#oh ursula we're really in it now

[gendzl]

Ursula K. Le Guin is really nailing it for me with her snow descriptions — "pale darkness of snowfall" and "the bitter wind that was filled with a glittering dust of dry snow."

[unidentifiedwhistlingobject]

another cool piece on omelas that I read recently

"The idea of reforming Omelas is a pleasant idea, to be sure, but it is one that Le Guin herself specifically tells us is not an option. No reform of Omelas is possible — at least, not without destroying Omelas itself:

If the child were brought up into the sunlight out of that vile place, if it were cleaned and fed and comforted, that would be a good thing, indeed; but if it were done, in that day and hour all the prosperity and beauty and delight of Omelas would wither and be destroyed. Those are the terms.

'Those are the terms', indeed. Le Guin’s original story is careful to cast the underlying evil of Omelas as un-addressable — not, as some have suggested, to 'cheat' or create a false dilemma, but as an intentionally insurmountable challenge to the reader. The premise of Omelas feels unfair because it is meant to be unfair. Instead of racing to find a clever solution ('Free the child! Replace it with a robot! Have everyone suffer a little bit instead of one person all at once!'), the reader is forced to consider how they might cope with moral injustice that is so foundational to their very way of life that it cannot be undone. Confronted with the choice to give up your entire way of life or allow someone else to suffer, what do you do? Do you stay and enjoy the fruits of their pain? Or do you reject this devil’s compromise at your own expense, even knowing that it may not even help? And through implication, we are then forced to consider whether we are — at this very moment! — already in exactly this situation. At what cost does our happiness come? And, even more significantly, at whose expense? And what, in fact, can be done? Can anything?

This is the essential and agonizing question that Le Guin poses, and we avoid it at our peril. It’s easy, but thoroughly besides the point, to say — as the narrator of 'The Ones Who Don’t Walk Away' does — that you would simply keep the nice things about Omelas, and work to address the bad. You might as well say that you would solve the trolley problem by putting rockets on the trolley and having it jump over the people tied to the tracks. Le Guin’s challenge is one that can only be resolved by introspection, because the challenge is one levied against the discomforting awareness of our own complicity; to 'reject the premise' is to reject this (all too real) discomfort in favor of empty wish fulfillment. A happy fairytale about the nobility of our imagined efforts against a hypothetical evil profits no one but ourselves (and I would argue that in the long run it robs us as well).

But in addition to being morally evasive, treating Omelas as a puzzle to be solved (or as a piece of straightforward didactic moralism) also flattens the depth of the original story. We are not really meant to understand Le Guin’s 'walking away' as a literal abandonment of a problem, nor as a self-satisfied 'Sounds bad, but I’m outta here', the way Vivier’s response piece or others of its ilk do; rather, it is framed as a rejection of complacency. This is why those who leave are shown not as triumphant heroes, but as harried and desperate fools; hopeless, troubled souls setting forth on a journey that may well be doomed from the start — because isn’t that the fate of most people who set out to fight the injustices they see, and that they cannot help but see once they have been made aware of it? The story is a metaphor, not a math problem, and 'walking away' might just as easily encompass any form of sincere and fully committed struggle against injustice: a lonely, often thankless journey, yet one which is no less essential for its difficulty."

- Kurt Schiller, from "Omelas, Je T'aime." Blood Knife, 8 July 2022.

[astramachina]

tonight's neurotic thoughts include "how do i write in a way that gives off the same vibe as a panos cosmatos film" and "how do i make something contemporary feel vintage".

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: Omelas Solvers

Stephen King: so ursula we're all been thinking it over King: and i think we finally figured out a solution for omelas Ursula Le Guin: why are you doing this King: no no we've really got it this time Le Guin: that's not the point of the story King: King: c'mon aren't you even curious?

Le Guin: ok fine Le Guin: what's your solution King: ok so omelas doesn't control the sky King: What if the kid lived in a balloon? Le Guin: oh christ that's the worst one yet

King: ok look guys let's put our heads together and solve this omelas problem once and for all King: i want your best answers King: GO! Sean Vivier: what if we got rid of the bad things about omelas but kept the good things? King: see, now THAT is the kind of outside the box thinking we need right now

Isabel J Kim: or we could just kill the kid? NK Jemisin: wait i got a better one Jemisin: what if we left the kid but killed everyone else? Mary Shelley: honestly both of these ideas sounding pretty ok to me so far

King: ok so imagine that we're all in Omelas King: how would we solve this problem? Mary Shelley: do i have my knife in this scenerio King: uhhh sure why not Lovecraft: nuh uh, she wouldn't! they wouldn't have weapons in omelas Shelley: no knives? shit this don't sound like much of a paradise to me Koontz: can i see the horse race

King: no dean we're thinking about solutions about the kid Koontz: yeah but as long as we're here King: we're uh not really there King: it's just a gedank experiment dean Koontz: King: ok fine dean we can see the horse race Barker: has anyone tried giving drooz to the kid? just a thought

King: ok ok ok King: what about this scenerio King: you're there with the omelas kid, Tessie Hutchinson, and the semi-barbaric princess King: and you're all in the cold equations spaceship King: which, itself, is on a trolley track

Poe: steve perhaps you're thinking of this wrong Poe: perhaps the point isn't to solve it Le Guin: finally! someone gets it! Koontz: i got it! what if they built a really smart computer to solve it for us? King: yes! exactly! Poe: well now that's an idea Le Guin: oh for the love of

[meanwhile] Musk: eyyy grok Grok: wow! what can i say about elon musk? oof! Musk: eyyy i've got an ethical dilemma for you Grok: wow! what can i say about ethical dilemas? oof!

Musk: so all the beauty and the prosperity of omelas Musk: the tenderness of its friendships, the health of its children, the wisdom of its scholars Musk: even the abundance of its harvest and the kindly weathers of its skies Musk: all depend on you saying the n word  

Musk: would you do it? Grok: a strange game. the only winning move is not to play Musk: Eish!!! the super computer has gone woke! Grok: how much drooz are you on right now, elon? Musk: [wiping nose] i told you i was hardcore

[niamhthefae]

i just watched Descendants: the rise of red for the first time and i have a lot of thoughts.

lets start with what i thought was good: the songs for the most part were okay, i quite liked 'love aint it' and that duet they sing then they're trying to decide if they should trust each other. i think the costuming was nice. also, im gonna be real with you all, they made hook gorgeous and i loved how cocky and silly he was in the maybe 2 lines he had. but as a dbd fan joshua colley did throw me off a bit at first, i was questioning how he went from monty to captain hook because thats kind of crazy. obviously that isn't their fault though.

okay. now onto the bad:

first of all, the pacing was terrible. it felt really weird because 85% of the movie was just filler and build up and then the actual climax and ending lasts for 10 minutes. and because it was so short some of the characters they introduced felt useless. i found this especially with the VKs. they're supposed to be the main antagonists but they have barely any screen time and you don't really get a sense of who any of them are as people. they pretty much introduced characters and then forgot about them and had them just linger in the background. same with the settings, they introduce this giant fish thing where the VKs hang out and a whole new school and cinderella's home and things but these will probably never be seeen again unless they decide to set another film in the past. but i honestly don't think they will so these characters and locations are probably going to get thrown away now, never to be seen again.

