitters” it sounds like from their earlier relationship lol

[burinazar]

I had previously estimated the period of time between 'Vueko recovers from her illness' and 'the village is founded' to be two months, but that may be too short considering the length of her hair in these shots.

Especially the long looped bang -- that portion of hair used to not even come down to her nose, so it grew six to eight inches to become long enough to loop back to one side like that. (I have considered it may be a stylization of some hair from the front sticking together with some from the side, but it does seem clearly drawn as one piece in these shots.)

How long do you personally imagine this time period was? Two months? Six months? Something in between, shorter, or longer...?

[theres-whump-in-that-nebula]

“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” Absolutely. But is the fire wild and destructive; or safely contained and being used for something?

“Being into dark and disturbing media is a red flag.” I can’t disagree with that. Most people who are okay with committing crimes in real life are okay with viewing disturbing things for entertainment; however, many good (or neutral) people are okay with things in fiction that they wouldn’t be okay with in real life. If you don’t know someone at all — who they are, or what they do — you cannot judge their motivations for liking or disliking something. But absolutely exercise caution online when dealing with any group of people.

Some online communities may be so rife with actual illegal activity that it is best to stay away from them, despite much of the content within them being legal and — for the most part — morally neutral. As a result, the illegal activity may fly under the radar and be allowed to remain on the internet. In these cases, it is your responsibility to report the community to higher authorities, as people and/or animals will be adversely effected if you do nothing.

If you are comfortable pursuing the issue, do not block the content before you’re done reporting it, as you may need to try several times before someone does anything about it. You don’t want to cut off your access to evidence that can be used against a harmful group.

Do not leave comments or engage with the individuals within the harmful community in any way, shape, or form. You may want to tell them “go to hell you fucking degenerates,” and I understand how you might feel that’s the right thing to do… However! This is the kind of behavior that will get you blocked and banned; thereby cutting you off from any plans of reporting illegal activity after they’ve seen your comment. If you have no access to the content; you cannot report it. The best thing to do is go in silently.

Do not report — or even look at — any artwork or fiction; hurting and embarrassing yourself is all that will accomplish. If there is nothing “blatantly illegal” (such as photos or videos of illegal activity), look for other evidence of the members engaging in actual illegal activity (such as requesting photos or video of illegal activity, or confessing to crimes they’ve committed for others’ gratification), and report these instead, since that is precisely the conduct you are trying to prevent. You cannot put out a fire by waving away the smoke; you must get rid of the fire itself, which is causing the smoke.

But remember: not all smoke is caused by the same type of fire. Some can be from a stove left unattended; other types can be from a fireplace. You can’t call a fireman to put out your neighbor’s fireplace just because you don’t like seeing smoke come out their chimney.

…

(If you tag this with ANY term followed by a word meaning “wanting two characters to kiss,” or potentially, “large boat,” I will throw a rock at you. This is about how to properly report content in a way that doesn’t waste moderators’ (or the FBI’s) time; because my belief system is practical and action-based rather than philosophical. Thanks.)

[technocipher]

Due to the sheer number of Gaza-related donation soliciting in my askbox as of late, I am shutting down my asks for the time being. Re-labeling the askbox message as "Only fandom questions" didn't seem to help one bit. (Guess these people can't put two and two together and take a hint. Hrm. Funny how that fucking works.)

Guys, gals, and everything-in-between -- I live in an area that just got positively sideswiped by Hurricane Helene. Life was difficult before, but it is harder now. I do not want a bunch of strangers harassing my inbox for money I don't even have.

If anyone needs to get ahold of me for fandom-related reasons (i.e. for my analysis posts), you can hit me up in the replies for those posts, and the reblogs!

[ecoevoexo]

honestly there's a lot to think abt here from legislation targeting trans women (public indecency, solicitation, prurient purposes) to expectations of sexual availability (everything from cis ppl not caring abt consent to GC genital checks) to pressures around presenting in a sexualized or desexualized way--i know a lot of trans women hav trouble navigating this one, bc one wants to feel good about oneself but the moment you dress in a vaguely revealing way its highly sexualized, leading to a whole counter aesthetic of baggy hoodies & flannels & loose pants (an overlap w traumatized cis lesbian aesthetics for sure, but also w sex workers getting off the clock & not wanting to be harassed on the bus ride home).

its hard to discuss this dynamic without erasing or minimizing the further oppression faced by trans women actually engaging in sex work, especially fssw, but it's been something broadly known by most trans women i've talked to about it that we are seen as an identity inherently linked to sex work. for many people the first exposure to trans women is either porn, seeing sex workers on the street, or "dead tranny h**ker" jokes in family guy or whatever. no normie cis person's idea of a trans woman is a virtuous mother, in terms of the madonna/whore complex of patriarchy we are firmly relegated to one side. rather the dynamic is sexual predator / sexual prey, with sexual prey being considered the more virtuous, but both being seen as open for killing.

and in many ways i think it would be fair to see sesta/fosta as the beginning of the legal reaction against trans people in the US. at this point one of the main tactics for controlling trans--and queer in general--content in online and other media is by appealing to its inherently sexual nature. likewise this is used as a justification for all sorts of right-wing amplification of violence, which is very telling given how many right-wing politicians & pundits seek out trans porn & sex workers. just as a man might say "a woman belongs in the kitchen", it's clear a lot of people think "a tranny belongs in the redlight district, and nowhere else!"

[copperbadge]

See, the thing is, I don't think Tumblr is A/B testing.

