#or analyze as if they’re characters. and that’s Not Great actually! no matter how much everyone wants to claim it’s just ‘fun and whimsy’!

[charcubed]

.

[alicefromwhichplanet]

Why Optimus being a good person in upper class/ Megatron being an angry rebellious lower class is a great and meaningful plot

Recently, with TFOne coming out, I’ve learned that the new movie made changes to Optimus and Megatron’s backstories and instead of giving them different backgrounds, like coming from different classes (like in tfp or idw1), they’re put in the same class as colleagues in mines. I’ve already seen people celebrating this as “an innovation/ something new” and an uplifting of Optimus’s character, because as the lower class he gets to rebel, therefore Megatron’s character aura won’t overshadow his. But actually, I am quite disappointed at this change. I think such arrangement is a worse one, not a better one, especially to those who love character depth and realist plots.

First of all, I want to argue that Optimus and Megatron carry every different roles in all transformers shows in general. By this I mean no matter how the plots change, the foundation of their motivations are different—maybe only except for Shattered Glass, where their roles are exchanged. Megatron’s foundation of motivation is: war/chaos. No matter how much his actions are justified, Megatron is still a bad guy, because he sticks to a path of violence and destruction rather than peace and negotiations. In contrast, (I put Megatron first because Optimus’s motivation is clearer if compared with Megatron) Optimus’s underlying logic (the foundation of his character motivation) is: peace/order. No matter how brilliant the battle scenes were, no matter how much he talked about “stopping Megatron at all costs”, Optimus’s final goal is to seek peaceful solution to the conflicts he engaged in, and find a way to resume order. That is also the basic logic of every transformers show, and how the playwrights justify autobots as the good guys, decepticons the bad guys. (This can be easily understood through series that give Megatron and decepticons fully justifiable motivations, like tfp and idw. They started the war because they were angry at the unjust treatments, and became villains because they eventually became a source of ongoing chaos and destruction)

With this premise, it is not difficult to see how brilliant and intelligent it is to put Optimus and Megatron in two different classes. Because people’s thoughts vary with very different experiences. In the past successful shows like tfp, the conflict between Optimus/Megatron is perfectly explained with an idealist/realist contrast.

Being an idealist advocate of freedom and equality is a successful way most Optimus(es) are portrayed. Under this premise, Optimus is basically a good person with strong sense of morality. He is aware of the problems in his system, seeks a change, but because he is from a more “privileged” class, or to say, closer to the power holders, he tends to develop an idealistic view of solving problems with milder approaches: handing in proposals, talking with congress members, or growing his own influence and trying to persuade the congress. In any of these cases, Optimus’s ideas are in line with his background. And like any well-written character, he is limited by what he can see in the class he belongs to.

As we’ve analyzed at the very beginning, Megatron’s characterization mainly revolves around “war and chaos”, one clever way (tfp and idw) playwrights used to make him more than just an evil stage prop is to make him more of a realist, in contrast with Optimus’s idealism. This usually comes with the backstory of Megatron coming from the bottom of the society, rebels with violence against social suppression he could not endure— at the same time, he also has a natural tendency to seek radical solutions. With this disadvantaged background, Megatron’s violent behaviors and refusal of peace are not groundless actions. It is a clever way to reflect the reality and increase plot depth. In my opinion, explaining “why the villain does evil” is the key to a successful story.

Another thing I want to argue is that, I don’t think giving Megatron and decepticons a justifiable backstory is diminishing/ “overshadowing” Optimus’s character. Because as we analyzed above, Megatron and Optimus have different roles to play. One overthrows the old system, the other rebuilds the new system. One raises the question, the other spends more efforts to find a feasible solution. Optimus and Megatron are two sides of the same coin. The depth of Megatron’s motivation actually decides how brave/noble/meaningful Optimus is in the act of “defeating” Megatron. For example, If Megatron’s “evil” is flatly portrayed as a bad-tempered child throwing a tantrum, Optimus’s “act of justice” is merely an older child calming the naughtiest kid in class.

Some believe that “not being able to stand up and rebel against suppression (like idw Megatron did)” made Optimus somehow “uncool” compared to Megatron. But he’s not. In fact, Optimus’s journey is not a bit easier compared to Megatron.

Instead of “suppressed class rebelling when there’s nothing to lose”, Optimus’s growth arc follows the route of a compassionate upper class who can look beyond where he stands for, and resonate with people who’s living under him and away from his life. Compared to Megatron’s “outward rebellion”, Optimus’s rebellion is “inward”: he has to fight himself to reach the higher ground— fighting the urge to step back into his conventional ways of thinking, fighting his self-doubts and inborn modesty to step back from leadership (very well presented in TFA and TFP), and by the end of the war, in most Megop fictions, Optimus has to fight back the urge to continue the war as he is used to, and step forward to “see” and “move” Megatron— understanding him, reaching out to him, loving him. Many people take “fighting on with the villains” as a braver, manly act, but actually stopping the conflict takes more courage and wisdom. And in the long run, it’s always a superior choice.

In short, I still think writing Megatron as the rebellious lower class and Optimus a compassionate upper class is a genius idea beyond comparison. They’re bound to be different, and there’s no harm in creating separate backstories for them. Like I’ve read in an early megop novel that has become a classic: “I’m here to do things you wouldn’t, so that you can do what’s right.” (Megs to OP)

In my own impression, Megatron is a radical revolutionary, and Optimus is an idealist reformer. The two carry different aims and functions in the plots, their values contradict and supplement each other, and so when they’re finally united, sitting down and listening to each other, their unity is incomparable.

[littlemisspascal]

Rockford & Roan

Pairing: Tim Rockford x Female Reader/OFC 'Roan'

Word Count: 2.8k

Summary: You meet Tim Rockford in the true crime section of the library of all places.

Rating: T 

Warnings: Language, reference of self-harming + assault, meet cute, Reader has a dog, Reader has military background, Superpower AU, They Were Roommates AU, self-esteem issues, soulmates-ish, original characters, worldbuilding

- Reader has no first name and no physical traits described in detail except for being shorter than Rockford

Author Note: Elements of X-Men and Sherlock/Elementary mashed together because my brain said so. I've got more of these two (plus another Pedro Boy *cough* Thief *cough*) outlined if y'all are interested in seeing more of this world. It was a lot of fun attempting this new guy 😊

Special thanks to @beecastle for beta reading and encouraging me 💜💜💜

Part 2

The Session

You cross your legs, trying to get comfortable, immediately grimacing when the plush leather couch squeaks as a result. Your psychologist’s office smells overwhelmingly of lavender from the burning candle on her desk. Dr. Odair insists the smell has a calming effect to combat anxiety, but you remain unconvinced. You’re unconvinced about a lot of the advice these mandatory sessions offer, actually.

“How’s your search going?” Dr. Odair asks, pen poised above a fresh sheet of paper. “Have you connected with anyone?”

According to the internet, Dr. Charlotte Odair is one of the leading experts on empaths, telepaths, and other similar mind-gifts in the world. She’s also renowned for helping discharged military personnel integrate back into civilian society which meant you didn’t have much of a choice seeing anybody else.

Most people’s emotions are a finicky and erratic mess, shifting and fluctuating depending on the countless number of influences stemming from one’s surroundings. Some feelings are easy to identify at once, others are too obscure or complex to be named. The latter are the ones which overwhelm you. The ones which bury beneath your skin, an itch you can’t scratch no matter how harshly your nails dig into your arms, deeper and deeper until they’re stained red. 

Dr. Odair’s emotions resemble crystalline waters, transparent and blatant. There’s no second-guessing with her, no hidden tricks. She’s been trained, masterfully so, to carefully bind her feelings to her will.

“Yeah, it’s been going great,” you answer, then nod down at your feet where a small, golden brown dog lies with his chin on his paws. “Connected with Banjo here over the weekend. We’re a total match for each other.”

She fixes you with a look over the thick rims of her glasses. “Is that so?”

Compared to humans, animals have a much smaller range of emotions. They broadcast exactly what they want like a neon sign, whether that be food, shelter, or a good petting. And if their desires are met, the hum of their contentment is a far more pleasant tune than most songs on the radio nowadays.

You’d actually been looking to get a cat when you went to the pet shelter, dismissing dogs as too needy and energetic for your liking, but fate had other plans. One look at the little mutt, with his tangled fur and deep, froggy bark, and you were signing the adoption paperwork within minutes. And still, even after that unexpected love at first sight moment, Banjo continues to surprise you with how easily he adapts to your routine, standing by your side like he always belonged there.

You tell Dr. Odair as much, but there’s no response even though you know she’s absorbing every word out of your mouth, turning them over in her head, analyzing each syllable. Her mood remains almost frustratingly steady, giving no indication as to what she’s thinking. That look remains though, blue eyes narrowing even further. 

“You never said my match had to be another human.” Your hands tighten around Banjo’s leash, hoping she doesn’t catch the defensive edge your voice has taken. 

Her pen starts to scribble a note across the paper, too similar to a doctor’s chicken scratch for you to read upside down. 

You bite the inside of your cheek, glancing towards the flickering candle. Damn it. 

“Miss Roan,” Dr. Odair begins, and you taste blood on your tongue, “I know it’s annoying, being forced to attend these sessions every week, but the fact of the matter is, empaths aren’t meant to live alone. Especially not after what you’ve endured. Finding someone to match with is what your empathy needs to finally settle down.”

