#or if they just appear to be the majority because they've needed to be vocal about it as a sort of internet support group thing lol

[nachosncheezies]

In defense of late-canon x files (including the revivals)

I was thinking about this poll after I commented on it, and I kinda want to be brave and say more.

Short answer to the poll's question before I go any further: If you're a new fan and a sensitive sort who thinks you'll struggle with your blorbos Really Going Through It and you really need a happy ending, I suggest you stop at the end of season 8. Do not pass go, do not look at spoilers. Disregard this post entirely, close the internet, and go look at something that makes you happy. (Also fuck every part of society that characterizes sensitivity as inherently weak and bad and some kind of personal failing, you are valid.)

That said, "quality" as a concept is entirely subjective, and the question of whether or not there's a decline in quality for any story is wholly subjective, too. In the case of x files? I'm not convinced there is a decline. I am going to be upfront that I haven't yet watched past season 8, though I am almost completely spoiled on events after that - and the reason I haven't watched yet is not because of how I know events are going to unfold, but simply because I don't want it to end!!! Ohh, the tension between "I CAN'T WAIT!!!" and "Nooo don't be over D:"

When I first came to txf fandom on tumblr and gradually became spoiled about what happens in late canon though, I was often left uncomfortable and tbh kinda queasy about it. As I said in my comment on the poll, the hate for especially the revival and IWTB, or to a lesser extent even seasons 8 & 9, is very well documented. But! There are other takes to be found here on tumblr if you figure out where to look, and my feelings have changed!

The thing is, I have yet to find myself in any fandom where there isn't a vocal subset of fans who dislike the story after a certain point. I am not joking when I say that no one hates the things they love as passionately as sci-fi and fantasy fans. In my experience, it often hinges on the extent to which a viewer has strong notions on where they would like the characters to end up. In particular with series where shipping is a dominant component for the bulk of a fandom, I have almost universally found that there comes some turning point in the story where "let them be happy you cowards" is the dominant view, and things that compromise the attainment of a degree of romantic stability and/or domesticity are, to many fans, annoying at best and despicable at worst. But! As one tagset on the linked poll said:

and I think for any fandom, that last tag especially is so so so important. (I think that's harder for people watching a weekly series live, bc you have so much time to analyze and speculate and dream before the next breadcrumb drops, but I digress.)

So why am I saying this and how do I apply it to x files? Well, I eventually found that there are also a subset of fans who find redeeming things right up to the very end and actually quite like the whole thing! The things that I had seen people rage and ventpost so much about honestly never quite sounded to me as "out of character" or "untrue to the story" etc as those same ventposts made them sound. And I've discovered I'm not the only one who felt that way. Do I love that the spooky squad had to go through all of those things? No, those poor guys D: Life is hard and they have been through so much trauma. But do those events and their choices make sense to me in light of everything that came before? Yes! And I honestly can't wait to see them fight to overcome those things, breaking, healing, always learning, always growing, always getting better.

So if you're wondering "where does it go wrong"... well, I'm a completionist, as many people who've answered that post are, but also my personal opinion is that I don't think it does go wrong. If you're new and interested in exploring why I've gone from "vaguely queasy" to "excited" about the whole thing, or want to maybe balance out the impressions you're getting about the later seasons before deciding whether or not you want to see the whole thing, I'll put a few blog names in the comments.

Final admission: even once I started feeling a little more confident in the possibility that "actually ok maybe I'm not crazy, maybe this all kind of is in character and does make sense", there was one big plot point that I was NOT looking forward to and I thought I would never be comfortable about. In hindsight, I think my discomfort came from the negative responses being SO seemingly universal that I hadn't stopped to let myself truly consider other possible interpretations on that point. (I mean my initial instinct when I first read about it was, why are we mad about this?? CSM is literally the most unreliable narrator in history???? it's obviously fake news?????? this must be either a fever dream someone's having or it's a misdirection ploy against whatever shadowy forces might still be lurking?????????????? but for whatever reason I guess I had halfway written that off.) Happily, just last month there's a new post-s11 novel out, and although reviews for the book as a whole are mixed, it seems to have laid the groundwork for resolving that plot issue in a way I think most fans would be broadly happy with. If you're interested in being spoiled about that and seeing how, I recommend searching #perihelion on @agent-troi who liveblogged reading it with receipts, scroll back chronological-style to the first post on the subject and see how it unfolded. (And never forget that Dana Katherine Scully is the queen of denial as a coping mechanism lol)

Everyone's mileage will vary. Each person can feel however they want! But for anyone new, I wanted you to know that the very many ventposts you might be seeing are not all there is to this show or its fandom. Some of us love it despite - or even because of - all the things that went "wrong". I think we just don't talk about it as much.

[nekropsii]

I know the kids in general aren't your thing but what are your thoughts on june egbert as a whole?

I've seen opinions on her existence be pretty varied (tho I guess more recent years its a widely accepted fanon and uh some ppl treat her as canon when.. she's... not lmao..) so I'm curious on your opinion if you have one!

(I personally don't subscribe to the headcanon but otherwise I don't have any strong feelings about it ppl can do whatever they want forever lmao)

I've been vocal about this previously, but in my opinion, all J. Egbert is good J. Egbert. June, John, Transfem, Transmasc, Transneu, Nonbinary, Genderfluid, Multigender, whatever the fuck, I don't care, have fun. Whatever gender people subscribe to the character isn't my business, and I have zero way of telling what it means to people unless they're being super blatant about it, which... Doesn't actually happen often?

