#that isn't actually real but that some people seem to think is

[qqueenofhades]

been seeing some responses to the many many lawsuits and other actions taken against trumpet and munkfruit that fall along the lines of "this isn't enough, it's already too late, you can't fight fascism with the law, we're all gonna die." i understand the fear, truly, but i'm curious as to your thoughts on it, as to me it seems like this sort of behavior/posting doesn't do much beyond embolden the narrative that everyone actually likes these bastards and they're too powerful to be stopped.

Welp. This is the kind of question that requires me to write a long and complex sociopolitical/critical/historical/Discourse-esque analysis that will take a while and which I am trying to do only selectively, but I'm at home on Saturday morning, I don't have anything else to do right now, and it does present me an opportunity to address some things I've been thinking about. So. We'll give it a shot.

The first thing that has struck me is that in a few short weeks, we're getting a sharp empirical disproving of two common online-leftist fallacies: one, the old "both parties are exactly the same" chestnut, and two, "the only resistance that matters is Violent Glorious Revolution" (which somehow and conveniently never happens). We had months and months of "Biden is just as bad as Trump!!!" being spread as gospel truth in online-leftist circles, and then when Harris took over, it switched just as seamlessly into "Harris is just as bad as [or even worse than] Trump!" Now, as I have said before, there were plenty of legitimate criticisms to make of Biden, particularly the Gaza policy (upon which Harris notably differed). But it's quite telling that the keyboard warriors who spent all of last year howling for The Righteous Punishment of Biden-Harris (regardless that the obvious ancillary consequence was letting Trump come to power) have either disappeared completely when it comes to dealing with the results of that rhetoric, or have switched to "everything is doomed so I guess we shouldn't bother anyway." Like. Trump is now proposing to fully ethnically cleanse Gaza and either blithely hand it over to Israel or build Jared Kushner Beachfront Resort Disneyworld, and what do we hear in protest? For the most part, crickets. These are not serious people. Their opposition is not morally consistent, and it only depends on how they can make themselves look good. I thought that Trump was somehow supposed to be magically better than Biden particularly on the Gaza issue, and that was why it was worth letting him get elected? Or something? Something!?!

I'm curious as to whether those people still legitimately think that Harris would have spent her first few weeks in office dismantling USAID, signing weekly anti-trans executive orders, unleashing ICE across the country and terrorizing immigrant communities, putting the Project 2025 guy in charge of the Office of Management and Budget, letting Elon Musk run rampant with Treasury data, nominating the likes of RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard to Cabinet posts, trying to freeze all federal funding, stripping DEI initiatives, dismantle the Department of Education -- etc. etc. The thing is, as ghoulish as it is, none of this is a surprise, because it is literally what Trump and his people spent the entire presidential campaign loudly, openly, and repeatedly promising to do. However awful they were and are, they were not remotely secret about their intentions. That information was out in the open every time they opened their mouths. But too many people didn't pay attention, rationalized it away, decided that "he won't actually do that" (despite the fact that he launched a literal violent coup attempt on the Capitol the last time he was in office), or just made up their minds that Trump Will Reduce Grocery Prices and refused to listen to any information that countered that view. What do we get now? Trump laughing off the grocery-prices issue and insisting that it's "not a priority" and Musk managing to claim that the real problem is government spending, not corporate greed. Again, this was completely predictable, because y'all got willingly suckered. It was not hard to see it coming.

That said: if the Glorious Online Leftist Revolution is still coming, and by some lights we might now legitimately need it, where the fuck is it? Are they still out there banging the drum against Trump and his "let's ethnically cleanse Gaza" policy and anything else that they insisted, they swore up and down, was functionally equivalent or possibly even marginally better than Biden-Harris getting another term? No. They're either dead silent, offering weak excuses, or completely giving into "we're doomed there's no point fighting back through weak shitlib institutions that are obviously terrible and will fail" blubbering that makes no fucking sense. One, because they move the goalposts so constantly that there's not even any attempt to reckon with the last effects of their damaging bullshit, and two? As I said, where's the fucking Revolution magically coming to save us and install a perfect leftist utopia (which is never how revolutions have ever worked) and sweep away Government Tyranny? Is that only for when a Democrat is in office and you can have confidence that the government is not going to come after you in the middle of the night for talking about it? Now that there's an actual fascist in power, it's somehow too hard to resist at all, even in small, institutional, and everyday ways that are often far more effective at practically confounding the bad stuff instead of empty and useless online echo chambers, so guess we should all just give up??!

Fuck. That.

This is also why we have to talk about the catastrophic lack of information literacy and critical thinking skills in young leftist spaces. A good example is the recent migration of TikTok users to the Chinese app RedNote. It was sweet for a little while as there was cultural exchange and friendship and memes. But then, predictably, it dove hard into "ah, once again The Evil US Government Has Lied To Us and there are no problems at all in China!" I have seen posts float by on my dash that unironically claim this is the case and China is truly great and Americans should want to move there and clearly all that business about authoritarian control and mass repression was just a ruse by, again, The Evil US Government. If you are so utterly devoid of basic information literacy and research abilities that your standard of proof for "is the Chinese government repressively authoritarian and totalitarian" is "a random Chinese person on an app in a country where the Internet is viciously controlled and voicing the slightest criticism can make you disappear told me that it isn't," then for Christ's fucking sake, you need help. For one, it wasn't just the US government saying this. It was, y'know, Chinese dissidents, the entire nation of Taiwan, historians, academics, researchers, the Uyghur Muslims of Xinjiang, etc etc. If your only standard for believing or supporting anything is "the opposite of what the US government thinks," then you are perfect targets for authoritarianism. Hey, a person living under an authoritarian regime who will punish them if they speak out against it told me everything was fine! Clearly there's nothing to worry about and we should want it here in America!