She makes it sound so easy, like the rest of the world doesn’t have any issues with mind-gifts and the lack of privacy that comes with them. Like there isn’t a set of laws specifically written for people who can read thoughts with a single touch or predict the future through dreams because their gifts aren’t as flashy, as visible, and thus in the eyes of the government that makes them the scariest threat of all.

On the battlefield things were different. The laws of polite society didn’t apply, not out there amongst the pools of blood and ceaseless gunfire. Your mind-gift was a tool to take advantage of, capable of numbing pain away faster than drugs and boosting the troop’s morale to a near fever-pitch. There was no time to stop and assess the damage you were self-inflicting unintentionally by overworking your empathy. Nobody who cared enough about you as a person to recognize the warning signs—not even your own self.

It was a miracle, as your commanding captain would later put it, when enemy forces staged a midnight raid on the camp and a man pinned you to the floor, radiating nothing but vulgar lust, that your lapse of control only resulted in putting every hostile within a mile radius to sleep instead of killing them instantly. 

A miracle for the unit maybe, but for you it marked the abrupt conclusion of your military career. Loss of control of one’s gifts stipulated their immediate release from serving, even if in your case it saved lives. Your discharge papers were officially signed and filed by the higher-ups before you regained consciousness three days later with a pounding headache from hell. Your mind-gift, once seen as a helpful aid to win battles, was now a time bomb dumped into the hands of Dr. Odair to deactivate. 

And what is her brilliant solution? Matching. Or, as it used to be called back in the olden days when gifts were thought to be divinely bestowed instead of being entirely unpredictable mutations in one’s genetic code, soulbonding. A powerful connection forged between two individuals, locking their gifts together and intertwining their lives until death splits them apart. 

Movies and fairytales will describe matching as the ultimate manifestation of true love, but love’s got nothing to do with it. Matching is a direct result of a human’s innate instinct to survive. It most commonly occurs when one or both members of the potential pairing possess dangerous gifts likely to cause harm to themselves. Supposedly, the bond is instantaneous once the two meet, causing their gifts to settle down, easier to control. Balancing each other out as if they were two halves of the same whole.

Sounds wonderful. In theory, at least. The biggest problem with matching is it can’t be done with just any random person. It can’t be forced either, not even between established couples. The bond happens solely on the choice of the gifts, not the will of the people involved. The hows and whys and other intricate details of the fateful decision-making process remain a mystery, one perhaps beyond mankind’s ability to ever solve, but regardless, it’s hard to argue against the overwhelmingly positive end results. To date, every recorded pair has admitted their match stabilized their gifts and saved their lives from an early death.

So until your mind-gift figures out who it wants, all you can do is walk the streets of Fox Leap, searching for just the right stranger in a sea of wrong strangers, empathy buzzing like a live wire pressed against your brain with each disappointing encounter.

“I am looking.” You’re being honest, despite what the dropping of your eyes to the floor might suggest. It’s too difficult to meet her gaze, afraid of the pity you might find shining through her carefully maintained facade. “I’m just not sure they want to be found.”

The Meeting

You meet Tim Rockford in the true crime section of the library of all places.

Fox Leap Central Library has essentially become your second home ever since you sought shelter from the rain one miserably gray afternoon two weeks after moving there. It’s one of the few places in the city that doesn’t make you feel like ants are crawling along your spinal cord, designed with dozens of cozy spaces to curl up with a good book and cup of coffee and zone out for a couple of blissful hours.

Your eyes are drifting over the colorful covers of fantasy books offering to transport you to alternate universes full of mythical beasts when you feel it. A flash of anger, stronger and more intense than anything you’ve ever felt, illuminating your mind-gift identical to a streak of lightning tearing through the darkness of night.

The emotion fades just as fast as it made itself known, but your empathy bays like a bloodhound picking up a scent trail, urging you to follow it to the source. Your fingers twitch at your side. Not with the desire to scratch, you realize with surprise, but to soothe. You haven’t felt this kind of compulsion since you’d been on the frontlines, taking away the pain from bullet-stricken soldiers, but that had been your purpose back then, a duty expected to fulfill. 

This…This is a purely selfish want.

You bite your lip, glance down at Banjo, tail wagging as if to say what are we waiting for?, and then surrender to the temptation.

Three aisles down stands the library’s only other occupant in sight: a tall, broad-shouldered man in a white shirt and tan trench coat with dark, unkempt hair like he’s been running his fingers through it lately. He’s rubbing at his stubbled jawline, brown eyes glaring beneath furrowed brows at a book on serial killers. 

He’s the perfect example of tall, dark and handsome but it’s not his looks that has your pulse quickening, a flutter of something dangerously akin to hope beginning to stir. If Dr. Odair’s emotions are a crystalline pool, then this man’s are an ocean in the midst of a storm. Turbulent on the surface, rough and irritable, concealing unexpectedly mesmerizing depths luring your mind-gift to dive deeper and deeper–

“Psychic or empath?” the man asks without looking away from the shelf, a slight raspiness to his voice that has your stomach flip-flopping before full awareness of his question even registers.

Startled back into your own head, you can only manage an eloquent, “Huh?”

He finally turns, piercing you with his gaze, intense yet not unkind. The storm afflicting his temperament lessens some, followed by a series of feather-light curious touches along the edges of your mind-gift.

You suck in a breath, expecting the stinging bolt of displeasure that usually follows when someone interacts with your empathy. Whether they’re being delicate or not, it’s never fun to have the most sensitive part of yourself poked and prodded and toyed with. But there are no symptoms of a headache in the seconds that follow. Only a strange sort of thrill at the connection. A sense of rightness.

And there’s that damn fluttering again…

Once again, you find yourself caught off-guard, unsure how the roles have swapped so quickly from you seeking to comfort a stranger to now you being comforted by him.

“Empath,” he says after another beat, answering his own question with a confidence that’s neither tentative nor arrogant. It sounds like a regular fact of life. The sky is blue, the sun is hot, and you’re an empath. 

“Y-yeah, that’s right.” You nod your head, hands trembling where they are clutching Banjo’s leash. God, you don’t understand what’s wrong with you, why his stare has such a strong effect on your galloping heartbeat. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to–”

The man looks down at Banjo then, taking in his snaggletoothed grin and perked ears with a soft smile of his own. “Cocker, poodle, schnauzer—interesting ancestry. I bet you have quite the story to tell.”

How did he–? You shake your head, getting your thoughts in some semblance of an order now that you’re no longer the sole focus of his attention. “This is Banjo. I adopted him from the shelter last weekend. We’re still getting to know each other.”

“Oh, good,” his soft grin widens, revealing a dimple in the side of his cheek. “It won’t take long to catch up then. How do you feel about takeout?”

You blink, frowning because huh? Is he just asking your opinion or is he asking something…more? It’s been so long since you’ve been asked on a date, you’re not even sure what the common etiquette is anymore. Isn’t everything arranged online nowadays? Swiping left or right and all that app rubbish?

“My schedule is unpredictable which leaves little time for cooking or grocery shopping, so at least three days a week I order takeout,” he continues, seemingly oblivious to your increasing confusion. “I also have frequent bouts of chronic insomnia, sometimes I’m up for days without any sleep.”

“Why are you telling me this?” 

The question comes out sounding ruder than it had in your head, but if he’s offended by it the man shows no outward sign. “I figured if I were in your shoes, I’d want to know upfront the annoying traits of who I’ve matched with.”

“Who I’ve–?” you choke on the words, eyes widening.

Oh, you think faintly, a strange clarity sweeping over you, at last connecting the dots that seem so incredibly obvious now. What better reprieve for an overwhelmed mind-gift than an underwater safe haven muffling the chaos of the city. It’s you.

The Offer

“Rockford,” the man—your match—says, extending a hand to shake, warm and calloused. “Tim Rockford.”

You introduce yourself, probably looking a bit unhinged with how wide you’re grinning but you can’t help it. You finally found your match. The urge to run to Dr. Odair’s office and jump on her sofa, screaming he’s actually fucking real! at the top of your lungs is near irresistible.  

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” Rockford says. “I had a feeling our paths would cross soon once I settled into my new place. An apartment a couple blocks from here. Three bedrooms. One for me, one for my office, and the other is yours if you’re interested.”

Your eyebrows lift incredulously. “Seriously?”

“A good roommate is hard to find these days,” Rockford responds easily, shrugging. “Who better to live with than my match?”

You think about sharing a space with someone else. Someone who's human that you can have a two-way conversation with over meals, who doesn’t react to your mind-gift with repulsion or contempt. He makes a good point; good roommates are hard to find. A yes sits on the tip of your tongue, held back by a little voice in the back of your head insisting it’s too good to be true. He’ll grow tired of you eventually. Get sick of you dipping in and out of his head like a parasite. You should say no. There’s too much of a high potential you’ll wind up hurt and alone again. It’s too risky.

But, another voice chimes in, deep down beside the fragile hope, if it worked out for all the other matched pairs, then aren’t the odds in your favor? 

“You barely know me,” is what ends up coming out of your mouth, a weak extending of a shovel for him to dig himself out of his offer.

He hums a thoughtful note, head tilting to one side, and your shoulders start to instinctively tense up in preparation of rapid backpedaling. A sudden wave washes over your mind-gift, though, steady reassurance drowning your budding fears.

