#sorry for the lengthy post

[dailycass-cain]

Speaking as one of them. Being part of that WHOLE era. Why the waterworks started when holding a physical copy Shadow of the Batgirl and then the damn opening when reading that introduction by writer Sarah Kuhn.

I never thought IN A MILLION years. That Cassandra Cain would ever be given ANYTHING like that again. All the stuff that happened from 2006-2020. I'll fully admit I was beaten and trained by what DC did. Always waiting for them to change their mind, and pull the rug out from under me. Like they did when they walked back on her being EVIL. When they brought her back as Batgirl. When they said they had "big plans". And so on... and so forth with this little dance they gave... dangling that possibility. Then yanking it and we're given limbo.

Just the complete mismanagement by DC Comics. Because simply put, the character ages Bruce and Babs, and they saw NOTHING in the character.

While fans did see things. So many of us did. We did our best with what we had. Writing. Drawing. So many years trying to keep the character afloat. Showing others what we saw.

But that period broke so many. Many gave up with the New 52 being the final straw. Just the absolute. But I didn't. I saw what "they saw" and said, "NO!" I kept that fire burning best I could via anything social media, via my secondary job (at the time) being a part of theOuthousers (which I worked for during the New 52 era until the site's closure).

I tried my very best to just hope for that happy ending.

And... we got Shadow of the Batgirl.

Like... holding that copy. Opening to that introduction reading that graphic novel awakens all the emotions of what was endured. And.. I'm actually holding a solo graphic novel that stars Cassandra Cain. Not only that. Stars her as Batgirl. That treats her and Babs. Adds things to the mythos. Kuhn was much a fan as me. She did it. She got it. Nailed everything.

That's why I cry. A grown-ass old fan just crying his eyes out over a fictional character because a creative team understands them and delivers a banger story too.

Part of me wants to meet Kuhn one day. But another part of me doesn't. Because I'll be a balling mess.I already met artist Nicole Goux and thanked her to the heavens for what she drew in that book. I even got a commission to her drawing Cass for me:

Why I'm more mellow when it comes most when something happens to Cass (say the way she acts or was drawn in Batgirls), the cameos in Tom Taylor's Nightwing (fun stuff). Or Tynion's stuff. But I will criticize when it needs to be critical (i.e. "Gotham War" or the lack of positive exposure in the current Batman run). In truth, I'd probably shake James Tynion IV's hand and thank him repeatedly if he wasn't impossibly hot right now in the comic book world. That and Jessica Chen.

I've been through it all. I'll admit I raged in '06. Those who know me I threw A FIT. Probably wrote the worst Cass Toon because of it (though I still enjoy the "Doctor" joke in it and the other one with the Master taking over DC Comics). But I realized something with age. You have a favorite character? Just keep fighting with instead on WHY you love this character. WHY this character means the world to you. Do it via what you can. Find your method. But never give into the heat. Never target the creatives behind it. Because sometimes its not by their choice they do these things. Even the editorial who might or might not. I'm just tired of being angry. I just want to read a story where a creative team gets this character at the very least.

Why at my older age. I'm chilling and enjoying every second of this. IT IS A GIFT TO ME. A GIFT I'm cherishing every month since 2020. I'll keep doing this till either I just can't or just real life does something. But I just hope I did my job. Just showing WHY I loved this character Cassandra Cain, and just forever grateful we've gotten this period.

From so many glorious Detective Comic runs that had her. DCeased franchise. Dark Knights of Steel. DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration #1. Batman: One Bad Day- Two-Face. Batman: Urban Legends. Batgirls (every issue even THE BAD TWO) I bought all covers save FOUR variant covers. I ADORED the gift that was #14 too. Spirit World. Birds of Prey.

I'm just gonna keep enjoying the ride and if there's an end. At the very least a much better one than ANYTHING from 2006-2011 or the choices from 2016-2020.

