#relatability factor 100%

[bairdthereader]

There are many, many relatable moments in Heartstopper, but this one right here takes the prize.

[da-janela-lateral]

I've always been curious about esper aura textures. Do they form based on the way psychic energy emerges from its source and weaves itself into an external structure? Do their appearance have a genetic factor just like the very presence of ESP, or its purely a matter of a person's soul? Are there registered patterns in which they can manifest? Do their shapes, colors and movements have a general reason to appear like that, or does it depend on the person? Can the patterns change? Do the patterns interfer in sensorial properties, like perceived temperature, texture or hardness?

Oh that's an anime only thing right.

[drchucktingle]

On your blog you've talked about dealing with chronic as a result from the stress of masking your autism.

It's a bit of a different situation, but my little sister (who we've begun to suspect has adhd) has been experiencing chronic pain in her arms and legs. I may be totally off base, but I was wondering if a similar stess might potentially be a factor in her pain.

If you're willing, would you mind talking about how your pain affected before you found a way to manage it (I tried searching your tumblr, but not much came up, so sorry if I'm asking a question that's already been answered)?

Thanks either way, I love your books. Love is real!

sure buckaroo GOOD QUESTION. i have had chronic pain in some form or another for LONG TIME in a number of STRESS RELATED WAYS. in past it has been cracking teeth from clenching dang jaws while i sleep and things like that, but a few years ago it was FULL ON BODY PAIN AND TIGHTNESS like every muscle was clenching up. went to the doctor over and over all kinds of dang specialists and it was very difficult to figure out what was going on. eventually landed on a sort of nebulous trot of STRESS but i can get more specific.

there are several things about me that you would never know just from looking or even talking to me for long times. i am a bi buckaroo, i am a non-dysphoric trans buckaroo, i am an autistic buckaroo. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE THINGS IS EITHER HIDDEN AUTOMATICALLY OR I AM SUCH AN EXPERT AT HIDING THAT IT IS SECOND NATURE

autism presents its trot in many ways, so my words do not apply to all, but my version is EXTREME ORGANIZATION AND ENDLESS WORK ETHIC. in way of freud (which is a silly way but sometimes good for symbolism talk) i have what you would call an OVERDEVELOPED SUPER EGO which is a double edged sword. i can write 100s of books at an incredible pace, but also feel like my body is constantly collapsing in on itself

this is not really something i consciously think about much, but eventually these health problems started creeping up. it was all from carrying this mystery tension in my body, because while it feels EASY for me to mask i believe all that tension goes somewhere and it stores up and stores up and stores up.

so i think the HEALTHY way that i have found to deal with this (i think of it as releasing the steam valve a bit so the boiler does not break down) is ART. this space where i am allowed to be CHUCK TINGLE and write without obsessing over the spelling or punctuation, or to loudly express my queerness, or explore gender, and to let my neurotypical mask down DIRECTLY RELIEVES my chronic pain because it literally makes my muscles relax.

when i started out this ARTISTIC TROT as chuck i used a LOT of metaphor to keep my privacy, with different words or different versions of people for different things, and buckaroos found this very funny. as a way to express myself artistically i also liked this metaphor trot a lot, but i have also found that the LESS metaphor i paint over my life as chuck, the better it is for my health. if you have noticed, i talk less about some of the parts of my life that were metaphors, or maybe you have seen that my voice has relaxed a bit in interviews, or that i carry myself a little differently over time, this is partially why. (there is another artistic reason that was a planned trot from the beginning and it has to do with my feelings as a young autistic buckaroo of not fitting in on this timeline, but we can dive into that later).

anyway, as PRACTICAL ADVICE i would say that FINDING A SPACE TO EXPRESS YOURSELF WITHOUT FEAR OR MASKING has been the number one trot for me. that can be a pink bag over your head writing hundreds of erotic shorts, or that can be just laying on the ground howling your heart out, or doing whatever stim you need to do.

i will also say that ONCE I REALIZED IT WAS MUSCLE TENSION getting a physical therapist helped a lot. because there are two sides, you have to start releasing steam from the steam valve, but at the same time youve also gotta start HEALING THE DAMAGE. so i think stretching and techniques like that can be very helpful.

hope that helps buckaroo LOVE IS REAL

[theoarfishexpress]

Giant spiders, by which I mean like human-sized, are really common in fiction, so I got to thinking about how one would actually look.

I referenced arthropods that actually achieved this kind of mass in the paleozoic, especially hibbertopterids. A lot of these giant bugs existed when oxygen levels were unusually high, and it does seem that oxygen is a limiting factor on the size of insects, but the very biggest arthropods weren’t insects, and some of them existed before or after the highest oxygen levels. What I’m getting at is that maybe only insects are limited this way, and arthropods that breathe differently could get huge even at present oxygen levels. Of course, they don’t, but that may have to do with competition with vertebrates, or being unable to keep up with faster-paced nutrient cycles.

So let’s say this giant spider lives on an isolated landmass, or in an alternate timeline, where vertebrates aren’t a problem, and ecosystems move slowly. It’s descended from tarantulas or related spiders that exclusively use book lungs to breathe, unlike most spiders that also have insect-style spiracles and tracheae. To efficiently move that oxygen to all of its tissues, it’ll use copper-based hemocyanin like a horseshoe crab, making its blood bright blue. The sprawling posture of a spider isn’t the best at bearing 100 kilograms, so its legs are short, and attach close to the midline of the body. The abdomen rests partially on top of its carapace to help support its organs. Being so bulky, and having a slow metabolism, it can’t sustain high activity, so actively chasing prey won’t work. But its caloric needs are also high enough that sitting in a burrow and waiting for food to come along is risky. Instead, it slowly roams like an eight-legged tortoise, “grazing” on whatever is too slow or oblivious to get out from under it as it rummages in the leaf litter and soil of damp forests with shoveling forelimbs. Insects, worms, snails, carrion, even fruit, all get shoveled between its grinding maxillae, mixed with saliva, and sucked up into its stomach. This kind of small prey is most abundant near water, so I imagine they would be shoreline animals.

Another struggle giant arthropods face is molting. It’s a long process, and it takes even longer for the new exoskeleton to harden. This giant spider would dig a burrow to molt in, and then remain dormant underground as its exoskeleton fully tans. It would emerge from its den weeks later, ravenously hungry, like a bear after hibernation. Lastly, sexual dimorphism is often more extreme in larger animals, so the males of this species would hardly grow bigger than the largest real spiders. They would still ambush prey from burrows like the ancestral tarantulas, but would also go on long journeys to find female partners. Like real tarantulas, once a male reaches adulthood, the sexual organs on its pedipalps prevent it from safely molting again, capping their lifespan at around 10 years. The females however are so large that they take 20 years just to reach maturity, and can live past 80.

[zazaiafe2]

I really like the approach your blog takes towards shifting in this community full of "Just assume" "Just decide that you're in your DR" yada yada. Although that does work, and the law of assumption sure is real, I do believe in it. But its application (keyword: Application) to things like shifting is something I have no idea how to do and I'm sure I am not the only one who has this issue, especially if the DRs are very "different" from our CR (fictional DRs most of the time fall under this category) Our ego does indeed play a HUGE role in what our awareness experiences through the physical plane. The "Assume you're in your DR" does work but it then also has many other supporting factors for those it does work and I realized that by reading your posts. Its okay if it does NOT work for some or is really hard to follow through with lets just be honest rn instead of blaming people for "not persisting" or some other crap 😭😭😭 Because straight up using LOA, esp for a place you haven't even felt a breeze of, aren't even completely sure is real??? Can be really wonky.

I thank you for making posts that give ACTUAL STRUCTURE to shift.. that, simply using the LOA logic lacks. And I love how you do state that it is not a process but rather like an instant flick of a switch.

Honestly, I relate to this so much. I used to believe much more strongly in the law of assumption, but the more research I do and the deeper I go into shifting, the less I fully trust it as a universal explanation. I do think it's a tool, and for some people it works great, but assuming it's a one-size-fits-all rule is extremely misleading.

If we take the law of assumption seriously, then we also have to recognize that people have vastly different abilities to assume. I have a highly rational mind and tend to resist anything that feels irrational or unproven. For me to accept something as true, I often need either an explanation or a heavily altered state of consciousness (ASC) where my mind allows it.

Even when I practice hypnosis , I see very clearly how differently people respond to suggestion and belief implantation. For some, one session is enough to accept a belief. For others, it might take dozens of sessions,and still, some struggle. The mind's critical factor doesn't work identically for everyone.

If I still fully believed in LOA, I'd probably say it's been extremely oversimplified, and that some advice can even be harmful. For example, telling someone who's feeling frustrated to "persist" with no nuance can easily backfire and feed into a frustration loop, especially for neurodivergent people or people who cognitively analyze their emotions deeply. The problem is that a lot of LOA advice assumes everyone processes things like belief, assumption, and persistence in the same linear way.

