#so obviously it deviates from reality a great deal.

[lacking-hydration]

alton variants 1/?

i haven’t told anyone on here about my alton towers lore...but i’m about to. in summary, this is the guy who runs the parks, and there are a bunch of different versions of himself he has for the different rides....

(a lot of just general lore below the cut, if ye be curious)

ok. still here? yay. buckle up.

for context, you’re going to need to know what the other side is. So, imagine there was an identical version of our world just next to ours, that was hidden from us by an invisible wall, but if you managed to break through it, you would find an earth not restricted by rules of physics, or reality. A world, not backwards, per-say, but every way other than right. That is the other side, the wrong side, and it is parallel entirely to our world. The right side. Anything that happens there, happens here, just by our rules. Anything that happens here, happens there, but in an indefinitely more absurd way.

a long-ish time ago, long before Alton Towers was the thrilling theme park, and instead just the estate of an Earl with a (in)famously long name, "Sir Alton Talbot-Eastmanvanshire IV." Sir Alton was an eccentric, rich beyond imagination, and well known in the community for being egotistical, and avaricious. Because of course he was. Though reportedly very intelligent, you probably wouldn't have known that if you'd talked to him. Alton was always known for living in his own world, frequently throwing parties with other well-to-do folk and just generally acting disconnected from the rest of the world.

Though Sir Alton would most certainly not be forgotten due to his less than amiable reputation, it's not why he's most well-known around where his estate once stood. Surely you’ve all heard of the legend of Hex. See, the legend goes that one day the Earl went out riding in to town, and passed by an old woman on the way back, who asked simply for any kindness that could be given. When he turned her down, as most of his kind tend to do, she proclaimed that the tree in the estate’s garden had been cursed by his blackened heart. The next time a branch fell from the tree, one member of his family would die. At first, Alton didn’t believe the old woman. However, after a member of his family died in total synchronicity with the falling of one of the branches of that infamous tree, Alton was more than convinced of the old woman’s curse.

Driven to attempt to break the curse himself, to understand what had wrought this curse upon him, Alton took the fallen branch to a secluded area deep within the towers, and preformed every experiment he could possibly imagine to crack the code. After two weeks spent entirely hidden away from the world, the Earl’s family grew increasingly distressed at his absence, so you can only imagine their shock when he disappeared entirely.

They would never find Alton, or what had caused his disappearance, and it wasn’t long before he was presumed dead, the mystique behind it eternally clinging to the mystery of the estate. However, Alton had, indeed, cracked the code, as his experiments had weakened the border between the right and wrong side, and ultimately tore them open and taken him. Faced with an utterly backwards version of his reality, Alton’s sanity was not long for this world, and he quickly succumbed to the madness of it all. This would turn out to have many benefits, as it allowed Alton to take up his estate as its owner, and become a miniature god, of sorts. Alton remained eternally trapped on the other side, exclusively on the land that, on the right side, rightfully belonged to him. Now, he’s managed to pull a few strings, and pull a few people from the right side into his domain, to entertain him, to give him company in this lonely little space of abstract nonsense. As the population in Alton Towers slowly grows, the barrier between right and wrong grows weaker, and strange structures and people begin to appear on our side. Of course, to us, they’re just roller-coasters and rides and whatever. Sir Alton is always looking for more permanent residents in his domain, though, so be careful next time you visit his estate........ or something.

THATS ENOUGH RAMBLING. ill tell you all more the next time i finish some more variants. hopefully then, i can actually tell you about how the variants work. fun stuff. ive been sitting on these ideas for a really long time i just havent had the balls to tell anyone. so yaes. now you know

[peachdues]

THE GREAT WAR (PART I) — ANNOUNCEMENTS AND CONTENT WARNINGS

Well, this one has been a long time coming, hasn’t it?

My goal is to get Part I completed and published this weekend. It will be roughly 25-26k words in length.

I’d really appreciate it if y’all can read through this before you read Part I. The Great War is very different from my other fics, in terms of both style and the general setting, so I feel it necessary to give some context.

First, The Great War is a non-linear story. This might seem a bit confusing, given that Part I takes place over the course of a little more than a year. However, you’ll likely notice there are some gaps in the story as you read through — these are intentional. While Part I is a chronological telling of Reader and Giyuu’s relationship, Part II features several major flashbacks to events that occur during the timeline of Part I that are not actually shown in Part I. So if you find yourself getting curious about when a character finds out a bit of information, or referenced some past occurrence that you didn’t read — know that it’s intentional, and it will show up in Part II.

Second, Part I of The Great War follows the canon timeline as closely as possible, with a few minor deviations. There are references to multiple canon events in the series, and I tried to follow it as much as I could. Huge shoutout to @/demonslayedher her incredible timeline.

Third, the reason TGW has taken so long is that I tried to be as historically accurate as was feasible to both Japan and its culture. That said, Shinto shrines and the practices of Shrine Maidens in particular were heavily cracked down upon by the Imperial government during the Meiji Era (the era immediately preceding the Taishō period in which Demon Slayer is canonically set). Obviously the reality of Shinto shrines and their practices during that period complicates the setting of TGW, and particularly, the Reader character, so I took some creative liberties. However, I do reference the fact that the Shrine where the Reader trains is not what it once was, and it functions more like a girl’s boarding house/school, where the girls who live there just happen to also be educated in Shinto practices/Shrine keeping.

Fourth, because there are a lot of references to Japanese culture and practices, I will link an addendum for your reference. The most important things to know is that Miko means “Shrine Maiden,” which is why it is used frequently.

Finally, I do want to acknowledge that the Reader is given a slight description — namely, in terms of her hair. It is described as very long, and when discussed from Giyuu’s perspective, he frequently depicts it as “silky.” This is not meant to be exclusive in any way — lots of hair types can be silky. I do make a very conscious effort to avoid using physically describing my Reader inserts (apart from acknowledging their beauty because, guess what? You’re all beautiful!!) But as the story is set in Taisho Era Japan and Reader is a Shrine Maiden, I found it difficult to avoid giving some vague description of her hair — especially given its importance with respect to a certain gift she receives from Giyuu during Part I. Please know that these references come up very sparingly, and again, I do avoid going into greater detail. Beyond that, she is only described as beautiful from Giyuu’s point of view.

Now, onto the content and trigger warnings.

Like most of my works, The Great War contains explicit sexual content, so minors do not interact.

This next warning is not so much centered around Part I, but more for the story in general. TGW is heavily centered around Giyuu attempting to deal with his trauma following the end of the canonical series — and it does feature violence as well as instances of PTSD. I don’t believe anything is too graphic, but it’s just something to keep in mind. That said, his PTSD will not appear in Part I — however, it will be a main focus of the story from Part II, on.

So, here are the warnings for The Great War

CW: explicit sexual content • MDNI • loss of virginity • unprotected sex • virgins being virgins • oral sex (F!receiving) • squirting • fingering • Giyuu is obsessed with Reader’s pleasure • creampies • semi-public sex • tbh they fuck everywhere but the bed • mention of pregnancy • protective Giyuu • possessive Giyuu • Giyuu is a simp for one person and it’s Reader • pregnancy (later)

TW: canon-typical violence • strangulation • PTSD • depictions of trauma • nightmares • some angst • Giyuu struggles with communicating his feelings • brief instance/implication of stalking by a non-canon character • mild description of panic/anxiety

My goal is to have Part I posted this weekend, so here’s to hopefully seeing y’all soon!

[unpopulartidbits]

On the transandrophobia/transmisogyny discourse:

From what I've seen, there seems to be a lot of people on both sides of the issue misrepresenting each other's stances, acting in bad faith, or attacking each other. This is likely because each person sees the world through the lens of their own experiences and fails to truly understand the experiences of the other group. It would be easier to say "both sides are equally correct", but that would be cowardly and inaccurate. It's more accurate to say that each side doesn't accept that the other side is reliably reporting their experiences, and is trying to use their side to negate the reality of the other. But the reality of the situation doesn't seem to be well understood by either side, which is why I make this post.

On transmysogyny:

Anyone claiming transmysogyny isn't real or isn't a problem is a terf, full stop. Trans women and trans fems on this site have been pushing back against structural discrimination both in tumblr and in real life for so long that it has widely entered public awareness. This awareness of transfemininity has both positive and negative effects on public perception. Many, if not most people now know that trans women exist, for example. However, that publicity leads to many people having an opinion on the matter, a lot of it negative. Feminism has made great strides over the decades, and it's becoming quickly stigmatized to be an open misogynist, though not all of those advances have translated to better treatment of trans women, even among leftist circles. Transmysogyny has become a hot button topic, and that leads to both increased awareness about the struggles trans women and trans fems face, as well as increasing the danger they face due to that level of exposure to the public eye. It's true that the world contains a great deal of discrimination against trans women and trans fems. No one worth listening to would debate that. However, increased awareness of the existence of trans people affects trans men and trans mascs as well, which brings me to,

On transandrophobia:

Public awareness of trans people has skyrocketed over the last few decades, bringing public awareness of trans men and trans mascs into a kind of exposure it's never had before. Combined with the rapid growth of feminism, acceptance of transmasculinity is experiencing growing pains. It's only recently become popular to treat women as superior to men, when historically, it's been quite the opposite. This creates an odd dynamic for those transitioning towards masculinity, among people who consider themselves feminists. Concepts such as "betrayal" and "ruining a women" get tossed around by people who don't consider themselves terfs. Obviously right wingers would be against all transgender people, regardless of direction, but it's predominantly leftists that take a stance against trans men. The weaponization of the term "theyfab", among other things, is a contributing factor towards the stigmatization of transmasculinity. I have personally seen screenshots of social media comments by pretransition trans mascs who say that the stigma prevalent in leftist circles in the internet has caused them to choose not to transition, so it's not as if the internet's collective disbelief in the existence of transandrophobia isn't doing measurable harm to people.

On transphobia as a whole:

Now we come to the part that affects everyone. Especially among leftists and pro-transgender groups, masculinity is being treated as an inherent threat. An easy example to point to is groups that claim to be for "women and nonbinary people", which are transphobic in their execution, regardless of which group you belong to. Trans women and trans fems are expected to perform femininity to be accepted, and any deviation is seen as an invasion. Nonbinary people are expected to be feminine or feminine and afab, or they're not accepted, despite nonbinary not meaning "woman lite". Transmasculine people are either shunned for their masculinity or misgendered and treated as "afabs with some gender going on", which is transphobic. In both cases, trans people are treated as their AGAB. This dynamic is repeated in many "inclusive" spaces, and beyond being wildly transphobic to pretty much everyone, it fuels infighting among the trans community about who has it worse, which only serves to destabilize solidarity and make easier targets of everyone.

Synthesis:

Trans women and trans fems face a lot of structural discrimination due in part to a longer history of public awareness, and in part to misogyny.

Trans men and trans mascs face rapid onset backlash from feminists and leftists, in the form of "man hate" becoming a popular form of bigotry.

Both of those experiences deserve terms to discuss the transphobia of each unique experience. To deny either group the permission to do so is to insist that their problems don't exist, and to deny the lived experiences of real people.

However, that does not mean that the two experiences are equal in scope or severity. Transmysogyny is a huge structural problem, and has been for a long time. But transandrophobia as an emerging type of discrimination distinct from transphobia and transmisogyny does exist. The terms need not describe equivalent things in order to be allowed the language to discuss them. Trans fems face structural discrimination, but that doesn't mean trans mascs don't experience discrimination at all. Different people are affected by different things, but that doesn't mean the opposite problem doesn't exist for someone else.

Misgendering in any direction is transphobia, but the specific type of transphobia that insists that "masculinity bad" isn't distinctly transmisogyny or generalized transphobia, or even misogyny. The reversal of emerging popular sexism to prefer femaleness over maleness hurts different groups in different ways. Awareness is neither safety nor benefit, but invisibility is neither privilege nor acceptance.

Be good to each other, and please understand that experiences being different and unequal doesn't invalidate anyone's suffering. Don't do the transphobes' work for them.

Trans solidarity forever

[selenafreshfriendkidoaf]

Horoscope January 29

January 29 Planetary Impact Your sign's planetary ruler is Uranus and as you were brought into the world in the main Decan, or part, of the sign, Uranus loans you two times how much its planetary power. Uranus is the planet of deviation and thusly, its impact is reflected in your requirement for opportunity, objectivity and compassion. More so than any of the other Aquarius Decans, you esteem uniqueness and objectivity over all else. You can isolate yourself from circumstances, which permits you to see issues and arrangements obviously. At the point when joined by your unique nature, you can be a really progressive mastermind. Assuming your planetary impact had one disadvantage, it would be that your inward world as a rule turns out to be more engaging than the outer one. Encircle yourself with companions and accomplices that esteem your creativity to stay away from your propensity to withdraw into your own reality.

Horoscope January 29 Being an Aquarius brought into the world on January 29th, your character is characterized by a unique and versatile nature. While others stick vigorously to the standard, you appreciate investigating a great many points and interests. In this sense, you have turned into a genuine person in all parts of your life. Your inventiveness is among your most respected characteristics, however your flexibility might be quite possibly of your most prominent strength. You flourish in new circumstances, which makes sense of why you effectively search out new individuals and conditions. You have an extraordinary appeal that has procured you a gathering of companions that is pretty much as shifted as your inclinations.

Air January 29 Component Air is the matched component of the Aquarius and of all the zodiac signs, you have the main fixed association with the component. On occasion, air's impact provides your character with the qualities of a, still up in the air and difficult. Essentially, your association with air makes interest mix inside you as though invigorated by a breeze. At the point when you find an interest, you won't rest until your hunger for information and understanding is fulfilled. Air's dynamic characteristics will assume a critical part in your future achievement, yet be mindful so as to keep away from the pessimistic characteristics of stale air, which incorporate profound and social distance.

January 29 Vocation Your innate capacities will make an assortment of profession choices for you to investigate, despite the fact that it very well might be hard to limit your decisions down to one. As a characteristic helpful, you would do well in individuals based vocations, like addressing, educating, deals or discussion. Essentially, your scholarly interests might lead you to regulation or advanced education. You might have the option to transform your sympathy and social comprehension into a pioneering an open door, which was the way of Oprah Winfrey, who was likewise brought into the world on January 29th. Assuming the universe of amusement is charming, you might do well in media, film or TV, such was the situation for Tom Selleck, one more of your big name birthday twins.

January 29 Sabian Image The Sabian Image for your birthday is a ubiquity that ends up being temporary. You might be moving toward a period in life where a self-revaluation is fundamental. In doing as such, you can understand whether your standards and dreams are totally your own, or those projected upon you.

January 29th Birthday celebration Present For each blend of the Moon with Neptune we want to remain mindful of an individual's reasonableness. They could show up clearly and certain, yet their spirits are delicate and modest, and they can't take all that in like a few others may. Their gift ought to be liberated from animosity or any kind of pushiness or foulness. Liquid in feeling, brilliant and light, it is a fine painting, a wooden puppet, or anything in contact with their strict and otherworldly turn of events.

Positive Attributes For January 29th Conceived Profound, peaceful, with their faculties uplifted, a strong way of thinking and a major heart that is generally prepared for affection. These people have faith in the best in mankind and never abandon their actual standards.