BIG shoutout to Cass fans who endured her evil era, her New 52 erasure, and countless other editorial mandates - like you guys really pulled through for her so that newer fans (like me!) can enjoy her in all her glory. Seriously big thank you to older Cass fans <3333.

[themachine]

[lazylittledragon]

right now i'm very torn between "taking critique is important as an artist and it's not an attack on me personally" and "people commenting about my same face syndrome under my posts upsets me an unreasonable amount and i wish they would stop doing it"

[lorephobic]

literally nobody asked for it, but here's my list of saltburn essays that i've slowly been drafting over the course of the last week which WILL be required reading for anybody trying to engage with me about this movie. my very personal saltburn 101 syllabus just dropped

A Wolf in Deer's Clothing: Saltburn's Attempt at Innocence

an examination of party costumes and our character's last attempts to masquerade as something they're not: felix—an angel, all-forgiving and all-knowing, something to be worshiped; and oliver—a prey animal, prey to class-divide, prey to saltburn, prey to felix.

thoughts about oliver specifically are loosely organized in my #bambi tag

A Midsummer Night's Mare: Farleigh Start as the Ultimate Victim of Saltburn

a farleigh character study, about the ways he was mistreated and manipulated at saltburn, about fighting to stay alive and the scars left behind by knowing when to give in

alternatively titled "QuickStart", may be adapted into a conclusive essay specifically focusing on oliver and farleigh's relationship

The Eye of the Beholder: On Saltburn's Voyeurism & Violence [working title]

how wealth and class pushes the catton's toward the volatile reality of being able to look, but not touch. on desire and the lack thereof, and portraying yourself as an object to be desired

may end up as two separate essays on wealth and aestheticism but i'm pushing toward a conclusive essay about the intersection of the two, which i feel is at the heart of saltburn

alternatively titled "Poor Man's Pudding: A Melvillian Approach to Saltburn's Class", again, may be adapted into it's own essay

Gender-Fluid: A Study in Sexuality and Saltburn's Desire to be Dry

a deep dive into the bodily fluids of saltburn and how oliver upsets the standard of men who are just so lovely and dry. on the creative choice to lean into the messy wetness of sex and desire and the audience's instinct toward repulsion

a celebration of the grotesque and an examination of why we would label it as such

least developed of the four, heavily inspired by @charnelpit's lovely post about the fluids in saltburn

if anybody is actually interested in any of these, i can work toward something closer to a finished piece instead of just bullet points and quotes in a google doc, but mostly this is so i can share my very brief takes on a multitude of themes in saltburn that have been haunting me

edit for people seeing this in the future: all posts about my essays are being organized into my #saltburn 101 tag if you’re interested in following these through to development!

[cloudy-with-a-chance-of-chaos]

Because unlike girls, they're not demanded to explain themselves that much.

They don't need to elaborate on why that thing annoyed them, they don't need to list out reasons why they're entitled to be crying.

And unlike what it might look, it's mainly bc nobody cares.

"Swallow those tears, you don't have any reason to cry", "stop being such a babie, you're already a grown boy now!", "don't come crying if you're bullied, just pay them back on the same coin"

Boys have so much trouble communicating their feelings because for ages now we as a society, men as dads and women as moms, have neglected them the right to learn how to communicate and the right to be validated when they do. Moms pampering their little princes and running over their needs to make them look and behave like little kings, unrealizing spoiling them makes them immature. Dads forcing down the same sexism they learned time and time again without realizing how narrow they're making boys' emotional communication range, just to make them "tough" and "reliable" and a lot of things children shouldn't be and that have certain healthier ways to learn !

I could go on about this for the rest of my days based solely on my life experience and how I've seen baby boys born around me go from perfect little princes, beautiful boys, to heartbroken kids that cannot communicate they're scared of a bug because their moms would say that's not okay, that's insane, they should stop being so whiny - and then proceed to treat little girls as fragile lil porcelain dolls in need of all attention of the world.

