#tbf two of the formed like a year or more ago

[ph0bia-archives]

I play ONE video game from 6 years ago and now four characters are in my head

[washa]

I listened to The Summit audio (part 2) and here’s my favourite personal comments/thoughts! (I HAVE SO MANY QUESTION WHAT)

YEAH WHAT IS FUCKING GOING ON??

Tf do you mean Porter, THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN PORTER

William order you to WHAT NOW 

Oh my god it’s an alibi for both of them

Alexis please find some care in your heart.

I mean.. We could make it a game of Cluedo. It would add more to the plot. 

Can vampires even get wrinkles??

“I didn’t kill him, now relax, we have work to do.” That was the most human i’ve heard Alexis.

—--------------------

OH HEAVENS SWEETHEART IS ALIVE WHOOP WHOOP

Wait did they see what happened??? 

Oh no Asher sounds so stressed 😭

—--------------------

David needs a fucking break

Pushed magically away? Oh shit is closeknit here. 

It’s so interesting to see the characters discover plot we already know of, Imagine their reaction to Sunshine and Elliot or Blake and Bestie.

Sweetheart maybe take the memo and not do this

Goddammit Porter. Godfuckingdammit.

Confrontation part 2??? Let’s go

—--------------------

“Get in line.” Porter you snarky bitch

WOAH THERE ASHER?? I’m kinda woahie ����

My jaw is dropped. MY JAW IS DROPPED ASH. THE TEETH??

Are they on the floor, like Porter being pinned or?

Big word time 😇

I’m so lost right now. I'm so shitty abt politics, all I'm getting is a corrupt government. 

Kinda attracted to both of them rn… 💕

Porter and Asher both have great points tbh

Where’s Sam when you need him 😕

—--------------------

Are we really doing a trial right now??? RIGHT FUCKING NOW???

So the department ruling has only been formed for 50 years. Oh wait nvm that's not Alexis.

OH HI SAMMM

Monarch Baz is so self centered I loathe her, But damn she can be commanding when needed.

“Do we get a vote.?” “Do I look like a vampire, How the hell should I know?” Yes you two make some comedic relief, god knows we're gonna need it.

What are the mates/partners doing?? Is Lovely playing uno with Angel in a corner or??

I’m losing track of the whole houses thing, but that’s ok. 

Monarch Baz sounds so URGAJDDSAK.

“Zane, Ephraim-” , I heard Zac Efron and I was so confused. WAIT IS THAT HOW ERIK GOT THE NAMES??

I’ll be honest, I don’t think “The House of Shaw” and the Solaire Clan are gonna be allies after this 😭

The House of Shaw needs a break what about that 😇

“A piles of bones, obviously.” God it’s sass meeting sass.

ASH?? Are we breathing him in right now???

“Only the bones were left.” Aw yum?? Little chew toy for Darlin’ or something 🤷‍♀️

Beheaded Adam style, Lovely. (Pun intended)

“Considering his skull was halfway across the room, I’m assuming he was beheaded. That, or someone played an impromptu game of soccer with the good king’s skeleton after the fact.” Alexis put a muzzle on yourself please 😭

Yeah tbf Christoper isn’t really a saint here, Vincent can vouch for that. Also where is Vincent.

Calm conversation?? CALM CONVERSATION???

What’s with him and blaming Solaire Clan?

Christoper. Maybe look Lovely in their traumatic eyes and tell them that. STRAIGHT TO THEIR FACE. 

Adam hate club 🙌

Porter standing up for Vincent? Wow he really does keep his word on the whole Solaire’s stick together, also how many people have been killed now.  

“Well, I realized I left the stove on four years ago when I left, I needed to come check on it.” God the Solaire’s breathe sass don’t they. 

Nevermind. All vampires are sassy. 

What is the Shaw pack doing again, are they just in the corner.

Demon blood? Yeah David. POISON??

So hypothetically, If Gavin bled and sprinkler style sprayed his blood everywhere, he could kill a bunch of Vampires if it gets them in the mouth. 

“Shockingly we don't make a habit of broadcasting our weaknesses pup.” Is this an Imperium reference or?? (I've only seen like edits of Asher being called pup so idfk??)

How the fuck did someone get demon blood. A blood bank??

Why are they so sassy? WHY ARE THEY SO FUCKING SASSY??

CLOSEKNIT GETTING BLAMED WOO, I was so scared they were gonna blame Sweetheart or something. 

NO BC FR THAT CLOSEKNIT AD WAS SO FUCKING RUDE, AND IT WASN'T EVEN A GOOD AD. IT WAS LIKE A PERFUME AD.

If the Shaw Pack is gonna keep getting trampled can they just leave? Pup, Dog, A leash??

Christopher, Your fucking alibi is so shitty man, You’re so fucked 😭😭

Oh shit he’s found guilty. HOLY SHIT WAS THAT HIS NECK??

The Shaw Pack is losing their minds and rightfully so, what the fuck.

IS THIS NORMAL TO GET KILLED OR SOEMTHING???

Bye Alexis?

OH LOVELY WAS THERE?? Oh yes ma’am.

Yes we’ll speak with William. IF WE CAN GET IN CONTACT WITH HIM??

Well. At Least that’s good? Thanks Monarch.

No Vincent, baby. 

Porter, You confusing bastard. 

IS THAT THE END?? NO URGSHDH. NOT AT THE LORE DROP URIFEKDFDF

[cursedvibes]

I had a bit of realization that in Stiches Across the Eye, Jin's only interactions with sorcerers are Kenjaku and Uraume and that as far as he knows all sorcerers are queer or exist and present outside the gender binary. Since Yuuji was born in like early 2000's with the world becoming more accepting to gay rights, adoption, marriage and the internet was more accessible I can't help to think of Jin wanting Yuuji who he already knows is different to feel happy and not ashamed of either his parents or their relationship or himself so he researches a lot of things on queer parenting, letting kids express themselves on clothing and hobbies regardless of gender, probably ask Kenjaku on advice and some textbooks but milage goes on helpful * that* would go depending although I feel Jin would probably learn a few things about himself along the way.

You really could get the impression that being gnc gives you superpowers lol so far he doesn't even know what sorcerers or curses are, he just knows that Kenjaku has some supernatural abilities and Uraume is also older than they look but their version of "immortality" is different from Kenjaku's. Also, he sometimes has scary dreams. And eating meat of suspicious origins is good for your health. He's gonna find out more soon though...

Japan's improvement on LGBT rights goes at a snail pace (there's no clear anti-discrimination law for queer people and same-sex marriage is also a grey zone), but they did have some reforms in the 2000s like recognising same-sex marriages from other countries and trans people are allowed to legally change their gender since 2003 (Yuuji's birth year yay), provided they're over 22, unmarried, in the process of or post-SRS, sterile and without children under 20. At least they lowered the age to 18 recently, but you still have to be sterile (tbf where I live trans people technically have to be sterile too to change their gender and have undergone some form of medical transition, marriage status and children are unimportant tho). In everyday action things look better and there's room for exceptions, but the legal and medical situation still has room for improvement. Recently, there have been a lot of positive changes. First case of same-sex adoption happened in 2017 and they introduced a partnership family system a few months ago which could potentially work in a similar way. Among other things it will allow you to pick up your kid from school even if you aren't the biological parent and make medical decisions for the child. Japan also allows mlm to donate blood, which makes them a lot better than my home country.

I definitely think that Jin would raise Yuuji with as open a mind to these things as possible. Both because of Kenjaku, but also because it's just not in his nature to think restrictive like that due to not being straight and adhering to strict gender-roles either. He's not that well-versed and up-to-date on the lingo or has a very close connection to the local queer community (Kenjaku and Uraume don't count), but for example Kenjaku made him realise that he doesn't actually care about his partner's gender. He learned about people changing their pronouns and names too and implemented it without much trouble. Same with Kenjaku's developing dysphoria. So, I think that he knows a lot of things instinctually, but just hasn't been confronted with them before and doesn't always put it into words. Like in the recent chapter for example, where he also kinda expressed that he doesn't see an issue with two men raising a child.

If Yuuji wanted to play with dolls or wear a dress, he wouldn't think about prohibiting that because Yuuji's wishes and wellbeing come first. He might not think of challenging Yuuji to try it out, like deliberately going to the girls section in a store, but if Yuuji ran over there on his own, he wouldn't think that's weird. Since he sees his relationship with Kenjaku as relatively normal, he'd explain it that way to him too. The whole "your mother used to be a woman, currently doesn't strongly identify with any gender but that might change in the future" is really the easiest part about their family relations...