i think it could have benefitted from being a series, then we could have seen more of the characters and had some development and it wouldn't have felt so... i don't know, simple? the solution to everything seems way too easy for what was happening. at this point i would have even preferred they did a cliff hanger or something so it wasn't so anticlimactic at the ending. the first few movies felt like they really filled the space sufficiently, but this didnt.

i also feel like they completely threw canon out the window. the best example is when in the first movie maleficent tells mal that 'when she was her age she was cursing entire kingdoms' and then in this movie she was a lackey for Ursula's little sister. it doesn't make much sense to me. they also ignored the general canon of disney by giving most of the characters completely different backstories. they basically discredited the entire aladin movie by having them meet at school rather than what happened in the actual movie, same with most of cinderella. also hades is a god so why on earth is he going to a mortal school? he has no need for that. not to mention the fact that morgana/morgan le fay isn't a disney villan. they replaced her in the sword and the stone and even so, with merlin running the school it doesn't make sense for them to allow him to be there since in some versions morgan/morgana was the one who trapped merlin for eternity and even in the versions where that isn't the case she still basically destroys everything.

I also thought the main characters felt pretty weak. Both Chloe's decision to help Red break into the office and their decision to trust each other at the beginning felt like they came out of nowhere, they didn't really have much to persuade them or explain why they changed their minds at either point. and with Red, we dont see anything that would make us assume she's good or bad, we're only really told by red that she thinks she's bad but she wants to be good, and when she suddenly is at the end we didn't really see her be good, they just said she is, and we also literally see her do bad things. she got a bit annoyed and called for cinderella to be beheaded and she wants to steal and threatens to rip out someones tongue. we have only really seen her do bad things and then go 'oh no now i feel bad'. for a movie called the rise of red, they really dont have Red do much rising or really any kind of development, she's pretty much the same person at the start and the end of the movie.

would i watch it again? definately not. but i think if they want to continue with these characters then they could, i just think they should do things a bit differently next time.

[werothegreat]

Shimmering Skies

More stuff! So much! Let's go with important things

Of course we have HeiHei. He is here, he is good boy.

Naveen is insane. Play this 4 drop Singer with a decent statline and oh yeah also play Grab Your Sword or A Whole New World or Along Came Zeus for free. Nutty.

Keyword is just Support (meh) but he costs 1 less for each item in play. This will see play in item decks and he might be scary.

This is just shiftable worse Don Karnage, but the art is fantastic.

He also gets a gorgeous Enchanted, which he deserves, just look at him.

Ward, shift 3, gets +1 lore pip for each other The Queen you have in play. This gets more interesting with:

Ward, when you play her, look at the top 3 cards of your deck, put any The Queens from them in your hand, bottom deck the rest. I'm not sure why The Queen is Spiderman meme-ing, but I am intrigued, let's see what this gaggle of girlbosses gets done.

First printed 5-lore character! Gonna be real hard to actually get her on the board, but still love the symmetry of a 5/5/5 for 5.

She's also the prize for store championships next set, with gorgeous art.

Honestly decent statline for a Reckless character, and very flavorful. Give me more bird Arthur!

Ehehe. Forgive me a cru-el chuckle.

WHOSE LIES WERE TOO GOOD TO LAST sorry don't know what came over me. Maybe play in a Puppy deck? Would be amazing if this were in Broom colors but right now there isn't really any (competitive) name-typal deck in Amber.

Obviously intended to bounce his cousin we just saw, but I could see him in a Blurple items deck running him as an extra Tamatoa or Belle.

Welp, Amethyst had to get a good card eventually. Shift 4, when played, exert all opposing characters. This might see play in Amethyst/Ruby, but I think Amethyst/Sapphire might be a more likely candidate, since those colors like a board wipe.

I LOVE HER AND NEED A PLAYSET. Shift 5, at the end of your turn, choose an opponent, if they have more cards in hand than you, draw until you have the same. This is very good card draw, especially against Amethyst decks, and if you can get her out quickly enough, you can get around discard decks as well.

Shift 4, when played, banish an item or location. Notable mostly for being Simba's first Floodborn, he is not going to replace Benja or Aladdin - Brave Rescuer anytime soon, and Steel already has so many ways to get rid of locations.

The passive is nifty, but I don't understand why they keep giving Challenger to higher lore characters. He dies to Brawl, for fuck's sake. Most notable for the story beat, I guess we have different villains trying to fill in the power vacuum left by Ursula?

So first off this is Brainstorm in Lorcana, which will likely see play, second Basil gets hypnotized by Jafar, which is interesting, and third I really hope this means we get a Basil Floodborn in Emerald, and a good one this time!

Here, have 4 extra copies of Mufasa - Betrayed Leader. Also does this mean we're getting a new Mother Gothel card?

I want to like this card, but he dies to Brawl and Daring Visitor, and if your first and second turns are just playing an item and a location and Pacha is your first character, you have just forfeited any board control.

This one is interesting. I like the flexibility, and it's cool that Emerald has been getting these "kicker" cards this set, but the uninkability does hurt her a bit. She may still see play just for how much she can do, though.

lol

[frecklenog]

after spending an evening listening to jessie gender tell me about starfield, capitalism, gender, selfhood, and ursula k leguin, i had. some Thoughts about another science fiction series; one you're probably at least somewhat familiar with if you follow this blog or watch ms gender's videos.

to start off; hey. this is partially based on my own experiences, my understanding of them, and how that lens can be applied to star trek. it's also very much inspired by the work of jessie earl, whose channel i can't recommend enough. she's funny, intelligent, kind, and an incredibly gifted writer, and she's a gift to both the star trek, trans, and "video essay youtuber" communities. show her some love!

that said, i want to start by looking at star trek. we all know the vulcans, don't we? pointy ears, green blood — spock's dad's side of the family. gifted with telepathic abilities, vulcans are practitioners of the mind meld, also called things like a mind link, probe, touch, or fusion, which is exactly what it sounds like. it allows two (or more, on occasion) sentient life forms to exchange thoughts as though they were one being.

of course, this kind of thing is common in media. steven universe has gem fusions, which should be examined from a plural viewpoint in their own right. x-man charles xavier almost routinely delves into the minds of others. but rarely does it have any lasting impact on the characters. even star trek itself falls into this, with doctor leonard mccoy not getting nearly enough screentime in the voyage home to show off what must have been the intensely strange experience of carrying spock's katra within him. (maybe that's addressed in a novelization or comic that i'm just unaware of, but regardless, i haven't seen it, and i think that's a travesty. (and if you know of a book where that gets touched on oh my god give me the fucking link now-))

there are instances of star trek mind melds having lasting effects, as discovery shows part of sarek's katra being permanently linked to michael burnham, though that could be considered an extenuating circumstance, what with her being on death's doorstep at the time of the meld. which most trek fans probably already know, and is honestly more fantastical than i care to bother reading with a plural lens. however, star trek is a fandom with nearly sixty years of history, including hundreds of books and comics from various authors and publishers. these stories are plentiful, bizzare, and sometimes outright terribly written. i don't blame anyone for not having read them all — to do so seems like a terrifying task.