Negative Attributes For January 29th Conceived Reliant, frail, lost in their way, without a strong arrangement of help they will generally self-destruct. Lacking words to express their genuine thoughts, loners who experience peacefully, excessively far off from the individuals who love them and wish to help.

[robininthelabyrinth]

How will nmy react to a memory loss jgy how think himself a nie scet member ?

There were murmurs around him when he first started waking up.

“– last few times – appears he thinks that –”

“– need to avoid any disturbances –”

“ - perhaps pretend -”

“Absolutely not.”

That last one was Sect Leader Nie.

His voice was loud and piercing as always, a general accustomed to needing to make himself heard over the din of battle and never quite having adjusted to situations where it wasn’t needed, and Meng Yao found himself relaxing a little bit just at the sheer familiarity of it. Nie Mingjue was as reliable as the sunrise: once you were one of his people, he’d defend you to the death.

If he was here, Meng Yao was safe.

He went back to sleep.

The next time he woke up, the room was empty but for Sect Leader Nie, who was sitting at the desk doing paperwork. Probably paperwork that Meng Yao should be doing, but for the injury that must have led to all of this – he didn’t remember it at all, but short-term amnesia was a common side effect of certain injuries, and his head was wrapped in bandages.  

Still, he struggled to sit up. “Sect Leader Nie,” he called, and Sect Leader Nie’s shoulders tensed. “If you want my help –”

“You should be resting,” Sect Leader Nie said. He was staring at the wall in front of him instead of turning back to look at Meng Yao – a sign of guilt? Had he been involved in what happened? “Do not trouble yourself.”

“And let you mess up my filing system?” Meng Yao teased lightly, hoping to lighten the mood. “Don’t forget how long it took me to fix the accounts the way I like it –”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Meng Yao paused, then, abruptly concerned: Sect Leader Nie’s shoulders were curved inwards, as if expecting a blow – afraid of pain. Afraid of him?

Impossible.

And yet, at the same time – unmistakable.

“Why doesn’t it matter?” he asked, keeping his voice level. He always kept his voice level, no matter the circumstances; someone certainly had to, and it wasn’t going to be anyone surnamed Nie. “Are you expelling me from your service?”

It was a joke, of course. Nie Mingjue liked him, respected him, valued him – had made it clear a thousand ways that he would never listen to gossip or to slander, would never judge him by who his mother was, and Meng Yao couldn’t imagine what sort of dire mistake would be necessary to make Nie Mingjue refuse to stand by him, even against the world.

“You’re the one who will leave,” Nie Mingjue said, his voice cutting, but then the anger flowed out of his shoulders and he sighed, closing his eyes, as if he had mistakenly become angry over the wrong thing. “It is not that I didn’t know that your ambitions had always been with Lanling, not Qinghe.”

Bile and panic rose up Meng Yao’s throat, but what could he say?

It was true. He had come to Qinghe because he had heard that they respected talent there, regardless of birth; he had come because he had needed a place to rise to prominence, where he could become so respectable that even his father would be unable to ignore him.

Qinghe had always been a waystation, not a destination.

Or, if one wanted to look at it with less kindness – he had treated it as a stepping-stone.

Had Nie Mingjue discovered how Meng Yao had schemed to get his attention, his sympathy? The little tricks he’d played to get him to agree to take a chance on an unknown, all the ways he’d wormed his way into the man’s life so that it would be impossible to extract him without damage? Or was it something more recent, something hidden away in his lost memories – had his father asked him to betray some confidence of Nie Mingjue’s? Turn over some information, take some secret action…had he done it?

Was that why Nie Mingjue didn’t want to look at him?

“Sect Leader Nie…”

“I’m not supposed to talk to you about it,” Nie Mingjue said bluntly. “The doctors told me to play along, pretend not to…I told them trying to hide it from you was pointless, that you were too smart, that you’d figure it out – I assume you have by now?”

“I’ve lost my memory,” Meng Yao said. He was shivering, and it wasn’t cold. “I woke up and the doctors realized that I’d forgotten a great deal, so they wanted you not to cause me any disturbance…how much time have I lost?”

“The war is over,” Nie Mingjue said, and surely that should be cause for celebration? But Nie Mingjue’s voice was flat and neutral, as if some terrible thing had happened, and his fists were clenched in rage. “You have been recognized by the Jin sect, and now live in Lanling. I cannot speak to the quality of your life, or to your happiness, but you have at least achieved that much.”

It was not that Meng Yao thought he’d be happy in Lanling – it was that he hadn’t thought he’d be happy anywhere, and found to his surprise that Qinghe actually did make him happy. It wasn’t supposed to, nothing was supposed to; it was all supposed to be part of the plan, that was all, a means to an end.

He wasn’t supposed to become fond of Sect Leader Nie, who tried so hard and listened so earnestly; he wasn’t supposed to be friends with Nie Huaisang, a charming waste of space who ought to have been born as a roly-poly kitten instead.

He was supposed to be in Lanling, by his father’s side, and now it appeared he was – and yet the injury he suffered had driven his memories back to his time at Qinghe.

That said something, he thought.

He’d had head injuries before, memory issues, dating back to his childhood; his mother had hired a doctor for him over it, a real one and not some faker, and he’d explained that when injured, Meng Yao’s extraordinary mind would retreat to the place it felt safest, recreating the past out of all those perfectly preserved memories and sinking into it as if it were real. If this injury followed the pattern of the others, there was no need for any treatment beyond time – soon enough, he would start to remember, and reality would gradually reassert itself over fantasy.

In the past, no matter what, his memory would always return to those few months when he was eight years old, when his mother had met a possessive benefactor and they had lived free and easy under his care – it had ended horribly, of course, but at the time he didn’t know that.

This time, his memory had returned to his days in Qinghe.

And Nie Mingjue still wouldn’t look at him.

“What did I do?” he asked.

“You assume that you’ve done something?”

“You don’t want to look at me,” Meng Yao said. A moment of silence, with Nie Mingjue not giving in, stiff and quiet, so he added, quietly, “I warned you in the beginning that I was unworthy of the trust you placed in me.”

In the end, Nie Mingjue turned to look at him. He seemed tired, and his eyes were bloodshot in a way that did not speak well of his health.

“Tell me what I did,” Meng Yao said. “I want to know.”

Nie Mingjue exhaled. “You killed a captain,” he said dully. “Premeditated murder, and you excused it by saying that he had stolen your glory and bullied you; even if it was true, you never once said a word of it to me before, never sought some other means to resolve it. You then defected to the Wen sect, becoming a master torturer and Wen Ruohan’s right hand; you killed my men, tortured me, and then killed him to become a war hero. After that, you were accepted into the Jin sect, and Lan Xichen and I swore brotherhood with you.”

He paused, then, but that was not the end, or else he would not be so angry.

Meng Yao waited, his mind dancing over all the excuses, all the things he could say, belated justifications, things that would cast him in a good light, a better light – what Nie Mingjue had described was obviously a problem, but not an insoluble one, and his future self should have known that. He could still fix this.

But to fix it, he needed to know the full extent of his crimes first.

“My qi became disordered after the war,” Nie Mingjue finally said, continuing. “Lan Xichen proposed a treatment: a Lan melody known as the Song of Clarity. But he is busy, so you took on the responsibility of playing for me…”

No, Meng Yao thought. No.

But at once he knew where the story led, even before the telling of it was done. A story that started with premeditated murder, however his future self had justified it to himself, could only end with the same –

Why would he do something like that? Perhaps because Nie Mingjue turned away from him after the first murder, as he ought to have known he would – Nie Mingjue tried so hard, and thought everyone else did, too; the glimpse at what Meng Yao was really like, the creature of spite and bitterness and hatred, willing to kill the filthy way, hidden in the dark…it would have come as a shock to him.

And yet his former self had obviously salvaged it, somehow; Nie Mingjue had agreed to swear brotherhood with him, to make up with him, to treat him as an equal, and still he –

Surely no prize could be worth this.

“Do you know why I did it?” he asked quietly, staring down at his own clenched fists, hating iron for not being steel. His damaged mind was telling him that what he had had in Qinghe was dearer to him than his own mother, and he had nearly destroyed it with his own two hands.

“The Nie sect and the Jin sect are at a crossroads,” Nie Mingjue said, and at last, at last Meng Yao recognized the flatness of his tone and the lack of visible signs of fury as the signs of medicine, the sluggish pain relief that could help stymie an incipient qi deviation. The poisonous song he played must have come very near to working. “Jin Guangshan wants the title of Chief Cultivator; I think there should be none. Jin Guangshan protects Xue Yang even after he murdered an entire clan; I think he deserves to die – I asked you for his head, and you promised it to me…you never intended to deliver. There can be only one sect ascendant, and you are, as much as he hates it, your father’s heir.”

His heir. Had he done something to Jin Zixuan, then? Unsatisfied with only the name he had promised himself he would obtain, had he coveted the power, too, and sought to achieve it by any means possible?

If he had reached the point of being willing to murder Nie Mingjue, then surely he had done that, too.

“I bashed your head in,” Nie Mingjue said conversationally. “During the deviation that you provoked. Lan Xichen stopped me from actually killing you, and from dying myself, and then you awoke without any memory of what you’d done, calling yourself Meng Yao again as if you were still – as if you still –”

Someone had asked Nie Mingjue to come in here and pretend, Meng Yao realized, and with a start realized also that he was furious about it. Someone had told him to come in here and play pretend with his would-be murderer as if they were still friends.

It might even have been Lan Xichen who’d done it.

There were tears on Nie Mingjue’s cheeks. He did not wipe them away the way Nie Huaisang would have, trying to hide his pain; he only let them fall, his eyes sliding shut once more – he could not look at Meng Yao, and Meng Yao couldn’t blame him.

“I wish I could go back,” he said, and Nie Mingjue opened his eyes to look at him. “Before I made those decisions. I wish I was still Meng Yao, and could do things differently. Is it too late for that?”

With anyone else, he would know the answer already. With anyone else, he wouldn’t have asked.

With anyone else, his mind would still be back in those wonderful days of being eight and alone with his mother for the very first time and last time.

“How can I ever trust you again?” Nie Mingjue asked, shaking his head in denial. “You drove me into a qi deviation – you wanted to kill me, knowing it would leave Huaisang the position of sect leader, knowing how cruel a death it was –”

“Is it too late?”

This was not something that could be repaired easily, with words and a gentle smile. This would take action and sacrifice. But before he committed himself, he had to know if it were even possible.

If Nie Mingjue could still forgive him, even now –

If he was still one of Nie Mingjue’s people, to be defended until death.

Nie Mingjue abruptly stood up, unsteady on his feet, clearly still ill – if I am half the murderer that I appear to be in his stories, I will kill those doctors who prioritized my health, this farce, over his, and if Lan Xichen was involved I will make it clear to him what wrong he has done – and shook his head, but this time it was not a denial.

“I never know what to do with you,” he said, and it was not a no.

It was not a no.

Jin Guangyao smiled.

(At the trial, which happened eventually, Nie Mingjue spoke in his favor, and his would-be murderer was remanded into the custody of Qinghe for whatever punishment they saw fit. It didn’t last long, but it was an excellent alibi for his father’s untimely death, even though it did not solve all the questions that lingered in Nie Mingjue’s eyes. But that, too, was not an insoluble problem.)

[theexiledguitarist]

How Christians can be easily fooled by conspiracy theories

INTRODUCTION

“The Coronavirus is not just making people sick, it’s also making people stupid”

That was the opening line from the Malaysian comedian Ronny Chieng, starting his episode about the Coronavirus pandemic and its effects on our everyday life.

And even if the sentence sounds harsh and judgemental, I have unfortunately to say, that he is right.

With the threat of the pandemics and the quarantine measures limiting our movements, most people live at home and a in a constant psychosis, sharing all possible conspiracy theories on the social media.

And unfortunately, Christians are not immune to conspiracy theories, actually gullibility is very much present in some denominations.

CHRISTIANITY AND GULLIBILITY

But did I say that we Christian are easily gullible? Off course no, but I need to say that most of them are, especially in these days.

This happens because most of them, especially Fundamentalists evangelicals, read the Bible in a sort of “extreme way”, without understanding and throwing away all the things they learned.

And this goes back to my last year blog where I wrote about the Abecedarians and the Chick Tracts and their common thread of blind faith.

One big example is the misuse of the Book Of Revelation in two different wrong ways:

1. CORONAVIRUS: PUNISHMENT FROM GOD ?

This is the first mistake. In some denominations ( or better to say, SECTS ), there’s this idea that the pandemic was sent by God as a punishment against abortion, homosexuality and so on, this also based about the stories on the old testament.

Well I am not a theology expert, but according also to the evangelist Tom Loud if the coronavirus was from God, He surely would be a vengeful bombardier without mercy, a completely different version of Him.

Then comes also three big questions:

If the coronavirus was from God so what about  Black Plague,  Spanish Fever, SARS or Ebola?

If it’s a punishment against abortion, homosexuality and so on, why didn’t He spare also conservative nations like f.e. Poland, Hungary, Brazil or the “Nation Under God” USA?

What about all the closed churches for the quarantine ? Is it God’s will too?

So before saying that Corona is God’s punishment, try to answer these questions.

2.CORONAVIRUS: END TIMES SIGN

This is also the second mistake, similar to the first but also more dangerous.

As I wrote two years ago in my post about the psycho cults  there’s a sort of infuriating emphasis on the end times prophecies, and this emphasis sometimes lead to deviated and distorted reality thoughts , just like conspiracy theories ( like NWO, Mark of the Beast and so on.. ) or, in the worst of the cases, delusions of persecution like this.

The pandemic has highlighted a lot these “end times” stuff, and a lot of opportunists and deranged gurus have taken advantage of their feeble-minded followers. Same situation that happened in the ’80s and ’90s with the Satanic Panic, where con-artist like Bob Larson or Rebecca Brown were hailed as heroes.

USA: BETWEEN THREAT AND QUACKERY

But let’s go to USA, the “Nation Under God”, but especially under president Trump, who not only cut the funds to the WHO, but is going also to fire Anthony Fauci, the virologist who’s making a great job in the fight against the CoViD.

And this is just the peak of Trump’s series of mistakes against the virus, while USA is right now the country with the highest number of contagions and deaths by coronavirus.

And it’s really sad to see how still many evangelicals still say that he’s always right. But after all evangelical christianity in USA has become a circus, where there are “prophets and clowns”

Exactly, PROPHETS AND CLOWNS, like our song says. And some clear examples are:

Shawn Bolz, a self-proclaimed prophets who said in a gathering that “God showed him the end of the virus”, and it was the beginning of March, now we are on 16th of April and the situation is going from bad to worse.

Kenneth Copeland, the prosperity preacher, who tried to stop the virus with a prayer that looked more like a charade.

Rodney Howard-Browne, the head of River Church and well known conspiracy theorist, who got a warrant for violating the quarantine measures. It’s such funny how his followers blabber about “persecution” when he almost put a lot of people at risk hosting a gathering, if we think what happened in France last month.

