#more adventures in Reddit

[karlie-what-you-want]

People were discussing Taylor’s lyricism, and the level of it compared to other artists. Most people said that her lyrics are very good, but not better than other beloved writers like Carol King, MJ, John Lennon, Bernie Taupin, and even a few more contemporary artists. As a songwriter myself, I respect people’s opinions, and I also enjoy a good analysis, so I asked what people feel makes her not better or perhaps a few steps below those songwriters.

I got some really lovely, genuine answers that I won’t go into on this post, but I really appreciated those! They gave me some good perspective.

I also got one answer that emotionally landed somewhere between amusing and frustrating to me. The answer was that the “problem” with Taylor is that her own fans can’t even say what makes her lyrics so good. They’re unable to define it. What makes MJ, Lennon, and others so good was how they influenced artists for years to come. And MJ has lyrics that are clearly better than Taylor’s. (This was all according to one person.)

I wasn’t offended by this, but I found it interesting, because I can define exactly what makes Taylor special to myself and so many others. So I politely put it into words:

I would gently disagree there. As a Taylor fan, I could tell you what (I feel) is so good about her compared to other artists of our time. For me, it’s her ability to place the listener in a moment—in an experience. At her best, Taylor doesn’t have to tell you how she’s feeling; she describes a series of moments, and through the details she gives, you as the listener just feel it. However, I think that gift does tend to get lost in her more “pop” style songs—not always, but often. I’d say All Too Well and Ivy are great examples, though. Not just that the lyrics are strung together nicely, but that they’re very effective. That is just my opinion of course.

I am someone who tries to be objective, so I’m not going to beat anyone over the head with my opinions.

The response I got was…interesting. This person decided that my opinion was to be disregarded because it was…an opinion? “Judging the lyrics should be an objective thing, not a subjective thing. The things you described were subjective things, any artists fans can say that about their favorite artist and it would be true for them. I was talking about more objective literary judgment.”

…🙃

I’m not one to argue with strangers on the internet, so all I could do was politely point out that almost all literary judgement is subjective. And also that the things I described of Taylor are things she objectively does, but whether that makes a good song is where opinion comes into play. And, because I’m a little petty, I pointed out that their statement of “MJ has clearly better lyrics” was also very subjective. Because it is—and that should be okay! But let’s not pass of our opinions as facts while accusing others facts as being mere opinions.

Anyway, like I said. I don’t argue with strangers online. I DO, however, come to vent about their silly behavior to my tumblr community.

[karlie-what-you-want]

As for how fans will take it…

I’ve been browsing the SwiftlyNeutral subreddit as of late, basically a sub where fans of Taylor are allowed to voice less radically worshipful opinions of her, share hot takes, and offer criticisms of her without being torn to shreds—all while still being fans. It reminds me a lot of our community, wherein we see Taylor as a real human, not a god.

I digress. As recently as yesterday, I saw comments in that sub from fans saying things like “Some gaylors take it too far” or “Gaylors speculating on this stuff is pretty inappropriate.” Not favorable takes, but not as cruel as you might see elsewhere.

Today, however, 95% of comments on the NYT article shared in that sub were cautiously positive. Nobody was out there screaming “I knew it!” but many, MANY people were praising the article for being well written, making excellent points, and giving them a lot of new things to think about. Nobody was screaming anything negative either.

I actually think it’s significant that the comments weren’t flooded with fans who suspected all along. The majority were people whose eyes have been opened to the possibility, even if they are full-on believers.

That article is masterful. And it’s working.

So, presumably the NYE "kiss" was to provide cover for today's NYT piece?

I wonder if it will work, and how much Taylor is pinning on this article. To us, obviously it looks like Tree's work. The careful pushing of "bi" and "queer" and insisting we don't look too closely at her potential female muses, even as the article actually mentions "beards", and their purpose as a distracting force, feels very much like a PR narrative being set. "Some of these guys - your favorites! - were real! Don't worry, of course they were!" We can be alive to the possibility of all things . . . except that Taylor might be a lesbian, and none of her relationships with men were real. That's a step too far to imagine!

There is no reason for the article to frame it this way, not when they've already opened up the door of speculating about Taylor's identity. It has the feel of a narrative being pushed, which is only reinforced by the mention of Hits Different (the second time in two days the song has been mentioned out of the blue in an article about Taylor) and the keyword "supernova" appearing, after much discussion of hairpin-dropping. Those in the know will know Taylor just wore "supernova" hairpins to stunt with Travis on New Year's Eve. This all feels very publicist-approved, if not outright ghost-written. It's Intro To Gaylor 101.

