#that's because they are also representations of me

[perdvivly]

Not waiting for chance or fate to dictate the terms of how annoying I’m allowed to be on the internet. I am choosing to answer them all now, unasked as I am.

1) This is mildly variable depending on the amount of effort I’m willing to expend. Typically the common theme is no adulterants. No sugar, no milk, no queen of England. If I’m getting fancy with it I’ll make an effort to time the brewing duration, 3mins for a black tea, 5mins for a green tea, 7mins for a herbal tea. But honestly the sort of depression chic I’ve been serving lately has been leaving the bag in and drinking it straight, tannins be damned.

2) Mandarin. Just seems like it’d be the most useful innit. Also, relatively harder to pick up non-magically given my native Englishhood.

3) God. I try not to honestly. No, but seriously, my sleep schedule has been all sorts of out of shape recently. I should work on that. At the moment it varies wildly day to day and depends on my responsibilities the days before and after the sleep. I’ve pulled a couple of all nighters recently and it gets screwy.

4) Maybe atla? I remember really liking it when it came out but not fully understanding the whole plot because I didn’t see it serialised until later. Maybe the simpsons? There’s something to say here about the earnestness of the earlier seasons and seeing a deeply dysfunctional family care about each other in ways they struggle to express—that gets glossed out as the production value rises in the later seasons—that’s like heroin to someone trapped in an irony poisoned world. But maybe that’s cope? Maybe it’s just the show I had the easiest access to as a kid. I guess I didn’t watch a whole bunch of tv or at least not a whole bunch that stuck with me.

5) Summer ez. (Have you seen her baphomet pics? 🥵)

6) In general, I doubt very much that either the optimist or the pessimist considers themselves such. It’s not really the sort of thing that admits of self-diagnosis in that way… Philosophically, the broader question is what? Do I align with Schopenhauer, Voltaire’s Leibniz, or Russel’s Leibniz? I’m not sure the tumblrinas care about the history of philosophy. I guess I’ll say to the extent that Schopenhauer relies on Indian mysticism, which I think is typically underrated, he’s simply mistaken about the world as will and representation. I’ll say that, I’m *not* a Buddhist. I think the doctrine of dukkha misses fundamental aspects of human existence. I’ll say that people have richer inner lives, deeper felt internal experiences, than you might assume from reading their little words on the internet. And that, on the whole, these are good things.

7) I mean, both ideally. Variety is the spice of life. If I had to choose I suppose it would be sunshine. But I’m terribly glad I don’t live in a world where I have to choose.

8) I have the cutest little book marks. My primary two at the moment are the sun and the moon, which I use for main text and end notes respectively. Though, I have been known to dog-ear in my time. I once got yelled at by my aunt for turning the corner of the page on my copy of Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix because it was a first edition and she was under the impression that it may be valuable some day. I was like, come on man, I’m 7. Don’t even piss. <- I didn’t say these things, but I was *like* that.

9) For the longest time I *only* wore steel toe capped boots because I ran myself over with an electric pallet stacker and tore my toenail off and decided I didn’t want that to happen again. I don’t do that anymore because I interact with heavy machinery less than I used to. Now all that matters to me is that they’re waterproof.

10) *My* signature scent like, I produce it? Or like I like it? I guess one of my favourite scents is lavender. But I've been told... Okay, it's important you guys know I do *not* have a yeast infection... I've been told some parts of my body naturally smell like bread, like, that sort of doughy yeasty (I s2g I do *not* (I did not hit her. I did not! oh hi mark)) smell that you get with bread sometimes. Is that what the question was asking?

11) I mean... That's broadly not for me to decide right? Unless the sort of dragons you're imagining have some sort of glamoury illusion magic, which seems plausible. Anyway, do you guys remember in Moby Dick when he goes on this wild tangent about how St. George and The Dragon was acutally about whales? And St. George's horse was actually a walrus or something. What was that about??

Okay, author's note, there's a time skip here. I've been scrolling through lists of dragons in popular culture for a while now and there are a pretty neat and widely varied selection of designs. I'll get back to you on this one.

12) It depends on why I'm writing! If it's a quick note to myself for future reference it'll generally be cursive, if it's an important document that will be read by other people generally it'll be print. If it's time-sensitive it'll be cursive. I remember writing essays for undergrad that I'm sure were totally illegible by the end of them, I think literally just a line on a page with occasional lifts and dips.

13) There is more information on wookieepedia than existed in my philosophy but a few minutes ago. The typology I've discerned is thus: blue - jock, green - nerd, yellow - geek, red - edgelord. And I'm a little bit of all of these, so I think any would be fine. Realistically though, I'm not sure a lightsaber is the best weapon in fantasy space-past-future where spaceships and lasers are common. Like, I'll let it slide because the original trilogy was doing a kirkegaardian faith thing and the prequels were doing a logic doesn't matter it's cool thing, and those are both respectable motivations to leave logistics aside for a bit.

14) Sad

15) Ice skates! I love ice skating!

16) I'm a youngest. I have an older sister, I think I talk about her here from time to time.

17) Well, how I would use it would depend massively on what it was. If the question is which superpower I think is the best then why not ask that? Which superpower would I have has a faint ring of incomprehensibility about it. It's really not clear which counterfactual is under consideration. *If* what?

Anyway, I think time control powers are up there right? Top five at least, easy. Imagine what you could do if you could stop time and sleep whenever you felt like it. I feel King Leerish about the ability to just be well rested. I would do such things, what they are yet I know not.