A/B testing is for shit like "Which subject line gets a better response to a mass email." It's meant to be invisible to the consumer or end-recipient. With a massive sweeping shift in UI of a social media site, there's no point in A/B testing if you aren't actively soliciting organized feedback; it's not like the change isn't highly visible. There's no reason not to institute this change and then pop up a window asking exactly what we think. There's no reason to do it on a Wednesday and then have Support direct everyone to a blog whose only meaningful way of gathering feedback isn't open until next Monday, and who has until now basically been a PR operation.

And frankly even if they were A/B testing, who fucking asked me if I wanted to be tested on? Did they think I'd welcome being told that I'm their guinea pig?

This isn't an A/B test. It's a tolerance test. Give half the site an untenably bad UI and tell them your hands are tied and see how long it takes them to acclimate. See how long it takes them to cobble some shit together to make it tolerable so you can keep your garbage new design when everyone else inevitably gets it too. How uncomfortable can you keep them and still keep them? That's the question they're answering.

Fine, you motherfuckers win. As long as this site is still 5% less garbage than the others, most of us will stay. Where are we going to go? So don't bother testing in future. Just push your fucking code. I'll be gone as soon as I can, but for all I know that's years away. I hope that makes you feel powerful, assholes. You're curating a site based on learned helplessness. I hope that makes you feel big.

[tuiccim]

Lost in the Dark (Part 2)

Pairing: Dark!Bucky Barnes x Female!Reader

Word Count: 673

Warnings: Dark content! Non/DubCon, and other dark elements. This fic contains dark themes and may include potentially triggering topics. You are solely responsible for your media consumption.

Summary: Bucky has been home for a few days, and you don't think you can take anymore.

A/N: Special thanks to my beta reader @whisperlullaby ! I'm not sure why Dark Bucky keeps rattling around in my brain, but while he's there I may do a few more snippets like this.  

Part 1

Four days he'd been back and he hadn't left you alone for more than a few minutes at a time. It was as if he feared that you would disappear if he took his eyes off of you.

He had fucked you every way he could think of. The serum in his veins made his stamina entirely unmatched. You were exhausted and broken down. It had been almost four months since he had kidnapped you. For the last month, you hadn't spoken a word to him. The occasional sound slipped out but you refused to engage him in hopes he would grow frustrated and let you go. Instead, he was infinitely loving and patient.

Night had fallen and you laid on the bed waiting for him. He had fed you well but your entire body hurt, especially between your legs. You were more sore than you'd ever been. When you felt the bed dip, you braced yourself.

“Come here, baby,” Bucky pulled you against him.

You broke, you couldn't help yourself. It was all too much for you.

“Please,” you sobbed, “please, I can't. Not again.”

“What are you talking about, doll?” Bucky asks solicitously.

“It hurts. I'm so sore. Please don't make me do this,” your body began to wrack with sobs as he held you.

“Aw, baby, why didn't you tell me sooner? It's okay. If you're too sore we don't have to. Here, I'm going to draw you a bath so you can relax,” he kisses your head before swinging out of the bed.

You started shaking and you didn't know why. He was always so calm, it was terrifying. That he had been so understanding made it worse rather than better. He should be angry. He should be holding you down and fucking you without a care for your feelings, but not this man. He was kind and patient. He always made sure you came during sex which annoyed you immensely that your body betrayed you each time. He brought you little gifts and made your favorite foods.

You had smashed his first gift and expected him to go into a rage. He had simply picked up the pieces and said not to worry, he'd glue it back together. He was unwavering. His eternal calm was unsettling.

“Here we go, doll,” Bucky appeared and scooped you up. He carried you to the bathroom and gently laid you in the tub. Your favorite candles burned, all of your products were next to the bath and the water was perfectly hot. You let out a relieved sigh when the warm water enveloped your sore muscles.

“I put some Epsom salt in to help with the muscle aches. This is why you have to talk to me, baby. I can't take care of you well if you won't communicate,” he gently admonishes.

You simply nod. He hands you a glass of wine and then takes up the soap and a washcloth.

You should have known it would be too much to ask for a bath alone. He was always too keen on being with you. He rarely left your side when he was home and when he wasn't the security system still allowed him to keep close tabs.

You decided to just give in. You allowed him to wash you while you drank the glass of wine. He massaged as he cleaned and you found yourself relaxing more than you thought possible. By the time the water had cooled and you stepped out, you felt lightheaded. Bucky dried every inch of you down to your toes and then guided you back to the bed.

As you sat, you felt unusually out of it. The glass of wine had apparently gone straight to your head. You felt like you were in a dream. Bucky gently laid you down and your eyes began to flutter but before you lost consciousness, you heard him whisper, “You know I can't sleep until I've had you. But don't worry, doll, you won't feel a thing. Good night.”

Part 3

Updates and taglist: Due to the unreliable nature of tags, I no longer keep a taglist. Updates for series will be made on Sundays Central Time Zone. Please follow my sideblog @tuiccimfanfiction and turn on notifications for updates. All series and new stories will be reblogged to it. You will only receive notifications when a new part or story is out! Nothing else will be blogged to the page. I can’t thank you enough for your support!