I have no way of telling if people subscribe to transfem!June wholesale because that gives them comfort, or transmasc!John because that gives them comfort, or genderfluid!Egbert because that gives them comfort, or even just... Cis Trans Ally John, because that gives them comfort. These are all things I've seen before. I just choose to assume good faith, as is healthier, and respect whatever OP is tagging. If they're tagging art as June, it doesn't matter if she looks the same as she does in canon, or if she's pre-transition, that's June to them, so I'll tag it as June myself. If they're tagging art as John, I tag it as John. I have no way of knowing what their idea of the sex of this character is, and I'd find it weird to "correct" them, when they could very easily just be drawing a headcanon they've had for years and found major comfort and gender euphoria in. I don't know their life.

I think the way people have been using June's confirmation- not canonization to HS^2/HS:BC, she hasn't appeared yet- as a way to be transphobic in any direction is vile. I think if you use June as a way to be transmisogynistic, you're an asshole and a transphobe. If you use June as a way to be bigoted against trans men, you're an asshole and a transphobe. If you're finding a way to use it to be bigoted against nonbinary or multigender people, you're an asshole and a transphobe. I would sure fucking hope this isn't a controversial statement. There's no good reason to be a bigot. A disagreement over gender headcanons is an especially pathetic reason to reduce yourself to transphobia. Come the fuck on now.

More Discussion Under the Cut:

Miscellaneous thoughts include... 1.) She is not canon to Homestuck proper. This is because every piece of Homestuck media outside of literal Homestuck (2009) itself has been very open about the fact that they are not canon to Homestuck (2009). Homestuck (2009) is canon to Homestuck (2009), and nothing else is. HS:BC is canon to itself. HS^2 is canon to itself. The Homestuck Epilogues is canon to itself. Pesterquest is canon to itself. Hiveswap is canon to itself. They are not canon to Homestuck, though. These aren't condemnations of these pieces of media, nor is it a reduction of the meaning of this form of the character to people, it just needs to be stated that they're not canon to Homestuck. This is by design, and is also a well advertised fact about them. 2.) She was not "always intended", or "always canon". I see a lot of people say that June was being intentionally alluded to since 2009, and... That's just... Really blatantly not the case? Extremely magical thinking happening there. I think if June was supposed to happen in Homestuck, and was allegedly intentionally alluded to in Homestuck constantly... She would have happened in Homestuck? There's nothing wrong with an author getting asked to make a certain gender headcanon canon and then, you know, canonizing it because they think it's cool, nor is there anything wrong with an author realizing that an interesting arc for a specific character would be a gender transition in sequel material. It doesn't have to always be a "This was all planned from the start" situation. As someone who is a writer... That's genuinely just not really how writing works, and it really isn't where Hussie's politics were at during the time. Hell, I know a lot of genders, pronouns, sexualities, races, ethnicities, religions, and disability statuses were changed throughout me working on my own writing projects. They weren't all "Planned from the Start", and there's nothing wrong with that. 3.) June fans, I am so sorry. You all deserve so much more than these years of J.K. Rowling-tier """canonization""". This was said to be something that was totally going to happen... On Twitter... Through a magical Toblerone wish... Several years ago. And nothing has really come of it since. Not even a hint!! That sucks so much. 4.) Not to be blunt, but some people are really misogynistic about her. Transitioning doesn't completely change your personality. It doesn't fix all of your problems and flaws. Growing into femininity doesn't magically make you a ditzy bimbo girly girl whose only personality traits are Cute, Stupid, and Female. That's just fucking weird, dog. The way some people treat her status as a woman reads very... Caliborn-esque...

[r3dblccd]

List of upcoming muses tba to the muse list:

Navi, any pronouns, a fairy of nature, somewhat inspired the Star Seekers webtoon. Navi used to be from another universe that was under the threat of a creature called the Dragon of the End. She and a group of friends were destined to stop the dragon from destroying their world. The group managed to reach the conclusion that they didn't need to kill the dragon to stop the catastrophe. But, unfortunately, they couldn't reach the solution to their problem in time and when the dragon appeared it turned everything into ashes. Navi was the only one who survived it. The dragon let it live for some unknown reason. He felt guilt, lots of it, seeing the world he used to love no longer exist. So, she made a promise that she'd try her best to help with anything she could any other worlds that are also in danger. Other than that he just really enjoys spending time in nature (actually he avoids very big cities because the pollution there makes him feel physically sick and weak). Kind and gentle in nature, but also not afraid to kick someone's butt if they have to.

Seraphine, she/her, half-vampire, half-ghoul. She and Raphael used to be close friends. When Raphael first got turned into a vampire and all the villagers united to try and kill him, thinking the curse would affect everyone, she tried to stop them. She got killed in the process. Devastated, Raphael tried to bring her back, but what returned was something else entirely. She doesn't remember much of her past life, nor does she care all that much. Cold and cunning is one way to describe her.

Chinhwa, he/him, human (has seperate verse inspired the the dark moon webtoons in which he's a vampire-werewolf hybrid), a history student coming from the countryside (his family owns a farm), has already done some work in various spheres of his major (including, but not limited to working at archeological sites, restoration work, working with archives and so on), currently a freelance private tutor since he wants to be able to pay most of his uni fees by himself, but wishes he could someday work at a museum curator or a tour guide. One of the few childhood classmates Minsung considers a friend and keeps in contact with.

Dabi, she/her, human (has separate 2 verses - one inspired by the dark moon webtoons, and the other by the star seekers and the crimson heart webtoons ), Youtuber. She's had vocal and guitar lessons, but she keeps singing and playing music only as a hobby, although she may drop a music related video or two every once in a while on her YT channel. She's also been adopted by the same family that had adopted Minsung, but the two very much act like they've been siblings their whole life (she's very much "only I'm allowed to make fun of him, but if you do and you make him cry I'm about to break your bones" type of sibling lol)

Stella, she/her, a model, Abigail and Elaine's sister. Craziness runs in the family so expect some deranged behaviour, I guess (I think Elaine is the only normal one in it thanks to her getting away on time lmao)

[drtanner]

It's fascinating to think about how similar TERFs and incels are as bigoted groups that have been recruited to great effect by white nationalist evangelicals. In both cases, a departure from the rigid expectations of binary gender would do these people a world of good and yet because they're suffering so much under those expectations of binary gender, their bitterness, anger and dissatisfaction with their respective lots have instead seen them being weaponised against minorities on behalf of the actual, literal neo-Nazis who want to see those expectations unequivocally enforced.

