#that's one hell of an invented op

[elliegoestodownton]

Trudy presenting the board with the details of a fake op: "My arts and crafts project" 😂😂😂

[godtears]

Reblog for a bigger sample size.

Say in the tags what you voted for and if you live in or outside of the US

[tossawary]

Looking up some things has turned into reading the last 100 or so chapters of the "Naruto" manga for fun, because why not. Some random assorted notes so far (as of finishing Chapter 661):

This end fight is so fucking long, there are so many characters, and the pacing is bordering on excruciating. There's some stuff happening here that's delicious, but there's a lot of messy back and forth of the narrative focus that I personally am not fully vibing with. I cannot imagine trying to follow this split story weekly. This is common enough to a lot of big shounen mangas.

I generally like the basic artstyle here (the use of white and black especially), but the quality of page composition, panel composition, and scene clarity generally is obviously suffering heavily from these chapters being pushed out too quickly. I can barely tell some characters apart and some panels are just messes of lines. This is also common enough among mangas, so eh, it's also whatever.

It's kind of funny to me how Hashirama and Tobirama and Minato suddenly become major characters for like a solid 30 chapters or so. Like, yeah, I can see why Founders Era fic is popular. The flashback chapters themselves are pretty short, but Madara is one of the main villains in this fight, and the undead Senju brothers are suddenly here to kick ass on a level apparently far beyond most other characters. The grudges and betrayal here are delicious. These are also the people who founded Konoha itself, the main location of the manga for hundreds of chapters now, honestly not that many generations ago. It also helps that the Founders feel like they have nicely complete tragic arcs and lives to work with, instead of the relatively open-ended narrative mess that the main Naruto characters live in.

Also, Hashirama can definitely act the idiot and I think some of his choices / opinions are stupid as hell, but he's obviously a very clever and observant and ruthless person. Tobirama went on to become Hokage after his brother and will not hesitate to forcefully give his opinions, but it's also clear in some scenes that Hashirama is still the one in charge between them. Tobirama seems to fairly naturally fall into a very useful support role to whoever he's fighting with, including Minato and Naruto.

I like both Minato and Tobirama because I have a weakness for characters who engage with their magic systems to make new things. Minato improved on the Flying Thunder God technique and Orochimaru improved on the Edo Tensai technique, but Tobirama invented BOTH of those things? PLUS Shadow Clones??? All of which are basically carrying a significant part of the battle right now? Like, damn, Hashirama has his Mokuton, and Tobirama was stubbornly like, "Not being left behind. Fuck you."

So, yeah, the "Hashirama versus Madara", "Tobirama versus Madara", "Minato (plus Naruto & Tobirama) versus Obito", and "Kakashi versus Obito" are probably my favorite parts of this. Not knocking on Naruto or Sasuke or the large background mob of characters here, but they just do not have the same personal, ugly, emotional history in this fight, so I don't really care as much.

Ino can forcibly link hundreds of unknown minds together so Shikamaru can broadcast battle plans??? Holy shit??? The vibe I'm getting is that she was using the link apparently created by Naruto's chakra to do this, but still. Both Ino and Sakura have the potential to be incredibly OP badass characters and they are generally just... Not Allowed to take the spotlight here.

Shikamaru had this big dramatic chapter about surviving to become Naruto's future advisor someday, and I had to repress the urge to holler, "Gaaaaay!" at the screen. I do love the inherent homoeroticism of a right-hand man. (Also, *waves a hand vaguely* Gaara's whole everything.)

To be honest, though, I'm not even sure what Sasuke has spent the past fifty chapters doing. He's there! He sure is there! I think he just got stabbed, so now he gets to be emotional motivation for Naruto again. As far as I understand it, not being sure what Sasuke is actually doing sums up basically everything he does in the manga. There are too many characters here.

On that note, the vibe I'm getting from Orochimaru is that he's also mostly just here to spectate. Like, yeah, I know. Characters like Orochimaru and Sakura and Tsunade are keeping everyone alive with their bare fucking hands right now, but also, give Orochimaru some opera glasses and an alcoholic beverage and it wouldn't feel that out of place.

I'll probably have more to add at some point, but these are the (not that serious) notes off the top of my head.

[pheavampire]

Astarion, Cazador and D&D vampire lore

Let’s talk about D&D vampires and some lore inconsistencies in Baldur’s Gate 3.

BG3 is not a game about vampires. It was obvious we won’t get a playable character who will be 100% vampire spawn from the handbooks - the mechanical balance would be disturbed in comparison with other characters. But we can list some weird stuff and missing aspects. For fun, for fanfiction, for nerdiness.

I still wonder why Cazador even asked Astarion if he wants to be turned. Sure, he could do that, so he could say later „ha ha you asked for it!” but still - weird. Anyway, a vampire lord doesn’t need to ask - he just bites his victim, kills it by drinking its blood and boom, a vampire spawn is made. Almost made…

… because at first the victim needs to be buried and layed in the ground before it rises. That’s the next question - how the hell did Cazador make 7000 spawns? Theoretically he needed to bury them all, dig them back/wait until they dig themselves out or something and transport them to his dungeon without being noticed. His servants could do that for him, but it still is a pretty big thing to cover. Besides…

… accordng to D&D 3.5 edition: "At any given time a vampire may have enslaved spawn totaling no more than twice its own Hit Dice" which means it was impossible for Cazador to create 7000 spawns. Sure, Baldur's Gate 3 uses 5 ed rules, but I'm sure they didn't change this one that much. (BUT! We can interpret this rule as: a vampire lord can create as many spawns as he wants, but the number of enslaved ones is limited. That's all right in this case).