[puc-puggy]

Uncensored Genital Photography

The Great Wall of Vulva (plaster casts) and their Labia Library (uncensored photos) Comfortable In My Skin — “Flip Through My Flaps” (vulva) and “Solicited Dick Pics” (penises) Large Labia Project Labia Library Breast Gallery- Nonsexualized Images of real, anonymously submitted breasts Critique My Dick Pic [tumbex archive]- real submitted dick centric nudes

Sex Ed-General

Our Bodies, Ourselves Scarleteen

Trans-General

Trans Bodies, Trans Selves TransBucket- account required, before and after pictures of gender confirmation procedures Trans Digital Archive- historical trans materials r/TransSurgeryWiki -surgery info & reddit-centric link drop DIY HRT Guide

Trans Men/Masc

r/GrowYourTDick (bottom growth) r/Transmascdicks (prosthetic penises) Body Alchemy: Transsexual Portraits by Loren Cameron, which includes images of genitalia in its "Genital Reconstruction" section, page 46. Portraits of clothed trans masculine people other than the author begin on page 34 in the "New Man Series." A Genitoplasty Diary by Lou Sullivan (1984-1987) (no images but fascinating)

Trans Women/Femme

Transfeminine Science r/TransBreastTimelines in-browser recreation of a 90s mac in order to run a 90s trans information CD-Rom

Intersex

InterAct's Intersex FAQ InterAct's collection of informative brochures & guides Intersex Human Rights Australia: Celebrating Intersex Firsts on TV JSTOR: Intersex Narratives: Shifts in the Representation of Intersex Lives in North American Literature and Popular Culture, by Viola Amato Human Rights Campaign: Understanding the Intersex Community GLAAD Media Reference Guide: Intersex People my post with appropriate disclaimers, includes instructions on navigating hostile spaces to view genitalia imagery

Genital Art

The Vulva Gallery for LOTS of educational content, community questions, and vulvas of all kinds, including queer and transmasc people The Body Diversity Gallery for genitals, penises, bellies, bums, bodies, breasts and chests of all kinds conscious_euphoria / Ocean Grove for more queer, nonbinary and transmasc centric content. Similar setup to the vulva gallery with lots of educational content too along with some occasional kink education content (linktree)

[probablyasocialecologist]

The idea of transgender “social contagion” was first proposed in a 2018 paper by Dr. Lisa Littman, a researcher who has pushed the theory heavily. The article, entitled “Rapid-onset gender dysphoria in adolescents and young adults: A study of parental reports,” proposed that social contagion was leading to an increase in trans identification. To support her claim, Littman solicited interviews from anti-trans websites such as Transgender Trend and 4thWaveNow. She used data from those interviews to claim that transgender youth “suddenly” develop gender dysphoria through a process known as “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria.” Her paper was immediately withdrawn with an apology by the journal for correction after the data collection methods were revealed, with the republication stating that the research “does not validate the phenomenon” of transgender social contagion. "Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria" is derived from interviews with parents who report their children "abruptly came out as trans" without any forewarning. For numerous parents on these websites opposed to transgender rights, they claimed their children’s coming out was too sudden to be genuine. Coupled with conservative media exposure asserting that being transgender results from factors ranging from TikTok to alleged "grooming" in schools, parents frequently sought alternative explanations for their children's trans identification, instead of acknowledging the possibility that their children were authentically transgender. A pivotal study published in The Journal of Pediatrics in 2021 entirely debunked this concept. Professionals who work closely with transgender populations frequently observe that individuals harbor dysphoria for an extended period before revealing their feelings to loved ones. Upon coming out, these individuals often swiftly embrace their transgender identity, motivated by the liberation that comes with acknowledging one's true self. To determine whether transgender identification is genuinely "rapid," researchers sought to pose a direct question to transgender teenagers: How long have you known you were transgender? The results were stunning. Transgender teens knew they were trans for an average of 4 years before coming out as trans and getting their first clinical visit. The study did not stop there, however. It also analyzed the few transgender teens who indicated their gender dysphoria realization was more recent. It found no linkages among those groups with depression, online support, having transgender friends, or any other proposed mechanisms for “rapid-onset gender dysphoria.” To put it simply: transgender people often know they are trans for a long time before coming out, and having transgender friends does not influence you to “become transgender.”

[botgal]

SB 976 Update 6/17/2024

Hello everyone. As of now, California State Senator Skinner's bill SB 976 (Protecting our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act) has been added to the California Assembly's Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection Hearing Schedule.

This bill hearing is scheduled to be heard on Tuesday 7/2/2024 at 1:30 PM.

Information on how to submit Position Letters in opposition to this bill can be found on the Committee's homepage here.

As a reminder, Position Letters should only be in terms of opposition, not opposition unless X part of the bill has been altered. Keep your reasoning solid and concise.

The Committee is specifically focused around "a wide range of technology-related issues, and includes matters affecting consumer protection in both the digital and analog worlds. Specifically, the Committee has jurisdiction over matters related to privacy, the protection of personal information (including digital information), the security of data, and information technology, as well as false advertising, charitable solicitations, weights and measures, and consumer protection generally. The Committee is also responsible for oversight of the Department of Technology within the State's Government Operations Agency." So keep this in mind when writing your letters for the best chance of convincing this committee against allowing SB 976 to be allowed through.

And here is a link to the most recent version of the bill's text.

The deadline to submit Position Letters is noon one week before the hearing is to be held. So in this case, the deadline is 6/25/2024 at 12:00 PST.

Thank you for taking your time to help us oppose this privacy harming bill, and making efforts to keep our internet safe and free of restriction and surveillance.

EDIT:

There is a more recent version of the bill which was amended on June 18th. No major changes or provisions added that I can see, mostly points made about mental health of teens as reasons for who they want the bill implemented. But you can find the latest version here just in case.

[mojoflower]

Darlings!