18) The problem with romantic relationships is that eventually, all of your most interesting clothing will end up in someone else's closet. I think my day-to-day wear tends to be mostly blues, blacks and whites. Not hugely interesting colourwise.

19) Snake, I think, they have fewer demands and I can't really handle any more pressure in my life than I already have. I would hate to be a bad bird mom... I would hate to be a bad snake mom too, but I think it's easier. Typically regarded as easier. I don't know.

20) Okay, so, it's like this right: medieval battle = will probably die. And it's also like this: behind city walls = safe, my friend and lover and confidant. And so, for very obvious reasons, it's gotta be a bow right? Like, I'm standing way out of the action and I'll shoot some arrows long range. But if that's against the spirit of the ask then it's gotta be some kind of polearm, like a halberd or something. Not even close. The advantage you get from distance is hard to overstate. Yeah, polearm for sure.

21) Mint choc chip, it's just such a classic. But also, I had a "london fog" flavour recently that was really compelling. It's just earl grey and vanilla but it's so good.

22) I'm more of a herbs person than a spices person. Like, hmm, I do really enjoy paprika and ginger and stuff like that, don't get me wrong. But it doesn't really hold a candle to the sheer universality of parsley or basil or oregano or mint. Herbs stay winning.

23) These days it's aptos because I am the worlds most basic bitch. And yes, I do still have a fondness for arial.

ask game that tells a lot about you.

how do you take your tea / coffee?

if you could be fluent in any language at the snap of your fingers, which one and why?

when do you wake up?

what was your favourite tv show as a kid?

summer or winter?

realist, optimist, or pessimist?

rain or sunshine?

how do you mark your spot in a book?

what are your favourite shoes like?

what would your non-perfume/cologne signature scent be?

if you were a dragon, what would you look like?

is your handwriting more print, cursive, or a mix?

what colour would your lightsaber be?

what is your defining personality trait?

roller skates or rollerblades or ice skates?

are you an only child? oldest / middle / youngest?

what would your superpower be? how would you use it?

what’s your clothing colour palette?

pet snake or pet bird?

weapon of choice in a medieval battle

the best ice cream flavour

what spices do you always use when cooking?

default font when typing?

[ganxiously]

Okay, bear with me on this, but I am more and more convinced that 911 is in this mess with BuckTommy because they picked up a very audience-favourite trope and then, did not follow through with it till the end. What I am talking about is the 'if you are going to be bisexual, it better be for someone who's worth it' trope. We see this in most mainstream bisexual representation nowadays - schitt's creek, heartstopper, rwrb and I wouldn't say it is the best representation or the healthiest one but it is a hopeful approach and one that makes bisexuality palatable to a much wider range of audience than it would otherwise be, kind of like how 'gay for you' worked but with a step in the right direction. It also kind of subverts all the negative representation of bisexuality that we have seen so far, with the non-monogamy, sexual perversion and cheating etc and at the same time, establishes the bisexual identity in a more romantic sphere - where you are bisexual because you loved this person enough to question yourself. It is okay rn because it is so new, practically not even 5 years in the making, but it could turn harmful because that is sadly not how bisexuality works.

Now, coming back to BuckTommy, they followed this formula because that is the best way to go when your audience is not that educated on all things sexuality. If they were going to make Buck bisexual after 6 seasons of straightness, they had to put someone opposite him who would make the audience feel like 'yes! I too would question my sexuality for that guy'. So they created Tommy and they literally went the sugar and spice and everything nice route. We see other characters complimenting him and whatever else you say, you cannot claim that firefighter pilot who can fly in a hurricane does not sound fucking cool. But . . . the problem starts because they dragged it out and in an attempt to make him worthy of Buck's bisexual realisation, they kept building him in a way that would make him perfect for Buck. And this thing worked for the other shows/movies/books because the relationship is endgame in every single one of them. it works because they are literally created to be the only ones for each other. But if Tim's words are to be believed and Tommy is only the beginner relationship, he's done the math in the wrong formula here because he's accidentally created an endgame character for a temporary arc so obviously, when everything went down, the equation did not match for the audience. They are used to things happening a certain way and a cable tv procedural is not where you expect a subversion of tropes especially when that trope is nowhere near saturation point yet.

[sparrowlucero]

i enjoy ur bird abode thoughts! I was a genuine enjoyer of the show when it was airing, I’m no die hard fan though and love to see ppls personal takes on the overall story/plot. Im curious if you also would agree or have any thoughts on the impacts The Mouse’s cancellation had on the shows ability to be more than it was? srry im not super eloquent with my words, but basically ur response to that ask got me wondering if part of the reason the show like genuinely wasnt all that ground breaking or unique in the end plot wise (other than the villain faces consequences in the end ig) as far as YA/Teen animation goes, was because of The Mouse’s inability to let the writers flesh out the show before gutting it? i have a negative bias toward The Mouse franchise and obviously dont know anything about how writing a show under the eyes of a franchise that big would work, its just smth that rattles around in my head and wanna know what u think!

