#so votes for that may be end a bit skewed

[daisybell-on-a-carousel]

Can't fit them all in their own answer it seems, devastating

[somegrumpynerd]

I made a new website!

I really liked the cat idea and I wanted to try and mess around with html more, so this was the perfect project I could work on between work shifts :D

Here's how it's (hopefully) going to work:

I'm gonna put up a poll here every week to see what toy should be left out next and after the poll ends on sunday I'll add whatever wins to the site. I've already assigned a particular cat to each toy but it's not necessarily obvious what attracts who, so you guys get a bit of randomness c: (I also added an option for random just in case anybody can't pick but also because I realised I would have to vote to be able to see the results and I don't wanna accidentally skew them if they're ever close) For future polls there may also be special options marked with a * which have a little bonus surprise, but again, it's secret :3c

So, without further ado,

[exitvelocities]

mlc favorite character/ship poll takeaways

so this poll ended recently, and i thought it would be interesting to do a little number crunching. image of the poll results and also a graphic of some ao3 ship tag stats under the cut.

general disclaimer that this is just for fun and i'm not an academic, etc.

li lianhua and ot3 are king

llh/ot3 won by a handy 24% by itself before we even start adding up the rest of the numbers. ot3 did not surprise me at all since i already knew ot3 was big on tumblr, but somehow llh being the favorite caught me off guard. it's probably just that i'm rarely a protagonist person and mostly hang around with other perennial side/background character likers; it really should have been obvious.

overall favorite stats

llh won handily, with over 40% of the vote. fdb and dfs were much closer, and I was surprised by which came out on top!

li lianhua: 41.2%

di feisheng: 26.6%

fang duobing: 22.8%

overall ship stats

ot3 won by a large margin! dihua was fairly steady, and there's a surprisingly low number of pure fanghuas on tumblr, especially when contrasted with the overall ao3 stats further down.

difanghua: 47.2%

dihua: 30%

fanghua: 13.4%

the "other" option

from tags, the main reasons people used the "other" option in no particular order:

difang, almost exclusively with fdb favorite (one person picked llh, no one picked dfs)

couldn't pick

no preference/like all equally

only one person actually named a different favorite from the three given options iirc

favorite character vs favorite ship

so, this was the original purpose of the poll-- i was curious to see if ship preferences would fall along favorite character lines. granted, including difanghua threw a wrench in that a little bit. i considered running it with difang instead and placing difanghua in the "other" category but ultimately decided against it since i felt it would just heavily skew the poll to "other" winning and lose out on a lot of favorite character information. so what did we end up with?

people are least likely to ship the thing their favorite character is not in (see: fdb/dihua, dfs/fanghua)

dfs lovers are more likely ship dihua than difanghua

fdb fans are more likely to ship fanghua than llh fans

llh and fdb faves are more likely to ship difanghua than solo ships

that's literally it; the breakdown of ship by character is in the poll results

ao3 stat observations

fanghua is the overall most popular ship but is literally cut in half in english fandom; it's smaller than both dihua and ot3

dihua is pretty consistent and actually slightly higher in english fandom than overall at the moment; non-english dihua fic is mainly in chinese and russian

difang has 45 overall fics, 10 of which are in english

the vast majority of ot3 fics are in english

it's interesting that ot3 seems to absorb fanghuas moreso than dihuas, but that vibes with my very unscientific observation that there seem to be a lot of fanghua-leaning ot3ers

keep in mind that the overall numbers INCLUDE the english fic. how did i end up with this count? what does 'multiship' mean? see the methodology section at the end.

tumblr vs ao3

the contrast is interesting! dihua is strangely steady.

dihua: 30% (tumblr) vs 28.4% (eng fic) vs 26.7% (overall fic)

fanghua: 13.4% (tumblr) vs 17.3% (eng fic) vs 34.5% (overall fic)

difanghua: 47.2% (tumblr) vs 19.8% (eng fic) vs 9.2% (overall fic)

conclusions

honestly there are none, lol. i just thought the breakdowns are interesting! also i'm hardly unbiased, so feel free to make your own conclusions with the information presented.

ao3 methodology

i did this really quick and dirty yesterday afternoon and can't guarantee 100% accuracy. i didn't check for the overall tag, but this method left about 5 english language fics unaccounted for. there may also have been slight overlap in some categories.

difang: anything tagged difang EXCLUDING dihua, fanghua, and ot3 tags

dihua: anything tagged dihua EXCLUDING difang, fanghua, and ot3 tags

fanghua: anything tagged fanghua EXCLUDING difang, dihua, and ot3 tags

ot3: anything tagged with the ot3 tag

multiship: anything tagged with dihua AND fanghua but NOT the ot3 tag

gen/other: anything NOT tagged with ANY difang, dihua, fanghua, or ot3 tags

[bilesproblems]

Making a new post because the tags broke.

I ran this poll (link) to see how many mspec lesbians were aspec. I was curious after talking about how aphobia and luniaphobia overlapped and wanted to know. The results, though from a small pool of 61 respondants, were shocking to me.

11.5% (7 respondants) of the votes were from non-mspec lesbians, and the other 88.5% (54 respondants) came from mspec lesbians. Percentages on the poll will not match the percentages that I will share, because the ones I share are recalculated to reflect only the percentage of mspec lesbian voters.

Of mspec lesbian respondants, 92.59% (50 respondants) identified as some form of aspec, making up 81.97% of total respondants

Of mspec lesbian respondants, 24.07% (13 respondants) identified as asexual or acespec as their only aspec identity, making up 21.3% of total respondants

Of mspec lesbian respondants, 12.96% (7 respondants) identified as aromantic or arospec as their only aspec identity, making up 11.5% of total respondants

Of mspec lesbian respondants, 3.7% (2 respondants) identified as aplatonic or aplspec as their only aspec identity, making up 3.3% of total respondants

Of mspec lesbian respondants, 1.85% (1 respondant) identified with another atertiary label as their only aspec identity, making up 1.6% of total respondants

Of mspec lesbian respondants, exactly 50% (27 respondants) identified as more than one of these, having multiple aspec identities, making up 44.3% of total respondants

Of mspec lesbian respondants, only 7.41% of respondants identified as fully allo and did not identify with any aspec identity.

What this suggests: this poll suggests that the vast, vast majority of mspec lesbians are aspec in some way, shape, or form, and that result suggests that there is some sort of relationship between identifying as aspec and identifying as an mspec lesbian that is worth exploring.

Controls: Non-mspec lesbians were given their own separate option to avoid them skewing results. Mspec lesbian tags were used for reach but it may not have worked very well since the post doesn't appear in the bi lesbian tag on my end. Most if not all of my followers are mspec lesbians. However, there were no controls for accidental misvotes or intentional skewing from respondants. Nothing on the poll or about the poll, nor anything about myself, should have resulted in more aspec mspec lesbians voting than allo mspec lesbians, so intentional or accidental sampling bias could not have happened.

Limitations: The small sample size of 61 respondants does leave room for random sampling bias, which is when a random sample ends up not reflecting the general population. The lack of control on voters could have skewed results.

This has overall been a fascinating bit of research. I think my aphobia essay will be not about aphobia but mspec lesbians and the anattractional spectrum overall, with aphobia being a part of that essay but not the only part. Thank you everyone who voted, and I hope you all find this very interesting! Feel free to use these results to prove "mspec lesbians are appropriating aspecs by using the SAM" wrong and stick around for the eventual massive research paper on mspec lesbians and aspec identity.

[fussyspace]

Word count: ~65,600

Cover: This seems to have gone through a few different covers, so I'll comment on the one we were sent, which appears to be the latest. It definitely gets across everything it needs to: the noir detective vibe, the fact there are humanoid aliens, and the fact at least one bloke gets abducted. It gives the impression the detective and the alien are working together, too, which tracks. And it looks good. A solid cover.

Blurb: 'Brent Bolster doesn't give a damn.

'Overlords, invaders, the Earth Upgrade Committee: they can all go to hell.

'But abduct him? He'd like to see them try.

'Like any good PI, Brent has a snub-nosed pulse pistol hidden under his pillow. But he's just met his worst nightmare, an alien with an attitude that just won’t quit, and things are about to get...complicated.

'Join Brent as he tackles Earth’s new overlords and uncovers a deadly plan.

'With the help of a mysterious dame, an assistant with serious muscle, a neurotic scientist, and a fish called Algernon, he might make it through.It's a tough job, but Brent can handle it. Just as soon as he's had his third cup of coffee……and found that damned pulse pistol.

'You’ll get a kick out of this comedy because all scifi fans love a tongue-in-cheek reference.

'Dial G for Gravity takes the world of an old-fashioned gumshoe and propels it into the future. But like all good scifi, it has something to say about where we’re headed and the way we live now.

'So grab a pot of joe, fill your favorite Star Fleet mug, and start reading.'

Whew. Bit of a long blurb. Much like the cover, it gets that detective vibe across pretty well, and it imparts a dash of the humour that will follow it the book. I might have left it a bit long between reading and writing my notes up into a review, but I can't remember it having much to say about where we're headed and the way we live now, so I feel like that bit may have been a bit redundant. In any case, it's a fun one. Let's dive in.

Vote to continue at 30%: Yes

This book was hard to review without spoilers, so please be aware that there are probably many below – mostly to do with characters rather than the plot.

Content: This was an enjoyable and easy read from the outset, with a decent dash of humour and an interesting if slightly cheesy setting including an obvious but entertaining Spock stand-in. We had a detective getting abducted even though he should have been exempt, an alien getting pranked by his co-workers, and not-android-Spock falling mortally foul of their captain's temper. A lot of these colourful characters got thrown together for much of the book, with plenty of opportunity to bounce off each other. It was a promising setup.

However, with several different plot lines moving along at once, it didn't go as far as I expected by what I thought was the 30% mark (it had a pesky sample of the sequel at the end, which skewed my perception of how long the actual book was), beyond presenting the mystery of why the detective was mistakenly abducted and revealing a ship of aliens heading for Earth. By halfway, the main characters had teamed up and started working through the problem, but I felt a general lack of 'spark' that I struggled to put my finger on. Perhaps it was just the pacing, but I think it may have been the number of PoV characters, each knowing their bit of the story and thus removing some of the suspense. The prose was entertaining enough, but the plot failed to deliver and I found the eventual resolution so sudden that it was disappointing.

While I did have a few chuckles as I read, the humour did often fall back on something that always falls flat for me: characters constantly being rude or just plain mean to each other. (Also references to some TV shows I assumed were either before my time or American, or both.) I'm never quite sure if it's meant to be funny or not, but I just find it makes me retreat from the characters. In this case I don't think Brent is meant to be particularly likeable, but his behaviour got more grating for me as the book went on. I held out some hope of him changing and becoming nicer, but he didn't, and was particularly keen on trying to get with Maisie even after she made it perfectly clear she wasn't interested.

In fact, all the men seemed to make jokes at the expense of the women. This would have been less of a problem if the women were actually strong characters. I expected Maisie to constantly cut through Brent's nonsense, but by the end she was practically simpering at the thought of a man protecting her. I thought Tsumper would be an intelligent investigator, but she didn't reappear and was written off as stupid. I thought Breamell would be sharper than Rawlgeeb gave her credit but, but she was just all over him and did nothing but get captured. Individually, perhaps nothing of note. Together, they paint a frustrating picture. Maybe I'm just being stupid here and it's deliberately embracing a trope of noir stories, but it didn't come across as a result of unreliable or rose-tinted narration, and it didn't sit right.

In the end, while I enjoyed the book's writing style and its quirky setting, the plot and characters left me feeling a bit more ambivalent. It was a quick and reasonably entertaining read, but I wasn't itching to dive into the sequel.

[lets-make-a-thing]

my thoughts so far!!!

poll is below.

this is interesting. for some reason, I expected chaos or something. I mean, it's controlled chaos, and you guys are making it into something really cool.

it is 2am (at time of writing) and i do not know how else to word it. What I mean is that I am excited and feeling curious about where this project will go!

You guys did a thing!

How do you guys vote so well? like, i didn't expect it to be this consistent... it feels like an inside joke that all the voters are in on, but it's still funny and exciting for me even if i dont understand how it works... sorry if this is confusing, I don't quite understand your choices myself, but this is funny because they work so interestingly with potential ways the story can go. great job guys, you are all awesome.

Why this is intriguing.

Since the votes have been set for villain personality already, i will reveal this:

since I was a kid, I would always test into the INFP slot, with somewhere around a 42 to 48 percent in Thinking [T] and 58 to 52 percent in Feeling [F].

It is intriguing to me how this vote turned out. because out of 16 personalities, you guys chose the personality of the villain as INFP, which is my own personality result also.

Well, he is unintentionally antagonist, so now it might be easier for me to write ideas you all can to vote on for his accidental backstory, since it may be easier to relate to him as a character.

Poll and bias?

While polls are active, I try not to give away much information about myself relating to the poll, and try to word things neutrally to avoid influencing any specific option in the polls.