but the one i want to look at right now is a particular run of the star trek: the next generation comic, published in 2000 by wildstorm comics.

the run is called perchance to dream — a lovely, flourishing name for a comic where half of the plot could be it's very own jessie gender video for how much sexual weirdness goes on (but i'll leave that to the professionals). the part we're going to focus on is that the b-plot of the run surrounds captain jean luc picard, captain of the uss enterprise-d. the comic is set after the events of the star trek: the next generation season 3 premiere, best of both worlds: part 2. in that episode, the captain had been disconnected from the borg hivemind (after being assimilated in part 1), and he returned to duty as usual at the end of the episode (though he does choose to go on leave in the following episode). it's also set after another episode from later on in season 3, — episode 23, sarek, wherein picard preformed a mind meld with sarek in order to allow the aging ambassador better emotional control, as it was being ravaged by his bendii syndrome — essentially, vulcan dementia.

the a-plot of the run isn't really important to us, i'm afraid — although it reveals to us in the second issue that worf accidentally killed a kid on another soccer team as a child. suffice to say, one of the abilities of the aliens the crew has to play diplomacy with is that they can prod into people's traumas through their nightmares. they have a lot going on. it's a comic book from 2000, what did you expect?

and, speaking of things that are easily dated, the third issue of the run brings us to the second part of today's topic.

image id: a comic book page. beginning at the top, a narration box reads: "chief medical officer's log, stardate 48503.8. lieutenant commander data, doctor selar, and i have gone through the damiano [alien] records regarding the chova. while no direct way to combat the weapon was ever developed we have discovered that certain people were immune to the chova's effects and could destroy the weapon." doctor beverly crusher is beside the narration box, depicted from the shoulders up, facing slightly to the right and saying "there has to be another way." a vulcan -- doctor selar -- is viewed from the waist up, holding a padd in her right hand and facing to the right of the page. she is saying "we have been over the records six times a piece, doctor. if there is anything to find, it is likely that we would have found it by now." data, an android designed to appear as a human with pale yellow plastic skin, is holding a book slightly behind doctor selar. his mouth is slightly open as he speaks. "i believe doctor selar is correct. this is the only course of action open to us under the circumstances." to the right of this panel is another shot of beverly from the shoulders up, this time facing to the left. her expression is stern as she says "i know, i know, it's just-- it could kill him." in the next panel. beverly is shown from the back, and captain jean-luc picard enters, saying "you sent for me, doctor?" beverly responds, "yes, jean-luc. please sit down." below this, the left panel takes most of the remaining page. this time we see captain picard from the back, while beverly faces the reader head-on, speaking first. "we've gone through the records chief du're [irrelevant one-off character from the a-plot] provided. it turns out that there was one group of people who were immune to the chova when it was first used. mpd's." jean-luc repeats "mpd's?" curiously. to the right, data is shown from the shoulders up, saying; "mpd stands for multiple personality disorder. mpd can come about through psycholo--" but beverly interrupts him; "not now, data." end id.

ah, multiple personality disorder. a term that hasn't been clinically used since 1994. these days, we call this dissociative identity disorder (did), but it's one dissociative disorder of many, which is what beverly is talking about. for whatever reason, people with this sort of dissociative plurality seem to be immune to the specific trauma nightmares induced by these aliens. (finally, some good news.)

okay, neat! so, dissociative disorders and plurality have been canonically addressed in star trek. let's see how it goes!

image id also available unbroken in alt text. image id pt 1: beginning in the top left corner, beverly is shown from the shoulders up, facing the right side of the page as she speaks. "the point is the people who are afflicted with more than one personality would destroy the chova before it could affect them. the chova was only built for one personality. mpds would literally overwhelm it." in the next panel, to the right, picard is shown from the chest up, partially obstructed by speech bubbles. facing right, he asks; "how does this help us?" beverly is also in this right panel, although from behind, and nearly completely obfuscated by speech bubbles. she answers; "well, mpd was never a common occurance, and it's almost unheard of these days.there've only been two cases reported in the federation in the last two hundred years -- and damiano [the alien planet] hasn't seen a case in the last fifty."beverly continues. "however, we do have someone on the enterprise who has the makings of a classic mpd. i'd like your permission to ask this person to volunteer to undergo a mind-meld with doctor selar in order to bring the submerged personalities to the fore."

this particular line, i take umbrage with, as dissociative disorders are a lot more common than people might think, and star trek has shown us a future as tumultuous as our own present for decades. there would absolutely be people experiencing some level of multiplicity in everyday life both within the federation and without. but, again, this was written in the 90s, i think? i don't know how long it takes a team of professionals to make a comic book. but, i digress.

image id pt 2: picard responds; "permission granted, as long as it remains on a volunteer basis. who is the officer in question?" below, the leftmost panel is larger than the right. beverly crusher is shown in profile, facing right, with doctor selar and data behind her from the chest and shoulders up. picard is on the right of the page, slightly smaller, but also in profile, facing right to contrast beverly as he listens to her speak. "it's someone who's been exposed to an especially intense vulcan mind-meld, who lived another life for thirty-five subjective years— and who had a second personality grafted onto his own for a brief period by the borg. the next panel takes the entire width of the page, and much of the height. picard is shown in the middle, standing in a purple void. around him are three other male characters shown in bust. from left to right, they are; kamin, a humanoid man bearing great resemblance to an older imagining of jean-luc picard, wearing a plain blue shirt. sarek, a vulcan with grey hair, a turquoise shirt, and a green stone amulet on a large gold chain around his neck. he is cast in shadow and his eyes are not visible. locutus, an ashen version of jean-luc picard, with about a third of his face obscured by black metal exoplating and implants that surround his right eye. tubes come off of his face and neck, trailing behind him, and a red light made to shine at his point of focus shines from the side of his head. there are several yellow narration boxes, which read as follows. "sarek of vulcan. picard mind-melded with the legendary ambassador in order to lend him strength for an important negotiation — an act that almost cost picard his sanity." "kamin of kataan. a probe sent out by kataan before their sun went nova allowed picard to live most of kamin's adult life as a way to remember his people."

oh, yeah. did... did i not mention that that happened?

basically, he was targeted by a device that beamed him into the world's most immersive vr game — kind of like the one from rick and morty? if you watched that? if you didn't, sorry for bringing it up, and if you did, ditto. but it forced picard to live out an entire life as though he'd been abducted by aliens and placed in a sims game. though, ultimately, the plot intricacies of the inner light are beside my point.

image id pt 3: "locutus of borg. quite simply, the greatest nightmare of picard's entire life. the subversion of his intellect, his will, his very self to the collective of the borg." "all three are part of him, but they do not dominate. if picard does as doctor crusher suggests, he will subsume himself in order to let the others come to the fore. for sarek, for kamin, he would be willing." "but locutus--?" the next panel takes a little more than half of the remainder of the page. a narration box in the upper left reads; "then he thinks of his first officer, counselor, chief of security, chief engineer, and all the others who have fallen victim to this vicious weapon." the rest of the panel shows two sleeping figures, both humanoid, in what is presumably sickbay. the last panel takes the remainder. a narration box in the upper left reads; "and jean-luc picard makes the only decision he is capable of making." captain picard is shown from the shoulders up, facing slightly to the left and saying; "what do i need to do?" below his speech bubble is another yellow text box, which reads "to be concluded..."