He'd definitely get more educated through Kenjaku though and be very open to learning. It would also be a good opportunity for him to find out more about them by having them tell him about their experiences with the gay community in Chengdu or hearing about the new innovative surgeries they do in Thailand for example. There's gonna be a bit more exploration of Jin's attraction & sexuality in the final chapter, particularly in regards to how he feels about Kenjaku's current vessel, which isn't a woman (spoiler but not really). Lots of new experiences waiting for him.

Not sure how helpful Kenjaku's input on the matter would be for Yuuji... just being his mother regardless of gender identity already tells him enough as is and I don't think Yuuji needs much explanation from them anyway (I think most children are pretty quick on understanding these things unless they had a very conservative upbringing). I'm sure Kenjaku would still gladly give him a rundown of Japan's entire LGBT+ history. Now that will confuse him 😅

Btw, I think Wasuke has a similar attitude towards queer people & topics as Jin, he's just a little more steeped in tradition. So for example, his default thinking is that Jin will obviously seek out a relationship with a woman because the existence of gay people isn't really at the forefront of his mind, Jin already had a longterm relationship with a woman and even though Jin had some tentative gay feelings as a teenager, he never explored them due to already being in love with Kaori and definitely never told his father about it (as you can tell emotional talks aren't really their strong-suit). But if Jin had gotten into a relationship with some nice guy after Kaori's death, Wasuke wouldn't have had much of a problem with it. He'd be worried because of the risk of HIV and all the horror stories you'd hear about it on the news around that time, but he'd have no problem with the relationship itself. Maybe he'd be a bit surprised, but that's all. The problem he has with Kenjaku is more their abuse of his family members, not their gender. If Kenjaku had turned out to be a sweet, innocent little brain, he'd still be freaked out by the whole possession thing, but have less of a problem with their relationship with Jin.

[entamewitchlulu]

There's several on there I'm curious about but imma narrow it down a bit ^^; I saw Dragonriders and Dragon x Slayer and got all jazzed cause Dragons. Unicorn Field Guide and Arc of Magic sounds interesting, but then I spotted Lancer Yoko and almost shot out of my seat, PLEASE tell me about it. (also a bit unrelated but I love that I recognise several of these titles/au's. all of em are great too)

Thank you so much!! I'll happily talk about all of them lol.

(ask me about one of my wips and i'll tell you about it)

Putting this under a cut cause it'll get long

Starting with the one that's the least fleshed out, the Dragonriders AU is, well. it's a dragonrider au lol. All the main Arc V characters have dragons, and it's a fantasy world that semi-similar to something like Eragon crossed with Dragonriders of Pern, but you know, legally distinct.

I was doing designs for some of the dragons for them, like translating Odd-Eyes into a more traditional looking dragon and such. I didn't really have too much more to go on, so it might end up being more an aesthetic doodle thing than a fully fleshed project, but i dare to dream lol.

Dragon x Slayer is a sort of original fantasy world with Arc V characters, where there is this mountain range where the kingdom of dragons is, and it's cut off from the rest of the world by a magical barrier that prevents dragons from leaving. It was put there hundreds of years ago after a war between humans and dragons that the dragons supposedly lost, ending up with them being sealed away. Meanwhile, in the human world, adept humans go to an academy to learn how to be slayers, to kill dragons that manage to pass through the barrier before they can kill humans.

The longest story short, the dragon boys are all of course dragons in this au, with the ability to shift into human forms. They are the sons of the dragon king Zarc, who has become dangerously unstable since the barrier was erected. The dragon boys each find their own ways to sneak out from under Zarc's increasingly strict eye in order to explore, and one by one they all meet humans for various reasons, who come to learn that the dragons aren't necessarily as dangerous as they were led to believe. Reiji, for example, is a top of his class slayer who was tasked to enter the barrier and kill a dragon as part of his graduation exam, but he was injured during his time in the mountains and rescued/nursed back to health by Yuya.

The basic crux of this one is that the leaders of both factions (Zarc and Leo) are becoming increasingly warlike against each other while the people underneath them are trying to find ways to make connections with each other and mend the rift between the two kingdoms.

The Unicorn Field Guide is in its most basic early stages, but this one is basically one of those fun fake field guides a la Dragonology about my concept for unicorns in my fantasy universe. Basically, unicorns are a universal constant that seem to spring up out of nothing and are anthropomorphized concepts of natural forces (stars, trees, oceans, etc), and the field guide is like a scientist going around to different dimensions and cataloging all the unicorns they find there. This is mostly an excuse for me to get to draw lots of unicorns lol.

Arc of Magic is another Arc V AU lol. this time it's a retelling of my favorite middle grade fantasy series, Avalon Web of Magic. Basically, Yuzu, Ruri, and Selena (Rin joins up later) are regular girls from the real world who are tasked to become mages in order to defend another fantasy world from the destructive spread of the Sorceress and her corruptive magic that is killing the magical animals. Also Yuya is a ferret.

Lancer Yoko is a canon divergence where after the events of the Battle Royale, Yoko marches up to Reiji and pretty much demands that he let her join up with everyone because like hell is she letting Yuya go off on his own and she needs to go get Yuzu back for Shuzo anyway (girl's practically her daughter tbf lol). She mostly acts as a sort of coach/trainer for the other Lancers and helps Reiji develop unique action fields for each of them (because i think crossover, while a function of the story and also easy to animate, is boring) that play to their strengths to help them have an edge over their opponents.

I didn't get very far with my notes for this one, but I think I'd still have her separated from Yuya at the prison arc, cause as much as I love her I don't think Yuya would really grow if his mom was hovering over him too much lol. Instead I think she'd get teleported along to wherever Reiji was in Synchro arc because on the other hand, Reiji stands to benefit immensely from having a real mother hovering over him lolllllllll

thank you for asking :)

[icharchivist]

Sorry, drama again, just remove ask if you are tired/don't want to talk about it anymore and take care <3

I feel bad, but also I am kind of sipping tea, because when I was able to recognize his voice easily, because Lucifer, but... Welp... Somehow his voice never fitted Lucifer for me, both in gbf and rage of bahamut anime (didn't played the game) and generally when I head him I felt like I would like to punch him. No idea why, just his voice alone was pissing me off, the more I was able to recognize him in anime or game from sigh alone, like "it's you again, Sakurai". I have no idea why, seriously, it was few years ago and now I think it's kind of hilarious.

Tbf, I wouldn't mind recast or something, especially if it would help get Lucifer faster or something. *Sips tea* i feel so unable of emotions, like I should feel sorry and bad for those he cheated, but on the other hand... Will it change anything? My brain is rewired too much around Lucifer to really care... Oh welp, I will deal with it some day

I must say I am pretty excited for next stream. I think gbf mentioned earlier evokers 5* around this time and curious about Vikala uncap. Oh, don't they show trailer for anniversary around this time? Also I am finally getting close to my first transcend eternal and right now I am blocked by... Whorls and orbs, damnit. I think have most/can easily get most of materials for 150lvl and here I am... With not enough whorls and orbs, damnit *angy* Super Ultimate Angel Halo when with Super Ultimate Rewards, hmphf

Remember to drink water, but not too much!

ahah it's okay

I can't relate at all to how you feel about it since Sakurai was legit one of the first seiyuu i really obsessed over (he played two formative characters from my childhood that i was obsessing over when i was 13, ironically also paired with Suzuken, so i've had a lot of affection for his voice ever since, and seeing him paired with Suzuken in gbf again felt really on brand. All the more reasons for me to be sad), so personally i could never find he was out of place anywhere, it was just, ah, funny Sakurai following me around and giving me characters with similar thematic to haunt me!

I guess now you have justifications to your kneejerks reaction lmao

of course i feel bad for the victims of it all first and formost, especially since both mistresses came forward with a lot of health issues due to the stress the whole situation put them through it's just. another layer of horrible. I don't think it's fair to think about the outrage in the sense of "will it change anything?" i think just having compassion for the people involved is enough. We don't even have to address it per se, it's not like our voice matters, but i think it's at least the minimum before talking about our grieves for fictional matters that don't matter as much.

When it comes to his roles, it's so tricky because it's not just GBF to take into account. None of the big franchise that relies on Sakurai's name has done anything to distance himself from him, hell, between those two scandals ff7 released a new game where Sakurai took back his iconic role, and mp100 got its new season where Sakurai's character is just as beloved as ever. And we know GBF brought him back for the NY's intro with Lucio as well. And i also saw a recent anime announcement of a brand new IP hiring Sakurai, while they don't even have the excuse of trying to stay consistant with legendary characters he played.

It's like everyone is agreeing it's a very fucked up things he's done but he's too associated to their brands for them to do anything about it. It's so wild and confusing and hard to really predict where it's going to go from here.

GBF alrready announced 5* Lucifer and i don't see them announcing a recast so far, so it's really difficult to know if they even can terminate their countract with Sakurai at this point.

