#of course it's gonna have lasting effects on those with that identity!

[lu-is-not-ok]

So the new Vergillius announcer has personaized, specialized quote for each specific Sinner, and it's a fascinating mixture of praise and burns. In order, (so Yi Sang first and Gregor last):

"Impressive, Sinner #1. You seem to have a surprisingly high aptitude for Identity and E.G.O usage." "Ms. Faust… You knew that enemy part would eventually cause trouble, didn't you?"

"… What did Sinner #3 do this time? Haah…"

"Hm, your battle sense is just as excellent, even as a Sinner. Now, is there something you can do about your incomprehensible speech quirk, Sinner #4?"

"Excellent, Sinner #5. I hear that your quick actions have prevented many a disaster."

"… Don't think you can smooth over your terribly ineffective attack with an innocent smile, Sinner #6."

"Sinner #7. I thought you'd finally learned how to use that head of yours… It has been a while since our last consultation, hasn't it?"

"So I hear that you're the class president now, Sinner #8? Then it's time you took to the helm."

"I do appreciate how easy you are to please, Sinner #9. You may expect sweets should you perform well in this battle, of course."

"You've got blood on you again, #11. … Hm, I suppose you have indeed grown somewhat as of late. I thought you'd be bawling on your knees by now."

"What's this, miss lieutenant? How come you've let yourself be sliced to pieces like this? You're going to be the biggest burden to your Executive Manager dearest."

"This is no time for your defeatist attitude, Sinner #13. Get on your feet and soldier on. Where's your usual disposition, hm?"

I'm don't think this is a uniform scan of how Vergillius views each Sinner, but there are some fascinating nuggets-Rodion straight up getting bribed, a hint of Yi Sang having the best synchronization rates with IDs and EGO, and the possibility of Vergie knowing about Faust's psychic knowledge link deal.

It's, naturally, the Hong Lu one I'm coming to you with-I wonder if it's as innocent as it looks (Hong Lu did an ineffective attack and tried to laugh it off, Vergie Ain't Havin' It), or if Vergie can legitimately see right through Hong Lu's act (or knows his Deal all along).

Anon, you have no idea how perfect your timing is. Since I have recently done an attempt at analysis of all those lines in a random Discord server. So instead of dilly-dallying, I'm just gonna mostly repeat what I said then.

Before I do get to the Sinner-specific lines, I do want to briefly go over my thoughts about Verg's other lines, the ones directed at Dante.

Notably, a large amount of them has a much more gentle, if not downright warm tone to them. There is a level of patience, curiosity, and even sometimes concern that Verg shows towards Dante yet doesn't direct towards the rest of the Sinners.

There is very little to no condescending language directed towards them, which is in stark contrast to the vast majority of Verg's Sinner specific lines.

I wanted to point all of this out as Vergilius is a character who staunchly refuses to connect with people, and in reaction the people around him refuse to connect with him. There's very few people he actively tries to be kinder to, usually people he already knows, with it being most obvious with how he treats Charon.

Thus, the fact that Verg treats Dante with a level of kindness he doesn't extend towards the other Sinners implies a prior emotional connection we have yet to learn the specifics of.

Alright, with that little intro out of the way, here's my interpretation of each of those Sinner-specific lines one by one.

Yi Sang

One of the few positive voicelines, however the compliment Verg gives Yi Sang here can be read as somewhat backhanded due to the usage of "surprisingly", implying Verg doesn't actually hold high expectations towards him.

I also think that Verg specifically complimenting Yi Sang's usage of Identities and E.G.O could be another reflection of his not that high opinion of him. Verg is effectively complimenting not Yi Sang's own strengths, but rather his skill at borrowing power from other sources.

Faust

The only Sinner besides Dante that Verg refers to by name, showing that he holds a level of respect towards her that he doesn't for the rest of the Sinners. Considering the fact we know she's the one who hired him effectively, it might be more so a formality on his part than a reflection of any sort of closeness.

I have a couple of interpretations for what he says here, but in both of them it's clear that Verg feels a sort of exasperation towards Faust, and that he's aware of her downright supernatural levels of knowledge.

One interpretation is that he's expressing frustration, effectively accusing Faust of taking so long to act despite clearly having known ahead of time that the part would become a problem in the future. This is one of the patterns Faust shows, as she has a tendency to simply let bad things happen even when she knows they're about to, only ever doing something when she has no other choice.

The other interpretation is Verg being vexed by Faust's quick actions and efficiency, knowing that she only did so because she had the information that would tell her it had to be done. This is another pattern she exhibits, as she highly values efficiency and following the orders and information she has access to above her own opinions.

Don Quixote

Probably the most straightforward one. Verg's opinion of Don Quixote was so badly affected by how much trouble she's caused that now he's come to expect her to be the source of any potential mishaps.

There's also a notable sort of resignation to this voiceline I feel. It gives the impression that Verg has given up on trying to discipline Don Quixote, feeling like no matter what he does she's just going to keep causing issues regardless.

Ryoshu

The one line where Verg expresses both a positive and negative opinion simultaneously. Verg clearly holds a certain amount of respect towards Ryoshu, acknowledging her battle prowess even when nerfed. However, he also makes sure to undermine the compliment to make it clear he has no fondness towards her by calling out a trait of hers that he finds irritating and perhaps knows she's unlikely to change.

Interestingly enough, I feel like there's something to be said about how surface-level his jab here is. When it comes to the other Sinners he makes jabs at, he tends to target something they're a lot more sensitive about. Here however? Nothing of the sort. I think when Verg calls Ryoshu's speech quirk "incomprehensible", it reflects his opinion on Ryoshu as a whole - he finds her equally incomprehensible, unable to understand her as a person.

Meursault

Probably the only entirely positive voiceline out of the lot, neither backhanded nor condescending. Verg shows appreciation for Meursault's reliability, and might even be subtly throwing shade at the other Sinners by implying they could be the cause of the disasters in question. Not much else to say here lmao.

Hong Lu

I think this line very clearly shows Verg knows Hong Lu is full of shit. Not only does Verg call out the fact that Hong Lu is trying to get away with messing up, he also directly calls out the "innocent smile" as Hong Lu's method of doing so. He can tell Hong Lu's innocence and naivete isn't entirely genuine, but rather that it's a shield he uses to evade criticism and negative attention.

Also this is the only voiceline where Verg directly calls out a Sinner's attack as being dogshit. The others are a lot more vague about what caused Verg's reaction (except for Outis but we'll get to her), but here Verg confirms that the thing he's annoyed by is Hong Lu's offense. Considering my other analyses about Hong Lu caring more about his performance of combat rather than being actually effective at it based on his animations... no yeah, that tracks Perfectly.

Heathcliff

This is. An interesting line. I would probably need a whole separate post to get into it in detail, but to make a long story short it's pretty clear that as of the current point in story Heathcliff is the only Sinner that is actively trying to reach out to Verg and treat him like a person, and Vergilius is very much noticing that and (perhaps subconsciously) beginning to warm up to Heathcliff.

Why do I say all of that? Because I believe this line is a reflection of that relationship. See, both of the things Verg says about Heathcliff here are him noting that he thought Heathcliff was improving. That he was actually smart, that he hadn't needed any discipline in a long time. This line to me feels less like an insult or a jab, and more like an expression of disappointment.

Whether he wanted to or not, Verg was slowly starting to form a sort of bond with Heathcliff, enough to feel disappointed when Heathcliff fucks up and to try and distance himself. Mind you, he's still being an ass and vaguely threatening about it, but it's still something to note.

Ishmael

First of several voicelines where Vergilius is openly condescending towards whoever he's talking about. Calling Ishmael a class president is not only Verg acknowledging Ishmael's tendency to effectively speak for the Sinners as a whole several times, but also putting her down by effectively calling that behavior immature and something a child in school would be doing.

Then he basically goes "can you stop fucking around" by telling her to actually take charge and be responsible for once. Because despite how she presents herself, Ishmael is kinda bad at this whole personal responsibility thing.

Rodya

Similarly to Heathcliff, I think this voiceline is a reflection of Rodya's relationship with Verg as a whole. Again, to summarize, Rodya consistently puts on an overly casual and friendly act when interacting with Vergilius, despite her actual opinion on him being basically in line with the rest of the bus - she doesn't like him one fucking bit.

I think the first part of this line is Verg low-key calling her out for that, calling her "easy to please" in a very facetious way to show how see-through her act is to him. He is fully aware she does not like him but pretends to anyway.

Then there's the second part. I don't think Verg is genuinely trying to bribe Rodya. I interpret what he says here as his attempt at giving her a taste of her own medicine. Rodya regularly acts overly friendly towards him, so for a moment he acts overly familiar as well by offering sweets for a job well done. He's being an asshole and he knows it. The fact that he's effectively making a jab at Rodya's not-so-secret food insecurity only makes it more obvious that he's being an ass for the sake of being an ass.

Sinclair

Maybe the most backhanded lines of all of them if I'm honest. Verg is both acknowledging Sinclair's growth as a person while also putting him down by reminding him of the pathetic state he was at the start. Another Sinner he clearly has low expectations of.

I think this also shows Verg's tendency to underestimate the Sinners, specifically when it comes to their ability to change. I slightly alluded to it in Don Quixote's section, but Verg pretty clearly doesn't expect any of the Sinners to change for the better, and is thus surprised when he sees Sinclair prove him wrong.

Outis

If Sinclair's line is the most backhanded one, then this is the most condescending one with the most obvious animosity. Outis is the only Sinner that Verg calls something other than their number or name, instead giving her a frankly patronizing sounding nickname. He's both reminding her of her supposed role by calling her "lieutenant" while also putting her down by adding that "miss" in front.

Every single thing he says towards her is meant to put her abilities into question and make her seem incompetent. Considering that Outis regularly brags about her abilities and is the only Sinner to show she's not afraid to fight him, it's clear he's trying to take her down a peg. This shit is personal.

Him calling out her partially facetious attachment to Dante is also notable, as protecting them was the excuse Outis used when she first stood up to Verg. It's clear that moment left quite the negative impression on him.