Well to an extent, but I think it's much more the effect the studio had on how the owl house started out as rather than it not getting a full season at the end - It didn't escape my noticed that the show was initially announced as being a "horror comedy" when it doesn't really seem like either, especially by the second season, and yeah, the original pitch bible is obviously aiming for that much more than the show proper is as it goes along (and is honestly seems quite a bit more funny, weird, and dark, with an overarching plotline about a giant bug being used to religiously suppress people, eda able to cure her curse by killing luz, and one of the major characters being a teen boy awoken from a sleeping curse who ends up being a weird little bigot because he's from the 13th century, among other things)

(side note, i just noticed they actually specifically describe the thing i assumed the show was gonna be about here. huh.) but ultimately the bulk of the show that was actually made seems very influenced by a writing team that was genuinely interested in making a tropey YA fantasy story rather than just being mandated to. I mean even in what aired you can see the show sort of settle in ways that feel less like studio interference and more like, you know, art students creating their ideal fantasy show, like how King is clearly Eda's roommate who's funny because he looks like and sounds like a little dog despite being an adult man at the beginning but by the end they've made him her adopted sad backstory son who's explicitly a child. While I think a third season would have made the show as it existed better, because they clearly didn't get to finish the plot they wanted to (frankly to the point where some major aspects of the show are a bit confusing, I'm still not sure what a grimwalker is), I don't really fault the show for that but also don't think that hypothetical season (which pretty clearly would have been mostly about the magic school teens going to normal school) would suddenly flip around into something that I personally found interesting and subversive. Nor should it, really; again, it being Queernorm Harry Potter thing is clearly the intended appeal of the show, it's not really a flaw but just not a genre I'm personally interested in when compared to what I initially expected the show to be.

HOWEVER I will say they robbed little weird girls of their representation and that can't be forgiven

[fatalism-and-villainy]

This is gonna sound like a morality cop sentiment without the context that I am a person who is deeply enthusiastic about the aestheticized, eroticized violence of NBC Hannibal. But with that context in mind… I often find myself deeply put off by how violence is handled in fanfic, particularly post-canon fanfic.

Because Hannibal is a very dark show. It is thematically centered on the darkness that resides in all human beings, as embodied by the irresistible black hole that is Hannibal Lecter - a theme that most obviously manifests in Will Graham’s corruption arc, but also in subtler, more mundane ways with characters like Alana Bloom and Jack Crawford, who keep repeating their mistakes despite their self-awareness. And it’s a very nihilistic show, concerned not with ethics but aesthetics, with the pursuit of beauty in the absence of moral scruples.

And yet, violence and death always feel significant on this show. Despite (or perhaps because of) the frequent surrealism and black comedy in their presentation, they feel as if they have gravitas. And that’s precisely because of the show’s aestheticism. The corpses we see are so exquisitely mounted, and presented with such deliberation and intention, both in-universe and in the show’s cinematography. And thus these deaths feel as though they have weight, as though they mean something - even if the only meaning we derive from them is that they look beautiful, if ghastly, or that they convey cinematic symbolism.

But there is so much Hannibal fanfic where the violence feels so… disturbingly banal to me. Where the deaths don’t have any narrative weight and are completely trivial to our main characters. And this is imo completely out of keeping with even Hannibal Lecter’s own philosophy on the show, when he says that life is precious - not because he places particular value on life’s preservation for its own sake, but because he fully understands the gravity of what he is doing. His arrogance and sense of superiority is contingent on the understanding that the taking of a life is a serious thing, and a transcendent thing. Not flesh and blood, but light and air and colour. And I don’t see much light and air and colour in the kinds of fics that I’m talking about.

This is all very much entwined with the fact that a lot of these representations of violence seem to be bound up in the understanding that the show, and Will’s arc, is subtextually queer. And it absolutely is. But I often get the sense that these representations of violence, and the relationship between Will and Hannibal, are trying to overlay them with a very 2020s Positive Queer Representation approach, wherein Will and Hannibal’s love is misunderstood by the world, and thus their violence, as the symbol of their transgression, has to be portrayed and received by the audience an unalloyed good.

And this feels hard to explain, because of course this is a show that is very much about the pleasures of transgression. And it invites the viewer to share in that pleasure, in all the aforementioned ways. It’s drawing from a very 19th century Wildean mode in that regard - a sensibility that irreverently collapses all transgressions into one, and deliberately refuses to differentiate between the morally repugnant and the merely socially unacceptable. And that is very powerful as an engine for queer subtext, as it takes the very real feeling of being corrupt and tainted and wrong and leans into the seductive glamor of that corruption, rather than attempting to counteract that narrative (in ways that can feel, when in the throes of internalized homophobia, shallow and artificial).

But, within Hannibal, that thrill of transgression is inextricably bound up in horror. The pull of violence - and the bond it engenders between Will and Hannibal - is irresistible, but it is also a source of deep seated pain and terror. And those things are fundamentally not separable. There’s a sublimity to violence, and to desire, on this show - pleasure and pain, wonder and horror, are intertwined.

And a lot of the portrayals of violence-as-transgression as symbolic of queerness in fanfic just don’t grasp this. There’s an attempt to paper over the horror and the sublimity of the violence, and how it serves the queer symbolism. It always strikes me as though writers grasp that symbolism, but are trying to fit it into the mold of representation-as-a-means-of-social-advancement. It never lands for me and it leads to the aforementioned callous disregard for life that I just find distasteful. Which is not to say that I think portraying violence and murder in a manner that strikes a similar note to the show is an easy needle to thread - certainly not. (Not the least because it’s hard to translate the show’s visual language to writing.) But it is something I notice and that breaks immersion for me very quickly.