Obviously, for someone who has shifted often, assuming "shifting is real and natural" will be a much easier belief to hold than for someone who's never consciously shifted before. Their awarness already has experiential confirmation. For someone without that, it's a different challenge.

Also, I 100% agree with you that shifting isn't really a process, it's instantaneous at the moment it happens. The "process" is the preparation beforehand. I don’t believe at all in the "3D lag" concept; not only is there no proof for it, but almost everyone who shifts describes it as immediate once it occurs. I think a lot of these "lag" beliefs are more like coping mechanisms or ways to comfort oneself when it's taking longer than expected.

As someone who practices hypnosis, I can confidently say: assumptions and belief implantation are way more unstable and nuanced than people realize. Teaching people that assumption alone is enough, without considering individual differences, does more harm than good for a lot of shifters.

I honestly had a lot to say on this, but to sum it up: I fully agree with your take, and i think it's a part of the spiritual meritocracy and individualistic tendancies.

[maryrouille]

Toxic romanticization of studying

In a word of introduction, my profile partly shows that studying and exploring is wonderful. But as a person involved in science*, I would like to show healthy and true patterns of this beautiful adventure in acquiring knowledge.

The inspiration for writing this post this time was not the phenomenon from Tumblr (although you can also observe it here), but from Pinterest. There you can come across cycles composed of quotes and photos whose aim is to motivate young girls to learn, succeed and get good grades. These images often also show examples of characters from movies, TV series or real life that you can aspire to be like. Overall, I have to agree that it really works! But I would like to draw attention to certain elements that need to be verified.

1. You shouldn't get up at 5am

First of all, the correct amount of sleep is one of the most important factors affecting the proper and effective functioning of our brain. During sleep, nerve cells regenerate, organize information acquired during the day and consolidate memory traces, which is directly related to learning. Lack of sleep increases impulsivity, deepens negative thinking and slows down the body's reaction time!

2. You can be a genius without good grades

Of course, good grades are a pleasant confirmation of our knowledge and praise for hard work. However, sometimes it is worth considering whether the structure of exams themselves, especially those with closed questions, affects the results. We often study for one specific exam, the knowledge of which may be very… limited and sometimes not useful, so it is worth prioritizing the topics that we study hard.

3. It's not cool to think you're better than others

We are different and have different priorities in life. It is also worth considering how many people escape from the rat race and start a slow, stress-free life. So we have to agree that judging people based on grades or responses under stress (sic!) is not cool.

The good thing about romanticizing studying

As I have already said, these types of collages are really motivating. So let's talk about what's great about them and what's worth highlighting and saving for later.

1. Knowledge is beautiful, but your outfit and surroundings can also be

We know that we should never judge a book by its cover, but… the issue of social perception painfully confirms that we do and will continue to do so because this is how our brains work. And isn't it nice when someone looks at us and thinks this girl is so classy?

Moreover, a nice outfit that makes us feel good gives us a lot of self-confidence. There are also many studies confirming the positive impact on motivation and concentration of a neat and aesthetic workplace.

2. Not just cramming, but also discovering

Broadening your horizons is easier with passion and real commitment. And to achieve this, the topics must really interest us. Not everyone has yet found something that they are extremely passionate about in science, so that is why you have to dig deeper and discover different areas.

3. Don't be afraid to use your knowledge in practice

Schools and universities, unfortunately, have their own rules and they do not always allow you to show your 100% potential. Thus, share your knowledge with others externally, write essays, blog and social media. This form of activity also makes you learn things faster and easier. In addition, contacts with others will expand your knowledge.

Therefore, I must say that it is worth choosing your inspirations carefully. Nothing helps you enjoy studying better than a clear head and lack of prejudices.

*This post was inspired by my own experience with studying. If anyone is interested, I think I can share my mistakes that did not help me in an academic adventure :)

[milkoomi]

a guide on becoming an academic weapon. ᥫ᭡

being an academic weapon is one of the top goals for a lot of us. we strive for excellence and hope to achieve top marks in all our classes so that we can continue to reach whatever it is that may be our final goal like getting into a top university, graduating as valedictorian, or getting into the career of our dreams. this guide will be about all the habits of an academic weapon and what tools & methods you can incorporate into your study/school routine!

let’s begin …

୨ৎ — lecture preperation

pre-reading chapters/lecture powerpoints

skim through chapters, make note of important headings, highlight key terms! if you can, look through any powerpoints that will be used for lecture notes as well!

jot down quick notes like vocab terms, key pieces of information, and/or any questions on topics you want to understand further!

read chapter summaries & highlight important headings

set up your notes

if you like to use different note-taking methods, try setting up your pages beforehand! this will take up less time while in class and you’ll come in already prepared to take any notes!

i have a post on note-taking here on my blog that you can refer to for a few different note-taking methods!

begin homework assignments

my professor will publish homework assignments on sunday mornings for each week that we’re learning new material, so if your teacher does something similar or you’re taking an all-online course, start by working ahead on those homework assignments!

getting a head start can …

help with having a better understanding of the material by the time of your lecture

help you apply the knowledge you learned from the assignments into your lecture

help you come up with questions for better comprehension of the topics

help you manage your time better

reduce your work load later on

start creating flashcards

if you’re required to know key terms/vocab, start creating flashcards ahead of time! this will help you get familiar with the vocabulary that’s related to the material and will jumpstart that increase in understanding of what’s to come in your lecture or any required readings!

୨ৎ — smart studying

we’re always told to “work smarter, not harder” and i believe that doing so can help you achieve success more quickly and efficiently! while it’s great to dedicate a lot of time to your studies, it’s not always optimal. spending hours upon hours working with no breaks in between and forgetting to take care of yourself can lead to burn out, so it’s important to find ways to study that not only help you study more efficiently but also work with your learning type!

trial periods

there are a plethora of study methods out there that you can try out to see which ones work the best for you!

posts with study methods ( + how-to’s ) …

how to study effectively - @milkoomi

non-basic study techniques - @glowettee [ this post is PHENOMENAL! mindy includes so many unique study methods— some that she created herself! — that give an entirely new way to study & learn material! 100/10 recommend reading through this! ]

take some time each week to try out a new study method while still incorporating techniques you’re used to! pick one study method for the week & test it out at the start of your study time slot.

trying out new methods/techniques also help with keeping your study routine fresh and it creates a bigger study arsenal for yourself! having multiple ways of studying just means having a variety of ways to learn the material! every method has its benefits, some will help with memorization while others can help with better comprehension!

pick your big 3

amongst all the different study methods out there, you should pick your top 3 techniques that help you the most! they’ll be your ultimate go-to study methods!

factors to think about for your big 3 …

how much time does the method/technique take?

what is your success rate with the method/technique?

how easy was it for you to incorporate the method/technique into your study routine?

your big 3 study methods should help with maximizing your productivity time, help you achieve your desired grades, & be within your limits while studying, meaning it shouldn’t make you feel like you’re stretching yourself thin because, again, we need to study smarter, not harder!

my personal big 3:

Feynman Technique - teaching others

active recall - practice questions & flashcards

knowledge application - making real life connections

textbook tests

i feel like a lot of us view textbooks as these giant, daunting bricks we’re forced to lug around, but they’re required material for a reason! they’re more than just a giant book of “boring” chapters!

a lot of textbooks have mini assessments at the end of every chapter, so take some time to do them! they’re just practice tests and they’ll be extremely useful for active recall (plus, you don’t have to worry about creating your own practice questions!)

୨ৎ — change your mindset

being an academic weapon means having the mindset of an academic weapon. the way you think and feel about your schooling plays a huge role in this!

“i have to” to “i get to”

treating your academics and studies as if they’re chores will make you lose your motivation and passion for learning. getting to have an education is a privilege and i feel like a lot of us forget that. be thankful that you get to pursue an academic career and get the chance to further your education! instead of “i have to study” say, “i get to study”!

getting an education is a beautiful opportunity in life, so practice gratitude when it comes to learning!

self care

i will always advocate for self care because you can’t do your best when you aren’t at your best. being an academic weapon doesn’t mean throwing your entire life away or setting your health to the side to solely focus on your studies. going to the extremes for your academics shouldn’t be normalized.

you don’t need to pull all-nighters every other day to study, you don’t need to work/study for 14 hours, you don’t need to harshly motivate yourself to get back to studying— you need to treat yourself kindly and shoe yourself gentle care.

get enough sleep

shower, do skincare, brush your teeth

keep yourself hydrated & well-fed

get your body moving

make time for your hobbies & things that make you happy

remember to take breaks when your mind & body needs them

don’t sacrifice your well-being to get ahead on your road to success. you’ll only bring yourself farther behind if you neglect your health.

final notes —

becoming an academic weapon is 60% mindset, 40% work ethic. you have to motivate yourself to give your best work, but! you have to take care of your mind and body before you even think about giving your best work. be kind to yourself, affirm yourself that you can do this! you are more than capable of achieving academic success!

the work you put in as an academic weapon has to be work you’re proud of. be sure that you’re using your time wisely, that you free yourself from distractions while studying, that you give yourself enough time to get work done (and take breaks & do something for yourself!), and that you always give it your all when you’re completing assignments, writing notes, or studying.

i know that you’ll be able to truly be an academic weapon! you have what it takes! you just have to remind yourself of your own potential.

with lots of love, faustina 🌷

[bunnwich]

Ngl your Leona posts , analysis,ect are so therapeutic.