The question is, will it work? Most people won't see this as something that was authorized by Taylor herself. They're probably just going to see it as wild, invasive speculation about the private life of a poor straight woman who is just trying to navigate the pressures of fame in a relationship with a man. Many will be angry on her behalf. Others will think this is too close to "outing", and that it's not okay to have this conversation unless Taylor is clearly okay with it. Most people don't speak PR well enough to realize she will have approved this.

Even if she stays quiet, and doesn't come out against the piece like she did with the Deuxmoi rumors, I don't see it kick-starting a conversation. Most fans will be too polite to speculate, or think it's all too much of a reach. It's a great way to test the water, and gives us an indication of the direction of travel (bi narrative and protecting the ex-gfs, like we all suspected) but I don't know if it'll have the impact or the reach I suspect they were hoping for.

It has brought a lot of Gay-lore into the mainstream, which might get people interested, but equally, I could see this sinking like a stone and being forgotten in a week. Unless the plan is to reinforce this with some action of Taylor's that provokes more interest in the piece, I don't think it'll have the impact they're hoping for. They want to set the tone for the conversation, but I just don't know if even the NYT placement is enough to give this thing the necessary reach. We'll see, I suppose.

You seem pessimistic about its possible reach. If Tree is involved in this, I will defer to her on strategy as she knows what she is doing.

That said, every step (article, blog post, conversations with our friends and families) opens new eyes to Taylor's truth. We, without intention, gain new followers on Kaylor Tumblr who are new to the idea that she may not be straight (and are curious to learn more). So every bit helps. I have always been of the belief that she wants as many people as possible to figure it out on their own (like we did), so there is less surprise, and people feel smart for reading her signs.

[ayrennaranaaldmeri]

MR HADES................WHAT ARE WE

Bonus:

[thegreatyin]

firmament chapter 2 day!!!! let's go get this roof bread

[alteredsilicone]

Did this person mix up Albrecht and Ballas in the bottom corner WHAT IS GOING ON THERE

REDDIT

[niobiumao3]

.

Endlessly weird to me that people blame Pabu, the island and the episode, for somehow ruining the Batch.

I feel a way about this because Pabu is a) introduced to the group by unambiguously dark-skinned human characters and b) a refugee settlement. So to place the blame for the 'softening' or 'loss of coolness' of the show on that is really ugly looking. Like it just fucking is, sorry not sorry.

Acting as if without Pabu, Hunter super totally woulda been all in on rescuing Crosshair, is to pretend like the entire rest of S1 and 2 didn't happen. He was crushed by what he perceived as a complete loss of Crosshair at the end of S1 and has plainly spent a year telling himself to accept it. You can swap out Pabu with any one of a hundred other locations and the result is the same: Hunter isn't convinced Crosshair wants to come back with them, feels just as abandoned as Crosshair does. (Whether or not this is fair for either of them is a wholly different topic.)

None of that is about Pabu. Pabu is simply the place they come across--brought there by a fellow refugee who understands a need for solace and safety, even briefly--which reveals to them, like Safa Toma did for Tech specifically, that their lives CAN be something else. If you don't find that particularly interesting narratively, okay, but to blame Pabu is really a stretch. (Let's not forget, Phee is not about settling on Pabu either. She calls it a 'home away from home' for a reason. So she's not suggesting it as a forever place as it's not even that for her.)

Anyways. Kinda exhausted with this idea that 'Pabu' is somehow at fault for making the Batch not adventurous or heroic, as if any of them would never again leave the planet for a romp. Where does this weird ass idea come from, they have a spaceship! They can leave and come back at will!! Hunter being depressed and in his emotions about Tech being taken as some sort of 'because Pabu is an option' thing is weird to me. He coulda said Kashyyk. He could've said any number of other places. Pabu was just the place they were currently safest on.

Real over fandom not wanting narratives to play out, for characters to change and grow and become. That's how stories work.

