#only mentioned but eh

[byfulcrums]

So my mom knows a lot of (kinda random) stuff and sometimes she'll share it with me. And the other day she talked about the Ying and Yang thingy and it got me thinking

This thing

Is about order and chaos. It's about what you know and what you don't; the day and the night. It's not meant to represent evil vs good

Now why am I bringing this up? Because MK is supposed to be the Harbinger of Chaos. See where I'm going?

Chaos is not seen as an evil thing; or not always, at least. Chaos is just... the lack of order. What the Ying and Yang is supposed to represent is balance. There can't be too much chaos, yes, but there also can't be too much order

Qi Xiaotian may be the Harbinger of Chaos, but this only means that he plays a greater part on keeping the balance, well, balanced. He isn't order, and that's good

This can also be seen in his chaotic personality. He's loud and has a hard time listening to other people; he has broken stuff multiple times and pranked people with Mei. Her and MK have always been described as a 'chaotic duo'. Chaos is just part of who MK is! And that's not a bad thing!!

Now that just leaves the question: who is order? Who represents it? Who is the Yang to his Yin?

The main villain we've had so far (LBD, Azure) could be representing order. The Lady Bone Demon wanted a perfect world, a world where there was no chaos; the world she wanted, one she could rule. Azure Lion wanted to overthrow the Jade Emperor to become emperor himself (also, wow, parallels) and keep the peace while also being just and fair to everyone. But I don't really feel like that's enough, y'know?

None of the characters we've seen so far represent order the way MK represents chaos. My first thought was "Mei could be order!" to have some kind of "sun and moon" tragic duo, but it's not very good because Mei is also very chaotic (order is not what you think when you first look at her. Chaos, or chaotic, is what MK reminds people of)

Maybe Bai He? But we haven't seen much of her yet. I would like to have her and MK as a fun duo though. And with the order comparisons w LBD and Bai He having been possessed by her... yeah I think that'd be some good material for a very angsty episode/season

So! The conclusion! MK being the Harbinger of Chaos is not a bad thing and he is literally just helping keep the balance

[slavhew]

dreaming of friends

[pose reference: Reunion by Salman Toor (2018)]

[zackieboyo]

o shit my hand slipped and i accidentally screenshotted and uploaded proof that Edd Gould did not see the characters as anything but fictional and didn't view himself as the Edd character just as everyone else on the team didn't view themselves as their fictional characters oopsiee!!

context: if you have trouble reading tone, he's clearly being sarcastic here, and poking fun at the assholes ripping the kid who posted this(admittedly funny, but harmless) "emo edd" vid, 16 years ago in 2008 when Edd Gould would have been 19 years old, just bc they saw Gould as his character which Gould clearly did not agree with, as shown here. So if you're ever getting told by people you're "disrespecting his legacy" by making poc headcanons or making the men kiss each other, just know those people clearly don't care abt what Gould actually thought :)

[ask2ps]

i really wanna hear more about the 2ps possessing their 1ps?? do they swap bodies or does their original body just go limp?

a) it's not quite a "body swap." the phrase i've used in past writings for it is "overwriting." i think "suppression" would also be appropriate. the 1ps are, if all goes to plan, "put to sleep". they essentially become a repressed memory. oliver set it up like this because he didn't want the 1p nations trying to constantly win back their body. even so, some nations put up a real fight as they're overwritten (and maybe even a little after if they're strong/stubborn enough... ahem ahem america) italy is not one of them though, partially because 2p italy got him in his sleep.

b) yeah they just go limp lol . they're empty husks, now. free meat. england would try a bite if it canada would let him

[dykedvonte]

I keep seeing fanarts of ppl's OC's being on the ship, so do you think that if there was 6st crewmember (specifically, another woman) Anya would've been more safe? Like, someone to actually call Jimmy's begaviour out, someone Anya might wanna trust? Is there a possibility something might have changed (even if a little) or it would not have mattered at all?

-💀

I feel like the game would make it part of the commentary on where she would believe and help Anya but still be sort of dismissive? Like the whole “don’t waste time crying and being scared keep going and move on, don’t let him win”. It’s supposed to be positive and reinforcing but sometimes it does more damage in those times of mourning and grief, it feels patronizing, like you don’t understand what you’re going through but they do. Even if they did call out his behavior it’s still on Curly to act and while another voice would help, it’s still 4 against 2 on guys that don’t get it until they have to vs women who always have to.

I don’t mind mouthwashing OCs but I do get a bit bored as they tend to be borderline saviors or like Jimmy aligned. They are either more complicit than Curly or just Jimmy haters for no reason, outside of what the creators know about what he did to Anya. I am never irked by OCs but in a story like mouthwashing you really need to think about what your character adds to the commentary, especially if they are there during the crash. It’s nice to have like characters on Anya’s side more whole heartedly and interesting to see characters who placate Jimmy but sometimes it’s one note.

I can’t and don’t want to police peoples OCs it’s never my intention when I comment on trends I notice, but I do feel like the way people make their OCs interact with these two characters and especially Curly, really show a grave misunderstanding of the narrative and these characters as people vs roles in the story. Still, I know people just make up characters for fun and that’s fine. Great even, but I guys I’m focusing more on OCs that are supposed to have those serious dynamics. My favs tend to be pretty-Tulpar or post-Tulpar au OCs.