Jim Bakker, the controversial televangelist who claims silver solution as remedy against coronavirus

QAnon, the conspiracy psycho-sect, who promoted MMS, the pseudo-medicine containing bleach

Last but not least, this guy in sackcloth, wandering and preaching around the empty quarantined American metropolises

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYgc_dIuhYo&ab_channel=TorchofChristMinistries

FINLAND: THE PETRI PAAVOLA CASE

Unfortunately also Finland is not immune neither from coronavirus, nor from conspiracy theorist.

And unfortunately, as I wrote before, Christians are not immune. The most obvious example is Petri Paavola, the anti-catholic liar upon whom I wrote almost two years ago.

At the end of March mister Paavola hold a service for few people because of the quarantine measures, and all the service was a complete concentration of persecution complexes and conspiracy craps.

He said, during his “service”, that coronavirus was created by Bill Gates to create new mass vaccination’s program, I really don’t know if laughing or vomiting in half of such idiocy, buy anyway here’s the parody.

Is Paavola completely deranged or is he just a liar ? Well it could be both of them, but what it’s worse is that he claims to have received a “revelation from God” about all that quackery. And obviously gullible followers believe him easily, like for example the author of this comment

For the non-Finnish speakers the translation is:

“thanks for the clear facts about what the elites do behind us. 5G and Coronavirus wortk together. Don’t take neither vaccine nor 5G”

Yes, because in the middle of this conspiracy psychosis, the 5G is nowadays one of the most popular theme and someone, like the crackhead who commented, believes even that 5G causes coronavirus.

It could sound funny but unfortunately is not, as in England, just weeks ago, some cell towers were set on fire because of this psychosis.

A LIGHT INTO THE DARKNESS

Thank God that into this marasma of darkness there’s always the light.

One example is this great article from ChristianityToday, written by Ed Stetzer, and I absolutely like to quote the first part of this article.

A major crisis provides a fertile field for producing conspiracy theories, and the current global pandemic has created a bumper crop of them.

One of the sad things that I’ve learned over time is how Christians are disproportionately fooled by conspiracy theories. I’ve also said before that when Christians spread lies, they need to repent of those lies. Sharing fake news makes us look foolish and harms our witness.

We saw this in the last election when some of the troll factories focused on conservative, evangelical Christians. This is disappointing. Now we are seeing it again. So how do we respond?

First, we need to speak up and speak out to others— particularly those fooled yet again— and lovingly say, “You need to go to trusted sources.” Your social media news feed is not a trusted source.

But you can find them if you are willing to look. That’s why we created coronavirusandthechurch.com, to provide credible information for churches. But, there are plenty of credible news sources— generally from outlets that do not have a track record of conspiracy peddling.

Second, God has not called us to be easily fooled. Gullibility is not a Christian virtue, and we ought not to act like that. Believing and sharing Covid-19 conspiracies does not honor the Lord.

Yet now, it appears we are dealing with a new flood of conspiracy theories. Take a look at the list on Wikipedia, or just search for yourself using a few keywords.

No one is born “hyper-intelligent” but someone needs to speak out.

N.B: That was written almost one year ago in my blog, now I repost it as the situation seems not to change

Here the link

https://soundsfromthemarshes.altervista.org/christianity-and-conspiracy-theories-during-the-pandemic/?doing_wp_cron=1612946542.4376449584960937500000

[lambourngb]

Get me out of here - places to go when canon is complicated

It’s Day 3, time to celebrate those stories that I turn to when I can’t deal with canon, or when I don’t have the emotional energy to untangle all the emotions I have for what’s going on in canon. Alternative universes, the safe harbor for us. Below are a mix of rewrites of canon, remixes of canon, or out right not even set in Roswell- to fill every type distance you want from canon- from near to far.

The first story I’m reccing is a long one,- so pardon the very long review below.

my love is a life taker by @jocarthage (267,600) So one day, Jessi popped into discord to share a dream she had about timetravel and being able to save yourself in the past basically, particularly Alex getting to give his baby-self a hug, and we all went, “holy shit that’s a cool fic idea please write it!” and really reality sucks right now with quarantine and whatnot, so what better thing to do than follow a WIP? I can’t tell you how badly I needed to something to look forward to as I was staring down a milestone birthday with all my plans in tatters, and this story filled the void.

Okay- now about the actual story itself, the world building about time travel in this is incredible but easy to absorb. Jessi dumps you straight into the action in chapter 1 with Alex, at 28, assassinating an Iraqi intelligence agent in 2009 that averts a bomb that was planned on US forces. You learn so much about both the story-universe and Alex here- one, that even dressed in mask and killing someone, Alex is kind and uses morphine as an overdose and has arranged for his victim’s family to be compensated, you learn that time agents can only visit places they themselves have visited during that time, and Jesse Manes had dragged his son, who was ‘time aware’ to every place of war and ruin on the planet before he was 18 and that, Alex’s victim, even as he’s dying, recognizes what a shit childhood Alex had but that Alex doesn’t.

The next part is where Alex’s time crystal malfunctions, instead of returning him to 2018, it takes him to 1998 where an 8 year old Michael is getting beaten by his foster dad and Alex, out of his time line mysteriously, visible to only Michael, saves him, but only temporarily. We all know with abusers, until you’re out of the house, it’s just a matter of time before the next beating. However, with one act, Alex at 28 starts putting into action (even though he doesn’t recognize it at the time) the steps to save his own life as he works to save Michael from his childhood. Each mission, each jump through time, Alex meets Michael, always a year apart and only for 1000 seconds, or almost 17 minutes. Jessi takes you through some of the darkest points of US foreign policy, only as Alex takes control of his life, he also starts to change the missions, and change the world. The details of places, people, food, etc are authentic from the author’s experience, if you don’t click on the links at the end of the chapters and disappear down google-rabbit holes about the events in history, well- you’re made of stronger stuff than I am.  There are lots of heavy subjects discussed, but there’s always care and honesty behind the intent. The way Michael grows, the way Alex grows, and of course the journey to the present time when they could be together? It’s like pining on steroids but it’s so wonderful. I wish I could pull out one thing that I loved in particular in this story- but it’s impossible, only to say that I love that I could disappear completely within the confines of ‘my love is a life taker’ knowing that I would be kept safe by the author, that goodness prevails.


when I’m oceans away by @neapeaikea (28,000) this is a post-2008 shed canon-divergent AU where Alex Manes, after the best/worst night of his life bolts from Roswell and leaves Michael behind. 10 years later, on the hunt for a child conceived at Caulfield, Michael walks into a youth home in California and finds Alex. A few things, I love that this author writes an Alex who didn’t join the Air Force but still lost a leg, I don’t really enjoy disability erasure in modern AUs (I’m better at looking past that in historical or sci fi aus) . It’s pretty clear after five minutes that the connection between the two men is still there and strong despite anger, secrets and guilt. The teasing and flirting between them is great but so is the acceptance of baring their vulnerabilities. I loved the care they take with each other, and the tie in to an alien child is just so perfect.

Crucibles (series) @ninswhimsy (9,000)- I’m cheating and naming both here, but obviously nin had her finger on the pulse of fandom, by writing crusade-set queer stories before The Old Guard ever boomed into a fandom from the movie. I was lucky enough to trade DMs over the ideas of holiness and the body, and how Alex would have treated himself, certain of his doomed soul, and how Michael would have responded in turn. It’s no secret I love everything Nin writes, but this series stuck in my mind. I will be drifting off to sleep, and think about Alex walking through the ancient city of Aleppo, ready to be done with his burden and Michael there with soft palms and scented oil, and boom! I reach for my kindle to re-read it.

no regrets if we walk this new road by @andrea-lyn (97,000) This author has written so many amazing AUs, some quite far away from canon events like her Mummy AU or her Avengers AU, but I have to say, I have a very soft-spot for this rewrite of season 1 for a lot of reasons. I mean, it’s 2020, so my appetite for Cop!Max is definitely at an all-time low, so the idea of exchanging his job with Kyle’s was extremely appealing. At least Kyle is a POC holding the badge, not a white man like our canon. Anyway, politics aside, this story is special to me for the scorching good Isobel/Kyle relationship that develops, the way Isobel sharpens herself into a lawyer (not an event planner) and how Michael rounds his own edges off in turn by becoming a teacher (and being secretly married).  Each deviation from canon made complete sense once you alter the way Rosa’s death affects the pod squad, and how they covered it up ripples out toward Liz, Kyle, etc. 


Layer on layer, down on down by @dotsayers (9,440) I love sci-fi tropes, especially time-loops, but they are incredibly hard to write (I know, I abandoned mine a while ago) so this story stands out because of just how well done the execution is and also the angst. Michael in a time loop about Caulfield, like how great/agonizing is that? The plot is so good, how it ties into Caulfield and why it happens in the first place, like wow.  The care, and the hurt, and the fatigue that Michael has in this story, oh you just want to wrap him in a blanket. There’s a tiny throwaway line about how one of the first things Michael learned to do in foster care was to make himself heavy and unmovable- and you instantly picture kid!Michael not wanting to be removed from a house - like my heart broke! The structure of the story, with the background of his just how much he loves Alex but how badly it hurts to see him die, really makes this study of 1x12 special. Along with all the angst, there’s tiny gallows humor lines, so am I weird, that I laughed through a couple of these scenes even as Michael kept dying?

Petty pace by @aewriting (11,600) Aewriting has a couple of stellar AUs, so trying to pick just one was difficult, but I rather feel this story is sadly underappreciated it (mind the tags). It was a remix of @iwontbeyourmedicine ‘s fantastic ‘Freaky Friday’, where the humans and aliens swap roles. Alex in the role of Michael basically was something I had never pictured until Ly wrote that story, and now feel utterly changed by it, especially with this backstory- the idea of Jesse Manes bringing a foster child home? Incredibly well done because there’s an off the charts level of menace in this story. The way Jesse watches Alex, who at first mistakes it for how a pedophile might size up a victim, but then catches on quickly that it’s so much worse in a lot of ways. And Alex is such a loner in the beginning, even as he reconnects with his pod siblings Liz and Maria, he’s still planning on keeping his head down and leaving Roswell far behind. Like freedom is literally the only thing he can conceive of for himself, no real dreams outside of that until Michael slips under his defenses. I probably could have saved this story for angst day- because the second half of the story, if you don’t sob while you read it, then I dunno. It’s helpful to read Ly’s story right afterward as a reminder that things do get better for Alex ten years later. In a lot of ways this story is sadder than canon (though there’s no murder of Rosa/4th alien), I’m comforted that at least Alex has Liz in the aftermath, alike in heartache in a way that Michael didn’t have because of the pact he and Max made about Isobel in canon.

Unexpected tidings by @bestillmyslashyheart (24,800) Another rewrite of canon, that explores a couple of very interesting questions, like what would it look like if Michael never made it back to Roswell as a kid but met Alex by chance in 2008? Imagine the cornerstone of the Lost Decade love affair revolving around the mundane questions of a long distance relationship that wasn’t built on the pain of the shed or Rosa’s death? Marlo writes an amazing take on this, that is both real and deep with the normal couple problems, before introducing that spanner in the works of oh yeah, aliens are real. With Michael on the east coast, and Alex finishing off his service in Roswell, Project Shepherd still entangles Alex with Liz bringing him in on the secret in hopes that with his hacker skills he can track down the third alien child that Max and Iz remember so they can warn him. As interesting as the current plot was, I found myself absolutely revitted the slow piecemeal reveals that Marlo doled out about Alex and Michael’s relationship over time. (I also while rereading this recently got very nostaglic for season 1 Alex who didn’t trust Jesse as far as he could toss him.) 

Don’t Punish Me For What I Feel by @winged-fool (3,600) Tarsus IV AU - another wonderful author with a catalog of great AUs, both sci-fi and dark, and honestly it was difficult to narrow it down to one. This story, well in 2009 I was a hard core Trek movie fan, so when I saw a trek-fusion story appear, I knew I would love it just on that basis. The thing is, this gave me Michael as the Captain, a surprisingly rare role for these space fusions, even though genius level repeat offender Jim Kirk and genius level repeat offender Michael Guerin seems pretty married in my mind as a connection. As a Tarsus-like story, all the tags are well earned by the story that Alex finally shares with Michael. It hit on so many levels, the hurt/comfort level for sure, but also to have a story where Michael is this stalwart protector of Alex was really nice to find. 

this isn’t the ‘holiday best friends championship’ by @usbournejez (6,090) alright to leave this on a lighter note, my final AU rec is this masterpiece by Kieran that was part of Malex Secret Santa gift fics- and what a gift it was to all of us! The way she writes established Malex is first-rate, because she always includes their canon-levels of snark/sharpness but it’s never directed at each other and that’s something I love. Here we have Alex, where we learn in just a few short lines, is a huge control freak but has the extremely big emotional handicap, and that’s his love/fondness/deserve to caretake Michael. Emotional cactus Alex who is soft for Michael? Love it. There are small drops of angsty backstory peppered in this, but really that just fuels just how sweet and wonderful the main theme of the story- which is Alex might hate the whole world at large, he loves, protects and worships Michael (and vice versa). As someone who can bake cookies, but that’s about it, I was still enthralled with the baking details and this story has never failed to encourage me to eat dessert before dinner basically. 

[randomnumbers751650]

Sometimes people ask a thing like “how did it get so big?” This is almost like any meme in the internet and sometimes even whatever is in the Top 10 bestselling books of any list. Due to being a historian of economic thought, I’m study the ascension of the idea of the entrepreneur as a hero, how it happened and its consequences, both good and bad. Therefore, I couldn’t avoid Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged. It wasn’t a good experience and I’ll talk more about it under the cut.

I think we all know how much of a controversial person Ayn Rand was. But it worked. She’s one of the most influential writers of the 20th century whether we like it or not. Like, a lot of people say she hates the poor and minorities. It’s even a meme, like there’s a joke SCP that makes everything it comes into contact unnecessarily verbose and one of the incidents was a sticky note written “I hate poor people” that becomes a copy of Atlas Shrugged.

After reading her work, I can safely say these are traps she set up in her own work. Not only that, these traps hide the true problems of her work.

In first place, we need to consider her demographic target. That wasn’t me, if I wasn’t researching, I wouldn’t even bother reading it. Like, I remember I saw in the internet a game called “The Jihad to Destroy Barney” and someone commenting: “because 20-years old thinking they’re funny were obviously the demographic target of Barney the Dinosaur”. Rand knew what her demographic target was, after working in Hollywood for so many years.

One might think that her demographic target was people like her, but it’s wider than that. Through all her book, producers (she doesn’t use the word ‘entrepreneur’, but it’s obviously the same) are the protagonists. Dagny shows her dedication to her railway, always looking for ways to improve it, to hire the best people to work with her, to deliver the best product she can, always treating others with respect. All the producers are people full of passion for what they do. They do not just for the money, they do it to express themselves (but still want/should be paid).

Meanwhile their enemies are the government organs that want to curb them, by introducing legislation to make everything equal, like people are forbidden to be fired, prices are controlled and so on. And they are evil, they are hypocrites who don’t really believe in the altruistic values they spouse or they are too dumb to realize they’re being hypocrites. They are always men in position of power, evil bureaucrats, quisling industrialists, hypocrite union leaders (though the union leader, Fred Kinnan, interestingly is the most sympathetic of the villains, and actually gets away scot free, to the point some think he’s a Galt agent undercover).