[pkmn-smashorpass]

I'm disappointed that you ppl didn't want to fuck Zapdos or Moltres but I'll put it aside bc it got me thinking about what tumblr's ultimate pokémon would look like since the original smash or pass Markiplier did had a game theory video done with the cat pharaoh

(No offense at all to the artist, they’re very talented!!!) but I am not a fan of this guy lol I feel like matpat tried too hard but let’s see what the public thinks!

Also have you seen in the manga when they combined all the legendary birds into one fucked up bird with 3 heads??

[ourladyoftheflytrap]

I want to be supportive of polygamy because the bonobos make it look so viable but why is it that every time I come across a polygamous person on the wild internet they are always defending infidelity

[kusochek-cat]

Wound. Something based on the plot of a comic that now exists only in my head, haha. I'm obsessed with comic ideas lately. Even that's why I drew it in 4 colors

Btw, I have headcanon that Johnny has constant anemia and during the race he endured the symptoms and didn't show anything

[grimrester]

WHYYYYYYY would you sign off on this being the thumbnail for a youtube doc about your channel when you KNOW half your fanbase has been speculating for a month about financial mismanagement and over spending????

[karlie-what-you-want]

Surprisingly, the Reddit Swifties are almost as grossed out as we are by the recent articles about Taylor allegedly moving in with TK.

At least some of them can see how fucking weird and unnatural it is.

Should I be happy or insulted that they think the people obsessing over this couple are “almost as bad as the people who think Taylor is secretly gay” ??

[youandthemountains]

"I did what I had to, I had no money but I had to meet her. I was cycling for love, but never loved cycling. It's simple."

Whenever he felt sad, his mother would tell him that according to his horoscope, he would someday marry a woman "whose zodiac sign would be Taurus, she would come from a far away land, she would be musical and would own a jungle".

So when he met Ms Von Schedvin, he immediately remembered his mother's predictions and asked her if she owned a jungle.

Ms Von Schedvin, whose family comes from Swedish nobility, replied that she did own a forest and added that not only was she "musical" (she liked to play the piano) her zodiac sign was also Taurus.

[...]

After several conversations, she agreed to visit Orissa with him.

The first monument she saw there was the famous Konark temple.

"I became emotional when PK showed me the Konark. I had this image of the temple stone wheel framed in my student room back in London, but I had no idea where this place actually was. And here I was standing in front of it."

[...]

Ms Von Schedvin had driven to Delhi with her friends from Sweden along the famous hippie trail - crossing Europe, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan - to reach India in 22 days.

[...]

More than a year passed and the two kept in touch through letters.

Mr Mahanandia however, did not have enough money to buy a plane ticket.

So, he sold everything he owned, bought a bicycle and followed her along the same hippie trail.

[...]

"Art came to my rescue. I made portraits of people and some gave me money, while others gave me food and shelter," he said.

Mr Mahanandia remembers the world as being very different in the 1970s. For instance, he did not need a visa to enter most countries.

"Afghanistan was such a different country. It was calm and beautiful. People loved arts. And vast parts of the country were not populated," he said.

He said that people understood Hindi in Afghanistan, but communication became a problem once he entered Iran.

"Again art came to my rescue. I think love is the universal language and people understand that."

"Those were different days. I think people had more free time then to entertain a wanderer like me."

[ostropest]

You are now reddit famous.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CuratedTumblr/s/ooo4gvaXQL

Lol

[alteredsilicone]

"Steve said he would date an infested Lich, therefore they could be copies of Warframes"

absolutely amazing logic

[dunmeshistash]

Dungeon Meshi Information Sources

Dungeon Meshi has several worldbuilding details and extra comics in different publications and I think they get pretty hard to keep track of so I wanted to make a guide and explain what is what for people that maybe want to look into it themselves!

The Main Information sources are:

Daydream Hour 2-5: Sketch compilations and extra comics by Ryoko Kui with commentary, which can be found on EH Scans blog translated, and also in mangadex in between the manga chapters (The first daydream hour isn't dungeon meshi related)

The Complete Daydream Hour: Or more specifically "Ryoko Kui Doodle Book Daydream Hour" Released in january 2024 it still hasn't been fully translated into english. This version compiles extras and sketches from daydream hour 1-5 along with new content. Some of the exclusive comics have been translated and can be found on reddit and bato.to but the full thing is yet to be translated.