The inevitably of the crash is on Jimmy. He did that not because he wasn’t stopped but because all his means to kill Anya were taken. The gun, the axe. Even if Curly did strip him of his co-pilot privileges and try to keep him contained there’s only so many people. An extra body helps but they have jobs they have to do, he’s the only one steering the whole ship and Jimmy would likely have an out: food, bathroom, etc. He’s not new and if he couldn’t crash the ship directly, who’s to say he wouldn’t sabotage something else? A clunker like the Tulpar wouldn’t take much. An extra person helps but it’s just another thing that prolongs what a person like Jimmy is willing to do to shirk responsibility.

It’s more than just needing someone to stand up to him and think that’s what is missing when it comes to inserting a character into the mouthwashing setting.

[project-sekai-facts]

How are we feeling about ensekai’s emu3 translation!!! (I’m mad)

(if you remember the 3 whole posts i made when asahi got de-gayed on EN you'll know i am mad too and that this is probably going to get long)

i don't like to be too cynical but it was so obvious that they were going to change that line, i had a feeling since the event first released on JP and after the incident with Asahi where I went through and tracked down multiple other examples of EN removing queer subtext it became clear to me that in no way shape or form was "emu-chan really loves nene-chan" making it to EN without getting changed. what i didn't expect was them changing Nene's line after Luka's comment, which actually makes this whole situation far worse than many of their other instances of toning down queer subtext.

for anyone who isn't aware of what happened, in chapter 5 of the current Emu event, there's a scene where Nene, Rui and the Virtual Singers are talking about what would cheer Emu up. The vsingers all talk about how much Emu loves spending time with Nene, leading to the following exchange

If you look for them, any fan TL of this scene will be something similar to this:

Luka: ...Fufu. Emu-chan really loves Nene-chan, doesn't she? Nene: Th-that's nothing special...

EN's official translation is this:

So what's the issue? I'll start with Luka's part. In the original text, she uses the word daisuki, which can mean to "like a lot" or "love". It's a word you will see frequently in the idol/idol-adjacent genre of games, due to its ambiguity in that it can be read as either platonic or romantic when used towards a person, and often will be used in ambiguous situations so that it's harder to confirm the writers' intentions either way. so here, fans of the emu/nene ship could view the fact that emu loves spending her time with nene as more on the romantic side, but people who don't like the ship could view it as platonic and move on.

while they didn't translate daisuki directly, Luka's line still works, and still contains the ambiguity that works as ship tease in the original text. it's a perfectly fine localisation that still conveys the original intent. despite that, there is something to be said about EN's consistent refusal to translate daisuki as love in most instances when it's not used on An/Kohane (but then again, EN has literally teased An/Kohane on their twitter account so is it all that surprising?).

Here's some examples:

Aibou no koto ga daisuki de / he loves his partner -> he cares about his partner very much (The Power of Unity chapter 7 when Kaito is comparing Arata to Akito and Toya)

HARUKA-CHAN, DAISUKI DAYOOOO!!! / HARUKA-CHAN, I LOOOOOVEEE YOU!!! -> You're the best!!! (Dear Me, As I Was Back Then chapter 4 when minori is at an ASRUN concert. this one isn't actually that great of a localisation)

Honachan no koto daisuki dakara. Kore de iinda yo. / I love Honachan, so this is fine. -> I want what's best for her. And this is it. (Leo/need main story chapter 14 after Saki tells Honami she won't bother her anymore)

Minna daisuki de - taisetsuna tomodachi na no / I love them all - they're my dearest friends -> They're all amazing, and very dear to me. (Leo/need main story chapter 17. this isn't good either)

What's particularly amusing about that last one is that there's a second official translation for it that I assume was done by JP staff (since EN never promoted doing the Journey to Bloom subs like they did back when they provided subs for Petit SEKAI) that actually keeps the word daisuki as love.

Yeah. I love all my friends - and they mean the world to me.

It's a better localisation than the official EN team one.

Questionable localisation choices aside, Luka's line is fine and is actually in line with the original. The issue with this localisation very much lies with Nene's part, because that is an entirely new line.

In the original text, Nene's "that's just normal" or "that's nothing special" or however you choose to TL it, is meant to be her questioning Luka's statement, since all the things that the other vsingers said that Emu liked were pretty normal things like going shopping and playing video games with nene. To Nene, these things are normal activities for them to do together, so she gets embarrassed by the fact that Luka concludes from that information that Emu loves Nene. When I dissect it like that I think you can really tell what the writers were going for here lol.

"That's just us being friends" does still convey the idea that Nene thinks these activities aren't anything out of the ordinary and she isn't sure why the vsingers are picking these out as some of Emu's favorite things to do, but it's very different from the original line. "But those are just normal things we do together" is something I just came up with on the spot, but it's a lot closer to the original text and still conveys the same meaning. The fact they changed the line to "that's just us being friends" is, honestly, not even subtle that they're covering up queer subtext. The original scene was very clearly written in as ship tease, and EN mentioning "friends" for no reason, especially since the word nor anything close to it was not used in the original, is instantly a red flag because it's like the go-to for queerbaiting and censorship. This was intentional. There was no need for them to specify that the relationship is platonic, Luka's part is ambiguous for a reason so that fans can view it how they like.

Just to top all this off, here's Rin's original line just before that Luka+Nene interaction:

Oh, and! And! She said that playing games with Nene-chan is also super fun!

And here's Rin's line from the official EN translation:

That's not the same thing, but even more weirdly, the incorrect part (super fun->really loves) is a correct translation for the part changed in Luka's line. So, they can do it, they are willing to say "really loves", just not in the right places. Maybe because Rin's part is less personal than Luka's part? It's strange actually, this isn't the first time they've done this either. Off the top of my head I can think of an example from Shiho's Varied Kindness 2* story where they translated the word "suki" as really loves, despite that being much stronger than the original word used (and the fact that daisuki is used a lot in the Leo/need stories and it's incredibly rare if not entirely unknown for them to translate it correctly).