Like, we all know what incels are about, we don't need to talk about them, but TERFs in particular are an interesting bunch for just how handily they've been convinced to work against their own interests in the name of inflicting bigotry on trans people. The vast majority of TERFs seem to be older cishet women, and for all of their vocal pride in their womanhood, they do not appear to enjoy being women at all.

The thing is, enduring some long, awful, inescapable suffering can feel radical, in a weird way. Your suffering becomes noble and your ability to stoically bear it becomes a lynchpin of your identity, and such is the case with these women who've made the misery of their lives as wives and mothers part of their personalities. The narrative that men are all inherently violent, predatory oppressors and that women are all inherently victims of those men plays neatly into this mindset; since you're naturally and inherently victimised by men just by virtue of being a woman, there's nothing you can do but endure your suffering, and the best way to be a woman, therefore, is to suffer nobly and make it a core part of your identity.

You might imagine how trans women, who not only willingly choose to participate in womanhood but also enjoy it, might upset someone who's spent half a century living and thinking in this way.

(You know when people who clearly hate being parents get pissy at folks who chose not to have any kids, call them "selfish" or butt into conversations to go "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT 'TIRED' MEANS, TRY BEING A MOTHER!!" and stuff like that? Yeah. It's the same deal.)

You really can draw a straight, clear line between this suffering-based identity crisis and the ways TERFs try to define womanhood in such a way as to exclude trans women. They're so desperate to defend their own version of womanhood, which is defined by the Noble Suffering they've spent their whole lives believing to be inevitable, that they'll reach as far as they have to in order to exclude trans women from the experience of womanhood, even if it means dragging us back to the fucking 1950s and defining women by their genitals and their ability to bear children. If they didn't, they'd have to face up to the fact that their suffering was never inevitable, that they didn't have to endure anything, and that they could have been enjoying womanhood this whole time and having fun with it like trans women do.

Everything else is just justification for this. It's all window-dressing to hide this underlying fear of the misery they've defined themselves by having all been for naught. If you check in on what TERFs are saying on a semi-regular basis, you'll note that the angle they take to attack trans people changes on the weekly; at the moment it's trendy to say that trans healthcare "medicalises and sterilises children", but a few months ago it was all about "common sense", and before that it was about "protecting women and girls". There'll be another excuse in another few months' time, because TERFs don't genuinely believe any of this stuff. It's all about scrambling to find something, anything that sticks, while covering up this underlying fear that their identities will be invalidated by the revelation that they've suffered for nothing all their lives and that there is no nobility in that suffering.

That's why they never talk about trans men. Trans men are almost never mentioned, except when it's convenient to characterise us as poor, lost little girls, robbed of our god-given ability to have babies by the evil trans cabal that brainwashed us. TERFs are obsessed with trans women, and trans men are a distant afterthought. That's why.

Of course, the other convenience of perpetual victimhood is that you can freely be as vile as you like to other people whilst still maintaining your innocence. You can only ever be a victim, never an oppressor, so no matter how awful the vitriol you spew at marginalised people may be, you'll always remain pure and utterly unblemished. Your actions are virtuous, your intentions without sin. Don't worry about it.

As it was with incels, TERFs have likewise been duped into serving the interests of the patriarchy and of, again, actual, literal neo-Nazis and their allies because blaming a minority and directing their anger with the shitty lot that our cisheteronormative society has given them at that minority is easier than trying to enforce real, positive change or facing up to the fact that they might just have wasted their lives on misery. They are the fucking same, exactly the fucking same.

Fucking with gender and making what we want of it benefits all of us.

[tema-makes-art-sometimes]

Your 2p designs are really cool! :00 What was your process on designing them?

thank you aaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I love them very much.

It's not very fancy I'm gonna be honest with you, and they're kind of different. There's honestly a process, but it takes ages and ages and all of my 2ps are at different stages of work.

I also just want to note, while I try to maintain historical president and research, they are less based on the countries and more based into being mirrors or character foils to their 1ps. More character, less historical nation.

One day I'd love to talk about specific 2p's and their importance to their narrative foil in their 1p's and how the 1p's mirror and foil them back-- but uh, that's for another ask ^^''

But yeah here's my process.

---

Part 1: I look at the 1p Nation itself, and break down their basic attributes. Their appearance, personality, history, etc. After I break it down I usually go 'Okay, what if this character was [X]' and then I continue to think about it from there.

Part 2: I do some research into the country itself and different things about it, its culture, food, tourism etc. While I am not an expert and it's honestly very very surface level, I'm mostly shooting for major cultural phenomenons, popular media, food, fashion, major traditions and anything that I should avoid.

Part 3: I continue to flesh out their concept with this new info, and start writing them in things to get a feel for the deeper parts of their psyche and personality. Things sometimes change in this stage, like their look, their personality, etc. (for example: Hanna/2p Hungary went from a gentle mother, to a y*ndere madwoman, to a dominatrix with trauma in the span of 2017-2022, just by using her in practice.)

Part 4: This is the longest stage, its just use. Use, use, use. Interaction with others, RP, ficlets, coded shenanigans, art pieces, headcanons, vocal rps from joke concepts. Me just making them, finding media pieces that I tie to them, etc. It's the longest and where major and minor beats of the character really start locking into place, and where alternate concepts of their personality can come up. Like AU's where I take their inner personality panel and start turning switches and dials and seeing what happens, or seeing what would have to happen to have a character stoop to certain levels (madness, murder, etc.)