That being said, Astarion is surprised when he discovers that all Cazador’s victims are spawns now. One of his dialogue options is „I thought Cazador was feeding on you”. Well yes, he had to feed on them to make them spawns Astarion, I thought you noticed that yourself 200 years ago. But let's say I understand your confusion, 7000 spawns mean Cazador's hit dice is 3500. Lol.

As a vampire spawn, Astarion should be able to regenerate even without biting someone. To be precise, he should get 10 health points at the start of every turn until he gets killed. But ok, this one doesn’t work in the sun, so let’s say it’s justified… unless the party is in the underdark, shadowlands or other dark place. But yeah, that would be too OP.

Astarion should be afraid of holy symbols, mirrors and garlic. That would be quite irritating, as he wouldn’t be able to even get near Selune's stuff or Lathander’s temple (Lathander HATES the undead, just ask poor Jander Sunstar). But let’s say the tadpole gave him immunity.

Spider climb. Imagine Astarion climbing walls or even ceilings like a damn Spiderman - this is what a regular vampire spawn can do. If the tadpole took away this ability, that’s not very nice of it.

Claws. Astarion should be able to transform his fingers into claws at will. That’s right, it works like another melee weapon.

Coffins, graves et cetera - bunk beds in Cazador's palace are a very anti-canon idea. Because D&D vampires have really traditional weaknesses, they always have to „sleep” in the ground they were buried in to recover - just like Cazador. Jander I mentioned earlier invented an un-lifehack, as he was traveling through Faerun by keeping some of the dirt from his grave in his pocket. He was scattering it in the place he wanted to rest for some time.

A vampire spawn can be controlled or banished by clerics like any other undead. That's right, when Shadowheart casts this one, Astarion should roll the dice, or else he will have to run away from her like those zombies you banished during your playthrough.

Last but not least, vampires get damage if they are in the flowing water, for example river, but you already know this one from the early access Astarion. Shame they removed it, in was a bit irritating but I loved it. It reminded me Astarion is a vampire not only in the dialogues.

That's all I can think of now. My knowledge is a mix of 3.5 and 5 ed, do with it what you want. I wouldn't mind more lore accuarte Astarion fanfics though.

Shocked Astarion reading D&D Monster Manual. Or Libris Mortis.

[mpov]

If female tears lower men's testosterone level then why is there so much hardcore porn? Don't get me wrong, I don't hate men and I don't agree with the OP of the post you reblogged but your statements just don't suit the reality very well. Men created a whole porn category based on abusing women and it's quite popular, so why would they do that if that doesn't turn them on but in fact the opposite? I agree that it's not all men but this also proves that not all men are pure and there's a bunch of them that actually enjoy the abuse of women.

I linked the article for a reason. It's not a visual cue, it's olfactory. While they may enjoy seeing those kinds of scenes acted out, most would not be able to stomach it in real life. The effect is from smelling the tears.

I love watching slasher films. I probably could not handle seeing someone killed in real life. I sure as hell couldn't kill for fun. I sure as hell wouldn't condone the actions of Chucky, Angela, Jason Vorhees, Mike Myers, Freddy, etc.

Those videos are produced in studios, with the actors names attached, and the directors. Why? Because videos of real abuse make people sick and uncomfortable. The people watching know it's an act, fantasy. Show them a video that isn't an act, and 99.99999% will be disgusted.

Hardcore just means penetration. Not violent or extreme.

Men didn't invent porn of any category. Society did, men and women together. Don't forget women consume this material as well. In both video and novel form. The most popular romance novels contain rape and abuse of their heroines by the love interest hero.

No one is claiming men are pure and innocent. Just that they aren't out of control slobbering rape monsters

[nijigasakilove]

Ahhh we are so back. Had two years of UY now we get another long running Takahashi Rumiko remake. Different studio, but just like David Production did with UY, it seems like MAPPA have really captured that 80s anime vibe and brought it to modern audiences while not compromising on what makes Takahashi sensei’s work so loved! Ano on the OP as well we are eating so good this season with OPs 😭

They also got Wada Kaoru back as well who did the music for Inuyasha I KNEW that ost was sounding mad nostalgic, especially when they were giving the Jusenkyou backstory in China, sounded straight out of my childhood. I’m so excited for this.

One thing that’s important to keep in mind whenever you watch any of these Takahashi remakes is that what seems like generic tropes was actually stuff she either invented or was one of the first people to use, so whether it’s Lum being the first tsundere, Ranma moving in with 3 beautiful girls or the gender swap gimmick, this was all revolutionary at the time and shouldn’t be held against the series.

So far here in this first episode, I really like Akane and Ranma dynamic and the gender switching thing looks like it’s gonna be fun as hell. Ranma in his female form will probably be able to bond with and see a side of Akane that his male side never could. You can already see them starting to be a little sweet on each other despite what their mouths might be saying, I know that look out the corner of your eye anywhere lol. Ranma gotta chill with the “my proportions are better than yours” type lines tho. That’s one way to get killed by a growing girl.

If it’s one thing Takahashi sensei gonna do it’s write a dad who makes questionable decisions tho 😂 having your daughter marry someone you never even met is kinda crazy lmao.