It's not subtle that they're trying to remove implications of the characters possibly being queer, they did it in curtain call and they did it in walk on and on, and multiple times before then too. And considering some of the content in this year's events and the amount of times they say daisuki alone, it's gonna keep happening. honestly i hate the fact that i keep trying to justify the translations in these posts. these translations are intentional. what happened in the curtain call translation back in october says enough. when a character who uses explicitly romantic language towards another guy passes as a straight character in the translation you know they're doing it on purpose.

oh and once again, it's only the EN server that has this issue. The scene in question was translated almost word-for-word on the TW and KR servers.

read fan translations. they're better than what EN gives us and people put a lot of effort into them.

[astralphobia]

Haha small question, what in the world is the Hellfire au?

it’s me. Hi. I’m the problem it’s me /ref

Wouldn’t you like to know? /j

I would infodump ab it but I’m too tired and can’t formulate things right rn

I wanna put a cohesive narrative here but I’m just so. So tired. I cannot explain rn BUT I WILL I PROMISE. ITS BEEN ON MY MIND LATELY AND ITS ONE OF MY MORE FLESHED OUT AUS. I LOVE IT SM TOO SO IM DEFINITELY COMING BACK TO IT I SWEAR

but I will say that in this au Weirdmageddon happens earlier and bill tricks dipper into breaking the rift instead (with his bare hands, the silly lil guy). Oh and when dipper broke it, the glass kinda exploded in his hands and made this gash on his hands. The intergalactic goo(???) inside the rift poured into the wound, which cannot be good for him, haha. Wonder if that has anything to do with the other two drawings, hehehe

And if I told you this ask has held a grip on me for a while it would be underestimation.

[tj-crochets]

Hey y'all! I am thinking about trying to get back in the habit of hitting the punching bag* more regularly, both because I used to love practicing martial arts and because I am hoping it will help turn slow tigers into fast tigers with this one neat trick** What music do you suggest to hit/kick a punching bag to? So far the best song I've found for it tempo-wise is "I Was Made For Loving You" by Kiss, because the drums/bass work really well to keep me from going too fast*** *once again I am confused about what verb to use for that. Kicking? Attacking? Practicing with???? **aka that one post about ending a physiological stress response by tricking your brain into thinking you'd defeated a short term stressor like a tiger ***because of the sodium Georg issues my heart likes to go fast and if I punch too much too fast it goes too fast and then I have to sit down and the metaphorical tigers win the fight lol

[batsplat]

hello, i have a question. what is the difference betwwen a hard and a dangerous racer? is there some sort of characteristics like how succesful a racer is or is more of a "a dangerous racer races on the limit and that's dangerous. a hard racer races on the limit but. its just a hard racer". thank you for answering!

completely in the eye of the beholder, I'm afraid. it's a perpetual debate, and one where everyone draws the line differently... very much a case of one man's dangerous manoeuvre is another one's hard but fair overtake... that being said! I'll have a go at coming up with a general framework with which people assess this stuff

let's bring in two strawmen, which feels like the most direct way to illustrate the possible stances you can take on this debate. to be clear, nobody really fits neatly in either ideological category - but, well, these are pretty much the two most extreme positions anyone could have:

when people are describing something as 'hard racing' (as opposed to... idk, 'clean' racing), they are usually talking about a) contact between the two bikes, and/or b) an action that forces the other bike to take evasive action. what constitutes forcing evasive action? well, this is all very nebulous and hard to define - there's crossing another rider's racing line, making them pick up the bike mid-corner, forcing them wide/off-track, not yielding in situations where one of you will have to yield to avoid a crash... but this is always an assessment that will depend on the specific circumstances. not every block pass is considered hard racing, for instance, even though you are quite literally 'blocking' the other bike. contact is the more straightforward one... if you initiate a move that leads to contact, then most people would agree this is 'hard' racing

so say you are in the 'A' camp. according to this line of thinking, pretty much every contact is 'dangerous' riding and should not be allowed. here's what gibernau said about jerez 2005, included in the sete post:

let's not discuss the merits of the jerez 2005 move specifically here - this is an expression of a broader ideological position. "this is not a contact sport" "it's not about hitting another guy"... so, according to this stance, actions that knowingly result in contact should not be acceptable and as a result need to be penalised. taken to the logical extreme, any and all 'hard racing' is dangerous

let's go to the other extreme, 'B'. let's say you're very pro-hard racing, to the point where you think that contact is more than fine and that it is unreasonable to call it 'dangerous'. sure, of course it is dangerous, but inherently all motorcycle racing has a lot of risk attached. racing that involves contact is basically acceptable. even within this extreme, my lovely venn diagram allows for some actual 'dangerous' riding - either behaviour that is wholly irresponsible during races... or stuff that doesn't count as hard racing because it's not 'racing'. here are some examples:

stuff that happens during races but is like... egregious misbehaviour. cf romano fenati pulling a rival's brake lever during a race - obviously dangerous and no longer really exists within the confines of actual racing

in either races or non-race sessions - not following proper safety procedures like for instance ignoring yellow flags. again, should be pretty obvious why that's dangerous

poor behaviour in non-race sessions,the general tag for not exhibiting appropriate care, awareness for your environment, all that stuff... the extreme example is marc barrelling into the back of another rider after the chequered flag had been waved in friday practise at phillip island 2011 (more on that here). it's also things like faffing about on the racing line, see the pecco mugello dramatics