I also wonder if some kind of bias is seeping in. Please let me know what you think of the polls so far.

Since we're almost at the 170th post, I might as well ask...

Concluding thoughts

To clarify, I don't vote on my own polls, this is why you see updates and posts later or staggered throughout the week. Or unrelated polls one after another, because most of my posts are Queued, so that I have time to check the results of previous polls to make more posts (since I can't see the results automatically!)

While I am excited about your consistency on voting, I'm also a little nervous in a good way since it is almost uncanny how you guys end up voting something that relates to an aspect of myself 👀 unintentionally? even when i give you other choices, it is quite hilarious how often you choose something so familiar to me. This personality bit is not the only instance of that happening.

I think this scenario is funny and really interesting socially, since you probably don't know much about me... 🤷🏾‍♀️

let's continue this project, and i look forward to continue working with you all.

[the-ssoblr-awards]

Hi there Dorian/SSOblr Awards Admin!

This project came to my attention recently, and I hope you don't mind, but I just have a few things to say about it, and maybe a few questions to ask.

Firstly, I think that something like this was a lovely idea. Stemming from love for your community and the desire to raise its creators and members up so they might get the appreciation they so rightfully deserve; since without its members, a community has no soul. That being said, however, I think this particular project (or at least some elements of this project) should have stayed just that— an idea.

A public-based voting system for a community as big as this was in my opinion, quite frankly, a little bit unfair. What of the newer community members with smaller voices, who might feel unappreciated and unseen if they never made an appearance in any of the categories over the voting period? While some people may be perfectly content to observe from the sidelines, others may be having a hard time breaking through and be left feeling further ostracized after this. I say this primarily because I'm aware there is, or at least was, a private Discord community that was not open to everyone to join, meaning votes may have been a little skewed depending on the friend groups in that private community.

This may have been helped if each person nominated was only allowed to be nominated for one category— disallowing duplicates may have freed up space for other people's names in some categories (though I know each person is only allowed one winning spot, I think it would have been a good idea to only leave their names in their single most popular category for the final voting process). As Dorian is the primary admin of this project, or so I believe he is, I think it's especially unfair that his name appears in multiple categories— though I understand that this was done via community voting and not by an individual deciding who would end up where in the final votes, I still feel this is unfair.

I'm sorry to dump such a large paragraph on you, but unfortunately I'm not finished yet lol.

All of the previous being said, I think my biggest criticism is with the category 'What SSO oc stands out the most?' Well written characters deserve praise, this I think we can both agree on— but I don't think this was ever a fair category to include in a community driven poll, especially in a community centred around a game targeted towards a younger audience. I can't speak on behalf of the current community, but I know a few years ago there were a lot of younger people in the community and therefore would assume such is still the case— I saw people ranging in ages 13-17 were very common among some of the older community members. Those people who are younger might not have the story telling experience to create OCs that can stand up to some of the OCs and stories created by the more experienced community members, and they shouldn't be made to feel as if their characters are inferior to anyone else's in any way— at least certainly not publicly. And even among the older audience; I feel it's an unfair category since anyone's feelings can be hurt by such a category, and being made to feel their character is inferior to someone else's, especially if they're not already completely confident in what they share of their OC. The last thing I would want to see is the creativity centred around OCs in the community stifled due to what is essentially a 'popularity contest' category in this poll.

This being said, I don't think anyone is wrong for favouring some people's OCs over others. I just believe that that sort of thing should be kept private, and the opportunity to have 'The most stand-out OC' should never be given to any one community member. As I said before, this was supposed to be a celebration of everyone, not an opportunity to single out one person and their OC.

I'd like to reiterate that I know this event came from a place of love and appreciation for the community and I can completely appreciate it from that angle, and I'd like to thank you for taking the time to organise this event and to read through what I've had to say about it (and apologise once again for dumping so much on you). I'd also like to thank you in advance for what will hopefully be an open minded response, as I think it's fair to give observations and criticisms when regarding a public event, especially for the first of it's kind.

I hope you don't think this is an attack on you or what you tried to do, as I've certainly never intended it to come across as such. I just hope next time the awards or whatever you decide to do in the future rolls around, you take what I've had to say into consideration to make it even better! <3

I'm not the best with tone indicators as they're just a tiny bit before my time, but I hope these are okay: /g /nm /nh

Hi!

Let me start off by stating that I have no idea what Discord conversations you might be talking about. The only thing I can think of was me mentioning that I was happy for a lot of people in Jorvikpresident's discord who seemed to have been nominated, and that was after posting the final poll 6 hours ago, so I have no idea how that would skew the results.

It would have been my pleasure if enough people had been nominated that a person could only be nominated for one category. Unfortunately, since these smaller voices you're talking about didn't enter their own blog (Which was perfectly fine and I encourage), enter their friends' or enter other smaller blogs, as well as no larger blogs taking the time to look for them (Something I will definitely do next time), the space that would have been made for them wouldn't have been used and there would at best be three nominations per question, which also wouldn't be fair.

As for me being nominated, I actually took myself out of certain categories because I didn't agree with how I was being nominated. I still understand how someone might see it as unfair, and if this is echoed in the community I can certainly remove my nominations.

I do see where you're coming from with the OC question, and it wasn't in the initial lineup of categories, like "Most active member" it was suggested by other community members who added to the nominations. I believed this was a wanted category since it was suggested a few times, maybe I was wrong and I will apologize for that. I think the most important part to remember for the people who might be disappointed is that this in no way is a definitive list that determines anyone's worth but is just for fun and to give someone who sinks time and effort into their OC and who shows a willingness to share them (no matter their age or "skill level") some extra kindness, at least that was the intent, but if the community agrees that this is not a good category, it's easily removed.

I will definitely take this with me for next time, and I hope by then the air will be a little lighter in ssoblr and people will feel more comfortable with an unofficial, for fun vote specifically to give people that extra bit of love that I have seen in the tags when people discover they've been nominated. This was never meant to be serious, and hopefully, people will take the results with a grain of salt and even more people will be nominated for next time :)

/Dorian

[indelibleme]

I'm going to bite. What do you like about The Devil Judge (I've seen a lot of long text posts that probably are the answer to this question, but I admit I skimmed past them), and do you recommend it?

Ooh, okay! So, seeing as you've skimmed past the long text posts, let's keep this short and simple!

Basic Idea: This is set in a post-pandemic dystopian society, where the rich have grown richer and the poor, poor-er. And in these times, what seems like a new hope - a Public Live-telecast Court is being established, basically trying be fair and inclusive and transparent. The entire country can participate in voting for "justice", giving them an illusion of control.

However, as it is set up by the elite, there are lots of suspicions that it will end up being a sham. But the titular character Kang Yohan (The Devil Judge) manages to win a lot of public support by actually doing what court promises - delivering justice by public voting. Only, of course, he isn't as "good" as the public thinks him to be.

Selling points:

1) Well written characters and dynamics + good plot + great acting

2) Plot twists that you know will be there, but some still manage to take you by surprise.

3) Titular character who plans 5 steps ahead - think a little like Mei Changsu, but with a lot less resources and a bit morally skewed lol

4) Some pretty good scenes that pose questions about true morality, justice, etc.

Of course, this may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I think watching 1 episode will be enough to determine whether or not you'd like to give it a try! It hooked me in by the end of episode 1, and I definitely reccomend it if you're interested in the genres of mystery/drama/political shenanigans/friendship.

Hope this helps 😊

[sanstropfremir]

same anon (guess i’ll call myself kingdom anon) — and to be fair im also the same as u and can’t really watch competition shows. that’s why i only watched their youtube clips at the beginning. only watching it now because i need something to pass time. (though if u have any recs pls do share :)) but like i’m not paying extreme attention to it lol

i skip skz’s performances just because i am really not a fan. its v cringe for me…. whoever told them that they’re good rappers should maybe possibly be fired. but music is subjective so to each their own. i’m not going to subject myself to it. one thing that i am curious about is if skz genuinely believes that they did really well? it is a scripted show so i’m not too sure. but i really wished fan votes weren’t such a large percentage…. this was an opportunity for tbz/skz/atz to actually receive critical feedback and grow considering they’re younger groups (as opposed to btob/ikon who already established themselves). like for sf9, we saw their immediate growth from round 1 to round 2. but for skz, they’re stagnant.

on a more general topic, there’s something v unique w having large fan bases. recently i saw an article that skz’s new album reached 900,000+ preorder sales. but they didn’t actually rank on korean music charts. and in a way, the sales tell jyp that they’re successful because of the money they’re bringing in. and they’ll continue doing the same thing because it works. but also they’re relatively unknown by korea’s gp when u compare them to jyp’s other male groups (2pm, god, got7). i don’t know where i’m going w this lol sorry just finished a final. but this show was overall disappointing for me. and i d k if i’ll continue watching the episodes

you may be the only person left watching kingdom at this stage so i think the moniker is fitting!

obviously you've been around and reading my reviews so you know my thoughts on the show on the whole, but i don't think i ever really talked about what i thought skz themselves think about the outcome, which is.....i have to assume that they knew the results were gonna be skewed. i think maybe after that first ranking there could have been feasible deniability for them, but as the numbers kept coming in so drastically skewed, especially when mnet made the bizarre choice to show the individual rankings for expert/self/fan judging separately, there's no way they didn't clue in to what was going on. the general consensus from the skz fans i know is that even the fans knew this was not their best showing, and if i know anything about artists i know that we're never satisfied with anything deep down, even if its our best received work.

in terms of seeing if there was any payoff/growth post show, only three of the six groups have had comebacks so i cant really make any totally accurate judgements, but i can say that yea, overall there has been growth. we saw sf9's growth the most obviously during the show and then they cranked it up to 12 for teardrop and it paid off for them (they broke their own sales record, good job boys). we also know that even though the mv for teardrop was filmed pre-kingdom, they revamped the entire choreo after the show in order to capitalize on the feedback from move, and honestly it's the best direction for them to go in. not sure when their next comeback is gonna be because youngbin and inseong are going to have to enlist soon and because of the large age gap its probably gonna be a while before they're all together again. tbz i think has shown a pretty big improvement, at least with thrill ride (who's to say about other comebacks). they've ditched any kind of lore and although i don't like the song i think the majority of the styling is quite good and it's a good genre break for them.

as for skz, i do actually think there's been one or two lessons learned. thunderous isn't as good a song as god's menu or back door, but it's on par with their discography and consistency is key. i do however, think the choreography is excellent and the styling + general concept is interesting, even if a bit conservative. personally i think they should have leaned way more into the graphic elements of the mv, because the shapes and silhouettes of the clothing are good, but they're so monotone that it ends up being a little boring. if everything else was the same but there was more use of patterns and colour it'd pop a lot better. it's also possible that we may see that in the next stages they do, since they've only done three or four so far. i'm taking it as a win that the styling is at least related to the concept. as for the rest of them; the ateez comeback isn't for another two weeks and honestly i have NO clue what to expect, btob is tomorrow and it's gonna be fine obvs, and i dont think ikon is gonna have a comeback any time soon since bobby is apparently getting married next month (plus the baby), not that i was expecting kingdom to have any effect on them lol.

i think its reasonable that jyp front skz more as an international group, especially since they had that with got7 and then cocked it up so badly. i think we're definitely going to be seeing some interesting (if you like that kind of thing) numbers discrepancies in the next few years because of how different groups are being marketed and it's going to have some kind of effect on korean and international charts. personally i have exactly zero interest in charts and numbers and would prefer them to stay far away from me because it's just another way the music industry has been gamified by capitalism.

honestly if the show's not doing it for you than don't bother. it would have been a lot better if there were more group interactions; the sports/isac episode is cute and fun, but really the highlights of the rest of them are the stages.

[hpowellsmith]

Thank you so much for writing CdlC!! I love it sm (got drunk a few nights ago whilst on FaceTime with my friend in uni and woke up messages on her asking who Karson is- Apparently I was talking about how much I love her 🥴 Bit embarrassing to explain who Karson is!) I know you said Rosario and Karson are the two most popular LIs (Karson deserves it 🥺🥺) but do you know who the least popular is? (If it’s Hartmann or Freddie I will riot 🤠)

Awww that's so sweet and funny! Hope it wasn't too embarrassing 😂

So this is only based on Steam achievements and anecdotally I've seen a lot of love for Delacroix and Blaise so take it with a small pinch of salt but these are the stats from most to least popular for those who got romance achievements on Steam:

Rosario

Karson

Hartmann

Blaise

Auguste

Max

Freddie

Delacroix

Florin

So there we have it! I think it may be a little skewed as Max's romance achievement ended up being less accessible than I intended. But I was really interested to see it.

By the way, here's a straw poll where you can vote on your favourite love interest so we can find out some very unscientific results:

https://strawpoll.com/u47zdhgxx

[crystalelemental]

Yeah, it’s honestly kinda nuts. Like good for PM1 for recognizing how much pull they actually have and staying quiet until it’s done. I, for one, would never shut up if I had that kind of influence.