Gregor

Last but not least. I think this line is another example of Verg seeing through a Sinner's facade, just like he did with Hong Lu and Rodya. He's calling out Gregor's go-getter facade by questioning where his "usual disposition" went and comparing it to his genuine attitude, that being the defeatism and unwillingness to participate.

There's also I think an interesting layer to this line, that being how it could be referencing back to Canto 1. Verg is effectively telling Gregor that one failure isn't a good enough reason to give up, perhaps subtly implying that he's already over Gregor's fuck up and would much rather not have to deal with what he might consider self-pitying.

[plaidos]

I have no particular dog in this fight as I'm not a GF superfan or anything, but I would like to question a bit of your analysis.

I think you're right that the version of GF where Dipper is transmasc makes Mabel's canonical actions transphobic.

I would like to question the insinuation that those same actions would've been "normal sibling rivalry" (?!) were Dipper closeted transfem or even cismasc, as opposed to "worst sister ever" (!?) behavior. Especially if we're going with transfem Dipper, those incidents of bullying remind me much more of patterns of bullying against transfeminine people, and intersex people CAMAB (such as myself) that I've personally witnessed/experienced.

Also, to the idea that Mabel being transphobic fundamentally changes her character in some way. Like, sometimes characters we're supposed to like hold a bigoted attitude which they will unlearn over the course of the story. Sokka from Avatar and Weiss from RWBY come to mind. Mabel being one of those characters doesn't fundamentally change her storyline or arc.

you’re right, Mabel’s actions and teasings are still mean with a transphobic undercurrent — even if Dipper is a dyadic cis boy, to be honest. but she’s also a twelve year old born in 1999. i too have received the kind of bullying associated with the way Mabel acts towards Dipper about his gender, but i’ve also had similarly “jokes” from loved ones who didn’t realise how shitty they were being because they didn’t have the political framework to analyse what is fucked up about it.

but if we’re reading Dipper as transmasc, it’s like… everybody he knows is accepting enough of his identity to gender him correctly, but they’re still totally willing to say things to him that you would categorically know are bigoted even at that age. like a twelve year old cisgender girl who knows about trans people and respects their existence might not realise how needlessly callous she is being when she teases her (seemingly) cisgender brother for having “girly” interests, but that same cisgender girl would probably be able to identify that her openly transgender brother wouldn’t want to wear makeup and that it would be incredibly fucked up to make him. i’m not saying it’s “right” but Mabel needs to actively Be A Transphobe (rather than just having some twelve year old cis girl ideas about gender & masculinity) to treat Dipper the way she treats him if he is openly transmasculine, but I feel like there’s more of a plausible deniability. i feel like the Mabel we see in the show is a couple years away from being like “wow, that was spectacularly mean of me, i hope that didn’t have an effect on Dipper’s self worth”

i feel like if (in the crazy alternate universe where this is possible) there were an episode where Dipper came out as transfem after feeling hurt by Mabel’s jokes she would be really torn up about it. she’d say something like “i’m really sorry, i didn’t know you felt so strongly about gender… i thought we were just joking around but i should be paying more attention to how you feel, Dipper…. wait, maybe you don’t want to be called Dipper any more. Oh no I AM a bigot!!!” and then Soos would come in and be like “heheh. total hatecrime dude” and then we’d cut to Bill being like “i don’t care what gender you are pine tree… i’m gonna get that GIRL if it’s the last thing I do” except girl would be obviously ADR’d over in Alex Hirsch’s normal voice with his live action mouth over Bill’s animated mouth

also transfeminine Dipper has just always made more sense. the big argument was that he uses a nickname instead of his birth name which he keeps a secret. and that would make sense if Dipper had a girl’s name, but Dipper’s birth name is “Mason”. so he actually is choosing to not use a male name and instead use something gender neutral, even though he really loves matching with his twin sister & having matching names is a family tradition — so he probably has a pretty big reason to not use it, considering he still doesn’t even with all the reasons he has to.

[centrally-unplanned]

Watched a bunch of stuff last night, including the Alita OVA from 1993! I thought it was a lot of fun, the thoughts:

--- It did the "obvious" thing of adapting the romance arc with Yugo of Volume 2 as the core, while blending in the events of Volume 1 as sort of backstory and setup as opposed to their own story. This arc is Alita at her most humanized in the early parts of the manga, and its the plot that centers Zalem as the untouchable overlord city most effectively. Any short adaptation is gonna choose this - part of why James Cameron (lol) did the same thing!

--- Speaking of, the manga does not actually have any particular focus on Alita's eyes, but the anime definitely has more than one shot where it establishes them as thematically special. Given that the James Cameron film is famous for going full CGI on Alita's eyes, and he knows about the property from Guillermo del Toro passing him the OVA as opposed to the manga, I think I can see the chain of events that lead to that (ill-fated?) decision.

Her eyes are pretty amazing in the OVA, so I get it! As my previous reblogs showed lol.

--- I think I can break apart the manga into three "concepts": the setting as cyberpunk dystopia, Alita as a character dealing with identity issues as an amnesiatic combat robot, and shounen fighting & levelling arcs. The OVA heavily focuses on the first part, ditching almost all the shounen stuff - its fight scenes are quick and focus on violence & bodily destruction over strength or "fighting techniques", etc. This is great for me, obviously! But it also, almost accidentally, ditches most of her identity issues? Because its less than an hour long, and needs to do a ton of worldbuilding - including even adding in a new character from Zalem to help with that - and is doing Yugo's entire arc, you really don't have time left for Alita's struggles. Yugo actually gets more "inner depth" than she does! She commits to being a bounty hunter, then after that she is pretty much just In Love while Yugo goes through his detailing of his past and collapse.

I'm not saying it doesn't work, it does as a story. Just interesting for something that is known as very "protagonist associated" to have an OVA where she is barely the protagonist.

--- While no Urotsukidoji or anything, this is another one of those OVAs where its reputation, particularly in the west, is as a hyper-violent, gory OVA? And like so many it really isn't. People get decapitated, don't get me wrong, buts its never lingers on those moments. Instead they serve as tone setters for the crapsack world or just are part of the action sequences.

I think in general the OVA era rarely made horror/gore films the way some other mediums/industries did? There are exceptions of course but in the end anime is trying to do too many other things; beautiful animation, focus on character designs, often being adaptations and so doing the plot of those more complex stories, erotic content for audiences that aren't *that* fetishistic on average, and more. All of these priorities compete for space in comparison to having endless jumpscares and blood splatters. So far my track record for watching the famous "gorefest" or "~crazy~" anime is that every one of them is tamer than the rep suggests, and I believe this medium/genre mismatch is why.

--- The biggest question I have around Alita in general is why there was never any more anime? Its weird, right? Its a famous property from a beloved genre, it had a hollywood film for some crazy reason, things like Ghost in the Shell got multi-season anime after all. Why no feature film remake in the 2000's? Why no 13-cour in the 2010's? I don't have an answer to that yet.

Why the initial OVA was so minimal is at least partly answered by Kishiro here:

MNS: Many fans have wondered, why were only 2 anime OAV episodes produced in 1993? YK: It was based on the plan proposed by the animation production company. It might have been better to turn down the plan and wait for a better adaptation proposal to come up, but back then, I couldn't afford to review the plan coolly. At that time, I was still serializing the work and was so busy that I wasn't ambitious to make it into animation.

Essentially he took the "deal on hand", not offering much, because he didn't have the time, money, or business savvy to work the industry for a better proposal. 100% understandable. I don't think the OVA did too well? I can't find a lot of sales figures, but the comments I see are in the "respectable" range, and it didn't get quick or expansive rereleases over time.

More broadly, and again speculative, I think maybe Alita overall isn't that successful? Like sure Kishiro is still out here releasing more sequel manga to this day somehow, but when I look at the "media mix" its just really sparse. No big video game adaptations - it has a PlayStation game in the 90's - it has like a drama CD and a novelization? No big merch waves or tie-ins. I am betting the big anime production committees just don't think its a hot enough property to sell that great. Wouldn't be a bad idea or anything, but not one you have to do like idk Chainsaw Man.

In the western fandom spaces its quite well known because of the idiosyncrasies of licensing history, the weird James Cameron factor, and I think a general fascination with anime cyberpunk; the west eats up any of the older cyberpunk properties for its aesthetic in a way that can blind people to the reality of that just being a subgenre in Japan at the time. Alita might just be niche enough that it not getting any wider anime adaptations is no grand mystery.

(But I hope to dig into this question more)

[tbshorts]

Burmy is just a really well-constructed take on its real-world inspiration

Wait, hang on, the Combee line is AMAZING!

Pachirisu is where Pikaclones begin to have their own ideas

Video scripts below the cut

Burmy:

Burmy is an interesting one. It's based on bagworms, which make their sheltering cocoons out of materials they find in their environments as camoflage, hence the different forms it can take on. The body itself is neutral black with bright yellow eyes in large part to create a neutral canvas on which its various cloaks can provide a high contrast, which is quite effective design.

Wor-madam does much the same thing but More, and dials up the femininity of the presentation by adding "pigtails" out of its materials and taking on a top heavy "fancy lady with a fur coat" sort of profile, again reflecting the way female bagworms remain in their larval stage their whole lives. It's solid stuff.

Mothim, then, gets the traditional bug pokémon final stage, subtyping into flying and growing wings. The black body remains and is used the same way, as a means to create contrast, but it adopts a bright yellow orange and white scheme, with especially those antennae giving its face a sharp, slightly dangerous-feeling character. It's a honey thief, according to the pokédex, which is perhaps why it has those "fingers" on its wings?

This whole line is just solid design craft, I have no complaints.

Grade: B

Combee:

I've never really given Combee a second thought, but upon re-examining it for this review I realized, hang on, these are freaken brilliant. It's a bee made of hexagons that are fused together into one body, quite literally embodying the way that a bee hive is a kind of gestalt entity, a unity composed of thousands of individuals joined together into one organism. The bees ARE the hive, in this case quite literally.

Vespiqueen takes the metaphor one step further, being a queen bee who is quite literally her own hive. I do feel like she ought to be designed to be way bigger, but the idea here is killer, and if you made it even slightly less kid-friendly, it would make for a killer horror monster.