so, yes, everyone will agree that there's some stuff that counts as 'dangerous riding' that's distinct from 'hard racing' just because it's not actual racing. that's the most straightforward stuff... but yeah, anyway, those are basically the two extreme positions you can take. you can say that all contact is bad and dangerous, that any time you're forcing another rider to take evasive action and are making a pass that isn't 1000% clean, you are putting others at unnecessary risk. or, you can say, hey, everything goes, rubbing is racing on steroids - sure, there's a small category of things that aren't acceptable, mainly stuff that isn't actually racing, but otherwise you should be allowed to brute force yourself past riders whenever you please

obviously, they're strawmen for a reason. basically nobody holds either of these positions in their entirety - and in race situations, there's always going to be actions that are seen as hard racing by some and as dangerous by others. so, unfortunately, we're going to have to dig a little deeper here, and figure out by what metrics people draw the line between hard and dangerous. let's... hey, how about we bring in casey stoner, just this once. as a treat. here's what he said after laguna '08:

“I’ve been in hard racing all my life, some very aggressive racing, but today was a little bit too much. I nearly went in the gravel so many times and I don’t think it was necessary.”

hard racing? casey's done that before. some very aggressive racing? no issue. but what valentino did at laguna was "a little bit too much" and not "necessary". the specific thing casey cites is nearly going into the gravel - and indeed, forcing other riders wide/off-track is one of the types of racing behaviour that most finely straddles the line between 'hard' and 'dangerous'. for other examples, see suzuka 2001 in which biaggi forced valentino off-track and valentino flipped him off when he eventually got past (a few more details here), qatar 2012 where marc forced luthi off-track and got slapped after the race (here) and sepang 2015, where... uh. you know. or how about argentina 2018 where... look, I think you get the point - plenty of controversy comes from forcing your opponent's bike into places where it's simply not supposed to be

while we're at it, let's throw in a little excerpt from casey's autobiography about the race:

A lot of it was fair racing, he was out-braking me on the inside and riding better than me around a lot of the track. If it had all been like that I would cop it sweet. But a couple of moves off camera added to my frustration. I risked running off the track, and racing at the limits like that as we were I even became worried about my safety.

(does have to be said that the pair of them spend... relatively little time off-camera, never when the bikes seem to be particularly close - but of course the problem this statement creates is that by definition you can't judge any footage you don't have access to)

so, let's strip away the details and think about what casey is actually talking about here. it's a risk/reward calculation. this is what's at the heart of this riding standards debate: what level of risk is acceptable for what level of reward? there are situations in which there is inherently a higher level of risk in a way that isn't caused by either party - influenced by the circuit layout, what the weather is like, how hard you're both pushing aka how much on the 'limit' you are, and so on. but even if that risk isn't your 'fault', if you are riding at very high speeds on a dangerous track, you can still be considered a dangerous rider if you're not exercising appropriate levels of caution

so, let's break it down even further and try and come up with some basic criteria by which people judge whether a specific move is 'hard' or 'dangerous'. how about this: (1) does the action have a reasonable chance of coming off, (2) is the risk you're taking proportionate to the reward, and (3) is the move likely to cause serious harm to you or the other rider. let's take them one by one

listen, it needs to be plausible that you're going to be able to pull this move off. if you're firing the bike from fifty miles back into a gap that doesn't exist, then this is by definition an unnecessary risk. you are not going to do yourself any good and you are also not going to do the other rider any good. (sometimes it might be in your interest to crash the other rider out so you might as well, but unsurprisingly this is frowned upon. see the 1998 250cc title decider.) obviously, this is going to be affected by your skill level - if you're a mid rider, there will be fewer moves that are 'plausible' for you than for the best riders

this is basically the common sense metric. if you are riding in a pack, make sure to keep in mind that crashing in this situation could get ugly. if you are fighting for p5, maybe a different approach is fitting than fighting for p1. if you can make an overtake a lap later as long as you're patient, in a way that's a lot safer than doing it now, perhaps just do that instead. don't be silly in the wet! this comes down to stakes, whether it's worth it, how likely the move is to succeed... and also what the consequences would be if you got it wrong, for both yourself and other riders. you're making an overall judgement based on all of those factors... sometimes you need to take risk, but it's better to make sure that risk is reasonably sensible

however high the potential rewards are, there's a certain level of risk that is no longer acceptable, where the 'risk/reward calculation' stuff has to be thrown out of the window because the reward no longer matters. this is basically the catch-all for 'wholly irresponsible riding' - anything that's just going too far

so, uh. obviously everything described above is super subjective... but that's what people are judging in my opinion, this is the standards they are using in their head to determine where they draw the line. so, as an example, to bring back the stuff from this post about the inter-alien ideological differences:

and again, this is also what the debate after aragon 2013 was about:

if you think aragon 2013 is unacceptable to the point of being dangerous, then you probably take quite a hard line view and think pretty much any action that could lead to contact needs to be stamped down on. while that contact did have unpleasant consequences for the other party (dani wasn't able to walk for several days and his title bid was basically over), it is perhaps a little worse than could have been reasonably expected in that situation. in that sense, there's a bit of surface level similarity with jerez 2005... there, valentino made the pass for the win at the last corner, knowing he would probably bump into sete while doing so. neither rider is knocked off their bike (though sete has to leave the track) and it is at a slow corner, with relatively 'light' contact. unfortunately, as a result of where valentino's bike impacted sete's body and sete's preexisting shoulder issues, it ended up injuring sete (see here for valentino learning of this perhaps a little later than was ideal and only after he'd taken the piss out of sete for dramatically clutching his arm). at aragon 2013, marc was harrying dani and sticking very close to his rear tyre as he applied pressure to his teammate before he made a small misjudgement, getting his braking a little wrong and clipping the back of dani's bike. he happened to cut a crucial wire in the process, causing dani to highside a few moments later