And the problem is honestly more complex than that for a few reasons. One is just straight up botting. Anyone that near the top is, to me, very likely to have some bot influence, especially as a non Lord. The numbers are a disaster that way. But even assuming they’re all legitimate, we’d want to check CYL2 for more accurate numbers on her. Trying to look at what percentage of a known skewed number she needs to continue outranking others isn’t a great way to look at whether she’s likely to actually hold more people than others.

Third kinda goes against my own point but I’ll get there. You can vote seven times but you can’t vote for all your favorites or rank them because of limitations. Like...Veld had what, 13 votes? That’s either 13 people who decided on him as an afterthought, or two diehard fans. Technically only one but you know. The point is, at bigger numbers, it’s hard to tell if the result is the matter of a few people casting all votes, or a bunch of people casting one, and the difference has implication. If it’s diehard fans, that’s less of a reach. Those diehard fans may not even be whales, you want a broader net. So yes, maybe they did go with Pent and Louise because they anticipated more people casting one vote compared to diehard fans casting all in for options that outrank them. But can they really assume that? All they have is this data, and data pertaining to summoning events. Louise was free, they have no other data on her. So either Pent sold better than expected and can’t be here without his wife, or this is a big ass gamble they didn’t need to take.

But at the end of the day they did what they did, I just think it’s stupid when you have tons of other popular characters from a pretty popular game not in yet, and pass them up for a second form on two characters who seem to be mostly okay popularity wise. I love them to death but I really disagree with the decision. Obviously i’d be pissed with no Limstella no matter what, but had this banner been four new characters, with Erk as the prize, Kent or whoever else is super popular taking Louise’s place, and a random lower tier as the demote, I’d probably be a bit less critical of it.

Also Sonia being the GHB fucking torpedoed any hope of a banner that brought in Nergal and all the Morphs at once, which subsequently annihilates any hope of any of the others getting in at a reasonable time, or as anything as GHBs, now with the assurance they won’t even have PRF tomes. I am massively annoyed with all of this.

[rvdispatch]

EPISODE TWO SUMMARY

Episode Two aired on May 7th, 2021, on MNet. 

Episode Two gave us our first big challenge, dividing the trainees into teams and getting them to learn nine songs-- which songs they would be performing, however, wasn’t up to them. The goal of episode two was to see the trainees bonding, tensions rising, and to show how the trainees acting under significant pressure, seeing as this turned out to be the biggest challenge in the history of all three seasons. But little did they know, so much more was about to happen.

The episode started with the trainees waking up in the dorm. Shots were shown of various trainees getting ready, be it alone or in groups. Then producers lead them to the main stage, so they can be given their next challenge. Before that happens, however, each grade group votes for their team leader, with the results being Hwa as A grade leader, Ilhoon as B grade leader, Hope as C grade leader, and Minah as D grade leader.

When the challenge is announced, most trainees meet the description with a look of confusion– to help the viewers understand, MNet provides step-by-step graphics on how the episode play out. And then the teams are made. They are all are assigned a laptop with the songs, lyrics and choreography loaded and a room to practice in for the week, with many trainees noting in their confessionals that they had been given these songs to practice before the show started-- some of them revealing that they perfected the songs, and others revealing that they hadn’t practiced at all. 

All the groups watch the nine performances together in their respective rooms, with competitors ranging from excited to focused to scared. The trainees from Liberty, in particular, seem especially stressed about learning so much choreography so quickly.

In Team One, Hyunjoo takes the reins as the natural leader of the group. Not only did he compete on the previous season, where they had a challenge much like this one, but he and Eunyeol are the only trainees in this group that aren’t foreigners, and Eunyeol is a Liberty trainee. Despite how Hyunjoo typically comes off, he is a very helpful and patient leader to his teammates, going the extra mile to re-coordinate choreography formations so everyone gets a part that they know somewhat well. 

Team Two is definitely a little more split-- While Ilhoon, Minsuk and Inho all are familiar with working with each other, it leaves the other two trainees feeling a little left out. Ilhoon does his best to keep everyone included, but when the choreography is being put together, it’s clear that there’s a disconnect between the Higher trainees, and the other two.

Team Three skews particularly young, with Haebi, Kahoru and Shiyin all being underage and fairly new to being a trainee. With Hwa being primarily a vocal trainee, a lot of the pressure falls on Hope to lead, which adds added difficulty with the language barrier. All five members of this team seem very eager to do well, and after some big bumps in the road, they manage to figure out how to communicate efficiently. 

Team Four is very split from the beginning. It’s clear that Mirae wants to take control, and in confessionals, Minah and Yoora both agree that Mirae is the most qualified, as she is the highest rank, however Taeri seems to fight her for control, causing Mirae to snap and tell her off. Tension are very high for the entire time they are rehearsing.

And then the show comes screeching to a halt. Many confessionals are shown of the trainees explaining what happened and why production shut down, as well as how they coped with it. And, whether or not they thought the show would return at all. The trainees get back to work, though, and it’s easy to see which trainees kept practicing during the break, and which ones gave up and are rusty. Finally, however, shots are shown of the audience filling into the building for performance day, and Adonis (as host) taking the stage.

The teams are all brought onstage. The host spins a wheel, and it picks Team One to go first. It is spun again, and Team Six is set to go against them. All teams are sent back to the dressing room to get ready for their respective first stages, and the host reveals that Juliette’s Lion Heart is first on the docket. 

Team One performs first, and their hard work is apparent. Hyunjoo did a great job making sure any wobbly parts are hidden. This team has the vocals to pull this song off, too-- despite Hyunjoo’s voice being a little too deep and standing out a lot, this team does very well. Some of them fall into the trap of making feminine choreography a bit of a joke, but most of them try their best. Team Six does a fairly good job as well, however their vocals aren’t strong enough to do the song justice.

Teams Two and Three are picked to go next, with Team Two out to perform first-- their song being Merci’s Lady. Inho in particular really stands out; despite being the youngest competitor, he has a lot of confidence and charisma, and does Jiae’s part well. Team Two has the right attitude for the song, however they don’t have the vocal power-- the whistle note in particular being hard for their vocalists.

Team Three had the opposite issue-- with none of them being rappers, and most of them having language barriers, the rap parts left a lot to be desired. However Hope did a very good job carrying the chorus, with Yihwa proving once again that she is one of the strongest vocalists in the competition.

Team Four and Five are the last to perform, with their first song being Pirate King. Team Four has some trouble with choreography, with many of them noticeably lagging behind Mirae, who for her part, did the song very well. Team Four’s inexperience and lack of synergy overall brought the song down. Team Five wasn’t memorable, but they put in a solid effort.

None of the winners of the matchups are shown– MNet keeps that footage until the end of the episode, to build suspense. While in real time, the trainees got to watch their stages after the first day, it is edited so that all nine matchups are first, trainee reactions are second, and the rank and matchup winners are last.

The editors continue as if it were the same day, and Team Four and Team One await onstage as their song is picked– Love Me Right. The production team has a fun time squaring up trainees against each other, with Mirae and Hyunjoo competing, as well as Eli and Mint. Team Four performs first, and while the choreography still seems a little out of some of their leagues, they have an easier time with this one than on day one. Thet has some trouble carrying the song, however Mirae nails the vibe of Love Me Right and gives an engaging performance. Team One does equally well, with the hosts calling this one one of the most even matchups yet. Hyunjoo, like Mirae, seems to fit the song very well, and his extra work with the formations shines through once more-- while the choreo is clunky, it’s disguised.

Team Two and Team Six both perform Venus’ Breakthrough. Adonis comments that this is one of the least well-known songs on the docket for this week, which could prove to be difficult, seeing as the other songs might be ones trainees practiced at their companies for evals.

Team Two goes first. While they do a very good job and their choreography in particular is top notch, Eda critiques Inho specifically, telling him that while he is a very good rapper, he went too hard for this song, and that beign a good rapper also includes tone and knowing when to go hard and when to be softer to suit the music. In a closed-door meeting between the judges, She comments on how she personally thinks a bit of unintentional misogyny is at play, with Inho not wanting to sound too feminine, or thinking this style of rap isn’t good (though she clarifies that she’s just speculating). Team Six is full of Venus fans, and while they do a good job, they get a little to excited, and their stage is a little sloppy

Team Three and Team Five compete with Empire’s Bang Bang Bang. In a confessional, Hope says that this was the song she wanted to do the least, since Kyuyeol and DK were both judges, and would be nitpicking people doing their own song. Team Three notably shifts the line distribution around, splitting both Prince and DK’s parts so that Yihwa gets the power notes and Hope gets the lower difficulty ones, and it works to their favor, with this team performing a near perfect stage. Team Five does well, but they had a particularly hard act they had to follow.

As for day three, the performances start with Team Two and Team Four performing I Am The Best by Reign. This is Team Four’s best stage, with Yuan commenting that it’s likely because of the less difficult choreography. Kyuyeol states that they had the right sort of confidence for this stage, and for this song in particular, that was what was most important. As for Team Two, the boys from Higher do well, but the other two lag behind. Adonis comments that since they are from Higher, they’ve likely had to perform this song before, and that it showed-- their performance came out a little hollow.

Team Five and Six go head to head with Inferno’s Devil next. Both performances are mediocre at best.

Finally, to finish off the performances, Team One and Team Three perform Haze’s Electric Shock. This is Team One’s best performance-- it’s the easiest choreography they’ve had to do yet, and while Hyunjoo’s voice is a touch too deep for the song, they all seem to be having a lot of fun. It’s a tight race, though-- Team Three has the same amount of fire and bubbliness to their performance, with DK mentioning that this one is going to be a photo finish.

MNet plays the shots of the trainees watching their own performances back, and then more random clips are thrown in too. The trainees are gathered in the Main Stage area with the coaches and the host, to see who won each match up. The votes for each trainee are to appear on the screen one by one, and then at the end, the overall tallies, to indicate who won. 

For Lion Heart, Eli got the most votes, with Team One winning the match. For Lady, Hwa gets the most votes, however Team Two brings home the win. For Pirate King, Mirae gets the most votes as well as the win for Team Four. For Love Me Right, Mirae gets the most votes once more, but Team One wins. For Breakthrough, Minsuk gets the most votes and Team Two bags another win. For Bang Bang Bang, Hope gets the most votes and the win for Team Three For I Am the Best, Mirae once again is voted the highest, and Team Four wins. For Devil, Xueying gets the most votes, and Team Five gets their first W For Electric Shock, Hyunjoo gets the most votes, however Team Three wins.

The ranking is then revealed to the trainees and the audience, and the episode ends.

[twentiethcenturymoviesandtv]

12 Angry Men: The Characters

While 12 Angry Men has a remarkably small cast for a motion picture, the problem is that twelve of the cast members happen to be main characters.

Twelve is a large number of main characters to balance out, especially when you only see them over the course of one day, in only one setting.  The writers had the challenging job of making each character unique enough that the audience doesn’t mix them up, and while some of them are more distinct than others, each character is different enough so that the viewers can tell them apart.

As a result, 12 Angry Men is left with a surprisingly large main cast, full of characters that are neither infallible heroes, nor despicable villains.  Much like Casablanca, it would seem like this film has an issue deciding a protagonist, as the character who would seem to fulfill this role, Henry Fonda’s Juror #8, doesn’t have a ‘problem pertaining to the plot’ that’s unique from any of the other characters.  They all have the same problem: they need to come up with a verdict.  And indeed, this film would seem to be without a true protagonist if not for another element: the protagonist’s reaction towards the problem.

You see, while every other character begins the story either certain of the boy’s guilt, or just wanting to say they are so that the jury ordeal can be over with, it is only Juror #8 who believes that the case deserves a closer examination.  

As you may have guessed, today, we’re going to be examining the characters of 12 Angry Men, starting with our protagonist: Juror #8.  Let’s take a  look.  (Spoilers below!)

Juror #8 is a rather interesting protagonist in that, as I mentioned in previous articles, he could be any one of us.  He’s the ‘hero’ of the story, not because of any great feat, but because he was logical and thoughtful enough to take his job as a juror seriously enough to put real thought into the case at hand.  This is not a story about a man who is certain of his correctness, this is a story about a man who is uncertain about someone’s guilt, and there is a huge difference.  From the moment of his Establishing Character Moment of quiet reflection at the window, he’s in action to make sure that he, and the rest of the jury, comes to a fair, if not right, conclusion.  

Juror #8 never claims he is right, merely that he has reasonable doubt that leads him to believe that he might be right.  He wants to talk about the verdict, he wants to be careful, because a life is on the line.  He takes his responsibility seriously, and that, at first, is what sets him up as our protagonist.  It is his vote of ‘not guilty’ that gets the plot going proper, for without him, the film would have come to a whopping, depressing, ten minutes tops.

So, we know Juror #8 is responsible, and tries to be moral.  What else do we know about him?