But this is Pokémon and it's not going to go that far. Still, the top half of the body literally carrying a bee hive around beneath it, shaped in a way to evoke a big regal gown, that's clever, and the blood red eyes and sharp mandibles make a sharp contrast in deadliness with the cheerful adorableness of Combee, visually communicating the scale of difference in power between the two, but also that Vespiqueen isn't ruling by consensus, it's pheromone mind control and she is a tyrant. It rules.

Grade: S

Pachirisu:

Oooh, they keep trying to make Pikachu 2 happen, and Pikachu 2 just isn't gonna happen.

That's not Pachirisu's fault, of course, and does a much better job of distinguishing itself from Pikachu than Plusle and Minun did last generation. It's a squirrel rather than a mouse, and gets its electric theming from that bright blue streak on its body, as well as from sharp spikes in the blue fur that contrast with the soft, round adorableness of the rest of the design. I kinda feel like it woulda been better if it hadn't gone for the bright yellow cheek pads, because, again, that just reminds of Pikachu's iconic red cheek pads and invites comparison, but also, it confuses the color scheme a bit. Am I meant to understand the blue color and spikes as representing its electric power, or is it the yellow? Even the Pokédex gets a bit confused whether it stores its electricity in the cheeks or in the big fluffy tail. Electric cheeks is Pikachu's thing, so focusing on the tail and designing that out would have given it much more of its own identity.

For all the comparisons I'm making though, it's not fair to call it just a Pika-clone, it does have its own ideas, and frankly I would have loved to see an evolution for it that really leans into the static electric fluffy fur concept.

Grade: B

[salmalin]

So I have thoughts about Roche, Queerness, themes related to Modern Christianity in regards to Conversion Therapy, and the Sephiroth Cloning Effects in FFVIIR. Which, uh… I realize are extremely strange topics to connect, but bear with me here.

(Spoilers under the cut.)

It starts specifically with thoughts about how Roche is flamboyant and fun and weird, and he’s also unapologetic about that. Thoughts about how his fight scene in Part 2 involve him exclusively on his bike, and how he’s weak to fire. He’s dramatic, invites others to the “party”, and makes a spectacle about everything. He involves his bike in every attack, too.

I’m also thinking about that last fight scene—after the procedure. I think about how he said he was disobeying orders. So who brought him there? His friends in the army? And honestly, the moment the scene started, I knew he wouldn’t come out of the other end of the battle. Why? Well:

1. He leaps out of a container full of people instead of bringing them with him. He has abandoned the audience and his fans and very literally left them behind.

2. He destroys his bike himself and doesn’t even flinch, then he fights on foot, suddenly without his bike but still demanding Cloud’s best despite having thrown away his ability to do his own.

3. He’s not even weak to fire anymore. Which means not only has he thrown away all his strengths, but all his weaknesses, as well.

Over the course of that scene, followed by the disappointing fight to follow, it becomes abundantly clear that Roche has lost all sense of himself. His ability to maintain himself leaves even before his will and honor, which is very in-character for him. Almost nothing remains of the man he was except his honor. But also the fact that they lay this out first is such in-your-face symbolism… It’s honestly a big reason why I’ve been enjoying the remake of 7 so much.

Roche lost every bit of himself piece by piece before our very eyes, and we watch the last of him slide off and become swallowed by Sephiroth’s ego, and that honestly drives home just how powerful Sephiroth’s ego is, and just how terrifying it is. How destructive.

I also think it’s incredibly beautiful to apply a story-line like this to a character who—let’s be real here—reads as unbelievably queer. Like holy hell. This man brought a brass band to a knife fight. His ego and his honor shine through even through the end. Even after every part of him is taken from him, someone else’s will hammered into his body and mind…

The Sephiroth Cloning technique, through this lens, reads a lot like Conversion Therapy.

Those subjected to this specific brand of torture are forced to conform to the identity of another, their initial personality lost and distorted as they are directed to bend to the will and desires of another. Most of them die before reaching the end, usually through the action of moving itself. They shuffle along, mindless, with nothing to them beyond this horrible trek to serve another’s purpose—a being that is beyond the reach of mortals; a being that has died and returned to their World through the touch of their (Father in Heaven) Mother.

Cloud comes out the other end after years of this and barely even has a sense of self left, if you can even call it that at that point. Heck, if Advent Children is still canon, this means he’s still so messed up by guilt years after the fact that he doesn’t even know how to be happy, or to bring himself to be around others for long periods of time. He fundamentally does not remember who he was before, basing his identity around a man who was not compatible with the cloning technique and managed to escape. However, this puts MORE holes in his head and his story because this is not who he is. He is pretending to be something he cannot even remember. You know. Like horrible PTSD from being in a Conversion Therapy Camp for just shy of five years.

I’m gonna stop myself here or I’ll go on for ages. Regardless, food for thought.

[lilithyvenus]

talk your shit! silencing yourself is active self harm - pick a card reading

hi bambinos ❤️ thank you for your support! it's bittersweet to know the mother wound reading resonated, but i'm comforted by knowing it was helpful. now that it's a wednesday, let's address how holding our tongues tells our inner children that what they have to say still doesn't matter. even anger needs to be voiced. my Black women and nbs, i'm talking to you especially here.

for people with marginalized identities, you speaking up is the very least you can do for your ancestors. i'm southern african; my grandmas were maids for white south africans just 60 years ago, and for their own safety, they had to silence and censor themselves. i have had to recognize this and if you can't do it for yourself, do it for the people whose compliance ensured your presence here, now. you better fuck shit up!

channeled songs

- mad by solange

- under the table by fiona apple

- fsu by fidlar

- eartha by jamila woods

- wannabe by the spice girls

today's pile selection is my collage art :3

group one

the song referenced in the collage you chose is starring role by marina.

your cards: two of pentacles + five of cups + queen of cups in reverse + queen of pentacles

you seem to be under the impression that there's a time limit to grief and healing, and there isn't. please, if you're not talking about it because you fear everyone is tired of you bringing it up, where will the burden you're carrying live besides in you? it will always feel like we're doing too much when we give ourselves time to dwell in our sorrow because we're socialized to prioritize productivity over health. you don't need other people to validate you to make the pain justifiable – you feel it and that's enough. by talking to someone patient, you will let yourself gradually let more light in. i stress that they have to be patient, because you don't need someone who makes you consider for a second that you revisiting the grief over and over is burdensome. for those of you who feel alone in this, please use the kokobot here. it isn't 100% effective, but it's knowing that there's someone else put there who doesn't need to know you to be warm and supportive of you. baby yourself too! what tf are they gonna do, unbaby you?

channeled media

heartaches by patsy cline

do it for her from steven universe

eternal sunshine of the spotless mind (2004)

the year of magical thinking by joan didion

wake up alone (the demo/original version) by amy winehouse

lonely comin' down by dolly parton

group two

the song referenced in the collage you chose is just the same but brand new by st vincent.

your cards: seven of pentacles + queen of pentacles in reverse + knight of pentacles in reverse + magician

you're allowed to be exasperated with the way things are going. did someone tell you you can't be pessimistic or it'll undo your manifestations? that is something people who already come from privilege say – of course you didn't have negative thoughts, bank of mum and dad is always on it! you're putting the physical work in but you aren't seeing the progress you like, and both that lack of physical progress and your annoyance are okay! please talk about it, rant and rave about it, but don't let yourself lose hope completely. you might be too focused on one aspect that isn't where you want it to be, but don't minimize what you've accomplished already. talk to your ancestors and guides. they are your relatives and they have your highest good in mind, they don't mind you ranting to them. in fact, outright ask them to show you how to shift your focus while they work in your favour. also, your words hold weight so you may as well affirm that your doubt doesn't chase away what is meant for you. also, idk who needs to hear this but sevdaliza has been making music for over ten years now and charli xcx for over fifteen, and they got their undeniable mainstream success last year. notably, both brown women embracing their outsider status. imagine if charli's legacy was boom clap.....

channeled media

there's gotta be something better than this from sweet charity

after the storm by kali uchis

fetch the bolt cutters + shameika by fiona apple

waiting for godot (if you can, watch a bootleg of the stage play)

rhode by sevdaliza

group three

the song referenced in the collage you chose is window seat by erykah badu. it's also inspired by the rock scene in everything everywhere all at once.

your cards: seven of pentacles + six of swords in reverse + knight of wands + strength

is someone dealing with a fuckboy? i hope they die. that's not a bit, i'm so serious. but in general, someone is playing in your face and there's only so much diplomacy you can practice when the other person can't respect you enough to at least let you know they can't deliver + give you what you need. would you do what they're doing to someone else, especially someone you claim to hold dearly? we often fall into the trap of projecting our morals onto other people, and we get hurt because unfortunately, some people have no home training. this person needs a tongue lashing and don't spare yourself. the relief you are going to feel after telling them about themselves is worth it. actually, it's what you deserve since they can't deliver or even own up to their failing you.

channeled media

stfu! by rina sawayama

gettin' in the way by jill scott

army of me (feat. skunk anansie) by bjork

bossy by kelis

these boots are made for walking by nancy sinatra

1, 2, 3 & tut tut tut by the tuts

[carboardserpent]

what are your reasonings for liking chick hick describe in vivid detail

Oh boy where do I even start.

Okay so...

Chick isn't the first character like him that I've gotten attached to. The other one is Guzma, from gen 7 of Pokémon.

They're very similar in a lot of ways. They're the big scary antagonist with anger issues and they cause a lot of destruction which may or may not harm people (or cars?) around them. A lot of people might only see that about them.

But if you go looking, there's a lot more depth to them. Daddy issues, for one. We find that out in the Cars comics. Chick's father was abusive, no two ways about that. Nothing was ever good enough for him except first place. He got angry with Chick for stopping to help one of the other racers, claiming that he should be doing everything in his power to win, not wasting his time on others (I'm paraphrasing, that might not be exactly what was said).

The fact Chick stopped to help shows us that he wasn't always bad. He was a good kid, and I firmly believe that. It was his father who told him over and over again that he must "win at all costs" that did the damage. When you spend your whole life trying desperately to please someone who cannot be pleased, that's bound to end up reflected in who you become.