Part 5: By this stage they've become a solid character I use often, like Lutz or Alexander. 2p's I've had for over seven years and have changed slowly as I have, with dynamic pasts and future character growth opportunities and alternate world versions where their personalities are different, but are still distinctly them.

This is a really watered down version of what I go through, and isn't even this rigid, sometimes characters go from one to three to two to four its weird. doesnt take into account other people shifting their personalities and arrows in life either-- Example, Lutzlex (Alex and Lutz as a ship) was never a major thing in my lore until my discord group latched onto it and the more I rp'd concepts for it the more I fell in love with it. And because their relationship went from a past foot note into something major it critically changed both of their personalities in a major way.

Lemme throw you an Example! I'll use Akio, because I remember his origin the best for some reason.

Akio was one that took me a while to characterize, cause at the start of it, he was the fanon 2p Japan, and then he dropped off for years because I had other friends who rp'd him better than me, so I just used theirs or would interact with theirs so often I didn't need my own.

But when I did start deeply analyzing him, I started with a simple concept.

What if Kiku hadn't been characterized as a shut-in? How would that have effected his relationship with his neighbors? America? Netherlands? How would the Isolation Period have effected his psyche? Does he fear it happening again? Is is afraid of his government? etc. etc.

So that's where Akio started. As I worked with that personality more and more, he started to have major beats. Being very bluntly honest against Kiku's constant obfuscation of his feelings. Making himself very distinct from his government, staying out of the country as often as he could, being afraid of enclosed spaces/locked rooms, and almost never talking to Kiku.

Time passed, his personality got rubbed down, he was given a lot more energy, but less chaotic and more just, chasing the trends. He became a social media and kawaii fiend, undercut with the constant worry of reconnecting with his traditions or past at more than a surface level out of a buried trauma response.

I got away from the whole family asia thing (I was stupid, obv.) and made it more of Akio trying to be very social with his neighbors, but they find it grating because you know, Japanese history in the South Pacific and Asia. I don't need to explain that. His relationship with China has changed but at the same time it hasn't at all. Bohai thinking he's rather close with Akio, but Akio just not wanting anything to do with him.

And it leads all the way to now, where Akio is. As this Bio I have for him goes:

Akio’s energy can simply be described as ‘shut up I do what I want’. A free thinking, energetic, sassy Japanese man who has decided to leave old habits and beliefs behind to fully immerse himself in the modern world. The negative side of this is he finds himself not well grounded and with a deeply embedded anxiety of being pulled back to the past again. He’s good at reading the room and will tell you exactly what he’s thinking or feeling without any hesitation. Some people consider it crass and others appreciate his honesty. Despite his loud nature, has a lot of repressed fear toward his own country and even the other Japan for reasons he doesn’t often discuss.

Long winded explanation and example aside, it's not that intensive I don't think? Some of them are still very very surface level for my taste, and I live in constant fear of them not being historical-y or nation-y enough for people. But I guess with my 2p's- and just my personifications in general- I like to think about them more as characters and less like personifications because it's more fun that way.

But yeah! I hope this makes somewhat of a lick of sense, and that people are not terrified or overwhelmed by the text! I noticed the cool color feature is there now, so I thought to add some in places to splash attention and make it a little less of a slog to look at! I hope this was informative I guess ^^;;

[m1serere-n0bis]

Anyways. I don't care what the rest of you all have been doing during this but I have been trying to listen better and pray more.

For those of you who don't think that's "enough"... Sorry but I don't owe public opinion shit. The only person I owe an explanation to is God. I don't owe anyone information on what I'm doing in private. I don't owe anyone information on what I am/am not supporting financially or otherwise. If your personal opinion is that I'm not making adequate use of my voice or platform then that's rough buddy, but my voice is not the one that needs to be heard right now and also what platform? As a society hyperfocused on social media ESPECIALLY NOW DURING THIS PANDEMIC we have to come to terms that we all have lives outside of it and we don't "owe" each other ANY information about that in spite of what our culture tells us. Like if this is what "community-based policing" means, I can already tell you I hate it and it's oppressive.

For those of you who think this is a political power play, I would say those concerns are valid but there IS a REAL problem that will still be there when all the political pandering and posturing is done. And we need to fix it. Part of the reason I haven't been hyping what everyone has been telling me to hype in the name of activism is pretty much this:

Do I think it honestly matters which political party is in charge for changes to happen? No, because I do not trust the SAME GOVERNMENT BACKING THE POLICE to take the money THAT IS STILL TECHNICALLY IN THEIR POSSESSION and funnel it into the communities that need it in any way that will actually address the racism inherent in the system. HOWEVER, that doesn't stop me from listening to what my brothers and sisters in Christ are telling me are their experiences not just in a society that is supposed to have progressed past racism but in the BODY OF CHRIST itself. Because it's there, everyone. Yes, it's not overt. Yes, not everyone is actively engaging in it but if we are truly One Body then we owe it to each other to make reparations for sins that aren't ours. It's what we've been doing for the child abuse scandals, is it not? The majority of us were not involved but do we not still carry the burden of that sin simply because we're Catholic, because one part of the One Body committed this massive hurt?