For one thing, he’s sharp.

Juror #8 knows that he can’t convince anyone to change their vote without some good evidence, which he brings and addresses.  Bit by bit, he chips away the certainty around the testimonies, alibis, and evidence, bringing up arguments and doubts about the elements of the case that the other jurors are absolutely certain about.  He’s quick to figure out people’s angles and point out flaws in logic, and he’s not afraid to call out someone’s bias.  His exchange with Juror #3 proves this, as Juror #8 accuses him (rightfully so) of wanting to kill the defendant due to personal reasons.

Juror #8 is a Guile Hero, using his wits and brains to pick apart the evidence, the original Rogue Juror archetype, wanting to take his time to get through the facts.  He cares about getting to the bottom of the facts, and he wants to get the other jurors on the side of justice as well.

Wait a minute, you say.  I’ll buy that he’s the ‘hero’, but protagonists are supposed to change by the end of the story.  There’s no sign of that at all!

Honestly, you’re right.

Juror #8, while clearly being the ‘hero’ of the film never seems to ‘change’ by the end of the film.  In fact, he is the only character not to change, in vote as well as action.  So what are we to make of that?

If the rest of the cast were as immovable as Juror #8, I would agree that his ‘protagonist’ status would certainly be called into question, and we may indeed be left with a protagonist-less film, however, there is one element that prevents that from happening: the fact that the other jurors do change their minds.

He’s the grounding element for the audience, courageous and standing for human decency.  The point of his character is that he’s unyielding, unchanging in the face of peer pressure.  It is in his influence, his changing of the other characters, that his test as a protagonist comes.

Of course, he succeeds, but the road is difficult.  The first ally rallied to his cause, after a few minutes of deliberation, is Juror #9.

Juror #9 (Joseph Sweeney) is an observant Cool Old Guy, the Lancer to Juror #8.  His abilities in Awesomeness by Analysis play a huge part in convincing the remaining jurors to change their votes, by standing with Juror #8 against the pressure and displaying a great deal of insight and sympathy.  He’s also possessing of some pretty progressive ideas, not being bigoted like some of the younger jurors around him.  While needing some thought before changing his vote, Juror #9 is not afraid to speak his mind and morality, making him a valuable ally in changing the course of the vote.

Leading us to the next vote change: Juror #5.

Juror #5 (Jack Klugman) has a bit in common with the defendant, coming from a similar background.  He also grew up in the slums, and takes it quite personally that some of the jurors think that that’s suitable explanation for murder.  He’s an invaluable addition, as it is his experience witnessing knife-fights that leads to the debunking of the grip necessary for the boy to have murdered his father.  He’s a Nice Guy from a rough neighborhood, and ends up producing some key points in favor of the Not Guilty verdict.

Next to switch his vote is Juror #11 (George Voskovec), a man with Immigrant Patriotism, faith in the American dream of democracy and justice.  The ‘Token Minority’ of the twelve, Juror #11 begins thinking of, and asking his own questions that can’t be satisfyingly answered with the evidence given.  He’s a polite man, with a great concern with being fair and upright.  In fact, it is one of his lines that best sums up the point of the film:

“We have a responsibility. This is a remarkable thing about democracy. That we are … what is the word? … Ah, notified! That we are notified by mail to come down to this place and decide on the guilt or innocence of a man we have not known before. We have nothing to gain or lose by our verdict. This is one of the reasons why we are strong. We should not make it a personal thing.”

He is here to remind us of the seriousness of jury duty, the importance of justice and fairness.  His character warns us not to take our privileges for granted, something that we need to be reminded of.  He is strong-minded, of strong character, and strong-willed

Leading us to the next switch in votes: Juror #2.

Juror #2 (John Fielder) is a timid man who doesn’t seem to have much of a backbone at first.  He’s an Extreme Doormat, unable to really explain his opinions, tending to go along with the tide at first.  As the film progresses, he does grow more of a spine, later evidenced by bringing up the question of the stab wound, which had been bothering him.  Had he been more timid, there’s a possibility that the vote might have swapped once more, and Juror #8’s cause would be lost.

Then there’s Juror #6 (Edward Binns).

Juror #6 doesn’t have a whole lot of personality, admittedly.  He doesn’t have a lot of dialogue, but he is fair minded, willing to change his mind if proven wrong.  His chief moment of character is standing up to Juror #3’s interrupting of Juror #9, telling him that he ought to have more respect for his elders.  In the end, Juror #6’s character is the switching point, announcing the stalemate, 6 to 6 for a vote.

The balance is changed again by Juror #7 (Jack Warden).

Juror #7 is a self-absorbed person, whose chief concern in the film is the baseball tickets ‘burning a hole’ in his pocket.  There’s a game he wants to get to, and his chief concern is voting whichever way that will get him out the fastest.  He pretends to be offended when his motives are questioned, but it’s clear that he’s just concerned with leaving.  Unfortunately, his is the attitude we can most easily see happening in ourselves with the same task, distracted with Skewed Priorities and too busy being a Deadpan Snarker to put forth the effort our legal system deserves.

The next vote for Not Guilty goes to Juror #12 (Robert Webber), a Charmer and a Ditherer, almost as easily swayed as Juror #2.  He works in an advertising agency, and spends most of the proceedings doodling or playing tic-tac-toe with the other jurors, too busy to pay attention.  He approaches jury much like a board meeting, and as a result, his opinions aren’t all that substantial.  All the same, he does become the eighth to side with Juror #8, further cementing the majority.

Following him is Juror #1, (Martin Balsam) the Foreman, a reasonable man who just wants this organized.  He’s a football coach, a soft-spoken Reasonable Authority Figure who is willing to take charge and keep everyone in order.  He’s always trying to reign things in and keep them under control, a vital element to the powder-keg that is the remainder of the jury.

Especially the next vote change: Juror #10 (Ed Begley).

One of the closest things this film has to an antagonist, the constantly coughing, Politically Incorrect Villain Juror #10 doesn’t need any evidence.  To him, the boy’s background is enough.  He’s a bitter, bigoted, racist Hate Sink, convinced begrudgingly to change his vote after his Villianous Breakdown rant, defeated by the lack of support from his peers.  

One of the final holdouts, though not a villain, is Juror #4 (E.G. Marshall), another Reasonable Authority Figure and an Implacable Man.  He is very logical and reasonable, holding out on changing his vote not out of malice, but of genuine concern for the facts.  Wearing a set of Stoic Spectacles (Smart People Wear Glasses, after all), Juror #4 serves as a Hero Antagonist version of The Spock, countering with good arguments and valid questions.  In the end, after his own reasons are shaken, Juror #4 graciously admits this and changes his vote, leaving us with the other closest thing this film has to an antagonist: Juror #3.

Juror #3 (Lee J. Cobb) is a bitter Big Bad with a Hair Trigger Temper, the Evil Counterpart to Juror #8.  In a case of Believing Your Own Lies, Juror #3 is convinced he is impartial, the chief advocate for the death penalty of the group without realizing he is projecting his bad relationship with his son onto the case.  He, too, switches his vote after a Villainous Breakdown, and Paper Destruction of Anger, but it is important to note that this is a Villainy-Free Villain, a Tragic Villain.

Juror #3 believes his opinion is firmly rooted in the facts, but it becomes very clear as the film progresses that he doesn’t really have as good a leg to stand on as he seems to think.  His anger at the defendant is anger at his son, anger at all sons who ‘disrespect’ their fathers.  He is unable to get his way in his family, and in the jury, and the result causes his bluster, and his inevitable downfall.  In the end, after a Heel Realization, he changes his vote, the final Not Guilty.

As with all the characters, we don’t know if he changed his mind or his ways.  For all we know, these men lived the rest of their lives untouched by the events in the jury room on the hottest day of the year, and honestly, that’s not a huge surprise.

These men, while not sharing the same backgrounds as many of us, are meant to be us.  We are given a responsibility, a privilege to affect the decisions in our system of justice.  We are meant to use it, to take advantage of it, and as a result, we are visible in these men.  Whether we’re crusaders for justice, impatient and dismissive, bitter and resentful, or simply taking it for granted, these twelve angry men are us, the audience.  It is up to us who we try to emulate, what values we hold dear, and how clearly we view them.

It is the ambiguity and the sheer brutal honesty in which these characters are depicted that this film’s legacy is made.  Twelve men without names (aside from two in the epilogue) all too real to be comfortable for American audiences.  This is, if not a realistic film, a real film, a mirror held to ourselves and our views on the systems we live with.  It’s up to us to decide what we do once we catch a glimpse of the reflection.

Thank you guys so much for reading!  Don’t forget that the ask box is always open for questions, suggestions, discussions, or just saying hi.  I hope to see you all in the next article.

[96thdayofrage]

On the third night of the Democratic National Convention, President Barack Obama addressed the nation from the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. In what’s being described as a “stark, sober address” intended to frighten Americans about the dangers of a second Trump term, the former president took a moment to acknowledge the hopelessness and cynicism that has become so prevalent in today’s political discourse:

“Look, I understand why many Americans are down on government. The way the rules have been set up and abused in Congress make it easy for special interests to stop progress. Believe me, I know. I understand why a white factory worker who’s seen his wages cut or his job shipped overseas might feel like the government no longer looks out for him, and why a Black mother might feel like it never looked out for her at all. I understand why a new immigrant might look around this country and wonder whether there’s still a place for him here; why a young person might look at politics right now, the circus of it all, the meanness and the lies and crazy conspiracy theories and think, what’s the point?”

Now, I’m not a factory worker, a Black mother, or a new immigrant, so I can’t speak for them, but Obama’s assessment of why each of those people may be “down on government” seems more or less accurate. Factory workers do feel betrayed, Black people in general have good reason to think the government never cared about them, and it stands to reason that new immigrants would feel unwelcome given the current administration’s overt hostility towards them.

Obama’s explanation for why young people have grown jaded, however, is far less convincing. In fact, it’s completely made up. As a fairly young person myself who discusses current affairs on a literal daily basis, I can assert with great confidence that young people today aren’t bitter about politics because of “the circus of it all, the meanness and the lies, and crazy conspiracy theories.” They’re bitter because of the failed presidency, and tone-deaf post-presidency, of Barack Obama.

Millennials such as myself remember what it was like to feel optimistic about politics. We first felt this sense of hope in 2008 when Obama first ran for president. We created a grassroots movement behind his campaign, carried him to the Democratic nomination in what initially seemed like a Quixotic battle against the Clintonian Democratic establishment, and voted for him in droves in November, propelling him to a landslide victory. And what did all of this hope, and effort, and enthusiasm get us, even when we won? Romneycare.

So in 2016, after a hugely disappointing Obama era, most of the young people who supported him twice, as well as a new generation of even younger voters, became equally involved in the Bernie Sanders campaign, which the Democratic Party conspired against in favor of Hillary Clinton, the very person the youth rejected in favor of Obama eight years prior. When she lost to Donald Trump, and Sanders ran again this time, yet another crop of young people supported him in overwhelming numbers. This time, it seemed there were enough of them to finally win, until, once again, Barack Obama, the man the older millennials invested their hopes in twelve years ago, intervened in the eleventh hour to align the party against the Sanders campaign, once again crushing the candidate that the youth had rallied behind.

In short, that’s why so many young people are “down on government.” It’s not because politics is too mean, or too circus-like, or that there are too many conspiracy theories to keep track of. It’s because young people invested their hopes in Barack Obama, and he failed them.

Obama continued:

“Well, here’s the point: This president and those in power — those who benefit from keeping things the way they are — they are counting on your cynicism. They know they can’t win you over with their policies. So they’re hoping to make it as hard as possible for you to vote, and to convince you that your vote does not matter. That’s how they win. That’s how they get to keep making decisions that affect your life, and the lives of the people you love. That’s how the economy will keep getting skewed to the wealthy and well-connected, how our health systems will let more people fall through the cracks. That’s how a democracy withers until it’s no democracy at all.”

While his assessment of youth apathy and cynicism was undoubtedly deceptive, this paragraph is pure Orwellian propaganda.

First, the premise is false. Anyone with any political understanding knows that there is a bipartisan consensus in Washington, D.C. that serves to protect and maintain the status quo. To classify “this president and those in power” as the sole beneficiaries of “keeping things the way they are” is simply dishonest. Obama’s subsequent claim that Republicans seek to depress and suppress the vote by depressing and disempowering the electorate is fair enough, but of course, Democrats have their own underhanded means of protecting their power, just as Republicans do.

In fact, I could very easily rewrite this segment of the speech to describe how the DNC protects its own interests at the expense of the common good. It would go something like this:

Well here’s the point – the Democratic establishment – those who benefit from keeping things the way they are – they are counting on your support. They know they can’t win you over with their policies. So they’re hoping to blackmail you into voting for them, and to convince you that your vote matters when it really doesn’t. That’s how they win. That’s how they get to keep making decisions that affect your life, and the lives of the people you love. That’s how the economy will keep getting skewed to the wealthy and well-connected, how our health systems will let more people fall through the cracks. That’s how a democracy withers until it’s no democracy at all.