I believe that he's violent on the track because that's what he thinks he needs to do to win. Just like his dad told him. And he's insufferable off the track because of an inferiority complex: He's never won. He has a rival that always beats him, and the entire racing fanbase (millions of people) dislikes him for how reckless and destructive he is. That, of course, only gets much, much worse after the end of the first film.

Now those millions of people all hate him. He let his anger get the best of him. He wanted to beat his rival one last time before Strip retired. We know at the point he crashed Strip that he knew he couldn't win. Lightning was miles ahead. He didn't crash Strip to try and win. He specifically said, "I am not coming in behind you again." That's the inferiority complex coming through. When you go your entire career and never get more than second place because of one specific man, yeah. You're gonna be bitter about it.

Then, when Lightning stopped, that meant Chick won. He wasn't expecting to win, but he did. He won, and as a result, his dad would be proud of him. Right? Well, we can't know for sure, but I don't think so. Not because he crashed Strip, no. But because Lightning LET him win. So despite everything, despite being universally hated by millions of people, he still couldn't make that one man proud of him, which is what he's been trying to do his entire life.

Then we get to Cars 3. At this point, Chick has had YEARS of being hated by the entire racing community. He's probably incredibly depressed, clutching to the one cup he has like a lifeline and living purely out of spite. He made a TV show so people couldn't just put him out of their minds. He made it a good show, so even if they hated him, they would still watch it. They made his life miserable, so he's not going to let them forget about him. I think he leans into the hate because otherwise it would smother him. How could it not? Everyone expects him to act like a dick, so he does. He's even worse than he used to be. At this point, it's his entire identity.

Under all that, though, I think he's probably hurting and lonely. I don't think Strip's crash was supposed to be as bad as it was. I think all he wanted was to cause him to spin out into the infield. Harmless. But it went wrong, and he leaned into it to save his already fragile ego. It was easier to admit he was brutal than it was to admit he made a mistake. Especially when his dad was watching.

But you know, most of that is just speculation and some headcanons to fill in the gaps. It's why I love him so much, though. I thought about the effects of his actions and what impact that might have on him, but I also tried to figure out why he did those things to begin with. That's important for understanding a character; the why. This is where I ended up.

Thank you for asking, though, because I can not gush about this guy enough. I have so many Thoughts(tm) about him.

[spenglercore]

Tell us about the Big Damn Heroes incident where Ilse almost murdered Piotr

So, to start with: Piotr is the kind of guy who would rather suffer himself than let other suffer if he can help them. The man has a heart of gold and it's gotten his ass kicked more than once in his life. He's got a strong sense of justice and loyalty and would give you the shirt off his back or take on someone he knows is going to beat the shit out of him if means you'd be spared the harm.

At some point in his late twenties he joins the army as a tank mechanic and serves in both Korea and part of Vietnam. In the latter conflict, he gets set to a forward repair base when their foreman is KIA. He's slated to take the guy's place temporarily until his replacement arrives, and while he's there they end up having to go on tank recovery in hostile territory.

Now, retrieving an M48 Patton tank is almost always going to be An Affair in and of itself, depending on just how badly damaged it is. And if it was damaged enough that it couldn't be driven back to base, that means you've gotta send people out to get it, which requires a tank recovery vehicle (usually just another wholeass tank modified for towing) and also possibly do any repairs that it might need to even make it towable, and do so in the field.

This is what Piotr and his guys are doing when they discover it was a trap and they walked right into it.

So bullets are flying and people are diving for cover, of which there isn't much. Piotr is the guy in charge as far as the mechanics go, and he knows that the longer they sit there the more losses they'll incur. Yeah, they've got a guy on the radio yelling for backup, but between that moment and when backup actually arrives, IF it arrives at all, is an unknown quantity and a lot can happen in that time frame. Their best bet is to get to the recovery vehicle and beat a hasty retreat, while hoping the VC don't have any anti-tank weapons.

So this motherfucker decides that it's his job to get the recovery vehicle unhooked from the tank they were gonna recover and pile as many guys into it as possible while providing moving cover for anyone else so they can get out of the middle of things and into a more defensible position. Of course, this is a dumb idea, but Piotr can be dumb as a box of rocks at times. He's a machinist, engineer and mechanic, not a tactician.

He gives his dog tags to another guy, says the classic 'tell my wife and kid i love them' line, and then runs off. Miraculously, he's not instantly hit. Instead, when he gets to where the two vehicles are hooked together, he runs into an enemy soldier. Once again, he miraculously escapes injury or death by bayonet and instead brains the guy on reflex with the mini sledgehammer he had in his hand. Being close enough to see the effects of a hammer on a human head and watching the guy die is not something he was ever prepared for, and it's here that he locks up and gets hit. Not only does he get perforated, but his left knee takes a decent piece of shrapnel right to the joint and he gets a pretty nasty concussion and goes down.

Backup does arrive, and being concussed and panicky because holy shit he's been hit, Piotr gets uncharacteristically combative and gets his ass sedated before he's flown out to a MASH unit where he's patched up. But when he starts to come out of sedation, he's still combative due to having a traumatic brain injury and keeps saying his last name isn't Spengler, it's Kowalski, so not only can they not immediately verify his identity, he gets put in a medical coma for a while and is expected to recover but have chronic problems at absolute best.

While he's out, a clerical error occurs where he's mistakenly listed as KIA, and the corresponding letter is sent out to his wife, who is understandably distraught. Luckily, the day after she gets the letter, Piotr is brought out of the coma and it turns out he's just one of those lucky sons of bitches who recovers completely from the brain injury and nobody really knows why or how. And once he's been awake for a day or so, he finds out that he was mistakenly listed as dead and goes 'Oh fuck I need to call my WIFE.' Which he does, and when he explains that this whole mess is because he was trying to be a hero, he gets chewed out in German loud enough for everyone in the vicinity to hear.

Not long after that, he finds himself on his way home on a medical discharge because the cartilage of his left knee got pretty fucked up and he's no longer fit to serve. But rather than a warm welcome, Piotr is greeted with a halfhearted slap across the face and another tirade of German as Ilse goes off about what an ass he is, how he scared the shit out of her, about what a dipshit move that was taking off his dog tags and trying to be a hero, etc etc. The ride home is quiet and tense, as is getting settled in for the evening.

Once everything is put away and they're behind closed doors though, he pulls Ilse in for a hug and apologizes for putting her through so much. er emotions finally come out and she just sort of collapses into the hug and cries. Seeing her crying over the whole thing has more of an impact on Piotr than her being pissed enough to slap him; he goes to sometimes comical lengths to avoid causing her distress or otherwise upsetting her or making her feel bad, even on accident, and knowing that he did it anyway really eats at him for awhile.

Over the decades though, the time Ilse almost murdered her husband for being a shit idiot becomes something of a running joke.

Along with the time he got goaded into going streaking on a motorcycle.

[interdimensional-ship]

✭ ✭ one for the two of them if that’s allowed

((Guessing you mean one headcanon that applies to both Lor and Magolor? If not you can just send this ask again specifying two distinct headcanons, or just two asks. Anyways… I suppose this is as good a time as any to explain how Clash fits into things, eh? This will contain spoilers for Magolor Epilogue, so if you’ve still not played it and have managed to avoid them thus far I suggest not reading beyond this point. For those still here, strap in, this is gonna be a long one!))

((So, for those who haven’t read the fic I’ve been writing that explores the earliest days of Magolor and Lor knowing each other, I’ll just establish right out of the gate that Magolor simultaneously did and didn’t survive his fight with the Tree Crown. He defeated it and all, but his injuries combined with the physical and magical exertion took its toll on him. However, the latent magic where he was, combined with his desire to go to some semblance of a normal home and Another Dimension Weirdness™️, essentially coalesced into that portal to the Dream Kingdom, which itself drew heavily from what Magolor knew of certain historical figures and events, altered by his own experiences. Or, in other words, spurred on by that wish of his and the magic at play, part of the Dream Realm fragmented into that version of the Dream Kingdom due to Another Dimension being unstable as hell and technically not being a place. Hard to die normally when you aren’t anywhere.

Because he ultimately “died” while going through that portal, the world essentially ended up with two separate Magolors. There was Magolor as he thought he might be in his dreams, now living in the Dream Kingdom as a respected and successful seller of various magic items and armor and weapons and the like, who also didn’t truly have to face the consequences of his actions because they magically went away. Then there was the “original” Magolor, still in Another Dimension, who just died and ended up in a limbo of sorts due to the reasons stated above. Given the circumstances of his death and the fact that he wasn’t really “supposed” to die to begin with, Morpho Knight(in butterfly form) ultimately brought him back(on the brink of death still but not Dead dead) to the last home-adjacent place he’d been… Which just so happened to be Lor’s main room.

That brings me to how she ties in with this. Remember how the “real” Dream Kingdom essentially came about as a result of Magolor’s thoughts, feelings, and memories? The concept didn’t just disappear from his mind entirely, and in fact the idea of making a vaguely accurate(if not somewhat anachronistic) retelling of some history/folklore was something he couldn’t help but want to do. Lor, being incredibly advanced and also bigger on the inside than on the outside, can do a lot of cool things, be it having an entire bamboo forest folks can do target practice in, a large firing range that has its own sky and stretches back miles, entire obstacle courses for various skill sets, etc. She also liked the idea, and had information to work with regarding what certain figures were like, essentially allowing her to fill in the blanks between Magolor’s broader ideas while he could focus on details like items and good ol’ “what part can someone I know play in this?”. Thus, Clash ALSO exists as an interactive simulation Lor can run that is effectively a playable reenactment of historical events with a few extra things mixed in.