(To this day the only efficient seiyuu scandal solving i saw was with a3 when one of the seiyuu came out as rancid and a3 and his company literally dumped him the day after everything about him came to light, and they replaced him in the following week by the actor who played his character in the stage adaptation of the game. Then in the month that followed his voicelines were completely muted from the game and they revoiced the whole thing with the new VA in the following year. It was so swift and efficient that now when i just see them all go silent and wait for it to get quiet again, i just think they don't think it's worth addressing to start with lmao. Tho we are talking vastly different level of crimes so it is probably not the best scale for me to judge that with).

Next stream should mention things about Evokers's 5* yes, and we're all waiting for Vikala's 5* announcement. They should also show a trailer for the new anni event there, so we gotta stay tuned.

Congratz on the soon transcendance! Whorls and orbs are the worst, sorry you have to deal with it o7 this is such an Eternal grinding thing to happen lmao. More Halo jail for you rip.

Thanks for the reminder, and same goes to you! take care!

[wollemi-whump]

✨🧊🧠 for a cute OC

A cute oc you say? I'd say Aerick is pretty cute.

✨- How did you come up with the OC’s name?

Oh goodness. It's still not fully cemented. I have two OCs in this story, Aerick and Cypress. I'm constantly switching their names because they fit each character but in different ways. Ohhhh I don't know who should have each name :(

I have to admit, I stole "Aerick" from an artist's collection of art of their OCs that I saw years ago. I always thought it'd just be a good name for someone eventually. I mean, it is an actual name, that's just where I saw that spelling first. Initially, Aerick was named "Cypress" but again it's switching all the time. "Cypress" I just liked because it really fit the fantasy forest village setting and I have a habit of naming things after plants.

🧊 - Is their current design the first one?

Not exactly. Look wise, yes. Personality wise, no. Aerick is supposed to be around 17-19, but I realized I had been writing him as someone younger. He wasn't as mature nor did he have as much common sense (tbf the hs students I knew were desperately lacking both but I'm drawing now from the best ones I knew). Really, in his first form, he was a tiny bit annoying. For his current form, I made him smarter, more reserved, more charismatic, and I also gave him an existing positive dynamic with Cypress, so that he wouldn't be viewed negatively during Cypress's POV scenes. It also really helped with Cypress's arc because instead of having to travel it alone, he gets spurred on by Aerick since they already have that caring friendly relationship.

🧠 - What do you like most about the OC?

I really like how Aerick genuinely loves everything around him. His parents and Cypress, yes, but also his village and the kind strangers he meets. The animals, his home, the forests and plains around him, his hobbies, his projects. He really has a love for everything which is what makes him so willing and excited about trying new things and experimenting.

Thanks for the ask!!!!! <3

[itsjustascarecrow]

lol just so i'm not adding more tags onto that least fave horror genre poll, i'm gonna throw some more thoughts under a readmore b/c i have a lot of feelings about it for some reason, lmao

initially i was just gonna point out that zombies also wasn't on the list, unless op was categorizing them under something else?? but considering all the others i noticed weren't present (folk, spacial, and creature feature; also anthology if you wanna count that, but it's more of a format), i figure it was merely a case of like the limitations of that kind of post like only having so many options. i've also seen people make the argument that zombies isn't really a genre, just a type of creature; same w/ like all these vampire and frankstein themed films we've been getting this past year or so. so idk if universal monsters would be it's own subgenre separate from something like a standard creature feature (i.e. jaws, the godzilla films, any sort of man vs. beast type movie), vs. like. idk, do people consider the predator and alien films slashers??? i think that may be the case w/ like the leprechaun and puppetmaster series, for example; it's not a singular masked killer, but it's someone/thing(s) killing people off until we're left w/ a final girl of some description. alien is sci-fi horror, sure, but most slasher series tend to have at least the one obligatory "in space" installment, so i guess?? one can argue alien just does that from the start and never leaves. and setting goes back and forth w/ predator, but that's even more so a slasher-type set up, so. idk, some of these definitely start to get too muddled where it may just come down to personal interpretation (like i was just posting about re-animator earlier today and just thought to myself it's technically a sci-fi zombie movie, lmao). some may have an objective answer, but part of me wants to play devil's advocate and leave it open.

speaking of, devil/possession films were also absent from the list; i tend to steer away from them mostly b/c of the religious aspect. partly it's overplayed, partly i just don't care for it. when evil lurks was a fantastic break from form by removing that element, but it may be just about the only example i can think of that does possession through infection as opposed to some kind of demon. in any case, would've been interesting to see where that would've placed; my guess would be either very high or very low. given that gothic was the lowest, my assumption is that maybe people just like the aesthetic?? esp when taking a tumblr audience into account, lol.

body horror being second surprised me; maybe people just think it's gross? which tbf was why i almost picked that, but then i had two thoughts about it: 1) it's another blind spot for me (and what little i have seen i liked) so didn't feel like a good enough reason, and 2) as someone who's gnc, picking it would've felt like some sort of betrayal, lmao. like i've not undergone any surgeries or hrt, anything like that, but still lol, felt almost hypocritical (and again esp given that this is a tumblr audience being polled). of course the works of cronenberg are prob what first come to mind for most people, which sure, he's not for everyone; i'll even admit that the ulterior motives and themes he tries to tackle kind of go over my head at first, but i think i just need to take more time w/ it. b/c at a base level, when i finally watched videdrome for the first time a couple weeks ago, i was enthralled by the actual body horror elements when i was actually seeing them instead of just imagining it based on reputation. same w/ og hellraiser; that shit is gnarly, so yeah, if you're at all squeamish, you're not gonna have a good time. but if you're desensitized and willing to explore the why of what's going on, it can be fascinating. or, if nothing else just enjoying the incredible practical effects (here's looking at you, the shunting scene from society).

and i was a lil surprised fantasy wasn't higher up b/c it seems like people who do watch them end up hating it, but it's prob something not a lot even know about or have seen. or, my other speculation is perhaps people just think it's too campy, too childish, too goofy, somewhere in that vein like too close to comedy where it can be really hit or miss. again, i'll mention the leprechaun series b/c while that has supernatural/slasher elements, it's specifically a fantastical creature (or a version of one) at the helm. but realistically, it really is most likely a case of people not having enough experience/examples of it to give it a vote as compared to anything else.

another i almost went with was psychological; person i rb'ed from said they're boring which i can understand. the only real argument i have can honestly be said for any of these but like if it's done well, then they're plenty fun and interesting. but given nowadays most examples tend to fall into "elevated horror," it seems divisive. personally, i just take it on a case-by-case situation; some i like, some i don't. again, same can be said for all these genres. as a side note, i wonder if op of the poll considers giallo under this umbrella; i tend to like most giallo films but, i'm also a sucker for a lot of 70s horror when those were more popular. i recently watched berberian sound studio which was a 2014 sort of homage to 70s giallo, and yes it was slow, not particularly scary/not a lot of big scares or very bloody, and ended somewhat abruptly w/o explaining much. but i fucking loved it; can't pinpoint why exactly, and i could see why a lot of the reviews said they were so bored w/ it. thrillers/psych horror is a weird one b/c they can end up being predictable and/or drag on a bit, so idk, maybe i'm just more forgiving. plus i can see why it's more appealing to those who hate slashers, etc., and how that same reason is why others don't like it.

ultimately, i figure no matter how many subgenres you throw in there, slashers will always end up the least fave. personally, i've enjoyed most of the ones i've bothered to watch (b/c there's plenty i've just not cared to bother with), but i understand it's considered schlock to casual and hardcore fans alike, esp the older stuff when it was way more abundant. and i guess one can argue it technically hasn't gotten much better at its core, like technically the kills (the how and who) are more diverse, but it's the overall setup/plot that people feel is just way too overdone at this point. which is fair. it feels like a staple of horror as a whole, even tho it's not where the genre got its start, but it's clearly given way to stuff like the torture porn years of the 20-oughts that really turned people away from horror as a whole. my first instinct is to say i'm not too familiar w/ neo-slashers to make the comparison, but that could just be a term for any slasher made after a certain year, idk. if anything, i think as much as some may complain it's just the same thing over and over again, clearly the formula still works.

basically all of this to say i can see the arguments for and against for each subgenre and now i would love to see a more in-depth poll (or perhaps multiple, more specified polls) reach a wider horror audience.

[bobbyfiend]

Boycott the system vs Change from within

First, I generally don't judge people for saying "fuck it" and resigning or boycotting in protest of a corrupt or ineffective system. That's a choice. Another choice is to continue working within the system, pushing for change.