Notice I didn’t have to change much at all. Because as far as political strategy is concerned, the only real difference between Republicans and Democrats is that the Republicans sell despair and the Democrats sell false hope. Republicans overtly encourage people to shun civic responsibility altogether and think only of themselves, whereas Democrats manipulate their base into participating in masturbatory dead-end exercises of meaningless civic engagement, i.e., voting for Democrats.

When we got involved, got inspired, and mobilized to elect the last Democratic president, did that stop the economy from being “skewed to the wealthy and well connected?” Did it stop people from “falling through the cracks” of our for-profit market based healthcare system? Did it protect our democracy from undue influence by oligarchs and demagogues? Of course not. If it had, the Wall St. criminals who tanked the economy would be in jail, we’d have at least a public option, and we wouldn’t have President Donald J. Trump.

And so when Obama addresses these issues, he speaks as though he were never the president; as though he were never in a position to prove to young people that government could in fact work for them; as if he was never entrusted with the task of renewing people’s faith in politics as a means for enacting positive change; as if he never rallied his base behind a campaign slogan of “Yes, We Can,” and as if he never let them down.

At this point, the only people still fawning over Barack Obama’s empty rhetoric and revisionist historicizing are those who don’t care how empty and revisionist it actually is. The liberal class’ privilege allows them to be hypnotized by Obama’s eloquence, charisma, and “classiness,” and to conveniently ignore both his failures as president and his inability to acknowledge them in his post-presidency. They pontificate about how much they “miss having a president who can speak in complete sentences,” as if complete sentences alone are of material benefit to poor and working class people struggling to make ends meet.

In 2008, Obama’s base of support was an idealistic coalition of multiracial young people brimming with excitement over his aspirational vision. Twelve years later, his speeches resonate only with those who can afford to revel in their superficiality. This much is obvious to anyone who’s not already in the tank for the Democrats, but it hasn’t seemed to dawn on Obama himself one bit. The lack of self awareness in this speech is a perfect example of why Democrats are so loathed by so many, and why they’re always the last ones to learn just how unpopular they are.

The rise of Donald Trump is an unfortunate but undeniable consequence of Obama’s failure to deliver on the promise of “hope and change.” If Barack Obama is too prideful, or too insulated from reality, to admit this to himself, it’s about time Democrats start admitting this to each other, because this whole convention gave off major 2016 vibes. We saw an elitist party basking in its own perceived moral and intellectual superiority while making no substantive policy pitches to anyone who they fear may be on the verge of giving up and staying home in November. Speaker after speaker stressed the importance of voting by insisting our democracy might fall if we don’t. Never did anyone stop and ask themselves why they should expect people to feel so invested in a “democracy” whose political outcomes have rendered 63% of Americans unable to afford a $500 emergency. Sure, democracy is nice for people like Julia Louis Dreyfus, whose roasting of Donald Trump on the convention’s final night went over predictably well with comfy #resistance liberals, but what good is it to everyone else if they don’t get anything out of it except the opportunity to vote for sleazy politicians who don’t look out for them?

This country is battered, broken, beaten down, and ready to throw in the towel. This was true four years ago, and it may be even more true now. The unfulfilled promise of the Obama years is a big part of why that is, a big part of why Trump was elected in 2016, and a big part of why America might just double down on despair in 2020.

[snkpolls]

SnK Chapter 126 Poll Results

The chapter 126 poll closed with 1,647 responses. Thank you for your support! This month’s poll results were compiled by @shifter-lines​ , /u/alooulla,   /u/_Puppet_, @manerein and @momtaku.

  RATE THE CHAPTER 1,514 responses

“Rate the Chapter” is a genuine bell curve this month instead of having its more typical overwhelmingly positive skew. While not terrible by any means, the response to chapter 126 was the most lukewarm since chapter 107, and it was the second worse performing chapter since we started the poll.

(Kazoo Avengers theme)

By far, this was the chapter I enjoyed the least, I just hope that the ending feels realistic

Definitely fast paced, but definitely needed to finally kick things into high gear. The Calm Before The Storm…

it was pretty disappointing by aot standards, but the last 15 chapters were amazing, so what am i even complaining for.... i just hope that isayama can write a decent ending.

I feel like this is either one of those chapters that will be more rewarding in hindsight when we have more info or was just straight up moving forward so we can get to the good stuff faster and we will have to suck it up and move on. All in all I think it was a good chapter even if a little rushed.

Easily the worst chapter in years due to the fast pacing, convenient plot developments and cliche and very cheesy and cringey ending page quote.

In the anime they could make a whole episode out this single chapter instead of using two chapters to make a single episode

ISAYAMA GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER!! THE SAUNA AINT RUNNING AWAY FROM YOU

Haha pie

  WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT? 1,519 responses

After nearly a year of absence Levi and Hange were finally back in the story so it’s no surprise that “Everything with Levi and Hange” topped the list of favorite moments with 22.1%. “Avengers Assemble” was a distant second with 10.6%. Confirmation that Levi was alive came in third (10.2%).

ONYANKOPON CALLYING JAEGERISTS A BUNCH OF CHAUVINISTS

Pieck and Hange teaming up? Eren better watch out because those two together are gonna KICK SOME ASS!

Hange needs so much more appreciation, she is such a good person. I hope she and Levi both survive this shit.

I loved everything that happened, it just desperately needs some more detail filled in.

I loved Levi and Hange interactions

Annie eating pie is just perfect

It was so good to see Levi and Hanji again and together. They suffered so much, i need an end where they both survive and can have a restful retirement

Glad to see that Connie is still a good guy. Also that he is trying his best becouse of his Mother.

But what Pieck Pieck? The greatest tragedy is that Isayama took that from us, y'know not that Eren is destroying the world or something...

I really loved to see Armin and Annie together!

  WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE MOMENT? 1,507 responses

Talk about polarity. “Avengers Assemble” may have been the second most popular “Favorite Moment” but it was also  the landslide winner for “Least Favorite” with nearly 22% of the fandom selected it as the worst moment of the chapter. “Floch’s Speech” (13.8%) and “The Ragako Subplot” (13.5%) rounded out the top 3.

everyone called them the avengers but lets get real they are a fuckin Suicide Squad

Why are we wasting time on Louise

Avengers Lowcost version

Didn't understand Magath reasons to join forces with his enemys. It felt like some story in between was missing.

Can I just say I hate what Isayama did with Connie's character? I've never seen a character as bipolar in his development

Floch was the only good part....

  WHO WAS THIS CHAPTER’S MVP? 1,503 responses

Hange (23%), Jean (16.2%) and Armin (13.4%) were our top three favorite characters this month. It needs to be said that “Pie” came in at number four with nearly 10% of the fandom selecting it.

it WAS nice to see characters choosing to be their best selves for the sake of others. For that reason, it was difficult to pick an MVP -- but I gave it to Onyankopon because he crystallized so eloquently exactly what I had been thinking since Eren started the Rumbling.

Levi and hange tho

So much Erwin nods!  Yesss <333

Still love my boy Jean!

Some characters are still acting consistent: Jean, Magath, Levi (still not over killing the BT and that's good), Onyankopon and Floch.

Connies growth, Jean's motivation, I'm glad these boys are reclaiming their almost-lost humanity!

Levi. That is all.

Oh, also, I want pie.

  WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE HANGE AND LEVI CAMPSITE MOMENT? 1,494 responses

“Hange suggesting that they live in the woods together” (27.2%) was the favorite campsite moment, followed by “Levi’s words upon waking up” (23.3%).  “Hange sniping while shedding a tear” was third (19.6%))

I'm giving this 5/5 solely for Yams finally feeding the LeviHan shippers some good fucking food after so long.

I ship Levi and Hange. It's so cute when Hange realized that Levi was listening to her/him while pretending to sleep.

Shirtless Levi round two! Wit, you better do the job correctly this time!

We need a Historia chapter but it’s great to see Hange and Levi being back.

  PIECK… FINGER? 1,492 responses

Pieck Finger. Pieck Finger everybody. You know how a common response to trauma or awkwardness is humor? Well 42.6% of you are primarily concerned with how “Pieck Finger” will be memed. 24.7% of you accept the trauma and say you wish she would’ve just stayed “Pieck”, and 20.6% of you are glad she has a last name, but did it really have to end like this? 6.5% of you think it’s a “cool and realistic last name”, and I think you guys scare me more than the people who vote “Snapchat” on the last question every month. More on that later.

"pekfinger" is swedish for "pointer finger" too. oh lord

Back when Pieck was supposed to be a dude, the working name was "Oliver Pieck", at least from what I read on the AoT wiki. I feel like Isayama could have just switched the first and last name around to make it "Pieck Oliver." That would've sounded far less weird.

I know a guy named Buck Ramming. Pieck Finger is fine by me lol

It's an instruction not a name.

Levi sure could use a couple of Piecks right about now heyoooooo

the fact that she got the worst titan and now also the worst name it’s so funny

What kind of a first name is Pieck?

  AS PREDICTED, CONNIE’S ROADTRIP WITH FALCO ENDED AMICABLY. WHAT DID YOU THINK OF IT? 1,498 responses

The Ragako subplot did little for the readers with nearly one-third of the fandom calling it a complete waste of time. The majority (46.2%) were slightly more charitable selecting “It was ok. I’m glad it wrapped up quickly”. Only 17.5% loved the moment. The write-ins were pretty damning.

Good plotpoint, really bad execution

I cringed the whole time.

I liked the outcome, but it was handled too quickly

A complete waste of time: Connie's arc? Sharted over. The consequences about Falco? Sharted over. Possibility to exploit serumbowl or Ymir's memories? Glossed over.

All of this made no sense and it was solved so quickly it seemed unrealistic. YAMS WE NEED PROPER CLOSURE PLS DON'T WASTE MORE INK

Connie changed his mind a bit too quickly, but it was good nevertheless

Connie deserved better writing.

Felt too shallow for how quick it sprung up, needed more development. As it is now, it could've just not happened

I'm glad that Connie hasn't died yet because I appreciate him, but there's been wasted potential. Ymir's memories and Porco and Colt's deaths have been reduced to a single vignette where we can only speculate and write fics.

Missed opportunity to actually develop Connie's character. We didn't learn anything we didn't already know about Connie.

This feels like what the anime did to the Uprising Arc. It happened way too fast and honestly felt like Isayama was just checking it off a list, so to say. Which is honeslty a bit uncharactieristic of his writing. I really hope this doesn't start, or continue, a trend...

  WHICH DENTAL HYGIENE MOMENT DID YOU ENJOY MORE? 1,494 responses

Before I talk about the numbers, I just want to shout out the one guy who responded “Other” and just said “why”. Anyway, a solid majority of you guys’ favorite dental hygiene moment was Hange asking Pieck rude lady questions, which frankly sounds much worse than it actually is. The next most common answer, getting just over 25% of the votes, was Connie’s Master Plan™, followed by “Both”, followed by “Neither!” I still like the guy who just said “why”.

I didn't mind it, but I heard that Isayama did this so he could get a toothbrush merch campaign going lol

Isayama has a teeth fetish confirmed

Holy Fuck what was Connies face doing when he was talking about titan teeth brushing.

Why, just why

Pie

  WHAT DO YOU THINK OF HOW MIKASA ACTED TOWARDS LOUISE? 1,457 responses

The fandom is almost evenly divided over Mikasa’s actions towards Louise. By the narrowest of margins, Mikasa’s compassionate nature took the majority (26.8%). The other extreme, “Mikasa should’ve sucked it up and let the girl be happy”, was second with 26.2%. A quarter of the fandom instead chose to focus on Louise. “Louise was crazy and deserves the cold shoulder” was third (23.9%).

It's not surprising that Mikasa ran out of f*cks to give. There are only so many lives she can value, and right now she doesn't have the time to spare, or room in her heart.  

I don't think Mikasa had any responsibility there, and the scarf is hers. Given its significance, and that she owes Louise nothing, it seemed like the moment was morally neutral.

I really didn't care. Louise is barely a character, and Mikasa had no duty to be nice to a person who enabled and supported a bloody coup just because she saved her life once.

I don’t blame Mikasa. I don’t like and want to spend time with my stalkers either

I felt bad for Louise. She’s dying, let her think you care about her, Mikasa

I felt like Louise is completely obsessional but Mikasa is just as much. To me these kinds of moments show that Mikasa has completely lost it recently

I'm concerned about what this says for Mikasa's character development thus far, and I felt kind of bad for Louise

I'm sick of the scarf back and forth

It actually seems quite obvious to me that Mikasa pitied the poor girl, but there was nothing she could have done for her. Because she simply lacks the time necessary to care for Luise, or change her mind or make sure that she's ok.