Hallo, it's been, like, half a year, hasn't it? Ah, my life has been insane (it still is) and I'm afraid fandom receded into the background. (Also, I discovered Temu, and it's really fun to fall asleep while gawking at kitchen gadgets and cat-themed t-shirts.) Life has been very chaotic, with my mother-in-law suffering stage 4 cancer (so I'm in a neighboring state, taking care of her, half the time), my abused niece moving in with us (and also her sister, on all counts except technically) and now my sister-in-law and nephews as refugees from the terrible floods and mudslides that have devastated Asheville. And, my older son is visiting from the UK, and the only place for him to sleep is my closet, since there are now nine people living in my house.

Anyhoo. *breathes heavily* I'm actually not really back back. But this is my only social media, and I have some things I needed to share. My SIL's twin started up a GoFundMe for her, because lordy she'll need it to restore her home when she gets back. (And also because my brother is an asshole and a deadbeat who won't even contact his sons right now to see how they're faring mentally, much less contribute anything financially.) And also her son's friend's house was completely washed away, so I'm sharing his GoFundMe, too. I'll post them separately, too, so you can share them without the tale of my woes.

I hate that I'm just bopping by to solicit donations (or sharing). But I really don't see my time load lightening up in the near future. (I don't even have the space to foster kittens anymore!)

But I love my family. Here's me with the nieces, and another with the nephews, son and sister-in-law. No pressure, peeps. Just if you're able, and otherwise, maybe share.

My fam:

[I feel like you should know that I'm 6 feet tall. My son and nephews are ludicrous. With all of us living in the same house, I feel like they should be hobbit-sized.]

[nexility-sims]

SIM DONATION DRIVE: "1992" EDITION

i need to fill in leonor's 1990s dating history for story reasons, so i am soliciting sims from you wonderful, talented, generous people. if you'd like to donate someone, check out THIS FORM ♥️

for guidelines, see below, & let me know if you have questions !

i want to fill in leonor's dating history for the period from roughly 1993 to 1998. i'd like to have these exes attend her big, giant, extravagant wedding in 2001; i will be doing some Yet To Be Planned media coverage of said dating history (something like this stuff). as a treat, because i love to take pictures of other people's sims, i'll probably do some random photoshoots like these as well :^) [you can have leonor's files for your own purposes, if you so desire.]

i have no idea how many sims y'all're gonna donate or if they'll all be the same level of compatible, so: i'll try to incorporate as many as i can but, realistically, would have to choose if there are more than 5-6 options. this isn't a bachelorette challenge, so it would theoretically be based on which characters make sense for leonor and the timeline.

not all of the form's questions are required, but more detail is welcome ! entirely up to you how much fleshing out you'd like to do beyond the basics. i provided vague prompts, some which are optional, so ... go wild or don't ! if you want to discuss any of it before you submit the form (or after), then please don't hesitate to reach out.

your sims can be from uspana or somewhere else, btw. if they're not from uspana, they might be from the fictional country your story is set in, generic Simerica™, literally anywhere else ... if you don't state it, i'll just make something up that feels convenient sdjhfs they can be existing characters or new ones you create for this purpose; it's all up to you !

i am assuming you're familiar with the spinoff story OR leonor as a character, in some way or shape or form. you may know the story better than i do or have scrolled her tag on my blog earlier today for the very first time or somewhere in between. either way ... a little familiarity would help, i imagine !

leonor's existing love interests include: arturo, a very sweet and thoughtful son-of-a-politician (circa 1986-1990); renzo, a very famous actor who loves music and cutoff shorts and doing drugs (1991-1992); andre, a very happily married and painfully shy father of three who also happens to currently be his country's king (1992, 2016–); dan, a very chill tech founder who enjoys, like, space travel and wearing fanny packs and letting his wife do affairs and stuff, whom she marries in 2001 (circa 1998–).

leonor doesn't have a type, and there are no gender restrictions. she likes people who are interesting—peculiar, even. she's a wealthy princess and a government employee by 1993-1994, so that may affect either your sim's occupation and / or the necessity of a "how'd they meet" backstory. her birth year is 1970, and she’s more likely to go for agemates or older rather than younger people (at least while in her twenties, anyway). she could theoretically reconnect with anyone post-2001 but pre-2016 on account of the open marriage, although that feels unlikely / case-by-case.

okay, that's all i got for now ... thanks for reading this far !

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

By Olivia Reingold

Here are just three individuals highlighted in the report.

Mohammad Hannoun, a 62-year-old Jordan native who the report describes as “the epicenter of Italian actors operating or sympathizing with Hamas,” has sent at least $4 million to the terrorist group over the past decade via the Charity Association of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. The U.S. Treasury Department recently said the Italy-based organization, which Hannoun founded in 1994, “ostensibly raises funds for humanitarian purposes, but in reality helps bankroll Hamas’s military wing.” Just three days after October 7 of last year, Hannoun told an Italian journalist that Hamas’s invasion of Israel was “self-defense.” Hannoun, who lives in the northern Italian city of Genoa, has helped promote anti-Israel rallies throughout the Mediterranean country on his Facebook page, often posting about what he calls a “Nazi Zionist genocide in Palestine.”

Majed Al-Zeer, who has been co-designated as a Hamas operative by the U.S. and Israel, is “the mastermind of the Hamas-affiliated activity” in the UK and Germany, according to the report. In 1996, Al-Zeer, a 62-year-old British-Jordanian citizen, founded the Palestinian Return Centre, which lobbies British Parliament and holds a special status at the UN that allows its members to attend meetings and “mobilize support for the Palestinian cause in the UK and overseas.” In 2010, Israel declared the Palestinian Return Centre an “unlawful association,” stating that “it is part of the Hamas movement.” Even though German authorities have identified the Palestinian Return Centre as a likely front for Hamas activity, Al-Zeer continues to live and organize anti-Israel rallies in Berlin, where he moved from the UK in 2014.