I have a very close friend who works in the government of a state. She's on important (though generally invisible to the public) committees dealing with juvenile justice, racial disparities, treatment of marginalized populations, and intersections of those. She cares very much about what she does, she has deep education (and constant self-motivated ongoing education) about these issues, and she even has the education to do committee/community/systemic work well. Frankly, she's pretty fucking awesome.

And she kind of wants to tear her hair out on a regular basis because she frequently feels like she's the only person who cares enough about the things the committees were formed for to seriously work for those things. She finds herself being scoffed at when she suggests reasonable things to reduce burdens on marginalized youth, increase social justice, or even just reduce state costs by way of making things better for vulnerable people. She has found reasonable social justice measures blocked by committee members and sometimes her superiors (though other superiors seem supportive, TBF). The appointed leaders of one or two of her committees seem so completely uninterested in achieving the committees' goals that they become the major impediments to accomplishing anything--e.g., by not showing up for meetings, consistently failing to do any prep or follow through on action items, etc.

One reason I'm not going to give more information about this friend--maybe I'll call her Petra--is that she's an anarchist. Like, serious, dyed-in-the-wool, fuck-the-system anarchist. She's not an anarchist because she likes chaos (because that's not anarchism, ofc); she's an anarchist because she doesn't believe our current systems--or governments in general--can solve our problems. She's a realist, as well, though, and a "hopeless hoper." She believes it's not a zero-sum situation; she believes positive change can still happen. Usually she believes this.

I think the most head-to-desk story I have from Petra is from a year or two ago, when she was in a group tasked with increasing social justice and reducing racial and ethnic disparities in youth contact with law enforcement. In other words, they were supposed to come up with policy recommendations to reduce the disproportionate number of nonwhite kids who get arrested. In one of the committee's meetings things went to a weird place, after months of very little being accomplished: Petra described a sense of horror as the conversation shifted--with thoughtful "wise nods" and "serious" supporting comments--toward a perfectly insane proposal: creating programs to train Black and other nonwhite youth to speak "more respectfully" to police officers. To reduce disparities. To promote social justice. This was the solution: to blame kids. Nobody listened as she explained that this didn't really address the problem in any meaningful way, amounted to victim blaming, etc. My face when she told me probably looked like hers, when it happened. What. The. Fuck. Yeah, this is why we can't have nice things.

So what is Petra doing in state government? Holding the damn line is what. But seriously, why? My answers, after knowing her a while, are (a) she had a very difficult adolescence, young adulthood, and later early adulthood in which state employment played a huge part (i.e., in paying rent and later tuition), (b) because she is good at it and she has the skills, and (c) because she sees opportunities to help.

About once every couple of weeks she says she's sick of this shit and she's moving to Europe. This is a 100% credible threat: she has made huge, life-changing decisions many times in the past and followed through on them. Plus, she knows people in Europe who would put her up for a few months. I feel her frustration. I also feel it when she says she can't call herself a true anarchist (I think she's calling herself a hypocrite) because she works for the government. I understand those points. I really do. I also don't want her to fuck off to Europe, because she's awesome and she'd be across the world from me. Who would tell me of the petty insanity of state government work? And I don't want her to, because I think she is doing excellent, necessary work, and I shudder to think of who would take her place.

Would her replacement spend hours of their free time on a regular basis reading up on research and current events so they could make the most informed decisions possible? Would they spend days or weeks or months cultivating relationships in government and community agencies so that positive change was more likely when it was proposed? Would they actually fucking care about anything beyond angling for a promotion or reducing their workload?

I will 100% respect her decision if she rage-quits her job. But I will be really sad if that happens, and I am convinced there are a lot of people whose lives will be worse for it, in the years to come.

In my experience (limited) and reports from people I know (less limited), state governments in the US are not just a bunch of zombie drones, status-hungry climbers, etc. There are many people in these governments doing earnest, sincere work for principles they believe in. Hell, I think the only reason we have even a semi-functioning democracy (or federal government at all) after four years of Trump is because the "bureaucats" held the line in whatever ways they could. I also believe there are enough soul-dead, cynical, or status-hungry people in state governments to fuck things up. I think state governments can probably be seen as a constant, slowly-churning fight between these kinds of elements. I think we need people like Petra, and we'll be worse off if they get so sick of the shit that they leave.

[twothirdsgenius]

I don’t want to wade into the “adhd diagnosis from afar discourse” BUT please tell me more about how your self-expression changed before and after treatment.

Oh yeah it’s showtime 😎 Also hey! As a fun little experiment, I’m going to set a reminder to myself going to respond to this tomorrow when I’m on my meds, because mine wore off about two hours ago and so I might not make sense ☠️ I will also avoid talking about dan in this area but like I have a lot of things to say about that if anyone wants to slide into my dms 👀

First thing worth mentioning is that there’s actually three official forms of ADHD, and I have combined type (both inattentive and hyperactive). I’ve been on meds for three years, and I’m 23 so I got a diagnosis much earlier than many who are also afab. I also had a lot of traumatic experiences in school at the hands of teachers who frequently humiliated me in front of my classmates whenever I would say something odd, and so I tried to just stop talking altogether but my impulsivity never let me stop and so it was just this never ending story. These experiences definitely had an impact on how I expressed myself before meds. I had a really hard time formulating thoughts and then having those thoughts leave my mouth the way I intended them to. I would often get really snappy and lash out at people and I would get super impatient with people because they were taking too long to finish what they were saying and so I would just finish their sentences for them and I was usually exactly on the money? Because my brain was So Fast but it was too fast for me to finish a thought or finish a sentence and so I would just sound like a rude fucking nutcase. I would just ramble, it was like the verbal form of trying to play darts with your eyes closed. Sometimes I would just trail off mid-sentence (still do when my meds aren’t active) because Brain.exe would just crash for no reason!!

Before meds, trying to express myself was like there was a bunch of cogs in my brain that would otherwise be perfectly functional, but there was one single cog that was jammed and couldn’t move and so all of the other cogs were stuck too. And so during conversations I would try and contribute but there was a stuck cog that fucked everything up and so whatever came out of my mouth was what it was.

I think this is why I got so into writing as a kid. I felt stupid whenever I would talk out loud but when I wrote it was like physical proof that I wasn’t an idiot. People used to call me the r word a lot, although tbf that was just as much about my dyscalculia as it was about my ADHD (both are comorbidities, fun fact)

The first time I took my starter dosage of adderall, I actually broke down into tears because it was the first time I had ever felt calm. The cobwebs got cleared and that one damned cog got unstuck and I started talking again. Really talking, not stumbling through my words. It took me a long time to realize this but the real me is the person I am when my brain is working properly with the aid of my meds. I’m much more patient, I’m much quicker to forgive people and less likely to get angry even if someone were to directly provoke me and I’m much more talkative when I’m on my meds. I’m more likely to strike up conversations with strangers (I live in the midwest and this skill has become very useful because people will just talk to you??) and I have an easier time talking to my friends.

I also have an easier time talking to myself. I’m much more patient with myself. I’m much more forgiving towards myself. And this has a lot to do with both the therapy I’ve done and!! because my meds help so much with my impulse control!!

I’m so sorry I wrote like the fucking Iliad in response but I’m always down to talk about this so thank you very much I appreciate this ask more than you know

[agent-carvour]

It is a common misconception that effective torture is created through especially cruel and painful techniques, but really, the crucial part is combining different methods to create a truly agonising experience for the torturee.

However, you're in luck because I happen to be a master of torture, and I love talking about it, actually.

And before anyone says anything, yes, torture is a special interest of mine, but I'm not planning on practising it anytime soon. The thing is, once you look into it and get involved with the community, you realise that torture is a very interesting art form that combines the study of anatomy with psychology and requires a lot of creativity.

{cw: descriptions of torture methods Not more graphic than the ones you get from wikipedia but might still be upsetting if this is a sensible topic for you (tbf some of the descriptions on wikipedia are kinda upsetting too)}

So, you asked about the specific techniques that cause the most pain. The opinions on that are very divided. Everyone thinks they know the ultimate method to induce the most pain, and everyone thinks it's something different. Of course, there isn't really a way to test it. You can't test two methods on the same person without the results of the second method being influenced by those of the first one, and different people can't compare their experiences since they only experienced one of them each. Not to mention that I doubt many torturees will be willing or able to give a detailed report of what they're feeling.

in my honest opinion, I don't think it matters. At a certain level of physical pain, it stops making a difference anyway. What matters is that you keep introducing new types of pain so the torturee doesn't get used to it. Still, if you want some recommendations for specific techniques, I'm the right person to come to.

First of all, there is my personal favourite. Burning. It's simple but effective and there is a variety of ways you can inflict it. There's the classic boiling water - or oil if you're that kind of person - or hot iron, and, of course, actual fire. But I've also heard about people pouring molten metal over their victims.