[atopvisenyashill]

What really frustrates me about Catelyn & Jon discussion is that I can see where it comes from in the amount of fic especially I've seen that poses that Catelyn is the only woman in Westeros who wouldn't have embraced Jon because she invented prejudice against bastards herself, but then it swings to the extreme of she did nothing instead of that, yes, prejudice against bastards is common but that doesn't mean it's not a prejudice that hurt both Jon and her children! that Cat wouldn't (1/2)

2/2) want that is one of the reasons it's a powerful character flaw, like the other ways she - & the other parents who love their children - have hurt them in other ways not intended. also this reminds me of 'Ned being evil for hiding Legitimate Targaryen Jon as a Bastard & not work to get him the throne'. which is just. I cannot even Fathom

EXACTLY OP YOU GET ME.

there’s an alarming amount of people who blame catelyn for everything under the sun, and refuse to understand why she’s afraid of jon and how ned completely botched his entire handling of this situation. i've even seen like "this is because catelyn is a southroner she doesn't understand the north" like what in the goddamn hell are you even talking about omg. do we think there aren't bastards in the north that are treated like shit when ramsay exists?? lord hornwood has his own bastard, and the kid is castle raised but not at hornwood hall and for a reason! and jeez it's not like anyone stops catelyn from being weird and hostile towards jon - ned knows it's a problem, that brief little tiff they have over it when she gets the letter from lysa imo speaks to ned and her having argued more than once about this, but he's not stopping it, and neither does luwin or rodrik or jory or whomever because they think this is fine. it's ~an institutional bias~ she didn't invent it.

but at the same time it's like yes....she does participate in it. and it's fascinating! i think it's fascinating that despite ned's initial fucked up reaction, catelyn has the audacity, the nerve, the sheer goddamn spine to have argued about this subject more than once with ned, with robb, in front of sansa and arya, wrote letters shit talking this toddler to her uncle...but still has the self awareness to see Mya Stone is a regular ass girl just trying to make her way the way Catelyn herself is doing, and feel shame and feel guilt and then shove all that shit right back down because she's got other stuff she needs to do and she can't reflect on Jon when her actual children are in danger. And YET her refusal to reflect on this helps drive Robb away, adds to Arya's feeling of isolation. it's a really interesting dynamic and when we go to either extreme of "catelyn was right to be hostile towards a middle schooler" and "catelyn invented the entire concept of bastardry and legitimacy" it takes taht fascinating dynamic and flattens it into nothing.

[dandelionjack]

there is a lot of grieving involved in realising you’ve been a radlib this whole time and embracing actual marxism. mainly grieving for all the media you’ve enjoyed and been a fan of, particularly when you’re on the spectrum so media is your predominant way of interacting with the world.

it’s all fascist, all of it, all fantasy is. any story that features people with magical powers that elevate them above the populace and which they can use to heal or harm? any story that features an Exceptional Individual Who Can Change History Because They’re So Awesome/Tragic/Weird? fascist. any story that describes an inherent characteristic possessed by a race of mythical creatures? fascist.

it’s all fascist, all romanticism is. individuality in general, the belief that i’m somehow special because i’m autistic, that i’ve been sent here for a purpose, that all of this is leading up to some grand narrative — a product of liberal brainwashing. any story with a protagonist who significantly alters events, basically. any Chosen One — yes, even anti-chosenone stories like Dune. any superhero. any wizard. any Doctor Who.

all mysticism is. the belief that manifestation/thinking hard enough/casting spells/drawing sigils/whatever can change reality ignores socioeconomic factors and the thousand hidden background events constantly shaping every second of our lives. all magic(k) is at best a distraction or escapism and at worst a system of false consciousness that blames immaterial factors for people’s misfortune. chaos magick is the ultimate extension of the neoliberal mindset

there is no art created under capitalism that is not a commodity designed to make more profit. that’s it, that’s all Art is. especially pop music (which includes rock, punk, emo, goth, any subculture basically, jazz, and also classical too sorry adorno), movies and TV, but books as well. there is literally no escaping capitalist realism, no escaping the spectacle

all individual rebellion, all subculture, is liberal at its core. if you call yourself goth you’re making yourself a marketable product. in fact any stable identity-categories turn you into a subject of advertising.

everything is ideology. there is no art, there is only production. “b-but i make my own choices! i create what i want to see!” haha. buddy. you think your desires aren’t entirely contingent on the social milieu which indoctrinated you? you think you’re inventing something new? you think you’re “being yourself”? that “self” is a subject to be marketed to. byung chul-han writes that the word subject itself is a cognate of subjugation — the individual that considers themselves sovereign is a perfect slave to capitalism

this post is what radicalised me. i realised i fit into at least 9 of those categories (tchotchke collector, fandom devotee, cinephile, witch, member of an “alternative” music/fashion based subculture, hipster, cultured consumer, ethical porn proponent, anti-ai luddite) and initially i got mad as hell but having examined everything and done some reading i realised OP is probably right. we’re all treatlers

i don’t know how to deal with this though. my entire identity, sense of self (bourgeois concepts in of themselves) were based on some of the above labels and/or hobbies, interests, values. i literally have to rebuild myself from scratch

also they/them pronouns are probably unmaterialist too. hell, everything i am is inherently radlib. i don’t know what to do, i’m a failure to the revolution and i need to just kill myself since committing unorganised acts of violence against the state is infantile adventurism but no vanguard party org would accept me because i’m a slow reader and i’m stupid and sensitive and well all of the above. there is no hope for me in this world or the next one they are building

i’d say i probably need therapy to sort all of this out but therapy is a placating/pacifying mechanism invented by the bourgeoisie to suppress our justified feelings of rage and grief at the state of the world. being happy as a first-worlder at the expense of orphans in palestine or children in cobalt mines in the congo is actually unethical. so no, actually, i can’t go to a liberal therapist to sort this out, i deserve to implode and die

[pessimisticpigeonsworld]

Look at this....☠️ https://www.tumblr.com/bohemian-nights/737003196544958464/fuck-rhaenyra-fuck-the-writers-with-this-sapphic?source=share

Fucking hell.