Rand aimed for the real life entrepreneur identify with the “heroes”. All the companies have names of their founders in their titles, Taggart Terminal, d’Anconia Copper, and so on. Their enemies show their true faces by naming themselves with abstract titles, like National Union and so on. She aimed the person who ever had to deal with the Health Department, with the Labor Department, who has to fills forms and more forms and say “Wouldn’t the world be a terrible place if it wasn’t for you? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you didn’t have to do all of this? If you just had the opportunity to truly express yourself? Free from the prying eyes of government inspectors? Rejoice, because I have the answer!”

Rand answers this with the Galt’s Gulch – a utopia of freedom, where the word “give” is taboo, while leaving the outside world of looters and moochers to destroy itself. All the producers are gathered to escape the terrible collectivist world around her. Everyone has money and, since they’re all enlightened by the principles of greed and selfishness, the prices are small, even symbolic. Monopolies are good and rivals are always being taken down, and they rejoice with it, both winner and loser, because they contributed to the expansion of human spirit.

When John Galt says “I swear – by my life and my love of it – that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine”, he’s implying all men who belong to this valley. They are not ashamed of taking low jobs, because they know their true power is what they do with their minds and hands. Francisco is shown to be perfect in everything he does, makes one think he’s a Gary Stu, but it’s because, according to the book’s philosophy, if you’re a true man, anything you do you become the best. For this reason, Galt’s Gulch is quite diverse, because it has not only industrialists, but also factory workers and small businessmen who share their ideals. And not only workers, but also artists, intellectuals and others.

This is why I think the argument “this books hates poor people” might not be accurate. The low worker whom Eddie Willers meets in the beginning is actually John Galt in disguise. This I think it’s the most important part to understand why Atlas Shrugged was so influential with small businessmen when published: John Galt is where the Übermensch and the Everyman meet. “Who is John Galt?” Anyone can be John Galt – the same way anyone can be Bella Swan, anyone can be Ritsuka Fujimaru (at least before the 5th singularity), anyone can be Kirito Kirigaya – the idealized self of the entrepreneur.

Thus, one is not born a “man”, but becomes one. Dagny and Hank’s entire character development is to become “men”, to learn to love themselves more than what they create, no matter how passionate they are. This contrasts with Eddie Willers, Dagny’s right hand man, probably the most tragic character of the tale.

Eddie loved the railway just as Dagny. He’s been her friend for so long, and even developed feelings for her. But the book constantly observes that Eddy doesn’t have the capacity to lead something as important as a railway. But he does it nevertheless, dedicating all his resources and passion for the railway. But, unlike Dagny, he doesn’t learn to look for greater things. Thus, he ends the novel stuck in a railway, defeated and probably left to die.

This is controversial, so much everyone still discusses his fate. In the movie adaptation, they deviate from the novel by having the heroes making a point to rescue him from his fate. In Jennifer Burns’s biography, she mentions a letter Ayn Rand received asking about Eddie and she replies that in a collectivist society, Eddie would’ve perished, while in a free one he’d be living okay. Nevertheless, this reveals a truth about that world: not everyone will become a “man”. Eddie would never become a “man”.

Since pity is against Galt’s doctrine, Eddie cannot be pitied. He has to live under the mercy of his Galtian overlords. He has only two options: either worship the feet that trample him, expecting his breadcrumbs fall from their banquet table, or to question his place in the world, thus denying that A is A, and be trampled harder. It really doesn’t matter his kindness, his dedication, he’s not a “man”, and thus has more in common with the looters and moochers than the heroes. Thus, if Eddie ever becomes an obstacle to the productive forces, even if unintentionally, he has to be trampled.

While one might think that I’m being unfair, it should be reminded that Ayn Rand openly advocated the people who were killing Natives during the American expansion to the West were doing nothing wrong. The Natives were actually privileged for being trampled by the productive forces, thus creating the great nation. The same argument can be made for the colonized people and even to the “essential workers” of this pandemic – since apparently people who take this book seriously are one of the most resistant forces to lockdowns and mask mandates, you can guess why.

And this is why Rand hated the environmental movement, because it puts an obstacle to the productive process. Nature can only react with deaf indifference to Galt’s speech. For Rand, this is unforgivable. Would it be surprising if oil tycoons were fans of Rand’s work?

In the end, the producers execute their revenge against the world that rejected them. Galt’s speech caused a lot of disturbance and the last chapters deal with its consequences, with more villains being evil for no reason and more showing how awesome their heroes are. Galt becomes more and more like Jesus, even with a gnostic Judas in Dagny helping him. In fact, in the funniest part of the book, where it comes THIS close from being self-aware, he says to his tormenters, when they asked to cooperate with him: “It took me three hours on the radio to tell me why”. It gave me angry laughter.

In the end of the day, what matters? This is a work of fiction, where caricatures of men and women fight each other. The entrepreneurial process works nothing like described in the book. It takes a naïve view of selfishness, upon saying that if everyone was selfish the world would be a better place, when in reality, if you expect selfishness, it’s what you’ll get.

It’s never explained how they invented their inventions, only that they did it and it’s awesome. The One-Man Industrial Revolution trope is one that I loathe a lot, because it misrepresents the innovation process. It requires so many factors, including government funding – scratch that, it REQUIRES government funding because technologies like touch-screen used to be so risky that no private company would take seriously and government can fund because it doesn’t go bankrupt the same way. Even if we take it as a metaphor, it doesn’t work when you stop to think.

Rand belongs to the same class of writers as Stephenie Meyer and Christian Weston Chandler. But she wanted to influence the world, she wanted it to be more than entertainement, much more. Thanks to her publishing network and appeal to real problems, she did it. This is why the problems of her work require critique. And I hope anyone reading this try to understand better what “relatability” means, this is what relatability can do. Stop trying to look for relatability everywhere, let it just come naturally and if it doesn’t come enjoy the story!

[ramblingguy54]

Mr. Universe Breakdown

Mr. Universe is quite a delicate story to break down, given its a clash of two different parenting ideals of being too strict vs too relaxed that are showcased in what starts off as a fairly wholesome bittersweet father & son bonding montage with nice callback to Dear Old Dad over their moments together on the road trip outta Beach City, which leads them to what Greg considered to be nothing more than a prison. His old parent’s house, where he grew up in for the past 20 years before wanting to become more independent.

 One of the things that was honestly adorable, yet also very heartbreaking, was seeing Steven light up at all of his father’s childhood and teenage stuff Greg had the opportunities to experience with what was as normal as a person’s life could possibly be. Steven’s beyond ecstatic because of course he never got to experience any of those things in his very uncanny childhood, while Greg just writes it all off as being roped into all those past activities like manipulation by his parents. I mean, not to disregard whatever other stuff Greg had to put up with, but getting a haircut for graduation before a music gig isn’t that bad for example when it comes to dealing with your parents ideals. Although, never being able to live your life or enjoy all kinds of things in general as you transition into a more self-reflective phase, since those authority figures envision something different for you can become something toxic if not careful. In Greg’s case, it was obviously wanting to become a musician, which they were strongly against that idea, so anything music was banned in their household. To an extent, I totally get why they’d be concerned about Greg trying to make it as a musician, considering we all know he drifted around for quite awhile and never got a big break in his life, until finally meeting Pink Diamond. Seeing how lazy Greg was in his youth from episodes like, Greg the Babysitter, leads me to believe his parents were along the lines of that classic mindset, “Being strict to inspire hard work and determination in their son.”, where he was more rebellious and stubborn against that very notion. What his parents saw as pure intentions, Greg saw a mindset he never wanted to instill toward his own kid, leaning more on the hands free angle of letting Steven have the freedom to make his own decisions.

A wrestling trophy? I didn’t know you wrestled!

Not by choice...

Despite how much Greg strongly disagreed with his parents strict environment, his relaxed non-strict approach to raising Steven also had similar consequences, except they’re obviously much worse for this poor boy’s case. Considering the very nature of who Pink Diamond was and what that resulted in making Steven a lot more different than any other human being or gem as a special hybrid, ended up leaving this kid with a shit ton of responsibilities to handle from the get go, as well as serious insecurities about fitting into the bigger picture of reality, too. Whatever issues Greg had to deal with growing up are a mole hill compared to the galaxy sized self-esteem issues and bitterness Steven is struggling with currently. This severely blows up in Greg’s face when he lets Steven drive his car. Once Seven learns the origin that he got his name Universe from a song, it all goes down hill from there. Greg may have given him more freedom to do whatever and go wherever he desired sure, but that came at the expense of so much more in the process. Whether you’re too strict or lenient as a parent, each far end of the spectrum can be disastrous for any child under their care and Greg’s easy going idea of what it means to be a father is backfiring greatly.

You grew up with actual freedom.

I grew up in a van! I didn’t go to school. I’ve never been to the doctor, until two days ago!

Steven, you’re a gem! You’re not like other kids!

My problem isn’t that I’m a Gem! My problem is that I’m a Universe!

The unfortunate truth sometimes is that history of a family mistake can repeat itself. Greg tried to prevent making the same issue his parent’s did by deviating from their seriously strict and uptight rules, by having no real restrictions attached at all with Steven, but that only fanned the flames of a bigger fire to come down the road. He needed Greg to provide some sort of balance because Steven’s not your every day average kid and he absolutely did try to through having the Crystal Gems teach/discipline him, but that’s the biggest problem here. They’re not exactly competent parental figures to turn to for emotional support, so it only led to either Steven getting traumatized in certain events or having to help resolve big conflicting issues going on between Garnet, Amethyst, or Pearl throughout the other five seasons previously. Honestly, I seriously doubt Steven could’ve ever managed to go to school at all back then, due to how crazier things got for him as time went on, which that’s more or less the point. Steven’s origins of creation and the Gem war has robbed him of all those childhood joys any kid deserves to experience that one chance in their lives.

The line, “My problem is that I’m a Universe!”, was one of the details that struck me most about this episode. It’s more than just animosity toward his father, but represents his own self-internalized criticism of being unable to live up to this name he was born with. Steven’s always been asked to live up to the high standards of Rose back then from the Crystal Gems and always looked up to Greg with a lot of pride. Although, now that Steven is trying to figure out who he actually is as an individual, instead of the whole is he exactly like his mother deal, leaves him unsure if he’ll ever be able to achieve any of that greatness that the others have finally reached. That statement resonates so strongly with me because who doesn’t feel that way about living up to the birth name all of us were given when we’re brought into this world? It can be the most awful feeling when others are succeeding more than what you’ve managed to accomplish and feeling like you’re letting not only yourself down, but the family who gave you this name, too. Easily my favorite line of dialogue from Mr. Universe right here.

Mr. Universe was a very interesting study in how both parenting style extremes whether strict or laid back can have serious affects on the kids and create a cycle that will spread like wild fire that can do more harm than good, as shown with Greg & Steven here. Like, the fact that Greg actually praises Steven for ripping into him that harshly made me raise an eyebrow. Look, I appreciate that you’re trying to keep an open mind to your son Greg, but now is not the time for the friendly parent routine. This kid is showing you years of animosity & PTSD.

He needs a seriously in-depth conversation with you, man.

[tirorah]

In ‘Shizuka, Come In!’ Everyone Still Has Much to Learn

That’s right, kids, it’s that time of the week again! I’m back with yet another Strike Witches rant!

This week we had the Shizuka episode, or at least, that’s what the episode’s title led me to believe. But interestingly, this wasn’t totally a Shizuka spotlight. Although it did show us how far she’s come, it also hammers home one of the central themes of Road to Berlin: everyone has flaws, and they need to overcome them to win the day.

The Hattori Dilemma

I’ve had mixed feelings about Shizuka so far. When she was first properly introduced, her hero-worship of Yoshika was understandable but grating. Thankfully, that only lasted for one episode, and she became a nice support character thereafter. Through her, we’ve also gotten a bit of an outsider’s perspective of how the 501st behaves, showing us how much their lofty reputation can deviate from reality. But I wouldn’t say she’s filled any particular roles that couldn’t be handled by one of the other members of the cast. The fact this has come at the cost of so much potential Lynne screen time is a bit disappointing.

When I went into this episode, the above was the number one thing I hoped to see resolved, or at least somewhat alleviated: giving Shizuka a clear role that would justify adding her to a roster of 11 already-developed characters.

Did this episode do that?

No. But I don’t think that was the intention either.

Shizuka Is a Great Soldier

Although this episode wasn’t all-out combat, owing to the setbacks the cast faced, this was definitely the start of a three-part finale. And I think we’re going to see more of Shizuka in the rest of it, all the way up to the ending. Plus, there’s still the matter of what her special magical ability is (if she has one; it might be cool if she didn’t), and this episode seemed more about showing us how much she’s improved since joining the 501st.

In particular, I really enjoyed how much Shizuka valued communication. She’s good at following orders and protocols, and she showed that here: constantly communicating with Minna whenever needed, and holding her own in the meantime. In fact, Minna implicitly trusts her to do well, as when Shizuka reports she’s fighting a new Neuroi solo, Minna doesn’t sound all that concerned. She doesn’t immediately send someone over to help, either (although Shirley did show up to catch her later.)

Did you notice the pool of blood is bigger later on? RtB has been so good at these little details.

Shizuka did everything right, and others even comment on how much she’s improved. But her strong suit is also her glaring flaw: she’s stiff and is incapable of thinking on the fly at times, making her less adaptable in the heat of combat. This is most clearly seen when she realizes the Neuroi’s core isn’t where it was last time; shocked and flat-footed, she stops moving around, and it’s in that moment that the Neuroi’s drones surround her and self-destruct, wounding her. This stiffness also stems from her inexperience; as she matures, she’ll likely learn to adapt to rapidly changing battlefield conditions. And she’ll probably loosen up a bit like Trude has.

This comparison to Trude isn’t accidental: in the Movie, she was introduced as an inexperienced Trude knock-off at first, and in the tail-end of this episode, their similarities are on display once again. As Shizuka sees what’s happened to Yoshika, despite having done everything perfectly fine, she blames herself for her friend’s condition. Yes, her injury did put everyone else in a very tight spot, but there was nothing she could’ve done better. There’s also the factor of her self-confidence; while she’s improved in this regard, there are still moments in this episode where she feels useless—lesser—compared to her more experienced colleagues.

And Shizuka isn’t the only one whose flaws were shown this episode. Episode 10 was, surprisingly, more of an ensemble work than previous episodes; Yoshika, Minna, Trude and Shirley were all given some time in the limelight.

Yoshika Is a Terrible Soldier

Let’s start with Yoshika, because oh boy, she was flawed as all hell. Longtime viewers of Strike Witches will already know that Yoshika isn’t much of a soldier. She starts out as a pacifist, and only takes up the gun when she realizes she can use her power to protect others. Protecting people is so ingrained into her psyche that it’s the very foundation of almost everything she does in this show, and nowhere is this as apparent as here.

This means that although she’s a sweet girl who will happily follow orders, she also disregards those orders the moment it conflicts with her desire to protect people. This trait ebbs and flows throughout the episode: at first, she does her bit for the plan, but when things go tits-up and she’s ordered to retreat fully, the lives lost around her push her to defying her orders. Shizuka manages to placate her by saying she’ll fight in Yoshika’s stead, and Yoshika does end up doing as she’s told; a fact that has Lucchini and Shirley ribbing them, stating that’s the biggest headline of all.