Come on. Come on.

This is also the case because uneducated young leftists like to unironically label themselves "communists" or "Marxist-Leninists" as if it's cool and hip and has never been involved in anything problematic in all of history, so anything that calls itself that must be supported. Shoutout to the idiot in my notes recently who reblogged a several-year-old post just to shout at me about how historical communists NEVER worked with or collaborated with fascists, because something something The Communists Were The Pure Shining Good Guys! (Uh, nobody tell them about the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.) Clearly, the Chinese Communist Party is good and beneficial, end of story, no more criticism or caution needed! Obviously, yes, official American policy toward China has often been driven by basic Sinophobia, and the determination that nobody can change American hegemony or unipolarity or its ability to call the shots how it pleases. But if that is the literally only criteria you're using, then yeah. If you're so unaware that "the Chinese people are ordinary human beings" and "the Chinese government is repressive and authoritarian" are statements that can and in fact do coexist, then apparently you've missed the situation you're in right now, where "the American people are ordinary human beings" and "the American government is repressive and authoritarian" is also the case. Because online leftism is essentially devoid of a consistent moral principle and will just blithely switch up to support Bad Things as long as they're being done by governments with the correct ideological label, here we are.

Anyway. This is getting long, but the main takeaway is that the "all resistance against Trump is doomed and I guess we just gotta die :(" line is now, somehow, often coming from the same people who were constantly yelling that the only hope was a Glorious Revolution against Biden-Harris, and it is somehow even stupider. So you'll trumpet about Gloriously Overthrowing The Government all the day long as long as a Democrat is in office, but the instant a Republican gets in there instead and starts acting like an actual fascist, welp, time to just shut up and accept our doom and not even bother to struggle? Please tell me how any of that makes sense. Especially when actively confounding the Trump/Musk Axis of Evil is already working. There is also the fact that the establishment-media types are supporting this narrative for reasons of their own; witness the fact that the entire US corporate media is owned by oligarchs who hastened to bend the knee and pledge fealty to Trump 2.0. They obviously also have a reason for inculcating hopelessness in you, and that the only recourse is to shut up, accept it, and let them continue to rob you blind. Because American democracy will never matter as much as money, power, and control for the Billionaire Bros.

The point is: this is a bad-faith narrative on all sides. Whether it's coming from the online leftists in their latest head-spinningly hypocritical volte-face, the oligarch-owned corporate media that wants to feed you constant Bad News to keep you clicking and worried and distracted and unable to resist, the Trumpist power that wants people to quit making this pesky stink about all their authoritarian fascist adventures, or anyone else. There is nobody who has your best interests at heart if they are telling you that everything is doomed and the only thing to do is lie down and take it. There is no logical reason you should listen to them. Go forth and keep resisting, in whatever way presents itself. Those cumulative small actions are far more effective than any Splendid Revolution that never, ever materializes, while the people who preach it just sit back and whine about how things are so bad now so clearly they couldn't. Shut up.

It is always important. It always matters. It will make a difference.

Courage, etc.

[ask-the-eggmans]

For Stone- does Metal Sonic have an identity crisis and think he's the real Sonic? I've heard some people do that and that seems quite cruel

"Metal is quite aware he isn't the original Sonic. A lot of things about it are very different from Sonic, and a lot of things about it are very similar in design. Metal, I'm pretty sure, only thinks of itself as a "better version" of Sonic, not actually Sonic. When it comes to a matter of identity crisis... the only issue Metal has is that, while in almost every way, he is better than Sonic, he is a robot, and Sonic is not. If I could get rid of this upsetting thought for him, I would." -Stone

[buttstothemoon]

It's a real catch-22, right! For some reason, some proportion of men respond extremely well to being told that they're weak losers unless they "________". And it doesn't actually matter if they ________ or not. They seem content with the knowledge that they are weak losers but that folks who _________ aren't and that one day maybe they'll ________ too.

This is a thing which really confuses me about discourse. Folks (propagandists first but now filtered down to regular folks) take it as a given that the left is hostile to men. And like, in some examples sure. But nowhere near the level of hostility that men on the right have to contend with. And honestly, the only resolution I see is that it's gendered. Mostly women on the right offer criticisms of men as an ensemble population, and mostly men on the right will endlessly bully individual men for, I don't know, drinking coconut water or whatever random bullshit is gay-coded these days.

I don't think we necessarily need to buy into an hierarchy of fascism to reach these people. But perhaps we can look at the way in which male delights can be corrupted. I'm a man. I love violence. I love taking the piss. I'm extremely competitive. But I understand context and boundaries. I'm not gonna bully a stranger because he dresses the wrong way. But I am going to rib my friend for messing up in a video game. I'm not gonna punch a guy for having the wrong haircut. But I am gonna slash a guy if he crosschecks me during my 11:30 pm beer league hockey. And I'll have the best time of my life doing it. Both giving and receiving.