First off: I find it interesting the anon doesn't acknowledge that Laena x Daemon is also incest. Sure, she's not his niece, but she is still related to him. They love projecting their insecurities about their ship onto daemyra.

Second: yeah, HoTD choosing to make the Velaryons black then sidelining them massively is shitty and, sure, could be interpreted as racist. However, how is that Rhaenyra's fault? She didn't make Daemon marry Laena when he couldn't have her neither did she kill Laena. Condal and Hess chose to write out Laena's relevance (which already wasn't much outside of being Daemon's wife and Baela and Rhaena's mother) in order to give Alicent more screen time. But again, that's neith Rhaenyra's nor Emma D'Arcy's fault, stop blaming them (also Emma is good at playing Rhaenyra as she is written, the only issues are the writing, which aren't their fault). Op also chose to ignore the fact that Daemon actually is confirmed by GRRM himself to have loved Rhaenyra the most.

Moving on, once again the Rhaenyra antis are bringing up how Rhaenyra isn't "feminist". Literally no one in F&B is feminist by our modern definition. Visenya and Rhaenys are probably the closest, and even then, they aren't writing feminist manifestos (which apparently Rhaenyra is expected to for some reason). Alysanne, the most proactive queen regent, still enforced arranged marriages on her daughters and granddaughters. Rhaenys didn't advocate for Laena's right of succession in the book and in the show refused to support Rhaenyra long before Laenor's "death". Her antis hold Rhaenyra to unfair and unrealistic standards while making excuses for or ignoring other characters who don't meet them.

In that same vein, I still can't get over how Rhaenyra antis will say that TG aren't the conservative group. They say Rhaenyra isn't a feminist and that TG, the ones who are obsessed with male primogeniture and believe being gay, a sexually liberated woman, a child born out of wedlock, or not adhering to the equivalent of the Catholic Church make someone subhuman are the "progressive" group. It's delusion at its finest. Alicent and the greens are misogynistic and, because of them, women's rights in Westeros ended up more repressed than ever.

The fact that the op says that Visenya and Queen Rhaena are acceptable shows they have no understanding for TG or F&B. First off, TG would never support either woman. Visenya was hated by the Faith and most of the Lord's of Westeros, she was a warrior accused of witchcraft and dared to interfere with the misogynistic customs alongside Rhaenys. Rhaena was gay, something she wasn't allowed to live fully because the Targaryens chose to conform to Westerosi ideals. She was also robbed of her inheritance, even Jaehaerys acknowledged that Rhaena was the rightful heir, just as Aegon acknowledged Rhaenyra was.

As for the racist allegations, those come exclusively from Mushroom, someone who is far from a reliable source. Mushroom invented an entire woman to try to add "spice" to Jacaerys' story: Sara Snow. A woman of whom there is no record of, even though she was raised in Winterfell and supposedly married Jace. If Mushroom is willing to make up a whole ass woman to make the story more dramatic, why should we trust anything he says?

Yes, Rhaenyra ordered Nettles' execution, but that was because of her rumored relationship with Daemon and Rhaenyra's paranoia which had grown massively since Hugh Hammer and Ulf White's betrayal. Was it just? No. Was it racially motivated? According to Mushroom, maybe, but looking at Rhaenyra's character, it doesn't make sense.

Moving on, what exactly does op mean by "she's done too many things to claim she's been wrongly framed by the narrative"? By the time Nettles comes along, Rhaenyra hasn't done much that could be considered reprehensible. Op seems to have an issue with Vaemond's death, which Rhaenyra did order in the book. They seem to think that Vaemond "rightfully called her out" and was wrongfully killed.

She ordered Vaemond's execution after he declared her sons bastards in order to challenge Corlys' decision regarding succession. Keep in mind, Vaemond in the book is Corlys' nephew, not his brother, which moves him even farther down the line of succession. Vaemond not only was putting Rhaenyra and her sons in danger but was also trying to usurp all of Corlys' line, including Baela and Rhaena, who op seems to like a lot.

Yeah Rhaenyra is much harsher in F&B, but that hardly makes her evil and irredeemable. Queens Visenya and Rhaena were both harsh and even cruel sometimes, yet op doesn't think they're irredeemable monsters.

I do agree with op's anger over the sidelining of the Velaryons, as I said earlier, but taking it out on Rhaenyra is completely uncalled for. Rhaenyra wasn't a monster, anyone who believes that has frighteningly little reading comprehension. Rhaenyra's reign would have greatly helped women's standings in Westeros and pushed along gender equality. Ignoring that fact and blatantly saying the greens aren't supporting the repressive patriarchy is delusional and idiotic. The greens' actions were damaging in every way. Vaemond was far from an innocent victim, he was power hungry and misogynistic in both the show and the book. Keep your angry focused on the right people, don't take it out on a woman who had her whole life destroyed by the patriarchy.