So anyway. The goal of this post is not to make anyone feel bad and it is not an invitation for people to pile on me because I haven't vocally supported x, y, z. This is an invitation to listen and to pray... which should always be the first step, EVEN WHEN THERE IS AN IMMEDIATE NEED FOR ACTION. (Maybe ESPECIALLY when there's an immediate need for action.) And holy shit are we not good at that or what? 😂

1) Fr. Mike Schmitz' homily this week was an invitation for us to listen to God and let Him tell us who He is because only by doing that can we see the image and likeness of God in each other. We've lost that in our wishy-washy prayer lives that inevitably end up with us trying to force God into an earthly construction in which He doesn't belong. We try to tell God who He is because the world is too noisy for us to hear Him tell us about Himself. And that inevitably trickles down into us trying to force each other into boxes before recognizing the human dignity instilled by God in all of us. The internet feeds into that by making us faceless virtual entities, thus making it that much more difficult to recognize our humanity. I can read faceless stats for days but if I don't have ANY CONTEXTUAL IDEA where those numbers are coming from, they're empty. They're easily manipulated into whatever whoever is selling me them wants me to think of them if I don't have someone LIVING THOSE STATISTICS giving me context. Right now the media wants us to feed on the controversy surrounding BLM movement without telling us that these communities have been MARCHING IN THEIR COMMUNITIES FOR YEARS AGAINST THE VIOLENCE THEY INFLICT ON THEMSELVES and it is the same media blackout as any March for Life. The media doesn't care unless they have drama they can use to stoke more division and that's the tea.

2) Fr. Josh Johnson is on fire right now, everyone. Like him and Chika Anyanwu are two voices I wasn't listening to before that I'm thankful to be hearing now. If you're wondering how God can be good even in the midst of chaos, turmoil, and pain, this is it. If you're struggling to separate the Black Lives Matter Organization from the heart of the issue, this is how God is doing that. The Church needs to hear these voices. They have real experiences to share. They are part of the Body of Christ, and they are really hurting through these thousands of small cuts.

I would recommend listening to the Jeff Cavins Show episode Distance Amplifies Difference where he has a conversation with Fr. Josh. They both have tremendously unique WORDLY perspectives to bring to the table on the issue (Jeff Cavins is a white man but has children who are black and they live in Minnesota and are literally witnessing the heart of this first hand in the trenches, and Fr. Josh is the son of a black former chief of police) but ultimately discuss how we as a Church can work towards fixing it.

Fr. Josh and Fr. Mike's dialogue on Ascension Presents is also really top notch. I still have to finish watching it, though. 😅

I can't believe I wasn't following Chika before because as another single Catholic woman, I feel like I've found a sister in Christ experiencing the same ups and downs of Catholic singlehood (her Instagram Highlight was like HILARIOUS and also a truth 😂). Her family's small business got looted during the rioting but I believe they've since been able to shut down their Go Fund Me since people gave them enough support to get it back up and running. Anyways, I'm glad this amplification of black voices brought me to hers.

3) Fransican Friars of the Renewal Fr. Agostino and Fr. Pierre Toussaint discuss their hopes for the movement from their perspective as people of color and as servants of one of the poorest neighborhoods in NYC, the South Bronx. Their dynamic is great because Fr. Agostino is like a Gryffindor on fire and Fr. PT is like a soft-spoken, phlegmetic Ravenclaw. I understand that energy. 😂 (I'm also a phlegmetic Ravenclaw) One of my takeaways was Fr. Agostino's opinion that we can't just posture and leave it up to the government or orgs with ulterior political motives to make things right because he's seen firsthand how well THAT goes. However, all that means is that we as people of God have to dig in and do the work our own dang selves. They're also hopeful that this discussion of the police force being built on a foundation of racism will eventually lead to the discussion of Planned Parenthood being built on the same. They said that 42% of the pregnancies of the predominantly black and Latino population in the South Bronx end in abortion. 42%!!!!!!!!!!! If that is not a wake-up call that systemic racism is alive and well and we are abjectly failing women of color as a society Idk what is. But also their analogy that society is a MESS of a dilapidated house and we have to pick ONE place to start and stick with it if we really want to fix it up is also the truth.

4) Did y'all know about Our Lady of Kibohe? This is a Vatican-approved Marian apparition that appeared to three teenaged girls in Rwanda a little more than a decade before the genocide (which she warned them about). There is no one in Creation demons and Satan hate more than Our Lady, and there's no better weapon against them than the rosary. There has been a call from our brothers and sisters to rend our hearts and even if you don't see, think, or believe there is still racism within the Church, will you not pray for Mary and St. Michael to help continue keeping it that way, then?

Our Lady of Kibohe encouraged us to take up the practice of praying the Seven Sorrows Rosary. I tried it for the first time last week and I have to say, even with my super basic limited knowledge of black history in the United States, it was not hard to see how their suffering could easily be united to the sufferings of Christ and Our Lady.

I guess my conclusion is this: I have my own misgivings about blindly supporting any ol' cause that happens to be trending on whatever. The Black Lives Matter ORGANIZATION has a manifesto touting things that are contrary to the Catechism for SURE, but when my brothers and sisters in the Church are telling me they are in pain RIGHT NOW and saying, "Hey, listen... They're right about some things... These are the things and we've experienced it IN the Church..." then they deserve to be heard. We owe it to them to listen because they are a part of us. We need to expose these sins to the light instead of denying they exist or claiming to be past it. We ALSO need to be charitable to those in different parts of their journey. Is it FAIR to bear the burden of others' sins and make reparations for them? Heck no! But we do it. Jesus did it for us. We do it for our brothers and sisters in Purgatory. What's the difference for bearing it for our hard-hearted brothers and sisters on earth? Nobody is perfect but we all are made in the image and likeness of God and thus inherently carry human dignity.

[bluephoenixdruidicprincess]

Legacies 1x14, Let's Just Finish the Dance -- Review

Coming at you all with another Lega-Trash review. This week is 1x14, Let's Just Finish the Dance...and my sentiments exactly. This episode was so boring, I too wanted the dance known as this episode to just end. Please, let's just hurry up and finish this season.

You all know the drill, hopefully. Do I really need a disclaimer anymore? Lega-Trash is a trash show, I'm super critical of it. If you love Legacies, this is not the review for you, move along. There will be spoilers.