Then, recently - or at least when I was last up to date with the newest trends - everyone has been talking about electro shocks. It's another method that's considered a contender for the most painful one. And what can I say? It's effective and gives you a lot of control over how much damage you actually cause. ... in theory...

The trend right now - 60 years ago - is going towards placig the electrodes on the head, basically frying the torturee's brain, and I get that this seems to be much more painful and more importantly psychologically damaging, but it's also very risky. When you electricute the head, you're likely to seriously damage the brain, and you don't necessarily want that. I mean, think about it. What's your goal with that torture session? Usually, it's to acquire certain information. In other cases, it might just be to cause the torturee as much pain as possible. Either way, brain damage can in some cases rob the victim of the capability to communicate or access certain memories - both making it very hard to get information out of them - or mess with their pain perception. That's why I'd always recommend other body parts for this type of torture. Not that I'd recommend torture.

One more technique I'd like to share just because it fascinates me is bamboo torture. I'll be honest, I haven't yet figured out in what situation this would be your best option, but the idea alone... It's truly amazing what things human minds can come up with!

For this type of torture you fixate the torturee above a bamboo shoot and then you wait. Bamboo grows extremely fast and it won't stop for a person. It will grow right through the victim, slowly impaling them, while they are fully aware that a plant is growing through them. It is one of the most horrible ways to die that I know of and I wish I could have a conversation with whoever first came up with it.

I would now go into how to combine physical with psychological torture and drag out the whole process to create what feels like an eternity of never ending pain, but this post is already getting very long.

I watched that musical about Curt and myself that somebody here recommended to me (turns out I didn't even need to go to the library because there is a recording of it on the Internet).

It's weird how close it is to reality. They didn't even change any names. Which is very irresponsible considering our profession. It also feels very weird to see a very... emotional and intense time of your life being portrayed through song and dance.

All that aside, I think it's alright. I found it hard to really get into it because it was just such an odd experience, but the music is good.

I'm not sure how I feel about the ending... They really doubled down on making me the villain just to - for some reason - kill me off? I can't help but take it at least a bit personally.

Another thing I want to mention is that they really toned down the intensity of the torture scene.

In reality, I had already done more than that when we were interrupted, and I was not actually done yet. I know the musical is not supposed supposed to be a be a 100% accurate and realistic depiction of reality, but if I had tortured Curt to the point where I was satisfied enough to end his pain, he would not have made it to Geneva.

...

Ok, I see that this is not helping my case about not being a villain, but that's different! What I did to Curt was purely personal and had nothing to do with my plans!

Anyway, I'm sure this is a great musical when you haven't lived through it yourself.

[ankkalinna]

What your thoughts on the lgbt representation in dt17. As a straight person that support the lgbt I think they did alright but they were restricted by Disney. Like violet parents really didn’t have personality and just appeared in one episode. Penny should have ended with della since della is the only duck from the original trio that didn’t have a on screen kiss like Scrooge and Donald. Della have good relationship with penny. When entertainment weekly said magica going to be a lgbt icon they really didn’t do much with it except when she didn’t like it when Gladstone hold her. I don’t blame the crew since they work with Disney. Just what to hear your thoughts.

what LGBT representation nghgng This got long so

Okay so. I don’t go to a Disney show expecting to be represented I just do not trust Disney. Even when they said Violet had two dads I wasn’t sure if I should expect them to even be shown on screen.

But still, times are different from when I was a kid and there have been great leaps when it comes to representing gay and even trans experience in media and even kids’s shows

And when it comes to how DT17 handled it it’s not impressive in the year 2021 nghgn it would have maybe been acceptable ten years ago

Like I said I didn’t go in expecting anything (def not them doing anything with established characters) but I am also not going praise this piss-poor attempt and I think it’s frustrating Disney got attention for including Violet’s dads who were not characters! They didn’t even have lines!!!

Penny being a lesbian barely counts her line about not wanting to date Launchpad was so weird it wasn’t even the usual ‘I am not into men’ which fictional lesbians are allowed to say to sort of imply they are gay without using the spoopy L word. Penny and Della don’t have much of a relationship (which is a problem a lot in this show tbf) and none of it is romantically coded

Magica in the comics is much more queer than she is in the show, she is allowed to be more weird with gender lot of the time (like taking on a male form with magic tho I could say a lot overall about the representation of gender in DT17 vs the comics.... an another post perhaps) and there are even some hints at least in some comics she is into women... In the show she is made to represent homophobic family which I am :/ about but I’d be fine with it if they at least were way more explicit about the actual queer storyline in the show!!!

IMO, Lena is the best queer character in the show and she is not allowed to be explicitly so. But there is enough there that I am sure at least some people in the creative team were actively writing Lena/Webby as romantic and saw Lena’s journey as a queer narrative.

Magica is Lena’s abusive ‘biological’ parent who has a clear image of what Lena should be and tries to mold her into this image, but Lena rebels and finds a new family, she is adopted by an explicitly gay couple and loved by her friends, especially Webby. Webby/Lena is extremely easy to read as them being baby lesbians and the scene in the Night on Killmotor Hill where Webby saves Lena with her tears is the scene that made me go ‘okay this is definitely not all me reading gay into things at least some people who are making this are intending this as romantic’ because of how Webby’s tears fall on Lena’s ‘lips’ and this is the thing that saves her from Magica’s evil magic. The implication of it being a magical fairytale kiss is not an accident, animating it like that was a conscious decision someone made.

It’s very possible it wasn’t originally intended to be gay and I kinda suspect the decision was made to not write romance for any of the kid characters but it did become a thing to some extent (and was then dialed back and the finale made sure to go ‘SISTERS!!!’)

If they actually wanted to give rep and make Webby memorable, make Weblena canon tbh. You don’t even need to ship them as kids just have the same thing happen that already did happen in DT87 but replace Doofus with Lena;

they travel to the future or have a vision of future and Lena and Webby are married. There.

But of course they would have not done this. They never even had Lena’s plotline really in the show when it comes to the whole ‘becoming a part of Violet’s family’ bit. They had some references to it apparently but they were cut and Violet’s dads were not characters. I am not going to speculate on guilt and how much the creative team (or specific creators) tried to put in representation and it was all Disney stomping all over it, but COME ON. You’re telling me they managed to put Violet’s two dads in but it was totally impossible to have them speak? Have them hug their daughter and give them a few seconds of dialogue where they and their relationship to at least their daughter is characterized at all?? Maybe have them hug Violet and Lena stands there kinda awkward and they take her into the family hug and reassure her she is part of the Sabrewing family???

This show had issues with fitting everything they wanted in overall but what scenes and relationships were prioritized was a choice.

They sure had time to put in a scene in S2 where LP hits on Penny. That sure was a choice :)

I know some people expected Drakepad to be canon idk why... LP’s bisexuality is... I would not call it canon. There is one jokey implication in the show I would have been impressed by in the 90′s lmao

TLDR: I did not expect anything so I am not disappointed, not going to praise this piss-poor attempt tho

[guiltycorp]

Owls in Genshin (as symbols & factions) 1) Two different groups (’owls’ and ‘falcons’) in Sal Vindagnyr ~more than 2600 years ago. Owls only hunted at night and had a gift of foresight, yet nobody listened to them and after the great tree had withered the owls gained dominion over the mountain. The one who fed the surviving 'weak young falcons' was 'a crimson-red falcon' who later took on the night owls' name (perhaps Imunlaukr due to somewhat similar stories, specific parallels in Icebreaker's Resolve; he continued fighting in a war torn land, fitting the description of the Archon War).

''In the silence of the night, they call out, passing the secret along: We shall rise again. The withered tree has sprouted anew, for a time of greater trial is coming.''

Also, the Abyss and its monsters must have already existed since Imunlaukr's sword was said to drip with black blood when he briefly returned to the mountain to find everyone already dead. Interesting parallels to those Sal Vind owls can also be found in the tiaras’ description, each of them tell the same tale in different words, a tale about ancient civilizations coming to an end by Celestia’s hand and ancient priests trying to understand this cycle. For example Tiara of Thunder describes one of the chief priests - And into the deep places he went, seeking the hidden wisdom of the silver tree in the ancient capitol... And Prayers for Springtime: A mountain of crowns in a secret place, beneath a withered tree — each one hiding a lifetime of secrets kept. Describing the crowns of those chief priests, presumably. I think the owls might have come from that ‘deep place’, too. Just in case I should note that Khaenri’ah only appeared by the end of Sal Vindagnyr’s fall so no, it wasn’t Khaenri’ah. Might be the kingdom described in The Pale Princess and the Six Pygmies though!   And this might be reaching but some of those abyssal visuals are kind of owl-looking immo. 