Like man it was hard being a Leona fan a couple of years ago(at least for me) because everyone always wrote nothing but awful things about him. Especially by other "analysis" writers who claim he's just a unlikable scumbag,ect.

But nowadays it feels so much better as most people, including yourself, explained his much more interesting and complex personality.

Leona & Fandom Interpretation

Hi, that honestly makes me so happy to hear!!? I don’t think some people understand that when ppl really love a character often it is because they see something they relate to in them.

As someone who has been depressed, is neurodivergent and is a certified “burned-out gifted kid” it’s def interesting when people dismiss Leona’s traits as pure laziness or completely negative. None of the twst boys are perfect and all of them have “issues.” That’s the whole point I fear. ASDFGHJKL.

I like to think that my chronic Leona posting has helped his perception by the fandom and while I understand he can’t be everyone's fav I do feel in the past he has gotten a unfair reputation compared to some of the other characters and while there's a lot of factors to WHY I think that is…I implore everyone to just be a bit more mindful when it comes to stereotypes and characterization.

I am an anti-censorship, pro-smut, and a fiction-is-fiction person. But multiple things can be true. Nuance exists. Leona is not real. But people like him exist. Is misrepresenting and demonizing a character that is black, depressed and possibly neurodivergent a “big deal” in comparison to real issues? Well, that’s up to each individual to decide, but AT MINIMUM it’s not…good.

Curating your online spaces is good general advice. BUT, I think the aim should be to make sure fandom spaces stay inviting to everyone. By all means, speak your mind, but like do you wanna be known as THAT person in the fandom.

Anyways I got off on a tangent, but this ask really touched me and made me think WHY I put so much passion in my Leona posts and spreading my propaganda about him. TBH the whole reason I started getting into him WAS BECAUSE I saw such strange interpretations of him. Lowkey, it made me angry. And I wasn’t sure why since…you know he’s not real, but I get it now.

Despite the unseriousness of fiction, the people behind screens who gush about their faves ARE real people, and I, for one, put a lot of myself into my Leona art, writing, and, in general interactions with the fandom. None of it is done 100% carelessly because I know it affects people, even if it’s in a minor way. And esp now that I've gained a following.

Anyways, thank you and I’m glad that my posts can bring any semblance of joy or comfort in this world!

💚💚💚

[anqelmuse]

Does it feel a bit weird to you how TRAs are so quick to conclude that the murder of Jonathan Joss was a homophobic/transphobic hatecrime? And refuse to consider any other motives? It honestly seems like they become giddy whenever a potential transphobia-related crime has taken place. The response to cases like the murder of Brianna Ghey comes to mind.

Ofc its still a developing story, but I think its highly unlikely that Alvarez was motivated by homophobia. Nobody is clocking Tristan as anything but female, they were so obviously a hetero couple. It strikes me as incredibly insulting to act as if a heterosexual couple were targeted based on homophobia when in reality, actual homosexuals still suffer violence and harassment on a global scale.

Its more likely imo that the two were acting erratic/aggressive while high, conflict escalated and Alvarez decided to respond with full on aggression like a true XY. It would not be first time some trigger-happy conservative decided to open fire over something that could have easily been de-escalated. I work with people struggling with drug addiction and mental illness + homelessness, and I unfortunately see situations like this regularly. Many already harbor a deep dislike of individuals with SUD/mental illness and thereby feel justified in treating them as less than human.

Racism was likely factor as well. We know that discrimination and violence against Indigenous people is rampant in this country and we are suffering with substance abuse at higher rates, largely because of the sheer mistreatment and trauma. I just hope Tristan and their families get justice in the end and that they get the chance to eventually heal with time. Just a completely sensless and tragic loss of life.

I think you're 100 and it was just senseless moid on moid violence.

According to both the shooter and 3 other neighbors (only 1 of whom allowed their name to be published by the press) it was 100% a moid moment of the shooter having had enough of Joss screaming and starting drama on the street, saw him making another scene, and killed him for it. Both of the men had run ins with police for fighting each other with weapons and using racial slurs against each other before.

Theres the lie that the shooter burnt down his house and killed his dogs. Untrue, the house did not burn due to arson and his dogs died because they evacuated without them. It's fucked up to put arson and fucking animal murder and mutilation on someone, when in truth the animal died because the home owners left without them. The dog skull also wasn't placed in their mailbox, like some TRAs are spreading, they just saw it around the remains of the home.

The other lie is that the TIF "husband" was the intended target, when that's not even what she said in the FB post. She said they were standing side by side and Joss pushed her out of the way. There's no reason to believe she was the intended target, or that her trans identity made her a target here. The shooter had longstanding beef with Joss. Nobody is even mentioning her as a neighborhood problem, they all just say Joss was a crazy nuisance.

TRAs did the same lying when Nex Benedict died, they want to be persecuted for trans identity so badly. They want to be victims of hate crimes so badly. They want other people to have been killed in hate crimes. It's fucked up.

But what's actually upsetting me is the insistence that Joss and his TiF wife were "gay men". In every other instance they'd be calling these people Queer. They love calling everyone Queer. But all I've seen is that Joss was a native GAY man who was murdered for being GAY. This man and his wife were categorically not gay men. This whole situation has NOTHING to do with gay men.

[jekyllnvibes]

I used to be Very anti-ship, because I had viscerally terrible reactions to a lot of Pro-Ship content due to trauma as a minor, and then I did what anti's keep telling people to do, and got Therapy, specifically three separate therapists, one who specializes in helping with gender dysphoria, general anxiety and depression, one who specializes in EMDR for reprocessing trauma, and one who specializes in helping people through sexual trauma, OCD, and sexual repression. The last one, after discussing my trauma with her and how it Related to the pro/anti discourse, quite literally told me I needed to remove myself from anti spaces because they were 100% enabling and reinforcing my moral OCD, and then sent me to a Childhood SA support group so that I could gain the support of other victims and understand experiences regarding it outside of my own. I learned that despite my own negative reaction to anything regarding age gap/p*dophilia/noncon, I am Not the only victim that exists and my experiences and feelings are Not universal, and a lot of other victims??? They develop kinks around those topics pretty commonly instead. One, because kinks are Developmental, (as in you Don't really get a say in what kinks you have just like you don't really get a say in anything else regarding your sexuality and sexual fantasies, and also that external factors like trauma can cause new kinks to develop whether you actually want them or not.) and Two, that these kinks, when applied to consenting adults doing a scene or in fiction, actually help a lot of victims reprocess their trauma in a way which makes them feel safe, and reclaim a lot of their experiences and feelings regarding what was done to their body for themself rather than feeling like it is all still lorded over by the memory of their abusers. So, I think pretty vehemently, if you're an anti, you should consider getting therapy and talking to someone who deals with sexual repression and moral OCD symptoms. Because "if you think about, enjoy, or are aroused by XYZ topic you're disgusting and a predator and should do something to Fix your Broken Head" is dead ass a symptom of moral OCD and sexual repression.

Any "your therapist is wrong : /" type comments will be blocked immediately, because that is Some (ignorant) Self Confidence you have, saying you think you know more than a therapist who has A) been working with SA survivors for the past twenty five years (longer than I have been alive) with almost nothing but positive feedback from their patients and B) has personally helped me to completely stop physically self harming due to my OCD, and has significantly reduced my similarly related substance abuse and emotional self harm issues as well. Like I don't trust y'all's opinion nearly as much as a dedicated professional who has done nothing but help me heal.

[gofancyninjaworld]

Strong?

Whew, it's been a while since I wrote a long meta. For ease, each section has <20 words in bold italic.

Why are we here again?

If you read both the OPM manga and webcomic, then you have experienced a very extended form of antanaclasis: a form of repetition in which the reused word changes meaning. Sadly, the Greeks, clever rhetoricians though they were, didn’t come up with a term for meaning-changing repetitions in two closely-related but independent works. 

And few places more so than below: 

Webcomic  

Genos: Saitama-Sensei…do you think that I’ve become a little stronger?