[go-go-devil]

re:your tags on fanfic being treated as a market: ppl saying leaving comments is part of the attention economy just proves to me that tumblr bloggers are willfully ignoranr bc that is not what is meant by attention economy 😭 i hate it here

That specific post I was referencing was essentially the OP inventing their own problems by calling out those posts by fanfic authors who are frustrated with the lack of engagement between the authors and readers in modern fandom spaces. They essentially held the opinion that authors getting burnt out from writing due to a lack of seeing any engagement in their work means they've become addicted to the "attention economy" and are thus too entitled to something that readers don't actually "owe" them.

Basically just another post smugly talking down to strangers solely for the sake of it (i.e. tumblr users' favorite past-time), but it really is the epitome for how depressingly antagonistic the simple social spaces of fandom has become as of late.

Readers are making so little effort anymore to find and read fics that go outside of whatever is considered the most popular m/m (or on rarer occasions m/f) ships with no regard for any authors who dare to write ANYTHING that is slightly different from these accepted standards, let alone gen fics and rare pairs. That's not to say all fic authors are incapable of being assholes who also help perpetuate this awful mindset, I've unfortunately seen several myself. Yet to immediately assume that an author feeling extremely bummed out that their f/f or gen fics they worked so hard on are getting absolutely ZERO comments despite being viewed/kudos'ed by a handful of people are acting "entitled" is just plain cruel.

There's a reason why longfics have basically become exclusive only to "fandom approved" ships heavily focused on romance/smut in them. If I dared to write a 50-100K gen fic that focuses on worldbuilding and expanding platonic relationships it WILL be ignored by most people in the most of the fandoms I'm in solely because there's no shipping in the tags (Hylics had proven to be an extremely rare exception, which is why I primarily wrote fics only for that fandom).

That same post even had the gall to end by encouraging fic authors to look up their usernames on Google to find other people talking about their work elsewhere because apparently the OP found a mixtape or something someone made for one of their works. Good for them, but the vast majority of people aren't gonna fucking find that shit if the fandom's already ignoring them on AO3 and Tumblr!

Hell, I myself have objectively written some of the most popular Hylics fanfiction on the Internet, and I couldn't find shit when I googled my username outside of the artwork my friends/mutuals already showed me personally because people who love my work fucking tell me that they love it! That's the whole damn point of being in a social space!

I just don't get this stupid isolationist mindset at all! Nobody should force a reader to leave a comment if they don't want to, but for fucks sake how goddamn hard is it to just leave a single, solitary comment on a piece of writing YOU ALREADY LIKE to tell the author how much you LIKE IT????

[solarballs-confessions]

Maybe I've said this before here? I mean. I've definitely ranted to others about this, but I am so frequently angry about this that I shall complain again.

(If I have, just delete this)

I hate how Alvaro (+ some parts of the fandom) insist on labelling Solarballs, Mr. Spherical, etc. content as "polandball/planetball"

It is nothing like that.

Most obvious thing is THE ART. THE MOUTHS! WHY ARE THERE MOUTHS IF THIS SUPPOSED TO BE A POLANDBALL DERIVATIVE THING. That is rule 1 of polandball! NEVER add mouths! And yes, that matters! The point of PB is to look shitty and simple! It is also to show homage to the OG comic! Adding mouths to a PB character is a surefire way to go to the PILLARY OF NO-GOS.

Eyebrows, and hands too. "But expressions!" just stretch the character up and make the dialogue so good that you don't even need to pay attention to that. Some PB artists (see: wildeofoscar) like to stay to a derpy look and let the text alone show the mood. And it works mighty fine, might I add! "But hands are needed for this!" There's the handipoles specifically for that. In r/polandball, handipoles were invented by a user specifically to circumvent the rules in a funny way.

But that's not all! It's how they speak! How they act!

rPolandball? The characters speak in bad english. None of the characters are taken seriously. (Save for the depression month comics). The leaders aren't shown.

Mr. Spherical? They speak in perfect english aside from poland... WHO IS RIGHT SIDE UP, AND DOESN'T EVEN SPEAK IN "CANNOT INTO OFINGS" ENGRISH. They give the vibes of taken seriously, but the story forces them to be not taken seriously, which ends up awkward as hell.

You might be seeing this and going "does art really matter? And for the space medias, do planets even have stereotypes?"

I'll start with the art: Yes. It matters. The rPB art rules make sure the comics never stray from the original spirit of PB. When I saw art from people who break the rules, I also saw that their "jokes" were too safe and afraid of being offensive, a lot of stereotypical behaviour of the actual country and their peoples were ignored/changed to fit the OP's politics. (Either SJW, or actual nazism.)

For the space media: Yes and no. Venus has almost always been portrayed as feminine in most celestial-anthro media, but sometimes she is portrayed masculine. I can also accept that personalities don't matter much.

But something about SB. Even if you took the whole series and made it obey the rules, I'd still refrain from putting it under the polandball & derivative umbrella. It does not have the same charm, the same spirit of polandball & derivatives. It has charm. It has spirit. But it's nothing like polandball.

Even looking at the official pillary of no-gos, I can still accept some of it as polandball. Because it has the same spirit.

