#please feel free to chime in!!

[zesticky]

i'm absolutely gobsmacked every time i attempt to do a video edit of ava and deborah's relationship because like-

the amount of layers and parallels that the writers have given to them in three seasons is just insane

below is a list of all the parallels i'm trying to fit in

"the last thing on earth i want to do is move to the desert to write some lame jokes for an old hack." "i was right the day i met you, you are a fucking hack." "a hack is someone who does the same thing, over and over. deborah is the opposite. she keeps evolving and getting better."

"you have to scratch and claw and it never gets better. it just gets harder." this parallel between 01x02 and 03x01 is insane!!!

the salt and pepper shakers

"you can make it funny. you can make anything funny."

they speak their own little private language and make each other better

"you're just like me." deborah has said this twice on different occasions to ava

ava finds the package from kathy in the bin at deborah's place and gifts it to deborah at her show taping, with kathy THEN seeing the same poster at deborah's house for christmas and couldn't believe she saw it, with ava repyling with "she did, it made her really happy." when in fact, ava! gave! that! to! her!)

"don't leave me. [you got it.]" "don't-don't leave me. [okay, i won't.]"

deborah lets ava go so she can seek better job opportunities to advance her career

ava wants to be wherever deborah is, her wants and needs are ava's needs

deborah pushes ava away because she's afraid, and will do whatever it takes to make the show bulletproof, even if she thinks losing the people she loves is worth the sacrifice (and ultimately doesn't realise that would lead to her downfall in s4)

the subject of loneliness - deborah lost frank and kathy as a result, kathy leaves deborah because she can't stand the idea of deborah choosing her career over her personal life

"i know you. you're already making decisions out of fear and you'll keep doing it!" yet ava still stays with her in the end by deborah's own making... being a shark

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

In the world of heavy metals, love is denser than hate!

[ihazyourkitty]

I really try to avoid fact checking people in public comment sections on the internet, but sadly this time I couldn't resist.

There was a reel on Facebook explaining the "sad" reason why cetaceans in human care often receive ice. It's because they're given "dead fish" you see, and these frozen thawed fish contain less moisture than the live fish they eat in the wild, so the ice helps prevent dehydration.

First of all, this is half true. The other half is that many cetaceans just love getting ice.

Supplemental hydration can also include gelatin and squid. The latter two are not unique to cetaceans btw. Squid and specially formulated gelatin based foods are also used in many fish diets in part to provide additional moisture. They also count as enrichment, depending on the context.

In any event, this creator thinks it's sad... that caretakers are providing their dolphins additional hydration? What, does he also think it's sad that they get vitamins? Reptile keepers regularly dust their animals' food with calcium to make sure they don't get metabolic bone disease. Is that also sad? These things are standard zoological practices, not signs of neglect. Wouldn't it be sadder if they didn't do that?

(Reason #423 why framing matters).

"But it's not natural!"

Neither is running on a treadmill, but that doesn't mean it's bad for you. Also, I'm pretty sure ICE is one of the most natural things you could use....

"Well why can't they just give them live fish!?"

Because the logistics of sustaining a live colony for such a purpose would be an expensive nightmare. Do you know how many pounds of fish these animals need to eat in a day? Using them as an occasional form of enrichment might be feasible, but on the regular? Just. No! Tell me you don't know how fish care works without telling me you don't know how fish care works!

It's cruel to the fish, for the same reason that it's cruel to feed snakes live food (assuming they aren't picky eaters). Fish are not just props, they are live animals that can experience stress and pain!

Freezing the fish helps keep it safe to eat.

"Why not just release them back into the wild?"

Because that would also be cruel since they wouldn't know how to survive. Next question.

"How do they get dehydrated when they live in water!?"

Oh man. Oh man oh man.

Cetaceans get most of their hydration from their diet. A quick google search indicted that they can drink some salt water, though I don't know how true that is, and to be clear, their kidneys are likely much more efficient at filtering out salt than ours (someone who knows more about this, please feel free to correct me). Regardless, most of their hydration comes from their food. Lack of food leads to dehydration, both in captivity and in the wild.

But there was one guy who said that dolphins in captivity can't drink the water because it's chlorinated. This is not true. The residual amounts of chlorine left after their water passes through filtration is no higher than what is in your tap water.

(Btw, this is another reason why live fish aren't typically used, because you don't house fish in systems that use chlorine, even in small amounts).