Saitama: …You have become stronger, haven’t you? I mean you changed your parts.

Genos: But does changing my parts truly make me stronger? 

OPM Webcomic Chapter 108, translator uncredited. 

The OG conversation.

Us: Yes, it makes sense that he’d ask that. Last time he fought, the monsters literally disarmed him like he was a child with a small but annoying toy, he got mocked by Garou, and Saitama dismissed him. Damn straight he’s unsure if he’s getting anywhere. 

Manga

Genos: Saitama-Sensei…do you think that I’ve become a little stronger?

Saitama: …You’re probably at least a little stronger, right? I mean you changed your parts, didn’t you?

Genos: …I wonder if changing my parts can truly make me stronger though… 

OPM Manga Chapter 186, translator: Graywords. The same question, in a very different context.

Us: What the hell? Dude, you strong-armed Cthulhu's representative, stopped it from scalping the planet and told it to take a number and wait its turn for elimination. You fought shoulder-to-shoulder with Tatsumaki, literally saved her life at least twice. You got the heroes to work together, your arms withstood a bite from Gums, and that even after losing most of their armour, and you took a HELL of a lot of beating down. And you still wouldn’t stay down. Saitama praised you. He told you, HE TOLD YOU that you’d gotten stronger! And he cares about you so much that he literally bitch slapped reality until it spat you back out safe and sound. HOW CAN YOU ASK SUCH A QUESTION?!!! 

Doesn't this mean anything? WHAT IS HAPPENING? AAAARGH!

Well, it’s Genos. Genos can ask that question, and he has. 

Character Development As A Process Rather Than Event

Why? What’s ONE getting at here? Pop a squat: I hope you find this half as interesting as I did. 

The situation in the manga flies in the face of the popular view of character development, where a character gets something they’ve been working towards, or makes some realisation: they change, and all is well on that particular front, kumbaya. 

ONE has long disliked this idea. As he’s said, he doesn’t believe that people change suddenly but that change is embedded as a process rather than an event. It’s a key motivation behind his writing of Mob Psycho 100.  When ONE has the space for it, you can and should expect characters to ‘get back on their bullshit’ at least occasionally.  We can also expect characters to quit their bullshit just to adopt new bullshit... Bang *cough* Bang.

Old dog, new bullshit.

A second theme that comes up with ONE is that we rarely know what makes us happy. This is a big theme in One-Punch Man, starting with Saitama himself. He has sought happiness through becoming invincible, only to find it elusive. When we met him, he told Genos his laundry list of things he was sure would give him happiness now: recognition, living somewhere decent, and being feted. His laundry list is being fulfilled at a rapid clip, and guess what? It’s not made him happier. To the extent that Saitama is finding joy, it’s in his relationships with Genos and King [1]. OPM is full of characters chasing the symptoms of their problems rather than addressing their problems. 

Are both of these factors in play here? You betcha. Shall we dig in? 

In the manga, ONE has made Genos work very hard indeed to get what he has. He’s had to grind much harder than his webcomic equivalent: we see even something mundane like taking out the trash turn into a life-and-death fight for him. I’m not here for Genos in the webcomic today. His progress is much more saltatory and faces a fascinating but different set of challenges [2]. Just as ONE says, change comes through daily effort. That steady hard work has come with some incredible rewards [3]. We know what it takes to stop Demon Cyborg now. An agent of God. A strong one. Monsters not personally blessed by His Yeastiness need not apply – unless they have a really, really nasty trick up their sleeves. 

With those rewards come new challenges.  If external threats are less of an issue for Genos, Genos still has his most faithful opponent, himself.

If you ask Genos, he’d say he’s pretty objective, dealing with what’s tangible and measurable, keeping a clear view of himself, and making few to no excuses for anything. 

He has three questions:

Am I strong? 

Is my strength legitimate?

Am I worthy?

Let’s take these one at a time. 

Takeaway: If ONE is reusing a conversation, that's because he has something new to say.

Definitions of Strength

Genos has one thing in common with Darkshine – being physically weak at one point. Unlike Darkshine, Genos isn’t ashamed of the fact that he’s weak: it’s just a reality. Accepting that reality, he has given up his human body in order to receive body modification and upgrades at the hands of Dr. Kuseno. The things he wished to achieve couldn’t be attained through physically training the body he was born with, so it was just logical. 

His definition of strength is very simple: strength is the power to destroy your enemies. If his enemies defeat him, then, ipso facto, he is weak. He often feels that no matter how hard he tries, the situation doesn’t change. 

Thinking himself weak while refuting it by his very actions.

Now, I’m going to invite you to look afresh at the image I’ve put up. What is he doing there but demonstrating a strength that falls outside his narrow definition? It would be easy for Genos to escape this situation, or, failing that, take all the monsters out. However, here he is, throwing away a lethal victory or running away to fight another day in favour of protecting someone who cannot protect herself. That takes a serious amount of courage and moral strength. 

Indeed, all through that arc, he showed so many different kinds of strength. He, the person whom Tatsumaki once literally threw away, became the rock she could lean on because he made it clear that he was here to support and improve her effectiveness, not fight her over glory. He, the person who said he’d not cooperate with the S-Class heroes, came and told them to come help, and none other than Atomic Samurai, the guy who never works with anyone, was moved to step up and marshal the rest of the heroes [4]. 

See that? This is what we call growth.

Heroes know when they see someone who's the real thing, and they respond.

Remember how in the webcomic Bang hid rather than follow Genos to support Tatsumaki? He's doing it here because he recognizes Genos as the Real Deal.

After the MA arc, we’ve seen that when he talks, the other heroes listen, for hours if need be. He has been developing a mix of soft and hard power that is rare and exceedingly valuable. Only, this doesn’t fit his definition of what strength is. Even his narrow definition of strength is troublesome: no matter how strong a hero is, there’s always that one situation in which you might not prevail.  

When it comes to strength, Genos has come far, but he still needs to do a lot of growing to appreciate what he has and build on it. 

Legitimacy of Strength

“Isn’t being a cyborg like cheating?” – Saitama, One-Punch Man Anime, Season 1 

You can’t accuse Genos of not knowing which side of his bread has the butter. He never lets himself forget that he owes his benefactor just about everything: his name, his looks, money, power, speed, and weapons. Even after Saitama praised him, he immediately gave the credit to Dr Kuseno for the parts, and to Saitama, for the guidance. He took not a shred of credit for himself. 

Dude, learn to take a compliment!

Does it make you want to go ‘GAAAH!’? It does me. 

GAAAH!

There, that’s better. 

It is good to stay humble enough to acknowledge the people to whom you owe your success but to discount your own role in that success is wrong.That said, it’s something that really gnaws at Genos: when everything he has can be confiscated at will, can he really say that it’s his? We see that even Saitama has his doubts, although, as he’s lived with Genos, I expect that he’s long changed his mind as to becoming a cyborg being the easy route. 

There are two things to say about being a cyborg. The first is that, for certain, Dr. Kuseno has given him the body modification to be a cyborg and then equipped him with some hellacious weapons and capabilities. But that equipment is a waste if it’s given to someone who cannot use it effectively. An F-14 fighter jet is a lawn ornament to a guy who can’t fly, let alone someone who isn’t a highly and specifically trained jet fighter pilot. Let’s start with the basics: without the intelligence and self-discipline to learn how to use his parts and keep up with all the terrifying pace at which the doctor has added upgrades, what Genos does would be a non-starter [6]. 

The speed with which Genos gets his head around his upgrades is truly terrifying.

Hard powers aside, all the soft strengths I’ve mentioned, the strengths that have had the other heroes listening to Genos, trusting him to have their backs, even following him into battle, all of those are 100% his. The fighting skills he has built, that repertoire he continues to expand, 100% his.The courage to step forward and do the right thing even when the outcome appears hopeless, 100% his. The judgement of what to do and when, 100% his. The battle sense of what’s important, so he’s become hard to ambush, 100% his. The grit he has developed to persist when things go wrong, 100% his. The heart to feel the pain of a loss but learn from it and throw oneself into the breach again, 100% his [5]. The imaginativeness with which he can improvise solutions, 100% his. The integrity, his. The vision, his.The drive to achieve his goals, oh yeah, totally his. The way the brutal battles have not etched away his humanity, instead allowing him to find some empathy and even a smidge of maturity? No one gave Genos that. If another person were to receive Genos’s parts, they wouldn’t do what he does. 

That brings us to the second part: becoming a cyborg is not for the faint of heart. We find out that the Hero Association has flirted with the idea of giving lower-ranking heroes body modifications to strengthen them, and they have been immediately rebuffed by said heroes, who have correctly threatened them with lawsuits.  

Damn straight you can't rearrange people without permission. Relevant sections highlighted.