Ah, but then in come Patton and Bradley, and when they find out what’s wrong with Yoshika, they tell her not to use any magic until they go for another attack on the Hive. Before Yoshika can respond to this, a Neuroi appears to attack their facilities in Kiel.

When the need is this great, Yoshika ends up undermining her earlier character growth and runs off to the hangar before Minna or anyone else can even get a word in. She remains adamant when Minna stops her; it’s only Mio’s stinging reprimand, saying she should trust in her comrades, that makes her relent.

You say this, Minna, but it didn’t do much good in the end, did it? Also, another good Commander moment for Minna.

Keep in mind: this relapse of sorts may be frustrating for us as viewers (it did annoy me a little), but it’s all part of the struggle to become a more balanced person. Whether Yoshika will move past this compulsion is hard to judge at this point, but setbacks are also a natural part of progressing as a person.

Finally, when Shizuka is wounded and the others are struggling to stop the bomber Neuroi from crashing into Kiel, Yoshika decides to use her amazing shield to save everyone. Unlike the previous situation, this action is at least justified: Kiel is important for the operation, and had it been wiped out, Operation Southwind would be back at square one and many people would’ve died, including high-ranking personnel.

Her condition is unknown by the end of the episode, leaving us to wonder if she’s finally pushed herself too far again. I suspect the ramifications of this ending won’t be fully felt until the show’s final episode, at which point Yoshika may pull another deus ex machina and fly once again. (I think there’s still one shot of the first PV left unused, where she’s alone in a hangar and she says she wants to protect people.)

Minna Is a Great Commander

Yay, Minna got more to do! She actually gets to fight again, and she also gets to lead the 501st into battle, meaning we were finally shown some more of her leadership abilities in the field. She keeps a cool head, and this time suspects the trap before it’s sprung. She also has to rein in Trude a little this time around. Best of all, she somehow finds the time to give Shizuka some pointers even though they weren’t fighting alongside each other. It’s this grasp of the bigger picture where Minna performs better than anyone else.

But Minna is still incredibly protective of her girls, so when Shizuka’s out cold and they seem to be in an unwinnable situation, Minna gets a bit crazy again and flies at the Neuroi to slow its descent with her shield. This, at least, is born purely out of compassion; she wants to give the others more time to rescue Shizuka. But it is a loss of self-control in a way, not a good look for the person who’s supposed to keep everything under control.

Trude Is Put on the Back Foot

It was interesting to see Trude in this episode. She seemed her usual, level-headed RtB self…right up to the moment things started going wrong. Even though the Wall-type Neuroi have drastically altered the situation—making it clear the Neuroi were prepared to deal with them—she disregards Minna’s warnings and dives at the core. And when the retreat is ordered, she makes it obvious she’s unwilling to leave. Fortunately, for her sake, Minna hits back with this:

Trude does follow orders again after that, but these are curious lapses in her self-control that we haven’t seen for quite a few episodes. And now that Trude is officially the second-in-command of the Wing, such errors in judgement potentially spell disaster for the very people she wants to keep safe.

She indirectly faces a similar challenge later in the episode: when Shizuka is stranded and unresponsive, everyone tries to save her, only for the Neuroi to crowd its explosive drones around her prone body. Trude and the others stop short, and as Shirley asks her for orders, it becomes clear that she has none to give. She doesn’t know what to do. At least she doesn’t lose her cool, which is a small victory.

To contrast her actions earlier in the episode, when the Neuroi starts descending toward Kiel, Trude’s role shifts from attack to support. It’s very fitting that when Minna attempts to slow down the Neuroi to save Shizuka, Trude first once again calls her an idiot—and then goes in to help her anyway, because damn it Minna, you can’t do it by yourself. The two of them, plus Erica, go completely on the defensive, trusting in the others to save Shizuka.

Shirley Is Overconfident

Shirley had a very interesting role this time around. Early on, everything seems to be going smoothly and she gets quite cocky, even saying they might not need Yoshika at all. But she does change her mind once things start going awry; she’s obviously matured a fair bit since the early days, and in this episode, she’s very responsible and quickly feels like things have become dicey.

There are also a few moments where she’s supportive of the others, like telling Yoshika they’re almost in firing range and she just needs to hold on a bit longer, or telling Shizuka she did well and kicked lots of Neuroi ass. This is important, as Shirley technically has a responsibility for many of her younger comrades. But instead of Minna’s nurturing, motherly attitude, or Trude’s mix of tough love and gentle attentiveness, Shirley is the fun big sister who tells the best stories during parties. You need all three.

She also saves Shizuka’s life twice, first when Shizuka faints after defeating the bomber Neuroi solo, and later, when Shizuka is stranded on the Neuroi with a wounded leg. That second rescue is especially nice to see: Shirley zipping between Neuroi mines and grabbing Shizuka’s hand so precisely at that speed; it’s quite impressive! It also rewards the trust Minna and Trude placed in their subordinates (who would then, technically, be under Shirley’s command) to find a way to save their friend while the Karlslanders bought them time. Shizuka’s rescue is a nice team effort, spearheaded by the woman who used to be far more concerned with her own dreams instead of being a responsible figure.

Patton Is a Goddamn Idiot

I would not at all be sorry if he got blasted into space by a Neuroi beam.

What, you thought there’d be more here? Nope. The man is so flawed he wraps right back around to a void of nothingness.

More Importantly, There’s Also Something Fishy Going On

At least Patton and Bradley had some narrative weight in this episode, though, first with the reveal of Yoshika’s old prototype Striker, and then…with this:

For the first time in the season, we see hints of the military being dumbasses by holding onto some sort of secret weapon. Ah, Strike Witches traditions, what wonderful things they are. Anyway, the weapon seems to be some sort of huge tank with two frontal cannons. (Other commenters think it’s this thing, and I believe them.)

Either way, they seem to highly regard this thing as some sort of trump card, and Bradley also had this bizarre line:

…Luck?! I’m pretty sure that’s not how commanding works. If it did, I’d be much better at strategy games.

To me, their dialogue about the secret weapon seems to indicate they have some sort of ulterior motive. But they don’t seem to dislike Witches like Maloney did; it’s more like they’re using them as tools, ready to discard them when they think Witches are no longer needed to achieve victory. That was obvious when, after two tense episodes of retaking Kiel, the military just rolled past the Karlsland Trio with a cheery “Hey, good job! We’re going to go and retake Berlin now, choo choo!” They didn’t even inform Minna and co. of that before their arrival.

There’s also this little fact that Trude—of all people—points out:

Because Operation Southwind has faced delays and the like, the military’s apparently decided to keep the public unaware of their struggles. Instead, the newspapers paint a rosy immediate future, even though they failed in their objectives.

I’d also like to point out that this tidbit, while not followed up on in this episode, was impressive to see mentioned. War propaganda is a real thing—we’ve seen some examples of it in headlines before, such as when Shirley was reading the paper in Episode 4—and it makes perfect sense that the narrative’s been twisted like this to keep people calm. Minna doesn’t show much of her personal feelings on the matter, but while Trude doesn’t show any anger, it’s clear she’s not a fan. I really hope this gets some payoff later, and RtB’s track record gives me confidence it will.

But yeah, all this secrecy and stuff is a bit suspicious. I can’t put my finger on it.

…Or maybe I’m overthinking this. Maybe the military’s higher-ups aren’t as bad this time around. After all, Mio was witness to the whole thing with the secret weapon.

…

Oh shit, Mio!

O Mio, Mio, wherefore art thou Mio?

Considering we heard her in the preview, I was 100% expecting Mio to have a big role in this episode. Except…she didn’t? She barely did anything important. I was very thankful when she told off Yoshika, as Yoshika’s flaw was getting out of control, but she didn’t do much else of note, mostly serving as a link between scenes or conveniently broadcasting Shizuka’s injury just before the chaff cuts off communications.

Heck, she didn’t even have any dialogue with Minna! I was fully prepared to roll my eyes at their drama-filled shipbaiting (wholly different from Minna and Trude’s drama-filled shipbaiting, of course), but no, nothing.

I assume she’ll still have a role to play in things to come. That plane of hers has been teased all season, and in an earlier post I alluded to a way she might be able to fly into combat with it. Well, we’re almost at the end, so I might as well tell you my theory:

I think this has been set up as far back as Episode 2. In that one, we found out some sort of anti-Neuroi technology has been invented. It can be incorporated into an object (like that ship) and it will give that object a certain degree of resistance to Neuroi beams.

It seems to show up as red dots in the material itself, whenever a beam hits it. This shielding isn’t infinite, but it did allow the Doge to survive several otherwise fatal hits. With this technology, as well as the maneuverability of a fighter plane and Mio’s experience and skills, she could be capable of contributing somehow.

Road to Berlin

Is the title of episode 11, which is intriguing. Usually, namedropping the title is reserved for final episodes, or very special ones. As we know, the ‘Road’ is the personal challenges and setbacks the cast must overcome along the way. With some of their flaws built up in this episode, it seems natural for episode 11 to continue this theme, as the final offensive on Berlin begins, Patton and Bradley reveal their weapon (which I assume will backfire in some way), and we’re treated to an ominous shot of Mio watching over a bedridden Shizuka. Will Yoshika and Shizuka recover? Will Mio finally fly into combat?

Interestingly, the preview doesn’t have Mio’s voice in it at all, which makes me wonder how big her role is going to be. Instead, it’s Minna, Erica and Trude we hear, signaling we may have more Karlsland Trio goodness coming our way. I know which I prefer, but I do hope Mio gets one awesome scene all for her, so that Mio fans who’ve been waiting for her return all season won’t be left disappointed.

[miximax-hell]

Happy Goku Day, everyone!!

I checked and, miraculously, I still have followers on this blog. In fact, I’ve gained some since the last time I posted, for some reason! I’m not going to question it, though. Just... bless. But, hey, long time no see! As usual!

This time, I’m going back to my roots. The first drawings I posted on this blog were meant to show my love towards original Raimon, and it’s never a bad time to remind you all that I still adore these kids. Especially now that my friend @dust-monsters-under-my-bed​ has reminded me of them. Go check her art, btw! She’s not very active on Tumblr, but you can find her art on Twitter right here: https://twitter.com/rachelmonart

Anyway, she’s watching Inazuma Eleven for the first time and she’s made me think again about how much love these kids deserve, BECAUSE THEY SURE GOT NONE FROM HINO. DAMN YOU, HINO. So, today, let’s talk about the one and only IE character whose feet are classified as mass destruction weapons, who decided to borrow power from someone who will make you all question me, my logic and my tastes: Yamhan (or, as he is known in the west, Tiencha), THE FUSION OF YAMCHA AND TENSHINHAN FROM DRAGON BALL.

Introducing ShoYamHan! More on him under the cut.

So, first of all, how have you all been? I suppose many of you, like myself, are being told to stay at home to fight this situation. I salute all of you who do your best to stay safe and not help spread anything. It’s a very necessary fight, even if it can be boring at times. Many of us have friends or relatives fighting on the frontline, though (unless you yourself are the doctor or nurse friend!), and we hopefully know that staying at home is a small price to pay.

As for me, I got a job in December and lost it last month, so... yeah. It’s not been great. Still, something I’ve been working hard on for a while should be released soon and that’s so exciting! MY NAME WILL FINALLY BE ON SOMETHING’S CREDITS AND I CAN’T WAIT FOR IT TO BE UP.

But, anyway, back to business!

Rachel suggested I talk about the reasons behind this particular miximax, and considering it makes for a perfect parallel with my first posts, where I talked about the reasons behind Max’s and Kageno’s miximaxes, I’m all up for it! But, this time, I will have to do something new: explain WHO THE HECK YAMHAN IS. So let’s start with a picture of this handsome devil.

As most of you hopefully know, this project is about miximaxing Inazuma characters with video game characters. No anime, movies or anything else. Only and exclusively video games. Dragon Ball has probably spawned all those things, but it started as a manga, so you’d be right to think it most definitely does not qualify for this project. And, indeed, Dragon Ball doesn't. What DOES qualify, however, are Dragon Ball characters exclusive, or first introduced, in a video game. And that’s exactly the case we’re dealing with here!

Growing up, I loved Dragon Ball games. Even before I watched the show properly, in fact! I would go to my friend’s house, who was a fan of the show, and we'd play the Dragon Ball Budokai games nonstop with absolutely zero regrets. Those were some great times. And once I came to know the source material, the game that blew my mind the most was Dragon Ball Budokai 2. Was it the best one? Not necessarily. Is it my favourite? Not by a long shot. Still, it was the most creative! Most games follow the story of DBZ, which, obviously, is always the same. But Budokai 2 wasn’t afraid to do new things. Its story mode resembled a tabletop game and it was more than happy to deviate from the source material in some really fun ways; most notably, with exclusive fusions.

Budokai 2 introduced us all to Yamhan, the fusion of Yamcha and Tenshinhan, two long forgotten characters in the series, as they (and especially poor Yamcha) didn’t do anything especially relevant past... well, past the original Dragon Ball. As a champion of the unloved, that blew my mind. There were other fun things in Budokai 2, but what fascinated me and stayed in my thoughts for years to come was Yamhan. It was just such a cool concept. Two underdogs who had fallen into obscurity fusing to create a much greater warrior!

Of course, Yamhan isn’t the only videogame exclusive characters in Dragon Ball. He isn’t the first, nor the last. Yamhan isn’t the strongest, nor the weakest. But I haven’t played FighterZ nor Fusions (yet), nor pretty much any game that wasn’t on PS2 or GBA. And even if I had, I doubt Android 21 or any of the HUNDREDS of combinations available in Fusions would captivate me and my imagination as much as Yamhan did back in the day. Yamhan was a fusion, which is something that has always fascinated me to begin with. I MEAN, THIS ENTIRE BLOG IS ABOUT FUSING CHARACTERS, SO I THINK IT’S PRETTY OBVIOUS LMAO But he wasn’t just one among hundreds. He was this very specific, never-seen-before, cool as heck and usable fusion. Like, wow. That was wild for me. Sign me up, man.

But, you know, I try not to let that sway me too much. Of course, I wouldn’t likely pick a character I hate for a miximax, but, still, my preferences aren’t everything. And choosing Yamhan begs a question that I have already alluded to: if Yamhan isn’t the strongest game-exclusive DB character out there, then, why him? Well, the answer to that is related to the biggest problem posed by the sheer concept of miximaxing with a Dragon Ball character:

Power escalation.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Goku is, pretty much, the strongest character that has ever played the lead in any manga, and one of the strongest fictional characters ever, period. By the end of the Dragon Ball Super anime, he has EXCEEDED THE POWER OF MANY LITERAL GODS AND IS (or has been) A CANDIDATE TO BECOME ONE. You may prefer One Piece, or Naruto, or anything else, but few things reach the astronomical, reality-bending scope of Dragon Ball. Not to say DB is the best series--I’m just saying that it’s so out of control at this point (and I love it). But, of course, the stronger Goku is, the stronger the villains need to be, and Goku ends up becoming EVEN stronger than said villains. Rinse and repeat dozens of times until you can make an entire universe disappear by raising your hand.