2) 2600 years ago when Decarabian was overthrown and the Archon War ended:  "May the dawn be our spirit and follow us into the winds of true freedom." ... 'A red-haired warrior turned his back on the newborn god, hidden like a single raindrop in a tidal wave of humanity. He was first among those who passed the secret sign of Windblume, the one who wove threads of dawn throughout the long night.' ... 'The fate of this clan will likely never change: they shall ever live in the darkness and bring forth the flame of dawn.'

If we assume that the red-haired warrior was Imunlaukr or a descendant of his, the references to living in darkness, as well as his disdain for the gods (including the newly ascended Venti) would make sense. And the clan in question is then the future Ragnvindr, both because of identical appearance and references to dawn.

3) 1000 years ago there was a Lawrence clan member who had been a part of the Wanderer's Troupe. He formed Kreuzlied after the Troupe's disbandment. While its initial goals were to overthrow aristocracy, the organization later devoted itself to working for the city's benefit in the shadows, possibly spreading to the whole of Teyvat in current game events (unconfirmed so far). At the same time there was an aristocrat and a knight in training called Ragnvindr the Dawn Knight who nicknamed himself after the Dawnlight Swordswoman from the Wanderer's Troupe. He participated in the rebellion on Vennessa's side and returned to the Dawn Winery (or founded it, it's unclear). His descendants seem to be named after him. By the way, since he saw the swordswoman in gladiatorial combat which the Imunlaukr clan inspired... it would make sense to me if his name was actually Ragnvindr Imunlaukr, like maybe he abandoned the family name thinking that it only represented the aristocracy and that woman's death. Her own origins are so far unknown.  4) 500 years ago Rostam the Wolf Pup (the right-hand man of the Grand Master of the Knight of Favonius, Arundolyn) apparently led Kreuzlied. He was from a peasant family but his personality seems to parallel Diluc's as he is now (unsmiling, curt, focused on destroying evil, almost never drinking alcohol). Tbf Arundolyn who was ‘from a long line of knights’ also has parallels to Diluc since he was 'a crownless king at the head of many knights' which to me personally looks better anyway since 1 to 1 reincarnations remind me of naruto in a bad way.

5) Current times - the organization that Diluc joined during his 4 years of absence from Mondstadt is an underground intelligence network 'from the north' (which fits Mond actually, it's called a Jewel of the North in the comic and Andrius was the King of the North) and in the winery there's a figurine of an owl with a line about the dawn. At the Light of Dawn EP has full text:

O watcher of the night, forget not the splendor of the dawn. O ye who contend with evildoers, sway not from the path of righteousness. On this long path under the faint light of dawn... Even the herald of daybreak once lingered, lost in thought...

Diluc's name comes from 'dawn' in latin, his constellation is an owl, his favorite bird is an owl, too (a mistranslation in eng). He's always talking about corrupt souls, demons, evil doers and what have you... Walking in darkness before the dawn comes etc etc. Master of karate and friendship for everyone. Also, his mask (and batarangs haha) in the comic looked like an owl.

The man is committed to his aesthetic. He left the mask behind along with the delusion though. Then there’s Kaeya's line about owls - 'Have you ever seen the owl of Dragonspine? If you look directly at it, it seems to look right through you, while letting go of none of its own secrets..' and coupled with Wings of Concealing Snow it does seem like he is referencing the original yet unknown faction of Sal Vindagnyr. Or perhaps he’s just talking about regular owls which weren’t placed in the game because there was no time to make owl assets, also possible to be honest!  TLDR: most of the game so far we get references to owls and dawn in relation to ragnvindrs and mondstadt, but there is also definitely some other faction which they originally imitated, unclear if it's still active, unclear what side they take, but it all goes back to the Abyss 

[emblemxeno]

I'm sorry for coming in and going all "yOuR HeAdCaNoNs aRe wRoNg!!!", I don't want to come off like that, but I feel like going Edelgard=racist is a bit of an oversimplification. She absolutely hates the dragons of Fodlan, but it's because they all:

1. Pretend do be humans to manipulate humanity (for safety reasons actually, but she doesn't believe that). Well, all dragons that she knows of (laughs in GD and the two secret saints).

2. Destroyed her empire millenias ago (not really true) and are now trying to stop her from rebuilding it (this is true, but what did she expect? For everyone to just surrender to her greatness?)

3. Obey Rhea, who performed human experiments (Sitri and Byleth). How horrible! She is just as bad as her captors (tbh I don't blame her for this particular point, since it's not based on assumptions, it's the truth and it's shady AF).

4. Rewrote history to make themselves look good. In reality Nemesis was the hero (LMAO, but tbf it's not like she ever met Nemesis to see how wrong she is. It would be interesting to have her interact with him in Feh. And Sothis).

So as you can see she has her reasons to think they are evil (she's wrong on all of them except one and a half, but you know... it's kind of the point. If she was right about everyrhing she would have been the just heroine of the story, not the gray anti-villain).

Which is why I don't believe she would openly antagonize the dragons of other worlds, if they are different from the dragons of Fodlan. Like, dragons who don't hide who they are at all like Nowi, Fae, Xane and Tiki? She would be fine with them. Dragons who live on their own and don't interfere with humanity like the Goldoans? Awesome! She would openly praise Dheginsea and his politics (if she doesn't learn the true reason. She would call him a coward if she found out he just blindly obey a goddess).

The dragons who actually did manipulate the humans (Duma, Grima, Mila. Naga is a maybe) she would hate and berate. The dragons who kept their powers hidden like Ninian, Nils and Corrin (Corrin: I didn't keep them a secret. I didn't know I had them. Edelgard: Sure, pal. You really believe we humans are all stupid and naive, don't you?) she would keep an eye on and expect them to reveal their true evil plans sooner or later.

So in conclusion I want to tell that I think that while Edelgard sure has her faults (she is stubborn, manipulative, hypocritical and with a dangerous "ends justifies the means" actitude) being racist isn't one of them.

She wouldn't hate a dragon and call them evil just for being who they are. She would have a problem with them only if they were dragons and also DARED to oppose her in any way, but tbf it's the same for humans, agarthans, laguz, etc. Can't be racist if you kill every last one of them.

Well starting off, I’d like to say that the posts about Edelgard hating dragons were made in a half-joking sense, like I don’t seriously believe that she would antagonize absolutely every dragon she’d meet, she’s not that evil.

But IMO there’s more to Edelgard’s antagonism than just what the Nabateans did.

For starters, most of what people claim Edelgard hates the Nabateans for only applies to Rhea. Rhea’s the only one who rewrote history, censored/banned items until the current time, etc. Seteth and Flayn went into isolation right after the war of Heroes, the former only coming to the monastery 20 years before the game begins, and the latter arriving only a few months before Byleth. And yet Edelgard still antagonizes them because she’s convinced they’re just like Rhea. It’s also reflected in gameplay where you’re not allowed to bring her or Hubert to Indech’s paralogue because Linhardt says they would make things troublesome.

That and also the fact that Heroes had her Legendary form have an extra effect against both beasts and dragons... yeah, I think there’s a bit more to it than just not liking what the Nabateans did to Fodlan.

[calliecat93]

Star Trek 2009... so... very mixed.

Let’s do the good first. The cinematography is really good. It FEELS like a futuristic time period moreso than TOS, but tbf the films have the advantage of being closer to modern day and being able to match the evolved times. Still, it’s very much a movie that wanted to look good and did. The acting for most pf the cast was good and I don’t have an issue with any of the reboot cast. No Chris Pine isn’t Shatner (and that’s a good thing) nor is Zachary Quinto Leonard Nimoy. But they and the others did their jobs well and I’m glad they all did their own thing and not just copy their predecessors. Simon Pegg as Scotty I really enjoyed amd I like his new friend XD And while I’m... mixed about the direction taken if only because it makes me sad, Leonard Nimoy returning as the Spock we’ve known or so long was lovely, especially when he and Quinto!Spock meet.

Some moments were good. I actually almost teared up when Kirk’s dad died because the actors just put so much emotion into it. I can’t say that there was no effort put into this. They tried to add emotion and meaning and depth. They tried to give Kirk and Spock (and yes, Bones being even MORE of a third wheel than normal REALLY pisses me off) depth and connect the audiences to them and form that connection with each other that we’re so familiar with. I respect that. I respect the effort. I’ve seen reboots that don’t give a damn, but it didn’t feel that way to me here especially with Nimoy!Spock showing that this may be different, but the original very much still exists.