Being a cyborg means knowingly accepting some degree of permanent disability in exchange for some specified power. It’s no wonder that very few people want to do it. And those who do are really motivated. Both the manga and the webcomic are in agreement on this fundamental fact. Equally, ONE makes the point that body modification is a medical procedure and comes with risks that increase as the modification becomes more extensive. Becoming a cyborg takes serious commitment; however, becoming a high-content cyborg takes incredible willpower and physical resilience just to live, never mind to realise the abilities you reached for.

Just read it all, already. Body modification is no easy way out.

You cannot call a cyborg weak, especially not a high-content one [7]. Really emphasising how having artificial parts does not change one’s strengths as a human is Nichirin, who has taken losing his lower half with aplomb. Sure, it sucks that he’s lost his lower body but he doesn’t consider an artificial part to be a hindrance – he can incorporate his spirit with it just the same, and thus his sword skills are just as sharp as before. 

Body composition is irrelevant when it comes to the human spirit and what it can achieve.

The shame for Genos is that he’s very much a lone cyborg, and he doesn’t have the wider experience of the world of cyborgs from which to learn and contextualise his experience.  

Am I worthy?

“...if you do not drum up results like a salaryman, no one values you.” – Genos, chapter 18, One-Punch Man. 

The biggest thing you must remember about Genos is that he’s just a human being. Just a 19-year-old guy. As Reigen put it, people have different traits and abilities, but they’re still people at the end of the day. We’ve looked at his insecurities over whether what he is practicing counts as strength and whether calling his evinced power strength is legitimate. But the one we probably care about most of all is his insecurities regarding his relationship with those he cares about. 

Genos shares an important trait with Tatsumaki: like her, he is very aware that the support he receives is transactional. As long as he’s useful, he’ll be supported. If not…true, it's not likely that Kuseno would lock him in a cell and leave him to starve but he’d rather not think about what might happen.  We’ve seen that Kuseno does want more than a business arrangement, but the old man is very aware that there’s a necessary distance between the two [8]. 

The feeling that he has to earn any regard really eats him. Kuseno is at pains to reassure him that it’s his life, not his battlefield victories, that matter, but we see that it’s hard for the young man to hear him. 

He keeps trying to tell him it's fine but Genos keeps feeling rotten about failing the old man.

And when it comes to Saitama, whom Genos is paying to teach him strength, the joy with which Genos initially received Saitama’s assertion that he’d grown stronger has faded, contaminated with that insecurity anyone who has suddenly found their crush talking to them has doubtless felt. Did Saitama really mean it, or was he just being nice? 

This is a masterclass in dramatic irony. We, the audience, know that Saitama means it. We’ve seen him praise Mumen Rider for standing up to the Deep Sea King when it was hopeless, praise Suiryu for continuing to struggle and call for help in the face of overwhelmingly powerful monsters, and seen him praise Child Emperor for coming out of his robot to face Phoenixman. When he praises Genos for doggedly protecting Tatsumaki under an unending onslaught of monster (not a grammatical error), we know he really means it. This is the core of what being a hero means to Saitama. 

And then, Saitama makes the situation worse by trying to be cool and reassuring. We, the audience, know that his full-of-confidence face is a fake one. But Genos doesn’t know that: he’s always thought that seeing that expression on Saitama’s face is him dispensing his deepest pearls of wisdom, and so he hears that Saitama doesn’t rate him from a light bulb. Dramatic irony is a cruel mistress. 

A misunderstanding more devastating than any monster's blow.

Genos is human. He needs to hear things more than once to believe them.

He needs to hear it more than once because daring to accept that he has value for ‘his’ people as more than a useful partner or diligent student is going to take time.  

Let’s wrap this up

There is no such thing as an objective reality, and you really see it in One-Punch Man. Every character has some kind blind spot and some kind of distortion affecting how they see things. Genos really does try to be a rational person.

But he’s only human: he cannot help but feel, cannot help but have his experiences colour how he views things, and cannot help but have some distortions that someone on the outside will have to point out.

Also, Saitama is a doofus, but we're not frying his fish today.

ASIDES

[1] To be fair, if your problem is that you’re looking for a good fight, a prescription of letting a damaged young man move in with you and follow you around, and befriending the jobless otaku who is ripping you off isn’t the most obvious of treatments.

[2] People, please bug me to do a review of webcomic Genos. With the current arc so hot, I’ve been reluctant to do it, but I will. The dude has been through so much, and there’s something ONE wants to say here that’s not present in the manga. 

[3] Won’t rehash them here. You can see link 1 for a side-by-side view of what’s changed and link 2 for a geeky dive (with picture collections!) into the various manga upgrades. 

[4] It’s a joy to see how eye-opening Atomic has found the experience: he used to be in the Hero Association to be a rival to Bang, but in the aftermath, he’s hooked. Watching the indirect positive effects of Genos’s actions ripple out is awesome. Equally, Sekingar didn’t say anything in the moment, but witnessing just how different a Class S hero is from other heroes inspired his Stones and Diamonds speech, and saw him actually stepping into the leadership role he’d aspired to.  

And sometimes, people do come off their bullshit. Atomic is truly on fire with what's possible.

[5] Anyone who needs to understand how difficult that is to do need look only to Superalloy Darkshine.

[6] The fact that we see Genos wake up with a new body and a new set of capabilities and have to rapidly review and master how to use those new features before going into pitched battle in a matter of hours is a lot of pressure. And then we watch him do it on consecutive days.

[7] webcomic spoilers ahoy We see that the only way The Organization has to impose body modification on people without their wills is to kill them and reanimate their corpses. Nearly as grisly but no less violating is to trick people into wearing body suits that force their wearers to move. It’s interesting to see that when they tried to take over Webigaza’s body, she just told the interfering signals to shut up. That’s the kind of willpower it takes to be a cyborg.

[8] One of the interesting things in the manga is that Genos has become more empowered to push back against Kuseno. While this has surprised the old man, he’s not tried to reassert control but has accepted that Genos knows what he’s doing and has surrounded himself with good people. That's what really told me that Kuseno is a good guy: a control freak would never, ever allow this to happen.

[jozor-johai]

The Red Comet appears exactly 400 years after the Doom of Valyria. Doesn’t that seem significant?

Because round numbers like that make me want to look twice here… and in doing so, there’s something very interesting in the timeline that GRRM has made efforts to keep slightly veiled.

The Red Comet appears a year before the turn of the century in ASOIAF—that is to say, 299 AC. The Doom occurs in 102 BC. The non-existent year zero of this kind of timekeeping makes it look wrong, but that’s exactly 400 years.

I always thought it was interesting that the Doom of Valyria happened in 102 BC—it’s so close to being a round number, but it’s just off. Just enough off, though, that the Red Comet in 299 AC lines up.

Round numbers feel meaningful, and that’s even true for the characters within the world of ASOIAF:

Joffrey and Margaery shall marry on the first day of the new year, which as it happens is also the first day of the new century. The ceremony will herald the dawn of a new era. (ASOS Tyrion I)

The new century, of course, is 300 years since Aegon’s Conquest:

It’s a new century, my lady. The three hundredth year since Aegon’s Conquest. (ASOS Sansa IV)

It’s almost dissatisfying that all this talk of the new century doesn’t line up with the Doom and doesn’t line up with the Red Coment.

So do we have Aegon to blame for making these numbers not line up? Actually, no—Aegon invaded Westeros in 2BC, exactly 100 years after the Doom of Valyria.

It was then that he crowned himself… but that’s not the date that Westeros counts years from; Westeros counts the years from his coronation in Oldtown. This is a detail apparently so interesting (and perhaps important) that it’s described twice in The World of Ice and Fire. For example:

Only a handful of lords had been present for Aegon’s first coronation at the mouth of the Blackwater, but hundreds were on hand to witness his second, and tens of thousands cheered him afterward in the streets of Oldtown as he rode through the city on Balerion’s back. Amongst those at Aegon’s second coronation were the maesters and archmaesters of the Citadel. Perhaps for that reason, it was this coronation, rather than the Aegonfort crowning or the day of Aegon’s Landing, that became fixed as the start of Aegon’s reign.

If Westeros counted years from the year Aegon crowned himself, rather than from the year Aegon was crowned by the Citadel, then the year that the Red Comet appeared in the sky would be 300AC, and that would be exactly 400 years after the Doom. Seen that way, everything lines up curiously well…

So much happens when the Red Comet arrives—the revival of dragons and the return of magic in the world, whatever the relationship between those things is. Those events, and that year, feels much more like the “dawn of a new era.”

Additionally, seeing it all line up so well raises some eyebrows. Seeing all the dates like this make it seem significant that Aegon invaded exactly 100 years later, and makes room for interpreting the Red Comet as potentially having some kind of relationship to the Doom, because 400 years feels just too regular. Why does the comet appear exactly 300 years after Aegon’s invasion, exactly 400 years after the Doom?