Now, imagine applying that out-of-this-world power escalation to a context where the power balance isn’t so outrageous. For example, Inazuma Eleven.

Goku wriggling in his sleep is more powerful than Zeus, and an accidental sneeze would smash all of Ixal Fleet to smithereens. Do you see what this would do to the balance? It would ruin it completely, as anyone who miximaxed with Goku would be immediately a one-person army able to defeat ANY opponent--and if the opponent were to be EVEN GREATER than Goku, well, the rest simply wouldn’t stand a chance. Ever. Remember: the point of this project isn’t to create perfect and unbeatable players, and I’m not trying to prioritize anyone or make them noticeably stronger than anyone else just because I happen to like X more than Y. That completely ruins the tension and the fun (and my attempts to create justice in this unfair universe). The point is to come up with a balanced team full of players with strong points, but with flaws, too, that complement each other when they play together against stronger enemies.

So, if we go with Dragon Ball, and I love Dragon Ball WAY too much to not include it in this project in some way, we have to be careful and avoid overdoing it. Balance is key. And now that you know why I didn’t just choose the fusion between Beerus and Whis or something crazy like that, I’ll move on to explain what makes Yamhan a very interesting option. I SWEAR THERE ARE SOME ACTUAL REASONS.

First of all, the very concept. You know, Yamcha and Tenshinhan fused to created Yamhan, and now, Shourin is fusing with a fusion. That’s just... hecking cool. I won’t lie--my preferences towards Yamhan didn’t tip the scales towards making this happen, but my preferences towards FUSIONCEPTION totally did. XD But there’s more, thankfully.

From the very beginning, I knew I wanted a fighting game character to miximax with Shourin because it fits his theme best. I’m not big on fighting games, though, so it was quite tough. Especially because just any fighting game wouldn’t do it. Shourin is a martial artist. As I mentioned at the very beginning of this post, his feet are his weapons. His entire body is a weapon, really. If I were to suddenly miximax him with some character who wields a sword or an axe, for example, it would be a complete disservice to Shourin. Original Raimon members don’t have much going on for themselves, and I’m going to cut or ignore the ONE thing that makes one of them special? Not in a zillion years. Shourin needs to fight with his body. That, of course, cuts many characters already: pretty much the entire roster of Soul Calibur, many members of Mortal Kombat, many from games like Skullgirls (which I still want to try to represent here in the future, because @lumaga worked on it and it makes me happy just because of that), etc. For a very long time, I considered someone like Ryu, from Street Fighter, but then it hit me: I have never played Street Fighter and I don’t want to include him just because I know what a Hadouken is. It’d be... cheap. And fake. Thankfully, as I also mentioned earlier, I played LOTS of Budokai back in the day and I am an actual fan, so I don’t have to pretend to know what the heck I’m talking about. XD And, thankfully, most of the characters in DB games fight with their bare fists and legs, so they perfectly fit my needs. Yamhan is, of course, no exception.

Now comes my favourite reason to choose Yamhan and not, well, literally any other DB game-exclusive character. And that reason is style.

Remember that power escalation thing I mentioned earlier? Well, it’s epic, but it comes with a big disadvantage: power ends up becoming much more important than skill. Early Dragon Ball was very focused on fighting styles. There was an ongoing feud between the Turtle School and the Crane School, who taught different martial arts to fight in different ways, and there was a big plot involving which one was superior. It wasn’t just about who was strongest, but about who fought better. With time, that disappeared, though. Even though battles became flashier, aerial and more spectacular, they were much more indistinct. Sure, there were gimmicks like “heh, I have a tail and I will sometimes hit you with it,” or “I will try to hit your face with the palm of my hand instead of my fist for some unspecified reason,” but that isn’t... much. You just see very fast people avoiding equally as fast punches to the face. And Goku, the main character, only shows some style when he adopts a fighting pose BEFORE fighting. Once the punches start flying, it’s all a race to see who can hit the other the hardest in the gut to make them spit blood. Cool nonetheless, but still.

Ironically, though, it’s two of the least relevant characters who never really lost those styles that made them unique when they were first introduced to the series. And those are, of course, Yamcha and Tenshinhan.

Yamcha joins the Turtle School and learns techniques as classic as the Kamehameha, but he had his own style way before that, based on attacking and tearing enemies apart like a wolf would. This is best represented by his signature move, the Rougafuufuuken or Wolf Fang Fist. He never drops this style, but instead builds up on it through his training to make it even fiercer.

Tenshinhan has different things going for himself. First of all, he is a hybrid between a human being and a civilization known as the Three-Eyed People, which grants him powers such as growing extra arms from his back or dividing in 4. Not just moving so fast that it looks like there’s four of him, but ACTUALLY dividing into 4 separate bodies. In terms of skills, he was a Crane School student, but when he realised the wrong of his master’s doings, he decided to start training and developing on his own. Basically, a path that mirrors Yamcha’s, but both lead to unique fighting styles unlike anyone else’s in this universe. And, most importantly, none of them depend on appendixes that are always there, like the aforementioned tail, so they totally work for us here!

Shourin is a proper martial artist. He wouldn’t want to make himself crazy strong as much as he would like to refine his technique and learn new moves and tricks. Martial arts are about discipline, self-control, skill and protection. He would take a cool-ass combo based on a wolf’s moves over earth-shattering strength any day of the week, hence why the fact that these two have so many techniques to offer is so appealing.

Finally, and probably least, is the design idea that immediately came to my mind when I thought of a miximax between Shourin and Yamhan. Historically, I have had to work with characters like Fudou, who are usually mostly bald and they miximax with someone with hair, thus making for some very... difficult things to figure out. But the idea of miximaxing Shourin, who is mostly bald, with Yamhan, who is ALSO mostly bald, was just golden and too good to ignore. And the fact that Yamhan has three eyes GIVES ME AN EXCUSE TO ADD A THIRD CROSS-SHAPED EYE ON SHOURIN’S FOREHEAD. IF A MIXIMAX BETWEEN BALD PEOPLE WAS GOLDEN, THIS IS OUTRIGHT PLATINUM.

Shourin would've probably looked a lot less like a joke if he had had hair covering his entire head or if I had at least given him proper eyes... but that would no longer be the Shourin I love. Not to mention that it’s very likely that Shourin willingly shaves his head to begin with (even if the ponytail ain’t doing him any favours--but that’s just Inazuma logic, so let’s not look too much into it), just like Tenshinhan or Krillin do, so he would probably be happier to keep that, uh, advantage. Relative advantage, but still.

As a side note, though, we can’t forget the balance. When Yamcha and Tenshinhan fuse, they undoubtedly become the strongest human being in the DB universe, overcoming the one who is usually strongest: Krillin. A fusion is always greater than its parts individually, and Yamcha and Tenshinhan aren’t so far away from Krillin to begin with, so that’s not even a question. Regardless, they still don’t have that overwhelming and surreal strength from other characters, so we still don’t get into absolutely OP territory. Yamhan is strong enough to provide Shourin with a power that can make a real difference without completely putting him above everyone else.

Sadly, Yamhan doesn’t really have a backstory, as he’s a game-exclusive character that, honestly, was probably only there for a laugh. That means there is no deep connection between them. We can, however, make obvious connections between Shourin, an aspiring martial artist whose dream, as stated in IE2, was to study at Manyuuji (Kogure’s school) for their focus on martial arts, and is now trying to become stronger to protect what he loves, and two skilled warriors who have been training nonstop under different masters and on their own for basically their entire lives to keep becoming stronger and more skilled in order to defend what’s precious to them and, simply, to be the best version of themselves they can be. Upon seeing such dedicated warriors and artists, Shourin would undoubtedly want to learn from them and, if necessary, borrow their strength too.

Or he might just fanboy and ask for their autographs, honestly. I sure as heck want Yamcha’s. And his baseball card.

[small-reptile-cake]

Vigilante AU (updated/fixed)

Concept:

We live in a world of injustice, where powerful people get to overshadow and overrule others basic human rights, and those with true power conceal themselves under the shadows at the risk of being killed or outcasted from society. However, in a city where hate and panic flood the streets, a select team of special people are willing to put themselves out there and defend those who can no longer fight for themselves. Virgil Sinclaire(18)

Powers:

Telepathy

Can read and invade the minds of other people with unsettling, fear inducing thoughts.

His range of hearing is of up to three blocks.

His powers caused him to be mildly agoraphobic; he spent a great part of his life hearing the sick thoughts of strangers on the street and the thousands of times he could simply tell when he was about to get mugged, making him afraid of leaving the safety of his apartment.

Now he wears headphones most of the time to muffle the voices.

Always lived in the same tall building, the higher he is the less he has to hear.

Born and raised in New York.

Studies/Interests:

Highschool dropout. In between his phobia and the terrible influence from his peers, he decided the education system wasn't for him.

Wanted to be an english major.

Enjoys writing scary/realistic novels.

Affiliations

Lives with his aunt and cousin.

Was lured into a group of thieves disguised as anarchists/protesters who claimed to fight for “True justice”, and that they would protect him. Truly, they were just hiding their true intentions and using Virgil’s powers to cause harm out of pure self gratification.

When their motives were unveiled, he still rejected becoming a part of the Alliance

Now, he belongs to his own neutral alignment in which he will not condone giving aid to those who he feels don't deserve it and will absolutely turn to revenge if necessary, even through unconventional means.  

Is still willing to help the Alliance, or the “Light Ones” as he calls them.

Patton Kane (22)

Powers:

Healing

His healing can range from treating people (whether it be physically or emotionally) to fixing broken objects (Only if they’re visibly torn, like a broken key or a broken cup).

The risk of healing people’s emotions is that it’s only temporary, and Patton will absorb both positive and negative emotions from the individual.

He can’t fix something that’s been set on fire (A book or clothes) because it’s simply beyond his reach to reconstruct something that's been turned to dust.

Studies/Interests:

A gastronomy student.

Often attends to baking courses/seminars during the week.

Teaches kids with disabilities how to bake on the weekends.

Part of his tuition was paid by working as a babysitter and a store clerk. The rest was obtained from his parents

Was an animal hoarder back in college even though he didn’t have the space or time at the moment. There were stray cats, dogs, even a rat that lived in the same building and got caught in a trap one day. He healed it and brought it home because he didn’t want the owner to find it and kill it.

His family had to talk him out of it and he even went to therapy to deal with the guilt of having to give his babies up for adoption.

Now he only adopts people as his children.

Affiliations

Virgil activates his fatherly senses the most and constantly getting invited to eat at Patton’s

He’s always encouraging the vigilante to go out, then ultimately visiting whenever Virgil just doesn’t feel safe enough to go out.

He also loves playing video games together as long as they aren’t horror themed.

Went to highschool with Logan, he was a few years older but since their parents knew each other and Logan didn’t bother socializing with people in his grade, they became close.

They would both occasionally help their peers though small gestures, such as easing someone before a test, or getting someone out of a fever. It was when they met Roman that he dragged them onto greater things and eventually led to forming the alliance.

Logan Altman (20)

Powers:

Super speed

Is ironically always worried about wasting time

The best thing about his power is having more time to appreciate each moment and scene as it happens before his eyes, analyze it, then carry on.

Will stutter whenever he tries to speak at a normal pace. Roman had to help him practice his speech so it wouldn’t give away his identity during superhero duty.

Needs extra calories, and therefore is often found snacking on protein bars, fruit (and obviously Patton’s famous oatmeal-chocolate cookies)

Can be very hot headed and impatient at times.

Studies/Interests

Majors in chemical engineering, takes up astronomy in his spare time, as well as philosophy and english.

Wants to learn german and spanish.

Uses his super speed to be able to take all of his classes during the week, complete his chores in time and always have some spare minutes.

Keeps a schedule that he’s very loyal to or else he might take up more than he can handle and stress himself out (Again).

Despite being so diligent of his work, he always falls asleep in time, makes sure to have a healthy diet and gives himself some time to relax and contemplate.

Affiliations

Has been friends with Patton since elementary, their parents know each other. Their relationship was very stiff at first as the sensitive hero used to infuriate him by taking too long to do things and getting carried away all the time. This led to some outbursts that were always forgiven as long as Logan apologized afterwards.

One day he went too far while Patton was particularly sensitive, causing him to cry. He’s learnt to control himself since then.

He and Roman were classmates in fight grade when Roman moved in, by then he wasn’t friends with anybody else from his generation.

They started to hang out after a few very intense debates regarding the historical accuracy of a few medieval TV shows, and if it was acceptable to deviate from the obscure reality of those times.

Genuinely loves watching Roman perform classics on stage. The first time he saw him was during english class when they were to bring presentations to class, he performed a paragraph from one of Chèjov's tales.

Despite often treating him like an idiot, he recognizes Roman to be brilliant in his own field. And having him in class was always an amusing experience.

Thinks of Virgil’s occasional presence as comforting, but ultimately disagrees with his views on society.

Is constantly trying to convince Virgil to retake his studies, expressing concern for his future.

Roman Garcia(20)

Powers:

Morphing objects as he touches them

He can only change the shape of an object, not the material it’s made of (if he touches a metal chair and shapes it into a sword, it’ll still be made of metal)

It used to be very difficult for him to create things as he couldn’t focus hard enough on a single shape at the time and the images in his brain would get jumbled.

Later on he was diagnosed with ADHD. His family refused to medicate him and for many years he was forced to deal with it without knowing what it was and what to do about it. That, until he met a teacher that dealt with the same thing who was willing to educate him on he matter. From then on, he’s been learning to surpass it and perfect his technique.

Studies/Interests:

Drama school, also forms part of a few independent acting groups dedicated to performing musicals in small theatres.

Writes fantasy novels, as well as scripts for both theatre and film. He loves how different both formats are and the different things he can achieve with both

Can also write and listen in spanish, but is pronunciation is still too stiff to talk back.

Affiiliations:

Went to highschool with Logan, Patton was their senior.

Moved in to New York from Albuquerque with his little brother. Their entire family is from Venezuela.

Comes from divorced parents, had an abusive father growing up.

Doesn’t necessarily hate his brother, but is extremely weary of him growing into a villain since his powers are rarely ever used  for anything other than chaos.

Has a strong attachment to Patton due to the hero’s overbearing, fatherly attitude. Often rings him up at random times to just hang out and watch “Brooklyn 99″ together or learn new recipes. Whether they are in a bad mood or not, it’s always heartwarming to spend time with each other. He really hated Virgil at first for stealing Patton’s attention.

Is currently really fond of Virgil as he can understand the struggles of being forced to move apart from your family. He also really appreciates the vigilante’s willingness to listen

Devin C. Pierce (20)

Powers:

Shapeshifting

Uses his powers to his own advantage and to help those he cares about.

Doesn’t care about fighting evil or turning evil because good and bad are constructs and totally subjective.

Studies/Interests

Drama school

Takes up law as his second major, mostly influenced by watching fake trials on TV and watching legal dramas.

Totally didn’t show Remus “How to get away with murder”.

Affiliations

Met Roman on an improv night at a bar, they got a few good laughs by being absurd and original.

Roman doesnt know about his powers but they're still good friends. Is often asked to babysit Remus when Roman is out fighting crime.