Of course, because things weren’t confusing enough, neither of these “versions” of Clash are “canon” in the sense that one is an alternate microuniverse and the other is a simulation in a timeline where the original events already occurred. So, y’know, there was no gem apple tree, no Shoppe, Landia hadn’t been around back then, Doctor Healmore and the other heroes weren’t just identical twins save for their colors, Taranza and the Animal Friends and Meta Knight wouldn’t have been there, etc. Galacta Knight, being the Aeon Hero, would’ve been one of the “playable” heroes(he was the Sword Hero of yore), but that obviously wouldn’t have worked for a simulation intended to be like a game. It was actually Lor’s idea to essentially include the depiction of Galacta in the period between snapping and becoming the strongest warrior in the galaxy. It’s by far the biggest creative liberty that was taken, given the fact that Galacta really went off the deep end after the other events of Clash took place. It essentially gave an idea of what he might be like(she didn’t know about Meta Knight’s wish/encounter) while also not omitting the fact that he wasn’t always the dangerous figure he turned himself into.

As for why totally-not-Magolor was included but not some version of herself? One, some anachronisms are too big and blatant to do anything other than break immersion. Two, there’s a point where including familiar faces(or in this case figures without a face) in a historical recreation goes from being a fun little nod to being excessive. Three, accurately simulating herself would have been extremely difficult because she knows she isn’t the type to say “>No you can’t come in go away”, and that would’ve meant needing to recreate her own interior and amenities and the like for accuracy’s sake. If you’re gonna simulate yourself you gotta do it right or else what’s the point?))

[yellowocaballero]

HEY!! Your trigun swap au is so very good!! I've always loved roleswap aus as a concept, and yours is the perfect example of why. it's all about the balancing act of twisting the (swapped) character's background/mentalities for maximum domino effect while not actually *destroying* the character ya know? you still gotta recognize them, it's half of the fun. just some little nudges here... and there... with the delightful result of a changed plot/world that you can discover anew

Also I surprisingly vibe with Dr Knives. a lot. what can I say I guess it's the fucked up superiority-inferiority/guilt complex with a dash of imposter syndrome. also the transgenderism. he's just like me fr fr (minus the speciesism and bloodlust) 1/3

SPEAKING OF! I'm literally a week late for that but chapter 4 may be my favorite so far. it's got it all: Ww's bloodlust coming through and being given a GUN, M&M being #JustNormalGunsmokeKidsThings about it, Knives being incredibly tired and enthusiastically murderous in turns, TRANS PEOPLE!! Funky morally dubious trans men ! Intersex nonbinary Knives (in humans terms) !! small internal rants about ecosystems!

I particularly like that one bc I too found myself twitching whenever I see (in fics or fandom at large) Gunsmoke being shown as a ~hostile, barren~ planet when, like.... *waves agitedly at the Tomases* *waves frantically at the WORMS, in all their INCREDIBLY DIVERSIFIED sizes and shapes* tell me there isn't an entire ecosystem supporting and including these bad boys. And god do I wanna know about it. Terraforming this terraforming that. Enough. I want bio-worldbuilding fics that are just as weird and unhinged as the rest of trigun (2/3)

To go back to Nicholas : I loved his discussion with Knives about fate and predestination and stuff (esp since -I may be reading too much into it, but it’s interesting that Knives says he doesn’t believe in predestination anymore, and just a bit later goes about how his personality is Like That bc he’s Biologically Programmed for it), and his last words in it are especially ominous. WHAT were you gonna say about Vash. How does it concern Nicholas. This is gonna bite them in the ass later isn’t it.

Also ur last asks/answers REALLY doesn’t reassure me about woowoo’s fate. Is he gonna die. Is he gonna end up going thru the same things than his canon counterpart (concentrate of medical-and-general unethicality). Idk what those flags are for but boy They Are There.

Aallll that to say I absolutely love that fic and can't wait to see what you do next with it, thank you so much !! (3/3)

This is so nice thank you so much :D :D :D To comment in order:

Roleswaps are no fun if you can't recognize the character. You're absolutely right - the funnest part is to make the smallest changes possible, and see how they cause the biggest differences. That's true of every AU, honestly - you guys know those 600k shonen manga aus where something major is different but every story beat is identical to canon? Or they're identical to every other au? They're addictive but without substance. Also sounds boring to write.

It's so funny that you (and others) vibe with Dr. Knives! From my end, he has my own very wry deadpan and self-esteem problems. Characters who have both a ridiculously inflated ego for comedy purposes and some real self-esteem problems for drama purposes work great.

I was surprised that so many people enjoyed the trans thing so much! I didn't expect it to make people so happy. Of course it's a nice surprise. I don't remember why I made the BDN decision (funny, probably) or the 'Knives invented gender reassignment surgery' thing (funny definitely), but a very active decision and something that made Knives above every other character fun to write is that he is not a human being and does not think of himself as such. The way his body experiences emotion is different, his body itself is different in a way that probably includes genitalia, and there's no reason for him to experience gender the same way. As I'm about to talk about in the upcoming chapter, he casually refers to himself as a thing and with it/its and it doesn't affect his superiority complex whatsoever.

I...would not have said that this is trans by myself, if that makes sense, because I wouldn't have wanted to say "in order to really hammer in how this character is INHUMAN then I'm gonna make him not male or female and prefer neopronouns!". It's just the shape of the character, to me. BUT LIKE IF Y'ALL LIKE IT! NO PROBLEM! I was just worried I might be saying the wrong thing, so I didn't want to say it, if that makes sense. Y'all can say it though.

Trigun worldbuilding is nonsensical and hideously vague and as a writer if you stop and think too hard about silly questions like "where does the wood come from" or "why is Vash eating salmon sandwiches" then you go insane. But...yeah, Gunsmoke's like any other ecosystem, and its worms and thomases seem to be doing great! It's not Gunsmoke's fault it is almost completely uninhabitable to humans. It sucks for us, but...does Knives care about that??? Lmfao???

There is a shitton to say about Knives' relationship with predestination and inevitability, because it's why he made the worst decision of his life. I think of it as...reasonable, in a lot of ways. If all you knew about humanity was what you read in history textbooks, and human history ended with the destruction of Earth and themselves, how would you feel? Everything humans have done, they do again. And if they dissected your sister, in an act of cruelty that they had done to even themselves...of course you'd worry. Of course. If you're young and scared and you can hear the screams of the dead in your ears, of course you feel like it's going to be you or them. And if you're.........Millions Knives.......and reverse!Vash.....then eliminating the threat is just good business sense.

And you aren't reading too much into it - Trigun in so many ways is about choices, and the impact of your choices. Your decisions are you own, and you must take responsibility for them. Decisions have weight in Trigun. I think what ppl miss sometimes about Vash is that he also wants to fuckin' murder people sometimes. He wants to be violent, he wants to hurt. He just chooses not to. Sometimes choosing pacifism is a hard fucking choice, and I think wiping that away does a disservice to the character. So if Knives would say, "Well, it's just who I am, I had no choice, I had no control, I just go nuts and murder it's not on me..." - what does that mean, in Trigun? It's??? Like??? A pussy thing to say???

But, the way I thought about it - what Knives is fighting is his internal sense that he is predestined for cruelty. He knows "who he really is" and any attempt at goodness is futile, because he's secretly bad and will always be bad. And he fucks up sometimes and starts exploding worms. But Knives chooses goodness, and I don't think he's really cottoned on that his choice to do good is more important than his internal desires to do bad and his history of badness. Because he hates himself.

I think what Knives knows now as an adult is that our lives have paved a path for us to tread. Sometimes that path is innocent, and sometimes your life paves a very nasty path. But it's our choice if we walk it or not. Knives knows what his path is, and it gives him extreme shame - but he chose which one he walked, and that's what I judge him on. Still funny how much he loves murder though.

[radiantlyrey]

Thoughts on Uprising Episode 5, Identity

- Beck continuing the trend of getting into trouble with Wrong Place, Wrong Time stuffs. poor kid…

- love that Tron is in this episode more, being the same Grouch as always.

- the disc theft is……. Interesting. We know from Legacy that there is such thing as a forged disc (Zuse mentions it in the list of things Sam needs to get to the Portal); perhaps stolen discs is where those come from? And stray programs are mentioned in Legacy as well, though not expanded upon. Honestly, TRON is FULL of Unexplained Worldbuilding Things that I would give my right hand to know. UGH

- stray programs are such an interesting concept. Like the disc is the program, apparently?? It’s like…. well actually thinking about it, it makes sense?? Kind of???? The program is made of fairly basic code; the disc holds that code and its log of activities, while the body is just a physical manifestation of the code itself. Unlike Users/humans, whose code is an inherent part of them/us, and thus can’t be memory-wiped by swiping an activity log. It’s interesting as fuck, is what I’m saying. Like the philosophical implications of the program being the disc and not the physical person—so Interesting!!!!!

- also the glitches are scary as Fuck. One moment you know what’s going on and then the next you don’t know anything?? Terrifying. And well portrayed by the episode, too, with the fisheye effect on Beck’s closeups and the general blurriness from his PoV.

- could have sworn Cobol was voiced by Ron Perlman, but it was some person I’ve not heard of instead. Doing one heck of a Perlman impression, tbqh.

- Lux is EXTREMELY INTERESTING TO ME. Siren who’s gotten caught up in the black market?? INTERESTING. Also she’s a whole hell of a lot more principled than Cobol, because when she sees Tron it’s like everything changes for her. Also the shaved head is just badass looking.

- meanwhile, a three scene B plot with Zed and Mara!! That took up like six minutes of episode time. Like okayyyyy. Turns out I didn’t need to be so worried about Zed joining the anti-Renegade taskforce, because it turns out Mara kind of guilted him into doing the right thing!!! Good for him I guess.

- Also someone commented on my last commentary post that Bartik here and Bartik in Legacy are the same character/program, and uh. Wonder how THAT happens, because damn. How does one go from happily helping Clu’s forces to hoping a revolution against Clu can be sparked into existence???? Color me intrigued as fuck.

- love Tron’s comments about Beck being his friend at the end there. Especially the bit about trusting someone as a friend and being betrayed, bc from what I know of later episodes, that could be like three different programs!!!! (Clu, like Beck assumes; Dyson I have heard was a friend turned enemy; and then Cyrus as well!! Again I have not watched the whole series and my last dip in was 10 years ago, but from what Discussion I have seen I am making some Assumptions.) also love the comment that he “made the right choice this time”, because that is just dripping with implications that I imagine pay off in future episodes…..