At the least, there’s a sense of fate involved that Dany’s dragons wake exactly 400 years after the Doom—or do the revival of magic and the return of dragons both relate to some unknown third factor?

[minxipinxi]

Hey LADS girlies, I hope you're doing well! I’ve put together a well-structured outline that can either be used to email Indold/Papergames/LADS or submitted through in-game surveys. It’s designed for easy copy-pasting, making it simple for people to send feedback. Thanks for your time.

✏️ Love and Deepspace In-Game Survey ✏️

Dear Development Team, I want to express my appreciation for the effort put into Love and Deepspace, but I have significant concerns regarding content gaps, balance issues, and recent event structures—particularly in relation to Sylus and limited-time outfits. Below is a detailed breakdown of these concerns.

1. Content Gaps

Sylus launched with significantly less content compared to the original three (OG3) love interests:

• He only has 1 anecdote and 1 bond story, whereas the OG3 each launched with 3 anecdotes and 2 bond stories.

• His memory selection is severely lacking:

• Sylus launched with only 6 four-star and 6 three-star memories, whereas the OG3 had 18 of each.

• At launch, his memory cards only covered 4 stellactrum colors (Pearl, Emerald, Sapphire, Violet), missing Ruby and Amber.

• Even now, his distribution remains imbalanced: 12 Pearl, 10 Emerald, 7 Sapphire, 2 Violet, 2 Amber, and only 1 Ruby.

This disparity makes it difficult for Sylus players to build affinity and progression at the same pace as those who favor the OG3.

2. Affinity Disadvantage

Due to missing content, Sylus players miss out on a significant 6,300 base affinity points, calculated as follows:

• 300 points per missing 4-star memory

• 100 points per missing 3-star memory

• 250 points per missing anecdote

• 1,000 points per missing bond story

When factoring in affinity gained through ranking up, upgrading, ascending, and awakening, Sylus players are left with a deficit of 32,316 affinity points, making it nearly impossible to reach the same levels as OG3 players without excessive grinding or spending.

3. Resource Inefficiency

Sylus players also face higher resource demands due to inefficient stellactrum distribution:

• His two primary colors (Pearl and Emerald) require resources from two separate bounty hunt battles, whereas the OG3 have their colors consolidated into a single battle.

• This results in higher stamina consumption, wasted time, and overall slower progression compared to OG3 players.

4. Higher Pull for Sylus and Caleb

Sylus, before Caleb, had a pull rate of ~11%-13% versus ~29% for the OG3 in the Silver | Radiant Galaxy explorers. Now, the numbers are as follows:

• Sylus and Caleb now have pull rates of 11%-12% and 7%-8%, respectively, versus 27%-26% for the OG3 in the Silver Radiant Galaxy explorer.

• Before Caleb:

• Silver Galaxy: Sylus 11% (17 / (17+44×3)) vs 29% for OG3.

• Radiant Galaxy: Sylus 13% (13 / (13+28×3)) vs 29% for OG3.

• After Caleb:

• Silver Galaxy: Sylus 11% (17 / (17+44×3+12)), Caleb 7% (12 / 161), OG3 27%.

• Radiant Galaxy: Sylus 12% (13 / (13+28×3+9)), Caleb 8% (9 / 106), OG3 26%.

Yes, each card individually has the same chance to be pulled, but obtaining any Sylus or Caleb card over the OG3 for building teams and/or infinity takes significantly more pulls.

5. Event Issues

A. Tomorrow's Catch-22 – Cumulative Wish Rewards

The event structure for Tomorrow’s Catch-22 compared to Yes, Cat Caretaker creates an unfair spending trap:

• In Yes, Cat Caretaker, the Cat Butler Outfits (with ears and tail included) were available at 75/125/175/225 Wishes.

• In Tomorrow’s Catch-22, the Memory-Themed Outfit and Hairstyle are now separated into different reward tiers (Outfit at 75/125/175/225/275, Hairstyle at 85/135/185/235/285).

• This means players must spend 1,500 extra diamonds just to get the complete look.

B. Savage Overture – Confusing Outfit Distribution

• Players receive "My" Outfit [DreamyHeart] for free, but "My" new Outfit [Night’s Companion]—which is the Memory-Themed Outfit—must be purchased.

• Typically, Memory-Themed Outfits are expected to be free, yet in this event, it has been placed behind a paywall instead.

• This is inconsistent with past event structures, where the new Memory-Themed Outfit should be included in the free rewards, while an additional outfit could be offered as a paid option.

• This shift makes the event feel more like an artificial spending trap rather than a rewarding experience for dedicated players.

Conclusion & Requested Actions

• Address Sylus’s content gap by adding missing anecdotes, bond stories, and memory cards to bring him to parity with the OG3.

• Balance affinity gains so Sylus players are not left permanently disadvantaged.

• Consolidate Sylus’s resource needs in bounty hunts for fairer resource management.

• Revert the event reward structure to the Yes, Cat Caretaker format, ensuring hairstyles and outfits are bundled together.

• Reassess pricing strategies for event-exclusive items to prevent excessive spending pressure.

Sylus players deserve the same content, rewards, and opportunities as OG3 players. I hope the team considers these concerns seriously and implements meaningful changes to improve fairness and engagement in the game.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

[eroguron0nsense]

The Mysterious Mysteries of Mr Sir Crocodile (Character Analysis)

(Apologies in advance for discrepancies from my usual tone and for holding off on everyone who voted for this on my last poll. Honest to God I hope y'all enjoy this in some capacity because I've been procrastinating on this meta so long it's derailed ALL my other One Piece writing and I only accomplished it through addy-fuelled mania)

This was such a fucking pain to write. I really wanted to say something about Crocodile and what makes him so fascinating that wasn't like, another fan theory or just a set of headcanons, but that's easier said than done?? We could boil it down to immaculate design, screen presence, attitude, or just the fact that he got brought back as an unlikely ally who shocked everyone by saving the protagonist, but I don't know that those factors in and of themselves make for a villain who's become such an object of fandom obsession.

Whatever it is, it's certainly not backstory or depth, because 24 years and hundreds and hundreds of chapters after his introduction, we still know nothing about Sir Crocowani's past beyond a vague confrontation with the Late Great Edward Newgate (that apparently like, ruined his dreams or something?), and some totally-not-just-a-threat-to-out-him-if-he-betrayed-the-alliance blackmail material the Queen of the Queers is holding over his sandy reptilian ass. I was born and grew into adulthood in the time it took Oda to tell the world fuck all about where he's from or his inner thoughts, or his actual honest motivations and traumas.

All we have about this character are questions. Why did he save Luffy and Ace –very conspicuously after both of their lineages were revealed to the world– against all logic and reason? Does he have ties to the revolutionaries? Is he the long-lost son of Rocks D. Xebec? Did he bounce on Comrade Dragon's Monkey D and squirt out the fucking Warrior of Liberation? I assume Oda's going to tell us more about him, but at this point, he's managed to keep a tighter lid on Sir Crocs, Inc.'s past than the fucking Secret History

You may be wondering, dear reader: what the fuck is my point? What is there, at this final stage of Long Running Pirate Manga, for me–Frankie EroGuroNonsense, OP Tumblr Community Z-lister with like, 7 mildly popular meta posts under my belt–to write about the legendary Sir Krokorok that hasn't already been said or theorized? What eagle-eyed observations did I make while rereading Alabasta and writing toxic Crobin fanfic? Am I going anywhere with this? Sorta. Yeah.

Let's start with listing things we actually know about Crockpot, in roughly chronological (??) order: –attended Gol D.'s execution way back when he was my age, along with anyone else who's anyone from his generation.

–At some point, met and was known well enough by Iva that she could effectively blackmail him

–Made it far enough on the Grand Line, somehow getting to the New World, and managed to pick up an 81,000,000 bounty (low end for a warlord, presumably scouted fairly early in his career)

–Wanted to be Pirate King until he gave up on it, not 100% explicitly confirmed but most likely due to getting his ass beat so badly by Whitebeard that he settled for picking off small fry and racketeering behind a government desk job. This makes him profoundly relatable to the rest of us depressed fucking losers who acquiesce to our own mediocrity.

–At 30, after presumably licking his wounds for a hot minute, sets up shop in Alabasta, comes up with a clever evil plan to quietly build up enough arms to conquer the world with a WMD, and then gets his years-long bioterrorist coup attempt foiled by a 17-year-old.