That this is about Mikasa’s compassion or lack thereof I think says more about how we feel women should feel. I think it was fine, she barely knows Louise and there is a lot more going on. Louise is a grown woman that made her own decisions.

the most interesting part about it is that Eren asked Louise to throw the scarf away. that's it.

Mikasa already did a good gesture by visiting Louise, no one would ask Jean to do the same with Floch, so I don't see the big deal. Both cases are "protagonist sees themselves in antagonist, and realise how they mustn't become like them".

  WHY DID MIKASA DECIDE TO TAKE HER SCARF BACK? 1,482 responses

“Mikasa wants it back for other reasons” was the selection of nearly half of respondents, since “wearing it” and vague malice towards Louise were the other two options.

Eren wants her to throw it away, so she's making her own decision and going against his wishes on purpose.

I don’t know if she’ll wear it again, but it’s always been her scarf and she’ll decide it’s fate when she’s ready

I think she wants to give it back to Eren.

It's still important to her. She may let go of Eren but the scarf is always gonna be there to remind her of what was and the family she once had.

It’s just simply that it’s hard to throw away a possession you held dear for most of your life. It’d be more out of character for her to throw it away. I don’t think she ever planned on abandoning the scarf—setting it aside was rather Isayama’s way of showing Mikasa’s conflicted thoughts on her relationship with Eren.

Ultimately, Mikasa's the authority on the scarf and it's emotional weight, while Louise was trying to squeeze her own meaning out of it. It wasn't Louise's place to do so, and it wasn't her scarf to take. Whatever is to be done with it, to see it used again, given to someone else, or see it thrown out or destroyed, is a choice only the scarf's real owner, Mikasa, should make.

  THEY FOUND ANNIE BY SITTING NEXT TO HER WHILE SHE WAS EATING PIE, THOUGHTS? 1,497 responses

The reunion with Annie was another chapter moment that fell flat for the majority with only 21.8% expressing approval with it. The majority (31.8%) thought it would’ve been ok if there was more time for conversation and reaction and 22% were primarily bothered by the coincidence involved in the reunion. The remaining 20% found the lazy writing unforgivable.

*sigh*

There was way too much build up just to have it end in a gag. It was cute, but it... just doesn't work?

Are you telling me that every time you talk about Robert Downey Jr. he doesn't just appear right next to you?

Humor was not appropriate in this situation

I fucking loved it

I think it's lazy writing but it made me laugh pretty hard so I'll give it a pass

It was a funny moment but definitely not how I had imagined nor hoped Armin/Annie's reunion would happen

Sitting together like nothing happened before and eat and laugh… are you serious?!! It’s not funny

SNK has always had funny moments like this woven into it, especially when the 104th were still trainee's, and it's nice to see a tonal flashback to the past like this.

Stranger things have happened. Floch's hair, for example.

  WHAT SORT OF PIES DO YOU THINK THEY WERE EATING? 1,469 responses

Fruit. Definitely fruit.

...

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

What's the point of this question?? I'm confused

What the fuck is a meat pie?

We're missing PIEces of the puzzle still

  WHAT PIE WOULD YOU SCARF DOWN THAT FAST IF YOU WERE ANNIE? 1,459 responses

Apple (23.9%), and chocolate (16.2%) are our favorite pies, with Meat and “I don’t like pie” tying for third (11.4%). Several respondents were rather vocal about this even being asked. To them I say Isayama is the one who started this :P 

Apricot, you American heathens

Duh. Pineapple of course

I'd be more worried about getting home to my dad before he's crushed by a psycho

Marleyan organ pie made by the Usurper Chad himself!

nectarine pie.... you should try it

Rhubarb pie. Best Pie Ever.

Sweet Potato Pie!

There are so many interesting questions you could have asked in this poll yet didn't, but you're asking about pie?  (A/N: There are so many interesting things Isayama could have drawn in this chapter yet didn't, but he's drawing about pie? )

  HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT HITCH BEING LEFT BEHIND? 1,479 responses

While the majority thought it was a good way to write her out (36.3%), there was plenty of disappointment (26.2%) and many who thought it could’ve been handled better (16.6%). A segment of the fandom (18.5%) thinks she’ll be back since there is more she has yet to do.  

Perfect. She is always left behind throughout the series. The continuation of this makes sense.

Does the lack of Hitch means the lack of pies? Because this is unacceptable.

Glad that she'll survive probably, but she was such an interesting character

Annie and Hitch were my new otp, so just sad feels

Hitch is safe from now on. Ok for me.

I felt so sorry for her, because Annie's disappearance reminded me a bit of Hitch's relationship with Marlowe. Once more it seemed like the Survey Corps was taking someone precious away from her, off to an unknown and risky fate

I never had pie so Idk.

  WERE YOU WORRIED THAT JEAN WOULD JOIN THE JAEGERISTS? 1,480 responses

For this question, 21.5% of you were a little nervous that Jean might join the Jaegerists, but a much more significant 69.2% understood the implied fact that the Jaegerists only accept humans, and Jean is a horse, and therefore there was never any threat of him allying with them. You’d think that with like four hundred years of this series being out, I’d think of a better way to make that joke, but here we are. Anyway, the last 9.3% of you think Jean would do more to help Paradis if he joined the Ab Church, which is an excellent parallel to the Wall Church in the beginning of the series, I might add.

I still wish more time was given to the subplots such as more time to stew on Jean joining the Yaegarists

  LAST MONTH 75% OF THE FANDOM THOUGHT JEAN WOULD BE THE PERSON TO TAKE DOWN FLOCH. DO YOU STILL THINK THE HAIRBOWL WILL HAPPEN? 1,463 responses

Remaining in the strong majority, 72.6% of you guys think there will be some sort of confrontation between Jean and Floch, though whether that means you think Jean will be the person to “take down” Floch or not is beyond me. I don’t know. I didn’t write this question, I’m just writing the blurb for it.

I'm still betting on Floch shooting Jean in the head as a punishment for not going along with the flow

take down Floch please!!!! ..

  FINAL WORDS. WHO DID IT BETTER? 1,479 responses

With 43% of the vote, Onyankopon’s... several... words? beat out Yelena’s strong and (mostly) silent type response (which got 33.1% of the vote, by the way) at their “execution''. 23.9% of respondents said “Both”, and while technically “both” couldn’t have done it “better”, I’ll let it slide, because they were both pretty cool, and semantics don’t matter.

Best boy was Onyankopon. We only used to get glimpses of him and finally he has rebelled, showing that he has more guts than some of our main characters.

  JEAN AND HANGE’S PLAN TO ESCAPE SHIGANSHINA HAPPENED OFFSCREEN. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT? 1,473 responses

Three-fourths of the fandom expressed some disapproval of how the offscreen planning of the escape from Shinganshina went down calling it sloppy(18.1%) and confusing (13.9%). Of those, the majority (39%) will be ok with it if a future chapter provides more details. Only a quarter of the fandom completely loved the handling of this.

Even if flashbacks fill the gaps later, they won't make 126 a better chapter.

How did they even communicate? I thought it was all planned between Jean and Mikasa

on the page with the titans marching at night, you can see a figure standing outside jean's window. could be hange coming to discuss plans

I liked it, but I think I like it even more if it's explained in the next chapter(s).

I think he did it that way to add surprise. I feel like lately he has been in general illustrating with a more cinematic eye and by writing the scene this way it will play better in visual media. Lately I feel like he has been thinking this way, it’s been a trend for a while now.

This is why you shouldn't cram up 3 chapters worth of content into one. I don't care if Isayama has to end his volume on some goddamn awful page. You don't mess with certain parts of the narrative.

It was fine, it wasn't necessarily a scene that needed to be included so I'm fine with it.

  WHO WAS THE PERSON IN THE WINDOW? 1,456 responses

Who was the person in the window? Was Chapter 116 the last time we’ll ever see Eren transform into his Attack Titan? How to turn into a titan without alerting the military police??? When will I stop asking questions? Right now!

Just under two-thirds of the votes for this question went to Shadis. Following Shadis at a clean 10% is Zeke, trailed by Zombie Erwin at 9.6%. Given the theories about Eren’s body at the end of 117 being a Warhammer clone, I never thought I’d see the day when Zombie Erwin beats Eren in a “who is the mysterious character who is not inside Eren’s Titan” question, but here we are!

CHADIS

Keith Lurkdis

Erwin never died! What even is that option 'zombie Erwin'???

Farmer-kun

Idk but whomever it is I hope they're a good guy.

Male adult figure... Must be my man Shadis. There's no way Zeke would wear so many clothes.

Ugh I have no idea. I’m not going to pretend I can predict anything anymore.

2Pac

  WHY DO YOU THINK MAGATH DEMANDED THEY CAPTURE YELENA? 1,465 responses

Why did Magath bring Yelena back with Jean and Onomatopoeia? ~20% of you thought it was because she’s need for a plan involving Zeke, ~17% think he wants the details of Zeke’s plan from her, just over 14% said  he wants information about Eren, 4.4% of you think he wants her as a prisoner, and the overwhelming majority, at 44.6%, think it’s all of the above.

My theory is that Yelena is Magath's daughter

  WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE FINAL PANEL? 1,478 responses

Another close one. If we disregard those who selected “Avengers Assemble”, which even though we added it I have no idea if it’s meant “Hell yes, can’t wait to see the Hulk and Black Widow together again” or “Please let Tony Stark’s legacy RIP.”, The “I didn’t like it” beat out the “I liked it” by 0.3%. However you look at the data, it’s astonishing that essentially one-third of the fandom did not like this ending.

*sigh*

Get in loser, we're going to save the world

A nice cringe to start my day with :)

The old gangs back together but with ADDITIONAL TRAUMA

I think it was supposed to be satirical. A lot of us expected that the warriors and the 104th would unite again so I think Isayama made it as cliché as possible to 1)offer the readers some comic relief, 2)maybe mock his own plot and show that he's aware that this alliance is kind of cliché.

At what point did Annie and Reiner deserve to be forgiven and taken in by the SC? And why do they think they actually can (or even should) stop the Rumbling?

Marvel copied the last panel

It is a reference to Reiner’s long time ambition, and an indication to his next role. Helos perhap. But I don't think isayama would let him save the world happily. Maybe he will save the world in an ironic and tragic way.

Brilliant !!! Finally it's Connie's turn to shine.

Can't wait to see this optimism crushed. Great moment, though.

I don't understand why people think it's such a cheap cheesy ploy when it's honestly kinda obvious that they're being set up for a fall. Optimism almost always meets at the very least a bittersweet reality in this story.

It's cheesy, but people don't consider it's Connie who's saying this who is an idiot

  REGARDING THE LAST PANEL, DO YOU THINK THEY HAVE A PLAN? 1,475 responses

Nearly 70% of you believe that Final Panel Gang have a plan, while just over 30% think they’re just gonna wing it. Get it? “Wing it”?

For more serious commentary, we’re normally used to seeing “Yes/No” questions a little more perfectly split, especially the ones that involve Eren. It’s interesting to see a more unified response, even if it means that SOMEBODY on Reddit is going to say “Nice.” about the Yes vote.

Isayama will probably do a flashback of the plan, he likes doing this sort of thing lol. It was fine.

It's fine IF the planning is shown in the following chapters, but if not then it'll feel like Isayama couldn't come up with solutions and did everything off screen just because of that.

Telling the plan to the reader only works, if the plan fails.

I feel like the pacing of the chapter was this fast so that Isayama could end with the "Avengers Assemble" scene as the big volume cliffhanger for the next one, so he tried to get through the events quickly to give it that poetic ending. In that case, it's possible Isayama might show how some of these events unfolded in the next chapter or two; he usually does that kind of thing when showing big events for the first time. If the next chapter fleshes some of the scenes from this chapter more like showing Jean discussing the Avengers' plan with Mikasa and Armin, I think that could make this chapter better when we look back on it.

  WOULD YOU RATHER THIS CHAPTER HAVE BEEN SPLIT INTO TWO? 1,468 responses

Remember what I said about being accustomed to more split votes? Well, 39.5% of you said that you would prefer this chapter have been split into two, citing a lack of development, while 39.2% of you said that you’re glad Isayama is, *ahem*, moving forward with the plot. The near-perfect divisions breaks off a little bit when we consider that another ~12% said no, blaming the plots themselves for the problems with chapter, and 6% effectively voting yes, saying that the chapter should’ve been split into three.

Ask me again in a few months when we see how the whole plot wraps up and if Isayama adds any additional details via flashback.

Honestly all of these plot points could have been arcs within themselves and i wish it had been given enough time to become that

I like that the plot is progressing but i don't like the subplots being rushed

I'm happy it's going forward and not dragging on, but I would've loved more of an interaction between the scouts and annie/reiner.

One and a half

𝜋

There are various holes (lack of reaction during Annie's appearance, poor coherency of when Eren managed to speak with many people) but Isayama is giving us cool alliances, so it's half okay.