I blame it on the buzzwordation of polandball. Before, "countryballs", "planetball", etc. refered to things like r/Polandball.

But the gen alpha SJWs, who didn't have hetalia, who didn't have countryhumans, nor even SATW, came to hunt for a new target. And polandball was that target. They removed the spirit of it and reduced it to just another one of their "country anthropomorphism medias". So now, petit bourgeois like Alvaro market to the gen Alphas by invading our words.

I can somewhat agree with calling Mr. Spherical "countryballs" and keeping the OG polandball as "polandball". But as for solarballs, it has essentially become an invasive species for "planetball". Nothing wrong with Solarballs, if I didn't like the series I wouldn't watch it, but I wish it would accept that it is it's own brand and not a polandball-derivative.

-Emoji Hater Anon

.

[cursed-40k-thoughts]

Who is Abhorash?

Because as someone who knows a bit, but not too much about gotrek. I refuse to believe gotrek can loose a fight.

I refuse to believe that anyone who does not think gotrek can wipe the floor with big e, is not an extremely racist elf that is racist to dwarves as much as everyone else they (the hypothetical turboracist elf) are racist towards combined

So Abhorash must be fuckin op as hell

I mean, objectively, Gotrek is powered by a god in WHF, and is more or less a god in AoS, and has been powercrept over time due to his narrative presence in his own series. I also don't really enjoy matchups, because they lack a lot of context and narrative background and all kinds of things that play into two characters throwing hands. But anyway.

Abhorash was one of the first vampires. Specifically, he was the captain of the guard in Lahmia, one of the main Nehekharan cities. He was, by all accounts, one of the single most capable warriors and duelists of the age, and a very pure, very loyal person. He got tricked into becoming a vampire by Neferata (the woman who invented vampirism) and was verily unhappy. At the same time, his martial skill was elevated even further, and he became one of the best warriors of... every age. But, again, he was also deeply upset at being a vampire, and the people he'd killed when he'd first turned and gotten hungry. He swore to never kill an innocent person, and he mourned the people he'd killed genuinely.

So, he started off by only killing criminals and enemies of his city, but when the city fell (that was a whole other thing, he killed a lot of people during that whole affair, and defended it alongside the human inhabitants) that changed to criminals and worthy combatants. The best of the best. Champions, monsters, etc. He did this for centuries, if not millennia. The culmination of that was him slaying an enormous dragon in single combat and drinking the whole thing, which actually permanently cured him of his thirst. Dragons are a big deal in WHF, for the record. Very powerful, very scary. After that, he sort of vanished. Made friends with Gilles le Breton, though. They built an abbey together.

So yeah. Dude is, by all we know of him, one of the single greatest martial combatants in Warhammer Fantasy.

[g-a-r-o]

You wanna know what kinda shit I'm on? I'm on 15 parts Vicodin, 5 parts agent orange, 2 parts Krispy Kreme donuts ground up in a blender. 50 gallon batch size. I down that shit after every rep. I will fuck you up. I will fuck you down. I will fuck you north, south, east, west, and every other inconceivable secret cardinal direction. I will fuck you into Mordor. I will fuck you into MOUNT DOOM. I AM MOUNT DOOM. Ops call me MOUNT DOOM, because I'm MOTHERFUCKING MOUNT DOOM. The Aztecs built Tenochtitlan when they saw me on a cactus holding your bitch in my beak. I dap up Jesus on the daily. I've fucked Vishnu's butthole. Zeus is a real one. Allah is my op. The state of Utah could never be as huge as me. My circle is fifteen carbon copies of Judas smoking dried out rolled up algae from Leonard Nimoy's pool filtration system. Leonard Nimoy is my op. I would never smoke his algae but my real ones know I'm him. Week-long bender in New Jersey got me looking like Thom Yorke on a normal day. Sloppy toppy afterward, call that the Radio Head. The I-95 was not ready for my grind. That highway got adopted like a fish gets sucked up an intake valve. I'm smoking gnomes. Cheefing fuckin forest creatures like the fire that killed Bambi's mom. I can walk on water. I can swim in the ground. I know the Statue of Liberty very intimately. I have done unfathomable things to the Eifel Tower. I drink Gatorade and I don't even know what the fuck is in that shit. Author of the Kama Sutra self-defenestrated after he heard what I did to his mom. I'm a sex demon from sexy hell. Invented cunnilingus. Gunnifringus too, but it was so fire that the ops had to take me down. Hat man tryna get me off bennys because he knows he can't even fuck with me. I down 1200 mg, he's gotta take twice as much just to get away from me. Sleep paralysis demons couldn't even after they heard my flow. Worst mistake they ever made was forgetting to freeze my jaw. Second worst mistake they ever made was forgetting to freeze my dick. They never made a third mistake. THAT'S the type a shit I'm on

[lostcauses-noregrets]