Is constantly teasing Virgil because, in Devin’s words; he’s a “Hypocrite who thinks of himself morally superior to everyone”

Tells everyone the C in his name is for classy.

Remus Garcia (14)

Power:

Morphing objects as he touches them

His creations are always a lot more gruesome than Roman’s

They range from weapons, dick shaped statues, inedible food shaped objects to prank people and tiny versions of torture devices he saw in some horror game about the dark ages. They all decorate his room

Studies/Interests:

He also sculpts manually and enjoys painting. Most of his art is abstract. Only draws explicitly gorey scenes when he’s angry.

He learnt French in secret for years just to one day start pretending he didn’t know spanish anymore and piss everyone off.

Enjoys reading horror stories on the internet a lot. He even found Virgil’s blog while deep diving once, but he doesn’t know that.

Affiliations

Moved in with Roman because his parents were busy with work and couldn’t tend to his “needs” all the time

Constantly trying to get Roman to take him on his missions. Since Roman doesn't trust him not to kill anyone, it never happened.

Is old enough not to need a babysitter, is chaotic enough to need one and only Deceit can handle him.

Patton is greatly unsettled by him, but Remus loves when he comes over to cook for them. He tried to show him his sculptures once when he was younger and it didn’t go well at all.

He is constantly trolling Virgil whenever they’re around, thinking about disturbing things the moment he walks through the door.

[aelaer]

Whumptober Day 9: Shackled

Don't ask me about canon timing because I think this is one of those "canon shmanon" type of timelines in this story. Thanos and five years just screws up everything, man.

This also got a bit longer, soooo cut! (assuming tumblr doesn’t mess it up). I don’t think any warnings particularly apply here, beyond your usual bad guy shenanigans.

Fandom: Still Doctor Strange / MCU

9. Shackled

For reasons unknown to Stephen, the group of dark occultists from another dimension were specifically looking for him and him alone. They said as much when they came to the New York Sanctum to try and overwhelm him the first time.

(For some reason they were surprised by the fact that Stephen was all but immediately joined by half a dozen other Masters and quickly retreated. Did they really think he wouldn't have any backup? That Kamar-Taj would just leave him to it?)

Several acolytes and more adept apprentices were looking for information on how they came to their dimension in the first place and trying to locate their point of origin. Many masters, in the meantime, were looking for where this group was hiding, but they managed to mask their presence well. When a week passed with no sightings, they reluctantly agreed to alert the Avengers of the group's existence, loath as all the masters were in admitting their failure in finding them quickly. But they were too great a potential threat to keep a secret for any longer.

Another week passed with no ground gained on finding them. They were able to pinpoint their entry point on their dimension's earth, which meant they had more resources as to how they got there in the first place. At least it was something.

Then everything changed with a knock at the New York Sanctum's door. Stephen opened it and found a woman in scrubs on his doorstep.

She seemed familiar. He looked at her name tag and old memories from years ago flew into his mind.

"Laura?" Laura was a pediatric doctor at Metro-General; she often worked with their long-term patients, and there were a handful of occasions that he had done surgery on one of "her darling brood of children", as she'd say with a grin as he'd scoff.

But Laura's usually cheerful face was absent, and her dark skin unusually pale and tight about her eyes as she answered, "I need you to come with me."

He may have not seen her in years, but it didn't take a genius to see that she was distressed. "Laura, what's wrong?"

"Please," she answered, then pressed her lips into a tight line.

Stephen felt the cloak tighten about his shoulders, obviously sensing his own dread. "Alright," he murmured, and stepped out of the Sanctum, not bothering with a glamour spell for his clothes. She immediately descended the two steps and began her way east down Bleecker Street. He ignored the stares from those they passed and kept one eye on Laura's tense frame as the other kept a lookout for threats.

They came to a small side alley with a dumpster blocking half of its width. She turned there and he followed, readying himself for an ambush.

But there was no one there. Rather Laura pulled out what looked like some sort of burner phone— her hand was shaking— and she flipped it open and pressed a couple buttons until she pulled up a picture of what appeared to be some warehouse interior.

"They said you can get there with a picture. We need to go there."

He frowned at her words and studied the picture, then looked back at her. "Who do they have as leverage?" he asked softly.

She took in a shaky breath. "Four children. Patients."

Stephen balked; these assholes had kidnapped kids with cancer? "How long ago?" These kids were on strict dietary and medication schedules due to the diseases they were fighting, and deviation from those could lead to unpleasant side effects that made it difficult for adults, never mind children.

"About an hour," Laura answered, assuaging his fears of immediate detrimental effects. She continued quickly, lowly, "I heard you had become a superhero of some sort, Stephen, but these guys have abilities I've never seen from any of the Avengers. There's a lot of them, and for some reason they want you."

At her words, he closed his eyes briefly. He really should have suspected it earlier; he just never thought any enemy in his new world would think to target people from his old one. "I believe I know who they are. I am so sorry you were dragged into this, Laura."

"I wish it was just me and not the kids," she replied, and he couldn't argue there. "I could've told them where to stick it if that were the case. But they have my patients, and they said if you tried to call for help or bring anyone, they'll kill them." She looked down at the phone. "And if we don't go soon, I'm afraid they'll start to get suspicious."

Stephen pressed his lips together and nodded. "I would tell you to stay behind, but I know you won't listen."

She frowned at him. "I'm not leaving the children alone." 

"I know." Without further ado, he placed his sling ring upon his shaking hand and drew a portal against the wall to open into the pictured warehouse. Laura hardly hesitated at its sight before following him towards it, and they stepped into the room. He let the gateway fizzle closed behind them.

As expected, he was surrounded by the same nine occultists that they had been searching for for two weeks. To the side were four children, probably ranging from seven to thirteen, sitting huddled together on the ground. Laura gave him one last apologetic look before walking slowly towards them, so as to not alarm her captors with sudden movement. She hardly needed to worry, as all of them were more or less solely focused on Stephen.

He did his best to keep his tone even. "Well, you wanted me. Here I am."

One of them stepped forward. "You are to come with us, Doctor Strange."

Stephen answered calmly, "Without a fight, I presume."

"If you wish not to face the consequences of such actions, then yes. You will surrender now."

He kept his eyes upon the spokesman rather than looking towards Laura and the kids. "And I am also to presume that if I follow these actions, you will let them go unharmed."

"Yes. They have served their purpose."

"I need more than that," Stephen replied, voice even and unmoving. "I need your word on behalf of all in your company that all five of them will remain unharmed and left in an environment non-detrimental to their survival." A sudden thought came to mind, and he added, "And my Cloak remains behind with them to serve as some form of protection." Behind him, he felt the Cloak stiffen.

The head occultist seemed somewhere between bemused and irritated by his demands; to give one's word as a sorcerer had a good deal more permanent effect than other beings. Spoken oaths had some sort of seal to make them stick amongst magic users with rather nasty consequences if broken. Eventually, he replied, "I give you my word on behalf of myself and my company that we will meet your demands in exchange for your complete and utter surrender."

Complete and utter surrender. To demand that of him meant he could not fight directly against them without consequence to his person. Stephen briefly closed his eyes and exhaled in quiet resignation. "I accept your terms."

He felt a shift in the atmosphere as the powers that wove reality together sealed their agreement. Three of them immediately moved towards him.

Still the Cloak clung onto him, reluctant to do as bid. There was no time for argument. Go, he ordered silently, offering no room for protest, and the garment detached itself from his shoulders and darted around the approaching occultists to Laura and her patients. From the corner of his eye he saw their terror turn briefly into wonder at its approach. A better memory for the children, at least.

Stephen was brought back to his own predicament as his arms were wrenched behind his back. They took his sling ring and then his wrists were secured with thick manacles that extended down to his hands and fingers, forcing them to curl inward in a manner that already hurt them. He forced himself to remain silent.

He could not, however, quite hold his tongue at the sight of what appeared to be some sort of gag that resembled a horse's bit. "You can't be serious," he said, instinctively pulling his head back.

"And have you utter any sort of spells?" asked their spokesman. "I think not."

Utter spells? Were they for real? Apparently they were, because they were coming in with the damn gag and he had little choice but to submit to it, irksome as it was.

The two holding onto his arms remained there even as another three of them started drawing sigils he did not recognize into the air. He quickly took them in, memorizing their formation and the order they appeared as best as he was able to. Then suddenly, the warehouse surrounding them began to appear fuzzy on the edges, then blur, and then there was nothing but darkness.

((There might be a sequel in another prompt. Not sure yet.))

[gojirahkiin]

What the  Godzilla Anime should’ve been! Part 1

Starting with an apology to Tyrantis Terror, and a promise that unlike the last time I pinged you with fanfiction, this will be a good read.

Alright, so @tyrantisterror​‘s cry of “BE INTERESTING YOU COWARDS!” is essentially the majority opinion of the Godzilla fandom towards the anime. This is how I, personally, would fix it.

To do so, I would take three premises, because in my spite I want to prove that there is a way that good can come of them:

Godzilla has reigned undisputed for 20,000 years

Mothra is dead, but her egg and people live

Ghidorah is an eldritch god.

What the anime lacks boils down to two things: character and spectacle. Everyone was boring and nothing cool happened.

But even assuming that you want to go in a completely different direction than the rest of the Godzilla franchise, you don’t have to be garbage about it. So Mothra has no Shobijin/Cosmos/Elias equivalents. Fine, but she doesn’t need any since she has an entire race/species of people. But you know who does need some now?

I present some amazing fanart for a priestess of King Ghidorah! Ignore the Noodledorah silhouettes behind her. I am scrapping that entire design for eldritch ramen.

Even worse, the canon Exif communicated with Ghidorah through math. That is the lamest thing possible. But once again harvesting and inverting classic Mothra, what do you think I could substitute for Fairy Mothra, a fragment of spirit given form and purpose?

A Dorat. Obviously it needs tweaking. No aspect of King Ghidorah would ever deign to be so cute. But my point stands: his most devout worshipers would have these tiny avatars of their god to guide them in their malice.

Now, I said that Mothra doesn’t need the Shobijin since she has a race/species. That’s not a metaphor. The canon Houtua are covered in powdery tattoos and given antennae. It’s never made explicit (because that might be cool) but they are implied to be literal children of Mothra.

Imagine the implications of being able to genetically prove that your goddess is the mother of your species? I discard the name Houtua and rename these technical kaiju the Elias. Could’ve also called them Cosmos, but I flipped a coin.

I’ll come back to Mothra in a bit. For now, let’s talk about Godzilla. He’s the ruler of Earth in this continuity, but what does that really mean? Well...

I do want to say that I’m not making this a post-apocalyptic MonsterVerse, as cool as that would be. What I mean is that every kaiju that hasn’t submitted to Godzilla’s dominance has been killed.

Godzilla is King of the Monsters in that he has no true rivals for the throne, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t resistance.

Mothra’s egg is hidden, proving that it is possible to hide from him. It is also possible to run from him since he can’t be everywhere at once, and there are creatures capable and willing to do both.

This is where my versions of the Servum (the worm & dragon-like creatures that were never named and hardly shown in canon) come in, in both name and concept.

The Kaiju Catastrophe wiped out many species, if only because humanity got increasingly destructive in their efforts to stop it, leaving vacuums in many ecosystems. 20,000 years isn’t a long time for new species to evolve, but a core theme of the Godzilla series is that mutations happen quickly.

In the aftermath, many species mutated and evolved to be symbiotic towards Godzilla, because being simultaneously around and useful to him was a great way to survive and be protected.

These creatures are the Servum, but there aren’t that many ways to be useful to Godzilla, and so they are essentially “battle honey guides.” They hunt down and swarm creatures that show signs of hostility toward the King, or simply call to summon him if they think they’re out of their league.

Godzilla has naturally been growing and mutating for all 20,000 years, but unlike the near-comatose tree in the anime, my Godzilla is active and roaming. Most of the Earth has well-worn pathways because unless he must deviate to deal with a challenger, he has a decently efficient patrol route.

One of the other results of Godzilla's never-ending world tour is that everything is a bit more radioactive and a bit more violent. The first is natural. The second requires explanation.

Essentially, kaiju that covet the throne hide in nice fertile areas with lots of food of whatever kind they eat. These are typically destroyed in the battle when Godzilla finds them. As a result, aggression, growth, and general "kaiju-fication" has been encouraged in the wildlife for the last 20,000 years, because if you can protect your territory from would-be crown-hunters it won't be destroyed by Godzilla.

Biollante exists, but less as a distinct creature and more as a taxonomic classification; when Godzilla destroys a region in battle, it takes truly remarkable plants to colonize it - these aggressive and radiosynthetic plants are the Biollante.

Now let’s talk about Mechagodzilla, an technology in general. What is left of humanity after 20,000 years? Not a lot to be honest.

Bunkers aren’t much protection from burrowing kaiju, and not even the most optimistic “abandoned by people” documentary thinks any skyscraper will last for 20,000 years.

But it sounds like I’m contradicting myself - if new kaiju are always rising, and virtually all traces of humanity are gone, then where are Mechagodzilla and Mothra’s egg in this continuity? Hilariously, they’re still around because they’re in almost the same place.

In my take on this scenario, Godzilla first appeared in 1954 at a height of 50 meters. By the time humanity had to flee in 2054, he’d swelled to his 100 meter height.

As a result, Mechagodzilla’s factory was built inside a mountain, so that the facility could constantly expand so that if and when the machine got wrecked, it could be rebuilt bigger and better for the next rematch, and both mecha and factory were constantly being built and improved until almost the day humanity evacuated.

Mothra first challenged Godzilla after humanity fled, but her standard procedure is to find a nice safe place for her egg before charging into mortal combat, and she found this very conveniently mostly empty hangar inside a mountain. A bit bland and sterile for her taste, but safe.

Hearkening back to the Heisei era again, Mothra’s egg is psychic, and has a useful passive defense. It radiates an aura that renders the area uninteresting to any kaiju not specifically looking for a Mothra egg. As a result, the egg, the Elias, and Mechagodzilla have been housemates for 20,000 years give or take.

Some of you may have caught that I said Mothra first challenged Godzilla. That’s because this version of Mothra is also active in the timeline... in a sense. Each time the egg hatches, the new Mothra has been challenging Godzilla, and each time she’s taken longer to develop, but done better in the fight. And the most recent challenger was 10,000 years ago...

So, let’s talk about King Ghidorah himself. The anime’s designers claim that their Ghidorah is the final evolution of the essence of Ghidorah.

Screw that! If I want an enemy that’s unkillable because he’s technically in another dimension, other franchises have done it better and with more spectacle.

King Ghidorah isn’t just about destruction. It isn’t enough to let a ghost noodle rip apart and eat a planet (in lore and not on screen of course). King Ghidorah is about the fear, helplessness, and despair in the face of an end to everything you care about that cannot be stopped.

Some people complain that in Rebirth of Mothra III, Ghidorah only destroyed a little bit and then went back to guarding his dome. My hypothesis is that there was a very deliberate and cruel reason for that.

The children knew that they’d been captured and knew that the walls were acidic because one of them tossed a ball at it. But their parents didn’t know yet. Ghidorah destroyed a little and then went back to the dome so that the parents would know what happened and that there was nothing they could do to stop it.