So welcome to the obligatory Miss Mystic Falls episode of Legacies. And in typical Lega-Trash fashion, they managed to make one of the most iconic events within the TVD show super bland and super dull. What happens in this episode? Well, the Salvatore School has to host this year's Miss Mystic Falls pageant and to no one's surprise, Hope wins. Also, Josie and Lizzie have a falling out which I've been waiting for all season, Hope and Landon have a falling out, Penelope spelled a bunch of pens to tell her everyone's secrets, Medusa makes an appearence and at the end of episode, Landon gets kidnapped by the evil government organization.

Yeah, this episode was just a sequence of events. It was super boring but as it turns out, there were a few scenes I didn't completely mind. Namely, all the Lizzie and Hope scenes. This might be the first relationship on this entire show that I legitimately believe. Seeing Lizzie and Hope bond together over their anger fueled magical tendencies was really nice to see. And the friendship is legitimately believable. And then it ends in these two making a pinky promise that they'll help each other get Josie and Landon back whom they've recently had falling outs with. Although, if Lizzie wants to help get Landon back with Hope, she's first going to have to rescue him from the evil government organization that kidnapped him.

Speaking of which, what a huge coincidence that apparently MG's mother also works for this shady government organization.

And can I just say that everyone in this school are idiots. So apparently around Christmas time, Penelope, I guess, gifted pens to everyone but really the pens were spelled so anything they wrote ended up in her own notebook so she knows all of the Salvatore inhabitants' secrets. Penelope, at best is The Mean Girl, and at worst, she's a psychopath. No one at all thought it was strange that Penelope of all people was giving away pens and they never once considered it was for nefarious purposes? Also, it's super convenient that apparently not a single person lost one of these pens and just used a regular pen to write down their secrets in their diary. I mean, I have like a dozen pens in my apartment at any given time because I'm ALWAYS losing them. It's also super convenient that everyone in this school has a diary. Of all the unbelievable and convenient things that have happened in this show so far, this is the worst. So Penelope knows all sorts of juicy details like that Hope is keeping secrets from Landon and that there's something called a merge that Alaric has been writing about. Penelope is actually leaving the school now but she gives the notebook to Josie and warns Josie about the merge. Caroline and Alaric really should have told the twins about the Gemini merge before. And this whole falling out Lizzie and Josie are currently in isn't going to help.

What is this falling out? Well, Josie has finally realized that Lizzie is very self-centered and rarely thinks about anyone but herself. This all started when Lizzie drops out of the pageant because Dana, the mean girl who died in I think the 3rd episode of this season, well her mother is one of the judges and Dana was notorious for her dislike of Lizzie so Lizzie realizes there's no way she could possibly win with Dana's mother on the judge's table. And can I just say real quick how incredibly weird it is that Dana's mother can talk so nonchalantly about her own daughter's death? I don't get the feeling that a whole lot of time has passed. At best, maybe six months and that's pushing it. You don't talk about your daughter's death as if your daughter is off traveling abroad or something. Like I said, it was weird. But then again, this show is really weird with death, in general. Even in this episode, Hope just kind of casually talks about her parents' deaths which really wasn't that long ago and in the previous episode, MG makes a speech to the school and makes this off-handed remark nonchalantly talking about the majority of the students who have nowhere to go for the spring holidays on account of their families being dead and it's really insensitive. These are adolescents and you're just nonchalantly bringing up their trauma in passing? But anyway, Lizzie decides that if she can't compete and she's so sure she was going to win, she's determined to make sure someone from the Salvatore school wins. She chooses Hope since Hope's an orphan and will have the sympathy vote. This understandably hurts Josie and it just kind of festers on from there. But I don't particularly understand Lizzie's logic in Hope being the winner because she's an orphan, though. Caroline went against an orphan as well and she won. But I suppose Lizzie is thinking her mother was amazing so that accounted for her victory. Which I would agree with Lizzie on that. Caroline was pretty amazing and she worked her ass off to get that crown. I suppose in a room of people who weren't necessarily training their entire lives for this moment, an orphan would be the best bet. But by the end of the episode, Josie realizes she wanted that crown and is angry at Lizzie for giving that opportunity to Hope instead, for giving Hope the dress that Klaus gave Caroline without any regard to Hope's feelings on the matter. But in Lizzie's defense, up until this point, Josie had never been vocal about the things she wanted (I'm not excusing Lizzie's behavior, just simply saying it's not as if Josie was ever being bullied into doing these things for Lizzie, she did do those things because she wanted to) and Lizzie didn't know the dress had come from Klaus and it's kind of understandable why she didn't. I think it would be pretty awkward for Caroline to tell her daughters that Hope's father was once obsessed with her but with that said, I have no idea why Josie knows and not Lizzie but whatever. It's probably just a plot contrivance to show why Lizzie is awful. But once Lizzie realizes the implications of that dress and Hope wearing a reminder of her father, she instantly feels terrible about it. And Hope conveniently finds out in the middle of the dance where the dress came from because her ex-vampire boyfriend can hear Josie and Lizzie's conversation, I also don't understand why Hope can't hear them though, she is a hybrid, I thought werewolves had that ability as well. But her ex tells her about the dress, she starts to freak out about it and as she's announced the winner, her magic is about to go on the fritz again so Lizzie, noticing the signs, immediately walks up to Hope and hugs her and tells her to cry it out because that's what she needs. A great moment for Lizzie and Hope by the way and I think this was the first time this show illicited genuine emotion from me that wasn't despair over how bad this show is.

Speaking of the dress, let's play Who Wore It Better. Let me know what you think. I think it looks better on Candice. I feel like her blond hair contrasted better with the blue and brought the blue in the dress out more. But Danielle also looks gorgeous in it, too, her hair just doesn't quite bring out the colors as well as Candice's did. Or maybe they used a slightly different color palette on Danielle's dress.