“I know you’ve recently been discharged from the military,” he begins calmly, that same matter-of-fact tone from before. “I know you’re new to the city, not by personal choice but because you must attend mandatory sessions with a psychologist who resides here and has an excellent reputation with patients sharing your similar background. You’ve begun dreading the appointments—possibly because of trust issues, more likely because until you meet your match there’s very little she can do for your empathy and that frustrates you. And I know you adopted Banjo hoping he would pass as a substitute for me, but while he’s been helpful providing companionship, your mind-gift has continued causing you pain up until our meeting.” A pause for a quiet breath. “I think we have quite a solid foundation already, wouldn’t you agree, Miss Roan?”

“I–you–what?” You blink dumbly at him, brain function short-circuiting. Seriously, what? “How on earth…?”

“We all have our gifts."

And maybe it’s because he doesn’t elaborate further, meeting your quizzical stare evenly, still emanating steady reassurance, that makes it surprisingly easy for you to make a decision. You want to know this man. Not just his likes and dislikes, no, you want to know his happiness, his hurt, all the miserable shades of his sadness and every sharp pang of his rage. You want to look at him the way he looks at you: confident and steadfast. Unique to him in all the world.

If the stories are true and he’s going to be a part of your life for a long, long time, then you have the distinct feeling you’re going to need every one of those precious seconds to understand the infinite depths of Tim Rockford.

So, you nod your head. “Okay,” you tell him, lips curling at the corners into another wide grin when you detect how pleased he is with your agreement. “Let’s give it a try.”

“Meet me there tomorrow afternoon,” he says, grabbing the book he’d been burning holes into earlier with his glare. “445D Albatross Lane. Bright yellow door, can’t miss it.”

Then, turning on his heel in one fluid movement, he heads for the front desk, leaving you to process how a single meeting has just shifted your entire world on its axis.

[yuseirra]

I do think deeply when I read a work. Of course, whether my ways of thinking is a common way of experiencing a story is up for debate, but I take it seriously.

I’m not incapable of seeing a story as a whole and summarizing it. I’ve done that kind of analysis several times before.

Onk, however, is simply unfinished. You can’t properly evaluate something unfinished—it should be returned, rewritten, and resubmitted. That’s what this is.

It’s not that it’s incomprehensible. Actually, it lines up really well with mythology. But then it makes me wonder, "Was I supposed to know Japanese mythology to understand this manga?" Like, seriously? (No, really, Kamiki overlaps with a specific god so much that it feels intentional. Down to the detail of not being officially married to his wife in the myth—there’s speculation among the people, but it’s never confirmed. And, in the myth, there’s a story of this god drowning. I think that’s why Kamiki drowned in the story, but I’m not even sure he’s actually dead himself. We didn’t see his body. I feel like he might have survived, unlike Aqua. So many things about this character are too strange and he was never explained. What if the author intends to use him somewhere else?;; I doubt this but my friend was suggesting this a pretty serious manner and it made me ponder)

Oh, and did you know? Just yesterday, I found out that Sarutahiko has this characteristic of his eyes sparkling brightly. Apparently, his eyes literally shine, as if something is in it.

Even so… leaving aside whether it’s a masterpiece, a failure, or something in between, the fact remains that this story doesn’t provide the necessary explanations within itself. You can’t understand what’s going on without analyzing it on your own.

A friend suggested that some of the shared settings might be explained in other works by the same author, but…

"Should I care?" That’s the thought that crossed my mind, it made me genuinely frustrated. That’s the author’s business, not the readers’. People spend their money and time expecting to see a complete story. This is just wrong. You shouldn’t write stories this way. If they needed to work on something else, they should’ve put this on hiatus. Even so, when it comes to serialized works that are published for years, sold as volumes, and turned into merchandise—this is unacceptable. No matter what, you need to tie up loose ends. This story wasn’t tied up; it was just left hanging.

That’s how I feel about this piece right now.

I think I understand what kind of mindset led the writers into writing like this. But I don’t want to be so understanding about it, because I actually cared so much thus far. It makes me angry and very frustrated. I’m not usually the kind of reader who fights with authors, but this kind of ending makes me feel like, “Is the author trying to pick a fight with me?” It really feels that way. It’s too much. The author is so mean. Maybe not intentionally, but still, how could someone treat their readers—especially the ones who truly love their work��like this? Knowing and still being careless is worse. This kind of author doesn’t deserve readers who genuinely care for their work.

They should do it properly. Don’t just brush things off vaguely. Whether it turns out great or terrible, sincerity is visible if it's there. But as I watched the ending, all I could think was, “Ah, they’ve really given up.” I get what they’re trying to say, but they’ve just dropped the ball here.

Is it just their personality? Like, they have something they want to say but are afraid of being clear about it, so they’re just like, “Oh well, that’s how it was, I guess!” and then quietly leave without a plan for what’s next. There are probably people like that in the world. Must be a comfortable way to live. But then don’t use such heavy material if you don’t have a plan! Why didn’t they just end it at Volume 1?

I’ll take some more time to think about it and work on my own art.

Reading this manga made me realize I really need to write my own story. So, I’m finally planning to create something original. Before I die, I want to share my story with the world too.

[petrichormore]

AND ONE MORE THING: DRAMATRIO IS FINE

(Also to be clear: I like analyzing these things. I enjoy “arguing” over these characters - it’s like enrichment to me, it’s fun, I’m never actually mad I just like writing long posts. And yeah the following is about the characters, not the CCs.)

I see a lot of people talking about how the election is tearing apart friendships - specifically the dramatrio and how Bad and Baghera don’t trust Forever anymore and yadda yadda

And to that I say: Are you sure?

(loooooong analysis below cut)

Are you sure? Because last I checked all three of them greet each other warmly. All three of them care deeply about each other and get along well. All three of them have repeatedly stated that they wouldn’t mind if one of the others became president - and that’s still true. They are at odds politically, maybe, but I think people are overestimating exactly how much they disagree. They argue about politics and they criticize each other’s points, yes, but that doesn’t mean they don’t trust each other or that they think anyone would “become a dictator.”

And I’m seeing that a lot too, on twitter and on tumblr: this idea that Bad and Baghera are convinced Forever and Cellbit will become dictators. And while I think it’s interesting… it isn’t true. I can only imagine this came from the debate where Bad and Baghera criticized insaneduo’s perceived embracing of centralized power? (So did Gegg/Slimecicle, btw) But once again, it’s not Forever and Cellbit that they distrust (well Cellbit maybe a little), it’s a position of centralized power that technically only has to listen to the Federation. Which is a valid ground on which to criticize an opponent’s platform, at least in my opinion. (I agree far more with socio-anarchy aka Bad’s position than a centralized government of any kind so I’m aware I’m biased on that.) But I’m not biased in saying that Bad and Baghera definitely don’t think Forever and Cellbit would become dictators, they’re simply wary of what the Federation could do, and also aware that absolutely power corrupts absolutely.

And before I get to how Bad and Forever are still clearly besties, I do want to hesitantly broach the idea that the position of president - as it’s presented by the federation - is not inherently democratic. In fact, I’d argue it’s kind of more similar to a dictator role, or maybe that of a monarch. The president is not required to listen to anyone, the president does not have to have the peoples’ agreement. The only force the president is actually required to answer to is that of the federation. Just because the president is called “the president” and the federation is making people vote for it doesn’t mean the position itself is democratic in nature - just the process by which the position is decided. You could call the president “king” or “ruler” and it would fit just as well.

Anyway.

Bad said just today that he thinks Forever would make a great president; his problem is not with Forever, his problem is with the Federation. In fact, Bad is still completely okay with Forever entering his and Dapper’s home, and if Bad really felt like Forever was a threat? I assure you that permission would be immediately revoked. And yet it hasn’t been.

Bad and Forever literally spent time with each other on stream today, and neither of them discussed politics because politics doesn’t matter in regards to their friendship. This has always been the case, and nothing has really changed. People claim Bad got more distrusting of his friends due to the election and I’d say he didn’t get more distrusting of his friends in particular - he just got more distrusting in general, because people were being secretive. He’s paranoid, and he’s right to be. Also I know Bad told Etoiles that he might (MIGHT) help Foolish kill other candidates (besides Gegg and Baghera) and I’m saying: He’s not serious. He’s not being serious. He’s a silly guy. Like try and picture Bad genuinely trying to help Foolish kill Forever. You can’t. I know you can’t. Because he’s not serious. If anything, he’d probably just want to watch Foolish get killed trying. This is the same guy who proposed a whale pit of death as a viable assassination method - he’s not actually out to kill anyone (except elquackity) he’s just messing around. He thinks it would be funny, and he’s right. If Bad actually kills a candidate (that’s not Elquackity) unprovoked I will be so so proud of him.

Because if Bad wanted Forever dead - if he truly thought he needed to kill Forever or Cellbit to save the island - they would be dead. And Bad would do it himself; he would do anything to protect the island’s inhabitants, and he’s fully capable of it (I recall Baghera getting upset with him specifically because he refused to promise not to, under any circumstances, kill her.) Bad will kill if he feels like he has to - he just honestly doesn’t really want to. It’s that shrimple.

[rickktish]

Today my mom and I finished the 90’s superman TV show Lois and Clark and it’s a really great series and I think every superman fan ever should watch it because Henry Cavill has nothing on Dean Cain, but that’s not actually what this post is about. This post is about the fact that in a pre-Superboy Jon Kent world, the central arc of Clark Kent’s character was that he wanted a family of his own, and this culminates in (spoilers) the last episode being centered on the question of what to do about having kids since Clark’s biology is not compatible with humans’ for making babies, and my anthropology major brain couldn’t not analyze this through a gender/sexuality lens since I took a class all about the cultural impact of gender and media portrayals of it.