[confusedshades]

I am both intrigued and confused. Because woah this is an amazing concept but also. Where's the trans-cultural references? Ive been to various family weddings and let me tell you, there's always cultural and traditional aspects from both the families.

In the first pic, you've got the obviously Hindu tradition of the brude giving milk to her newly married husband after the wedding ceremony but before the wedding night, but where's the monster's cultural representations? There's no difference in jewellery, no difference in bedroom or background.

In the second picture too. You've got the girl washing dishes and yay the person is sitting there keeping her company! - but the whole house that's visible is entirely classic old style Indian house? Where's the monster's cultural representations? I've been to and stayed at various homes and there's always at least some pieces from both people's cultures - more so in urban settings.

Art from Kumari Loves a Monster by Rashmi Devadasan. Illustrated by Shyam. 

“The young maidens in these pages all have beauty, brains and talent / They while away the night and day / With monsters fierce and gallant.

 A romantic picture book of young girls who have fallen in love with monsters.”

[carto0ncritter]

People are so desperate for LGBT representation, (specifically gay and lesbian couples), that they're willing to accept literally any homosexual ship regardless of the concerning elements.

Let's see, we have ass ships like

1)Stolitz - Stolas is an abuser, a r*pist, a racist man who has so many powers yet is emotionally fragile, passive and wimpy, a man who victimizes himself over and over, a man who emotionally neglects the child who desperately needs him for his sexual fantasies with his victim, a man who is the creator's pet, a man whose actions aren't wrong according to the writers, a man who can just blame everyone else around him but himself with no consequences

2) Catradora - Catra is an abuser too, but was treated like a cute kitty cat in s5 despite having done atrocious things, she was instantly forgiven with no consequences, and she ended up dating her sister and the biggest victim of her abuse

3) Huskerdust - I haven't talked about this one so far, but Angel sexually harassed Husk and never apologized, Husk himself sang "Loser, Baby" and as a SA survivor I felt like he was trying to say this to Angel: "Oh, you've hit rock bottom because of SA? It's your fault lol, accept that you're a whiny bitch and a loser even tho the problem is extremely serious and out of your control and just suck it up, I'm a loser too despite not going through the same thing you have, you're not alone in being a loser BUT YOU ARE STILL A LOSER BABYYY A LOOOSER" Like, ik the message was supposed to be how we're not alone in our struggles and how there's always someone who will understand and make us feel less alone, but the way this was handled rubbed me the wrong way. Also, I'm not sure whether or not to mention this as well (screw it, I will), but Husk is described as "the old bartender," his voice sounds like it belongs to an old dude too, and he apparently died when he was like, 70, while Angel died in his 30's. I'm not gonna calculate their ages based on how it works in Hell because personally I feel like it doesn't matter. What matters is how old they were when they were alive. But however you decide to look at their ages, it's not just the implied enormous age gap that bothers me, no... it's more so the difference in maturity between Husk and Angel. Husk is described as a dude who has seen and experienced a lot of stuff. On the other hand, Angel is clearly immature and there is this weird... emotional imbalance between them? It's like a mentor dating his apprentice, at least that's how I see it. I'm not saying dating someone who's 40 years older than you is morally wrong (if you're both adults) but IT IS WEIRD imo, especially since Angel & Husk are not on the same page when it comes to life experience and maturity. Oh yeah, I also don't think Angel should be in any kind of romantic relationship... for his own good

[puckinghischier]

This is me not knowing if your requests are open, but I’m gonna slide in your inbox anyways. I’m currently on my period at the moment and want to actually die, so this is me ever so kindly requesting for some tooth-rottenly sweet comfort with my boy. Whether it focuses on the reader struggling during her time of month or just overall seeking some comfort, I will happily accept either scenario

jack may have a reputation for being sassy and dry at times, but when he knows you need it? that man turns into the softest person on the planet.

he’s waiting on you hand and foot, treading lightly, not wanting to upset you any further. he’s speaking softly to you, as not to jar your sensitive state.

he makes sure you don’t have to make any decisions if you don’t want to, giving your tired brain a rest. he picks up your favorite take out, bringing it to you in the bedroom and eating with you in silence, never making you converse if you didn’t want to. he’s doing the dishes, finishing the laundry, running you a hot bath.

the days leading up to your period are always spent with you being a little off. your usual yappy nature gone, an overall sadness to your features and tone, and the random bouts of tears and extreme insecurity.

he hates it for you, knowing it’s not who you are, but also knowing you’re trapped in the endless cycle of falling victim to an upset in hormones that tricks your brain, every month. he wants nothing more than to help, but he can’t crawl in your brain and take the thoughts away. so, he does what he can.

he brings you your heating pad and meds anytime you so much as wince in discomfort. he holds you while giving your belly a gentle massage, trying to counteract the painful cramps radiating through your lower body. he make sure you have all of your favorite foods on hand. he watches your favorite movies and holds you when your emotions finally boil over. he reassures you that he loves you, more than you’ll ever know, and he’ll always be there when you need him.

he doesn’t mind being your rock. in fact, he loves it. he loves knowing he’s the only person that can bring you comfort when you need it most. he loves being the person you reach for when you want to be held while you cry over the notebook for the thousandth time. he loves the quality time he always gets with you during this week each month (unless he’s on a roadie) because you don’t want to go anywhere. he loves how you cling to him like a koala, his mere touch enough to relax your entire body.

he wants to be any and everything you need. he loves that most of time, your relationship is happy, go-lucky fun. he loves the banter you two have and the natural back and forth of your conversations. but he loves this, too. the domesticity of it all. he loves being able to switch to this soft, caretaker persona for a week each month. he never understood the way his parents always seemed to enjoy dotting on the other when they were sick or upset, but now he does.

he knows now, that the simplest, yet most rewarding, thing you can do for your partner is to simply be there. to anticipate their needs and show them the physical representation of your love. to be their comfort when nothing else in this world soothes them. be their voice of reason, even when their brain is working against them. reminding them that even in their weakest moments, they are deserving of softness, deserving of peace, and deserving of love.