There are healthy non-fascistic outlets which men can take in order to feel strong and masculine and whatever they need to feel. And I think, especially, other men can get away with calling them weak and soft and unmanly without necessarily having to buy in to an hierarchical framework, because the thing that makes them weak and unmanly isn't how much they can bench, or how many women they fuck, or whether they're a programmer/engineer. It's that they violate boundaries. Social, physical, psychological boundaries.

It's perfectly fine to be a dick. Because being a dick is a kind of a game that people (mostly cis-het men) like to play with each other. But we need to agree to the game. It's perfectly fine to be violent. Because being violent is a kind of a game people (mostly cis-het men) like to play with each other. And the only way to be unmanly is to play these games without everyone else having agreed.

The corollary, for other left-wing men out there, is that when a person starts playing these games without having obtained permission, well, they've just set a boundary. They won't think that they set a boundary. And it will be a great surprise for them to be met at the level they chose to engage with. But it's their choice to set the boundary all the same. Usually, I'm not interested in playing the violence game outside of sanctioned and insured sports. But if some stranger decides to set the boundary, and let me know that they're interested in playing the violence game, I will play to win, because I am a very competitive man.

I think too frequently on the left we see this boundary be set, and we fail to engage at that same level. Because violence is bad. But violence is also awesome and fun as hell, so long as everyone involved is a consenting adult.

I mean, the temptation is to point out how weak and soft and unmanly a lot of fascist types are, but I don't think that buying into the same hierarchy that they're promoting is going to help us.

[wouldtheybecomeafearavatar]

Alright, while I'm waiting for the preference polls to become clear, I suppose I'll announce the (possible) contestants!

In total there are 1725 characters in the avatar spreadsheet. I excluded participants under 60 votes, since under that number there tends to be little variance and a lot more 100% yes or no, which results in a bunch of ties for the top (or bottom) spot. Sorry to the more obscure characters and their fans! Anyway.

Announcing the Contestants for the First Annual Avatar Fear-Off!

🕸️ Web: 167 total avatars, 58 Eligible 🕸️

Top Total Yes %: Lady Jessica from Dune

Funnily enough, the most willing character is also from Dune. This time it's the Reverend Mother, also known as Gaius Helen Mohiam.

Those Bene Gesserit ladies sure know how to manipulate, huh?

🐺 Hunt: 151 total avatars, 62 Eligible 🐺

Top Total Yes %: Dread Hound Charlie/Charity from The Silt Verses

Awkwardly, this one is a tie between The Dread Hound Charlie from real life and Charitiy from The Silt Verses, both at 100% Yes votes. I suppose it becomes a little less awkward if real life characters are excluded, since that rules out Charlie. The most willing is another character entirely: Actual Cannibal Shia LaBeouf from the Rob Cantor song.

🪖 Slaughter: 167 total avatars, 59 Eligible 🪖

Top Total Yes AND Most Willing %: Robert with a quick hand from Pumped Up Kicks

He's the king of senseless violence no matter which way you look at it. You better run, faster than his bullet.

🫥 Lonely: 138 total avatars, 46 Eligible 🫥

Top Total Yes %: Dalv from Undertale Yellow

Poor Dalv here cerainly isn't the most willing, but that's common enough with Lonely avatars. The one who is the most willing is Sunny from Omori (though he was still only at 47.8%. People really don't want to be Lonely avatars. I wonder why...)

🌀 Spiral: 134 total avatars, 65 Eligible 🌀

Top Total Yes %: The Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland

Well, it is in the name. But for him, it's more who he is. The character who wants to be a Spiral avatar the most is Jareth the Goblin King from Labyrinth.

👁️ Eye: 132 total avatars, 61 Eligible 👁️

Top Total Yes %: The Stalker from Every Breath You Take

They'll be watching you 👀 There was a character more willing though, and that's Christof from The Truman Show.

🔥 Desolation: 127 total avatars, 43 Eligible 🔥

Top Total Yes %: Dabi from My Hero Academia

As well as the fire powers, he also has a burning hatred so strong that he'll destroy anything in his way so long as he gets revenge. The most willing character is The Ultimate Despair, Junko Enoshima from Danganronpa

🤡 Stranger: 108 total avatars, 49 Eligible 🤡

Top Total Yes %: Blanca from Animal Crossing

A faceless cat, pretty strange, but at least they seem fairly harmless. Not so much for the most willing avatar, the "stag" from Adventure Time.

Ugh. What is that thing.

💉 Corruption: 99 total avatars, 40 Eligible 💉

Top Total Yes %: The Candyman from Candyman (1992)

This character was submitted in honour of his actor, Tony Todd, so it's nice to see he did so well! The Candyman himself is a little less nice. Bees and murder and toxic love... The most willing character is Remus Sanders from Sanders Sides.

💀 End: 89 total avatars, 35 Eligible 💀

Top Total Yes %: The Raven from The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore." (Maybe it should have been a manifestation, but I think this was before I was doing them?) The most willing End avatar is the Scrybe of the Dead, Grimora from Inscryption.