Here’s the thing: in the vast majority of media (I almost said western media but then I thought about it more and I think it’s actually pretty darn universal) infertility is a female plotline. It’s one of the few plots that is inherently feminine in nature because for so much of history we’ve viewed infertility as a woman’s concern. If a man and a woman can’t have a child, after all, it must be something wrong with her, right? (Ha. Ha. Ha. It’s not funny, actually.) But this means that this silly little superman show from the 90’s is portraying an infertility plot line, but the problem isn’t the female character’s fertility, it’s her husband’s. Except that since fertility is an “inherently” feminine plot line, we get almost no emotional impact of this news on Clark himself. Lois, after all, is the one who spent the second to last episode going through the question of whether or not she’s ready to have children and deciding that she is. It could perhaps be argued that this is because Clark has been ready for a while, because a family is all that he wants, but I think it’s also because the question of a working woman choosing to have a child is, culturally speaking, a very different question to a man choosing to have a child, and has been since women became acceptable in the work place.

Here’s my point though: Clark gets the news that he can’t reproduce with Lois, goes to talk to her, and ends up holding her as she mourns this loss of something they were hoping for. She doesn’t comfort him, except by coming up with actions they can take to try to get around their incompatible biology. Lois is the one who gets to mourn, while Clark continues to emphasize that they will be okay no matter what because they love each other. And all I could think about watching this was how removed Clark was from his own fertility. How completely separated he was from it. Because in spite of the issue being his fertility and not hers, Lois is the one who gets to have an emotional arc about it, because she is the woman in the story.

One of the solutions they come up with is to ask Lois’s father, who (in rare fashion) is not a general but instead a handy-dandy generalized “scientist,” to see if there’s anything he can come up with for them. In order to do so, though, they need to reveal to him that Clark is Superman. The whole scene where they’re trying to figure out how to tell him feels a little bit queer, because I can see a modern writer turning everything from it into a trans reveal instead of a secret identity, but that’s a little beside the point. The point is that still, at no point does Clark seem distressed for himself, but instead for how Lois feels about all this— up to and including the point about her mother’s lack of maturity meaning that she doesn’t feel safe telling her they’re trying to have a baby or that they’re facing infertility.

And from all this, somehow all I can think of is how far we’ve culturally removed men from power over their own fertility. It feels like the only things that get discussed on the news or in shows, up to and including the abortion issue, is women’s fertility. We rarely talk about giving men education about and control over their fertility, only women. Women’s bodies, women’s rights, but what about the fact that the men don’t seem to be attached enough to their own fertility to know or even consider what they can do to control it for themselves? I actually wonder if the requirement (historical or present, depending on where you live) for women to get permission from their husbands to get their tubes tied has more to do with men’s fertility than with their wives’, because in some ways it seems that the only control a man is offered over his own fertility in our culture is by exerting control over his wife. There’s an alienation between men and their ability to procreate that honestly baffles me now that I’ve thought about it. It’s separated from them by their relationship with their partner’s body, and I wonder if somehow giving men more control over their own fertility, and educating them about it and how they can reclaim it from where it has been outsourced to another body, might be a positive step. I wonder if our cultural disconnect between fathers and children might take a few steps if men were taught to view their reproductive systems as more than just pleasure centers, as a part of their personal fertility.

I don’t really know where I’m going with this, I think there’s more to be explored with this idea but I’m not fully prepared to go on the biological tangent with it yet so I think I’m going to leave it at that. I just. What would it take for men to reclaim their own fertility from where it has been culturally outsourced to women’s bodies?

[lila-rae]

For the 2 people who asked for this ( @jeanjamesb @yesimscots )

I really want us to normalize viewing celebrities as first and foremost humans that share pretty much all the same traits, wants, desires, annoyances as any human.

Celebrities are not fictional characters. Their lives aren’t like your favorite movie couple solely existing when they’re seen by the media. They have lives that probably look similar to your own.

Now Lila where are you going with this?

So glad you asked. Last night I got an ask that essentially said “Z is back in London because she liked a post a 4:30am London time”. Ignoring the fact that if she was back in LA it would be fine. I want to talk about how in only her apparently being awake at 4:30 seems unfathomable. I’m pretty sure everyone on this godforsaken dumpster fire of an app has been on here at 3/4/5 in the morning. Whether that’s from waking up in the middle of the night or just staying up late, we know it’s not an impossibility that people would be awake on social media in the middle of the night. Hell I’m constantly on here at 4/5 am. It doesn’t indicate a time zone jump. But also if she was in LA who cares. That changes nothing about their relationship no matter how much some of you hope it will. But again what makes Z do special that being up at 4:30 is a shocking act?

Now I also want to point out the “he’s golfing where is she” “he’s golfing clearly she left” “he left her alone to go hang out with his friends” asks that popped up. They are in a romantic relationship but it is not the only personal relationship they have. It is healthy to still have friends. It is healthy to have time by yourself. They don’t need to, and shouldn’t, spend 24 hours a day together. I don’t know a single couple, and let’s be real neither do you, that spends every moment of free time together. You know why? Because that would be unhealthy. Him going on a guys trip is healthy and also great for him. It’s amazing to see people especially men nourishing their friendships in adulthood. But also even without a big trip doing things alone isn’t weird or indicative of your relationship health. You know what I love to do? Go to target by myself and just roam the aisles. Does that mean I’d rather be at target than with my family? Nope. It means I enjoy time to myself and drinking coffee while leaning on a cart. If we see one out shopping while they’re in the same city it is not inherently a negative thing. It’s just normal human behavior.

So next time you decide this is weird maybe analyze that thought a little more and see if you’d think it was bad if any other person/couple you know did it.

And I get that the people who actually need to hear this will probably ignore it, but just in case you don’t, I want you to reevaluate how you view relationships and think about wether or not you’re setting up an unhealthy mindset when it comes to relationships. Like forget the TZness of it all. These asks clearly show a lack of knowledge of healthy interpersonal relationships, (familial, platonic, and romantic). And I want better for you.

[mdhwrites]

Why Can I Say So Much About The Owl House?

I effectively got asked this on Twitter and A: If not for all of yours asks, I probably would not even half of the blogs I do about TOH, if not closer to a tenth. B: I’m an analytical person, like talking about things like this and writing is my passion. Above all else is C though. The writers of TOH obviously know what a good story looks like... But they don’t know WHY it looks that way. They understand that character arcs are good so the more character arcs, the better. They understand that rivals to lovers is a great archtype ripe with storytelling possibilities but also that people complain about couples only getting together at the end. It understands that fantasy tropes are mocked so it’s good to mock them or lampshade our own use of them instead of asking if that mocking is in good faith. This one especially rings true for this concept to me because of how many times the show will try to claim they’re not using a fantasy trope before going “OH! We actually NEED to use the trope to make our story function, almost like the thing we’re mocking is actually just a part of fantasy storytelling as much as it’s a trope.” It’s very much so a “What do idiots on Twitter complain about” method of learning writing. You learn it by what people criticize as much as you learn by what is praised. The Cinema Sins approach effectively where there’s no nuance. The point is to attack every ‘problem’ you can claim in a product mixed with the question of “What do people praise the most about Avatar?” And for a simple story... That can work. It’s part of why S1 works. In general, S1′s storytelling is very much so nothing special but it’s done with charm and confidence. The only problem is that the show is setting itself up for larger topics, themes, concepts, etc. that it also isn’t prepared to tackle at the same time because there’s not enough thought put into each element so that they don’t contradict each other. Or, for that matter, function as a whole instead of disparate parts. From a narrative standpoint, this is a NIGHTMARE. You’re in effectively a narrative uncanny valley where all the elements for a good story are there but the skill of the writers, their priorities, etc. like that are NOT equipped to cash the checks their pencils are writing. It’s effectively a mindset that will ALWAYS have a crash happen narratively where things just fall apart and you’re going to divide audience the second that happens depending on where they land on the twin sides of the Uncanny Valley. And while ruinous for a story... It’s amazing from the standpoint of a teaching perspective. Most bad works after all have a core rot to them. Their main character is bad, the concept from go is flawed, the writing is just atrocious, etc. like that. Most have works one or two glaring flaws that tank the rest of the work, or that rot is purely in the form of lack of effort and it’s just boring with little to even care enough about to analyze. TOH IS different in that way. There is obviously a lot of love put into it. A lot of passion and a lot of confidence. It understands ALL of the tropes that work well for the type of story it’s trying to tell. On paper, TOH actually has a really good story and the different elements have a lot of potential for different ways for that story to go. But you need to know WHY those elements are useful for the story being told. If you don’t... You’re making a stew without the meat. There is no core flavor because you’ve shoved everything into it regardless of if it clashes, if it needs to be prepared in a certain way to work, if it needs to be cooked in an entirely different way before being added, etc. like that. It can’t even really have any real inventiveness to it like using bread as a scoop because it’s checking boxes. It’s saying “X is liked so we do X.” You need to know the why before you can give a unique answer to the problem that X solves or the like. This is probably why things most praised about TOH are titles. Swap Luz for a guy and how much changes, especially since Luz is bi? But because Luz is female, she’s heralded as part of a new wave of female protagonists that she is nowhere near the start of. Amity could have been an asshole dude and not much changes with her either but making her female as well gets you titled as the first openly gay, Disney TV cartoon (which god if that’s not a lot of caveats). It’s stuff that is frankly more easily answered in a panel than ever on screen because they’re elements that don’t matter to the show, as much I appreciate it for inclusive. It’s not an LGBTQIA+ story though. It only happens to have those characters. It’s not a story about race and ethnicity and being an outcast, Luz just happens to be Afro-Latina and no one rejects her simply for who she is. It’s not a story about gender because the show steadfastly refused to say racism and bigotry exist outside of just being a part of how we know the bad guys are bad people. It wants to be praised for these elements, it wants to appear smart about and unique for having them... But it’s a basic fantasy story at the end of the day. It’s none of these other things and it hardly wants to be any of them, even as it also won’t commit to just being another fantasy story. And... I guess that is kind of the personal motivation behind this. I LIKE basic fantasy stories. I LOVE fantasy as a genre in general. I think it gets WAY too much shit and that people try way too hard to claim to not be like other fantasy stories, either with gratuitous sex and nudity (Hi Game of Thrones) or constant subversion like The Owl House. TOH giving a middle finger to its genre though, while also not being willing to actually commit the proper care and attention to be something more complex is INFURIATING to me as a writer. I mean... I’m still angry just from a conceptual standpoint that Reaching Out has this setup:

Character A is normally brash and impulsive and energetic. Due to issues with their father, they are acting more reserved, scared and cautious, specifically because he DIED. Character B is normally more reserved, cautious and thinks things through. Due to issues with their father, they are acting more brash, impulsive and putting themselves in danger to prove themselves. And they’re dating. And Reaching Out does NOTHING with what is narrative GOLD. What is usually so hard to setup in a story because you want to show these sorts of contrasts, you want these sorts of changes of pace, you want this sort of reasonable, unreasonable conflict sources because they are such perfect ways to show how characters interact with their own problems, with others, what other sides of them can look like, etc. like that, LET ALONE WHEN THE TWO ARE IN A COMMITTED RELATIONSHIP! And the whole episode the two aren’t actually different from their normal behaviors, including Luz lying since that’s not new behavior for her, outside of Luz showing that despite death and loss being on her mind, she doesn’t give a fuck about that Amity is actively putting her life potentially at risk in this tournament. She literally gets BORED watching Amity fight and so joins herself for the sake of a distraction. Which... Different blog. I’ve made my point on how misguided these writers are but GOD there’s so many reasons why Reaching Out is one of the worst episodes of the series in my opinion. But that is also an example of what I’m talking about. They are trying a LOT. And failing a LOT. And instead of being really basic failures, figuring out what went wrong is an interesting puzzle and it’s understandable why some may not see the flaws, unlike with a more blatantly bad work like The Room or Teen Titans Go. Talking about either of those would be boring and almost pointless because... Look at them. Their flaws are so obvious and blunt and simple that you could teach with them but it’s not exciting and you’re going to run dry pretty quickly because neither ambitious enough not to be making the same mistakes over and over and over again. And for someone who’s brain NEVER turns off... I find ambition that obliterates itself far more compelling than something that is just straightforwardly bad. So I want to talk about it. Talk about the whys that the writers didn’t get. ======== I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[arizonaaaaaa]

Glee cast sings Born This Way by Lady Gaga

Marry the Night sung by Elliot ‘Starchild’ Gilbert in “A Katy or a Gaga”

-I’ll say it right away, I think this cover is better than the original, I’m not ashamed to say it, maybe just a bit, Elliot’s version of the song is just so good you can’t love, would be better if he was in drag but that was too woke for Ryan Murphy

Born This Way sung by Kurt, Mercedes and Tina in “Born This Way”

-this is one isn’t better than the original but it’s also very good, I couldn’t imagine someone other than Kurt to say the little monologue at the start, Mercedes and Tina also kill in this song, however I’m still pissed they cut the “no matter gay, straight or bi, lesbian, transgender life” from the episode when Kurt just came back and Santana is dealing with her sexuality, it just fits so much, I also don’t like the shirts, I’d do something like Wanna be Startin’ Something and have all of them dance while wearing a Gaga outfit

Government Hooker sung by Puck and Rachel in “The First Time”

-I imagine this as Rachel trying to prove to Artie that she can be sexy while being a virgin, she would ask Puck to help, and while he does great with his bad boy charm she would once again rock the “sad clown hooker” look, I’m not sure if Puck could do a Dutch accent but it’s worth to try

Judas sung by Joe Hart in season 4

-two words, Kitty Wilde, Joe had no storylines this season, and if I’m being honest I think they were trying to push a romance between these two before deciding to create that random romance between Kitty and Artie, either way it could be interesting seeing Joe singing this, as if “Judas” was tempting him into sinning, and I mean, what is Kitty if not a little satanic version of Quinn Fabray?

Americano sung by Cassandra July in “The New Rachel”

-I don’t like this mash-up🫣, I would either stick with Americano or Dance Again, since this is a Gaga post that’s what I’m sticking with, it’s not all that spectacular but it gets the job done, Santana could do the song justice but I rather not have the only Latina sing this

Hair sung by Quinn Fabray in “The Purple Piano Project”

-Skank!Quinn deserved a song! This song feels almost like a coming out scene, making a connection between hair and freedom, since it’s the only body part we can change without judgment, guess what happens with Quinn’s hair this season

Scheiße sung by Brittany, Quinn and Santana

-honestly I just want Quinn and Santana singing a feminist anthem, their voices would work a lot, and it kind of matches their season 4 selves, just throw Brittany singing the “German” parts and there, you have an amazing trio

Bloody Mary sung by Tina Cohen-Chang in “The Sue Sylvester Shuffle”

-this would be PEAK goth Tina, she and the girls would be in their zombie make up on stage teaching the glee guys and the football players how to be scary and zombie-y, Mr Schue and the gluys would hype them up while the football guys would be confused and a little scared, Tina was really robbed of solos on the show and I think she deserved this one since her only actual solo in season 2 was cut less than halfway through

Black Jesus † Amen Fashion sung by Mercedes and Quinn

-this was hard to choose, but after analyzing the lyrics as well as the background of the song I think these two would fit quite well, Black Jesus represent a different view on both religion and life in general, which for me fits Quinn’s character, while Amen Fashion represent how easy it is to change just like your fashion, which after thinking really represents Mercedes personality change from season 3 to 4, she obviously became more mature and a better friend for me, they’re also Christian which was another reason to assign them this song

Bad Kids sung by Noah ‘Puck’ Puckerman in season 3

-this song is very Puck coded, especially his “Lima loser era”, the song starts with a heavy guitar solo but the guitar is barely used after that, if Puck would sing it, I would make the song way more rock n’ roll to fit his vibe during the end of the season, also the song is about embracing yourself for however you are, and I guess Puck would embrace his bad kid side

Fashion of His Love sung by Mercedes Jones in season 5

-this song was made for Mercedes Jones in her adult phase, being a tribute to Alexander McQueen and Whitney Houston, it fuses elements from McQueen’s fashion, Whitney’s inspired beats and several references to religion and god, this had so much potential on being a church choir song

Highway Unicorn (Road to Love) sung by Brittany and Kurt in “I am Unicorn”

-I was actually dumbfounded when this song wasn’t featured at all in the episode, like, the episode is named after unicorns what do you mean, this could be one instance where a character just starts singing, which would be Brittany and another one joins in after being confused with the sudden singing, which would be Kurt

Heavy Metal Lover sung by Kitty Wilde in season 4

-this would be the song Kitty would choose to confess her love for Ryder, which would be actually very funny since this song is so kinky and bdsm-y and Ryder is objectively the most vanilla guy ever, I can totally picture him being all 😃 during the whole song, sadly for Kitty, Ryder doesn’t reciprocate her feelings

Electric Chapel sung by Elliot and Santana

-I actually don’t have idea for an episode or season where this song would fit, the only reason I chose this two is because I think their voices would fit the song, also because this is my favorite song from Gaga ever, and I think they would do it’s justice

The Queen sung by Marley Rose in “Diva”

-Marley doesn’t sing in the episode at all, she could sing this to show that despite being shy and sweet and kind she can still be a diva, or in this case a queen, also this song may be a tribute to Freddie Mercury and it’s kind of a coincidence since Blaine sings a song by him on the episode

Yoü and I sung by Shelby and Will in “Mash Off”

-I’m not a hater or this mash-up but I am a fan of this song, so no mash-up, Will does sound really good but he sings more of the other You and I so I’d distribute the lines a little more equally between the two, Shelby does a decent job, the song originally talks about a past relationship of Gaga, but I guess lyrics wise it can also be a song of Will wishing the New Directions could be together again, it was never shown but I know he was sad over the girls leaving, they were kind of his daughters, Shelby is just giving support, hate this woman

The Edge of Glory sung by Mercedes, Quinn, Santana and Tina with the Trouble Tones in “Nationals”

-this song was done great, I have no complaints, Santana sing in the start is the best part for me, Quinntina slay their verse and Mercedes does excellent as usual

Bonus: songs that aren’t from the album but are from the same era

Stuck on Fuckin’ You sung by April Rhodes

-this song was written for April omg, that’s literally a song about her admitting her attraction to Will while saying how he is her alcohol and her addiction, and while I’m not a fan of April or her situationship with Will she’s pretty much the only woman that can sing country so she’s an obvious choice, let’s see how many times she appears in Joanne

And that’s it, this was really fun to write, I absolutely love this album, it’s by far my favorite, the next one is ARTPOP, and I’ll admit I didn’t like this album at first, but upon re-listening to it opened my eyes to its perfection, see you next week or so :)

[margridarnauds]

To clarify how nervewracking being online can be when you’re in this kind of job: 

Like, we want to be enthusiastic about the texts we study! Great! I’d love to do nothing but write 100k words of fanfic about my favorite medieval Irish texts! ....but, especially with the less studied ones, that would tie it directly back to me because it isn’t like people wouldn’t be able to narrow it down. 