That being said... I have some big issues, especially with Kirk. This is NOT James Tibirius Kirk. This is the pop culture depiction of Kirk that the filmmakers decided was better to go with than the actual character. And no, this being an alternate timeline and him being younger than in canon is NOT a valid excuse. I got told that the death of Kirk’s dad changed the course of history... but I fail to understand how THAT caused Kirk to be an arrogant, cocky, reckless idiot. Might be because his parents NEVER came up in the show so how can any TOS fans get that point if the show never went into it? I know I joke about Kirk doing something dumb, but TOS!Kirk was a perfectly smart, optimistic, level-headed individual who yeah WOULD go against Starfleet at times, but usually did so with good reason. Hell didn’t TOS say that he was overly serious int he academy amd lightened up as he got older? How did the timeline changes change that? Anyways! It felt like they wanted this Kirk to just be a standard action hero and didn’t bother to check if it fit the characterization, or do anything to justify the change aside from ‘different reality’. Like woth the Kobayashi Maru, it’s to emphasize Kirk’s cockiness here...when in WoK it emphasized Kirk’s optimism and hope. How he NEVER believed that there was a true no-win scenario. There was LWAYS a way. Don’t get me wrong, Kirk isn’t horrible and has the ability to become more like his TOS self, but first impressions are everything, and they failed here. Chris Pine was good though, I could actually picture how he played Steve Trevor in Wonder Woman fitting a Reboot Kirk pretty well but alas. Also his captaincy wasn’t earned nor is he mature enough to hold the position. It got handed to him because canon says so, and that is bullshit.

Spock was... fine. Far as characterization goes I don’t really have any issues. He’s not TOS Spock but again he shouldn’t be. It’s hard for me to find the words on how he’s different aside from being younger and seeming a little more resentful about the half-human, half-Vulcan thing, but it still works well enough. He and Sarek also seem on better terms in this continuity, and that I do like since it’s different, but consideirng the circumstances he needs that kind of solace and it allows exploration of their relationship in a more supportive light. Didn’t like Spock marooning Kirk like he did, but it does connect to his arc showing how emotional repression is affecting him, so ah well. I DO have issues with some of the directions taken though. His relationship with Uhura has no establishment nor development and comes across as being there for the sake of having a romance in there without the work. And no I’m not just saying that as a Spones/Spirk/McSpirk shipper. It WOULD have been fine if they actually WORKED ON DEVELOPING IT ON-SCREEN. And how did the timeline changes cause that when Uhura and him flirted like... once in TOS and it was one-sided on Uhura’s part anyways?! It sucks especially since I really like Reboot Uhura. I also don’t like them destroying Vulcan cause that feels like overkill on the angst, but at least they have an explanation for it. I DO however despise them killing Amanda and ESPECIALLY how they did it. Amanda is relegated tot he standard ‘pure hearted mom who we have to kill to hurt this character’ and considering how she died via a crumbling cliff just as transport started, the ‘changed timeline’ explanation is bull. Again I appreciate them trying to add more character stuff, but I very much disagree with the choices. But as far as the character himself is concerned, I was good with Spock andI did genuinely care for and feel bad for him.

Bones... oh baby you deserved so, SO much better. Characterization wise,he was the most like his TOS self. He comes across as more gruff than cranky,but that’s mainly due to Karl Urban being younger than DeForest Kelley. Otherwise he was funny, endearing, loyal to Jim, and Urban did a lovely job making the character his own but honoring his predecessor. Will also give them credit as Bones has a damn good reason to dislike Spock after he marooned Jim like he did. The film didnt give a damn about McCoy tbh, but we’ll get to that in a bit. But to put it short, I really liked Bones, but he REALLY needed more screentime which from what I can tell, isn’t gonna happen until Beyond. But as far as the character goes, I felt like they got his best though the lack of focus reason may very well be why that is. Very least I got fanon to satisfy my needs.

Now we get to my biggest criticism: The Triumvirate is non-existent here, nor does it form within the film. Again, I blame pop culture depiction as I imagine they went ‘we need Kirk and Spock to be close together and Bones is that guy who is Jim’s other best friend who has witty lines but ain’t Kirk and Spock so who cares?’. Which especially baffles me sonce the arguments Kirk and Spock have regaridng emotion? That’s MCCOY’S role. They got the Kirk and Spock relationship completely and utterly wrong. Nor do I feel like the film dod enough to form the relationship between the two. It just feels like they became friends because the plot said so, not out of genuine understanding and care. Kirk was one of, if not the first to accept Spock for who he was and respect him. That’s what made the relationship special. But their edforts to establish it here just fall flat because they made Kirk Spock’s opposite, aka McCoy’s role. McCoy is the one who challenges Spock. The one who pushes him to consider the emotional. He can be harsh, but it is a dynamic that worked. Kirk os their balance. The one who keeps the two in check and they in turn represented the two sides (mind and heart) that he (the body/soul) needed to make the proper decisions. But because of the choices made with Kirk and Bones, the balance is theown off. Spock is more or less fine but Bones loses his importance while Kirk has his character skewed to make it work. General audiences may not be able to tell, but as someone who just watched all of TOS and those films two weeks ago? I could, and it hurt the film significantly imo. Also kind of wish they emphasized that Spock ALSO needs Bones and the rest of the crew, not just Jim because emphasis on just one relationship ALWAYS annoys me, especially since again, they didn’t do well to form it here to begin with. So yeah they missed the aspect that made me love TOS, so needless to say I am displeased. I plan to do a full film review in the future so I won’t say how I’d improve it, especially since hindsight is 20/20, but yeah not happy.

Otherwise, the film is fine. Uhura, Scotty, Sulu,and Chekov are fine, the former two I especially enjoyed. The plot is fone. Nero is a boring villain but for a start, it’s okay. I didn’t like Vulcan’s destruction at alla nd what that means for Spock, but we’ll see how the other two films continue this. I don’t know how I feel about Prime Spock because it just makes me... depressed that he has to accept never going home (even if Bones and the others are dead it just feels... wrong) but I DO appreciate that they included Nimoy and he was just as fantastic as he had been all those years ago. I have so many problems with characterization and plot points, but tbf that’s from someone who just went through TOS. As far as a general audience goes, they likely won’t have that filter and some may be more of the ‘timeline changed so this stuff changed’ explanation than I, a media consumer who has seen this happen over and over again to varying degrees of success’, may be. Otherwise the film was fine. If you like action and want a blockbuster, this one is for you. But I’m in it for characterization and story and while the latter worked well enough in the general sense,t he former was severely lacking. So while it was okay and it got me excited/to laugh a few tomes, overall I didn’t care for the film. Will Into Darkness be any better? Well... from what I can tell no. But I also need to make my own judgements, so onward we go.

[blackberryneximide]

WHF & Unreliable Narrators - A Look into the Alley Scene

I didn’t mean to write much about the differences in the dialogue between the acts, but oops, slipped, free essay below the cut. (Tried to arrange the dialogue here as well as I could, purple squares indicate bits that are meant to be the same lines of text. And apologies for Tumblr formatting, you’ll probably have to open the image in a new tab to read it.)

Arthur paints Sally as so shallow and vain. Her comments can be near vapid (”I’ve had it two weeks, I’m out my mind with boredom.”) or edged with aggressive sarcasm (”Good Christ! Just tell the policemen that, I’m sure they’ll wave you right on through!”). I get the feeling he sees the use of her sexuality of almost innate, just something that comes with the territory, in the same way he associates it with a perceived ‘live fast, die young’ sort of lifestyle. He’s got the added line “Don’t put the General out on my account. I’m sure you’ve only got so many favours you can ask him.”. Which. Makes me uncomfortable. But it’s well known that Arthur very much still, and likely always will blame Sally for what happened with his father. For Sally, we see an admittance of confusion, that she was young, and he supported her, gave her a place to live, said he loved her. From her, it is likely the first of many times she’s had to balance her survival and use of her sexuality, it’s a common theme in her act, her relationship with Arthur’s father, Verloc, Byng, and though she does honestly care for him, even Arthur, when she needs supplies and support. (Before I move on, Arthur hears a reference to drugs (”Believe me, I take enough..stuff”), while nothing like that is in Sally’s version, and he also seems to view her interaction with Mikey at the start as something dubious. To me the transaction reads as drugs, but he could just as easily see it as sex. Tbf, this is one of the things where I’m less pissed at him, you see two people meeting secretively in a back alley, you assume the worst.)  

Full disclosure that Sally’s my favourite, but there’s definitely a dichotomy of perception for her actions. Is she the brightly burning manipulator of men Arthur believes her to be, or the woman desperately fighting for survival and a place and purpose in the world, that she sees herself as? In truth, I’d call it a muddle of the two. While I feel I’ve gotten a little away from the point, this dialogue really is a great example of the thematic split for her. Arthur’s portrayal is a lot more even, though I think he reads more melancholically in Sally’s eyes, which brings me to my next point.