  IF YOU COULD DROP A SUBPLOT, WHICH ONE WOULD IT BE? 1,463 responses

A fairly close call here, with the trip to Ragako Village being out in front with 42.6 percent of you claiming this is the subplot you would drop; Louise and Mikasa’s plot about the scarf is close behind on 36.2 percent. Perhaps readers feel the time for small subplots is done, since there’s so much still to do with the main plot we do not understand? A lot of responses indicated Mikasa’s perceived ‘cruelty’ (you’re all wrong, just so you know!) towards Louise, so perhaps this is indicative of why so many people would choose this event to be the subplot to drop.

Mikasa is just dead inside atm, but i feel bad for Louise

Mikasa knew Louise wanted that scarf, but she knew she needed it more. Plus I can barely remember Louise lol

Mikasa's behavior isn't good, but it's understandable---there are numerous mentally taxing events occurring.

Ragako stuff kinda sucked.

Goddamnit, this chapter was smelly poo. Not only we spent 3 months for nothing with that stupid Ragako plot and now everybody is holding hands just like that. If you're bringing an alliance you're not gonna make it happen offscreen with no detail whatsoever?

Ah and the Ragako subplot missed addressing the serumbowl as well: all we got is Armin whining about not being like Erwin and that's it. No Bert, no Ymir being addressed.

  IF YOU COULD HAVE MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ONE SUBPLOT IN THIS CHAPTER, WHICH WOULD YOU CHOOSE? 1,466 responses

Another close one! “The Armin and Annie reunion” is the subplot the majority wished for more information about with nearly 30% selecting it. “The conversation with Hange and Magath” was second (25.2%) and “Escape from Shiganshina” (17.7%) was third.

I was just expecting Levi, Hange and the corps interaction would be more surprising. The same goes for Annie and Armin's convo.

The mikasa scarf submit definitely could’ve happened in another chapter. This was too rushed and I really hope no other chapters feel this way. This chapter should’ve just been the Tagalog subplot, and then Annie and armin reunion. Then another chapter with hange/levi, Jean/flock and how they all came together to join forces.

It's so obvious this mad lad Isayama wanted to break the tension from the Armin / Annie reunion scene. We never know where he's going to trick us, do we ?

I do think that many things were kind of glossed over to save time. I'd prefer that things slow down a bit, just so we can soak up all that context. For example, the conversation between Hange and Magath, Annie and Armin's reunion and others.

  WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT HOW EASILY THE ALLIANCES WERE FORMED? 1,474 responses

A mere 17.5% enjoyed how easily the alliances were formed. The majority (43%) called it “OK” while a more than a third of the fandom (36.2%) hated it. Some folks seem to indicate it was expected and just needed to happen quickly so the story could move along. However, the amount of people who hated it was too large to ignore; and largely for similar reasons, that it appeared too easy. Maybe the mistrust and emotion will come as the story moves along? Some of your responses indicate trouble ahead, if not behind.

Also Hanji sides too many times with "benefactors". I'm expecting the alliance to be shaky, with probably backstabbings and double-crossings. They seemed to make an agreement over killing Zeke (since no side likes him), and I doubt characters like Mikasa, Armin or Jean would be ok with killing Eren.

I don't get all the madness over the alliance, It was obvious it would happen. Also it's obvious all the things glossed this chapter will be shown in Flashback if important, like what lead Annie join them, on how Hanji contacted Jean (although i think a lot of people didn't notice the shadow in the window on that panel of Jean in the bed).

It was warm and fuzzy and I really needed that, but the actual details of the new alliance will absolutely need to be expounded upon soon.

it wouldve been better if connie's mom plot didn't exist we could've got a better build up to the alliance

Overall, things were way too rushed, as if Isayama just wanted to get to the last page.  I'm expecting to see how this alliance was made in flashback form, as is typical for Isayama, but that won't fix the inherent issues of this specific chapter.

Hange getting so along with Pieck, who fought against them when Erwin was killed, was a complete joke.

I don't get all the madness over the alliance, It's was obvious it would happen. Also it's obvious all the things glossed this chapter will be shown in Flashback if important, like what lead Annie join them, on how Hanji contacted Jean (although i think a lot of people didn't noticed the shadow in the window on that panel of Jean in the bed).

I love seeing them all but oh heckin it was just a little too fast

  WHICH THROWBACK DID YOU ENJOY MOST CHAPTER? 1,465 responses

“Jean remembering Marco” (31.9%) narrowly edged out “Annie kicking Reiner”(30.3%) as our favorite throwback. Levi remembering his promise was a distant third (16.2%).

That Marco’s  throwback really hit me . *SOB*

I didn't like the Erwin reference when Armin tried to sacrafice himself for connies mother, instead of falco being eaten.

Armin recognized a very important thing to himself (he can't stay trying to Erwin, he suck on that, he needs to do what he is good on it, but as his own person and not shadow of Erwin)

Where was Jean at the end there? I want him to confront Annie over Marco. Poor guy had the worst death in the series. He was murder in cold blood and then it got covered up. Plus, the only person trying to solve the mystery is Jean. Bless Jean he is such a good friend

It makes sense that Connie would say that to Reiner of all people (that line come back to his childhood trauma). Fandom freaking out and fearing a cheesy happy ending is ridiculous.

I didn’t think it was cheesy at all. It circles back to Reiner’s declaration to Keith back during the training arc.

I'm kinda sick of Reiner's Kick The Dog treatment too. I know Annie hates him but still...

  REGARDING HOW THE AVENGER'S MISSION AND THE ENDING WILL GO, WHICH OF THESE IS PREFERABLE/ACCEPTABLE TO YOU? 1,465 responses

Fans proving as ever, that they are a divisive bunch! However, it's clear that the smallest amount of responses favour the rumbling being stopped and world peace occuring (hippies!). Some responses indicate that this chapter made them nervous for the ending being overly optimistic, even with Eren as the apparent antagonist. Endings where Eren achieves an extreme form of Brexit (Paradexit?) with a victory over the armies of the world have a fairly even spread of positive responses, proving that he still has a lot of fans on his side. However, most of you responded in the vague sense of feeling like Isayama knows best and at this point, just seeing where this wild ride takes us.

I keep seeing this popular prediction on almost every platform: Eren destroys the world outside Paradise, goes back to Historia and her newborn kid (in this sort of prediction it is always assumed that he's the father), tells his kid (who is also thought to be reborn Ymir) "you're free" and goes on to be a good dad - End of story. Honestly the thought of this type of ending pisses me off so much. Not only because its reeks of typical shonen ending, but because it goes against all the themes and ideas that Isayama has written into the story over the years.

I would not be upset with a 'golden' ending. Some part of me wants that to happen.

It setup the shonen cliche route and can ruin the ending

It was very unusual for this manga. I hope that the author will come to the most logical ending and will not use the power of friendship.

Least exciting chapter I can remember; it has me apprehensive about the ending.

I hope Eren's conclusion will end with him winning, however I do not him accepting his morality and to be shocked at what he's done but to come to terms with what he's done.

While I'm more supportive of Eren, I'm fine with whichever side comes out on top of this as long as it doesn't involve Eren being stopped through Power of Friendship or Talk no Jutsu. That would feel too cheap.

  WHICH RALLYING CRY DID YOU PREFER? 1,445 responses

While the Ragako subplot wasn’t exactly loved, Connie’s rallying cry was the fandom favorite (28.4%). Hange’s plea to Magath was a close second (26%) while Floch’s message of freedom was third (25%).

  AT THIS POINT, AROUND WHICH CHAPTER DO YOU EXPECT THE MANGA WILL CONCLUDE? 1,472 responses

The pacing of this chapter and the way its implications relate to the entire manga was, if I may be so bold, one of the more talked about meta points this month, from what I’ve seen. Maybe that was the thought process behind this question. I don’t know. I didn’t write this one either. That’s a good thought process though.

Anyway, a borderline overwhelming majority of you said that the manga will end around Chapter 134 (48.4% of you). The next most common answer was Chapter 138, which would give us 12 more chapters. Chapter 130 got the least amount of votes, at 7.3%. The remaining votes went to Chapter 142+, and I appreciate that optimism, because I for one hate thinking about this question.

  WHAT ARE YOU MOST HOPING TO SEE NEXT CHAPTER? 1,475 responses

“Historia when?” (26%) tops the list followed by the long awaited Eren POV (23.5%). “Details on things glossed over this chapter” was the third pick (22.7%) followed by “Zeke, Eren and OG Ymir” (11.6%).

I can't wait to see Zeke's reaction at seeing Levi AGAIN ready to fuck him up.

Historia when?? Also, Hange needs a hug, Levi needs sleep, Armin and Annie need to talk, Falco needs to deal with his brother's death some more, and we all need Erwin to come back :(

I hope we get flashbacks to explain all this off screen development.

Isayama please for the love of god remember that Historia exists.

Where is HISTORIA

where is zeke?

  WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 1,401 responses

Reddit continues to dominate this question, pulling 44.9% of the vote. “I don’t” actually takes second place this month, with Tumblr coming next, followed very closely by Twitter, which is in turn followed closely by Discord. In descending order from there, we have real life, 4chan, Youtube, a two-way tie between Instagram and Facebook, and everything else has less than 10 votes.

Before I move on though, it’s absolutely critical that I draw your attention to last month’s poll. Last month, I said, and I quote,

“Lastly, something ominous is going on in the Snapchat cult, because there were only two of you this month, down from five last month. That’s still enough to reproduce though and it makes me uneasy.“

“Why are you bringing that up?” you may be asking yourself. I’m bringing it up because Snapchat got SIX votes this time. “Why does that matter?” you ask yourself next. I’m glad you asked. That’s a 300% increase. If that rate continues, in just five month’s time, there will be more members of the Snapchat cult than the rest of you COMBINED.

That’s not to say anything more than it says, but I should add that I was totally vindicated on the Snapchat cult reproduction theory. Having done the math, you guys DEFINITELY scare me more than the people who liked “Pieck Finger”.

  ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE CHAPTER? 375 responses

Remember kids, the world is currently supposed to be ending

I know most people hated how rushed it felt, but honestly, I'm glad this wasn't split into 2 months. This leaves more time for the conclusion, and would much rather the alliances be rushed rather than the ending.

While it's certainly sad that Louise may not be long for this world, I also don't think Mikasa owes her anything. Mikasa seems to see a lot of traits she dislikes about herself cranked up to 11 in Louise, and I think it's understandable to need to distance oneself from toxic ideas or people. Mikasa and Louise were never friends, they never really knew each other, and never really cared about each other. Sure, Louise idolized an idea of Mikasa, but she put herself as separate from the real Mikasa, lesser. These two strangers never had a real chance to truly know each other, and that's okay, sad but okay.

While the panel of Annie with a face stuffed with pie is a gem, I think it seemed almost too good a coincidence. Both parties (Armin, Connie and the kids and Hitch & Annie) happen to be taking a break from their travels at the same time in the same city at the same festival. Seemed a bit too lucky.

Isayama has a bias against the yeagerists too. Portraying them as mindless dumbasses that are evil for no reason. Look at Floch everytime he has a moment it gets cut short for a "oh look at this dumbass" type of conclusion like him missing the shot at Shadis and getting duped by Jean and the 104th.

my dumb shipper’s heart wants Pieck’s reaction to Porco’s death.

this chapter felt too 'super hero movie' to me, in the sense that it was way too optimistic and cheesy, nothing like the Attack on Titan I know and love. Isayama's been watching too much Marvel.

A rushed chapter, Isayama may have messed up some timelines (e.g. Louise's talk with Eren, the changes in day and night), maybe Isayama was too focused on SAUNA SAUNA SAUNA when he was drawing the chapter but anyway, if the chapter was rushed because he wants to move to next plots (eee....east...eeeek...Ki....), I'm fine with it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Chapter Would've been terrific if it weren't for the rushed forced alliance. Mikasa's character also seemed out of place this chapter.

is not a bad chapter but at the same time is not a godly chapter like others but i have faith on isayama that he will blow our minds

Felt very disappointed and it is as if this story is moving to black and white territory again.

Good fast development, optimistic that what was glossed over will be addressed. A bit antsy that this is a setup for some tragedy but I don’t expect total senseless ruin for the characters.

I don't really see where all the complaints are coming from, to me the chapter must be one of my all time favorites ever since I've started reading the manga at the regular monthly pace. I think the build up and the tension have been steadily increasing slowly enough up to this point, and now we've finally reached the top of the roller coaster tracks, and it's time for the ride to the conclusion. I loved the mysterious plan, it reminds me of the uprising arc (ah the good old times).

I hope the author just got a bit lost and had to put things back on track quickly. I want to feel for these characters, not find out that I followed their struggles for chapters to see them dissolve for the sake of the plot.

Eren has suffered a lot over the years and a lot of things have been TAKEN from him - but do you remember "In order to achieve something, you have to give up something important"? I don't think Eren has ever GIVEN up something of his. He's always been a little maniac intent on killing the enemy (which is what he is doing right now). There have been so many characters in the story that have given up their dreams and finally their lives, why is Eren the one that gets to have his cake and eat it too?