But anyway, ultimately, this episode was more of the same. Just very boring, no real structure to it. Once again, this show is hanging on the coattails of TVD success and it cannot stand on it's own. There were some nice scenes in it, thoughand we are at last getting some character progression. However, I'm not a huge fan that it's taken 14 episodes to get some character development. This episode gets a C+ from me.

[loonlynxshenanigans]

Alright so! Said I'd get a reference up for these nerds, gonna do that now. A basic reference, at least.

The three above- yes, only three- are, from left to right, Papyrus, Gaster and Sans- in that order for their bipedal forms, as well as their quadruped forms. They, uh... aren't actually capable of being both at the same time, this is just sort of for height reference- though it... isn't the best at that either, since Gaster's quadruped form is supposed to be taller- but hey, you get the gist of their appearance! Probably! Moving on, those wings you see on those quadruped forms are made of magic- specifically, the combined magic of all three of them- and can be summoned and desummoned at will, just like any other attack- though when summoned, it's easier to share magic between them- they can even... sort of use their powers for the other- so Sans can teleport the other two, Papyrus can heal, and... well, Gaster has yet to get a handle on his own speciality of magic, and. Might never, so that remains to be seen. But, as for the different forms thing, all three of them are shapeshifters- a kind of shapeshifter specific to their universe (as far as I know) that, usually, only have two forms; their usual, bipedal form, and a quadruped form; in which they can't naturally speak any normal, spoken language- without use of magic that takes a lot of practice to perfect. Instead they use a 'language' called... well, Shapeshifter- which I usually denotate by using >this sorta thing< rather than quotation marks. It's... basically a slighttly more complex version of animal body language and sounds; heck, actual animal body language is often known as basic Shapeshifter. It's possible to do it without any vocal sounds, but it's s little harder to be specific- and, generally, Shapeshifter can't carry an accent, or any specific way of speaking; it's always just a little bit interprative, though... usually not enough so to cause misinterpretation. Shapeshifter can... also be understood by Pokémon. Because this is a crossover. That's where the 'mystery' comes from.

Moving away from physical, and... most magical aspects- I can talk plenty about magic science later- let's get a bit more into the specifics of these characters. Let's start with Sans.

Mysterytale!Sans is much like the ocean, in that he is. Very salty. Granted, it's not entirely unwarrented; he has a lot to be salty about. Usually, the things he's salty about involve someone he knows getting hurt, something close to him being destroyed, that sort of thing. When he isn't being salty, he's... rather laid back, as most Sanses tend to be. He's somehow... allso manage to keep up to date on the latest memes. The current running theory is blame Alphys, but he hasn't directly told anyone yet; he's also, of course, proficient in puns. He isn't exactly opposed to an adventure, though- exploration, when it isn't obviously dangerous or some place he's seen a thousand times in different universes- it actually is exciting for him, and he tends to perk up quite a bit around Papyrus as well. Sans' quadruped form is, decidedly... pretty cat-like. And, as the behaviour of most quadrupeds are, I mean in an incredibly stereotypical way. He will knock things off shelves, stare at nothing, and if Mysterytale had a Sans fight you could defeat him with a lazer pointer. It's... slightly rediculous, and he's. A bit embarrassed about it. You probably won't catch him in quadruped form, alone, very often. He doesn't really get along with most canines outside of Papyrus, and... as of recently, other cats are. A little frightening. In terms of his relationship to the other two, he is. V e r y close to Papyrus, usually depending on him for moral support and sanity checks- as well as. Actually knowing how social situations work. His relationship with Gaster is... a bit more difficult. Sans cares about him quite a significant amount, but he... has a bit of a hard time thinking of Gaster as a dad. The fact that he's rescuing him every two weeks and has to stick around to make sure he doesn't cause property damage while experimenting does not help in this fact. Still, they can certainly talk science together, and they have 'pun wars' on occasion- which. Is just ghem talking back and forth in almost entirely puns. It's great.

Now, to Papyrus! ...I, uh. Gotta be honest, I'm still getting his personality down, but- he's pretty definitely the moral backbone of the three. He's a grand majority of the reason that the other two aren't a broken mess half the time, likely being the most optimistic out of the three. He truly does believr in everyone's ability to change, and it's not because he doesn't know or understand the things people have done. He often knows a lot more than he seems to- he's actually pretty darn good at reading expressions, and social situations in general, and though he isn't the most scientifically-geared, he is v e r y good at understanding people. Still, he hesitates to use this to his advantage in fear of hurting people, or damaging their trust, so he tends to keep most of this to himself. It definitely does help him take care of the other two, though; knowing what's troubling them, and when they aren't actually 'fine'. Which is... most of the time. Papyrus' quadruped form is decidedly canine- generally pretty vocal and not shy at all about it, happy to chase a stick and very willing to... at least attempt to be a lap dog. Thankfully, he doesn't chase bones, and gets along rather well with cats. As for his relationship to the others? As mentioned, he is the moral backbone of the group. He's comforted Sans more times than he can count, and it's always a little frightening for either of them to go exploring someplace without the other. He's also consoled Gaster quite a few times, but... both Sans and Papyrus know significantly less about him than they know about each other, which, at times, make that difficult. Papyrus has... a bit of an easier time seeing Gaster as a father, but... if he's honest, it's partially for Gaster's benefit.