☢️ Extinction: 85 total avatars, 33 Eligible ☢️

Top Total Yes AND Most Willing: Lysandre from Pokémon X and Y

I have to say, after N in Gen 5 he was a bit of a let-down as an antagonist... The Team Flare boss has some wacky ideas of what constitutes a perfect world, but it is one without most humans on it, which serves The Extinction well.

🥩 Flesh: 65 total avatars, 35 Eligible 🥩

Top Total Yes AND Most Willing: Kromer from Limbus Company

She believes in the beauty and superiority of the human Flesh, and judging by her final form, she seems to think you can't have too much of it! Kromer will gaslight, gatekeep and girlboss her way to ensuring the purity of Flesh is enforced.

🚀 Vast: 54 total avatars, 21 Eligible 🚀

Total Top Yes AND Most Willing: Ocean Man from Ocean Man

Well, he is the Ocean Man. Can't get much more Vast unless he was also the Sky and Space Man.

🌑 Dark: 37 total avatars, 6 Eligible 🌑

Total Top Yes %: The Warden from Minecraft

The Warden is the blind guardian of the deep dark and a terror to any who would trespass, but not the most willing Dark avatar. No, that would be none other than the infamous Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way from My Immortal.

⚰️ Buried: 34 total avatars, 6 Eligible ⚰️

Total Top Yes AND Most Willing: The Dirt Man from Dirt Man

You'd better be keeping a little dirt under your pillow for him. Or else he'll take you down to The Buried. It's where he keeps his dirt.

🚫 Not avatars: 152 total, 69 eligible 🚫

Lastly we have the characters who wouldn't become avatars, and may end up instead working against the Fears.

Top Total No %: Kirby from Kirby

This little guy is much more interested in food and friends than spreading Fear to the cosmos. Certainly, The Lonely isn't a good fit for them, but they do have potential to serve another Fear, unlike the character most likely to refuse outright: It's not a bird, or a plane, no, it's Superman (aka Clark Kent)! He will absolutely not be serving The Desolation or any other Fear.

And that's it! Remember to vote in the preference polls if you have an opinion on whether the most willing or highest total yes % characters should represent their Fears, or if you want to weigh in on whether Charlie the dog from real life should be in there, or anything else. Next I'll be back to you with an actual bracket, then we can start the polls!

[libraford]

i rather like your amirite idea, not like most 'gemstones' aren't just glass or resin impregnated stone. still impressed with how nice many of these look for hdpe tho, a few pieces you've shown look more like acrylic(make me think of mixed color dice)

The ones I've been showing are like... processed scraps from all of my failures, lol. I can't tell you how many times these plastics have been folded into each other, mixed with ldpe to make it smoother, molded into a piece that's straight up ugly, and then folded again. So far they seem to just melt back into each other without affecting their integrity, but we'll see what happens.

The smaller pieces end up looking like agates, or sometimes like Ohio Flint. Larger pieces look like color vomit.

My goal is to make a goddamn ton of agate-ish beads to use in later projects, or maybe sell in bundles, and then work on making some things in more pleasing colors.

But I absolutely hear you on the 'gemstones.' When the craft store I used to work at came out with their 'natural stone' line and they were really goddamn cheap I was like...

... this is glass.

Like there's no way that this isn't glass or resin with like 10% real stones in it pretending to be authentic mined amethyst.

And like you can pick some things up and I don't know how to put it but you can just... you can tell. Its like holding a counterfeit dollar bill, you're just like... you're aware that its wrong. You touch it and you're like... that's incorrect.

But that's like... that's me being friends with rock-hounds, and being an amateur rockhound myself. And talking to the people at crystal shops who actually know what they're doing instead of just selling crystals.

There is nothing wrong with glass or resin, but pretending that its authentic gemstone just makes me feel like I'm being treated like a child.

Like there are a handful of creators in my circle who make 'gemstone bracelets' and have a long list of properties that go along with them and its like... this is glass. I know your manufacturer, and this is glass. If crystal healing is your angle, this is glass. But I hold my tongue because its how they make their money and they believe it all to be true... but its glass.

So I might as well make my own rocks, enjoy the science, have a little fun with it, and make the thousands of bottles at the community center less of a chore at work.

[not-too-many-eyes]

Regarding Bella's Existence

(Also Known as: Nott is really tired of people repeating a very big misconception regarding their relationship that gets denied in the text itself, and decided to make a post about it in the hopes people stop repeating it)

I've been planning to write about Semmelweis for a while now. She's one of my personal favorite characters, and I have a lot of thoughts regarding her, her background, and her beliefs. However I was waiting for a future Series of Dusks update to happen before writing that post so that I could write something comprehensive and resolved.

However, I've been routinely annoyed in seeing the same misconception be repeated again and again about Semmelweis and Bella's relationship whenever I look into here, YouTube comments, or having the misfortune of deciding to look at the Discord for some reason.

That misconception being the idea that Bella is just a very sentient hallucination.