[intothedysphoria]

Billy Hargrove’s story is unattachable from disability

Of course Dacre has said he portrayed Billy as having bipolar and generalised anxiety disorder (and Dacre is a disabled actor himself)

And the Duffers aren’t exactly known for their good treatment of disabled characters or disabled actors

When you look at social representation models for disability in media, a lot of these hegemonic traits fit with Billy pretty fucking well.

“The disabled character as sinister/evil”- throughout the narrative we are told that the way Billy behaves (a lot of which are pretty textbook symptoms of bipolar disorder btw) make him evil and someone to be feared. ESPECIALLY after he’s flayed and is literally seen as inhuman.

“The disabled character as a burden”- Stranger Things presents him as *burdening* Max, preventing her from seeing her friends because he’s *insert fandom mental health diagnosis here*

“The disabled character as sexually deviant”- Billy is seen to be flirting with Karen (never mind that he looks fucking nervous while doing it) therefore he is a sexual deviant and must also be sexually deviant in other ways. (And certain disabilities are absolutely hyper sexualised)

Even the ways the fandom reacts to him are steeped in ableism. I’ve seen him be referred to as a sociopath, as a narcissist, as if npd and aspd aren’t mental health conditions and are instead an insult. The abuse he endures is blamed on him being a “difficult child” for Neil to raise, again pointing at Billy’s disabled traits.

And that’s not even mentioning that abuse is inherently a disability issue.

Abuse is disabling. And disabled people are both more likely to be targeted and less able to escape.

Billy’s story and thus his villainhood is reliant on the fact that he is disabled. He is a disabled abuse victim and therefore he is inhuman in the narratives eyes.

The one heroic he does according to the narrative is die. It is incredibly depressing.

But it is a story which has been thrust on disabled people since the beginning of television. You can consider me disappointed but not surprised.

[necarion]

Ah, yes. A raging imperialist who *checks notes* voted for full statehood for Puerto Rico and had a major campaign platform for bringing economic development and recovery funds to it. Who wants to ensure that Ukraine is not conquered by Russia, according to the wishes of the Ukrainians, and who supports a strong NATO that keeps Eastern Europe from being attacked by an imperialist Russia. Who, along with Joe Biden, has been pushing (ineffectively, I agree, but much of that is because Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah do not appear to want ceasefires) for a ceasefire in Palestine and a two-state solution.

Yes, she supported a strong US military. But it drives me fucking nuts when people call America "imperialist" when it is not, in fact, conquering anyone, or planning to! Who supports the current status quo of "nobody gets to conquer anybody!"

There are currently two imperialist countries right now, in the sense that they rule over people different from their core ethnic identity who do not want them there, and do not get any sort of representation in the national government. Russia is the last remaining European imperial power, having conquered a huge land empire, and which wants to regain its territories in Ukraine and Eastern Europe. And China has instituted repressive concentration camp-style actions in Tibet and Xinjiang, and seriously wants to conquer Taiwan so it can have it back on the map. The US is no longer in Afghanistan, and is in Iraq at the request of the democratic Iraqi government (which we've been letting call basically all its own shots since about 2015) and have fewer military bases around the world than basically any point since World War II.

Is the US a sort of world hegemon? Sure, I guess. We're biggest and richest and most powerful. People take seriously what we say because we have muscle to back up the claims. But also, there are a lot of problems in the world that would be better if the US actually did have the ability to force other countries in our sphere of influence to do what it wants. A bunch more democracies in Southeast Asia. Turkey and Hungary that aren't autocratic and a Turkey that isn't attacking the Kurds. Germany that isn't fucking useless right now. A goddamned two-state solution in Israel/Palestine (which the US has been pushing for for decades). Any fucking democracy at all in Saudi Arabia.

Could you call Kamala Harris a "jingoist", then sure, I guess. Primarily in the "make our military strong enough that Russia and China don't try to invade anyone else" sense. An "America, Fuck Yeah!" politician, then yeah.

But I'm really sick of the "imperialist" line.

I just saw someone say “Im glad Kamala didn’t win because I don’t want our first female president to be a raging imperialist.” What do you think the president of the United States of America is?

[cpvnksabm]

Please stop trying to "fix" RTC's disability rep without doing prior research, especially if you are able-bodied.

I'm not just saying this because, on principle, I think it's important to centre & uplift disabled voices in discussions of disability representation. I'm saying it because in practice, I've noticed that when people take the "canon sucked so I'm just going to change it" approach to Ricky's depiction in RTC, they frequently end up erasing the parts of canon's representation that were valuable and important to me, sometimes doing things that are worse than canon.