Amin Abou Rashed, who Dutch authorities arrested last year for allegedly sending about $6 million to Hamas, has a pattern of “hiding behind politics” and “alleged humanitarian efforts” to “promote Hamas’s ideology” through purported charities like the now-defunct Al-Aqsa Foundation. According to the report, Rashed gained asylum to the Netherlands in 1992, and has been pictured with now-deceased Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and other officials for the terrorist group. 

The report identifies five European countries where Hamas is most active outside of Gaza: the UK, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Belgium. (via European Leadership Network)

The European Leadership Network was able to link these charities and individuals to Hamas through publicly available information such as social media posts and nonprofit registration filings. Mark Sachs, a U.S.-based director of the European Leadership Network, told me “most of the world has absolutely no idea what is taking place right beneath their noses.” 

“It is essential that we in the West start to wake up to how deeply embedded this infrastructure is and how sophisticated Hamas is in taking advantage of the West,” Sachs said.

U.S. regulators have estimated that since early 2024, Hamas has received as much as $10 million a month from these fraudulent groups, most of which are located in Europe, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. 

“Hamas has exploited the suffering in Gaza to solicit funds through sham and front charities that falsely claim to help civilians in Gaza,” the U.S. Treasury Department said last week. “Hamas considers Europe to be a key source of fundraising and has maintained representation across the continent for many years in part to raise funds through sham charities.”

[jinxed-thylacine]

I didn't realize how much people fundamentally misunderstand Eggman and Sonic both as characters and as a pair until now tbh.

No, Phantom Rider Sonic is not out of character for Sonic nor for Eggman. Let's look at right before Sonic accepted the Eggstreme Gear.

Going undercover is implied to be incredibly beneficial to Sonic, Tails, and Amy's plan, something Eggman agrees with:

Eggman took a sabbatical after Eggperial City was destroyed, then came across Orbot and Cubot watching the Clean Sweepstakes opening ceremony, and didn't like that he was being mocked:

He was at least happy to see Sonic and the Babylon Rogues squabble, but then Sonic got disqualified (which Eggman claims he hated because humiliating Sonic is his job), which gave Eggman an idea:

Since Sonic was indirectly responsible for Eggman's inspiration coming back, he felt like repaying him in some way:

And throughout the arc, Eggman is shown to have been honest about this (unless something happens in issue 74/issue 75). This scene from issue 69 sets up mutual benefit; Sonic can more easily create a diversion because he's disguised, Tails and Amy can more easily sneak onto the shuttle, and Eggman repays Sonic for getting him his creative drive back and also gets to watch the chaos that unfolds as Sonic disrupts the event as the Phantom Rider, which he wanted to do before Sonic, Tails, and Amy were disqualified (and Eggman gets to watch the event that mocked him get disrupted).

Sonic causing trouble on purpose for the benefit of the greater good isn't out of character, he just isn't usually so chaotic about it, nor that intentioned about causing chaos, because what he's doing doesn't require a chaotic course of action. He does it in Sonic Adventure 2 to some degree (this is made most clear, in my opinion, in the recaps before each level) and he literally tells Merlina in Sonic and the Black Knight "Guess I can't be the hero every time!" after being told "If you remove that sword and defeat King Arthur with it, you shall forever be the worst of knights, slayer of kings!" and proceeds to fight the Knights of the Round Table and King Arthur. That's just in the games, if we factored other media into this there's a lot more I could cover.

Now, to be fair, that tends to not backfire on him as bad as it could. In Sonic X, when he's destroying Eggman's mirror towers, everyone eventually realizes that Sonic is doing it for the benefit of everyone else; he doesn't care about that though. In Sonic and the Black Knight, once Merlina admits she was essentially scamming Avalon, Lancelot, Percival, and Gawain team up with him to stop her. In Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic's already a fugitive, so him causing some level of chaos to clear his name isn't something that really affects public perception of him.

In the comics, specifically the Phantom Rider arc, it does backfire on him once he's revealed to be the Phantom Rider, and there's some indication in issue 76's solicitation that there are going to be long-term effects in regards to Sonic being the Phantom Rider, meaning this would be the first time Sonic feels long-term effects for playing the villain (I'm actually surprised it took this long but whatever lol). The aftershocks might not be as bad once Clean Sweep is revealed to be untrustworthy, but there are still likely going to be some trust issues within Sonic's friend circle, which will be the worst ramifications we've seen from Sonic's chaotic good antics thus far.

Sonic is not against working with Eggman if there's a level of mutual benefit in it, and usually it happens because of some potentially world-ending catastrophe (Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic X, Sonic Heroes, Sonic 06, Sonic Frontiers). I actually think Jimbotnik sums this up best; "If I can't rule the world, I might as well save it!" However, Eggman is not above teaming up with Sonic if, from his perspective, the need arises, even if the world isn't about to end. If there's even a shred of mutual benefit, they are willing to work together. The Phantom Rider arc just has an example of them teaming up for, on Eggman's end, petty reasons.

Eggman's not above teaming up with Sonic if there's mutual benefit and Sonic's not above playing a villain for the benefit of the greater good. Phantom Rider arc is not out of character for either of them.

[slavghoul]

Interview from Rock Hard [FR] Magazine 5/2023

In which Tobias talks about Spillways, Phantomime, how he chooses what songs to cover, the state of the world, why he loves churches, and some touring technicalities.