I love it cause we need some time of just relax and be happy before the sad ending

I’m hoping the next chapter will make this one better by fleshing things out. Also seeing Annie and Reiner reunite made me deeply miss Bertolt this month.

JE VEUX PAS QUE CE MANGA FINISSE OMG

Reiner getting kicked in the face to wake up and understanding nothing is all of us

The more things don't seem to add up, the more you have to pay attention, that's what I learnt reading this series. And a whole lot didn't seem to add up in this chapter so I'm super hyped!

This is easily one of the weakest chapters Isayama has ever written. After creating all of these subplots that we were expecting to go somewhere and hold emotional weight for the characters were written off into cheap one-liners, off screen reactions and discussion, and just overall completely weak subplots that left us with no emotional payoff.

Boii I'm glad the development on the characters matters only when its relevant to the plot, I almost forget that I used to like them. If Reiner of all people doesn't point out how creepy and disgusting it all is I don't know what to say, what a waste of time of a series.

Connie mentioning Sasha made me cry! Actually makes me wish Eren pulls some time travel shit so that we can have our girl back.

Can I just say I find it funny, and I really love Pieck regardless, it is just a last name after all.

Good, but the former-enemy to friendly-pie-eating turnover rate was wayyyyy too fast!

I thought this chapter was it for Connie, who has been one of my favorites since the beginning. It was a bit sudden but I'm glad him not feeding Falco to his mom is Canon AND that it strengthened his bond with Armin.

It feels like none of the Jeagerists really see clearly what the situation is, or at least don't have an ounce of understanding or sympathy why everyone else is scared and freaked out by what has happened. That in turn makes it harder for non-Jeagerists to act with sympathy, what a vicious cycle.

What bothers me the most is not the way Mikasa interacted with Louise, but the fact that she wanted the scarf back. On a symbolic level, she left it behind a few chapters ago, which meant that she no longer put Eren first and started thinking about herself. She recognized that her bond with Eren was severed. So why take that scarf back now, when it's not supposed to have that much importance anymore?

I can see either the next chapter or the one after showing a flashback of Jean, Armin, and Mikasa discussing that plan. Cutting some parts of a scene and showing it in the following chapter or two is usually an Isayama thing to do.

I don't know why everyone's expecting every single piece of exposition to be laid out for them like meeting minutes. This isn't the first time we've understood what's been going on behind the scenes after the fact.

At the start Connie struggles to hold his emotions, and suddenly he's a hero, cheesy and cliche

Excuse me but can we stop making Gabi involved in everything? Shes so OP at this point

I loved the mockery of the cliche superhero assemble bullshit

STARDUST CRUSADERS

The cringe made me develop a permanent seizure. Also both my eyeballs are still stuck in the back of my head because of the excessive force I used trying to roll my eyes.

The team-up should have been given more time to develop. It wasn’t all bad though.

X-Men on their way to stop Magneto (Eren)

The problem does not lie so much in the pace as in the script tension, which Isayama killed a little in this chapter but intentionally I think. I mean the guys are literally sleeping and eating like it was a party during the freaking end of the world, do you really think he would have let such a thing slip out of clumsiness?

I'm pretty sure that Levi will have the role of "Helos", and Hange his 'Tybur' collaborator, because she's holding a hammer like the guy/girl next to Helos during the play (ch99).

Not the usual quality.

8/10. I liked annie's reunion the best, but wish that hitch had more characterization and wasn't written out so quickly. Ragako subplot was fine but predictable. Louise subplot kinda boring. Avengers assemble at the end was very anime and I liked it.

A peaceful chapter before the storm

A thought: What if Ackermans are the only ones able to actually kill off the Nine Titans? We know they’re byproducts of titan science, maybe they were created to annihilate them? That’d be devastating to see Levi or Mikasa kill Eren and Armin. I’d love it. 😂

Annie is the best girl

Anyone pretending this chapter wasn't utter shit is in hardcore denial.

Did not like the assemble. Nobody can forget what happened in the recent past of Paradis and what the warriors did. But have hope in Isayama

Do Gabi and Falco know that Armin is the Collosal Titan? I thought Connie might let that slip to them and it might create tension between Gabi and Armin but.... No. Everything about that subplot was insanely rushed, there were a lot of ways it could have played out.

Aforementioned last page quote that is so unlike SnK up to this point. Cringey and straight out of an Avengers movie, I can't believe there are people who actually like this development.

I hope Isayama isn't overworking and rushing himself to finish the manga just for the sake of finishing it this year, but I still believe he will finish SnK in a satisfactory manner that will be memorable for decades. However, this chapter as well as 125 were very disappointing and lowered my expectations considering how good the entire final arc had been up to this point.

Errrwiiiiiiiinnnn!!!!!

game of thrones level of trash, i hope for god that the aot ending isn't as bad as final season game of thrones

I didn’t like the Ragako subplot, but I did like Connie saving Armin and their heart-to/heart afterwards.

I don’t think the chapter was rushed. Glad to see Armin finally doing SOMETHING, and I hope it was more a gamble than him wanting to die. Hange’s monologue was so out of character, everyone knows Hange would never want to live in the woods, yet it looks like Hange always  gets discouraged and needs encouragement from somebody else. Seriously, that’s not the Hange we all know. Where’s the ‘defeat is all the Survey Corps ever knew, let’s kick asses!!’ Hange?? that interaction with Pieck brought some of it back thankfully

I don’t understand why everyone is complaining lol

I enjoyed how quickly it moved. We’ve been down in the doldrums since December, so I’m glad to see the characters & the pace picking back up again.

I hate how quickly Hanji becomes depressed. Armin, Jean - they overcame their doubts by themselves. Yet Hanji always needs someone else to tell them to stop being ridiculous. It’s like Levi is babysitting Hanji :/ I miss good, old, badass Hanji

I miss hitch already

I noticed that the way Floch gesticulates during his speech was very reminiscent of how Hitler gave his speeches

I really like Hanji and Levi’s friendship and how Levi always knows what to say to encourage his friends but can we please stop with Hanji being so emotionally weak? I love Hanji, but c’mon- Levi was seriously injured and still needs to treat Hanji like she’s a wounded kid. Jean came to his senses on his own, same for Armin and Mikasa. All they needed was to remember people who died, did Hanji not lose enough comrades to find her strength from? Hanji is one of two veterans left and the commander(!), it really hurts to see her so pathetic, that was hard to read. Glad she looks more like old Hanji at the end of the chapter

I wanted more Annie and Hitch adventures and feel deprived.

i wish there was more to the reunion of Annie & co, but whatever, let’s just move on with this plot.

I'm in the minority here, but I actually liked the chapter. Sure the pacing was a bit off, but this may be because we're getting a detailed explanation for it in an upcoming chapter. Other than that I find it somewhat amusing that so many people that a team-up wasn't happening. Like there was so much goddamned FORESHADOWING about it. Plus the fact that Isayama basically flat-out admitted that he was going to create a team-up a-la Guardians of the Galaxy. I'm not expecting roses and fluffiness at the end of the road, I see a lot of people dying. And I still don't know who's gonna be the victor at the end. It just seemed really clear to me where these character arcs were/are heading. I still have faith in Yams. He hasn't disappointed me yet, so let's just see what he has in store for us.

It feels like Isayama is rushing to finish it off just like Kishimoto did with Naruto Shippuuden and that makes me very sad. I'm worried he'll destroy everything he did until now.

It felt incredibly unrealistic. What I have appreciated most about SnK is its narrative integrity and ability to produce results proportional to the protagonists' abilities. Currently, this feels rather forced. When did they come up with these plans? How could they possibly have alerted Jean ahead of time without anything being shown? It feels like a cheat. Also, I don't like that its just them going after Eren. Realistically, in SnK, a small group of characters, even with their level of power, shouldn't consider going after him how they have. If anything they need to face reality and prepare for the world to come after the rumbling, since if I think anybody in their position would think it is utterly impossible to stop it.

I feel like the pacing of the chapter was this fast so that Isayama could end with the "Avengers Assemble" scene as the big volume cliffhanger for the next one, so he tried to get through the events quickly to give it that poetic ending. In that case, it's possible Isayama might show how some of these events unfolded in the next chapter or two; he usually does that kind of thing when showing big events for the first time. If the next chapter fleshes some of the scenes from this chapter more like showing Jean discussing the Avengers' plan with Mikasa and Armin, I think that could make this chapter better when we look back on it.

It was warm and fuzzy and I really needed that, but the actual details of the new alliance will absolutely need to be expounded upon soon.

It was...fine.

It wasn’t so bad, the hate is really annoying.

It's clear SNK is ending soon so before we see Eren and what else is going on with the rumbling Hisayama wants to close plots with other characters BUT IMO the price of this is giving us less hyped chapters since the walls broke and we still have to see the new Eren titan form…

Just to clarify, "Which throwback did you enjoy most chapter" is intended to be an English sentence, yes? Quality work here as usual, tumblr/reddit big-shots. I hope no one lets you guys near an actual workplace where what you do matters. (A/N: Well you didn't capitalise Tumblr or Reddit so who is the real villain here?)

Let Levi kill that ape. Please. He’s gone through so much and lost everything. Give him just this one little thing

Let's say we generally agreed that this chapter is bad.

Not nearly as bad as people say it was like Jesus heck calm down. I mostly feel bad for isayama tbh he’s probably being pressured to wrap it up and he’s not usually one to not give moments like this chapter proper time.

It's hard to say why Isayama decided to wrap up things fairly quickly, whether he has later flashbacks planned or whether he was overwhelmed with time pressure/suffered a writer's block of whatever. I think, in the end, if the rest of the story wraps up strong, it doesn't matter much.

I'm happy with what happened in this chapter, except the fact that it was rushed and Levi's plot armor, I mean Ackermann blood. He should have lost at least a leg...

The only solace I take in all of this is that the plot can finally move forward. This has been an entire volume of seemingly pointless side quests and I'm ready to focus again on the main story. Frankly, I'm exhausted. I just want answers and I want to know how the story finds resolution.

We had several excellent chapters recently, a subpar one is understandable. Hopefully the Anime will expand on it a bit

[schraubd]

Who Does High Turnout Help?

For as long as I can remember, it has been accepted wisdom that Democrats benefit from higher turnout. This is the view that motivates "if we can just get more people off the sidelines, Democrats will win every election", as well as more pessimistic declarations of how Democrats fare in midterms, off-cycle races, and run-off elections in, oh, let's say, Georgia.

But is it true today? The 2020 election is giving me a bit of pause.

2020 was a big turnout year. We had record turnout -- the highest percentage in at least 100 years, in all likelihood -- and that's with COVID throwing a wrench in things. But while Joe Biden won, and won clearly in the national popular vote, it's not the case that the additional turnout was all a tidal wave of new blue voters. Trump, too, has shown himself to be a turnout machine for the red column. Texas is a good example, where Joe Biden added 1.4 million votes to Hillary Clinton's 2016 total, only to see Donald Trump roughly keep pace by stacking an additional 1.2 million votes on top of his performance in the prior election. That's a lot more people voting, but not a huge net gain for Democrats -- especially given the general "blue-ing" of the state that had been observed over the past four years.

So what's going on? One thing to consider is who the marginal non-voter is, and who they're likely to support if they do come out to the polls. Non-voters are likely less politically engaged and aware -- the classic "independent" voter (which is to say, low-information and ideologically incoherent), and probably exhibit less trust in and affinity towards American political institutions generally. In our current climate, it's far from clear that these aren't easier to for a Trumpist style populist politician to win.

More than that, though, is the issue of the broader realignment we're seeing in partisan identity. Historically, the case for Democrats being aided by high turnout has I think relied on the notion that Democratic voters skew poorer, and poorer voters are less likely to turn out, so the marginal vote gained by heightened turnout is more likely to be a Democratic one. But while it is not the case, contra some lazy takes, that Democrats are now the party of wealthy coastal elites, it is the case that the biggest divide between the parties right now does not track class but rather education. Democrats are overperforming among college-educated voters (of all economic backgrounds), Republicans do much better among those lacking a college degree (again, regardless of economic background). And highly-educated voters are a high turnout group -- they're likely to hit the polls even when other actors do not.

So it's quite possible that reductions in turnout could end up, counterintuitively, aiding Democratic candidates. You can imagine dividing voters into different turnout "tranches", where the highest tranche turns out in every election (that is, even in ones where nobody else votes), the ones below that in slightly more active races, the ones below that in moderately high turnout affairs, and so on down the line until the final tranche which never votes at all. If Democrats are disproportionately represented among the highest tranches, they'd be better served if elections remain low-turnout affairs, since they'd be the only ones showing up to the polls.

Again, this is just a hypothesis and an oversimplification at that. But I do think the education realignment may require adjusting some of our assumptions regarding who benefits from high turnout.

via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/2Kplebq