When I pointed this out to the guy, his response was that "most of their diet contains water from the exact same source."

To his credit, he did back down when I pointed out that this was wrong. But come my friends! As a fish person, let me explain to you why this is not correct!

Fish blood chemistry is not the same as the ambient water around them. They would not be able to maintain homeostasis otherwise. You see, their gills and kidneys help them osmoregulate.

Freshwater fish blood contains more salts than the surrounding freshwater, which means the via osmosis, water will enter the body, and unless they can compensate for this, the fish will swell up like a balloon, lose necessary salts, and basically drown. So what do they do? Their kidneys produce large amounts of dilute urine get rid of this extra water. Meanwhile, chloride cells in their gills take up ions from the water to transport into their blood.

Saltwater fish, however, have the opposite problem. Their blood has less salts than the surrounding water, so they need to get rid of extra salt. How? Well, they actually do drink the saltwater, and then their kidneys help filter out the extra salt. They basically produce very concentrated urine. But the kidneys cannot do this alone, so the chloride cells in their gills also help by basically working in reverse. They move extra ions out of the blood.

Elasmobranchs, crustaceans, mollusks and other marine mammals that may also make up some cetacean diets will have their own methods of osmoregulation.

All of this is to say, no, eating saltwater animals does not mean you're literally consuming ocean water, as these organisms have specific mechanisms for filtering out the excess salts.

This is, btw, why you can't just put a freshwater fish in saltwater or vice versa. They will die. Nor is this unique to fish, most organisms adapted for one environment don't thrive in the other.* Case in point: we cannot drink salt water, because our kidneys cannot handle that.

But some animals can! Take the salmon for instance. They hatch in freshwater environments, then move to saltwater, and then back when spawning season comes. How do they do this? Well, there are specific environmental/developmental triggers that cause their bodies to start osmoregulating in reverse. This does not happen instantaneously, however. They need time to adjust. They will migrate to brackish water, and allow their bodies a few days to adjust before continuing.

Some species of fish have higher tolerances for wider ranges of salinity/total dissolved solids (TDS) than others. Fluctuating these levels can actually trigger spawning in some species too! Discus, for instance, can be maintained in relatively harder freshwater than what they'd experience in the wild. But for breeding purposes, it's recommended to use softer water with lower a TDS. Given that discus can be more finicky, however, any of these adjustments should be made gradually.

On the other hand, there might be another species where a more sudden change is beneficial. Tropical fish native to floodplains that will experience sudden onsets of flooding from the rainy season, for instance, may need precisely that sudden rush of freshwater with lower pH and TDS to trigger spawning. Even if spawning isn't the end goal, simulating these seasonal fluctuations can be a very effective form of naturalistic enrichment!

....Oh dear, I went on a very nerdy tangent, because SCIENCE!!!! Enjoy.

*this can actually be taken advantage of in certain treatment contexts! Saltwater aquarists will sometimes do what is called a "freshwater dip", where the saltwater fish is very briefly immersed in freshwater to help rid them of harmful external parasites or bacteria. Usually, it's used when fish are first brought into quarantine. It's not 100% effective on its own, but it's one of the many tools in an aquarist's arsenal. Oh! This can also be used on sea turtles in some rescue situations! Again... SCIENCE!!! >:D

[slavhew]

dreaming of friends

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

[chronurgy]

I'd been thinking Sceleritas Fel sounded like it was from Latin and boy was I right. Sceleritas apparently variously translates as "crime" or "wickedness/criminality" while Fel is related to the gall bladder and often translates as "gall" or "bile". His name is literally Nasty Crime Boy

[yawping-poets-society]

been Thinking about richard cameron again...

and i think the thing that people don't always see when discussing his character is that we the viewers can and should have a different interpretation of his character than the poets do

i get why charlie punched him. fine, i'll say it, i even think it's justifiable (stay with me here)

charlie was a seventeen year old who had just lost his best friend, and had always been predisposed to dislike cameron. why? because charlie only ever saw cameron as a rule follower, a brownoser, a teacher's pet. when cameron talks to nolan, charlie sees it as a betrayal but not a surprise because to him, this is classic cameron behavior. in his mind, obviously cameron would choose authority over his friends and the one teacher who fought the limits that welton set for them. charlie doesn't ever think about what position cameron was in.