these aren't equivalent situations and each have their own risk/reward profile. but the basic point is this: inviting contact with another rider will always generate more risk, and can always have unintended consequences... even when the action is relatively innocuous and the rider would not have expected this outcome. if you are in the 'all passes should be clean passes' school, this risk is fundamentally unacceptable. even trickier - what if contact is made as a result of a move you initiated but the other rider could have avoided? of course, you started it, but they could have yielded... and maybe they should have, maybe that would have been the wise, the sensible thing to do in that situation. it's always important to remember that at least two riders are involved in all these situations - and there are many cases where contact and/or crashing is not 100% the fault of any one party. so, for instance, there are several moments in laguna 2008 that are so risky in part because casey is also refusing to yield. that's not to necessarily imply any blame or fault! of course, it might not be ideal for the most aggressive riders being able to bully everyone else as they please because they know they can generally rely on everyone else being more sensible and yielding. but the differing outcomes resulting from the choices made by the 'other' rider will always help influence perception of any race situation - a move that is seen as 'hard but fair' might have been seen as considerably more dangerous if the other party hadn't yielded

and yes... yes, there is absolutely a question of your success rate. this links back to point (1) - is the move plausible? there are moves that aren't really considered examples of 'hard racing' and certainly not dangerous... because they worked. take valentino's last corner move at catalunya 2009, at a corner where you don't traditionally overtake (remember, before the race jorge was going around tempting fate by saying that if you're ahead by that point you're sorted). sure, he goes for a gap that exists, but it could easily have gone wrong - and if a lot of other riders had tried that, then it would have. how do you think yamaha would have felt if valentino had taken both yamaha riders out at the very end of the race to allow ducati to claim an unlikely victory and an increased championship lead? here's another one: misano 2017 and marc making a last lap move in treacherous conditions to snatch the win. no contact required to make that risky as shit - and if stuff like that goes wrong too often they call you an idiot at best and dangerous at worst. of course, both valentino and marc have had moments where they very much did not pull off moves they were intending, which is how we get ambition outweighing talent and 'I hope he can learn from this one and improve for the future', among other hits. but, relative to the amount of risk they're regularly taking in their racing, they get a lot of reward for their troubles... because they're very good at what they do. the risk/reward calculation is one that they... uh, can both be very adept at, but it's also one that's fundamentally easier when you're skilled enough to pull off a lot of moves that would be beyond the capabilities of other riders. it's when you don't know how to judge your moments, when you keep trying moves that you can't pull off - that's where other riders will start having a problem with you

which is where we get to reputation! how different incidents are judged will also depend on the existing reputations of the riders involved and whether they are seen as 'fair' racers or not (an even more nebulous term, if possible), versus hard racers, dangerous racers... often, this is a question of quantity too - with certain riders on the grid, you will notice they're involved in controversial incidents disproportionately often. how likely people are to pay you the benefit of the doubt... how likely they are to believe you as to what your intent was in a certain situation, perhaps the most nebulous concept of them all. 'hard' and 'dangerous' aren't assessments that are made in isolation, and how severely riders are judged will often depend on their pasts and how those pasts are perceived by others

where you get into really sticky territory is... okay, both valentino and marc have more often than not (arguably) been able to stay on the right side of 'the line', where their moves might be hard but aren't putting anyone else in active danger - but that's because they are at least theoretically capable of exhibiting a good sense of judgement and are also good at what they're doing, as covered above. here's a question: do they bear any responsibility for when younger and/or worse riders copy their moves and/or general approach to racing, with worse consequences? when they have been criticised, when they are called dangerous, at times it's not just what they're doing in the moment... it's what they're inspiring. so you've got stuff like this from sete:

even more drastically than that, after the death of a fifteen year old rider in supersport in 2021, one of his fellow rider said this about marc (which marc unsurprisingly strongly pushed back on):

(just worth remembering, this is a rider who did walk away from the sport as a result and was clearly deeply affected by what happened - the marc comments were part of a longer statement that got overshadowed by this part and the resulting controversy)

setting aside the merits or lack thereof of these specific assertions, what of the general questions they raise... can you be a dangerous rider in an indirect fashion like this, by the very nature of your legacy? are riders who helped bring about a more aggressive baseline standard of racing in any way responsible for anything that happens as a result of this standard? (even worse, there's a line of succession here - after all, who was marc's biggest inspiration?) or does individual responsibility reign supreme here? athletes are by design only interested in their own successes, aren't they - and 'legacy' is so abstract, how can anyone know how others will be influenced by what they do? how can we even begin to assess how big an influence individual riders really are? let's not forget that there will be other factors - riders in the past have discussed how particular characteristics of the moto2 class have bred more aggressive racing, or the influence of the size of motogp bikes, or how difficult it is these days to overtake in a completely 'clean' manner, or the rules themselves and to what extent they have actually been enforced etc etc... maybe there's also an element of people focusing on the easiest, most visible explanation in the form of star riders, without giving proper consideration to the underlying factors that will influence an era's style of riding. again, how you feel about all of this will vary from person to person - but part of the hard vs dangerous debate is inherently forward-looking. and it's hardly just legacy... your hard/dangerous moves may also be setting a precedent in the present. to what extent is it the duty of riders to worry about that?