The Report Now, let's get the easy part of this explanation out of the way as to why Bella Isn't a Hallucination. That being this is something that gets directly addressed, and denied in text, multiple times in fact! The first is in A Series of Dusks Part 2 "Second-Class Citizen:"

Semmelweis: Whoever you are. I have a poor opinion of things that try to interfere with my mind. Bella: Ah, so you think I'm a result of the Beyond Disease? Just another hallucination, a nightmare Bella: But you've read the reports. So you know what this really is, you know that Miss Klara's Arcane Skill lets you glimpse at your inner self Bella: Your not a fool, my dear. Do you still want to deny the truth right before your eyes? Semmelweis: ... Bella: It is an extraordinary ability, wouldn't you agree? Bella: And for one so accustomed to deceiving everyone, even yourself. It proves dangerously effective.

This is a direct denial of the idea Bella is a hallucination. Kakania's Arcane Skill lets one look into their inner world in great detail. As it so so happens, Semmelweis' inner world has her and Bella as the main tenants of it. Bella might have even been there since she was a child. We don't know, we just know she didn't come into existence because of the Beyond Syndrome.

However, Semmelweis is In Denial that Bella is real, and has been inside of her for god knows how long at this point, which leads to me to the second time that the text denies that Bella is a hallucination. Which is in Part 6 of A Series of Dusks, Fate in the Mirror:

Bella: The Storm Syndrome this time is so much more fun that the previous ones, wouldn't you agree? Bella appears at Semmelweis' side, she seems so much more real than ever before. Semmelweis: I wish I could share your perspective. However, uninvited hallucinations are not included in the symptoms of the Storm Syndrome this time. Bella: If only it were that, no, you can see me precisely because the Beyond's bloodline is already altering your mind. Bella: It's a change that brings tearing and reorganization. And it seems like I am one such part that is being torn out. Bella: And as a part of you. I believe I have the right to object to your behavior.

Semmelweis calls her a hallucination again after this, because both her and Bella have a really bad case of Internalized Ableism, but again, Bella denies that she's here because of the Beyond Disease. Actually quite the opposite, she says she's here because the Beyond Disease Wants Her Gone. She's a part of Semmelweis that is being deemed "unwanted" by the disease.

Which leads me to Part 7, Waves and Notes. While it initially seems like Lorelei's words here about how Semmelweis is "talking to herself" would destroy the idea Bella isn't a hallucination and it's actually Bella who's in denial of her own existence. It doesn't really.

There's two possible explanations to it actually, the worse, boring one that I don't like as much which is "The Bella here is a hallucination" which tracks if you take Semmelweis meeting Bella in the therapist room as the actual Bella based on her going "I didn't expect we would meet again under these circumstances," and tracks with Semmelweis Actually Hallucinating Bella in her Ancedote and using her as a soundboard for her fears (we will get to this later.) However, this goes against both how that is Visually showcased in her Ancedote, how Semmelweis' hallucinations Usually go, and causes more internal hiccups with what happens before that scene, and Lorelei says Afterwards, than the second, more fun explanation does, which is that it acts as a resolution to Semmelweis' own denial of Bella's existence, and Bella's own internalized ableism.

It's not something that's drawn much attention to, but Bella Really Hates the idea of seeming "insane" and trusting anyone who seems "insane."

Bella: You don't believe these two lunatics, do you? Bella: You think you're taking back control. But all your doing is handing over your fate from the Foundation to these two crazed Arcanists.

It's a fear Bella expresses in Fate in the Mirror. That ultimately Sememlweis is losing the safety provided by the Foundation for something that won't help her at all in the end.

This might seem contradictory with how she acted with Semmelweis in Second-Class Citizen but it's actually internally consistent with Bella's two main goals. Which is that she wants Semmelweis to be Honest with Herself about what she actually wants, and she wants Semmelweis to be Safe. To Bella, the Foundation is safer than the two "insane" arcanists. So she roots for Semmelweis to go back to the Foundation.

Due to this mistrust in the mentally ill, and possibly other reasons such as Semmelweis repressing and not acknowledging her existence, and calling her a hallucination at every turn even though Bella Knows she isn't, lack of proper medical care and literature (we know Very Well Semmelweis has had bad experiences with Doctors,) etc. Bella has checked the two of them out of the "insane mentally ill people" box.

Despite Semmelweis actually experincing hallucinations, despite being able to recognize that people usually can't see or hear her, calling her and Semmelweis "the same person" like- 30 minutes ago in the game's time, and despite knowing that her existence resembles that of a hallucination. Bella is acting as if her existence is just a normal part of life and not- I dunno- the most well known symptom of a dissociative disorder.

So when Lorelei outright says that Semmelweis has been talking to herself. It disturbs that perception. It's a logic error in her perspective of herself and Semmelweis that she's only noticed due to it being called out and it freaks her out.

Notice, Lorelei never says that Bella is a hallucination. And actually she acknowledges Bella as a Person, or at the very least "A Part" of Semmelweis.

Lorelei: You must learn to accept all parts of yourself, rational and emotional. Both... Lorelei: Semmelweis and Bella. (...) Lorelei: How else could I know your names, my dears? Semmelweis & Bella: No, that can't be! Lorelei: Why do you refuse to accept what you are, my little musical note? Lorelei: You are a beautiful composition. Why should you tear yourself apart?