and i get it! again! charlie is a teenager who is experiencing probably the most emotional time of his life. same goes for the rest of the poets. they all feel betrayed. and frankly, cameron's dialogue in the scene where charlie punches him is cruel, and a blatant misunderstanding of who neil was, and what keating was trying to do (as todd points out). he says a lot of shit, and none of it makes you want to like him. he wasn't winning any sympathy points from the poets or from the audience.

it’s easy to watch that scene back and say, “cameron behaved horribly here, therefore he is a horrible person with no redeeming qualities.” but when we're actually analyzing the movie? i think we have a responsibility to really consider cameron's motivations.

for starters, he was always the odd one out among the poets. charlie picked on him constantly, and no one ever stood up for him, except maybe neil. and not only does cameron hang out with the poets, he's charlie's roommate. he probably never caught a break from hearing how poorly charlie thought of him.

more than that, though, he has a clear and consistent need to follow authority. on keating's very first day, cameron is one of the first students to stand up and follow him out of the classroom. he does it hesitantly, sure, but we can tell what he's thinking: when a teacher tells you what to do, you do it. this pattern continues all the way into the aforementioned scene with charlie when cameron says: "in case you hadn't heard, dalton, there's something called an honor code at this school, alright? if a teacher asks you a question, you tell the truth, or you're expelled." true, yes, cameron's saving his own ass. but what choice does he have? in his mind, none. this is how the world works. you keep your head down, you do what you're told, or you get punished.

do i think it was the right thing to do? maybe not. do i think the poets are entitled to their anger towards him? yeah, i do. but i understand why cameron did it. he was a scared kid, who, when caught between a rock and a hard place, fell back on what he'd been taught his whole life.

so, to wrap all this up: no, cameron's not unequivocally good. he hurt his friends, and they have a right to be upset with him. but he didn't set out with bad intentions. he was just a kid, and what he did doesn't make him evil, it makes him complex. he has a right to be treated as such.

[justcallme-ange]

Hi I have a question on ur rival childhood friend au, how did dream went to neather and how exdee will react when he found out? (react that his son went missing?) Wanna know the story.

Oooh this is a great question! Okay this is going to be a little long so we'll go chronological. So Exdee finding out his son has gone missing, and Dream landing in the Nether. Well he wasn't happy that's for sure. As far as he knows, one moment Dream was there, and then the next:

As to why he's gone missing... I've been going back and forth with it being either enemies of the End, or another god jealous that Exdee created non-mob life, and wanted to take it for themselves. (Could be both idk at the moment ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) Dream would have been something incredibly powerful if he'd stayed as a "demi-god" but now that he's a player - godhood is firmly out of his hands. Something about him being part of all three(?) gods' domains now. Closest thing he could get to that was to become an Admin (which is something similar to being a Warlock - where you have a patron god granting you the power to change your chosen world). Back to Exdee- He raged for days, tearing the End apart looking for his boy; side note - the End used to be a huge continent, which uh... when I say he tore it apart - there's a reason why the End is now a collection of islands. After tearing through his realm he tried to tear through the other ones, which was firmly stopped by both the Nether God (?) and the Overworld God (Lady Death), who at this point have no idea what's set him off. All they could get out of him was: "My Dream, My Dream is gone."

Lady Death does get the story out of him after a while, where he begs her to check that Dream hasn't become a part of her domain. Which she confirms he hasn't. But neither has any idea where he could have ended up, since usually falling into the void sent you to the Overworld. So Dream is MIA for a while before he's suddenly pops into existence in the Nether. The Nether God does tell Exdee eventually (after Exdee gets word from an Enderman) but due to it not being Exdee's Domain, he just kinda has to sit and watch his kid get into trouble without being able to help. He's not okay for a long time.

[novella-november]

Oh, and for those not participating in Ominous October (see my pinned post for details), does anyone have any suggestions for ways people can begin planning/outlining their Novella November projects?

Does anyone have some Outline templates they would like to share ?

I always just.... winged it in the past lol, but I *am* doing some more in-depth planning this time.

An outline at its most basic should at least consist of :

Who are the characters?

Where and when is it set?

What is the Big Problem/Plot of the story?

Some additional details you can fill in from there:

Who is your main character? What kind of personality, abilities, and flaws do they have? What do they look like? Sound like?

If there are two or more main characters, how are they connected to the Plot?

If there are two or more main character POVs, do the additional perspectives bring something new and interesting to the story?