so then, that's what I've got. how you draw the distinction between hard racing and dangerous riding will come down to your individual ideological position and what you think racing even entails. do you think all contact is objectionable? do you think only the most extreme of transgressions - most of which don't qualify as 'racing' per se - should be labelled dangerous? somewhere in between? everyone will draw the line in a different place, according to the situation and their individual biases and understanding of events. it comes down, generally speaking, to how you judge the risks and rewards of a certain move, whether you think what a rider attempted was 'worth' it. all of which depends on whether the rider could realistically have managed whatever action they were attempting, whether the potential rewards were proportionate to the risks, or whether the whole thing was just too flat out dangerous to ever be worth it... of course, none of these are objective standards by which you can assess the racing, but they should give you a rough indication of what people are even talking about when they're distinguishing between hard and dangerous racing. riders as individuals are also far from consistent in their stances (surely not!) so you do have to play it by ear a lot of the times... and while there are plenty incidents where the majority can agree whether it is 'hard' or 'dangerous', there are plenty more where you're going to get a lot of contradictory opinions. no definitive answers here - unfortunately a lot of the time you'll just have to make your own mind up

[nexxocatt]

ETM ACT 1 RANTS

So, I thought, since ACT 1 of ETM is now officially done,,, why not talk abt it? Y'know, for fun? Cause I have some thoughts😇 Let's begin, shall we?

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Also; TW: Mentions of death, violence, swearing (I think that's all. If you feel triggered, feel free to click off!!)

TROY SAGA

I have a love/hate relationship with 'The Horse and The Infant' tbh, like YEAHHH NEO AVENGE THE HELL OUTTA ACHILLES!!! But also oh Jeez, Zeus wtf man. Also when I replayed the whole ACT I was really scared that it was playing 'Monster', since they start with the same opening😭😭 (And yes it was on shuffle)

I FUCKING LOVE THE VOCALS IN 'JUST A MAN' Like oh meh Gods who possessed Jorge to sing like that, holy moly (hehehe refference). But yeah, very heartbreaking song, especially when that "when does a man become a monster?" part hits. AND THE "FORGIVE ME"S😭😭

In 'Full Speed Ahead' I love how Ody says "Polites!" cuz like THAT'S HIS BESTIE!!! YAYYY :D Also, I saw a tiktok that was depicting the last part (when Ody tells Polites to get ready cuz they're going over to that island, and Eury is like we don't know what to expect) as the trio with the 'Pessimistic Realist'(Eury), the 'Realist who doubles as a Sunshine Protector'(Ody) and, ofc, the 'Sunshine'(Polites) ((And Ody lowkey becomes a mass murderer when Polites gets hurt))

I swear 'Open Arms' will forever be my fav song on this Saga, I just LOVE how Polites is like a supportive bsf to Ody and is trying to get him to approach the world differently. The Lotus Eaters were probably so happy to get them to face Polyphemus so that they won't have to worry abt him

I hate & love at the same time how Ody shows one act of kindness and Athena's like "🤨📸 Are you slacking off work??? Nahhh, not on my watch." But also the hopeful "Goddess and man, bestest of friends!" and then the broken "Okay :')" break me everytime cuz like Ody really just wants to get close(platonically) to Athena😭😭

THE CYCLOPS SAGA

I hate how Polites is like "I can't believe there's so many sheep here, just for us! :D" like buddy, do NOT believe it😭 Also I believe in the headcannon that Polyphemus was really about to let them go before Ody hit him with the "Eye to Eye" verse

Didn't realise that in the opening of 'Survive', the ensemble sings the sylables of "POLYPHEMUS" before a video pointed it out (I believe the name was 'Epic: The Musical but only when someone's name is said' and it had the opening of 'Survive'). Also can we just agree that the broken "captain" in 'Survive' and the several "CAPTAIN!"s in 'Ruthlessness' are gonna haunt Ody forever😭🙏

I truly believe that in 'Remember Them', Ody was really about to just leave before Athena showed up and he decided to reveal his name, home address, and social security number to one of his enemies🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ But can you blame him tho?? Like I find it pretty reasonable to let your defeated enemy know who they messed it, so that they won't fuck with you or anyone you hold close again.

Even before 'My Goodbye', when Athena said "don't dissapoint me" in 'Warrior of the Mind' I was like "Then don't be dissapointed! How 'bout that???" (As you can tell I'm fed up at Athena's reasoning for leaving Ody. And then she has the AUDACITY to call Telemachus her friend and then disregard viewing Ody the same way🤨📸)

THE OCEAN SAGA

I relistened to 'Storm' during a school roadtrip, when it was raining heavily, and LITERALLY AFTER the song was done, the rain stopped😨😨 Also love the addition of trumpets to show that it was Poseidon who started the storm(cuz trumpets are his signature instrument if I remember correctly)

I feel like 'Luck Runs Out' is heavily skipped troughout the musical, but it's a really cool song that just radiates "Odysseus No. Odysseus YES" energy

'Keep Your Friends Close' is my fav song in this Saga bc I really love whoever sings Aeolus' role😍😍 Also the "Everything changed since Polites" line made me audibly and visually scream😭 Like okay, BOLD😤😤

I will always laugh at the "ALL I GOTTA DO IS OPEN THIS BAG" "WHAT" part😂😂 Like he just lost 557 men and he just BOLTS IMMEDIATELY. And I was really confused when Poseidon said "I mean you totally could've avoided all this, had you just killed my son", cuz like, wasn't it in the prophecy that ody was meant to blind Polyphemus, not kill him?? (This is not meant to show hate to this specific part, only to show hate to Poseidon, bc he gave PTSD to my fav boy and was wrong at the same time😤)