--

Rock Hard: Let's go back to the version of "Spillways" that you recorded with Joe Elliott, the singer of Def Leppard. How did this collaboration come about?

Unfortunately, this story is less sexy than it would have been if I could have done exactly what I wanted. Before Impera was released, I regularly mentioned Def Leppard in interviews because some of the experimentation on that album was inspired by that band, their writing style. […] As I often mentioned Def Leppard, people around me eventually told me that Joe Elliott and Phil Collen regularly spoke highly of Ghost in interviews. Since I obviously thought it was cool, someone suggested a collaboration. A good collaboration shouldn't be forced, it should happen naturally. The best ones are often the ones that weren't supposed to happen. Two drunk musicians somewhere accidentally writing a good song... Crosby, Stills & Nash style. People who, by chance, find themselves together in a different context from the one they are used to and do something together, by accident. Something magical! That's how I would ideally have wanted it to happen. So I said I was ready to call Joe Elliott and see if we had a rapport. We started talking on the phone and texting a lot, me living in Sweden and him in Dublin. As we were both on the move almost all the time, and he was on tour, we couldn't meet. Suddenly, out of nowhere, he tells me that he has recorded some vocals for 'Spillways'! Quite frankly, I was surprised because I wasn't expecting it. I was anticipating a possible collaboration, but in a different way. To be honest, I thought we would create something new later on. But when I heard the result, I thought two things. Firstly, I found it very flattering. Secondly, I thought Joe brought something new and cool to "Spillways".

But you would have preferred to have the opportunity to write a new song with him.

Yes, that's the way I saw it, but I'm happy with the way it turned out. And then I said to Joe, "You know how we post those funny little episodes on our social media?" He replied "Yes, I think I saw that!" and kindly agreed to participate in one of them. Nowadays, many artists are over-solicited to record video clips for anything and everything in order to keep their channels updated: "Come and see us in concert in such and such a city!", etc. etc. The aim is obviously to keep the media space occupied.

By creating "content"!

Exactly! And that's exactly what I don't want to do. That's why, instead of all this crap, we started some time ago to create these little humorous episodes. One day, for example, I came up with the idea of an episode set in 1969 featuring a sort of "pre-Ghost" group. To do this, I obviously had to write a new song, which I did with this psychedelic track, 'Kiss The Go-Goat', which I thought was funny. When we recorded it, 'Mary On A Cross', another song of the same type, came along. So we ended up with two sides of a single that became 'Seven Inches Of Satanic Panic.’ Instead of just announcing the release on our networks, we chose to shoot a new video in which we featured Papa Nihil and explained the origins of this so-called 'pre-Ghost' band. I thought it was a much more clever and fun way of presenting the single. We do the same when it comes to announcing an album release or a future tour. Joe Elliott has a great sense of humour and is capable of self-mockery, so he kindly agreed to play this little game.

Ghost have made a habit of releasing an EP between their albums, mostly, if not entirely, made up of covers: If You Have Ghost (2013), Popestar (2016) and now Phantomime. How is it not just about “creating content”?

For me, it's a kind of exercise. I like analogies. Let's imagine that the place we are in is a theatre, and that this theatre, in order to be viable, has to host performances all year round. At least fifty weeks a year. Daytime rehearsals, evening performances... You are the director of the place and you know that the play that is currently being performed there will end at the end of the month. So you look for something else to program in order to make the most of the place and keep your staff busy. Maybe an old classic like Doctor Glass (Hjalmar Söderberg, 1905), an adaptation of John Steinbeck, or a rereading of Shakespeare's Hamlet that you could revisit by inviting this actor or that director, renting out your theatre for three extra months for the occasion. Working on this old material, even if it means not releasing it if it doesn't work. We do that to keep the team active, enthusiastic, focused. That's my way of working. I worked simultaneously on the Impera album and the demos of the covers that are on Phantomime. One day I could record 'Spillways' and two hours before leaving the studio to go home, I could look at any of the covers and decide which ones to keep. So, as soon as Impera was finished, I was able to concentrate on those covers that the album's producer wasn't interested in putting on the record. Which was fine with me. I spent some time sorting out the covers I had recorded as demos. There were ten in total, but I only kept five. Because with those five tracks I thought I could come up with a really strong rock EP. In my albums, there are highs, lows, really metal tracks, ballads, instrumentals, etc. So I thought it was a good idea to make a really strong rock EP. I felt it would be cool if this new EP was viscerally rock’n’roll. The opening track, "See No Evil" by Television, sounds like the Rolling Stones on methamphetamine! (laughs)

You like the songs you cover, that's a prerequisite. But their lyrics also play a very important role in your choice.

Yes, that's what makes me choose a song or not.

Is that the number one criterion?

Erm... (he thinks for a long time) If I hesitate between two songs, yes, absolutely! Let's go back to Leonard Cohen, for example. For the bonus tracks of Prequelle, I chose "Avalanche" because it seemed to me to have a biblical and existential significance. This was not the case with 'Take This Waltz', another Cohen song that I liked as much, if not more. The latter, with its Viennese waltz feel, would have metaphorically taken us to Austria, which would not have been very coherent, unfortunately.

Should these covers speak about God, the Devil, ask questions about religion?

They must speak about evil, about good. Be existential, biblical, philosophical, but seen from a certain perspective. Or at least tick one of those boxes, like 'Hanging Around' (The Stranglers) which is about Christ. Some of the other covers I've recorded are more specific, such as 'Phantom Of The Opera' (Iron Maiden), which is about horror. I also make my choice according to the humour of the songs I want to cover. It should be close to my own sense of humour.