Delicious in Dungeon World Guide: The Adventurer's Bible (2021): A guide by Ryoko Kui that compiles information about the characters, monsters and the world. An official english version is available. It was released in february 2021 and has information pertinent for up to chapter 71 from the manga. It contains extra comics for all the main characters and for all the human/demi human races. The extras that talk about side character's backstories are from this book and the characters section has been translated by EH Scans (Also on mangadex)

Delicious in Dungeon World Guide: Adventurer's Bible Complete Edition (2024): Released in february 2024 and still untranslated, this version of the Adventurer's Bible has information updated for the end of the manga, there's even more extras and lots of comics about post-canon. Some of them are being translated and posted into reddit but I haven't seen them anywhere else. The raw is available on bato.to

Manga and Ryoko Kui's Blog: Some of it are from the manga itself, like Monster Tidbits and other Harta Magazine Extras (Where dungeon meshi is published) and also from the author's own personal blog. Lots of the drawings in her blog were deleted with the publishing of the complete daydream hour but you can still see what was unpublished using the wayback machine.

Blu-ray: With the release of the second bluray its clear that there will be extra content with each new one, there's "what if" extras and cover art by Ryoko Kui, you can check it the cover and info in the tag here.

I hope this helps somehow! It was pretty confusing for myself when I first started looking for more extras after finishing the manga.

The things I post here are all based on one of these and I try to put in the tags what the source is!

[doubleddenden]

So the stories leaked from gen 4 development are certainly interesting, eh? I'm sure everyone has their own feelings about it- some of you are apparently ECSTATIC about fucking your Machokes. Good for you, my guy. Some are horrified, thinking something's been defiled (it is fiction and most importantly non canon, you're fine, get a grip).

Me? I think the lady (yes, it was a lady) that wrote all of these is REALLY PASSIONATE about her craft, and was also referencing real world mythos and how they portray similar instances- I think we all know that Zeus has probably done worse on all giving and receiving ends of these stories, as well as Poseidon, Loki, and probably some other myths from Europe, China, and definitely JAPAN- key word there. In fact, the Typhlosion story is probably a reference to a similar story about a badger yokai that can alter its face to appear human, and the Octillery story is definitely a reference to- well, tentacle porn is a thing for a reason that goes pretty far back as a way to get around censorship in hand painted porn. The contents of the story aren't really much different or more terrifying than mythos we'd see in the real world (or if you're in the bible belt like me, probably EXPOSED to with morning bible studies before class growing up), and it's mainly just shocking to see it in the context of Pokemon.

And I think that's kind of the point. Sinnoh is already a pretty dark region in terms of lore and myth, and has surprisingly religious undertones considering the family friendly nature of Pokemon and its general target audience. Obviously none of the horse, badger, sloth monkey, octopus, god, or... Lapras fucking made it to the final cut, although in Japan they still reference People and Pokemon being so equal at some point that they could marry- that's even kind of referenced in Legends Arceus with I think a diary written by a man kidnapped by a Froslass? its been a minute, but you probably know what I'm referencing.

I think an interesting question would be "How did we get to these terrifying stories?" Especially Typhlosion and Slakoth.

Its important to remember this: None of this was meant to see the light of day outside that office circa 2003 to 2004ish. Yeah, surprisingly you weren't supposed to see the story of a man fucking an Octillery BEFORE throwing it back out to sea in a rated E for everyone game, and you didn't! You saw it via twitter, reddit, 4chan, tumblr, discord, or your local weed guy who all spread it from someone who got it from confidential office logs we wouldn't see unless someone took that info from Game Freak's darkest depths of other secrets they'd prefer to keep hidden. Every game and media company has this, good and bad, to various degrees of sfw and not. Did you know Disney has an entire vault of actual PORN that animators would make of their own anthropomorphized characters? Locked nice and safely, too... with uh, some exceptions breaking containment, I think?

So with that being said, we understand this is meant to be privileged info only a handful of people were supposed to see. That means they can use words and stuff you normally wouldn't see- Adventure time for instance had Finn and Jake saying "fuck" in story boarding, kinda funny- because its meant to be workshopped and tinkered with, refined until you get something desirable.

In fact, creators will often propose darker ideas than what they actually want so that they can more easily talk censors into an outcome they ACTUALLY desire. Alex Hirsch did this a few times in Gravity Falls' production, and you know Disney was a bitch to deal with (although he probably didn't propose stuff like this, but you get the idea). So this being said- Obviously nobody wants a story about a Typhlosion engaging in a non-con relationship with a minor it kidnaps. Nobody wants to read a story about humans MUTILATING Slakoths for fun and then getting revenge impregnated by a Slaking, only to give birth to a Slakoth and have it killed and thus kill yourself out of grief for your lost child (people reading this without context- ho boy you guys have missed out on some crazy shit that's popped up). So what is okay from here?