And then you have the thoughts of “If my colleagues find this, will they think less of me? Will I become a laughingstock? Will they be able to see the divide between me as a genuine fan of this material VS me as a scholar?” Academia actually IS aware of fanfiction these days, yes, to the point where we’ve had a couple of papers look at some of the texts from the angle of transformative work, and a few of my colleagues + professors even know I do write it, but there are limits. If I write a fanfic featuring a particular character as queer and then write a paper about a queer interpretation of them, will I be judged as just wanting to force my interpretation of that character onto them because....I have a ship? I take some amount of personal pleasure in it? I enjoy the medieval texts that I have to read multiple times as stories alongside whatever cultural or literary value they have and can talk about them on both levels? 

Every time I bring up that I’m writing a queer retelling, not a fanfic, a proper™ retelling™ of a medieval Irish text, people act like I’m writing gay porn. And there wouldn’t be anything wrong if I was! But that’s not what I’m writing. Now imagine that with the sometimes lurid connotations of fanfic. It’s fine for straight male scholars for decades to sexualize female characters or extensively analyze all the swords and spears that show up as phallic symbols, but god forbid you write content where there’s any hint of *enjoying* it if you aren’t a straight cis male. 

Alright, let’s say I don’t write fic about the field, it’s gone, it’s out the window, I give up on it. If someone is super dedicated, they can still figure it out. What about any E Rated fic I write at all? Will they think less of me for that? Will they read it purely to find something to pick apart? What about 5 years down the line when I’m dealing with the job market? Will they take one look at my application and, even if they’re aren’t homophobic, decide that I just Don’t Fit The Image They Want to Convey? What about 10 years from down the line when I have students? What about 30-40 years down the line when I’m (hopefully) a senior scholar, or at least....okay, an older scholar? Will what I write be the subject of grad students snickering at conferences? “Professor X, when they were a grad student, wrote slash fiction!” I’ve seen grad students making fun of each other’s social media, this is something that is a legitimate risk. And this is me talking about the generic term “slash fanfic” -- this is not going into things like A/B/O fanfiction that, while they’re wildly popular, are often associated very much with a level of fandom cringe. This is not talking about sexual expression, which, tbh, should be protected anyway. 

Plenty of people in my field adopt false names online for the sake of their privacy, as much as they can get, at least. Plenty of us hide or obscure our names. But the truth is that anything we do is a risk. And it shouldn’t be this way and of COURSE it’s biased against AFAB and queer academics (do you KNOW how many times I’ve been to a conference where the subject matter is just....Straight Male Writers™ writing poems or stories about medieval Irish texts that we then have to analyze because they’re Part of the Canon™ now? While I have to fear for my career for writing...oh wait, very comparatively mild queer content that generally acknowledges that women are people), it makes me furious every time I think of it because it is so *deeply* unfair to the point that I start to shake a little bit like a chihuahua whose rage has exceeded its body mass, but...I don’t believe any of us have delusions that these are the rules we’re playing by. 

...you go into this sort of thing because you’re passionate about it and then you find that you have very few ways to express that passion. 

[befuddled-calico-whump]

Okay, I’m really sorry, but I am unhealthily obsessed with this. If I’m being annoying, please let me know, and I will stop. But I love this so much.

It’s really interesting that Sahota has a bird tattoo, because birds represent freedom, but he doesn’t seem to be free. He doesn’t want to be doing this, and I can’t decide if he actually likes Vic or just respects him out of fear. I assume fear, because he says “Who do you think I learned it from” when asked if Vic would want him to do this. He has done a lot of black ops, which is part of the reason he is so desensitized, and also part of the reason he is proud of Hunter for not tapping out-- in black ops it is seen as a good thing to not stop; at least that’s what I’ve found from my sources. 

Kaius is really interesting because he analyzes what is going on around him, but he also picks and chooses what he wants to pay attention to. What actually matters. Also, he kicks during the fight with Sahota rather than punches, which is really interesting, because usually kicking is done when you are unsure about your skills, because legs have a longer range then arms.

Jericho doesn’t hit first, and he doesn’t want to hurt Sahota, and he hacks so he can fight against stuff without hurting anyone. It is already mentioned that he is the most empathetic person in the group, but I think he is also a logical person, even moreso than Kaius. He thinks before he acts, and when he does act, he goes all in. He reminds me a bit of a character in a Douglas E. Richards book.

Joy seems to be the most empathetic after Jericho, but she likes weapons. Guns are a distance weapon, and therefore help to stay separated from the death. She doesn’t seem to want to fight, getting the fight done as soon as possible. I’m assuming she wanted to go first as well.

Benji is amazing, and my favorite, so I’ll probably have the most thoughts on him. The sleight of hand tricks are amazing to me, especially considering he doesn’t have sleeves, which makes it harder. Not impossible, mind you. Musicals being his coping method is great, because that’s how I cope with stuff. His talking to get himself out of situations is pretty great, and on brand for a theatre kid. A tongue as shiny as the Chrysler Building and twice as valuable. 

Hunter is my second favorite, I love his hair! Lots of people say that black is a protection method, a way to shield yourself from the world, but I think it’s the opposite for Hunter. I think his bright hair is a way to protect himself; people aren’t paying attention to him anymore, they’re paying attention to his hair. Also, the tech in his head is really interesting. I think that maybe when people are annoyed their shade gets darker and when they’re amused their shade gets lighter?

please don't be sorry I am incredibly delighted at all your comments and analyses 😭😭❤️❤️❤️

You put a lot of thought into this and I LOVE it. Pretty on point with your delves into the characters (particularly Sahota, which is impressive considering he hasn't gotten much in way of bio or screentime)

You're super right about Jericho and Kaius in terms of logic. Kaius is the stereotypical 'analytical logic minded' guy, but Jericho is waaaay better at judging people's intentions, which is far more helpful in an everyday situation

The guns thing with Joy too! I had that thought, but couldn't figure out how to put it into words, so I'm glad you could 😂

Benji usually wore a coat when he was starting out with sleight of hand, but he's learned quite a few tricks since then

And Hunter's hair? 100% lol. It's a unique sorta defense mechanism for him

Again, thank you! Stuff like this does wonders for my motivation to work on a story, and I really appreciate it 😄❤️❤️❤️

[tokyo-daaaamn-ji-gang]

So what do you think about the writing on Takemichi breaking up with Hinata?

On first viewing I was cringing because “Why would you choose to say that Takemichi!?!?!?”

And I was laughing when Hinata just decided to box with him to the point of jumping on his body and continue to pound him, not because I view a girl hitting a boy as funny but because I didn’t expect that at all, also I was baffled at Hinata because that felt extreme “There’s no reason for that Hinata! There’s other fish in the sea.”

But now looking back because of the anime adaptation I realize the scene wasn’t as bad as I thought.

It made sense for Hinata to be angry because Takemichi is clearly lying and Hinata’s been nothing but honest with him so I understand her anger

And with Takemichi I realize that him saying he likes someone else to be a little smart because that would have Hinata question the least then to say it’s dangerous for us to be together because why would you wait to tell someone that.

But I do view the scene as a little flaw because what I remember from the manga translation Takemichi says he’s fine with this because Hinata will have a better chance of living in the future where they’re not together.

HOWEVR, in the last timeline when he’s Toman top dog and she still ends up killed so the writing makes Takemichi look really stupid for not realizing that fact

But I’m curious how you feel about the scene because the fandom feels pretty dead to me for this season because there’s not a lot of people talking/ analyzing it (and the fandom on Reddit is pretty negative about it)

I actually really love this scene in both the manga and anime, I think it does a good job at showing Takemichi's and Hina's chatacters. For Takemichi I think him going along with Hina's dad's advice and breaking up with her makes a lot of sense. It's what Takemichi has been shown to do best, he's running away from the situation. He's scared for Hina so he's leaving her behind. This was something he was especially shown to do in the original timeline, when something gets too much for him he runs away, he abandons it and in a way that's what he's doing here, he's fallen into his past behaviours.

As for his excuse of another girl I think it's like you said because it's an easy and obvious excuse that's pretty self explanatory and won't get questioned. But also because it's an excuse which doesn't put Hina at fault, I mean it still sucks to hear this but it's definitely gotta be better then him blaming it on one of Hina's behaviours, I think he's still trying to spare her feelings.

And as for Hina this also a great scene for her, it's definitely not great that she beat up Takemichi because that's definitely something which shouldn't be done no matter how upset you are. But with her doing that it perfectly shows her loss of control and emotions, it shows just how upset she is by this, much better then it would've been if she'd just been crying. What she does here goes completely against her character and her morals, Hina is a pacifist who's opposed to violence.

The only other time we see her getting even a little violent is when she slaps Mikey but to her that was an emergency situation where the guys who kept beating up Takemichi turned up to school and were trying to kidnap him. So for her to completely lose it and go against her morals when Takemichi breaks up with her it perfectly illustrates just how much this break up hurts her.

In regards to the future and the flaw yeah I can definitely see that. The only reason I can think for Takemichi going ahead with the plan knowing that he breaks up with her but she still dies is because he wasn't thinking about her death when making that decision. Maybe instead he was thinking more about the present and the danger of Hina being hurt by rival gangs. Kind of like he was viewing Hina's safety in two separate ways, the first being saving her from dying and the other being keeping her safe in the meantime. I think this works especially well after the confrontation with the black dragons. It works better in the anime since Hina got a lot closer to being hit and hurt but the threat is still there in the manga.