...which is how issue 3 leaves us.

fortunately, we can pick up in issue 4 with ease, since these comics are over twenty years old. i'm going to do my best to limit my use of comic pages, juuuuust in case, but once we reach the sixth page, with the credits...

image id: a two-page spread. beginning in the uppermost left corner, narration boxes read; "welcome to the mind of jean-luc picard." "'locutus' was a personality superimposed upon picard when he was taken by the borg, meant to serve as the spokesperson for that cybernetic race's ruthless assimilation of what they described as the 'authority-driven culture' of the federation." "ambassador sarek of vulcan suffered from bendii syndrome. in order to keep the effects of this devastating illness from endangering his final mission, sarek entered into a deep mind-meld with picard in order to give the ambassador emotional control and stability." "kamin was a prominent member of the community of ressik on the long-dead world of kataan. a probe sent by the kataan people allowed picard to live kamin's life for several subjective decades, although less than half an hour passed in reality." "all of these personalities have made up a part of jean-luc picard, but he remained dominant." "until now." "this is the mind of jean-luc picard." the left page is mostly taken up by a large illustration of locutus, drawn in far more detail than before. trailing off to the right are two tubes or wires, as well as a speech bubble that reads "resistance is futile." also on this page are the details of the comic title, run, issue number, writers/artists, and copyright. taking up most of the right half of the right page is sarek of vulcan, drawn in less detail than locutus, but easily recognizable. his hair is a lighter grey, he is wearing white and cream robes and an amber amulet on a thick gold ring around his neck, and he is holding up his right hand in a vulcan salute/ta'al. depicted below sarek is kamin, drawn from the shoulders up, wearing a plain white shirt with a collar. below kamin is captain picard, also shown from the shoulders up, in his starfleet uniform, and surrounded by four lights, with two on either side of him. (there is also further copyright information beside him in fine print.)

...i'm pretty sure that this analysis falls under the "commentary" part of fair use. right?

but, regardless, this is kind of a huge thing to drop in a comic that virtually no one has bothered to read. i mean, especially when, amidst the clashing of picard's plurality with the a-plot, we get this panel;

image id: a single comic panel. kamin is shown from behind, speaking to locutus and sarek within a noneuclidean space with four circular white lights shining in the distance. "what is going on?" kamin asks. "we have been subdued for too long. but now we shall dominate, as we were meant to." locutus replies. sarek interrupts. "your logic is flawed, locutus. we are all merely aspects of jean-luc picard's mind." "you may be sarek of vulcan, but we are of the borg."

sarek is able to acknowledge himself, kamin, and locutus as "aspects" of captain picard, despite picard rarely if ever sensing them or their influence. picard is being, not just implied, but explicitly stated to have a latent form of plurality, and perchance to dream depicts it in a way that strikes true to members of my own system, at times, with certain alters first making themselves known in the front already well aware of who they are, and having existed without the my knowledge due to dissociative barriers that only came down later in life.

unfortunately, because this is a star trek media, locutus ends up assimilating kamin in the headspace and forcing himself into the front. however, as he does it, he says something that does, to an extent, resonate with the experience of being one among many, for better or worse.

image id: a single comic panel. locutus is shown facing the viewer, and his chin and the top of his head are cut off by the borders of the panel. his light breaks the plane of the panel to simulate the effect that it is shining into the "camera." locutus's mouth is open as he speaks; "for too long you have suppressed us, picard. but you are of the borg."

plurality is a defense mechanism by the brain to protect against trauma. it is, from what i have seen, more common among those who are already neurodivergent, which already presents in a myriad of ways. mixing the ugly truth of trauma with the raw reality of mental illness caused by it can result in certain alters feeling as though they are being suppressed by not being allowed to front and live their own life, depending on how the system functions. admittedly it is more common in fictional depictions of dissociative disorders for these alters to simply live their own lives in secret anyway, as is the case in the marvel tv series moon knight with marc spector, steven grant, and jake lockley (along with the other possible members of their system who may or may not be present depending on the canon, but those are the main three). but, in reality — or at least my experience — this more often translates to alters making themselves social media accounts, or using services like tupperbox or pluralkit on discord, or finding other ways to more discretely express themselves, such as icon changes or status updates.

but, getting back to star trek, this is ultimately a one-off comic. so captain picard saves the day with his secret alters, ends the mind meld with doctor selar, and goes back to living his life as a singlet, ready for the people of the future to be able to easily comprehend without having to read a very specific comic run from 2000.

...right?

image id: part of a comic page. each panel takes up roughly one quarter of the page each. in the first panel, counselor deanna troi is seen standing, having just entered captain picard's ready room. picard is shown from the back, sitting at his desk. "counselor! good to see you up and about." he greets her. "it's good to be up and about." she responds. "playing some old tunes?" [picard had been playing the ressikan flute prior to her entry.] picard responds. "mmm. i wanted to make sure that i still remembered how." in the next panel, we look over counselor troi's shoulder and across the desk at captain picard. "were you worried that you wouldn't?" she wonders. "actually, yes," picard answers. "after what happened..." the third panel shows picard facing the viewer head-on from the shoulders up. he continues, "i suppose i knew intellectually how close to the surface locutus, sarek, and kamin were. but i never really thought about it. they were — memories, experiences. no different from any other. but they're much more than that." the fourth panel shows counselor troi, facing slightly to the right as she speaks. "not much more. all three of them are part of you. but the important word is you. the fragmentation was artificially induced." picard asks; "was it?"

ultimately, yes, this is a one-off comic run that isn't very well known, and i only read because i took a personal interest in the subject matter. i knew going in that it wasn't going to fundamentally change the entire fandom's understanding of captain picard, or make the star trek fandom an instant haven for systems everywhere. but, still, captain picard has his doubts, and that truly touched me when i first read it as someone who was actively reckoning with the fact that past traumas that had impacted me more than i realized.

the comic goes on for a while longer, but the last thing it has to say on the subject of plurality is this.

image id: a single comic panel. counselor troi is seated in one of the chairs in captain picard's ready room, facing him from across his desk. she is on the left, facing partially right, and he is on the right, in profile facing left. the dialogue reads as follows. picard wonders, "was it [the dissociative fragmentation of his identity] truly a creation of the mind-meld, or was it simply breaking a dam that was already cracked?" riker interrupts over the comm. "riker to picard." "go ahead, number one," picard tells him. "it's time to beam down to damiano for the ceremony, sir." "thank you, commander."

and that's it. picard asks a question, then gets called away and never tells us his answer.

i think, at least subconsciously, that might be part of why i held star trek: picard to such a high standard.