Maybe a little Pokemon death after going a while without it and accruing a reputation of being safe for kids? Mention of Pokemon bones being picked clean of meat and put back into a river so it can come back reborn? Some darker undertones of Pokemon being tormented by Team Galactic? How about a story of a boy slaying Pokemon with a sword, but less detail of mutilation of Ursaring and Slakoth? All of this made it into Diamond and Pearl, didn't it? Add in a little Human and Pokemon "Marriage" that is easily scrubbed out and replaced with "eating at the same table" for the more sensitive Western audience, and you have some pretty believable, dark, somewhat uncomfortable but child friendly lore for Pokemon.

Not to mention, a lot of this was probably pitched just to get a feel of the vibe they were going for in the game. If you read back through the stories, bits and pieces end up being used in other, non Poke-fucking stories, or recontextualized. See the above.

While its certainly a relief that they're non canon, it is a rather interesting look at the development of gen 4 lore and actually makes it feel more... realistic, in a way- again, comparing it to real world mythos and religious tales. That, and honestly? The religious backstory is actually, unironically amazing- HEAVILY based on real world religion, but plenty of real world religions steal from other religions and mythos anyway (coughchristianitycough).

Its actually a bit sad, because in any other JRPG, Arceus becoming a wounded woman that an ordinary man cares for, Arceus falling in love with this man because he treated her so tenderly, bearing human twins, the twins becoming Dialga and Palkia to fight some Titan that would become Mt Coronet, and Arceus loving this man so much that she took his soul to create Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit to spread love and joy throughout the world? That would literally be INSANELY GOOD world building. Plus! Arceus was a human woman when she did this! It was also consensual! Can you imagine what the world would have been like if we had gotten not only FEMALE Arceus- god of all Pokemon universes- but also a HUMAN INCARNATION of her? And this was BEFORE Giratina came into the picture, apparently. If anything, we got robbed a bit of some deep lore and potential story telling from this being cut, imo.

But one more thing to consider is this: All the stories, even if they did make it to the final cut, would still be stories within a story. Fictional folktales within a fictional setting. If we judge the above by how relevant the ACTUAL content that made it into the games were to the actual overarching plot... It'd be overall kinda useless beyond some flavor text. That's kind of the sad fact of it. Pokemon Players especially, grown adults too, are not exactly known to be well read and some play the game by rapidly A pressing every ounce of dialog they come across, even in brand new playthroughs. I'm sure some remember that one idiot on twitter that thought he made the discovery of the century when he found Snowpoint Temple in Legends Arceus, right? So understandably, especially when you're working on a clock, on limited space, on new and unfamiliar hardware, and trying to be as broad and reachable to audiences as you can- things get cut. Even... Some of the coolest lore building of all time SERIOUSLY A FUCKING PANTHEON WHAT THE HELL.

And I lied, there is one more thing to consider, especially for anyone actually morally offended by some of the content mentioned- Keep in mind that this is in 2003 to 2005ish Japan, with Game Freak (who we know are pretty out of touch in some regards, even by today's standards), before twitter, before tumblr, during a more edgy time for... well, everyone alive at the time, and especially adults. That's 20 years ago. Some of you may not have been alive at that point (did you finish your snacks and juice, lil guy?), some of you probably had a lot of your formative education influenced by the more puritanical side of tumblr or twitter, but it was simply a different time and place. That's it. The people involved in this have moved on and have probably grown into better people, and probably haven't made more fics like this. Maybe. Who knows. It's fiction anyway, and nobody real got hurt from it, and that's what's most important at the end of the day.

So that's my thoughts on it. I think I'm more annoyed by the fact that one of my favorites got a worse Vaporeon treatment than anything, and there's possibly the risk of Nintendo/TPC/Game Freak overreacting and gatekeeping Typhlosion out of the games for a bit. Sigh. My first pokemon, man. Well, anyway, try not to take it too seriously if you see the jokes and memes about it. It'll pass.

But hey, sexy Latina Skyla is canon! Shadow the Hedgehog wins!