- other details: Purgos as the name of the black market district is interesting, with the obvious name tie to Xtian (or at least Catholic) Purgatory; wonder what the creators meant for us to take from that… // Galt was an interesting one off character; total sleazeball of course, but interesting nonetheless // ngl when they were surrounded by all of Cobol’s goons, I was kinda cackling because like. It’s Tron. Even scarred all to hell he’s gonna kick most of y’all’s asses.

- I am probably gonna watch this episode again with captions on so I can get helpful juicy deets for my TRON horror story fic idea. I gotta do some brainstorming on stuffs tonight for sure.

- that said the brainstorming might have to wait bc the next episode has Paige Backstory and also QUORRA sooooooooo…….. yeah

[al-mayriti]

hey I just saw your post about the minister and the ace community, do you perhaps have a link or somethin? thanks

Okay, so I'm sorry but I'm gonna use your ask to talk about the so-called 'trans law' in Spain because IT JUST GOT APPROVED!!!!!!! FINALLY!!!!!! CONGRATS TO EVERYONE!!!!!

First of all, I am having a lot of trouble finding links to English-speaking news outlets talking about it so all links are gonna be in Spanish for now, I'm sorry. Please, if anyone finds stuff in English let me know and I'll edit this post!!

Anyways, let's start answering your ask lol. She said this this morning (December 22nd 2022), before they voted for the law. Her name is Irene Montero, and she's the Minister of Equality and creator of the law. Here's a twitter clip where she says it, I'll translate it in English:

"... there's also the rights that are still missing. I know that today is a difficult day for non-binary people, who celebrate the advances that they have also conquered but who need the legal recognition of their reality. In the last few years, you have succeded in letting a very important part of society know you exist; may there be more and more respect and less discrimination, mockery or misunderstandings for your lives and your identities' sake. But I am aware that you also need your rights to be recognized; we will continue to protect and care for you, we know we have to keep advancing. We also know this is the case for trans and LGBTI immigrants, for ace people, for all those lives who are still invisible in the eyes of society and who are going to keep pushing the transformations that your lives need."

After it, Congress voted for this new law. It ended up passing with 188 votes in favour, 150 against, and 7 abstentions; it'll now have to be ratified by the Senate before finally being effective. This finally put an end to a months-old drag and trampling of the law by T*RFs all over the country (and of course the usual conservatives and fascists but that was expected), an extensive hate campaign towards Irene Montero herself (although tbh ever since she started in politics the poor woman has been submitted through continuous heckling and disinformation campaigns) and serious doubts on its approval, many thought it would change too much or be indefinitely delayed; in this article they neatly talk about how many hardships it has gone through if you're interested. But it's finally here. It's finally approved.

So, what's this law about? Well, it basically aspires to recognize a series of rights and protections to LGBT people in Spain, focusing mainly on trans people. As you could imagine, seeing the word T*RF in this post, this was what generated the most controversy and overall bullshit. For what I've gathered, these are the main points of the law:

It facilitates sex change. Under this law, a person who wants to change their sex being between 12 to 14 years old will need a court endorsment, from 14 to 16 the parents' approval, and from 16 on they don't need any documents or permission, they can just go to the corresponding office to change it.

It depathologises transexuality. This means that for the sex change no hormones or medical report will be needed; you can just go to change your sex without any clinical data.

It protects detransitioning. Detransitioning will be able to happen if the person wants to, changing their sex the same way as mentioned above. If there's more than two sex changes, then they will have to go to court for it.

It bans conversion therapies and sets a fine for them of 150,000€.

It protects queer families. Until now, when a queer family had a baby, the non-pregnant partner had to adopt the kid to be recognized as their parent; under this law, they just need to express it so when the kid is born and has to be registered.

It protects intersex people, by banning genital modification for those younger than 12 yo unless it poses an urgent health issue, and from 12-16 yo they can be performed only if the intersex person consents to it.

It protects LGBT people in rural areas, establishing their right to have the same resources and services than their urban folks have.

It studies 'sexile', that is, having to abandon your place of birth due to issues pertaining your sexuality or gender identity, especially in rural areas. Its main objective is for sexile to be recognized as one of the causes of depopulation within the larger measures against depopulation in the country.

There are also general measures that protect LGBT people in hostile environments and instaurate anti-discriminatory measures.

Hope this was clear enough, I'm so happy this law was finally approved, I feel it was so mentally tiring for all progressists in the country, it was a lot. But finally ES LEY!!!!!!!

Also, I'm not really an expert on it so if I've said something wrong or if I'm missing stuff please feel free to add to this post!

[a-big-apple]

Thoughts on Surface Pressure 2/2

Let’s jump right back in! First part is here.

I was talking about anxiety, and here it is:

We’re back to the verse. “Under the surface, I hide my nerves and it worsens, I worry something is gonna hurt us.” That dissonance between what she’s showing and what she’s saying is back. She worries, it worsens, but she’s posing, ready to stop an avalanche. Mirabel is a beat behind, still putting together what Luisa’s telling her even while Luisa’s once again putting her body between Mirabel and danger.

NOW WE ARRIVE AT ONE OF MY FAVORITE PARTS!

The Good Ship Madrigal. It’s a Titanic reference, of course, but it’s literally the Madrigal, painted right there on the hull.

And the ship doesn’t swerve. Has it heard how big the iceberg is?

There are SO MANY LAYERS HERE. The iceberg is a great metaphor for what’s going on with Luisa: what’s above the waterline might be tall and intimidating, but it’s nothing compared to the depth of what’s happening beneath. It’s also a great metaphor for what Luisa fears is coming; we know from after the end of the song that she felt weak at the same time Mirabel saw the cracks, and it kept her up all night. What she can’t see and can’t anticipate is how deep the cascade failure of the family’s magic might go. There’s a practical threat to the family here, and also a threat to Luisa’s identity, her entire self-worth.

And then we have the ship, the Madrigal-Titanic, headed right for disaster. Refusing to swerve, because that would show weakness, and Alma copes with her fear by strictly maintaining the appearance that everything is fine. Like the Titanic, the ship of their family puts a lot of energy into showing beauty and prosperity, and a lot of that is real! But they’re not prepared, they don’t have enough lifeboats, and Luisa feels that it falls to her to remove all obstacles before they crash.

Mirabel is deep in it now, and there’s nothing she can do except back away in horror from what’s coming while the donkey string band in the background plays the ship into disaster.

But here comes Luisa! Ready to save the day yet again!

She leaps into action, even as the words she’s singing are expressing her anger -- nobody is actually seeing how big the expectations on her have become.

But she succeeds again! They make it to shore! Except all this action is starting to take a toll on Luisa; instead of looking ahead to what’s coming next, she’s still looking back, putting Mirabel in what she thinks is a position of safety.

She even takes a moment to fix Mira’s glasses. It’s a tender gesture, and another metaphor -- she's desperate for Mirabel to see what she’s trying to show.

“I think about my purpose, can I some how preserve this?” Is she trying to preserve her gift? Her place in the family and in the community? Literally and figuratively trying to preserve her sister and their relationship? I think all of those things are layered into this line; as with the iceberg, her fears are bigger and deeper than they seem.

But the hits keep coming, and they’re getting more personal.

Faced with her own door, the representation of her gift and her identity, Luisa puts Mirabel behind her again. There’s danger here that she knows her sister can’t understand. As viewers, we of course understand Mirabel’s perspective, how not getting a gift and a door has hurt her and made her feel lacking. But now we’re seeing the other side, this anxious, suffering Luisa shielding Mirabel from the weight of performing Madrigal amazingness.

And it’s so heavy!!!!

Luisa fought Cerberus, held up the globe, punched apart an iceberg, but struggles to hold up her own door. If she lets go to deal with the next crisis, the domino effect of the whole encanto’s expectations will crush her.

But wait!

The tornado Luisa calls “a light wind” blows them right into Oz, a place totally different from her reality where she can “shake the crushing weight of expectations.” She’s not thinking about Mirabel now, because at last she’s in an imagined place of safety, weightless. Nothing can harm them here.

And then we get this great gag with Mirabel’s glasses:

Of course, nothing here is just a gag. We’re back to those themes about perception, Mirabel drawing our attention to her ability to see what’s really going on.

AND LOOK AT THIS KID! SHE JUST WANTS SOME JOY!

SOME RELAXATION! SHE WANTS TO RIDE SIDESADDLE ON A SPARKLY UNICORN DONKEY IN A SHOWER OF COLOMBIAN FLAG CONFETTI! These are the simple pleasures of the cutest teen ever to exist.

But she’s been the strong one since she turned five, and nobody’s ever gotten to see this. She hasn’t had time to show this, or ask for it, and the music reminds us as it starts to intensify that “instead we measure this growing pressure.”

It keeps growing.

Dissonance again, but it’s a little different this time! Luisa’s smiling; in the chaotic landscape of her emotions, Mirabel is a bright spot. Even as Luisa is starting to break, she can find a little bit of peace at the tail end of her relaxation fantasy, enough to try to reassure Mirabel that things will be okay.

Mirabel even believes her, because once again, this is the loving sister she recognizes.

But the music’s building, and so are the words. “Keep going,” she’s singing, please go listen to her voice here because it’s heartbreaking, “’cause all we know is --”

She CAN’T CATCH A BREAK. The fantasy is over; Luisa is rising to meet the next challenge, and she has to drop Mirabel into the arms of gravity to do it.

Okay. I have to apologize in advance for how many screenshots I need to talk about the next few seconds of this song. We’ve dropped from floaty pink and purple clouds to this: just a red spotlight, nothing to distract the eye from Luisa, her burdens, and Mirabel. Even the music mostly drops away, and we’re left with a bare thrumming baseline and Luisa’s soft-voiced confession: no matter what she imagines, the pressure will never stop.

I’M IN AGONY. SO IS LUISA. SO IS MIRABEL.

Mirabel is now faced with the bare bones reality: her sister is in pain, and nobody else knows about it -- and unless she does something, nobody will ever notice, because Luisa still has not actually failed to do anything asked of her.

She’s still standing! Because it’s not actually about the weight.