What are your characters motivations? Do these motivations change over time?

What kind of Conflicts do your character(s) face?

What kind of setting is your story set in, and how does that influence your characters and the story?

If you have thought of one, what do you *want* the main Theme of your story to be?

How do you plan on including this theme in your work?

What will start your Character(s) on their journey in the plot?

How will they have changed by the time you reach the middle of the book?

What is the climax of the work going to be?

How are the events of the book resolved?

Are all of the strings tied up for a standalone, or are there still pieces left unraveled, for a sequel to explore, or simply for an open-ending, intended to invite speculation from the audience?

[canisalbus]

I do historical rapier fencing, and it is quite tough on the arms and legs! The classic rapier is around a kilo in weight, and maintaining precision while holding it out in front of you and thrusting is surprisingly taxing on the muscles. The concept of rapier being a light weapon is somewhat misleading - it only weights a little bit less (a few hundred grams at most) than an European longsword, and in my experience handling the rapier is actually tougher. In my first class I felt like my limbs were about to fall off because I had absolutely no stamina haha. :D

I've been trying to do some research on rapiers and fencing, mainly because Vasco (as a well trained nobleman of his time) is actually supposed to be a reasonably skilled swordsman and rapiers are the period accurate choice. They look very airy and light but it's still a significant piece of metal, and to my understanding the blade is comparatively long as well, for that maximum reach I suppose? It's always a little intimidating when I give a character a skill or a trait that is outside my area of expertise, because eventually someone who actually knows a lot about the subject will show up and I get scared of embarrassing myself with my limited understanding ´v`'

Modern Machete has the benefit of proper healthcare and better stress management so he's nowhere near as actively feeble as his chronically fatiqued 16th century counterpart. He's still twiggy and unsporty but if he really truly wanted to do fencing, I think it would be possible for him to gain the necessary physical endurance and fitness through persistent training.

[hishoi]

Chime!

New oc!!!

This is Chime! They're a young, mischievous skykid who loves exploring and is always coming up with new games. They live... Somewhere in Valley of Triumph. Their resting place changes every once a week.

Chime pretends to be tougher and braver than they are, saying things like"Krill aren't even that dangerous!" And "Eden was no match for me". This all, to hide the fact that they're actually really scared of krill, and that they haven't even been to Eden...

I hope you like my new little creature :)

[warmhealerr]

Githyanki brained as usual but is there in any canon material that delves deeper into the theme of Vlaakith eugenics and the controlled reproduction of the population beyond what BG3 implies (aka you have to be chosen to have the right to lay fertilized eggs, and seemingly all sexes can lay such eggs regardless of if only a particular one can inseminate).

(Content Warning : more in depth talk of eugenics below, child mutilation, sterilization, etc).

Cuz now I'm just sitting here thinking "Do they insert hormone control implants in their young pre or post puberty that are only ever removed if they are chosen by Vlaakith for breeding" "Are organs surgically altered after birth so that they may be repaired by a highly specialized ghustil only and only if Vlaakith demands it" "Have organs been genetically selected over generations to be deficient at birth and then surgery has to be involved to repair that" "Were the rare remaining older Githyanki like Voss sterilized" "If they are implants, are there rogue Githyanki that found out this extremely classified information and got those removed, restoring their fertility" "Are unfertilized eggs common to lay in their cycle".

I love "it's just Vlaakith's powers don't think about it too much" but I like thinking about stuff like that way too damn much.

[xiakeponz]

for modern AU fics - what chinese media did diaspora consume?

making this post because some of us in the diaspora server were having a chat about what Chinese media "Diaspora Chinese" watched in the 90's - 2000's (and even sooner than that) while not having access to satellite chinese media or streaming services - this is in the context of writing modern AU fics based off Chinese media/novels (so your main character's grandpa or uncle is not, in fact, watching an episode of Friends or Shortland Street or something as flavour text because sorry what the hell-)

We generally watched a lot of stuff on VCDs, including bootlegged and non-bootlegged movies, shows, anime/donghua. My household had a whole VCD album of this, and a lot of VCDs (even if they were pirated editions) would have a fancy hardcover box with a magnetic clasp and some artwork representing the show on it.