So maybe him breaking up with her wasn't to try and save her from dying since he already has a plan for that but to protect her from the threats of the past.

That's just my take though.

[transactinides]

hi!!! hello hello!

i've not read obbligato myself yet, nor am i well versed in the characters, but i've heard that you are The Obbligato person, (hopefully i'm not wrong?) so i was wondering if i could get your thoughts on something?

there's this song i was listening to recently and i feel like it might be a pretty decent like, like song that would follow what oremeru thinks about of tatsumi from his old revolution days- or something. might be super missing the mark but yeah i thought it matched kinda what oremeru's thoughts about tatsumi are like??? (not what tatsumi was Actually Like though)

song+mv | fan translation of lyrics in english.

(hopefully the links work)

anyways~ hope you have a great day!!

First of all, if you don’t mind me being obnoxiously prouful of being called “The Obbligato person”, you came to the right place! This is a 0 days since last thinking about Obbligato blog, so thank you very much for sending me an ask! Yippee even.  Also. Briefly noting that I’ve never listened to this song before, but I ended up liking it lotsies. Shoutout for bringing new music to my Vocaloid playlist o7 [one last minor note is that I usually tend to use Kaname when talking about kaname tojo and HiMERU when talking about oremeru specifically, when diwscussing the two. thought I should clarify that]

Okay, back to the main topic of the ask. I do see your vision oh so clearly re: how HiMERU would see Tatsumi and his revolution. Especially in ways it affected Kaname, who, as far as HiMERU is concerned, was a victim of it (and my extention, of Tatsumi, who mislead him etc etc like a cult leader would mislead his followers etc etc. There is a discussion to be had about HiMERU projecting the guilt he feels, - for not being close to Kaname before, not knowing what was going on until it was too late, - on a person who *was* close to Kaname. But I think I am going off-topic with this). 

Even if you analyze the song beyond the general theme of “religious leader ends up persecuted by their own previously deeply loyal followers”, I can see how you could connect it to the Reimei Revolution, and Tatsumi’s role in it.

“Fourteen, both God and the priest shall be treated as one and the same”

This was how people treated Tatsumi, wasn’t it? He became an unreachable, infallible, almost God-like figure to them. He would hear out your problems, he would make your wishes come true. He loved everyone, and he loved everyone equally. Even Jun called the meetings Tatsumi had with his followers in the Catacombs a cult. 

“It’s the march of blind believers, they flock together and go Everyone, everybody, they’re seeking for a “life””

“I take people’s life away, devouring even those wishes of theirs”

As HiMERU himself said, in his old Obbligato line, “No matter how much you praise Tatsumi, you’ll remain the same in his eyes” (Ship of Fools - 1, tl by @/hyenahunt). From HiMERU’s point of view, Kaname became one of Kazehaya’s “blind believers”, throwing away his life, - metaphorically, refusing the easier route towards becoming the idol he dreams of being for the sake of joining the Revolution in the end, and, as it ended up, literally, ending up in a coma. And even if you touch on the “devouring even those wishes of theirs” part… “What is it you want? What is it you wish for? Money? Work? Fame? Affection? Peace of mind? Whatever it is you ask of me, I will grant to you.” (The Devotion to Tatsumi Kazehaya - 8, tl by @/hyenahunt). Tatsumi would hold out his hand for the suffering people around him (Jun even mentions at some point him often talking people out of suicide), would promise to make their wish come true and then bend over backwards to do so (usually with zero regards for himself in the process). Those people would follow him, with almost religious fevor, fuelling the revolution machine, which would then turn around and plow through Tatsumi and Kaname all the same.

“It’s the rebellion of the fanatics, they flock together and go Everybody and everyone, they flock together and die The saints cause incitement by reciting the scriptures [...]” 

「In his last moments, I honestly feel sorry for him. I heard that it was quite gruesome.」

Idk why I typed all of that, to be honest, you literally were the one to recommend the song to me, you see all of this already. Sorry. Blacked out and ended up with 600 words on my hands. Again, thank you so so so much :3c

[glassautomaton]

Could you share headcanons or niche facts about Omega-7 / Iris, Adrian, and Beatrice? I really adore them and am interested to see how you interpret them. :]

Hoo boy, Adrian and Beatrice. Those are characters I’ve given a fair bit of thought to, both since they’re important to Iris’ backstory and other reasons I’m sure you’re privy to from ready my sandbox. Fun fact, I originally thought Adams was Beatrice’s brain in Sophia/Olympia Zero’s body, but it turns out I just misread some foreshadowing for other stuff in the original Resurrection run. That’s not really relevant, but how crazy would that be, right?

Unfortunately I don’t have much in the way of specific headcanons to give you at the moment, not like I could with Iris and the lot. I did have some stuff I wanted to put here, but some of it is going to end up in my next tale, so I’ll say to look forwards to that.

I don’t have quite as many headcanons as these characters aren’t really ones I’ve built up in my head so much like original characters, rather than characters I sort of inherited. Then again, not too much with them was actually written - or at least survived the Great Wiki Purge - so a good amount of the characterization is open. I’ve put a short write up for them as well as some headcanons under the cut.

Adrian was put on Able’s team as a psychologist, though this was mostly lip service at the time, as I figure (and it has been made clear in Resurrection) that if anyone was listening to psychological assessments of Able, he never would have been fielded. Able analyzed him, in his own way, as much and he analyzed Able, and over the course of Omega-7, he gradually wore down into a different person, though more on that later.

As for a niche fact, I think this was already shown in Voices Carry, but Iris’ revolver used to be Adrian’s. Having been less deft when it came to socializing with teenagers than Beatrice, he still wanted to bond with Iris a little, and taught her about shooting. Though Adrian was mild-mannered, he was a good shot and even participated in some shooting competitions with the task force. The significance of the gun changed as Adrian began to stress Iris’ role to her as time went on, as we see in Voices Carry.

She could be crass and boisterous, while Adrian generally kept to himself and was more bookish, though the events of Omega-7 affected both of them differently. Beatrice grew attached to Iris, and as time went on and more and more members of the task force were killed, parties stopped becoming an opportunity for revelry and started to function more as a way of her to take stock of who was left standing. She was scared for Iris, but ultimately wasn’t sure what she could do to help her. Adrian, on the other hand, came to see combat as his constant, and everything else was his downtime. Every day, living to fight, and for what? What was he fighting for? At a certain point, he didn’t really know, but he knew it didn’t matter. He didn’t have a say in the matter.

Iris I’ve already spoken about, but Adrian taught her how to fan-fire his gun like a cowboy and how to do all that Revolver Ocelot shit. She occasionally shows it off because she likes getting complements but doesn’t want to seem like she likes getting compliments.

[seeingteacupsindragons]

Yuukoku no Moriarty and Cross-cultural Interrogation

I’ve touched on this before, but something I find most fascinating about Yuukoku no Moriarty is the way it adapts such incredibly well-known works from a perspective so very foreign to the original media’s culture of origin.

Honestly, part of the reason I’ve always like anime and manga is because they aren’t stories that could be created in the anglosphere. They come from a completely different cultural understanding of not only how media works, not only one with different classics and literary inspiration to draw from, different tropes and literary devices, but just completely different values. Their stories spring from a different understanding of humanity and narrative, and it’s one of the most popular (and most accessible to a baby monolingual American) ways to get that kind of exposure to Something Else. I loved books from Ireland and Australia in a similar (but generally less intense) way.

Yuukoku no Moriarty is a very Japanese series targeted to a Japanese audience, but it’s also an adaptation of two very famous pieces of British literature. Two of the most famous and most commonly-adapted pieces of British literature. They’re so well-known that they have oozed into Western media to its core at this point, and you don’t even have to have been exposed to them to know of them, to know names, characters, and tropes that they inspired. Three pieces, if you include Shakespeare and William’s obsession with it and repeated references.

And on top of that, a significant chunk of the material is also sourced from Christianity and references to that, which is…

Well, have you seen the way anime usually does Christianity? It’s always very. Uh. Interesting. Japan is not a Christian culture and never has been; Christianity stands at less of the population and it’s never been so entrenched in it that an…accurate understanding ever took root. A lot of Americans and Europeans see Christian values and rituals as so common and matter-of-course that they think they’re secular or universal. But they are a product of a very specific place and culture, and not everyone shares those values.

Takeuchi-sensei and Miyoshi-sensei understand Christianity in a way I think is much more nuanced than most anime and manga and they seem quite familiar with it. It’s really great! But it’s also very apparent that they are…well, very likely not Christians themselves and, even more importantly, not steeped in a Christian cultural environment. And as well-read as the creators of Yuukoku no Moriarty are in these original works, as many obscure references they can fit in, as much of the series is actually literally in English…they don’t have the same values a British Christian does. They use Christianity the same way they use Shakespeare and Conan Doyle and Fleming: it’s a useful literary device with meaning they can leverage, but they’re not beholden to it.

Now, Yuukoku no Moriarty is a deconstruction of a lot of things. A lot of things that…came from the original sources they’re using, but also of other things. The concept of justice and revenge. Of anti-villains and anti-heroes and morality and. Of the roles of heroes. Of detectives and goodness and darkness and shadow. Of adaptations themselves.