I know new AoT stuff wasn't going to be anything but still an artbook wasn't what I expected. I know it was never going to be about the Ackermans but I swear Isayama should do something about them one day because they are "weakest point" storytelling-wise in AoT. Kenny Levi and Mikasa are all my favorites but also they don't make sense and always feel like something Isayama only invented to explain how they are so OP in a more grounded story where ordinary people without Titan powers are just that, ordinary people. That ask you answered recently for example. They are just... It makes zero sense. Fandom, especially Eruri fans, did so much more justice to this side of AoT compared to Isayama. Because in no world it makes sense that they just discover 2 of their soldiers are literally super soldiers and there can be more out there when they are literally threatened by intelligent titans and a mostly unknown enemy. Don't get me wrong, I love that Yams kept it mysterious which gave the fans creative freedom when it comes to Ackerman stuff. Eruri fans are so creative with it. But he still acts like Ackermans exist in their own little world. No one reacts to them, no one is interested in them unless the story has to remind us they are special (again that ask you answered about ackermans being immune). You telling me Paradis, in desperation under the threat of outside world and their intelligent titans, didn't search for possibly more Ackermans? Erwin who loves things like that never questioned Levi or Mikasa? Hange, who is a science freak and loves titan science in the first place, begged Levi or Mikasa to give them their blood sample or anything? No one tried to weaponize them? Ackermans make no sense because it feels like their story is a side story, a side quest and completely seperated from the main storyline, not because they are a mystery. THEY MAKE NO SENSE ITS DRIVING ME CRAZY

I got this ask last weekend and we've had a lot more information about Shingeki FLY since then. We now know it's going to be a 200 page art book, a "top secret final draft", and "Attack on Titan Vol. 35 which contains the newly drawn manga Bad Boy". There's been a lot of speculation about who Bad Boy refers to with many fans holding out hope that the new manga or side story will be about Levi. (Though I did laugh at the person on twitter who said it might be about Armin and Annie.). So you never know Anon, you might get your Ackerman lore yet!

Much as I would love to know more about the Ackermans, I'm not sure I agree that they're the "weakest point" storytelling-wise". I think there are much more annoying plot weaknesses, particularly whatever the hell is going on with Historia! Personally I can live with the layers of ambiguity surrounding the Ackermans, particularly because they've proved such fertile ground for fic writers, as you rightly said.

The thing about the Ackermans is that, given the king's attempts to wipe them out, it's not clear whether anyone on Paradis knew anything about them. Erwin wanted Levi for the Survey Corps as soon as he saw his strength and skill, but when he recruited Levi, he had no idea he was Ackerman, or what that meant. Levi himself only discovered he was an Ackerman at the end of the Uprising Arc. We don't know from canon whether Levi revealed his lineage to Erwin, but I'm quite sure he did. He certainly doesn't seem to have been reticent about talking about his relationship with Kenny to Mikasa and Hanji in the cart, and with Nifa on the rooftop.

But even if Erwin did know by the end of the Uprising that the Ackermans were a clan of supers soldiers, as you put it, he didn't really have a chance to exploit that information; sadly he was killed barely a couple of months later. Hanji does appear to have some knowledge of the Ackermans later in the story, but again, by that stage they were all fighting for their lives so they weren't exactly in a position to go hunting for more Ackermans to support the Alliance.

Anyway, I can understand your frustration about the lack of information about the Ackermans, and I really would love to know more about them too. However, over the years, I've made my peace with the fact that they are likely to remain a mystery.

[rakubalka]

Adopted!Tsuna would have Iemitsu having to deal with his foster parents, I read a fic where he just send his men to grab Tsuna's things from the house and ship him off to Nana

Weirdly realistic

But yeah, adopted Tsuna has potencial

Timoteo can brush off the foster family as much as he wants, claim he is 'Iemitsu's son' it doesn't change the fact that his 'heir' will never have a good relationship with neither of them, they wont be able to have the same influence they had in Canon

Besides, they would be in the line on fire and Vongola wont care if he family died, even better for them, for Tsuna don't have shared loyality

This Tsuna would be more selfish, he didn't care if CEDEF and Vongola's agents died, as long his people were safe

Let CEDEF and Vongola agents fight and die. His family would be protected.

Also, usurpation. Any OP family Tsuna had would be deemed a threat, those powerful people had the Vongola heir?

It will definitely be interesting to watch Vongola get their ass beaten

But while I can't offer a fic I can offer this

Welcome back Tsuna Kouki Zmeychedov the adopted son of my OCs Arthur Tiffany Zmeychedov nee Will and Ose Zmeychedova

Lemitsu might try and go the legal method at first , but bad luck for him Arthur not only has a ridiculous high amount of lawyers on payroll constantly but is also an experienced lawyer and law maker with roughly 2000 years of experience . Lemitsu is cooked

And then when the CEDEF try and kidnapped Tsuna they get face to face with the genetically enhanced komodo dragons (Ose wanted dragons in this world too so she created them , she is still trying to figure out how to make them capable of flight while still having the right size and frame and also how to figure out making them use elements other than fire) , the zombies which his mom created and controls , whatever flame active animal any of the people in the house have found this week , the result in the most recent magic lesson from his dad to Mukuro , Mukuro in his mood for writing a horror story again , his dad without his caffeine , his mom in general , Chukusa most recent robot experiment , Ken researching poisonous or venomous tings as homework from his mom , the Vindice who have come to report to their now boss(his mom) that conquered them or just Tsuna in general

So they won't even be able to grab him because he is that well guarded

Timateo can brush whatever he likes but the moment Tsuna gets fed up he is going to him mom ready for a full blood adoption , and then showing the results of the blood test to Vongola that no he isn't of Lemitsu's or Nana's blood he is his parents biological child (as it turns out having a character who has essentially admin privileges over biology can be very very fun !)