She wants Semmelweis to reconcile the divide between herself, her mental state, and her and Bella. Which finally resolves at the end of this part where Semmelweis goes:

Bella: I see. Then no one can change your mind. You're always like this. Semmelweis: We're always like this.

Semmelweis uses Plural Pronouns here because she has Acknowledged Bella as an Actual Person and Not a Hallucination. Thus showcasing her coming to some terms with her mental illneses- so can I call Bella an alter already? Have I convinced people enough that Bella is not a Hallucination? ...Okay not yet, because there is still the elephant in the room.

The Third Circumstance

In the The Third Circumstance we get to see Semmelweis actually hallucinate Bella! And also Valentina! They are here trying to goad her into drinking the blood of innocents, and to do murders.

Now, this seems kinda bad for my arguments on two levels, that being Bella is here as a hallucination, and the second being that if I Say this is Bella and not a hallucination then it feeds into the idea of Bella being an "evil alter." But I actually have a very simple argument that cuts through that.

They don't use Bella's sprite to represent here here.

This is a really weird detail. They have Bella's sprite, they've been using it for every single one of her appearances, and Valentina's sprite is being used.

So why not use Bella's sprite?

Well it's simple, that is actually hallucination Bella, and her sprite is deliberately not being not being used to showcase that Semmelweis’ fears still haven’t been fully quelled.

Because Semmelweis, despite choosing to become a vampire, is still afraid of what that could Mean. The Ancedote is showing her denying her actual dietary needs out of fear of what that blood drinking could represent.

We know she gets over this fear, after all, she jokes about it with Vertin in the Suitcase.

Semmelweis, Bond-Morning: I admit, I am glad to find you seldom invite others to share breakfast here. Personally, I find myself more comfortable drinking blood when you and I are alone… Oh, do relax, I prepared a salad today, no blood bags involved.

And her uh- entire fighting style is centered around blood. She's grown accustomed to herself, and has learned how to manage and take care of herself.

Similarly, Semmelweis is at the point where she’s resolved to accept her “madness” but is afriad what that could mean. Her hallucinations are written to reflect that fear, beforehand they were mostly persecutory hallucinations involving her in danger or being treated badly in some way. Now she’s afraid of what she might do to others, her poor diatery habits making the problem worse.

The point we see Semmelweis in at her anecdote is her at a regression. She's made the choice but the implications of that choice are now weighing on her. We even see Semmelweis repersent herself as "The Field Agent" as the first hallucination ends.

Plus, the portrayal of Bella is just- internally inconsistent.

Again, Bella's most important goals is for Semmelweis to be Honest and Safe, and she was actively against Semmelweis becoming a vampire. Bella has been shown to Not Like Valentina much, and is not exactly someone who would:

Valentina & Bella: You need blood, just a little taste. Then we won't bother you anymore, we'll lie at your feet like faithful hounds.

When Bella is acknowledged to be as stubborn as Semmelweis is.

At the very least, I distinctly doubt she'd encourage Semmelweis shooting a child, and drink his blood in the middle of the day where people can see her. She'd tell her to do it in secret where the Foundation wouldn't notice-

Though, to just put another nail into the coffin into that idea. We actually Meet Bella in the suitcase.

When you play the audio for Semmelweis' Insight 2 Voiceline she has two different animations depending on whether it's her or Bella.

Indicating that it's a different person talking.

The first part of the voice line is actually a reference to the base ending of A Series of Dusks "A Wish Granted." And in that first part Bella says that she's finally back, and is glad to see her wish (Semmelweis being honest and safe.) Having come true. Implying that she hasn't been talking to Semmelweis much since A Series of Dusks.

Really it's implied that usually Bella and Semmelweis don't communicate much with each other, which is part of why Semmelweis hasn't acknowledged her 'till now. But that goes into some stuff that hasn't been revealed in Global yet so I won't discuss it in detail.

So...yeah! Stop calling Bella a Hallucination when the game has stated and shown Multiple Times that she isn't! Semmelweis has Hallucinations but Bella is Not One Of Them!

[thestrangestthing89]

This makes a lot of sense to me. I think the layers are also starting to bleed together, which may coincide with the idea that they are running out of time because I don't think it's a good thing. For example, we literally see the meshing together of the UD and the rightside up at the end of S4. And S4 very likely is ending with a vision of some sort of Will's, where he is seeing this future. He's seems to be in the Vecna trace (like S2) and this doesn't seem to be impacting the characters with him, which is why I'm interpreting it as a vision (He's seen into the future as Will the Wise). It's meant to be a warning of some sort that if they don't fix things soon, there will be chaos in Hawkins. We saw a bit of this actually happening with the earthquake that separated Hawkins into 4 parts but the part at the very end where the group is standing in that field looking out into the town with the red clouds and lightning - I don't think this has happened YET. But it could. The deepest layers to the story I think coincide with Will's trauma. What happened to him in his past and what he's pushing down. Kali resides here as the keeper of his powers so to speak. She's holding his anger and abuse, as well as El. I think it may be that the layers aren't meant to mesh. El and other alters aren't meant to reside outside of his subconscious and her existence outside of it is part of what is causing chaos. Hence other alters self sacrificing when Will starts to heal. When Will heals, the external world also heals. It's Will's world. I think another character who is blending a bit here is Susie. She exists in Will's mind but it's the hive mind that Dustin is apart of so he has memories of her created by Will. I'm not convinced the scene in S4 where the Cali gang meets her actually happens. There is a lot in this moment that is foreshadowing and feels like another potential vision for Will the Wise. But we are starting to see these worlds/layers mesh and more and more chaotic things happen when they do. Vecna killing townies was arguably the most violent thing that happened. The violence is starting to expand past Will and impact the town now.