The rest we know: after a brief moment of glory as the unsung MVP of Impel Down/Marineford, he immediately reverts to Failguy Mode, gives all his money to a literal clown, and consequently gets roped into the neverending uncontrollable PR nightmare that is Cross Guild. It's still super vague and we know little to nothing about his past before the Alabasta Saga (for all we know he had a fling with King Cobra)

...Onto his personality and mannerisms. This shit's a lot more revealing. Superficially, he's everything: immaculate Bond villain levels of charismatic villainy, unbelievably ostentatious, dripped out like a Pimp, constantly smoking cigars, absolutely dripping with smugness and grease and disdain. Owns exotic pets and a giant casino, and spends every waking moment either grinning like a maniac when he's got the upper hand or storming around in a fucking mood when anything goes mildly wrong.

He's also pretty hardened underneath all that, obviously couldn't have lived a day on the grand line or survived Impel Down Torture otherwise. But even in Alabasta, Crockery gives off an air of being distinctly more grounded and willing to get his hands dirty than other flashy, established villains who flaunt their wealth and status. A big part of it is just his really hyper-masculine indomitable tough guy persona, but even early on he's very much micromanaging his operation, fighting people hand to hand in (as opposed to, say, Doffy, who literally puppeteers people while lounging around) and makes a point to keep almost all of his followers at a distance and rely on them as little as possible. He rants a bit about how dreams and whatnot are pointless follies, as One Piece antagonists tend to do, and repeatedly taunts Vivi about how her idealism can't save her, but with the context that he wanted to find Laughtale himself, it feels a lot like projection.

The character trait that's harped on a LOT in canon, and probably the most pertinent one to whatever demons he has, is Croconaw's profound pathological distrust for everyone around him. It's a huge part of what makes him a good early foil to the Nefertari family and the Straw Hats, whose collective strength is derived from organic human connection; Crocalor, by contrast, makes sure that up until the very last moment, he keeps most of his people so distant from him that they genuinely have no idea he's even their boss. His relationship with Robin is interesting, but he turns on her immediately when he realizes she either can't or won't give him the location of Pluton and has his dramatic stabbing/"I forgive you" lines about how he never trusted her or anyone from the start. He says the same shit to Mihawk when he suggests they join forces, even citing their mutual distrust as a kind of paradoxical justification for why they'd actually work well together.

Arguably the only exception is Daz Bones, but even that relationship is still a pretty reserved one; one of the few traits Daz exhibits is a similar avoidance of human connections to his boss and even though they've ironically formed a bond despite it, I can't imagine that they're emotionally close. I find these more explicit declarations of paranoia a lot less indicative of what's actually going on in Croconut's head than subtext, but I feel inclined to mention them just because it more or less tells us that his background/trauma has something to do either with betrayal or alternatively just being jaded and deprived to the point of self-isolation.

Krookodile's character gets a little bit more interesting when we get to see him again in Impel Down being a smug little manipulative rascal right up until he gets blackmailed by his endocrinologist, which is definitely medical malpractice but also funny as hell. I also appreciate that literally the first thing he does after getting out of his cell is change into a big coat and cravat to keep up appearances, but it's not until Marineford proper that things get really complicated. Saving Luffy and Ace is the first selfless thing we see Crobat do–while yelling at Luffy that he needs to protect what matters to him properly, no less– and he just keeps fighting for them after that, teaming up with his most hated rival crew to cover Luffy's retreat and telling the entire WG to go fuck itself multiple times over. He fights everyone on sight with no regard for his own safety, talks mad shit to Doffy, and demonstrates a genuinely compelling amount of honest to god chivalry.

For a short time, we see Crocomotive less as a really entertaining cartoon villain and more as a person with hidden, profound emotions and a confusing moral code that's seemingly incompatible with the vicious little creature we met in Alabasta. We come to understand, in a few very brief lines that give us way more questions than answers, that Cromagnon has deep-seated, emotional convictions he actively suppresses, and that whatever baggage he has is probably tied to wanting to or failing to save something of his own. His resentment of Newgate, who he really really wants to have a go at (despite theoretically no longer caring about the ambitions of his youth) is indicative of a desire to revisit the fight that probably ruined his dream and ego, but it's also tinged with a deep-seated grudging respect for a living legend.

Crock–Afire Explosion's obvious seething hatred of Doffy also gives us a few more insights into what's wrong with him. On a surface level, it makes sense that he dislikes a profoundly obnoxious, even flashier fellow warlord who achieved more or less the same goal he set out to in a shorter time, fucks with his business, and then mocks him/tries to recruit him right after his very public defeat and imprisonment. He postures a lot, especially with his lines insisting he's on a higher level and that Doffy could only ever join him as a subordinate, but he's visibly steamed in their initial encounter and clearly hasn't liked him for quite some time. I bring this up because if we stretch our interpretation a little (for the sake of my argument), Croc Holliday's distaste for someone who's (outwardly) so much like himself and embodies all of his villainous characteristics from back in Alabasta might also suggest that deep down, he doesn't actually like the things they have in common; he sees right through Doffy because he's done the same shit and he hates what he sees.

Having gone over all that, I've come up with some key characteristics of Crocomelon that I'll use going forward:

–Extremely performative: puts an ungodly amount of energy into maintaining a carefully curated persona, and projecting a certain amount of power, masculinity, and prestige. Not necessarily an unnatural or inauthentic one, but a constructed and purposeful one nonetheless

–Deep-seated paranoia, hidden secrets; probably intertwined. Keeps personal details on tight, tight lockdown, probably afraid of being known.

–Constant projection of his own insecurities and failures onto other people, making a point to be uniquely cruel in Alabasta to an idealist who loves her people and a dreamer who wants to be the Pirate King.

Ironically, he demonstrably respects and defends two people–Luffy and Whitebeard–who theoretically embody everything he hates or scorns (ambition, goodness, love, connection, romanticism, greatness in the traditional sense) and he intensely dislikes the villain most like himself, or at least the one who shares a lot of his worst characteristics (ostentatious manipulative scheming rat bastard backed by people stronger than himself) –The Grinch's heart grew three sizes at Marineford because of like, the compelling power of brotherly love and reminders of his youth or something

SPECULATION, CONCLUSIONS??

The difficulty with writing anything definitive about Crocko's Basilisk is that he's such a mystery, which functionally lets the fanbase project literally whatever weird personality traits, potential backstories, or anything else they could possibly come up with onto him. So I want to be clear that I have absolutely no interest in theorizing about the specifics of his past or secret identity or potential baby daddy or anything along those lines; I'm only interested in what we can infer about his personality by extrapolating from canon. And the conclusion I keep coming back to, the one that I'm convinced is true on some level, is that Crocodile is living a lie and he fucking hates himself. Everything he does, from how he acts to what he claims to believe, is a desperate effort to cope with his own insecurity and failure and cover up a past version of himself he's deeply ashamed of.

Now, unfortunately, Oda did not conceive of Crocodile as a trans man but stories belong to the people and we can do what we want let's forget about that and play it straight because he's constantly performing gender as a means of compensating for a deep-seated shame and self-loathing from whatever traumas and secrets he keeps hidden. Even assuming he's a cis man, he deliberately chooses a hypermasculine persona with a Capital V Villain moniker and pimp outfit and speech pattern he's carefully curated to project masculine power–physical, political, and financial–and we know it's performance because we see him break kayfabe and get legitimately fucking angry whenever he's confronted by a person like Luffy, who's crazy and brave enough to try and do what he couldn't and risk everything for love and hope that he cannot bring himself to feel for another person, or reminders of the past he tries so desperately to bury.

The lessons he's wrongfully obtained from his past are as follows: Idealism is a weakness. Dreaming is a weakness. Connections to other people and being known are crippling liabilities (If he is, in fact, trans and closeted, that's all the more reason to be existentially disgusted by what he used to be). All the hope he brought to the Grand Line, all the excitement of trying to carry on where Roger left off, needs to be purged and buried because all he got to show for it was loss and humiliation. But he can't stop wanting more, and ironically, after he gives up on conquering the Grand Line, he ends up chasing the same fucking poneglyphs and weapons because his ambition's still there; it's just compromised and much more jaded.

Everything he does that's seemingly contradictory makes sense when you realize that Crocodile resents his failure and wants to avenge himself. He makes a big show of talking down to Luffy and Vivi's petty ideals and shit-talking Newgate and his family, but he still wants to fight Whitebeard like he did way back when and help Luffy protect what matters to him. He hates Doffy, who's honestly just a more successful schemer than he is because it's a constant reminder of what he settled for when he took that warlord post and fucking gave up. He claims to trust no one, but he keeps Daz by his side and rewards his loyalty because he can't help but trust someone who respects him so deeply and follows him to the ends of the fucking earth long after losing the material incentive to do so. He claims to look down on people who aim for the stars and fight for love and joy and freedom and yet, in his most vulnerable moments–not in the face of violence or imprisonment, but when he's emotionally compelled to defend a child and help save his brother–we see how badly he wants that for himself.

TLDR: Crockman Holic is deeply insecure in his masculinity, desperately needs psychological help, and his character/potential redemption arc in One Piece is just dealing with his midlife crisis.