THE CIRCE SAGA

I immediately started crying at the start bc the opening instrumental sounds like the "Watch where the birds fly, they will lead us to land. There we'll hunt for food, my second-in-command" in 'Full Speed Ahead' and it really shows that now there's just the two of them, Ody and Eury, 'cause they lost Polites(whom I'm still mourning). Also the "What" and the "Damn" Ody says during Eury's explaination are giving me life😭🙏

I saw in an animatic of 'Wouldn't You Like' by Ximena Natzel on YT that at the last chorus Hermes was just throwing Ody around in the air and I feel like the "Oh-woah"s Ody sings are him going along with whatever Hermes is doing and he's enjoying himself🥺 (But not for long)

I have no idea what to say for 'Done For' other than I think it took over the entire fandom when it released on Feb 14th. I love how Circe immediately knows that Hermes gave Ody the Molly flower and Ody's like "Alr ya caught me, but hey, Imma still defeat you"

I also don't know what to say about "There Are Other Ways" other than the "Or maybe the world will need a puppeteer more!" part is making me question my sexuality😳 (ofc I won't steal Talya from Jay but I'm just saying). Oh also the "12 long years" part definitely took over the fandom at that point😭

THE UNDERWORLD SAGA

I made the BIGGEST mistake of listening to this Saga on a school roadtrip (the same one I was on when relistening to 'Storm') and almost CRIED MY HEART OUT when I heard both Polites and Anticlea's parts😭😭 there's also a sound on TT where it first shows Polites' part in 'Open Arms' and then in 'The Underworld' and I'm crying so hard😭😭😭😭

I love Mason's voice when playing Tiresias so much ong. Also: "Who?" Odysseus asked calmly. LIKE FOOL IT'S YOU!!!!

I love the song 'Monster' so much, mainly for the fact that Ody's asking himself if the other beings they encountered along the way feel as guilty as he does. I also feel like Astyanax is just vibing to the song and Hector's like "That's literally the guy who killed you???" And he's like "Womp womp. This song's fire!!" (Cringe, Ik, but you can't stop me)

On a last note: JORGE WHEN I CATCH YOU JORGE- /j

But seriously, you wound us, Mr. Jalapeño; YOU WOUND ALL OF US.

Hope y'all enjoyed my rant🤪🤪

[soonysy]

Sometimes my Grian reminds me of Scaramouche from Genshin Impact

[sleep-nurse]

i just caught up with the omori manga chapters from 4 to 6

this genuinely makes me so fucking mad. what the fuck. what the FUCK was all of chapter 6

[blorbohoarder]

some apollo justice spoilers so be warned

apollo is kinda scary when you think about it (or it's just me being me)

he has a bracelet that activates when someone lies, he has hypersensitive observation abilities and can spot even the smallest twitch, he's from an (adoptive but it still counts) family of fighters/protectors that most DEFINITELY taught him how to fight (i mean he punched phoenix pretty hard, i'd assume he knows at least the basics), and he survived all the shit that happened in dual destinies (and he lived through kristoph's bullshit so you gotta give him some praise there)

basically he's phoenix but worse and i'd be lying if i said i wasn't at least a small bit scared of this lawyer

is he pretty kind? yeah, he is! but you have to admit, the whole 'perceive' thing is a bit scary when you think about it

[fiblertsos]

So, I'll probably start making video essays in the near future, and for now I have three major ideas(working titles):

- Witch's Heart and how to make a healthy dynamic born of conflict (or Wilardo Adler, Ashe Bradley and how to "love" through "hate")

- Disgaea 2, the ideal of masculinity, and sexual trauma (and why romance is not the solution to it)

- Lunar The Silver Star and how to botch every single romance you try to write (and how the solution was right there all along)

despite the names, none of these are specifically about shipping, they're all about canon text and why it works/why it doesn't work

if you have better ideas for names, or want something added to my list, please feel free to leave a suggestion

[skydreamplayzz]

Should have done it sooner but just did now.

I Was a bit lazy but i'm always. :) probably forgot somthing and i didn’t notice yet.

Small stuff/facts :

- Nature lover. Is outside pretty often, dosen't matter what time. He will go whenever he feels like it.

- is an artist just for fun. ( draws irl stuff.) Will mostly be sitting at a tree when drawing. (even at night, will not sleep that night. He sleeps more often when it's day. and will be awake night. somtimes.)

- Plushie collector. They bring him comfort in hard times.

- some bad habits : failing to say no to things he dislikes, Overthinking and worrying, sleeping too little but it dosen't effect him too much, avoiding eye contact. (maybe some more.. idk)

- He often talks to himself. (or to his shadow friend.)

- Just he or certain people can see his shadow friend. It was created by his mind (is like an imaginary friend.) But it has its own mind. if enough power, it can move things.

- He has a pet. (a glowing blue bunny. :D )

- anxious boi. He's able to fight tho, he's not completly useless in fights.

- Aside from drawing he reads and writes a lot.

- he can speak german. (just bc I can . )

- Is glitching pretty often, somtimes it's normal but often is caused due a situation like stress or similar.

-allergic to bunnys, (thats why He owns a magical bunny but would ignore his allergy to pet a Real one)

-Can't See blood well, will feel nauseas Quick.

- 1,75cm /teen/(He Dosent Like his height.)