Boys have trouble communicating feelings because when they're supposed to learn that, they're shut down, pushed aside and fed with sexist behavior instead of healthy ways of coping.

Boys have trouble communicating feelings because they receive only the wrong types of attention when all they needed was to be heard.

Why do boys have some much trouble communicating their feelings?

[kennedycore]

President Kennedy's official White House Portrait (left), and one of the reference photographs used to paint it (right).

When Jacqueline Kennedy commissioned artist Aaron Shikler to paint the official portraits of herself and President Kennedy in 1970, he faced the issue of having to paint JFK posthumously.

According to Shikler, Jackie said, “I don’t want him to look the way everybody else makes him look, with the bags under his eyes and that penetrating gaze. I’m tired of that image.”

Shikler ultimately found inspiration from a photo of Ted Kennedy with his arms crossed and head bowed, kneeling at JFK’s gravesite.

“I painted him with his head bowed, not because I think of him as a martyr, but because I wanted to show him as a president who was a thinker,” said Shikler.

After presenting a series of sketches to Jackie, she would end up choosing this image of her late husband, rather than the other sketches.

[books-are-my-life-stuff]

Mashle: Magic and Muscles Original Drama CD: Mo Mo Tarou

This drama CD was bundled with the third blu-ray/DVD volume of Mashle's first season. Basically, it's Mashle's main five characters in a Momotarou alternate universe.

Mash as Mo Mo Tarou (he also sang the parodied version of Momotarou song in this drama CD)

Finn as the Dog

Lance as the Pheasant

Dot as the Monkey

Lemon as the Ogre

Momotarou itself is a well-known traditional Japanese folklore centered around a boy who was born from a peach. For more information about Momotarou folklore, check here. You can also read the original Momotarou story here.

Each volume of the first season's blu-ray/DVD is accompanied by an exclusive illustration about this alternate universe, drawn by series creator Hajime Komoto. This one is from the first volume.

You can listen to the preview of the Drama CD below, and the rest of the tracks under read more. They're all untranslated, however.

Enjoy!

[grimmweepers]

the next few weeks for me will be complete write offs

[elegyofthemoon]

i was thinking about that post a little more re: sampo being a part of the masked fools or even the stellaron hunters so i'm trying to keep my eyes peeled for some evidence for both sides

For the Stellaron Hunters, the only things I can really come up with is the Stellaron Hunter Logs in the Data Bank, with the name "Sam..." written down but trailing off

as well as trying to find some connection with the name "Epsilon" during his scene at the end of the Belobog arc, with Epsilon being the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet and there being 5 people known in the Stellaron Hunters: Blade, Silver Wolf, Sam (?), Kafka, and Elio.

As for the Masked Fools, using the same screenshot as above, the quote "True happiness always entails the manifestaton of the dignity of mankind" highlights the drive/motivations of Aha the Elation, with happiness being the true meaning of existence for humanity. The Masked Fools take this an extra step to seek out happiness by stirring trouble wherever they can.

There's also this tavern he mentions on his farewell to the unknown person

In the Simulated Universe, a tavern is also mentioned known as Tavern World's End, belonging to the Masked Fools.

Personally, I feel like there's a lot more argument for Sampo being a part of the Masked Fools here, but not against him being a Stellaron Hunter just yet. Just need more proof is all

[daz4i]

i think we should stop making fun of the way ppl dress. saying this as someone who doesn't know shit abt (current) fashion and doesn't want to. all trends are manufactured by corporations you are not better than anyone else for being able to afford keeping up with them. also clothes can be used for self expression and making fun of anyone who dresses in any way that's not the norm is just kind of disney channel school bully behavior of you (that's not even getting into how certain disabilities affect your ability to wear certain clothes so some people literally CAN'T keep up with trends even if they wanted to and could afford it)

[magicianing]

Since bread metaphors are in, I'd like to express a controversial opinion on correspondences.