It's important for a fandom to be able to recognise canon's flaws, especially in its depictions of serious topics. But I often feel that the discussion of criticising RTC's disability rep is dominated by people who haven't done a lot of research or don't understand the issue.

I've found that most of the things I actually consider objective flaws in RTC's disability representation are incredibly underdiscussed. Instead, criticism tends to focus on a few specific points, most of which are things I don't agree with or things that are just objectively wrong. For example - it was not ableist to remove the scene where Ricky concedes the competition. At all. I could even argue that this was a positive change, but it gets lumped in with the more ableist script changes (the 2022 rewrites removing Ricky's disability) simply because both happened after the most popular proshot was released in 2016.

Another criticism I see frequently is the idea that canon should have named Ricky's specific disability and was bad rep for not doing so. I understand the idea behind this and somewhat agree with it, but I also think it's more complicated than most people give it credit for - Ricky specifically has a rare disease, meaning most of RTC's audience would not be familiar with it, and when the musical was written, the intended "official" watching experience was for people to see it live, in a dark room with their phone turned off. While the majority of the fandom (who got into RTC through bootlegs) would benefit from Ricky's condition having a known name that can be easily googled, I think it makes sense for the the writers to avoid using terms the average audience member wouldn't be familiar with, given they wouldn't be able to Google it unless they remembered it after the show.

This wouldn't be an issue, if not for the fact that fans frequently use "canon wasn't clear enough" as an excuse to erase the things that canon was clear about. There is a big difference between a character having some sort of "blank slate mystery disease", leaving it entirely up to the fandom to decide what disability he has, and a character who is explicitly said to have a rare degenerative disease with a clearly shown set of symptoms, without the exact name of the disease being mentioned.

I think part of the issue here is a lack of awareness. Many people don't understand how one disease would cause both Ricky's inability to speak and his need for mobility aids, and so they assume canon must have just chosen these symptoms at random. And since "choosing symptoms at random" isn't exactly a great approach to disability depiction, these fans then try to "fix" canon by coming up with separate plausible explanations for Ricky's symptoms.

But the fact is that Ricky's symptoms were not chosen at random - they are in line with symptoms that are caused by real-world neuromuscular disorders. This is heavily implied to be the type of disability Ricky has (I've made a post explaining why, check it out on my account if you want).

Seeing erasure of Ricky's disability is always upsetting, but it's even more upsetting when it comes from people who think they are "fixing" canon by removing "unrealistic" depictions of disability. A person being unable to talk and a mobility aid user due to neuromuscular disability is not unrealistic. Just because you aren't already aware of how something can exist, doesn't mean it is unrealistic.

And there are other issues too, such as whether the "feed him through a tube" meant anything with regard to ricky actually having a feeding tube or generally how well canon handled ocean's ableism, where I feel like people are too quick to jump to "I don't know why canon did that, must be bad representation, I'll fix it" without fully understanding the issue. And if you try to "fix" canon without understanding where it went wrong, you might just make it worse.

I just think it's time for everyone to step back a bit and remember that it's okay to not know everything. Ricky is a character with an underrepresented disability, and it makes sense that some things about him might not be things you've seen before or things you understand well. It's okay to be confused. It only becomes a problem when people make assumptions and then spread these assumptions without fact-checking.

It's very easy for misinformation to get spread online. One person makes a claim in a post, and other people just believe it without fact-checking, because they don't see why the OP would lie about it. And often OP isn't lying at all, but they may be misunderstanding something. A lot of the time, complex subjects like disability representation can be accidentally stripped of important nuance in a game of telephone, when a discussion aimed at one group of people gets taken out of context. And the 2017/2018 RTC scripts frequently get lumped in with the ableist post-2022 script, purely because they both come after the most popular version (the 2016 proshot bootleg).

So before you try to "fix" RTC's disability representation, I think it's important to take a step back and think about what you think RTC originally did wrong. What makes you think these parts were wrong? If it's simply because you don't understand it, or because other people have called it bad representation but you don't understand why, it's time to do some more research to figure out how to best fix it. Otherwise, you might do something that is also bad representation, or plain erasure - and you might do this in an attempt to "fix" one of the things that RTC actually did a good job of originally.

My asks are always open if you're interested in hearing one disabled person's perspective on how RTC handled a specific topic. Please do not assume you don't need to ask because you already know what my perspective will be, and please don't feel like you're bothering me by sending an ask. I am much less bothered by good-faith questions than by people speaking over me, even unintentionally, or taking it for granted that i'll agree with their views.

I think getting a disabled perspective is incredibly important if you're planning on changing any aspect of ricky's disabilty in fanworks - there is a fine line between genuinely improving on canon's flawed rep, and just erasing canon's rep (including the good parts) and excusing it with "well it was bad representation anyway". Remember, disability erasure isn't only when a disabled character is made completely abled - it is possible to erase an aspect of ricky's disability even if he is still disabled.

This is a little more blunt than my usual posts, but it is very important. Thank you so much for reading.

[eurydice-pens]

just a doodle because my executive function is nonexistent but . thank you insertdisc5 for the game that single-handedly got me to return to tumblr and start writing fanfiction and has also let me meet some of the most wonderful friends in my life. thank you for the aroace and enby representation and for giving me a world where estrangement from one’s country is acknowledged and felt and handled with such empathy and care. thank you for the mental health representation and for allowing siffrin forgiveness and understanding and love in spite of everything. i left so many parts of myself in this world and came out with so many more.