And finally... Gaster. This nerd- this hecking nerd is the most developed character in this entire AU and I'm prrobably going to send him in alone in a grand majority of roleplays I do here because. I... I actually know how to write for him. But- yeah, first and foremost, he's a nerd. He studied magic for a rediculously long time, being one of the first to do so using a more scientific method- and he still does research on the subject when he has tge chance to. He doesn't even really need to, it's simply fun for him. Exploration is also fun, of course- and, ultimately? ...He wants to go to space. He really, really wants to go to space. He knows quite a lot about space, and space agencies, and all of his notes are littered with theoretical designs of a magic-based engine to be used in- yeah, you guessed it- a space shuttle. Though he... doesn't know nearly as much about constellations. He can certainly name a few good stars on sight, though. Of course, given all this research into magic, and a pretty significant knowledge of physics, the increasingly un-constant rules of physics and magic across the multiverse are endlessly frustrating. Especially universes that fail to recognize simple law of conservation of mass. Still, he's... plenty capable of getting over that simply because exploring the multiverse is now necisarry, even if he isn't really the most fond of it. He... doesn't really have the most self-confidence in anything but his knowledge of magic and physics- and space- and... usually isn't too concerned with getting himself hurt, especially if, in any way, it seems to be helping someone- to a rather dangerous degree. He's aware of the impact this has on the people close to him, though, so he does try at least a little bit not to get himself into too bad of trouble, but he... isn't really the best at it. He's also very... very aware of the relationships between many Sans', Papyrus' and their Gasters in other universe- as far as he's seen, most of them being... poor, to say the least. With that knowledge, he's pretty hesitant to so much as tell people his name, speak in Wingdings, or introduce himself in bipedal form, for fear of bringing up unwanted memories. He... has done many things he regrets rather heavily, and if you get to know him enough, it... shows pretty quickly. He probably needs a hug. Like basically everyone in his universe. Moving on yo his quadruped form, though, it's... losely based off of a dragon...? His universe doesn't have a whole lot of stereotypes for dragons, but he is pretty easily distracted by shiny things and tends to rumble-growl a lot. His relationship with Sans and Papyrus is... well, as previously described, but- he is incredibly protective of the both of them, keeping a lot of his problems to himself and generally not letting strangers know they even exist for fear of tgem being used just to get to him. He's... told people that they've died on multiple occasions, and hurting them in any significant ways is one of the very, very few ways to get him actually, significantly mad at you. The other being another version of him or a flowey, though redemption is certainly possible. He just has yet to see thst more than once or twice. He... most definitely does depend heavily on both of the other two for moral support, though- even if he does still refuse to actually explain what's wrong, just being together... seems to help all three of them. He views them, as well as many other members of his universe as family- even if Sans and Papyrus are... really the only ones he regularly talks to, and... for many reasons, he feels like he owes them- both his universe, and the two specifically. He... he really isn't doing too great, but it's not something he always thinks about, and he has plenty of things he can be happy about- just. Exploring the multiverse can often be a bit... stressful, and he doesn't give himself a whole lot of recovery time...

But! Beyond that, there's a whole heckton of backstory, magic shenanigans and such that- for now- I'll keep secret, just to... hopefully make things interesting. But! Have a few extra tidbits!

All of them are... a little uncomfortable around soup, Sans especially

Flirting is Gaster's greatest weakness. He cannot comprehend it.

The Exploration Team that, for convenience sake, now includes... basically their entire universe is called Team Determination.

They use a hybrid between Pocket dimensions and the Treasure bag to have a basically infinite storage space shared between the entire universe, accessable by inventory.

This inventory contains an entire page of 99 stacks of Gravelrocks.

They sometimes use this inventory space to send written messages to eachother.

They use the badges' rescue system as a form of transportation, though they're still working on getting it to bring people to specific locations rather than some random place in the 'dungeon'

Gaster owns a model of the Columbia space shuttle, as well as a turtleneck he will never wear

Strong violet magic, in Mysterytale, is kind of terrifying

None of the three are likely to relax in a flower garden

Gaster has gone to the void twice, and has 0 LV. He is terrified of gaining more, and will take drastic measures to avoid this.

No one in Mysterytale is capable of swearing.

Gaster has a third form, mimicking a monster from his universe known as a Dracfin- semi-aquatic, furred quadrupeds that shapeshift slightly based off of whether they're submerged in water or not, playing off of the way water bends light. They are carnivores. Have a picture of said form- his appearance on land on the left, and his appearance in water on the right. Ignore the fact that both are pictured underwater, I got a little lazy with the background.

Every monster in Mysterytale has a sort of Multiversal camoflauge- which simply means that when they enter a new universe, if the rules of that universe don't allow for Monsters and their magic to exist- say, in a universe without latent magic- they change into the next closest form that obeys that universe's rules, whatever they may be. So, for the most prominent example, if a monster from Mysterytale entered a pokemon universe, they would almost definitely become a pokémon- one that already exists in that universe. So, in all likelyhood...

Gaster would become a Noivern- to be specific, a noivern with the telepathy ability, and Boomburst, Air Slash, Dragon Pulse and Roost

Papyrus would be a lucario- already mega evolved if allowed, but... otherwise just a normal Lucario with the Inner Focus ability, and Bone Rush, Aura Sphere, Heal Pulse and Copycat as moves

And Sans, finally, would be an Alolan Marowak- Cursed Body as an ability, and Bonemarang, Shadow Bone, Bone Rush and Flamethrower as moves; or... just a normal, non-alolan Marowak, depending on whether or not the universe in question actually. Y'know, has an Alola.

...Have some pictures!

They'll actually register as these Pokemon if scanned with a Pokedex, even when they aren't Pokemon. Again... crossover.

...but, uh. Yeah, anything else you want to know, go ahead and ask. We'll see if I can figure out how asks work. You can probably ask the characrers things, too, and I'll give you an in-character response that might spiral into an entire non-cannon au because that's how those things seem to work for whatever reason.

...also, uh. Let's... let's keep this sfw, mkay? mkay. Like you can swear at them and whatever but. Probably not much beyond flirting, aight?