Towards the end, after discussing 14 years ago, they heavily diverge on subjects. This is where, first time through, the change in dialogue clicked with me, though I believed it just to be a gameplay helper, we needed to know where Arthur’d be because we weren’t playing him, but in hindsight, they’re almost cute little summaries of the style of each act. 

“You know how we use to sit on the swings by the crashed V1? These days I spend a lot of time there, remembering.” is seen in Sally’s act, and it’s so. Sad. That Arthur dwells in the past, living in this heap of memories and ‘what-ifs’, and it’s true to his act, his motivation. there’s a lot of thematic crossover with Ollie there, only that Arthur almost seems to romanticise his memories, the glamour of dreaming better than the bitter reality, only that he’s not even aware of what the reality is, not until he’s out of the mines. Ollie has certainly fooled himself, but somewhere, he always knows, sometimes in a more perceptible form than a vague feeling of dread. I can’t count how many times I’d heard Arthur wonder about getting back on the Joy, and it is him, at the end, who can still take Oblivion, even after everything.

On the flipside, Sally’s explanation in Arthur’s playthrough of where she is and what her situation is hectic. “Look. Some Downer broke into my lab last week - literally tore the bars off the windows, and the ridiculous thing is, I forgot to lock the front door-” And it’s so true to her act. The intro of it - juggling knocking on the door with requests on the blower and scuttling up and down stairs and protecting Gwen, is only a short sample of the consistent, frantic, emotional labour to an entire town.

No matter the little nuances that slant the other’s dialogue in their eyes, Arthur and Sally do still see the core of the other in there, perhaps better than they see it themselves.

There’s one final point I want to mention, which is Sally trying to offer help. In Arthur’s playthrough it reads as - “Point is, it’s a horrible, terrible world out there, and I just don’t see you smashing you way into the city without a great deal of help-” It’s belittling, undermining. Depicts Arthur like a tactless sledgehammer. And then there’s how Sally remembers it. “Look, it’s a horrible, terrible world out there, and no matter how clever and brave and fierce you are now - you’ll need a Letter of Transit to get into the Emerald City.” She’s complimenting him. She still believes in him, even after he’s yelled at her, she’s just saying that it’s a difficult task. And Arthur doesn't see it. he doesn't see any of the praise. And that right there - that hurts me.

Also no offence to Arthur, but in regards to ‘canon’ (and what even is that in this game), he managed to gaslight himself for 17 years about Percy, so I’m def leaning towards believing Sally a little more. (She’s also been off her Joy a lot longer. While I’m not 100% sure on timelines, because there’s not much to go off apart from start dates and dates provided in ‘We all Fall Down’, at most, Arthur’s been off it a fortnight, and considering where we are in his playthrough here, probably closer to a half a week.)

[tomhasatransblog]

My thoughts on the detransition wave

This post is going to be so long it needs subheadings

Could this happen to me??

About a decade ago there was a huge upswing of mostly afab people transitioning, and now a lot of them seem to be detransitioning. The detrans communities on here, twitter and reddit are growing quick. And these aren't just people who just transitioned socially before changing their minds, a lot of them were on T or even had surgery. And you'd think that to embark on something as massive as medical transition you'd be certain that it's what you need. So it's just really alarming to read about, because I've always been certain in my transition, but am I just going to wake up one day and start to feel like this was all a big mistake like these people did? When I learnt about this wave of people detransitioning it really scared me.

I was scared to really look at what these people are saying, fearing that I'd poison my own mind or certainty. Ideas are contagious. But I'm very glad I did, because I've seen I don't have much in common with these people. Most of them had doubts about their medical transition, and/or thought that transitioning would make them happy or solve some problem they had in their lives, and neither of these apply to me. Not to mention that the thought of ever going back horrifies me. So I'm relieved with what I found having looked into the detrans rabbit hole on here, twitter and reddit.

I kinda saw it coming

Back in the day I thought that the whole Tumblr gender ideology was questionable to say the least because I suspected a lot of these people "trying on genders" would ultimately grow out of it, which guess means detransitioning. And I objected to it because I thought it made us "proper trans" people look like a joke, like it's just a phase and not something to be taken seriously etc. I was a selfish 16 year old back then, and I don't feel that way any more. People can call themselves whatever they want, I'll call them whatever they want; I don't care.

But it turns out that it was actually harmful, in that it seems to have sucked in a lot of unhappy gender non-conforming teenagers who latched onto the happiness they saw people experiencing from transitioning, and thought it would make them happy, too. When actually it wasn't right for them, and now they're picking up the pieces while trying to reverse mostly permanent medical interventions.

These people used to piss me off, but I can't even imagine the shame and embarrassment of having to admit that your whole transition was a mistake.. and the pain of trying to reverse it. I just feel terrible for these people now.

I disagree with the court's ruling

Here's a link to a BBC article

TL;DR: no one is going to be prescribed puberty blockers any more. If you're 16+ you technically can with permission from the court, except that in practice it'll take more than 2 years before you get a verdict, at which point you'll be old enough for actual HRT at an adult clinic anyway. So no blockers for anyone any more.

Imo this is unlikely to make a difference to the number of people who detransition. If you're fixated on transition fixing your problems and making you happy, you're not going to realise that it's not for you until after you've started. Because how could you know until you've tried? That's the trend I've noticed from most detransition stories I've read anyway.

Also, having just watched the claimant's news night interview, she seems to think that the court will now be responsible for the "are you really trans" due diligence that should have been done by the clinic, in the case of those who are 16+ and requesting blockers. Which seems to be placing that responsibility in completely the wrong place to me. Why would a judge know more about that than specialist medical clinicians? What's the point in shifting that responsibility?

Conversely, if transition is what you need, and you're lucky enough to find yourself being treated by a GIC while you're still a teenager and not all of puberty's irreversible damage has happened to you yet… blockers could just save you so much anguish. I often fantasise about having transitioned early in puberty. No need for top surgery, no awful wide hips I can never ever change. It breaks my heart that this option isn't available at all any more and it just seems monstrously unfair, I'm actually quite angry about it, it seems so unjust.

But I don't entirely disagree with the claimant

She (Kiera Bell, the claimant) put out a press release which I saw in the form of a screenshot on twitter that I now can't find, and she's got a page with a lot of info here. Across these two sources she said that society's misogyny, general disapproval of gender non-conformity, along with a lot of teenage girls having a bad time with puberty/adolescence contributes to so many of them wanting to transition, and I completely agree with her there. The massive upswing in afab young people attending the tavistock must have been caused by something, and those factors look very likely to me. It also coincided with the advent of proper smart phones & social media, and I'm sure that's another big contributing factor. I think female puberty being awful (I am biased in this opinion tbf) combined with misogyny in society explains why this uptick has been mostly afab people specifically.

Although I do a bit

On a crowd justice page linked above she also criticised the tavistock's "affirmative" approach. Meaning that if you get there and explain that you're trans, you're believed, and the clinicians take steps to help you transition. That was very much my experience there, but it's not as if I and my parents weren't interrogated about my history. (Tbh I think my experience was an edge case given how old I was when I got there (17.5, old enough to be referred to an adult clinic), the fact that I had no "associated difficulties", and that I'd been socially transitioned for 10 months).

I don't know what else they would have done? Saying to my face "we don't believe you're trans and shouldn't medically transition" would have seemed absurd and unreasonable, given that I'd been living as male for 10 months, including changing my name by deed poll. There wasn't a lot more they could expect me to do to "prove" it.

But many cases are much more complex than mine, a lot of trans youth have mental health issues, or trauma in their pasts. In those cases you'd hope the clinicians would go a lot deeper, and spend more time analysing all the other problems you have in your life, to sufficiently ensure that they're not the root cause of the desire to transition. One person who features in this podcast I listened to a while ago was transitioning to try and escape the trauma of being sexually abused as a child, for example. If you've got a complex case you wouldn't diagnose them in a single appointment, surely? I'm not a doctor obviously, but that seems pretty obvious to me. You'd need to provide therapy more broad than just issues relating to gender. I just don't know, but the fact that people are detransitioning must mean that that's the case, that in some cases insufficient due diligence is done into people's histories. So I don't agree with Kiera that the affirmative approach should be abandoned, but it seems like it should be used with more caution than it has been up until now.

So in conclusion:

The existence of a lot of people detransitioning freaked me out, but I've concluded I'm not one of them

I low key saw this coming

I feel bad for people who are detransitioning

I think the high court's ruling to ban puberty blockers is hugely unfair

I agree with Kiera Bell that society's misogyny and bullying of people who are gender non-conforming causes young women to transition when they shouldn't

I disagree with her that the GIC's "affirmative" approach should be abandoned, but I do think it should be used more cautiously

If you made it to the end of this post, thanks very much for reading it. I just had a lot of thoughts about this and wanted to get it all off my chest.