But Vongola and Tsuna's relationship is gonna end up in one way and that is war and the complete annihilation of Vongola unless Xanxus takes the throne and is not an idiot like his predesesor

The only person or people who are gonna be dying between the line of fire of Vongola and Tsuna's parents are gonna be the Vongola people , some won't even die but get turned into zombies

As for Tsuna not caring for people other than his , what can you expect really he was raised by a literal War Goddess and her husband who ruled over a bureaucracy of a large country with an iron fist and brutal efficacy (the systems he invented are unironicaly still some of the best , most efficient and fair the world has seen and has to offer even more than 500 years father his death ) who have lived for far to long to care for morality

Especially when one of them (his mom) was the biggest advocate and the MAIN reason why their world equivalent of the Geneva Conversation was not only created but got created close to 2 malenia before ours , all because she wanted to make war harder and in result more fun for herself . The other one (his dad) literally killed his sperm donor who was the actual king of hell while being around the same age as Tsuna is currently and then got out of hell and closed the door so no one else can come out .

Does that seem like something someone sane would do to you ?

[dollarbin]

Dollar Bin #45:

Woody Guthrie's Lindbergh

I clearly don't aim to do anything too serious around here but I have periodically ensured that Trump supporters feel thoroughly uninvited to the Dollar Bin.

After all, Donald Trump does not understand the Dollar Bin. Our very own Neil Young is one of dozens of dollar bin artists whose music has been featured at Trump rallies against their explicit wishes and whose sentiments about that fact are well summarized by one of the guys behind Panic at the Disco: "Dear Trump Campaign, F--- you... Stop playing my song."

Plus, Trump wouldn't even know there was such a thing as the dollar bin. To him, there's no such thing as art, let alone art - or anything - that can be purchased for a buck. The shoes with his name on them cost a few hundred bucks; same with his bibles. Sure, he'd pretend to thumb through some old records if those records were in a swing state and there were a few dozen television cameras around recording his pithy and racist nonsense while a wave of nutjobs surged about outside, hoping to see him at it. But, thankfully, that photo op is one of the few he's passed by.

The truth is that my own life won't change too much if he gets reelected. I'm white, male, American by birth and heterosexual so I probably won't lose too many of my rights. But I'd rush home and burn every one my records; hell, I'd even root for the Yankees, Giants, Padres and everyone else to forever trounce my Dodgers - I'm that earnest about this - if I thought any of that would help keep Trump out of the White House for good. I just hate everything he stands for. For my daughters, my students, my neighbors, for everyone. He is evil. And we are better than him.

Why am I telling you all this instead of recommending a Randy Newman record or something? Well, it's my worry that too many of us will leave stones unturned in the next two weeks when it comes to stopping Trump's return to power. I don't want to look back and think "I shoulda..." And so, for this moment only, I'm turning this blog into a political plea.

So, let's listen to some Woody Guthrie!

If you don't teach high school history or haven't read The Plot Against America, here's some context for Guthrie's attack on an American legend:

Throughout the 1920's and 30's Charles Lindbergh was our country's Tom Hanks meets Michael Jordan: he was our biggest celebrity and our most celebrated retired athlete all wrapped up in one handsome package.

The basis for that fame was his record breaking flight across the Atlantic, but he wasn't just a pilot. Get this: the guy also invented some of the foundational technology behind modern surgery and artificial hearts.

What's more, he was a famously tragic figure: his infant daughter was kidnapped and died in what white media at the time described as the "Crime of the Century."

Meanwhile he was a racist, anti-Semitic fascist. There's no hyperbole in that statement.

And in 1940, the Republican party begged him to run for president. Lindbergh, who was shy and paranoid, ultimately declined to run but he made his views clear all the same: the best thing for our country to do was to side with Hitler in the coming war. After all, he reasoned, Jews ran the world and they needed to be stopped.

And here's the crazy part: if Lindbergh had accepted that nomination and appeared on the 1940 ballot he almost certainly would have won and been our President. Really. And then where the hell would we all be?

I see a lot of exasperated headlines at this point: why, given Trump's blatant criminal behavior, his increasing senility and his rampant megalomania, is this year's election so close? Why isn't Kamala "running away with this thing?"

The answer seems fairly obvious to me: 1/2 of our country is either too apathetic or disadvantaged to vote, and just a 1/4 of us plan to vote against Trump because we are neither disadvantaged nor apathetic and we have a healthy moral compass. But that means a full quarter of our country's ethical compass directs them to sexism, xenophobia and a preference for "I alone can fix it" fascism over democracy. And that means Trump may very well win.

It somehow doesn't matter that even Trump's longest serving Chief of Staff calls him a fascist. Our election will be a toss up.

Which brings us back to good old Woody. His song about Lindbergh, the Donald Trump of his day, is tons of fun, I think, plus you gotta dig that hook: in Washington; in Wash-ing-ton.

But Guthrie, though a genius, didn't record Lindbergh until 1944 - a full four years after the American people needed to hear the song and act on it. And Shakey, also a genius, didn't record Ohio until after those bodies were lying dead on the ground.

There are just two weeks to go folks. I'm no Woody Guthrie nor Neil Young, that's for sure. But this post is me singing my own paltry version of Ohio and Lindbergh. My song may suck but I'm earnest about it: I'm trying to sing while there's still time to correct our course.

I should be doing way, way more than this - I know it. But thanks for reading this all the same, and thanks for considering. I think our country, like the dollar bin, is full of wonder and beauty.

So let's save it.