[demonlovingsheep]

Designing and found lore…?

Ok so I was half-ass designing a new backpack because the one announced was just horrendous. As much as I have a feeling towards the brothers, I’m not willing to walk around being misjudged for being a weirdo (to put it lightly. Not to say people cannot wear what they want, but I’m built extremely self conscious in terms of reputation certain genre of medias or games can carry…).

(Imagine if a Hazbin Hotel fan came up and says “That’s not Lucifer. Lucifer is blonde” 🤡).

Anyways so here is my redesign:

Thought during design (with a little sprinkle of sleep deprivation):

If they are going design something relating to school, they are under utilizing the fact that RAD is essentially a demon college.

The bag itself was grabbed as reference from Ibis Paint’s collage, I did not draw it. But I rather like the fact that the quality is more fitting for RAD. But under this economy, cheaper materials could suffice as long as the backpack is durable enough to make moneys worth (cause the merch be expensive 🗿).

Secondly, unlike the original where it just felt like they copied and pasted Lucifer’s Arcadia cover onto a black backpack and called it a day (lazy work), I designed the bag with more attention to color schemes that represents RAD but also included symbols representing Lucifer.

I added his symbol, demon sigil, wings (I butchered drawing it properly), and even throw in bits of feathers. I wouldn’t say the design has to be solid because I had other ideas that could also work. Like instead of his demon sigil, an apple can also work in its place.

Lastly I just added a RAD badge but I think that’s way too much. At this point, I would not be surprised if they decide to sell the badges separately as either pins or keychains, and sell each for $70. (Don’t sue me Solomare).

Anyways here is the lore I found while playing around with the colors. Originally instead of gold, I tried using Lucifer’s designated colors:

But as I was messing with the settings (I was using my fat fingers to draw 🤡), I accidentally inverted the colors and this is the result:

Celestial Realm colors…

I’m not sure if other people have already found this out, but I certainly did not know the fact till now.

I have see his angel form, and of course his demon form. But never knew that while one is holy and another hell, they are deeply connected with another.

At one hand, I can sort of see why Lucifer’s designated color isn’t red, but dark blue.

It symbolize how much of a flip it was for him to be the highest and most looked up to angel versus his reputation now as the Avatar of Pride. A figure of evil, even the face of hell (mostly in the human world).

A story hurts the most spread out before coming back to bite. And it bites hard in face of those who know the real reality but it shall forever be overshadowed by grief and personal suffering.

Will this change my life in any way or form? No. But it is rather sad when the awe and realization factor simmered down.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk, brain fart of the night, etc.

I would highly suggest others to give it a whirl to design backpacks for Lucifer or even other brothers. I guarantee it will be 100% better than mine.

[paluding]

Owned Restaurant Profit Increase

Two versions to download:

-Double profit: SFS / GD

-Triple profit: SFS / GD

Choose only one version!

We all know how hard it is to maintain a restaurant business in The Sims 2, right? You barely make any money and, if you have some employees to get paid hourly, there's a good chance you'll even end up losing money. Well, once again I've been digging through the files for a while until I've found something to fix this issue. I have to say, this is not the ideal solution at all, but it still makes the business actually profitable, so I thought it might be worth sharing anyways. This tiny mod edits just one single BCON value, and it's super easy to tune to your liking! A lot of technical details, a tutorial on how to tune it, and a big testing research under the cut (bear with me please, I promise it's worth reading).

So the way an unmodded game moves money in a restaurant business goes like this: the moment your waiter puts the dish on the customer table, you get a small percentage of the price of the food deducted. Then, once the customer finishes eating, they pay you the full price of that food (based on how expensive or cheap you set your business). Simple enough, right? Ideally, the best solution would be increasing the price of the food, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't find those values anywhere. So what's left on the equation? Yup, that small percentage you get deducted first. I was lucky enough to find that one, so changing it to a negative value means you actually get extra paid first. And that money comes from nowhere, the customer doesn't pay extra, they only pay the price of the actual food. That works for me!

As a quick example, in a new business with 0 stars, if you keep the default price on average, you always gain 28 simoleons for serving a bowl of Mac N Cheese. However, you also get deducted 4 simoleons first, so it's actually 24 simoleons per customer. That's just sad. The Double version of my mod makes it so you get 22 simoleons first, and then the customer pays those 28 simoleons. That's a total of 50 simoleons per customer. More than double the profit, not bad! The Triple version gives you a total of 71, pretty self explanatory. The numbers don’t match exactly with double or triple profits, but I didn’t want to spend that much time finding the exact value to make it exactly double or triple, you know, especially considering there might be other factors that affect your business income. I’m not that good at maths to be honest... orz

So how do you tune this? All you need is SimPe. Open the package, click on the BCON file and edit line number 14, on the Dec box. The default Maxis value was 20. I changed it to -100 to get roughly double the profit, and -200 to get triple profit. If you want to increase the profit even more, make sure you keep it negative when changing the value! Then just click Commit and Save. Done!

One extra note before I continue. The extra money you get with the mod does count for the balance you see on the UI menu for the business on the top right. So if you like to keep track of your income, the mod will take effect on those bars. However, it won’t count for things like the First Simoleon prize thingy. So for now I’m not really sure if this extra money would count for other things such as Lifetime Wants related to gaining money. I haven’t tested it that much.

Okay, now you know almost everything you need to know about this mod. If you want to read some ramblings on how I tested this, keep reading. Otherwise, you’re good to go!

So, let’s talk testing, because that’s something I actually enjoy doing. I built a simple restaurant lot, with about 5 tables available. The conditions were:

-3 Sims from my household to work as host, waiter and chef. No external employees, so I don’t need to keep track of extra salaries to pay.

-Schedule is roughly 15:00 - 22:00.

-New business level 0. Prices were kept at the default average.

-I didn’t use the Basic Sell interaction. If the customer didn’t want to eat at my restaurant, then so be it.

-The chef had 10 points of cooking skill, so I could add any food to the menu. However, I only chose one food to cook to keep the profit numbers as consistent as possible.

For the first case, I chose cooking only Mac N Cheese, a very cheap food that makes almost no money at all. It doesn’t require any cooking skill points. Mac N Cheese gives you 28 simoleons when the Sim pays. -In an unmodded game, you also lose 4 simoleons, so it’s 24 simoleons per customer. After running the business for the set schedule, I got 240 simoleons of profit. Pretty disappointing! If I had employees to pay, I would only have a few simoleons to spare, if any at all. -With my Double version of the mod, you get an extra 22 simoleons, making a total of 50 simoleons per customer. After running the business with the mod in, I got 400 simoleons. Not much, but hey, it’s something.

For the second case, I chose Filet Mignon. This food is pretty fancy, and it requires max cooking skill. Filet Mignon gives you 83 simoleons when the Sim pays. I also noticed the customers take way less time to eat it compared to the Mac N Cheese, so that’s an extra bonus to make the business run faster. -In an unmodded game, you also lose 13, so it’s 70 simoleons per customer. After running the business, I got 630 simoleons of profit. Not bad, but considering you need to max out the cooking skill, it’s almost insulting spending so many hours just to get that… -With my Double version of the mod, you get an extra 65 simoleons, making a total of 148 (!) simoleons per customer. After running the business with the mod in, I got 1036 simoleons. Okay, nooow we’re talking! That's the fancy restaurant status I like to see.

You might be wondering why these numbers are so inconsistent. Well, sometimes my lovely waiter decided to drop the tray on the customers, poor guy. That added to the randomness of how customers decide to enter the restaurant or not, and if the game sits more than one customer on the table or just one of them, if someone gets stuck for a while losing time… all of that can end up making the results a bit inconsistent. That being said, I had better luck when I was running the business without the mod in, yet I still got quite a lot more money with the mod in. I didn’t keep track of the numbers for the Triple version, but as you can probably guess, that one would be even more profitable.

One last case I wanted to test and compare: a completely different type of business, a games and entertainment one using the Bandatron ticket machine. In that scenario, I got 21 simoleons per customer, each hour. So after that schedule of 15:00 - 22:00, I got a total of 789 simoleons! All my sim did during those hours was bartending. That shows how easy it is to run a business with a ticket machine, and the biggest advantage is that you don’t have to pay employees if you don’t need them, and you don’t need any skills at all. Just plop down that machine, put some objects, relax and let the money flow by itself.

So yeah, in conclusion, Eaxis really messed up programming the restaurant businesses, there’s no doubt about it. Hopefully my mod helps balance things out. And if you think it's still too low on the incomes department, you can always tune it to your liking! As far as I know, this should not conflict with anything, but if you run into any issues, let me know and I’ll try my best to fix it asap.

Special thanks to EddySims for their fantastic HQ Icon Pack I used to make the preview pic! <3