Also, he loomed over the dome and watched it - he was waiting for the digestion process to begin; he was people-watching in the most sadistic manner possible, like a child setting fire to ants with a magnifying glass.

But that incarnation of Ghidorah was a bit too stoic and focused for my taste. I want him to hearken back to Shōwa Ghidorah: we don’t know why he does what he does, only that he’s having a blast doing it!

So let’s run with that. I’m discarding the Exif’s name. In another callback to the past, their name can translate as Xians or Xiliens depending on your preference. And the Xiliens don’t often name their god, but they call him one of three euphemisms: The Laughing King, The Golden Light, and The Threefold Death.

The Xiliens also follow their god’s example: they are quite cheerful and always happy to meet new people (because they’ll get to kill them later); they’re decked out in gaudy, shiny golden colors; and when they’re getting ready to kill someone, they do their damnedest to give them a threefold death.

The Death of their Hopes.

The Death of their Body.

And reserved for their god alone, the Death of their World.

When King Ghidorah is summoned by the terrible cruelty and laughter of his followers, a tear into another dimension is opened over the planet, and an asteroid drops from it, with all the destructive power you’d expect of an asteroid strike.

To die in the blast is an honor and a mercy, because the true horror manifests from the molten ruins and lets out a cackling roar that can be heard across the entire planet. If there are any orbiting ships or space stations, the roar defies all laws of reality to be heard there too.

And in every listener, the sound inspires the primal terror of imminent death.

A cornered rat will bite the cat, but the Laughing King does not begrudge his prey. It’s no fun if they don’t fight back! They need to believe that they stand a chance, so that as they lie bleeding and broken by the Golden Light of gravity beams their hopes can die with their flesh!

This is the true purpose of the Threefold Death that is King Ghidorah. You don’t kill for sustenance or defense; such material needs are mark of a mortal. You kill for fun! For the joy of watching life and hope leave a victim’s eyes!

That is the true essence of King Ghidorah!

[avannak]

I know you are probably very busy right now and That it has Been a While since the last time You have written a deviation drabble but what do you think would have happened if Stoick had decided to arrange a marriage between Astrid and Hiccup before starting his search for the dragons' nest at the beginning of the first movie to secure his son 's future if he doesn't survive the search? P.s: english isn't my first language so i apologise for eventual mistakes in my text

HTTYD Deviations 

(yes, it has been a long, long while but a short bit of thinking on this brought me to a startling conclusion)

“You can’t stop him Stoick, you can only prepare him. I know it seems hopeless, but the truth is… you won’t always be around to protect him…”

The rest of Gobber’s words melt into the low din of the Mead Hall as his last, clear sentence rings again and again before Stoick’s mind’s eye. Hiccup wasn’t a one-and-done deal. He needed constant protection. He needed protection from himself. It was an investment. Gobber was right: Stoick wouldn’t always be around. And if he couldn’t protect Hiccup, who would? And how? 

Gods knew the boy weren’t capable of protecting himself…

When Hiccup sneaks back inside—well after dusk—with his heart still erratic and out of sync with his breath, his clothes still stinking of the feral dragon’s breath, his mind unable to focus on a single, dizzying thought… it’s to a cold hearth and a dark home.

Somehow, he’s made it home before his father, and in his troubled state he only experiences a distant sense of relief from the subconscious acknowledgment. A dozen scenarios of uncomfortable (and inevitable) conversations had played in his mind for the entire trek back from the forest. All of which could be delayed while longer.

He tries to swing the door closed behind him but it stops short. A heavy hand lands on his shoulder.

Hiccup shrieks. A Very Viking short of shriek, of course.

“Son,” Stoick greets as he too steps into the house and sets about lighting the circular inglenook.

The events of that very morning rise up to both minds, and both men swallow the discomfort back. Too much has happened to each and neither is willing to drudge up old arguments at the moment.

The room flares to life. Hiccup hastily wipes pine needles from his tunic as Stoick takes off his helmet and smooths his hair.

Hiccup is almost suspicious with how long his father spends settling his Chief’s cloak on his favorite chair, patting the matted fur with thick fingers. His great beard jostles each time he opens his mouth and nothing comes out. Something is up.

“Son,” Stoick finally manages. “we need to talk.”

Orange light dances over his quiet and steady voice, and Hiccup is set on edge.

He steels himself. “Yeah, I have something to say too…”

A pause. Both men wait for the other to start.

“It’s time you—”

“I don’t want—”

They both stop again.

“Go on,” Stoick encourages.

“No, you go first,” Hiccup insists. A decision, weeks from now, he’ll continue to regret.

Stoick takes another minute gathering his words. He takes long enough that Hiccup’s ready to just declare his choice to abstain from dragon fighting altogether. But when Stoick finally speaks, the words are enough to knock Hiccup’s breath from him.

“Astrid’s a promising young lass…”

“Uh…” Hiccup has quite a few other words outside of promising to describe Astrid Hofferson. “Uh—yeah. I mean, I hadn’t noticed. Not really. I have—obviously. Not obviously, but, you know, objectively—” He manages to stop himself knowing his traitorous mouth hadn’t a conclusion on the horizon.

Stoick wets his lips. “Hiccup…you’re fifteen now. You can’t take care of yourself. Not like you should.”

Hiccup does and doesn’t appreciate the startling topic change. “Dad–”

“Let me finish, son.”

Hiccup bites his tongue, but anger makes his jaw ache with the restraint. His father takes another breath.

“I don’t get you, but I do love you. I want to secure a future for you.” Stoick pauses. Then perseveres. “That’s why I’ve arranged a marriage.”

Hiccup manages to choke on nothing but Berk’s saline air. “Y-you what?”

“I’ve just come from the Hoffersons—”

“DAD!”

“—And me and Astrid’s father have arranged a betrothal.”

Impossibly, Hiccup’s legs feel weaker than they had hours earlier having survived a Night Fury up close. He grips the railing to the loft stairs. “Wh-what? Whoa–wait! Wait, wait–”

“The Hoffersons are strong people. Good people. And she’s a strong lass. She’ll be a good chieftess, if nothing else, and she’ll protect you–”

Hiccup’s gripping his hair hard enough to cause pain he’s unable to feel.

“What is this? You can’t be serious!”

“Should I not come back—”

Hiccup can’t breathe. Now there’s two things he can’t fathom being shoved into his reality.

“Dad, stop!”

They argue into the evening and, as usual, Hiccup feels like he’s screaming into a bodiless night where no one can hear him. Not only is he to attend dragon training in the morning, but to do it with his betrothed.

The Night Fury seems a lifetime ago, and in his troubled thoughts that night not even the childish glee of being married to Astrid Hofferson could stave a growing sense of dread.

Hiccup came into the house playing out a dozen uncomfortable conversations and their outcomes. He never accounted for the thirteenth.

The most abled Vikings leave on the morn for one last Nest Hunt before a bitter winter makes it impossible. Hours later, the newest recruits Berk has to offer begin their training. 

Its more brutal than Hiccup could have imagined.

Astrid had clearly been… informed. She probably got the same short notice and the same amount of sleep as Hiccup had, and it showed. She snarls at him. Makes a point of knocking him down any chance she gets. Snotlout’s crowing and Gobber’s sharper with her than usual, but Hiccup gets the message: he doesn’t belong. Not in dragon training and not with her.

It drives him to the Night Fury. To the cove. To the reckless project of getting close to a dragon.

Dragon training commences and Hiccup slowly succeeds in the most unlikely ways as he applies his learnings with Toothless to the arena. He appears breathless and happy most days; windswept and bright eyed. And nervous. Withdrawn from Berk herself.

When Hiccup starts beating Astrid in training, she’s not only bewildered and suspicious and jealous. She’s angry. Every person she overhears singing her betrothed praises earns a personal black mark.

The boy she’s going to have to marry and tolerate, for a short while, at least, is doing something… underhanded. It’s all she knows. It’s not right. It doesn’t make sense. She’s hell bent on proving what he is: a fraud. Her efforts are doubled when he humiliates her in the final exam.

A humiliation made worse—far worse—when just the evening before the returned warriors announce their betrothal. The ribbing that followed… the congratulations, the expectations of the two most “skilled” warriors uniting… it felt like a lie. A fake smile. A weak reputation.

She couldn’t stand it. She’d been willing to marry Hiccup for duty and Berk and the leap in status—that’s why she agreed when her father and the chief sat her down four weeks ago on the eve of their voyage—but this wasn’t her.

When Astrid manages to follow Hiccup straight to the dragon he had been harboring the truth is both vindicating and horrifying. Hiccup’s crying for her to wait and listen and Astrid makes a split decision on what and who she’s more loyal to: It’s Berk. It’s always been Berk.

She runs.

She’s grabbed.

She’s forced on a flight with her betrothed. She’s forced to wait and listen and gods above she’ll remember that flight with a small, fond smile until her dying day.

Because that’s the twist here…dear readers who have read this far.

HTTYD would end exactly as it did except with an obvious reason for Astrid’s cheek-kiss and fast-track romance: they were betrothed the whole time. In the back of her mind, Astrid had been steeling herself for this. Been trying to make excuses for and about Hiccup whilst wrestling with anger at him for being… him. The second she saw a glimpse of a man she could spend her life with, she jumped on it. She embraced it. She chose to support this future for Berk and chose to romance him at the same time because they were going to be married anyway.

Thank you @nerusofrin for FINALLY finding an explanation for that rush of character. Just in time for the third installment ;)

[aion-rsa]

Supergirl Takes on the Prison Industrial Complex and Falls Short

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This SUPERGIRL article contains spoilers for Season 6, Episode 9, “Dream Weaver.”

Supergirl Season 6 Episode 9

A number of much-loved shows are coming to an end, or have recently, that in some ways could have pushed their luck, but in other ways were a product of a moment – a moment that they looked up to find had passed. VEEP stands out as a clear example, as does Brooklyn 99, which is doing its best to be a fun cop show that knows cops aren’t good guys without – losing all its levity or becoming a documentary. While many of us will miss Supergirl, and we might even struggle with the calculus of losing the show just as Superman and Lois came on the scene, this episode serves as a reminder that the titular character’s overwhelmingly positive worldview – one that the show at large and many of the Super Friends all adopt – can come into conflict with another cornerstone of the show’s storytelling, her dedication to justice.

The main events of the episode concern an orphaned alien, Joey, living under the thumb of an obviously unfit foster parent at a group home, and a string of robberies for bomb components, perpetrated by aliens who don’t normally work together. One hopes the Supergirl writers aren’t going for subtly here, as the obvious connection between the two is the little boy’s incarcerated older brother, Orlando, who shows signs of overusing his powers during his work release program, which is clearly a front for the robberies that the prison authorities force the incarcerated folks to participate in.

That’s all well and good, and it opens an excellent door for Kelly Olsen to put her own spin on the Guardian mantle that her brother set down when he left the show to go back to their hometown to give back in a different way. As a Black social worker, Kelly sees another angle of humanity that needs help. She does a great job, and hopefully there will be more to come during the remaining episodes, in that spiffy new helmet that her brother sent over.

What’s concerning is that while various characters reference “the system” being stacked against folks, there are multiple ways that Supergirl/Kara Danvers are complicit in that system, which the show itself doesn’t acknowledge. Throughout the episode, Supergirl repeatedly endorses the notion that this prisoner work release program is an unequivocally good thing. (It is unquestioned that Kara believes Earth prison is good, even if she did question the space prison her aunt and uncle built.) Kara was excited about the program when Kelly mentioned it, and she repeatedly explains its features in glowing terms. Her love of the program is how the warden tries to stop Kara from writing her story to blow the whistle on the robberies. Supergirl endorses the program live on air and says she hopes it will continue under new leadership at the end of the episode. The idea that these programs are good – for incarcerated individuals themselves, not just for the rest of us – isn’t merely an assumption, it’s a driving aspect of the narrative.

While the shiny happy world of Supergirl talks about building skills for incarcerated folks that can help them after release, the reality is often another story. Prison worker programs have been compared to modern day slavery, often paying pennies on the dollar, if any money at all. Ava DuVernay and John Oliver have both taken on this system. It’s incredibly difficult for returning citizens to find work after incarceration for many reasons, including stigma and the fact that in many states, they’re required to check a box saying they were previously incarcerated. And those skills everyone kept mentioning? The jobs are typically incredibly low-skilled, or even shoveling snow or battling forest fires. The idea that this is being celebrated on a show like Supergirl is concerning.

When Kara spoke about her story on the prison work program, she said it looked like a great, safe program, referencing her interview with the warden. Why did she only speak to the person in power about the program? Would a prison warden ever tell you if one of his programs was anything other than great and safe? This sets up a story so that the powerful are seen as the truth, the voice of reason, and the factual record, with anyone else as a deviation. Far too often it’s the standard, as we see with reporters writing the views of police as unquestionable facts, even in cases where they may have a vested interest in misleading the public. There’s been more pushback about this standard in newsrooms nationwide in the last year, and it would have been interesting to see Kara and her colleagues deal with their past biases, rather than simply wring their hands and go back to business as usual.

The assumption that everything is fine and the people in charge are correct is an insidious one that goes beyond members of the media. After the team knew about the bomb and that the prison program was connected, Alex said, “Well it’s obvious someone has infiltrated the prison program.” Is that obvious? Why would it be? For-profit prisons, prisoner abuse, prison corruption and the abuse inherent to prison labor programs are rampant and incredibly well documented. J’onn and Kara said it didn’t even make sense for these aliens to work together. Occam’s razor brings us to the idea that the prison labor program itself is bad news, but because Alex, like many white people, is biased toward authority and against incarcerated people and people of color (even if unconsciously), she jumped to the more convoluted conclusion that an outside element infiltrated the program.

At the end of the episode, after seeing how corrupt this prison is, Kara’s whole plan was to…bring these men back to that same prison? It’s not surprising they tried to run. It’s pretty gross that her best argument to them against running was that the authorities would never stop hunting them. Even Supergirl with her boundless optimism knows there’s not a compelling argument otherwise, though she does try (yet again) with her “I’m not white, I’m an alien” speech. Everything ends all neat and tidy with Orlando getting released early due to the injustice of it all, though it’s hard for anyone with eyeballs and a pulse in America to imagine that’s how it would really go down. Where is the line between wish fulfillment for a better world and gas lighting us about the one we’re currently living in?

Of course, with Supergirl as with Brooklyn 99, the reality that makes these pollyana-esque takes on our carceral system hard to watch isn’t actually new. Even the notion that these shows are problematic now (but were totally cool before?) is a very white one. Meanwhile any system, such as a prison work program, which exploits incarcerated folks is inherently racist, as we incarcerate people of color at disproportionate rates.

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Stories can and should include biases and shortcomings like these; perfect characters are uninteresting and unrealistic. But what happens when these biases are shown but not explored? Was Supergirl really delving into them knowingly, or merely reproducing them, perhaps because they belong to the folks who create the show itself? While there’s a lot to love about Supergirl, this episode’s glowing endorsement of an unjust, racist system like prison worker programs shows how ill-equipped the show is to tackle systemic injustice in a meaningful way, especially as mainstream media is forced to integrate systemic racism and the failings of our carceral system into its programming.

The post Supergirl Takes on the Prison Industrial Complex and Falls Short appeared first on Den of Geek.

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