I do think it's likely that Mike and Will are the co-creators of this world - Mike consciously and Will subconsciously. I do think the supernatural element of the show is real though. Like they had powers as kids and suppressed them (aka they suppressed their sexualities) but Mike was becoming more accepting of this in between S3 and S4 (although this may be a bit of a misdirect as I suspect Mike has been way more conscious of his feelings for far longer and the Mike/El stuff was a thing influenced by Will or not a thing that happened in the correct reality.) I love the idea of Mike trying to pull Will out of his trauma by writing him letters or writing him a D&D campaign type thing. Mike figuring everything out first makes a lot of sense since he has been correct about everything since S1. He is always the first to put everything together and start strategizing and pulls people back when they are off track. For example, Lucas in S3 wanted to just go kill the MF and fuck shit up and Mike said that was dumb and they needed a plan. Nancy and gang do this exact thing with Vecna in S4 and it goes very badly but Mike isn't there to be the voice of reason aka the narrator. So it seems like he controls this story. In addition to this, the bad things in S4 happen when Mike isn't around and this is where the riddle of blue meets yellow comes in again. Time running out could be because Will is getting worse. He retreating further into his head and pushing everyone away and Mike has been trying to reach him. We see hints of this with Mike calling him in Cali and Will being closed off and pushing him back to El. I do think that redacted letter is very likely from Mike to Will. It makes the most sense. And time is associated with Mike the most though it is associated with other characters as well - Joyce is always late and can't find her keys (key's being associated with Mike too). Hopper spends the first 3 seasons being chronically late to work either because he's hung over or dealing with things with El or Will. Jonathan and Nancy are late to work in S3. It tends to just be this group - the Byers, Wheelers, and Hopper who are late. And Hopper's Russia storyline also seems heavily influenced by Mike and he was going to be late meeting Joyce. Maybe because as things progress and get worse for Will, Mike is trying to hint to the other characters to hurry and help him? I think this may be where we see different timelines come in. Alternate realities that are maybe created by Mike as he tries to save Will. So maybe that is where that letter comes in. But ultimately at the end he's able to save him and it sets everything back to the Rightside Up/the correct place in time.

I think the D&D references aren't necessarily a literal D&D story. Mike is just trying to use these components to reach Will with something familiar. I do think the writers were telling the truth when they said it wasn't a story (I think they said it would feel too much like "it was all a dream and then they woke up" and nixed that theory). Plus they have several spin-offs planned so I don't know how that would work if it's a not real. I do think it's likely that the supernatural element is real but maybe not in the way we are used to. On the surface of the story there is the lab experimenting on people and giving them powers and they are the bad guys but this feels like a superficial version of the story. So it does make sense to me to put this in the "deeper layer" because I think there is a lot more to it than that that is in Will's subconscious and we just don't know it yet.

Stranger Things is absolutely a nested framed story.

A play within a play. A memory within a memory. A story within a story within a story within-

We may just see Mike and Will in the 2010s at the end too... (I say this because of the Planck's Constant number Suzie provided was from the mid-2010s... "we are all time travellers" "I have seen into the future" hmmm...)

A true never ending story...

[iamonlyhereforthefreefood]

I think if you're a queer/neurodivergent/gender non-conforming girl then there was a high chance you had a "not like other girls" phase. And obviously there is a problem with the not like other girls thing because it demonizes girls/women who are more traditionally feminine which obviously there is nothing wrong with, however I do think when you're a queer not traditionally feminine woman or girl you start to feel disconnected from what allegedly is the typical female experience. I see so many posts and memes on Instagram that will be like "men won't get this" or "all women have had this experience" and it's something you don't get or something you've never experienced. And now as an adult I tend to ignore those memes because I'm older I'm aware that women aren't a monolith and every woman experiences life differently. But when you're 15 and see things like that you start to think "well if this is the typical experience girls have then clearly I'm not like other girls". A lot of "not like other girls" memes to have this sense of superiority "other girls are sluts, I'm not" "other girls are vain, I'm not" but at the same time I've seen plenty of memes that seem self deprecating and almost like they come from this place of isolation. I think a lot of girls who had a not like other girls phase really felt disconnected from their peers and those memes were a coping mechanism. I think most people outgrew the not like other girls phase because they grew up and met other women who were neurodivergent and/or queer, grew up and met other women with similar interests and hobbies, grew up and met other women who also had "not like other girls" phases as a result of feeling isolated in high school.

I'm not like other girls, because women aren't a monolith and I'm my unique own person, just like every other woman. I'm also similar to so many other women. I have so many hobbies and experiences that other women share, including the experience of being 15 and thinking you're broken for not fitting into society's idea of what it means to be a girl.

[the-judicial-assistants-notebook]

not enough discussion about the gavins' complicated relationship with feminine-coded/beauty products, i don't think.