[macaronirats]

OK OK WAIT THEORY

Somebody might have said this already in which case sorryyy pls tell me

also I got all the pictures from Google because I wrote this in like 5 minutes so if I stole ur pictures sorryyy

But ok so does anybody remember the theory about the secretary’s death being a reenactment of 9/11? I think that theory was close to the truth but not quite. I believe the series of secretary costumes is actually detailing the downfall of the dictator’s reign due to nuclear warfare.

People have pointed out how swarm tour is most likely a prequel to the current dictator setting (see future-crab’s post here). I believe this to be true and the secretary costumes are showing how it happened, paired with the drum messages etc.

I know that the secretary appeared one night before this one but I want to start with the everything under control message.

For a while I thought this one said “everything IS under control” instead of simply “everything under control,” which wouldn’t be an important distinction UNLESS you look at it through the guise of a dictatorship. This message is not a confirmation of wellbeing or safety, but rather signifying the continual reign of his grand immoral dictator.

Then comes the airplane. This is where all the 9/11 speculation starts, but I think the airplane mentioned is actually one carrying a nuclear weapon. The message after that, terror, is fairly self-explanatory.

Before, I read a theory or two about how Gerard was dressed as himself witnessing 9/11 during this show (considering that they were not dressed as the secretary for the first and only time during this saga). While this is a good theory, I think that it’s also possible that he is dressed to represent the dog here, hence the drum message. This might be far fetched but maybe accurate?? I also see how the dog could be a symbol for the general public. The obedience of the people, the citizens that obey their owner’s will. “Bark bark bark” could be the citizens rising up now that the government is weakened or dead. Gerard could be dressed not as a dog, but as a regular person, maybe one that has been living under the dictator’s rule.

The rest of the secretary shows I think continue this storyline, as the secretary becomes deader and undeader. I also think that there’s something to be said about the secretary herself as a symbol for dictatorship and the fascist regime in general- her death could represent the death of the government, its rebirth, maybe the way that history repeats itself over and over again. Ignoring her symbolism would be a BIG oversight. The secretary owning the dog as a representation of the government controlling the people?

Sorry if this is all either really obvious or really wrong either way thanks for listening to me rant tell me what yall think :D

[localcryptidsteg]

Imma be so real for a minute

I have so much beef with how this was done

He stopped a meeting on saving these kids' Mother and his friend because having him clock Nightshade was apparently more important.

Sir? SIR. Just default to using their name, you can ask pronouns when their family aint at risk.

And that's not even TOUCHING line delivery. It's done in SUCH a clunky, unnatural manner. Especially when Optimus doesn't ever actually ask a question? He actually just pauses, and Mo immediately jumps to "Oh, he doesn't know their pronouns!" Instead of the much more reasonable "oh they met like one scene ago, he probably forgot their name"

Also... having Mo answer for them doesn't sit well. Theres the whole mindshare fuckery going on which, cool, fine ok? Do it LITERALLY any other time, AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD LET THE NONBINARY KID ANSWER FOR THEMSELF??? This is a fairly personal question, why is Mo answering for Nightshade here? Especially when, again, ONE SCENE earlier, Nightshade has ZERO problem answering for themself during introductions.

I LOVE that Nightshade is nonbinary but there are so many better points at which this could have been brought up, in FAR more organic ways, and in a way that gives Nightshade full autonomy over the situation.

Maybe it's because Im an older queer and I remember when outing other people was actively and widely seen as being dangerous (it still is by the way, don't do this to others) and there was no real overt media representation for the nonbinary community, idk, but how it gets handled in the show leaves me with a baaaaaad taste in my mouth. Maybe Im just too picky, I've never really seen anyone else bring it up, but there it is.

The way Nightshade is confirmed to use they/them and Optimus apologized and moved on properly is so nice

[jupitermelichios]

obviously shapeshifting would be the best superpower, but if I had to have a very specific/mostly useless power, it would be the ability to set randos on the internet homework, like i'm a prefect on a power trip.

i follow a lot of evangelical/fundie nonsense, and forcing grifter "pastors" to learn actual theology and biblical exegesis would be so satisfying! 'oh, you think a woman's worth is inherently tied to virginity? write me 3000 words on how your beliefs would be fundamentally different if it weren't for the empress theodora'. 'oh you're citing the story of sodom to justify your homophobia? 10 pages on Ezekiel 16:49 due on my desk by monday'.

making every politician who scaremongers about the evils of socialism write essays on marxist theory and basic economics. making GamersTM write essays on the history of representation in gaming. making terfs write papers on actual human biology?

i'm not an advocate for punitive justice, but i do think forcing jacob rees moggs to write feminist analysis of barney the dinosaur would make the world very slightly better, if only because it would take up some of time he'd otherwise spend talking absolutely bollocks!

i could make kemi badenoch watch dr who. tell me you don't also want the power to force kemi badenoch to analyse dr who? it wouldn't be hurting her, after all she's been very clear that she's definitely not frightened of dr who, but boy would it piss her off!

it wouldn't fix any of them, but it would give me the ability to significantly inconvinience so many deeply unpleasant people, and it would be very very funny

[highrook]

The Two Worlds of Highrook

(part 1 ) Blacksands

There are actually two worlds that collide to create the highrook experience. The first is the town of Blacksands and its surroundings (such as the Highrook estate where the game is based). The second is the shadow cosmic realm of Nibiru. When these two planes are brought into contact, via magics and ritual, the intersection results in horrifying consequences.