You mentioned the first Phantomime cover, "See No Evil". It takes on a different resonance today because, on January 28, 2023, we sadly learned of the death of Tom Verlaine, the leader of Television.

When I recorded this cover in 2021, just after completing Impera, it was already a tribute. But obviously, with Tom's death, this song takes on another resonance, that of a final posthumous salute. I've been listening to Television for twenty years, and I love them and have always considered them a great band. In indie clubs they always play the same song, 'Marquee Moon', but Television had many other good songs, especially on their first two albums: Marquee Moon (1977) and Adventure (1978). I like those two best. It's a band that had a huge influence on one of my previous bands, Subvision. So much so that at the time, I thought several times of covering Television songs that I loved: "See No Evil", but also "Elevation" and "Foxhole".

The first single from Phantomime is Genesis' 'Jesus He Knows Me', a scathing critique of televangelist stars like Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker and Robert Tilton. Ugly people who have made their fortune by 'promising salvation’ to naive believers for big bucks. Can we expect to see you wearing a wig in its video, as singer/drummer Phil Collins did in the original video for this song in 1991? 

(Laughs) We've already shot the video for this cover version (editor’s note: the interview was conducted on 11 March 2023) and I'm not in it, but it's a direct nod to the original video. I've always liked this song - except for the reggae part, which I thought was horrible in the Genesis version and which I reworked - and it's funny to see how this 1991 text is still relevant today. Except, of course, for a few "old-time" words, like "phone book". The televangelists are still there on television promising things to people who take their word for it and shower them with money because they are assured of "salvation", they are promised heaven. I also rearranged Iron Maiden's 'Phantom of The Opera' after taking care to contact Steve Harris for his approval.

Indeed, in your retelling of this song, you are the Phantom and not its victim...

Yes, I wanted to be the Phantom. I submitted the idea to Steve, who gave me the green light. I only made some surgical changes. Similarly, I would have liked to have proposed the same thing to Phil Collins so that the text of "Jesus He Knows Me" would have been more in line with the times. Change, for example, "but she don't know about my girlfriend / or the man I met last night" to "or the dude I screwed last night". Alas, lack of time prevented me from doing so. And then, since this was a slippery slope, I thought: - What if Collins refuses? Or what if he gets pissed off? - We could have made these changes without asking anyone's permission - as long as the artists get their royalties, it's not a problem - but there was no way I was going to do it. Neither I nor my label wanted to alienate anyone, obviously.

In 1977, in "Hanging Around" by The Stranglers, which you also cover on Phantomime, the singer Hugh Cornwell sings about several things, but also about Christ "telling his mother not to worry because he's comfortable in the city where he's high above the ground". Is that why you chose it?

Actually, the key thing that made me choose this song from the band over any other is that I grew up listening to the album it's taken from, Rattus Norvegicus (1977), the Stranglers' first release. There are a lot of songs on that album that I would have loved to play because, as a musician, I really like to play those kinds of songs. ‘Hanging Around' was a good fit for us because of the lyrics, but also because it was more in keeping with our style. Ghost are obviously a metal and hard rock band, but also have a strong punk sensibility. Punk, but well played (smiles). For me, The Stranglers have always done "well played punk": this band knows how to play, how to arrange its music, unlike GBH and Discharge, to name but two. Mind you, I also like the latter, but not for the same reasons. A lot of punk bands from the late 70s/early 80s sounded "sloppy". It wasn't for lack of trying to play better. When The Clash and The Jam went into the studio, they tried to do their best and they sounded great! The same goes for The Adverts. Those guys were doing their best. Nowadays, some people think that being a punk is to play badly on purpose, to be messy. No, no, no ! But I digress...

What is the reason for the nod to Metallica's 'Fade To Black' in the solo on 'Hanging Around'?

Just for fun. When I'm working on a guitar solo, I throw things in here and there, like a messy painter. It's like stretching a canvas on a wall and making big brush strokes... But when I start to feel like I've got something cool, I dig in more surgically, a bit like a collage artist would. I interweave little elements, and when it comes time to insert a solo into a piece, I refine things by continuing to add new elements. Generally, a solo gives you a space of freedom in the middle of an otherwise totally structured song. That's when you can come up with different things in terms of melody. So that's the way I do it, even on the demos of the covers. I ask my sound engineer, Martin Eriksson Sandmark, to play me the draft of the solos I've been working on over and over again, and then I try out different things, whatever comes to mind. It's as if I'm drawing a mental map of what the solo will become. Sometimes, if I'm on a part sometimes, if I'm on a bluesy part, I'll let myself play a few notes of Gary Moore’s "Still Got The Blues", or, if I'm tapping, Van Halen's "Eruption". When I was working on the solo for 'Hanging Around', I felt like playing this part of Metallica's 'Fade To Black', just for fun. And it ended up on the demo. I'm a decent guitar player, but I'm not at the level I could have reached if I'd worked harder. I could just record these solos in the studio, where you can always slow things down when you play them and then speed them up and put them on the album, but Fredrik Akesson can play these parts without tricks and with much more finesse than I can. He recorded the solo for "Hanging Around" as I had presented it on the demo, with this nod to Metallica, and we thought it was so cool that we kept it.

Hugh Cornwell, the ex-singer of The Stranglers, said in an interview that, although he was not a believer, he loved visiting churches. Is this also true for you? Are you also attracted to churches?