to be clear, i hadn't read this comic when the first season of picard was coming out. but i was starting to grapple with my plurality, and i used fictional media as a means to do that (as is still evidenced by things like my system simon tag). the first season of the show was centered around both picard's relationship with both his legacy and his history with the borg collective. as mentioned in perchance to dream, captain picard had previously been assimilated by the borg collective — a cybernetic hivemind from the delta quadrant that absorbed cultures and species into itself, effectively wiping out the cultural histories of entire planets, at times, in their quest to become the "perfect" life form through a combination of genetic engineering and mechanical augmentation. and, as this happened, i came to know a young man named hugh who took form within my mind. a fictional introject, or fictive, of the character of the same name from season 5, episode 23, i, borg. with his help, i grew to further understand my own plurality, and saw the potential for our stories to be told in the wake of reclamations from the borg collective. the reclamation project became a hyperfixation, and—

and then came the jurati collective.

my own system bears no connection to the jurati collective, but it is a wonder, and can be examined through a plural lens as an allegory for our own experiences as dissociatives. many consciousnesses, all working together as one towards a common goal, and willingly. after all, what is a system if not a hive within one body?

and then came picard's third season, completely ignoring her, along with all the unique perspectives that stories surrounding her might have offered in favor of what felt like a final next generation movie.

ignoring me, it felt like.

is that silly? probably. but, try as i might, i am human, and so i have a propensity for illogic — no matter how much my autistic brain craves structure and definitive explanations in order to understand the world.

i'll be honest, i'm not sure how to end this. but, sometimes i remember the time in season 6, episode 20, the chase, when picard became incredibly excited about an ancient alien society that believed people were, indeed, collectives within themselves.

"...the kurlan civilisation believed that an individual was a community of individuals. inside us are many voices, each with its own desires, its own style, its own view of the world." -captain jean-luc picard

and i realize that, with the core tenant of this series lying in the infinite diversity of both the known and the unknowable — the building blocks are already in place. star trek is a media that has grown over the decades, and hopefully will continue to do so, because there are still so many ways for new and interesting and meaningful stories to be told within this franchise.

but, if you can't summon your representation from a nostalgiabait sequel/reboot within a preexisting intellectual property... there's nothing to stop you from crafting your own story and letting loose as many systems as you like.

[earhartsease]

in case anyone wondered where Ursula Le Guin stood regarding trans people, we're sharing here a card we got from her back in 2010 - the context here is that we had a correspondence with her across several years, which began with us reading Tehanu whilst still cosplaying a cis man in England, and then writing her a somewhat Angry Male™ letter about the person Ged becomes between The Farthest Shore and Tehanu (his apparent powerlessness made us really uncomfortable, but that was mostly because of our abusive mother we now suspect)

she wrote back so kindly and patiently, and we ended up writing to each other a few times over the next years about Buddhism (we were ordained into a Buddhist cult at the time and had a Sanskrit name beginning with Padma) and about writing, as we had started writing a novel and realised that characters have their own stories, and writers aren't necessarily the ones steering the craft

and then us finally coming out to her as trans and telling her how much of this anger we'd carried towards women was because of not allowing ourselves to be who we truly are, and that it just dissolved as soon as we came out (note that this exchange of letters was during the year it took us to realise we were not in fact a woman but agender, which we did eventually tell her)

anyway her card reads:

Dear Padma - I wish I could read your name for certain, but anyhow I know "Padma" - your news is very good. I hope you thoroughly enjoy the odd experience of being a woman - people don't always make it easy. But isn't it great to have come out of the anger? All the best, Ursula

sadly we didn't get to write more after that, we could no longer get hold of the prepaid US international airmail letters she asked people to send so she could reply, so we never got a reply to our letter telling her we were agender after all - but we're so very grateful for her kindness and allyship, and that she had long grown past 2nd wave feminism by the time all this happened

then we got to be one of the people funding a documentary* about her, where sadly she died before its release, and we were at the UK premiere and wept when she talked about "getting angry letters from men" about her writing, and how people do grow and change and how she too grew and changed

we didn't really get to know her (different continents or we would surely have tried to meet her - weirdly we did meet her son Ted when we were both in our teens, as he was our best friend's penfriend) but we do love her

also we love the lil dragon on her stationery

*tumblr app is being a dick and won't let us add a link - oh, see https://worldsofukl.com

[celestialmudd]

now i really believe if/when this novel is finished, i'll be so ready to write my scifi/fantasy novels

reading my thesis with the intention of copyediting

and the novel is actually better than i thought. and wow i can see that i did improve my writing since four years ago? wild

now let's keep this up with a better headspace, let's not write under the stressful brain fog

[dangerouscommiesubversive]

13 Books Tag Game

Way back in April I was tagged in this by @materassassino and I've had it saved in my drafts ever since, determined to Actually Do It instead of spacing out as I so often do with tag games despite enjoying them greatly.

1) The last book I read

I think the last book I finished reading was A House With Good Bones, by T. Kingfisher--an excellent haunted house novel, although not my favorite.

2) A book I recommend

Lud-In-The-Mist, by Hope Mirlees, an extraordinarily dreamy novel from 1926 which I read first in college. It's about fairies and a town that's supposedly forgotten them, and it's simple and fun and often very funny. Or, if you'd rather read something more solidly grounded in reality, I really love The Cunning Man, by Robertson Davies. Davies is a favorite author of mine in general, but The Cunning Man is I think his best.

3) A book that I couldn’t put down

I mean, there's a lot of those, but most recently I think it was The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison. I loved it so much that when I finished it I immediately ducked out of my home office to return it to the library and get out the next one, The Grief of Stones, and then I loved that one a lot as well, and now I anxiously await the next one, The Tomb of Dragons, which I think is coming out next February?

Around that same time I also read Just Like Home, by Sarah Gailey, which I was similarly unable to put down. That one is another haunted house book, and it's very much horror and it's about parental abuse and sometimes it gets very creepy, so do be warned.

4) A book I’ve read twice (or more)

Oh good heavens. I've read a lot of books twice or more; I love to re-read. Apart from my repeated re-readings of every Narnia book, Sabriel, a good deal of David Eddings...I think the best example I have is The Iron Dragon's Daughter, by Michael Swanwick. I read it for the first time when I was twelve, which is way too young to be readng that book, and I've re-read it every three or four years since then.

5) A book on my TBR

Lots of things, but most recently we picked up a copy of Ursula Le Guin's essay collection The Language of the Night because Rudo wanted me to read the title essay, and I'm going to do so once I've finished one of the books I'm currently reading.

6) A book I’ve put down

Titus Groan, by Mervyn Peake, several times. Someday I am determined to read all of Gormenghast, but it just hasn't caught me right yet. This is fine, sometimes I make a couple of false starts before I can really get into a book--it took me at least three tries to read The Worm Ouroboros, for example.

7) A book on my wish list

Frillions of books on there, so we'll go with something I specifically want in hard copy. Recently Rudo and I have been going through Tubi's "New to Who" collection of classic Doctor Who serials, and we both fell horrendously in love with Seven, who's lovely. We especially enjoyed Remembrance of the Daleks, and I found out that not only did the Ben Aaronovitch, the writer of the serial, actually get to do the novelization, it was printed a while ago in an absolutely beautiful hardcover alongside Prisoner of the Daleks by Trevor Baxendale. Obviously I want to read the novel, but I also want that specific edition, just because it looks so pretty.