As we’ve known from the beginning of the song, it’s about the expectations of others, the pressure Luisa puts on herself, and her inability to cope without rest, or joy, or care.

Mirabel even reaches out, as though she could help carry all this:

And then we get the most heartbreaking line of all, “Give it to your sister, it doesn’t hurt.”

Luisa told us herself, she has an indestructible surface. Nothing anyone could ask will injure her, probably nothing in the encanto is too heavy for her to lift. But she is hurting, and the way Jessica Darrow sings this line just slams me directly into my own grave. 

“And see if she can handle every family burden” ??????? Awful. I’m in pain. Is she carrying every literal burden? Possibly! Every emotional one? I doubt that the adults in her life think they’re putting that on her, but that’s what she’s hearing. It’s what being praised for her strength and usefulness from the age of five has trained her to hear. It’s what an environment of secrecy, of not talking about her tío who disappeared, not talking about what it might mean that her sister didn’t receive a gift, not talking about the trauma Alma has passed on through her coping mechanisms, has wrought on Luisa. Earn your gift, earn your place, don’t complain, and don’t talk about what you’re feeling.

“Watch as she buckles and bends but never breaks” also hurts!!!!!! 

Luisa’s gift is extremely practical, but it’s also a sideshow. She can pick up a rock! She can pick up a donkey! She can pick up a church! Her strength seems infinite! Everybody’s watching, but nobody’s seeing what she’s struggling with. 

Except, finally, Mirabel.

And after this super intense and bare chorus, cutting down right to the bone, Luisa rallies:

She let her guard down, she showed her heart, and she scared her little sister. It’s time to pull back, to bring the energy back up, because it’s terrifying to have revealed so much. Anger is safer, so she’s circled back to it! “No mistakes,” what she feels is expected, and what she demands of herself! The growl in her voice in this transition moment is SO INTENSE. We also get all the instruments back and a wicked piano run that makes me just go wild

FIERCE! Look, Mirabel! It’s leg day, Luisa’s got it handled, just pretend you don’t hear the chorus still happening!

I’m obsessed with her form here, she’s back to perfection, making everything look great:

We get a little bit of comedic relief:

And a dance break that’s FIRE but also just a little bit unhinged -- Luisa is panicking, trying to get back to an even keel where things are okay, but she’s doing that by literally performing again, in a space that looks like a tv studio set version of casita’s patio.

And poor Mirabel is back to a rough ride on the Madrigal-Titanic while Giant Luisa just grins alarmingly, fully a mask.

The Hercules vibe is back, plus a Maui from Moana vibe, plus a Genie from Aladdin vibe -- she’s presenting power of mythic, godlike proportions. “Give it to your sister and never wonder if the same pressure would have pulled you under!”

This time it is a direction for Mirabel. Forget I said all of that! Don’t think twice about asking me for anything, because there’s nothing wrong here! My job is to make sure you don’t have to worry!

“Who am I if I don’t have what it takes?” Just a girl dancing on top of a giant vueltiao, ready for the next challenge!

“No cracks, no breaks!”

But here’s where we land. Somehow heavier than the abstract weight of the world, Luisa is carrying her whole world. The entire encanto, the mountains, even the sun. (Again, kind of Superman! The sun is important to this tableau, now that it’s shining on her instead of that scary red spotlight, she can keep pretending!)

She’s still trying to convince herself: “no mistakes, no pressure!”

And as the dust settles...

We slam back into reality. The path hasn’t been torn up out of the ground. The metaphor space is gone. We’re faced with the physicality of Luisa’s panic, just heavy breathing on a random sunny day when Mirabel’s questions pushed her over the edge.

All Mirabel can do now is validate her, try to support her, and submit to some light crushing.

Good job, Mirabel! Things are gonna go downhill for Luisa from here, but only for a little while, and Mirabel’s gonna show the fam how to treat each other better!

Let’s end on a bonus hug, just because.

[onethousand825days]

so! my findings! putting it under a cut because I'm gonna ramble about this at length

(this is gonna be a long post guys. I'm kinda deconstructing the MBTI in general here)

my results came out as follows (copied and pasted directly from the 16 Personalities website)

As an ENTP (Debater), you are a vibrant intellectual force, always ready to challenge ideas and push boundaries. Your quick wit and audacious spirit make you a natural provocateur, thriving on the mental gymnastics of a good argument. You see the world as a playground of possibilities, where every conversation is an opportunity to explore new concepts and challenge the status quo. Your innovative mind is constantly buzzing with ideas, making connections that others might miss. You have an uncanny ability to see potential where others see problems, approaching challenges with enthusiasm and creativity. This makes you an invaluable asset in brainstorming sessions and think tanks, where your out-of-the-box thinking can lead to groundbreaking solutions.

now, that's all well and good. based on the questions I was asked, this is, I suppose, the most apt description available in their database. fine. my real issue, however (or at least one of them), is that the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, they actually really hate when you refer to it as a "test" because, "there are no rights or wrongs! tests can be failed! this is simply an assessment tool, no rights or wrongs!) fails to accept- nay- denies the fact that a person's personality can change and fluctuate throughout the course of their life, and that a person's MBTI type is permanent and cannot change.

now, I've immediately disproven this fact. I maybe have a bit of an upper hand here as I do have DID, so quite literally, my/our personality is not the same as it was when we took this test (my mistake- Type Indicator) several years ago. originally, we were assigned the personality type INTP. which, although only one letter off from my assessment today, is still not the same. furthermore, if you ask anyone who knew us 6-7 years ago when we originally got Typed, they would agree that we are not the same personality wise (not even just because I'm fronting now, but just overall as a collective).

however, my biggest beef with this Type Indicator is that it completely fails to take into account that personality disorders exist. some people (like myself) have symptoms, born from trauma and other external and immeasurable factors, that drastically affect the way our personalities are perceived. for example, on this Type Indicator, you will be sorted into one end of the Introvert/Extrovert binary based on your answers to questions regarding your opinion of the people around you and how much you enjoy/rely on social interaction. on a perfectly pristine psyche this metric may be effective, but personality disorders (especially cluster b disorders such and bpd and npd) are increasingly common in the current young adult population. a key symptom of these disorders (especially bpd and npd, which I have) is a desperate reliance on attention. so, of course, when asked these questions about my preferences ("do you prefer to be alone or with other people?" "do you enjoy being the center of attention?" these are paraphrased but you get it) I'm forced to answer in favor of the Extravert binary. in reality, I'm definitely more introverted. I don't actually like being social, but my personality disorders make me reliant on the attention of others for my emotional stability. this is still part of my personality, but the MBTI cannot measure it, simply because it does not take into account the sheer complexity of the human identity.

I could go on and on about the flaws of the Type Indicator itself, but to save on time (and to save you all the headache) I'll keep those to myself.

my last thing is an issue with the clear capitalist schtick that's plastered all over the MBTI results page. there's insights into your optimal career path, schooling, personal relationships and emotional whatnot. and guess what! almost all of them are paywalled! that's right! if you wanna know enough about your MBTI 16 Personalities Self™ to succeed fully in all aspects of your life you have to pay! and that is my primary issue with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. it's a flawed assessment tool based on extremely outdated data and psychological philosophy and it's used as a corporate cash cow, feeding on the ever present human desire to Know oneself.

anyway, that is Will's review of the MBTI experience (for now. this is like a special interest now so I'm never gonna shut up about this). if you wanna ask me questions about it, I am happy to answer them of course

out of pure curiosity and spite I will take the MBTI

[dayenurose]

Writer’s Month Prompts (written for @writersmonth )

Day 21 - Pain (Dick/Babs)

“Ow…ow….ow…” Dick moaned every time the needle pierced his skin.

“Dick. Stop whinging. You’ve been through worse with less comment.” Babs deftly sutured the deep gash which ran along his outer thigh. Such injuries were the occasional result of breaking up a knife fight with nothing but a smile and eskrima. Dick liked to be in the middle of the action. He was usually quick enough to avoid most serious injuries, but sometimes superior numbers won out no matter how sharp his reflexes were.

Like the others, Babs had been trained by Alfred and her stitches were as neat and precise as the butler’s. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as easy a task as it usually was. At seven and half months pregnant, she couldn’t get as close as she was used to when sewing up an injury and he was exceptionally squirmy tonight. When she’d suggested he ask Alfred, he’d protested and said he’d rather do it himself than bother him. So Babs was left stitching up her restless husband.

“But it hurts.” His moaning was slightly slurred from the dose of pain killers she’d given him before she started the process of cleaning and bandaging the cut.

She would have rolled her eyes, but didn’t want to divert her attention from the task at hand. “A little pain won’t kill you.”

“But what if it does?” His voice hitched, going higher, as he whined more than usual.

“Then I will rue the day I uttered such a ridiculous phrase.” Babs made another neat stitch. He jerked as she tugged the thread through his skin. “Now stay still or this will be the last time I stitch you up.”

Dick pouted but didn’t say another word. Occasionally he gave a slight whimper. For her extremely flexible husband, Dick's muscles were tight under her touch. Babs frowned. He was being exceptionally needy in a way he normally wasn’t. Even taking in account the fact he’d been stabbed and the painkillers were taking effect, this wasn’t his usual behavior.

Coming to the end of the wound, Babs tied off the thread and turned her attention to the rest of her husband.

“Hey Hunk Wonder.” Babs brushed her fingers under his chin and tilted his face towards her. “You know that I’ll always be here to stitch you up, right?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to apologize for. I shouldn’t have snapped. You’re hurting and have every right to complain.” She studied the rest of him from head to toe, taking careful inventory of every potential spot for injury. “Pain anywhere else?”

“Nah.” He winced as he stood. “I’m gonna head to bed. Thanks for stitching me up.”

“Of course…” Her eyes followed as he limped back to their bedroom.

After disposing of the suturing supplies and washing her hands, Babs returned to her desk. Her eyes glazed over as she scanned the data she’d missed while helping Dick. The data passed by without her taking in more than a fraction of the information.