As the metaphor goes, if you want to learn how to bake bread extremely well, you may study multiple types of bread from various different cultures, because many of these breads will have something to teach you which you can apply to your own bread.

Additionally, in examining the recipes of a multitude of cultures, you may begin to notice a few common threads.

"Bread," you might then say "Is made with flour." And you would not be incorrect.

"But," someone else might point out, "Flour is for making papier-mâché!" And they would not be incorrect either.

So then, does flour have bread-making capabilities, or papier-mâché-making capabilities? It has both.

And what if someone were to add, "Bread is made with almond flour, which is completely different from wheat flour. In fact, you shouldn't use wheat flour, because some people can't use that bread." ("Well I'm allergic to almonds, so really--")

So, if bread can be made without flour, and flour can make things that are not bread, is there any connection between bread and flour at all?

Obviously, there is.

It's just complicated. If you study the practices of many different cultures, and you find similarities, then you might feel inspired to create your own recipe using some of these common traits-- the ones that you find you like the most.

The correspondences of different things are not fixed-- new ones can be constantly invented. Likewise, your spell can be ruined by a bad combination-- or a bad combination for you.

If something is not working for you, find alternatives.

[unfriendly-transman]

I really was hoping I could get an intro post done before I made any proper long rant-y posts by then this bullshit showed up on my page.

Like first of all holy shit you people are babies. Do trans women really need to hold your hand and tell you that you could do no wrong just so you won’t strip them of their identity?

Secondly, “Trans women…get rewarded with female spaces, female prisons…” LMAO what planet are you on? Trans women are constantly pushed out of ‘female spaces’ and if you think they aren’t you have been intentionally cherry picking what news outlets you read because there have been countless school policies, sport bans and even LAWS that are pushing trans women out of women’s spaces. And female prisons? A single google search will prove that a majority of incarcerated trans women are in mens prisons. So don’t worry! You guys still have your female only prisons all at the cheap price of trans women being raped and abused in male prisons because guards practically use them as bargaining chips with violent inmates. (don’t believe me? Look up v-coding. Tw for rape if you do)

Lastly I don’t know how someone could clearly take an issue they have with the patriarchy (upholding gender roles and more specifically the way that female presenting people are treated in a patriarchal s,) and somehow make trans people the aggressors and manipulators in this context when trans people directly suffer from these gender roles and area cgi oh trying to deconstruct them. The end goal for the both of us is almost exactly the same. The collapse of the patriarchy and and the deconstruction of gender roles but some of y’all are just so used to and comfortable with a hierarchical so cited you don’t want to imagine a world where everyone is truly equal, you just want to be on top for once. And trans people are the perfect scapegoats for you to live out the fantasy.

[peridots-pixiwolf]

sketches from @mipexch 's whiteboard a couple days ago!!

also feat. a very small reference to @onlineviolence :]

[loveydoveylex]

hey, i’m actually very curious abt ur interpretation of raymans sexuality, and was wondering if u could share the reasoning behind it (no pressure to answer, just itching 2 know lol)

of course! for starters - gay, gay, homosexual, gay. I think there's something to be said about the fact that there have been multiple attempts at giving rayman a girlfriend, and yet not a single one of them has worked out. x)

ly was shown with rayman in a romantic light in one single rayman 2 wallpaper and their relationship was never even hinted at anywhere else. simonhe was completely scrapped, along with the entire raving rabbids prototype - and, y'know, maybe that was for the better, considering how racist the whole "the only black character in the cast gets enslaved" thing would've been... yikes. raynette was only present in a mural that was exclusive to the ps vita version of rayman origins and never got referenced in any other version of the game, nor has it ever been mentioned again since (and honestly, you're a terrible partner anyways if you chase your boyfriend/husband off a cliff just because he got a haircut you didn't like... 😆)

rayman with a girlfriend... just doesn't really work. it doesn't stick! and a large part of it is because romance doesn't have much of a place in the rayman games. however, I choose the path of ✨self indulgence✨ because I Can.

and for the record, since this conclusion can also be drawn from everything I've mentioned - aroace rayman is also a headcanon I love and support! I'm aroace too, after all - fictosexuality/romanticism is on the aroace spectrum. outside of Videogame Men, I am as romance-repulsed as can be. so it makes me happy to see that represented in others' interpretations of his character. :) I just personally see him as a gay man! I think he's a lil fruity.

either way, rayman is QUEER in one way or another and that is something I stand by. 🫡

[thebramblewood]

Ulrike's Big Night, Part I

Previous / Next

Transcript under the cut.