All of this is Mandarin - so not TVB stuff, because I'm from Northern China and I don't know any cantonese - but Canto friends, please feel free to add to the list! This is mostly stuff my parents liked to watch, or I liked to watch with them, with the exception of a few which I mainly watched with friends/cousins when I was maybe (in most cases) eleven/twelve years old onwards. This is a pretty personal list, meant to give people general idea of a possible "ballpark" of sorts, and by no means exhaustive.

Now, for the list of shows which I can confirm I had or someone I know had on VCD or some kind of offline media format lol (I'll try add release year stamps and links to the EN wikipedia where possible):

Period dramas (mostly Qing Dynasty stuff):

Huan Zhu Gege 还珠格格 (1998, April-) This is a classic, so many memes come from this show; hugely popular series, basically cemented Zhang Tie Lin's face as the face of the Qing Emperor for about a decade. Tie Chi Tong Ya Ji Xiao Lan 铁齿铜牙纪晓岚 (2002-2010) - I loved this show as a kid and watched all four seasons on repeat with family... The "trio" in this show are well known and loved.

Amazing Detective Di Ren Jie / 神探狄仁杰 (2004) A very popular and addictive show. Ok now the Big Four:

Romance of 3 kingdoms 1994 / 三国演义 (1994) - a classic that has had many remakes, my older cousin would play this on repeat...

Hong Lou Meng/红楼梦 （1987） - another classic with many remakes, but I think the most recognised by the public one is the 1987 one.

Journey to the West / 西游记 live action (1986) - I think the 1986 version of the live action is the most recognised one. *Shui Hu Zhuan / 水浒传 (1998) - I am not too familliar with the live action of this one in my household tbh bc my mum doesn't like it lol (she keeps saying it's too depressing) but I'm sure it's up there with the rest of the big four, if anyone has an opinion on this one please let me know!

Modern setting shows:

My dad loved all the Sun Honglei (孙红雷 - actor name) stuff, iirc it was a lot of MinGuo period espionage stuff, your shanghai 1920's sxc aesthetic. This actor has been around since 1999? Qian Fu （潜伏）was very famous, and Ren Jian Zheng Dao Shi Cang Sang （人间正道是沧桑）。 These were around '08 and '09.

Chuang Guan Dong - 闯关东 (2008) (Baidu link, sorry - couldn't get an EN wikipedia one). This show was huge when it was airing, everyone was watching it. I was pretty young but even I watched it and got invested ... and I thought it was such an "old person" show at the time lmao. Xiao Bing Zhang Ga / 小兵张嘎 （2004） (sorry, again Baidu link) - yo, anti-japanese war movies set between 1937-1945 were crazy popular - this is one of them and was very popular):

Donghua/Anime (all the stuff kid me watched and some which I didn't but were popular):

喜羊羊与灰太狼 (2005-) Calabash Brothers / 葫芦兄弟 （1986-1987） Black Cat Detective / Hei Mao Jing Zhang 黑猫警长 （1984-2010） Lan Mao Tao Qi 3000 Wen 蓝蓝猫淘气3000问 AKA 蓝猫 (blue cat) (October 1999 - Present) Legend of Ne Zha 哪吒传奇 (2003) Journey to the West/Xi You Ji 西游记 This was truly the Donghua I grew up on from when I was a bb, the OP song and ED song are classic bangers all kids know. Slam Dunk/ 灌篮高手 - People truly watched a lot of anime that may or may not have been terribly dubbed into mando (possibly canto too). Late 80s and 90s kids were all over this, and Dragon Ball, Crayon Shinchan (labixiaoxin).

Taiwanese Dramas:

This is mid-late 2000's, I would be remiss to not talk about the Taiwanese dramas of this era. Mike He, Rainie Yang, Wu Zun (amongst many, many others) were huge. Stuff like Dou Niu Yao Bu Yao, it started with a kiss, Hua Yang Shao Nv (Taiwanese version of Hana Kimi) were all pretty popular. Not sure if these shows all hold up in 2023, but boy were they popular at the time.

Note about CNY:

For CNY, people would try to tune into 春节联欢晚会 (the CCTV official CNY show) at that One Friend Who Had China Satellite TV's house. Zhao Ben Shan / 赵本山 was a comedy staple, and the show would often feature people from the music industry to perform. Eventually these people became more and more relevant to my gen and Jay Chou etc started appearing.