And a huge part of these deconstructions is discussing these very British, very Western narratives and values, taking them apart, analyzing them, and then commenting on them in a way only someone who doesn’t see these values as a matter of course can.

I talked about this before when I’ve discussed YuuMori as story of atonement. Sin, guilt, dishonor, and atonement are incredibly cultural, and the way they’re viewed varies wildly from place to place and culture to culture.

William thinks committing sin, committing himself to sin, makes him the devil. And devils need to be exorcised and sent to hell. There is no reforming the devil. There is no atonement for the devil. The devil is a symbol of sin and punishment. He can’t reform himself, because if he did, there would be no punishment for humanity. Christian theology starts to fall apart without Hell and the devil, because a big factor in Jesus being…relevant…is that he emerged from Hell to save people from it.

But even if William is a Christian, his creators are (probably) not. Hell and eternal punishment in flames isn’t William’s path, because while Christians may punish sinners with eternal torment and brutal justice…that’s not the only way to deal with wrongdoings. And…most religions don’t…rely on eternal suffering as a punishment for Being Bad.

(I’m not saying Christians and cultural Christians are the only people who find some kind of virtue or value in suffering, but it’s not actually universal, it’s kind of horrifying if you think about it, and it is very much a hallmark of Christianity)

The series doesn’t even beg you compare William to Christ—it does it for you. Moran says he looks like a man climbing Golgotha. He’s featured with halos of light as he preaches evil. Albert refers to him as a good shepherd who found a lost sheep (Albert being the sheep). He was reborn on Easter in a wreath of unholy fire, out of the Hell that was the Moriarty manor, to save humanity. He’s done the “reborn in a new world” thing twice, once after a long period of time in isolation alone to repent of his sins and be tempted (by Sherly). I could go on and on about this, but I already wrote about it once. I could do it again, but not here.

Quite honestly, the very excessiveness of the symbolism might not work as well in a Western work. The over-the-top nature of the comparison works for an audience who isn’t going to see it everywhere all the time so easily—and it being so over-the-top I think makes it easier to swallow than if it was tempered in a way that couldn’t be poked a little fun at. Once again, this is being treated and respected as something to use as a literary device, not necessarily respected as a Moral Authority.

It does something very similar with Western history. In case you were not already aware, the history in Yuukoku no Moriarty is. Very inaccurate. Very, very inaccurate. I’ve made jokes before about how Yuukoku no Moriarty is historical fiction to make its foreign readers scream, but it’s not actually meant for foreign audiences, and our reactions are really secondary. Japanese culture is probably taught some of it, but not enough to be wincing through the explanations of things—and, much like it does with Christianity, it twists Western history as it wants to suit the story being told. It doesn’t matter if it’s accurate or not, because it services the story this way, and Western history is no more sacred than anything else.

Because if it’s (Christianly) sacred, then it can’t be deconstructed and commented on. And the series wants to do that. It wants to comment on Britian’s history of imperialism and its proxy wars. It wants to comment on America’s freedom vs inequality vs power vs manipulation. It wants to comment on those things, because they aren’t totally foreign to Japan—it has its own history of imperialism and oppression and manipulation and inequality. But approaching it from the outside makes it safer, easier to deal with—and viewing another culture’s flaws and values can allow someone to evaluate their own.

And, from my own perspective as a Westerner, it’s really fascinating to see these things from my own culture treated as malleable and useful story material. To break them down to useful chunks on a thematic level instead of accuracy to really evaluate what’s true in the stories and what matters about the stories. To see the same tropes I’m so familiar with, the same stories I’m so familiar with just because I Live As A Westerner, being wildly reinterpreted as something else. To see what else they could be and what other shapes they could take.

We see quintessential British superspies being reinterpreted as the way Japanese sees superspies. We see The quintessential Great Detective reinterpreted in the way that Japan loves to focus on the human, emotional elements of men instead of the cold logic Holmes is often subjected to in the West because of where we place our values on men. We see the Shakspearian theatrical tradition mixed with traditional Japanese theatre like Noh of Kabuki where performers are expected to wear masks and overact as a matter of course. And it mixes Christian religious imagery and references with a story that does not at all share the same philosophy because Japan is rooted primarily in Shinto and Buddhism.

Yuukoku no Moriarty a great opportunity to see cross-cultural interrogation at work. It’s just. Fascinating to see how it works. And maybe sometimes it doesn’t work. Maybe sometimes the choices are a little strange. But the very existence of the choices is just such a wonderful thing to see and really dig into. But Yuukoku no Moriarty is commenting on Britain and white, Western culture from an outside perspective, and that’s always interesting.

[droppingartintotheinfinite]

Ok! So! Big Goncharov revival has happened on tumblr recently, and I’ve decided to take the opportunity when it’s handed to me to talk about one of the best movies I have ever seen.

Bear with me for a moment.

For those unfamiliar, Goncharov (1973) was a movie directed by Matteo JWHJ0715, a (then closeted) bisexual filmmaker from Italy. Martin Scorsese then lent his name to it to provide a popularity boost for the American release, which is where we get the common misconception that he directed it.

It stars a Russian mob boss named Goncharov (no first name given, for reasons I’ll discuss later) who’s brought a few key members of his gang to Naples, Italy in order to get revenge against Italian mob boss Mario Giglioli. (A good breakdown of the movie’s plot can be found in @mst3kproject’s review, which I would link here but tumblr is being weird)

Along the way, we’re introduced to his wife, Katya Goncharova, his right hand man, Andrey, Mario’s wife, Sofia Giglioli, and a few others.

Goncharov is an almost nauseatingly stereotypical man. What stereotype, you ask? Why, all of them! He’s a tall, heavily built man with a thick accent and a tendency to reference “Mother Russia” in tones of alternatively nearly reverential praise of Soviet era Russia and harsh condemnation of the Russia he leaves during the movie - the Russia directly after the Soviet Union’s fall. The way he does this is heavy handed and obviously written by a man who’s never visited Russia in his life in any era, to the point where my own lax education on the country doesn’t actually leave me unqualified to analyze the film, despite the majority of the main characters originating from it. (Though I’m sure there are great analyses to be made on the cultural inaccuracies within the film, especially given how many are entirely deliberate- but I’ll get to that later)

He’s also exhaustingly heterosexual, and very much being so with an eye towards to the beliefs of the time. There are many scenes in Goncharov that are hard to watch today, and many of the scenes between Goncharov and Katya are among them, especially the dinner scenes.

Here, you may be saying, “But Sol, didn’t you say the director was bi?” And hey, hold your horses, we’ll get to that.

Katya, Goncharov’s wife, is on the surface an ideal 70s housewife, if a bit more murderous than the average due to her mafia husband. She makes him dinner every night, defers to his whims without argument, and spends most of their shared scenes standing behind him, never beside.

She also violently murders him to avenge her lesbian lover, but as I’ve said, we’ll get to that.

Mario Giglioli, Goncharov’s rival, is just Goncharov with an Italian accent. I think if they could have cast Robert De Niro twice and had him play Mario as well as Goncharov, they would have. He has a german shepard and Goncharov makes one of his henchman steal it near the start of the film. I am unhinged about this man.

One of Goncharov’s few named henchmen is called Icepick Joe. He’s an ostensibly minor character who gets a bizarre amount of screentime covering his personal journey of *checks notes* petting Mario’s dog, stealing said dog, murdering his wife, stealing Mario’s dinner, and dying alone due to the poison in said dinner while the dog abandons him to run off into the woods.

He is quite possibly the most important character in the entire movie.

To explain why, I have to introduce two more characters, who fans of the film have no doubt been waiting for me to bring up since they started reading this post.

But first, let me talk about Goncharov’s marriage for a bit!

Goncharov and Katya are often said to have a loveless marriage, but the truth of the matter is a lot more complicated than that. There are moments throughout the film where it’s implied that they care about each other deeply, and that in any other circumstances they might have a perfectly healthy relationship, but they’re so mired in the idea of being the perfect mafia man and the perfect mafia man’s wife that everything they say or do is filtered though so many layers of performance that any actual affection they might hold for one another is suffocated under it.

No one in the film ever refers to Goncharov by his first name. There are a few contenders for what it might be - he signs his name N. Goncharov, which some have hypothesized could stand for Nikolai, some of the early promotional material called him Ivan Goncharov… but there’s nothing sufficiently internally consistent for it to be stated as his first name with true confidence.

This is deliberate. In an interview, JWHJ0715 stated: “[Goncharov] is a man consumed by his work. He’s forgotten how to be anyone other than Goncharov, mob boss, and the lack of a first name is part of this. […] Goncharov is a man who’s lost his identity in favor of the image he projects”

Katya, conversely, is only ever referred to by her first name, even when speaking to characters who would be expected to use her last. It’s not quite as complete an erasure - there are a few moments where she’ll be introduced as Katya Goncharova instead of just Katya, but the vast majority of the time she’s referred to as either Katya or “Goncharov’s wife”.

This, too, is part of an erasure of identity, though in a different way. Katya has so thoroughly separated herself from the role she plays as Goncharov’s wife that in the few moments she is referred to by her full name, you can spot a split second of confusion, like she doesn’t know who’s being spoken about.

There’s a sense that Katya is unable to be herself with Goncharov, that she’s become so caught up in the person she thinks he wants that she can’t be the person she actually is, and it’s masterfully played as this slowly poisons her ability to care for him and eventually leads to her faking her death and later killing him.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

(And, uh. Also ahead of my ability to write. This is getting long, so I’m going to break it here and post the rest later.)