Helena: “Enough stalling, Faust! At this rate, it’ll be over before we reach the front door.”

Ulrike: “Patience, Zhao. One should never enter the hornet’s nest stone-cold sober.”

Helena: “You make it sound like torture. I thought art was, like, your reason for existing.”

Ulrike: *sighs* “It’s the art itself that matters to me, not the bullshit surrounding it. Sadly, participation is required if you ever want your real art to be seen.”

Helena: “Well, if you’re intent on getting through this thing stoned, I can’t in good conscience let you do it alone. Now, hand that over.”

Ulrike: “Let’s just get this over with.”

Helena: “You won’t even give me a hint?”

Ulrike: “Nope. But they wanted postmodern and I think I outpostmoderned everyone here by a mile.”

[runefactorynonsense]

okay, but i need to know how the rf1 and frontier divide works with the time loop theory

Honesty here; my thoughts on the Time Loop usually go from rf1 -> rf2, especially with various headcanons of mine that I would be using [Prime example being this blog supports a 'rf2 Kyle is the son of rf1's Lynette', which makes a 'bad ending' Sechs victory in 1 suddenly open up with a million game 2 possibilities- Antagonist Kyle!]

HOWEVER.

Given how there are a couple different thought paths with 1, Frontier, and the rest of the universe, the Time Loop setup I've made could be super fun? For example;

"Rune Factory ends, Raguna unmarried, and we roll right into Frontier." This seems to be what I think is implied!

"Rune Factory ends, something happens and forces Frontier to happen." My personal choice is to see it this way; the move was not voluntary.

"RF1 and Frontier are the same characters but separate." I've toyed with this before, with how the game barely touches on old things, with how we have to re-meet Mist, Rosetta, Lara, etc- and, well. Given that it's a GAME, made by a company, for a then-new console, it makes sense that the scene is standalone. Which means, one can consider it the story, and rf1 a different starting story.

I could see that Time Loop setup causing all 3 of those to be true, in different versions. 1, we chase Raguna right into Trampoli; 2, we have a brand new Anime Dead Wife opportunity; 3, we keep him out of Kardia altogether, what happens then?

Now that you HAVE me thinking as I type, though...

Given how Frontier, rf3 and rf4 talk so much about the depleting rune energy in the entire damn world, how you are punished so heavily for ignoring that balance in Frontier if you ignore the Runeys.... I think it could be very fun to imagine that Frontier events have to happen.

Stopping the extra depletion of rune energy could give extra time for Aquaticus to work on his area's problem, and also buy Venti a few more years to live as the 4 events are put into place..

Which also leaves some wonderful open doors for "Raguna had to live on the run" theories I've seen (esp from friends of mine) that come from the Ethelberd violence that ramps up between 1 and 4. Earthmates being hunted down and whatnot. Raguna was already chased from Kardia, and Trampoli isn't exactly a fort of safety, especially when Empire eyes have already discovered it... A super tiny town he'd rather have be safe...

So. Maybe Frontier has to be a "Fixed Point" in the universe (NOTE; I don't watch Doctor Who, but I've always recalled that term as it is so useful). We need it to happen. And maybe that means accidentally erasing family happiness from 1 in order to for sure chase the boy into Frontier!

All this being fun speculation, of course, and thank you for the chance to think about it!! As I genuinely had not factored in that game into my thinking!!