Last but not least Xian Jiaaaan 仙剑:

In 2005 I was all over 仙剑奇侠传 (Chinese Paladin), based off the video game. This show was crazy popular and probably sent me and a whole lot of other kids into Xianxia / Wuxia hell (and Hu Ge hell, and later I came back to love Liu Yifei). Thank you. The OST is a true banger.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Tbh I don't see the point of Luka learning mirakungfu while Adrien and Marinette don't, even more so if the reason why Suhan teach that to him is because he knew LB and CN identity. Then shouldn't those two learn it also since they basically holding the miraculous that the villain want most? But then again it feels like "adult is useless except for some" seems to be one of the rule in this show.

I kind of despise the concept of mirakungfu because it makes no sense and because it feels disrespectful. I am by no means an expert on Chinese culture, so I don't know if it's actually offensive, but when all the writers are white, the name for the made up martial art is a parody of a real martial art, the box of magic items has nothing to do with the culture it's supposedly from, and the main character is completely removed from her heritage, it's just not a good look, especially since the monks are Tibetan and everything about the miraculous themselves is pretty explicitly Chinese. It just gives me uncomfortable vibes of Asian cultures being treated as both window dressing and an interchangeable monolith, but I don't have the expertise to really discuss that issue beyond "this feels like a bad idea and you probably want to talk to an expert on these topics to make sure you're not doing something offensive."

On the other hand, I love the concept of Guardian Luka! I have actually always wished that he had been given the miracle box instead of Marinette simply because I don't think that Marinette's personality is well suited to the role of Guardian and because I wanted her to have an actual team. Meanwhile, Luka freaking shines when they have him in a mentor role (Wishmaker & Migration) and I am of the firm belief that the Guardian should be a mentor to the other holders. It's why I said Marinette isn't suited to the role. As written, she just kind of hands out miraculous and orders people about. That's perfectly fine for a team leader! It's not so great for what I expect when I hear "guardian who chooses the holders of the ancient and powerful artifacts."

But that's not what they did with Luka. He isn't the holder of the miracle box. He just knows how to fight off miraculous wielders because reasons, so I have no idea what they're trying to do with him. Especially since his existence is straight up breaking their lore. In this case, it's the lore established back in Furious Fu, Su-Han's intro:

Su-Han: Let me remind you about some of the Perfect Precepts that you have broken. (flips pages) Precept 14: Kwamis must not live outside the box. (flips pages) Precept 52: Guardians must never lose a Miraculous. (flips pages) Precept 133: A guardian cannot, under any circumstances, wear a Miraculous. (closes the book)

Su-Han accepting Marinette as Guardian because what's done is done makes sense because of the memory BS (why is there no other way to hand off the box?), but that whole "Guardians don't wear Miraculous" rule is there for a reason! I think it may go a step too far, but the general principle does make a lot of sense. The Guardians should be in more of a support role simply from a security standpoint.

It's another reason I'm iffy on Marinette being the Guardian. The Guardian knows everyone's identities and - in the context of canon - has a direct line to the miracle box that any rando can access by capturing them. This makes it a really bad idea to have them fighting on the front lines as they know too much and are something of a security risk. Meanwhile the snake feels like a perfect miraculous for the Guardian to wield since the snake is meant to watch the battle from the sidelines.

It's all very confusing to me because I'm getting a thing I wanted, but in the most confusing and least interesting way. Instead of this feeling like a big plot point, it just feels like something they did because it's cool. I fear this is going to be like Luka learning the secret identities: a thing that should lead to something big plot-wise, but that ends up mostly ignored because it would complicate things too much. If anything, I expect this to mean that he's left out of big moments because the writers very clearly don't know how to write him now. Like he should have been involved in the Risk/Strikeback fight! His powers made more sense than anyone else's! But he couldn't be because then the Felix thing couldn't happen.

I do very much agree that Luka leaning mirakungfu is a big WTF because, if holders are randomly allowed to learn it now, then Marinette should be learning it too! She's actively fighting against a rouge holder, she knows all of the other holders' identities, and she is the guardian! Why is Su-Han mentoring Luka and not the actual guardian? It's all very annoying and I do not like it. It would honestly make more sense if Jagged and Penny were trained, but Luka was not, because Jagged and Penny are not holders, but they are acting as Luka's bodyguards of a sort. Instead, the writers have once again shat all over their lore in the name of doing something cool for a season finale and I would bet you that they're now going to have no idea how to handle the consequences of that in the coming season because they keep doing that. See: season three ending with a mass reveal and the writers subsequently ignoring the identity rules.