(maybe adding more later)

[necrotic-nephilim]

do you ship helena bertinelli with anyone? if yes, then which characters and why? what's your favorite helena ship? do you have any helena rarepairs? (i know you've talked about helena/steph and you're so right about it, it's a very interesting ship)

!!!! i have so many ships for my best girl ever yes oh my god thank you for asking.

my top pairing is probably Vic Sage/the Question. Vic is the basic answer, but man. i love them so much. no couple has matched each other's freak like that have. Justice League Unlimited is a great adaptation of Helena in general, but it also did a great adaptation of Helena and Vic's relationship. how he just dedicates himself to helping her with no expected return, but also wants to make sure she doesn't go too far in a hunt for vengeance that never ends for her. i think a lot of characters often want to change Helena or expect things out of her for their own needs, like the Batfam and the BoP. but Vic is one of the few people who just wants her to be better for her own good. when he tries to stop her from killing it's not because of his morals, it's because he doesn't want this crusade to consume her. and i just. man i think about them a lot. Helena rlly likes weird little men who give themselves wholly to her.

Zinda Blake/Lady Blackhawk is also a top ship for me. tbh i just like Zinda. but i do love how Helena and Zinda interact, being the more rough and tumble members of the BoP. they're both outsiders, in different ways. Helena is an outsider of the Batfam and Zinda is literally from a different time and an outsider to the current world. their friendship is so genuine and i think if Babs and Dinah can have. whatever homoerotic nonsense going on during BoP, then Zinda and Helena deserve some homoerotic nonsense too. as a treat.

if we're willing to count New-52 Helena, then i enjoy Helena/Dick/Tiger. i think Helena and Dick being a past relationship is really important in pre-Flashpoint for Helena's development, though i don't ship them as a serious couple beyond a fling. but in the New-52, i think this throuple be fun. Helena and Tiger respect each other as two very driven, no-nonsense agents and then well. they both clearly have some kind of thing for Dick. so it's fun finding the balance of how they could all work together romantically.

and ofc. it's a crime to mention Helena ships and not mention Renee Montoya/the Question. every time they interact it's really fucking gay. it's so gay that Kate Kane, Renee's own ex, assumed Helena and Renee were gay. i cannot be convinced against this ship. i genuinely think this ship should be canon. i mean. DC did tease us with this moment from an alternate universe and it's lived rent for me since. fucking criminal for us to only get one panel of what we could have if DC let Helena be a fruit in the main universe. being in love with Helena Bertinelli should be a right of passage for the Question mantle, i personally believe. if you asked me like. genuinely who i want to see Helena date in the current comics, Renee is my top pick. (i would say Vic but he's fucking dead and the New-52 butchered him so rip my mans-)

lois lane (2019) #10

besides those ships, just about every ship for Helena probably falls into the category of rarepair. like you said i've talked about my love for Helena/Steph before bc god. i think it should be a thing more people ship. once i finish the fic i'm writing about them i will convince others to like it.

i also think Helena/Cass could be fun. in a *lot* of ways Helena and Cass are narrative parallels to each other. Helena was a victim of her family being murdered at about the same age Cass was forced to be a murderer. Helena grows up to believe in lethal justice because of this, and Cass grows up to be staunchly against it. Cass' Batgirl suit was made *by* Helena. they both want to be protectors of the most vulnerable people. they balance each other out in a lot of ways and i think they should kiss about it.

also probably a rarepair, i think Helena/Lady Shiva is fun. their fight during Birds of Prey (2010) had... questionable moments for Helena's characterization, but i do love so much that Helena knocks Shiva off her feet and gains a deep respect from Shiva. like. Shiva gives her a nickname and shows her admiration. i would like to see fanfic where Shiva continues to be weirdly admirable of Helena and bothering her non-stop. they could be a fun fucked up toxic yuri moment. this is just. so gay to me.

birds of prey (2010) #6

my most rare Helena pair would probably be Helena Wayne, actually. but specifically Helena Wayne of JSA (2022). ever since, for some reason, it was made canon that the current Helena Wayne was named after Helena Bertinelli and took the name Huntress to honor her i *cannot* stop thinking about them meeting. because in-universe it makes *no* fucking sense for Bruce to name his kid after *Helena Bertinelli*, someone he's regularly at odds with and doesn't like. it's clearly an awkward explanation to try to make the whole two Huntress situation make sense. (it's almost as bad as Helena Wayne in the New-52 using Helena Bertinelli as an alias.) but because it's such an odd choice, i do think it could be fun for Helena Wayne, when she's back in time to see Bruce, to find Helena Bertinelli to get to know the woman she was named after and Helena Bertinelli just being. baffled by the idea of *Batman* naming his kid after her. it could be a fun fucked up moment.

my other super rarepair is Kara Zor-L/Power Girl. they had like. one meaningful interaction of JSA Classified and it's been PLAGUING me. something about when Power Girl doesn't remember her past and she's seeking a friend, she instinctively goes to find Huntress? but it's wrong bc this isn't *her* Huntress and neither of them understand why Power Girl would seek Helena out? god it's so good. i'm always a big fan of ships where one person in the ship is *so* obviously using the other person as a replacement for someone they lost and they both know it. it's such a doomed angsty thing where you could play with Helena actually really liking Kara, but knowing that she's just a replacement for Kara's Helena Wayne. good fucked up shit man.

and lastly: i really ship her with Dawn Granger/Dove. there's no canon basis for this, they didn't have a ton of interactions even when they were both on the BoP. but there's a very kind innocence to Dawn that contrasts Helena's violence really well. and i do love a ship with a corruption kink vibe to it. let Helena corrupt Dawn. i could write such fucked up porn about these two.