She gnawed at the inside of her cheek. With the aid of the pain killers, Dick would probably be asleep soon. Certainly, he needed rest. Even without the injury, he hadn’t been sleeping well the last few might. And yet…and yet…. Well, she might not be as intuitive as her husband, but she could sense when there was something wrong with him.

“Proxy,” Babs linked directly to Wendy’s set-up. “I need to sign off early tonight. Can you manage the comms without me tonight?”

“Sure,” Wendy said around a stifled yawn. “Are you okay?”

Babs rested a hand on her stomach. The baby kicked at the touch. Those of the superhero community who knew her identity were growing increasing over protective of her and the baby as her pregnancy progressed. Especially when she changed her routine. It was irritating at times, but she didn’t blame the others. Not only had they struggled to conceive, the pregnancy had been difficult. Even though her super-heroics were mostly confined to the desk, it didn’t mean the others didn’t worry about her overdoing things. It was better to reassure Proxy now before the rumor of her taking a night off passed through the community and everyone and her father dropped by to check on her.

“The baby and I are fine. Nightwing’s been injured.”

Nightwing hadn’t been the only Bird involved in the knife fight, so mentioning the injury was nothing the others didn’t already know. They’d all had rough nights where even a minor injury kept them from remaining on the streets or they benched themselves because their mind wasn’t properly in the game. No one would think anything of Nightwing sitting out the rest of the evening or her taking off early to help.

“Okay. Do you need assistance?” Babs smiled at her prodigy. The younger woman was doing as she’d been trained and checking to make certain the injury wasn’t more serious than initially reported.

“No, I’ve got this covered. Thank you. Good night.” Babs switched her computers to passive mode and rerouted her emergency line to her phone. She’d be pinged if it was the end of the world or anything urgent occurred which only Oracle could handle, for everything else Proxy would manage.

With her Oracle duties handed over, Babs rolled her wheelchair back to the bedroom. Dick had already changed out of his uniform and settled on their bed with his leg elevated the best he could manage. He’d taken Zitka off the shelf where the stuffed elephant usually kept her silent vigil. His thumb traced concentric circles over the threadbare material of Zitka’s ear. Staring into the middle distance he appeared no more aware that he was doing this than he was of his wife’s arrival.

Babs transferred herself from her chair to the bed and scooted over until she sat close enough to Dick to put her arm around him. At her touch, he glance up.

A wan smile stretched across his lips. “Hey you.”

“Hey yourself.” Babs brushed his too long fringe out of his eyes. She should probably suggest a haircut to him soon. “How can I help?”

“Cuddles?” He shifted closer, resting his head against her shoulder.

“Of course.” It was a bit awkward trying to work around her pregnant belly and his injury, but Dick could always figure the best way to cuddle around her.

She continued to run her fingers through his hair and it wasn’t long before his breathing fell into an easy, even rhythm. His eyes closed as she hummed the lullaby he’d been teaching her. It was one his mother sang to him. Babs smiled when she looked down and realized Zitka nestled between him and her stomach.

“Babs,” Dick mumbled sleepily. “I miss them.”

“Who?” Babs felt like she was missing something obvious. She raked her brain for the misplaced connection.

Oh…! The date shot to the forefront of her memory at the same moment Dick replied, “My parents.”

It was the anniversary of John and Mary Grayson’s deaths. The day Dick’s life inexorably changed.

“I’m sorry, Dick.” She pressed a kiss to the top of his head and held him tight. It was her job to remember things like this. Dates and facts and minutia, that was her forte.

“The anniversary is hitting me harder than usual….” He gave a slight sniffle. “I think it’s the baby. My mom and dad, they’ll never get to meet our daughter. I won’t be able to ask their advice on raising our kids. They won’t be able to see the next generation of Graysons take to the trapeze. I just…I just miss them so much.”

“I know, babe, I know,” she whispered, as the sleeve of her shirt grew damp with his tears. His pains was as much, if not more so, of the heart than the body. Her own tears fell down her cheeks and into his hair. She never met John and Mary, but she missed them all the same. From Dick’s stories, she felt as if she almost knew them. She wished she had the chance to meet the parents who had given him such a strong foundation to grow into the person he was today. “I’m here for you. I’m not going anywhere. I love you.”

“I love you,” he repeated before pressing a kiss to her belly and murmuring the same, “I love you.”

Babs held him and murmured soft reassurances until he fell asleep in her embrace. Pins and needles danced up and down her arms and her neck felt still and sore as she gingerly stretched. Her head throbbed from the small pains and the release of emotion. She would be sore in the morning, but he needed this and she would always be here when he needed someone to help ease his pain.

[300iqprower]

Hypothetical Rank Ups No. 43&44: Morgan

[D i s c l a i m e r : I was GONNA do this way later but they keep giving her freakin rate-ups and I wanna put my idea out before they do their inevitable official rank up for her even if it’s almost certainly going to just be a standard NP rank up. But anyways Morgan is actually a fine unit as is and doesn't need these, it’s just she’s gotten a reputation for being extremely underwhelming because she is one of the only post-Olympus EX SSRs to not feature absurd levels powercreep. So this isn’t to ‘fix’ her, she has a 50% charisma and a 50% battery with an NP that’s supereffective against the most common attribute. She’s fine. But she’s seriously lacking in flavor with all her effects being things anyone else might have just with better numbers.

That’s why I’m giving her these two rank ups, so she has that uniqueness that makes her moveset feel like a proper Lostbelt King’s. As much as I rightfully complain about the powercreep, it pisses me off they did Morgan like this as an LBK, and if I can’t fix the balance I can at least fix the flavor. So without further ado:]

Protection of the Lake C -> Lady of the Lake C-

Increase NP Gauge for an ally. Increase NP Gain for all allies (3 turns). Inflict Magic Seal [unit’s next Skill or NP activation will have no effect; cannot be removed by cleanse effects] to a single enemy (1 time). (2 times at skill level 6.)

Hey ya know how despite Fate Morgan literally being Nimue/Vivian herself, Castoria has a higher rank of Protection of the Lake? Yeah that’s shit so let’s give Morgan a proper Lady of the Lake skill that has all that and more. It remains a low rank and in fact goes from C to C- because, since Morgan isn’t truly the legend Nimue and the Morgan identity is in full control, it ends up diluted. It has its own version of a Seal though, one that is to Seal what Enforcement Defense is to Evade. Based on the same magic used to seal away Merlin, this skill inflicts a seal equivalent of Buff Block. Where Buff Block prevents incoming buffs, this prevents outgoing buffs and even outgoing NPs. Were this skill in its true form, it would be far more long lasting, but as is it’s at most 2 charges on a single enemy. To give an example, normally if you have 3 enemies and a Merlin is among them, if Merlin has Buff Block on him, then when he casts Illusion, all enemies except for him will still get Invincible and all allies will still get crit damage down. If he has Magic Seal placed on him though, the skill has no effect, period. All of its outgoing effects are preventing meaning Merlin’s allies wont get buffed and his enemies wont get debuffed from that skill use. And if he were to try and NP with a charge on him, it would be a complete waste of an NP and his gauge would go back to zero rather than staying in place like a typical NP Seal effect. In practice this means that if your team is meant to stall, it might be more in your interest to not use her battery+NP gain and instead double your opponent’s charge time with the battery and NP gain being a powerful bonus. It can also of course be the other way around during quests against enemies that have a select few powerful buffs that throw wrenches into things, boosting NP and pre-emptively shutting those down. Lastly because it cannot be cleansed the only way for the ai to deal with it is to walk right into the trap, much like how they can do nothing against Enforcement Defense except let you tank their hits.

From the End of the World A -> EX-

Apply Guts to self (1 time, 4 turns).^ Increase own Critical Star Gather Rate (3 turns). Increase own Critical Strength (3 turns). Apply buff to self (4 turns): -Decrease ATK for all enemies each turn (1 turn).^ -Decrease Critical Rate for all enemies each turn (1 turn).^ Gain Critical Stars. Gain defensive Class Affinity advantage against [Knight] and [Cavalry] classes. (5 turns).

And now the main course. This was actually the only rank up I intended at first but then I realized not only does Morgan’s second skill being a copy paste fucking suck, it was that: a copy paste. For some reason i was just under the assumption her version was AOE, probably because ya know...Lady of the Lake, she literally hands out blessings. But no. Unlike Castoria, Morgan has no AOE battery even though that’d be the perfect fcking parallel of Morgan’s lesser battery being AOE and Castoria’s greater battery being the AOE one and like I said the flavor lining up. So that’s why I gave her that previous one as well. In exchange, I removed the cooldown reduction I had intended on this skill as well as any increase to the guts HP, the crit buff, or the star bomb. 

What did I keep? Well obviously I had to increase the duration of her Guts. 3 turns is just too few, especially given the new stall effects she’s gonna get. I also have the scaling and the duration of her gimmicky debuff increased, being an additional turn with an additional 5-10% scaling in exchange for making up for the fact it could be resisted more easily. Lastly is the big one, and the effect that was the only reason I even started on giving such a well off servant a rank up: Turning Morgan into a Ruler. Sort of. I mean, effectively the same since she’s already taking double damage from avengers, so she just doesn’t get full advantage against Moon Cancer. (Laugh while you can BB, you have plenty of other servants to worry about.) But honestly that just makes it better since the point isnt to be pro-ruler, it’s to be anti-knight and cavalry. I’ve been told that in LB6 at least there’s a proper reason for Morgan to be Berserker rather than Ruler like her initial lostbelt self or a Caster like her PHH self, but that just gives that much better a reason to give it to convey we’re dealing with a Lostbelt King here. According to her materials, this is the skill that splits her from her PHH self, someone who fought and kicked and scraped her way to the top, and succeeded. She made it, she lived to see the end of everything. In that sense, she is fundamentally different from PHH Morgan...at a cost. PHH Morgan was still a caster because she is anything but impartial, actively seeking power for herself. When Morgan was initially summoned in a lostbelt, she lost that side of her, becoming something separate from a sense of good or evil, and becoming a ruler as a result. This is the Berserker Morgan who, through their connection to Ritsuka, has rediscovered a fragment of that self, even if only enough for a temporary shift. This is the Morgan who reaches the end of the world, and remembers to look back when she gets there.