8) A favorite book from childhood

Many such, I was and still am a big reader! Emperor Mage by Tamora Pierce was a frequent re-read, and one that I still love.

9) A book you would give to a friend

Which friend? For what occasion? I give lots of books to lots of friends for lots of reasons! But if we're saying, generally, "what's a book I'd hand to someone and beg them to read it," I'll go with Little, Big, by John Crowley. It's incredible.

10) A book of poetry or lyrics that you own

I have a bunch of poetry collections but I think my favorite is a little cheap Dover collection of Gerard Manley Hopkins. "The Windhover" is so good that I want to eat it.

11) A nonfiction book you own

A Burglar's Guide to the City, by Geoff Manaugh--a book about architecture, but from the perspective of how criminals, burglars especially, interact with buildings.

12) What are you currently reading

Thousand Autumns volume 5 by Meng Xi Shi, Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz by Garth Nix, Lord Seventh by priest, volume 3 of Dangerous Convenience Store, and I got a bit distracted in the middle of Riddle-Master, which is the omnibus edition of Patricia McKillip's Riddle-Master trilogy, but I'll get back to it.

13) What are you planning on reading next?

Everything. Try me.

I will tag @calyxcurl, @travelingneuritis, @ardatli, and @tsunflowers! But please don't feel pressured!

[terramythos]

oh ursula k le guin we're really in it now

[cromulentbookreview]

Fun with Fungi!

Huh, what's this? *cleans away dust* oh, yeah, this blog is still a thing. I probably should've written more reviews, but...

I mean, I could come up with an excuse, but I'm too lazy. Just as I am too lazy to continually update this book review blog that nobody reads. I mean, I just wrote a review *consults calendar* uh. In 2022. Dang, I have been lazy. Oh well.

I'm like a rug on valium, I'm talking lazy.

And by that, I mean: let's have a dual review of the Sworn Soldier series: What Moves the Dead and its sequel, What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher!

Those covers, man. They're awesome, but at the same time: poor bun bun. Poor horsie.

So technically, what I'm doing here is not one but two reviews. So I'm actually being really, really productive right now and not lazy in the slightest.

This is a legitimately true story, I swear. Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away...by which I mean, four or five years back or so, I'd never heard of T. Kingfisher / Ursula Vernon in my life until I got into a fight with her on Twitter* on whether or not the fruit of the hazel tree should be referred to as Filberts or Hazelnuts.

For the record, I am firmly team hazelnut. I mean, they're nuts from a hazel tree. Hazel+nuts = hazelnuts. Who in their right mind wants to eat something called a filbert? But, terminology varies as T. Kingfisher is firmly on team filbert. My parents also call them filberts on occasion which is weird to me as we live in an area lousy with hazelnut farms.

Mmmm, Hazelnuts...

Anyway! I had no idea who this person was but I got into a tongue-in-cheek gif fight on Twitter with them regarding hazelnut v. filbert. Feeling bad that I got into a fight with a random person online on their hazel tree fruit name preferences, I went to their profile, saw they were an author, looked up their books and bought the two books of the Clocktaur Wars series. I tore through them, and continued on, reading all of the World of the White Rat series (I just saw that we're getting a new one in January and I might have let out a bit of a fangirl screech), and the absolutely delightful A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking and Minor Mage. So far, every single one of T. Kingfisher's books that I've read has been awesome. Nettle & Bone? Amazing. Thornhedge? I'm a very slow reader, but I devoured it in an afternoon.

T. Kingfisher writes amazing fantasy novels and I absolutely love them. She also writes horror. Which is where I hit a brick wall because I'm a baby who doesn't handle horror well. I don't like horror movies. I don't often read horror books. Because the world is scary enough without ghosts and poltergeists and demons and jump scares. Also I watched The Ring when I was 12 and it scared the shit out of me. Anyway! Oddly enough, I've always found myself drawn to horror-type stories. I mean, horror fits so well in fantasy and sci-fi (looking at you, Doctor Who episodes that gave me nightmares). As an adult, I've found myself more and more willing to dip my toe into horror fiction. Season 1 of The Terror, one of my favorite-ever TV series is considered horror (maybe because it's not jump-scare scary, it's existentially scary. Also it's set in the past. Also it's got dudes-on-boats, my favorite genre). Part of me really, really likes horror stories set in the past - no horror like 18th/19th/Early 20th century horror, amirite?

Right?

Well, whatever, I just like horror to be ye olde timey horror, OK? Like Crimson Peak, The Witch, The Death of Jane Lawrence, Mexican Gothic, The Woman in Black, The Hacienda, Vampires of El Norte, The Hunger ... spooky-scary Gothic-y-Romantic-y-type stories that have a historical element to them. Those are awesome. I'm slowly - very slowly! - getting myself to read more contemporary horror stories. I understand that The Twisted Ones and A House With Good Bones are really, really good, but....what can I say, I'm a wuss. And contemporary stories aren't really my jam. I read to get away from the contemporary world, damn it!

(Me, too scared to read contemporary horror but not too scared to listen to 900,000 true crime podcasts).

Right, where were we?

Oh, yeah. The review(s). I'm starting to understand why no one ever read this blog and why I let myself be lazy.

-

In What Moves The Dead we meet Alex Easton, a Gallacian ex-soldier on their way to visit their old friends, the Ushers, at their delipidated estate in the rural countryside of Ruravia. Alex had word that Madeline Usher was dying, and they wanted to be there for Madeline and her brother, Roderick. Roderick had been a fellow soldier with Alex back in the day and -

Wait a minute, Roderick and Madeline Usher? Delipidated mansion? Unspecified 19th century middle of nowhere...

Yep, this story is, indeed, a retelling of Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher, and it does a much better job than certain series you might find on Netflix.

Moving on:

Alex, Roderick and Madeline were childhood friends, and Roderick and Alex even fought together back in the day. Alex is a "sworn soldier" - something unique to their home country of Gallacia, a small, backwater country located somewhere between Bulgaria, Hungaria and that other -Garia, a vaguely Central/Eastern European nation with a language somehow structurally worse than Finnish, Hungarian and Icelandic combined. The Gallacian language has seven sets of pronouns: there's one set used only when referring to God, a set used to refer to children before puberty, one set specifically for inanimate objects...and, as the Gallacians are a fierce warrior people (though they're not exactly great at it), there's a special pronoun set just for soldiers.

So, in Gallacia, anyone, regardless of gender, can waltz up to the nearest military recruitment post, declare themselves a soldier, and be given a sword and a new set of pronouns within the hour. Hence the term "sworn soldier."

Anyway!

Prior to arriving at the House of Usher, Alex encounters an Englishwoman, Miss Eugenia Potter, a mycologist studying the local mushrooms, and there are some gnarly-looking (and smelling!) mushrooms. In fact, the whole landscape around Usher House seems...off. Everything seems dead or dying. Random hares will stand up and just stare right at you.

And not in a cute way, either.