Yes, passionately! I believe in them like I believe in Star Wars. I've always thought of churches as stage props. Walking into one of them is a bit like walking onto a film set of the original Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom. It's awe-inspiring, even though you know it's just cardboard. Churches have magical powers because they are centuries-old buildings and we know that a lot of things have happened within their walls. Not that I'm trying to throw up on these places of worship, but when I go into a church I don't hear God, but the whispers of time. I am not an atheist, although intellectually I can see that there are many reasons why I should be. I believe in a Force, in an Energy. I also believe that we don't know many things, but that there is a balance between these different energies. The white and the black.

Good and Evil...

Absolutely! Right now the world is in crisis, but we're going to get through it. It's a vicious circle. We do ourselves a disservice if we think that if the world were rid of people like Vladimir Putin, Alexander Lukashenko, Jair Bolsonaro and the ayatollahs of Iran and Iraq, we would be out of the woods. I think all this can happen - and I hope it will, in a way - but Good and Evil will always be there. That balance is necessary. But I am an optimist by nature. I believe that there is a future for Volodymyr Zelensky and the Eastern bloc. That there is perhaps a chance to put into practice what was tried there some thirty years ago. And I believe in a free Iran, in a possible return to what this country was in 1978. What a beautiful day that would be! But that doesn't mean there wouldn't be a new war somewhere else in the world. I'm an eternal optimist, but let's face it: history is always starting over. As I said, it's a question of balance, a permanent coming and going. Because I believe in this Force I was talking about earlier, I truly believe that the West can win, that the way we live and the way we have built our society is a step forward that shows progress and can make a large majority of people happy. Not all, but most. But even if we all lived in love and peace for five years, something else would come along to create chaos! An alien or something! (laughs) That's how it works. Our mistake is to believe in the status quo, in nirvana. It's not going to happen. It's always about balance. The Vatican and organised religion... All that crap is just to pick people's pockets, to control them, to take their energy and scare them into plundering them. The same goes for the GOP (editor’s note: the American "Grand Old Party", suspected of having Christian nationalist leanings), which only deceives people in order to take their money! That's all you need to know. It's simple, so simple to understand. All this does not mean that the energy that emanates from churches is not real. When you walk into one of them, you feel - or so I believe - the energy of all those who have gone before you, for decades, for centuries. Their fears, their hopes, etc. So much so, sometimes, that you can feel oppressed, even upset. So I can walk into a church and feel a sense of awe. I love visiting these places, especially from an aesthetic point of view.

On Phantomime, you also cover "We Don't Need Another Hero" by Tina Turner. Don't you think that, given the state of the world today, we do need "another hero"?

I think Zelensky has shown how much we like heroes, how important they are to us. I think back, for example, to how the world went wild when Andrés Iniesta scored the decisive goal in the 116th minute to help Spain win the 2010 World Cup against the Netherlands. I believe in human determination and how it can inspire the world to distinguish between what is important... and what is really important. What is important for our daily lives. Yes, it's cool to have a complete collection of Venom's work, but it doesn't matter if I’m missing the most important thing. In the last ten years especially, the western world has been focusing on tons of unimportant things trying to pit people against each other, cancel culture and all that stuff... It proves that we are spoiled children. Our mentality shows it when it comes to security. Seeing Zelensky defend himself as he does appeals to our most primal instincts: it's beautiful and very inspiring. Nothing else is more important than that. It is the only thing that matters... Otherwise we have to be prepared for a lot of people to live in misery.

Next August, you will tour in the USA with Amon Amarth. I noticed that they will not accompany you on the last date, in Los Angeles, on September 11, 2023. There is no opening act, you ask the audience not to use their phones, etc. That sounds like a live DVD!

Yes, we are indeed planning to film this show, but it won't be the end of the Impera era cycle, even if we will not have so many dates left after this concert. There will still be a few shows in South America and Australia.

Nothing in Japan? A country that one might think Ghost was made for.

At the moment, it's not very clear. We had a lot of discussions with the Japanese promoters, as there was talk of us appearing on the bill of a Japanese festival scheduled for this month. Unfortunately, the festival was postponed... and then rescheduled for March! I think they originally had a big headliner, but the headliner didn't show up. So they cancelled, and then considered a smaller edition with Pantera. With all the back and forth, we ended up dropping out because it was too risky for us to play one date there after six months of inactivity. Our team is currently taking a break, but we preferred to use this time to rehearse for our next shows. The first one will be in Rouen on May 21st. We learned a good lesson the last time we played Hellfest. It was so hot that day, the conditions were so extreme, that we almost had a storm. We really had to fight against the elements and it affected me (Editor's note: the last encore of the show was not played, as Tobias was suffering from vocal problems). It was a very tough show. What really pissed me off was not the fact that I lost my voice, but the fact that the festival-goers who were there were not treated to our entire production. It was indeed difficult to foresee these extreme conditions. This summer we have to play festivals again, so we have reworked our production, which will be better adapted to the complicated weather. On this tour we will play in Spain, Finland, Norway, Greece, all within a few days of each other. So we'll be touring with two identical stages, so we can do all these shows without too much downtime. It's not very ecological, I'm sorry to say, because sometimes we'll have to take a plane to get to these cities in time. Not great, but it's the only way...

Will you play any of the Phantomime covers live?

One thing is for sure: we will play 'Jesus He Knows Me' because it's the first single from the new EP. As for the rest, we'll see during the rehearsals how the set evolves - because it's going to evolve a bit from the 2022 set. We're thinking of playing some songs from Impera that we've left out so far.

[marveltrumpshate]

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