[bayetea]

seeing non-black people critique rick's portrayal of black characters is interesting sometimes. only like 30% of the critiques I see make any sense to me to be honest

[bonefall]

As a big sibling with a lil sib with epilepsy, when they read TBC they Honestly thought if they got struck with lightning reciting the lord's prayer they'd be cured like Shadowsight is from their epilepsy. I had a discussion with them on how that's not how it works, but ge was so upset they took it away from Shadowsight that he hasn't picked the books back up and has stated that 'he hopes Ashfur wins and starts a new religion.,'

I do not even know how to respond to this besides saying that your little sibling is 100% right to be pissed and I now also hope Ashfur wins and starts a new religion.

[themyscirah]

Amanda... I miss her.

But I don't trust a single person to write her other than Ostrander/Yale. Like I don't trust them to do it right. Because like it's easy to write her being shady and manipulative and involved in secret government conspiracies. That's what she does. But it feels so hollow once you've seen her character in the way Ostrander describes it. Like she is a woman who is desperate and trying to do what she thinks is right. She has found a place of power (as a fat Black woman in the 1980s) and is doing anything she can to fight and hold onto it as powerful and ambitious men try and steal it from her. So she doubles down. She doubles down on the shady deals and the broken promises and the violence and she destroys her enemies, and loses a part of her soul in the process. And then some other ambitious politician rises up and the process repeats itself over and over and over again as each time she loses more of her morality and more of her soul and more of the respect her colleagues had for her. In place of that she gains more power, she gains fear, and an even more badass reputation. Until by the end of the book the villains begin to understand/sympathize with her more than the heroes ever will. Like THAT is who Amanda Waller is. It may happen subtly, it may happen over a longer period of time but that descent is a critical part of her character! She is a tragic character! And I feel like every perception of Suicide Squad I've seen outside of the original has her as this static villainous snapshot which is just untrue to her core imo. Like she is not a hero. But she is also not JUST a villain. She is a highly flawed character who is always descending farther and farther into villainy as she is led there by what she believes is right.

[uncanny-tranny]

I think we can absolutely criticize how gender dysphoria is viewed and defined, but sometimes, I think people can swing too far in the other direction to say that gender dysphoria doesn't exist at all, or that anybody who claims to have gender dysphoria simply have internalized transphobia. I really don't think this is helpful to trans people who are dysphoric, and it really puts us in a shameful position wherein our feelings are deemed proof of being problematic or transphobic.

I absolutely don't think dysphoria is required whatsoever to be trans - I hope my blog has made this position clear. I just hate the way dysphoria is understood by cis doctors and medical professionals, who typically do not talk to or try to understand their dysphoric patients. I don't think the solution is to blame dysphoric trans people, though (or non-dysphoric trans people!). We didn't ask for the state of transphobic healthcare. We need to put the blame where it lies - with biased professionals who don't want to accurately understand dysphoria and how it can overlap with trans identity and the transphobic society many of us live in.

[nardacci-does-art]

I didn't expect either of my haunted doll comics to ever be liked so much, uuuhh anyway shoutout to everyone in the tags & replies who, like me, read books as children that gave them lifelong sentimental crybaby syndrome.

[wonder-worker]

Any judgement on [Richard III's] reign has to be seen as provisional. The critic of the reign only has to consider how the Tudors would now be regarded if Henry VII lost at Stoke, to realize the dangers of too many assumptions about the intractability of Richard’s problems. But it would be equally unrealistic to ignore Richard’s unpopularity altogether. The fact that he generated opposition among men with little material reason for dissent, and that the disaffection then continued to spread among his own associates, says something about what contemporaries regarded as the acceptable parameters of political behaviour. There is no doubt that Richard’s deposition of his nephews was profoundly shocking. To anyone who did not accept the pre-contract story, which was probably the majority of observers, the usurpation was an act of disloyalty. Gloucester, both as uncle and protector, was bound to uphold his nephew’s interests and his failure to do so was dishonourable. Of all medieval depositions, it was the only one which, with whatever justification, could most easily be seen as an act of naked self-aggrandizement.

It was also the first pre-emptive deposition in English history. This raised enormous problems. Deposition was always a last resort, even when it could be justified by the manifest failings of a corrupt or ineffective regime. How could one sanction its use as a first resort, to remove a king who had not only not done [nothing] wrong but had not yet done anything at all?

-Rosemary Horrox, Richard III: A Study of Service

[clowndensation]

do think it's funny that the current roman theories all have to do with him literally fucking people. like i'm not saying it's not possible, the show can do whatever it wants and i trust it'll make sense. but. while there is something oedipally intriguing about the idea of roman replacing his father with another man and then literally fucking him, that doesn't... sound all that likely?

in the wake of "smart people know what they are" it makes significantly more sense to me that he's going to fuck over matsson (who's attempting to buy his father's legacy, and so, his corpse (the company + atn)) and get in deep with mencken as an ally (because the last good conversation he had with his dad was him telling roman that atn and mencken are where roman belongs), and the show is going to continue on it's very consistent path of making all relationships psychologically entangled to a fucked up degree, with no true physical release for anybody.

like. in a show where fucking someone has almost never been literal, i genuinely don't see why they'd stray from the metaphorical now.