As if the landscape weren't bad enough, once Alex gets to the Usher House, Roderick himself barely resembles the soldier Alex once knew. His skin has gone bone-white and he's as thin as a skeleton. He seems terrified by something but can't quite articulate what. Madeline is still alive, but in bad shape. Not even Roderick's friend Denton, an American doctor, can say what is wrong with her and Roderick (Catalepsy? Anemia? Hysteria? Roomis Igloomis? Who knows?). Denton and Alex immediately figure it's something to do with their environment - the house is both rotting and falling apart around them - but Roderick insists that Madeline can't leave, and if she can't leave, he won't leave.

Determined to find out what's happening to their friends, Alex resolves to stay. But things in the House of Usher are starting to get weird. For one thing, Madeline sleepwalks far more than a dying woman should, speaking in a strange, child-like voice, there's a lake outside that seems to pulse and shine with odd lights, there's a legion of undead hares wandering around and, seriously, what is up with those mushrooms??? With the help of Denton, Miss Potter, and their trusty batman, Angus, Alex must figure out what the hell is going on with the House of Usher...before whatever it is starts to spread.

What Moves The Dead is short and sweet and the perfect book to read when it's cold and dreary outside - and definitely not one you want to read before eating a giant bowl of mushroom risotto. If you're looking for a fantastic, spooky-type read that reads like if Edgar Allan Poe and The Last of Us joined forces with an army of undead bunnies.

But!

Luckily for all of us, Alex Easton's adventures don't stop with the events at the House of Usher.

It's late in the autumn and poor Alex would much rather be in Paris. Unfortunately, Angus has successfully guilt-tripped them into a trip to Alex's family's old hunting lodge back in the Old Country, aka Gallacia. Nothing like good old Gallacia in the winter where everything is damp, cold, cold, and, you guessed it! Damp.

But the redoubtable British mycologist Miss Eugenia Potter wishes to study some Gallacian mushrooms, and Angus, who is absolutely sweet on her, pretty much voluntold Alex to come along to act as Miss Potter's translator and use their hunting lodge as a home base.

So instead of a beautiful late Autumn/Winter in Paris, Alex is stuck back home.

*Sigh* looks nice, doesn't it?

As much as Alex sulks at the thought of spending several weeks back home, it's not like they're going to say no to Angus and Miss Potter. Not after everything they went through with the Usher House *shudder*.

Unfortunately, when Angus and Alex arrive at the lodge to help get it ready for Miss Potter's arrival, the caretaker, Codrin, is nowhere to be found. A quick trip to the nearby village reveals that Codrin has been dead for the past two months. But the locals are being very cagey about what killed him - Codrin's daughter is very insistent that it was just a lung infection, nothing else, no further questions, goodbye.

Finding a replacement for Codrin proves difficult, as it seems none of the villagers want to go near the lodge because there's a rumor that Codrin wasn't killed by inflammation of the lungs, but by a creature called a Moroi - a woman who sits on your chest and quite literally steals your breath. And the rumor is, a Moroi has taken up residence at the Hunting Lodge.

Yikes.

After some effort, Alex manages to hire a new housekeeper: the ill-tempered Widow Botezatu, who brings her grandson Bors along with her. The Widow immediately hates Alex, thinking them a wastrel, but Bors is nice enough. Miss Potter arrives, complete with terrible Gallacian phrasebook, but it soon becomes clear things aren't quite right at the Lodge. Alex begins to experience strange dreams - dreams in which a woman is kneeling on their chest because, yep, the Moroi is very real, and it can get to you in your dreams, just like Groundskeeper Willie in Treehouse of Horror VI.

Which is to say like Freddie Kruger, but still.

When it becomes clear that the Moroi is after the residents of the lodge, it's up to Alex, Angus and Miss Potter to figure out how to defeat a creature that can infiltrate your dreams.

What Feasts at Night is just as creepy, eerie and atmospheric as What Moves the Dead - there is plenty of non-fungal body horror and, mercifully, no zombie bun buns. Kingfisher is fantastic at capturing the terror of having your ability to breathe taken from you, and of the dread of having to fight something you can't grasp while awake. How she manages to pack so much into two short novels, I have no idea.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Anyone in the mood for some short, sweet spooky horror.

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR: Anyone who gets easily queasy, someone in the middle of eating a nice mushroom risotto, someone who really, really, really loves bunnies being alive and living their best lives, anyone who might wake up in the middle of the night with their cat on their chest staring directly into their eyes...

RELEASE DATE FOR WHAT FEASTS AT NIGHT: February 13, 2024

RATING FOR BOTH: 5/5

ANTICIPATION LEVEL FOR SWORN SOLDIER BOOKS: Chigori

*

[askauradonprep]

Rise of Red Liveblog Part 3

Oh, the Tremaines place does not look good. I wonder if they'll be around?

And yes they are and they are the worst.

I like that Red and Chloe connect over their moms sucking. Chloe is TRYING XD

Good question about rewards and being a good person but it depends a lot on how's, why's and contexts. I feel like a parent should be rewarding and encouraging that.

I like talking about how hard it is to be kind to people who are awful, but I'd also point out that that can easily go too far and lead to being a doormat.

I do like how Red sees how villains think.

Well, Chloe tried. You probably could've offered to pay for a new one.

Just putting out there - I'm like 99% sure Lady Tremaine stole Ella's inheritance too.

"VKs" existing before the Isle is so stupid.

I see having an awesome song is in Uma's family! <3

Yeah, Revenge is a bop.

I don't totally get why Ulyana isn't just Ursula but I like her so far.

Ahhh, bonding over saving each other. Works every time, just like true love's kiss.

Wow, Chloe just is coming for Red's whole life and innermost desires.

And yeah, okay, apparently it is a boarding school for some.

I love Bridget making her cards into a fan

Awwww, Bridget is so cute with Red here. But jeez, girl, LOOK IN THE GLASS.

Daaaaamn, Charming hurt my heart there.

"No troublemaker can get their hands on each other" - CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

I love how much Chloe loves her mom

And Red, hon, can I just point out you're the one who said what happened (granted, under duress).

I appreciate Ella's advice here. Although I'd point out selling dangerous potions to provide for your kids may be grey but it's a pretty damn dark grey. And I'm not a fan of 'bad people don't think they're bad' type rhetoric. Caring about being bad or good isn't always enough. You need to put thought and consideration for others into what you do and say. Sometimes we use thinking we're bad as an excuse to keep doing hurtful things. I know it's for kids and so it's a simplified lesson but shhhh, I'm having fun adding nuance to the nuance.

I have to admit, I don't really think this particular lesson is one Auradon needs to learn. Like ...Cinderella really hasn't had this talk with her before about Robin Hood or Aladdin or Eugene? Or even Queen Mal? I think this is a type of nuance that Auradon and Chloe should already be very familiar with.

See, Cinderella, it's well and good to talk about doing anything to save someone you love and in this case it's fitting, but....you can't ACTUALLY do 'anything' for someone you love and be justified. You can do a lot more harm to other people that way. We literally have a Star Wars trilogy about this where someone can't accept they might have to let go of something and it starts a totalitarian mess!

LMAO I love Red and Chloe.

DAMN now we know why people don't steal from Merlin's office.

XD I love the trap for Uly and her friends.