Blacksands is a decaying sea-port, settled on the broken coast of the inmost ocean. Its ash colored beaches fold in and out of dank coves and dreary estuaries.  The town itself consists of a handful of shambolic districts, tumbling from the storm battered heights of Highrook down to the rotting docks of Aldwerth. 

Hemmed in by the oily sea to the east and treacherous cliffs to the west, the streets and its inhabitants exhibit a sense of dreamlike stoicism. Trade is sparse but well weathered ships still dock at the moldering port, bringing supplies - both mundane and exotic - into the town. Its isolation has made it a haven for those who do not wish to be found; thieves and heretics alike. And because of this gathering of minds and materials, the shadowed streets of Blacksands harbor wonders both revelatory and horrifying.

Blacksands is an amalgam of the many gothic locations that have inspired me over time. From the narrow streets of Bram Stokers Whitby, through the rotting shanties of Innsmouth and the candle-lit cities of games like Thief and Dishonored. Even though our game takes place on the cliffs overlooking the town, the characters, their background and their personal goals all align with their positions in the town itself. 

Blacksands also diverges from a purely accurate historical representation of similar locations, specifically with the addition of more steampunk and magical elements. This is most obvious with the introduction of the mecanists, a guild of expert engineers and machine workers. Ritualistic practices, backstreet medicine, smuggling and underhand diplomatic espionage are all part of the bustling but covert city scene. Even though Highrook - the game - takes place outside Blacksands  proper there are continual references to the geography, politics and history of the city. 

Influences

Cities have always been a favorite fantasy location for me.  They are usually more grounded in reality than the open world, which suits my tastes more. You don’t tend to get dragons or giants hanging out in cities, they are mostly the domain of human(oid)s. This doesn't mean that fantasy cities are relegated to being historical stage sets  though. Some of my favorite fictional cities; Viriconium, New Crobuzon, Sanctuary, Leá Monde, Gormenghast are far from realistic settings.

The city of Viriconium is the location for several novels and short stories by M. John Harrison. Like much of Harrison's work it merges styles,settings and tone in a way that feels deliberately inconsistent and dreamlike. In one tale it is the site of quiet poetic recollections, in another it becomes a hub for almost sci-fi events. But throughout all the iterations it very definitely seems to have a life of its own, beyond the page.. China Miéville’s New Crobuzon, featured in Perdido Street Station and other novels, is similar in its hybrid mix of sources, but feels less dreamlike and more cinematic. Instead of the blurred edges of dreams Miéville’s city is  described in cinematic clarity, like film sets ready to frame the action of the story.

Thieves' World was an anthology series published throughout the 1980s, it took the city of Sanctuary as its central theme, but allowed various writers to interpret the city as they wished. As a result the sense of place evolved over time through a number of fairly unreliable narrators and different authors interpretations. It wavers from complex tales of diplomacy to page-turning action-adventure. But the city as a container really appealed to me when I first read the series.

Gormenghast illustration by ian miller

Finally the ruined worlds of Gormenghast and  Leá Monde have always been visual touchstones to me. Both places are abandoned crumbling citadels where the remnants of once powerful families still cling on, alongside phantoms and decay.

Leá Monde is the only city listed here that is from a game rather than a book, but that makes it no less inspiring. It's the setting for the  PS1 game Vagrant Story (2000) and like the crumbling towers of The Last Guardian or the derelict districts of the Thief and Dishonored games it offers an incomplete history of a cities past, full of ghosts and half told tales.

In all these examples, and in the case of my own Blacksands, there is an interesting contradiction between people and place. All these cities are clearly a product of their successive inhabitants, yet also seem to have their own identity that persists beyond their population.

Highrook sits at the top of the salt cliffs of Blacksands, overlooking the smog filled port and its ashen coast. But it also sits on top of a gateway to a very different world, the hidden citadel of Nibiru, which I will talk about in another post soon!

[alittlesongbirdchirps]

BATMAN GOD OF VENGEANCE IDEA

Bruce Wayne is immortal and each sidekick he has ever had he adopted from a different Era.

He's also like the god of vengeance or at least is a being that represents it.

Each sidekick is like a chosen or blessed one, however, whenever one of his chosen dies in battle he gets a boost of power because in a sense it's like a sacrifice they sacrifice themselves in his crusade for his war on crime.

He didn't know this until Jason's death, he felt terrible because some of the strength he now has is a constant reminder of the fact he lost his son.

So when Tim does his bullshit Bruce doesn't choose him or bless him so he doesn't have the protections, unlike the rest.

That won't be found out until later. Oh, and benching a Robin or firing them has almost the same effect as stripping someone of their blessing.

Also, think of Bruce still being new at this whole god or being of representation thing so he's like learning as he goes along to.

Dick Grayson 1940's

Jason Todd 1980's

Tim Drake 1990's

Cassandra Cain 2000's

Stephaine Brown 2016

Damien Wayne 2023

Terry McGinnis 2039

(Timeline jumps around a lot I know but I wanted to keep them pretty close to their release date besides Terry, cause his whole ass thing is future stuff, I also wanted Jason and Tim's to be close enough in comparison to Dick because for Jason it would be like you waited years to replace Dick only to wait ten for me. )

LATE NIGHT RAMBLES

AS I ALWAYS STATE FELL FREE TO USE THIS AS INSPO