[teshadraws]

hi! quick seekers of soul question: what would happen if mew tried to make a human soul(s?) of someone who's plural (as in many minds in one body) into a pokémon? do you think they'd all become spiritomb or something?

It's a possibility, but I wouldn't say it's a sure thing.

Souls decide their species based on which one feels the most comfortable/fitting, so it would really depend on the specific system! I imagine some would like a multi-consciousness Pokemon like dodrio, while others would prefer to stick together in a single body, which could happen to be a spiritomb.

They wouldn't be destined to become a multi-conscious species, though--they managed just fine in one body in the human world, after all!

[tsams-and-co-memes]

Hiiii

Uh

What are some things EaPS Moon tend to say a lot? I can't think of any-

I've seen that you compile character canon info so I'm just hazardin a guess you watch a lot of the stuff. I'm making yet another rp blog, and I don't know where else to ask this without spoiling the surprise

If you can't think of any either, I can just go watch through stuff- just wanted to try n ask somewhere first

Uhhhh right offhand, I know he talks about wanting to make games a lot. He's repeatedly talked about Project Zomboid, and I remember him saying multiple times in one video that he's not a monster. That's all off the top of my head though, and I can't really think of anything else at the moment ^^" hope everything goes well with this rp blog you're making!

[thistaleisabloodyone]

Heya, I couldn't help but notice that you have a lot of Rampage merch. I am a new fan and I would like to buy some of their merch. So I wanted to ask you, where did you buy it? Could you give me some recommendations?

Hope you have a nice day

Love ya!!!🩷🩷🩷

Hello! Welcome to the fandom, I hope you're enjoying your stay 😊

For RMPG merch, I get them through three primary sources (long, rambly additions in indent so you can skip if you want):

CDJapan - albums, DVD/Blu-rays, books; does offer proxy service

This is where I buy my discs, like my CDs and my Blu-rays (... and that one time I accidentally bought the DVD version of Gene's United Journeys tour [/regrets]). I've also gotten a few books and magazines through here - my (first) copy of Riku's photobook, the 16Future book, the Anan magazine, etc. I have used their proxy service (where they act as the intermediary to buy things from Japanese stores for you) once. It wasn't the 'here's a thing I want to buy, can you buy it?' method, but they had a listing for the Exile Tribe Station edition cover of Etoile that you could buy through proxy and I was like "Hi, yes, please, I'll take that." They are letting you search Mercari on the website now, which is interesting. Have not used that aspect of their proxy service.

Exile Tribe Station Global - Tour merch, calendars, books

This is the official international merch store for Exile Tribe - you can buy tour merch here, as well as the yearly calendars and miscellaneous other things. Things tend to be out of stock here, unfortunately, especially the cheap things like the cards, but they do apparently restock occasionally because I just finally got Likiya's coin purse and Takuma's cup set for CyberHelix There is a Japanese store which has better stock, but you have to use a proxy service to use it and I am Lazy:tm:. Also, I want to use their global store so they keep it running - going off of my order numbers, they've had 219 orders through the global store since May 23rd last year and I account for six of those, so. If I can't get what I want through the global store, I go to stop #3.

Neokyo - proxy service, works with a number of websites. I typically use the Mercari listings

There are other proxy services - obviously CDJapan has added a search to their website for doing Mercari proxy purchases - but Neokyo is the one I use and I'm at 95 out of 99 purchases successful. (I've had 3 cancelled by seller, 1 cancelled because the seller never took the payment) They are a little expensive, there is a service fee on every purchase, but I find it worth it because I don't have to deal with buying things through a language barrier 😂 This is where I got most of my acrylic stands, basically all of my photo cards, my Ravers jersey, etc. Any disc I can't buy off of CDJapan - like Shokichi's first album, the High&Low soundtrack, etc. - I buy from here. This is how I got my first press copies of the first two albums. I also have the playing card deck in a shipment on its way, which I'm very happy about.

Quick notes - keep an eye on what cannot be shipped internationally. CDJapan's list is here, Neokyo's list is here. Whatever proxy service you use, if you choose to use a different one, should have a copy of it. Apparently the photo acrylic key chains from the new CyberHelix merch are magnetic, so you cannot buy it, it cannot be shipped internationally (at least according to CDJapan and Neokyo). Keep an eye out and don't accidentally buy a listing with it in it.