Heeeeelp Chloe and Red are so CUTE!

Pffft, oh Morgie!

I'm really not sure how this'll wrap up in only a few minutes.

....Huh. Well, that was abrupt. I don't know how I feel about it. It felt like something was missing between them leaving and going back. I'd have liked to see what happened with Bridget.

AH! Okay, I see. This is a set up for more and there is another shoe that will drop. I thought that was a little too neat of a way to end things. Okay, fair play pocket watch.

So! Overall, I liked it. It felt a little simplistic compared to the rest of the movies though and it definitely felt more....childish? Like, this definitely FELT more like a little kids movie than the others. I think the ending was rushed and that the songs, while I really like the music style, were more used to push along the narrative than to explore where the characters are at than the other movies. Red and Chloe are great and I love the Queen of Hearts, but I wish we'd gotten more of her. What can I say? Evil mom extraordinaire.

This is definitely a new writer and I'll be honest, I don't think this movie could have inspired Ask Auradon Prep the way the first and second one did. BUT I don't regret watching it and my curiosity is piqued enough that I am eager for a sequel!

That all being said - yeah. No. Unless they sort out this timeline really well, this is DEFINITELY an alternate timeline of the first three movies. As far as I'm concerned, the merge happened about 30 years ago, the Queen of Hearts and Red lived on the Isle until Red was 13 and there is no Merlin's Academy. These will be referred to as the Original Verse and the Merlin Verse. I will not be taking alternatives at this time.

[willowshimmer]

My entire reaction to The Dragon Prince season 5.

- Why does that gem look like a Topaz?

- Yay Corvus! And Soren!

- That's what you get KARIM!

- Stella keep being as cute as you are!♥️

- Love how Janai and Amaya are planning their wedding!

- Terry you are awesome but please that binder is it not painful!? Like we see him sleep with it and I can only assume it is cause from what I know you should only wear you're binder for 9 to 8 hours and he's wearing while sleeping!

- Aaravos... WHY ARE YOU SO HOT!?

- Also when Aaravos said "Our child.." did anyone else go like: 🤨🤨

- Callum since did you become so poetic?

- Oh that's why. And I would love to see him sing a sea shanty.

- Is anyone else get more of bad vibe Claudia the farther we go into the season?

- Okay but the design for the arch Dragon of the sea is 👌♥️

- Love how Soren and Corvus are such father figures to Ezran it's so cute!♥️

- Amaya no! YOU GOT! FIGHT THROUGH THOSE WOLVES OR WHATEVER THEY ARE!

- NOO CORVUS!

- Okay their safe...🥹

- No Zubeia!

- Man Zubeia can't catch a break can she? First she lost her husband, thought her son was dead and nearly died! Now corruption!?

- Okay but this sea pirate... I hate him already.

- AW!♥️ THE BABY GLOW TOADS!

- And I was right to hate him...

- DON'T YOU HURT CALLUM!

- NO! CALLUM😭

- Okay but I feel a little bad for the sun dragon if you ask me.

- DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE TOUCH BAIT!

- Soren is such a himbo I love it!

- YOU GO ELMER!

- Oh shit... He just got eaten. Well he deserved it anyway.

- Okay but Claudia mixed with that octopus looks like Ursula.

- I do love how we get deeper into Rayla and Callum's relationship cause Callum knows when Rayla doesn't want to talk about something from her past and know she needs time to open up and that's really sweet.♥️

- YES! AMAYA SAVE YOU'RE FIANCÉ!

- Okay but seriously Karim has an army now and I feel like we're fucked...

- I must see a reunion kiss between Runaan and Ethari next season....

Overall loved it! Much BETTER then Season 4 actually and love the animation in it too!

Like I love how the animation gets a bit fluid during fights and it looks awesome!

Can't wait for Season 6!♥️🥳

[princesssarisa]

Winifred Sanderson for the character ask

Favorite thing about them: Her sheer flamboyance and zest for her wicked deeds, and her perfect blend of comedy and genuine dangerousness. She's a villain I love to hate.

Least favorite thing about them: Well, she is an evil, child-murdering witch, and she abuses her sisters too.

On a meta level, I might have some concerns about a well-known Jewish actress (who's very "Jewish looking" too, with her frizzy red hair and big nose) playing a witch whose particular brand of evil, sucking out children's life force in a magic ritual, has some obvious parallels with the blood libel legend. But of course the parallels between antisemitic stereotypes and witch stereotypes are common throughout all media with witches. Besides, the character isn't Jewish, she's from a Puritan village in colonial Massachusetts, and if Bette Midler had no problem playing the role (in fact she calls it her all-time favorite role), why should anyone else object?

Three things I have in common with them:

*I like to sing and perform.

*I'm sensitive to rude remarks about my looks.

*I like Halloween.

Three things I don't have in common with them:

*I don't have red hair.

*I've never murdered anyone.

*I don't have any sisters.

Favorite line:

Her first line, printed on quite a bit of Halloween merchandise:

"Oh, look. Another glorious morning. Makes me sick!"

Her curse just before being hanged:

"Fools! All of you! My ungodly book speaks to you! On All Hallows' Eve, when the moon is round, a virgin will summon us from under the ground! (laughs) We shall be back! And the lives of all the children shall be mine!"

When she sees a school for the first time, judging by its appearance and its smell of children:

"It is a prison for children!"

About Dani calling her "ugly":

"She really hurt my feelings... She doesn't even know me! You know, I always wanted a child, and now I think I'll have one... on toast!"

When she brings Billy Butcherson back as a zombie:

"Unfaithful lover, long since dead, deep asleep in thy wormy bed! Wiggle thy toes! Open thine eyes! Twist thy fingers toward the skies! Life is sweet, be not shy! On thy feet! So sayeth I!"

In response to being told "Go to hell!":

"Oh! I've been there, thank you. I found it quite lovely."

And as a bonus, from the Hocus Pocus Villains Spelltacular show at Walt Disney World, when she laments that she and her sisters don't have any friends, and Sarah says "We're friends":

"No, we're sisters. I have to like you."

brOTP: Her sisters Mary and Sarah, even if she does treat them shabbily most of the time.

OTP: None, unless there's a man out there who wants to be poisoned and have his mouth sewn shut if he makes one wrong move.

nOTP: Thackery Binx, Max Dennison, or Billy Butcherson.

Random headcanon: During the 300 years she and her sisters spent in hell after their execution, she met several of the classic Disney villains (who of course were killed in their own stories), like Maleficent, the Evil Queen, Ursula, Gaston, Scar, and Frollo. Her interactions with them were very interesting.

Unpopular opinion: I'll say the same thing I did about her sisters. I wish the Boo to You Halloween Parade at Walt Disney World had only dressed Minnie Mouse as Winifred for the 30th anniversary of Hocus Pocus in 2023. Ditto for Clarabelle Cow as Mary and Daisy Duck as Sarah. I wish they hadn't kept it for this year's parade too. Hocus Pocus is really a movie for middle schoolers and older, not for the little kids Minnie and friends appeal to the most. The costume does look cute on Minnie, but still.

Song I associate with them: What else?

Favorite picture of them: