#that's the kind of double standard this game gives us

[randomnameless]

I don't get on why people yap about "Hurdur toxic knighthood culture Faerghus deserves to be conquered" when the other unrecruited students from other Houses do the same thing in other routes.

Hilda and Hubert, along with the unrecruited students from the other houses fight for their liege til the end in the routes you face them, so why freak out over Dimitri's childhood friends following their buddy during the war.

Because the Kingdom is BaD.

It's the same "unilateral execution :(" argument, when Rhea kills people who tried to kill her, she BaD, but when Supreme Leader mows people who "oppose" her, or Clout puts to the axe randoms who want to ditch his Federation, suddenly we don't hear the same nonsense.

FE Fodlan thrives on double standard - Kingdom BaD for protecting their friends at the cost of their lives, but the other two aren't called BaD for doing the very same thing.

Maybe because whoever is attacking/defending against the other two (mainly against the Empire!) isn't the kind of person to piss on people sacrificing their lives to protect their loved ones - even if the game would have, imo, been more interesting if whenever Hubert or Ferdie said this, Barney or whoever asked them if they wouldn't be willing to do the same thing if their role were reversed, if it meant protecting Supreme Leader or people they care about.

As for the fandom, well, fans gotta fan, right? When some people are willing to villify playing with children (Dimitri BaD bcs in his FE16 ending scene he plays with children !), come up with the unfamous "not just kills, but murders" and with "she didn't spare their lives, she just, didn't kill them!", I'm half wondering if somewhere, in redshit's bowels or in a certain discord, someone didn't write 10k words to explain how BaD Dimitri is because his alternate hairstyle in FE16 is a ponytail.

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

Ranking the Veilguard companions Hookup Potential based on the kind of bed situation they have going on in the Lighthouse

(im in early act 2 so have no idea what further romance scenes are actually like, this is just jokin time without any romance spoilers. just pics of how their respective rooms in the lighthouse look and some basic characterization we know about them)

Taash: 8/10

In another game or the real world I would only rate this a 5 because they have no pillows or addition blankets. however they do have a real bedframe AND it's big enough for 2 which means the they are doing better than 90% of the rest of the Veilguard so this score gets boosted. And while there's not many blankets, there are plenty of braziers around the room to keep you warm, and Taash is probably their own miniature furnace to cuddle up to. Crucially, they also have a whole wheel of cheese next to the bed, which means you don't even have to leave the covers to get a snack after.

Lucanis: 1/10

Oh no. I'm not even going to comment on the pantry angle because everyone else asks him about that to begin with, so this is just about the bed. Unfortunately the bed is a cot made of uneven wooden planks with some blankets on top of it, and is only wide enough for 1. This is because Lucanis hates sleeping and doesn't want to do it, so the less tempting his bed is, the better for him. Unfortunately this means sleepover potential is dreadful and you will have to find alternate solutions. He does at least have another blanket to go over him and one that's presumably being used as a pillow, so, he gets a 1 instead of a 0, but I am still planning on gifting him coupons for a back massage for Satinalia.

Bellara: 4/10

This setup is perfectly fine for sleeping. It's the lighthouse standard little bed couch thing, has a mattress/cushion, is elevated off the floor, has a pillow, and she's got her blankets folded below. Perfectly serviceable for getting a good night's rest which we know Bellara is not because she forgot to sleep again. However, it's very much a one person sized setup. You might be able to cuddle for a while but if one of you unconsciously tries to roll over you are going right to the floor. Ouch.

Lace Harding: 5/10

You might be wondring "why is sleeping on the floor rated higher than bellara's" and the answer is because this means you are not rolling off the bed onto the floor. it's not going to be comfy but we are not ranking comfort here we're ranking sleepover potential. Harding has managed to make this space look homey and the canopy gives the illusion of being in a tent or canopy bed to help with that illusion. There are rugs down on the floor plus the blankets and pillows--we know Harding is used to sleeping on the ground due to her career as a scout, and I'm sure she can scrounge up more blankets to make the cushioning big enough for the both of you. Your back WILL hurt in the morning but you'll get to have a fun night first.

Neve: 3/10

Girl I know you can do better than this. Which means you're not trying to on purpose, so, live your life I guess. I will say this cot IS bounds nicer than Lucanis's--you can see its a stretched canvas or hide on a frame rather than wooden planks, so it will have a little more give. However they are not THAT much comfier which I know having slept on this modern equivalent many times. Neve also apparently has 0 pillows or blankets so you're out of luck there, as well as the problem of it only being wide enough for 1 again. This woman has too many other things going on to think about romance so your Rook is going to be the one improvising on that matter I think.

Davrin: 10/10

Now here is a man who has his life together. Double or queen size mattress, rustic bed frame he probably lovingly carved and assembled himself by hand, and not only are there sheets AND blankets AND pillows, they are are full on matching set and this knight in shining armor dutifully makes the bed every morning. There's also enough pillows for two! While the remains of a giant corpse is hanging above you all night, the spacing of the ribs still gives you lots of room above to manouver, so just don't worry about that. As a bonus you'll probably even have a baby griffon come to cuddle in the night which is such a cute thought we're going to ignore how much worse getting stepped on by a griffon foot would be than even the biggest fattest housecat trying to stand on your stomach at 4:30am. My one criticism of the setup here is that due to the bed's positioning if the person on the inside needs to get up in the night they'll have to awkwardly crawl over the person on the outside, however everyone else's bed situation is so dismal I'm not even going to subtract a point for that. Great work Davrin.

Emmrich: ???/10

Where... does this man sleep. Peepaw I KNOW you can't be sitting in that armchair all night you need your beauty rest!!! There are 0 beds or cots or floor blankets in this man's room. HOW am I supposed to break his pelvis if he has nowhere for us to lie down??? We can't risk that old man's spine on the cobblestone.

Wait... unless. No, surly not. I mean--jk. Unless...? 😳😳😳

is daddy necromancer gonna fuck me on the sacrifice slab... 😳😳😳🥵🥵🥵

Bonus:

Solas 11/10

does not matter where he actually slept bc once my inquisitor Gets Him again they WILL be fucking on top of the piano in front of the mural in his Yearning Room

[cy-cyborg]

I'm begging dragonage fans to do a tiny bit of research about arm amputees before loudly shouting their opinions on the inquisitor returning in the next game Please lol.

Apparently, it was confirmed that the inquisitor, your chatacter from the last game (who looses their arm in the final cutscene of the DLC), will return in Veilguard as a customisable character, similar to Hawke, and they will play an active roll in the story. This has caused a lot of people to start speculating on how they'll handle the inquisitor's missing hand, with most people agreeing they'll have to have a prosthetic to be an active part of the story. Which, while I do think this is the rought bioware will take, isn't true, and a part of me really hopes they leave the inquisitor without a prosthetic arm like in the end of Tresspasser

Partially because we already have a companion with a prosthetic (neve) and it would be nice to see some diversity in how amputation is depicted in such a mainstream game, but also because you dont need a prosthetic to fight as any of the main 3 classes from inquisition.

Mage:

mages just need a staff, the game shows them as 2 handed weapons but it's totally beleiveable that it would be usable 1-handed (Neve also uses a dagger-like weapon in the trailer, you can make a "staff" in inquisition that functions more like an energy sword, and the Mage in the chargers uses a staff resembling a bow, so I think it's more that they just need a focus, the shape doesn't matter as much). A knight enchanter may struggle more 1 handed, but I wouldn't write it off as an option with some modifications made to their main staff.

Warrior:

the easiest to justify, because there are several cases of arm amputees fighting with a sword and sheild in history, and while many did have prosthetics, most weren't functional (meaning they were mainly for aesthetic purposes and didn't actually aid the fighter in any way. There were exceptions, like Götz of the iron hand, who's prosthetic was functional, but most were not). The inquisitor looses their arm just above the wrist*, so they still have most of their forearm. Most sheilds strap to the forearm, so it wouldn't take much adjustment to make that work, and you can use the other hand for the weapon. Obviously, two-handed weapons will probably be off the table, though, lol.

*edit to say, as several people pointed out, i got that wrong, my bad 😅. The inquisitors arm is actually amputated through the elbow, the screenshots i was looking at just weren't very clear and it has been a while since i got to trespasser lol. It would still entirely possible to strap a shield to the upper arm though, with some pretty minor adjustments to the existing straps on standard (as in, those used by non-disabled warriors) tall shields, so the point still stands.

Rogue

this is the one people tend to be the loudest about and the one I understand the most. Obviously duel-weilding daggers won't work (unless you give them something like the hidden blades in assassin's creed on their stump side, I guess) but using a single dagger still would, and is a perfectly reasonable approach, given that's how most irl people used daggers. Archery, though, absolutely can work without a prosthetic, despite what people think. Dragonage has crossbows, not something like Bianca (rip) but a small, single-handed crossbow is an option. Even ignoring that though, amputee archery is a thing irl, and not every arm amputee uses prosthetics for it. The bows are modified to be held in one hand and drawn with the mouth using a kind of pully-system built into the bow that I could very easily see being modified into some dwarven-style contraption in game (some double arm amputees use their feet to draw regular bows, but I don't think that would be pheasable in combat).

Like I said, I think bioware will probably go with a prosthetic, but i hope that they don't. Or at the very least, show them with it sometimes and without it other times (the same goes for Neve, no one wears their prosthetic 24/7, I'd love to see them both take them off around the home base, even just occasionally). A lot of arm amputees in particular prefer to go without one, and arm prosthetics in media are some of the worst offenders of the "perfect prosthetic"/"miracle cure prosthetic" tropes. It doesn't count as "diversity" or disability representation if it doesn't actually change anything other than the look of the chatacter, and im really, really desperate for some actually decent amputee representation in games.

[petermorwood]

I have a sword question, if I may. Or more of a sword confusion Im seeking clarification on.

In my mind a fantasy european standard sword (that obviously doesnt really exist, but like, when a knight or someone in a story has an unspecified sword), I always imaged a straight blade with a triangular tip, both edges sharp cutting edges.

Then at some point I learned about eg scimitars that have a cutting edge and a ...blunt edge?

I was looking at your recent addition to the post about the Turkish sword, where you distinguish between an inner cutting edge on a sword v an outer cutting edge.

And then Im thinking of those enormous zweihander types that are all about momentum and do those even need a particularly sharp edge? They seem in dnd parlance to be a bludgeoning weapon not for slashing.

And while Im asking, like. Rapiers are very stabby weapons, do they have sharp edges at all or judt a sharp point?

I guess my overall question culminates something like "what parts of swords are designed for what damage and why? Is there anything all swords have other than blade and handle like can they all be used for stabbing or do some have very blunt points etc? Is it a big deal for a sword to be double-edged, does that necessitate specific training? Whats up with different sword blades?"

I realise thats a pretty enormous question that might be unreasonable to ask. Im happy with whstever response you are or arent willing to give. Hope you have a good day :)

Sharp edge / blunt edge is the setup on any kitchen or table knife you've ever encountered, and being able to put a hand on the blunt "edge" - usually called the back of the blade - not only helps when mincing herbs or garlic, but also features in some techniques of swordplay.

Other techniques employed non-blade parts of the weapon, using the pommel like a mace and the crossguard like a pick-axe.

*****

Whether swords should be straight or curved, single- or double-edged, was an argument which continued as recently as the early 1900s.

The last swords issued to cavalry for combat use (modern parade swords don't count) were both remarkably similar designs, straight-bladed for thrusting, adopted by the UK in 1908...

...and the US in 1913.

There was, of course, strong opposition from those who insisted cavalry swords should be sabres curve-bladed for cutting instead.

Equally of course, both sides failed to notice - or ignored, since a certain kind of cavalry officer was only bright as regards boots, buckles and buttons - the uncomfortable fact that machine-guns and repeating rifles had made the whole ta-ran-ta-rah "cut them down with your swords, men!" cavalry charge an exercise in futility.

*****

D&D, unless they've considerably upped their accuracy game, isn't much of a reference for weapon realism.

"Enormous Zweihanders" and other big swords such as the Montante were a lot lighter and more nimble than they'd seem from reading an encumbrance chart.

They had their own techniques to take best advantage of length, leverage and momentum and were indeed sharp. Given a choice between a sharp combat weapon and a blunt one, sharp makes far more sense.

In addition, a sharp blade is lighter than a blunt one simply through having less metal. It may only be a few grams of difference, but it IS a difference.

That's also the reason behind a fuller, the groove(s) along a blade.

They're not "blood gutters", tough and cool though that may sound, but a way to reduce a sword's weight while preventing its blade from getting excessively flexible.

Finally...

The re-enactor is wearing half-armour, but these big swords were also meant for use against unarmoured opponents. Bodyguards often carried them (they looked impressive) and those sweeping strokes could block an entire street while The Boss got away.

That's when an ability to cut rather than merely bludgeon makes all the difference. Determined assassins might try to rush a blunt sword, but a sharp one would give anyone second thoughts...

*****

Double-edged swords versus single-edged ones seem to vary depending on cultural preference - also on period of history and intended function.

Bronze Age European swords had straight or leaf-shaped blades with double edges...

...while Ancient Egypt had the curved, single-edged khopesh, a shape which also turned up in Ancient Assyria (this one's in the Metropolitan Museum, New York USA).

It's listed as a "sickle sword", an incorrect term which I wish would go away because sickles are sharp on the inside of the curve while swords like this - their grip-shape shows how they're meant to be held and swung - are sharp on the outside.

And just when "the Ancient Middle East used curved single-edge swords" looks like a handy generalisation, along come straight swords, one from Ancient Egypt...

...another from Luristan, now part of modern Iran.

This next one comes from Ancient Iberia (Spain), right at the other side of the Mediterranean. Evidence of trading links? Your guess is as good as mine.

Iberia went on to use the falcata, a short single-edged forward-curved sword.

Those extra bits round the blade are scabbard metalwork; the wood and leather scabbard is long gone. This repro shows how they would have looked when in place.

Iberia also used a straight double-edged sword which so impressed the Romans that they adopted it, refined it and used it for several centuries. Here's one of the several Roman versions of that gladius Hispaniensis (Spanish sword), double-edged, mostly meant for stabbing but capable of very effective cuts as well.

Here's my repro of a similar sword, the elegant "Mainz" pattern with its long point and waisted blade. Very pretty, and pretty wicked.

*****

"Curved single-edged swords are Eastern, straight double-edged swords are Western", is another generalisation that won't work.

Here are Eastern straight swords...

...and Western curved ones.

*****

Viking swords were all double-edged...

...except when they weren't.

*****

Many rapiers could cut. Smallswords, which came later, couldn't.

Earlier rapiers with broader blades cut better than later ones with narrow blades, but IIRC even the later Italian and Spanish rapier styles include cuts directed at the opponent's face and sword-arm.

I have a notion that the modern thing about cutting with rapiers is based (like back-carry) on seeing it done in movies. IMO - more about it here - that's actually more a modern stage-combat safety thing than a period real-combat move. A fumbled cut is bruising and unpleasant even with a "safe" prop sword, but a fumbled thrust into the eye-socket or throat with that same "safe" sword can be fatal.

Even those early rapiers wouldn't sever a head or limb - a finger maybe, hence the elaborate hand-protection of swept and cup hilts - but blood from a forehead wound running into the eyes was, and in boxing still is, an efficient way to finish a fight by ensuring the opponent can't continue. One of the duels in "The Duellists" ends this way.

This example is a bit optimistic, IMO...

...but a longsword (double-edged)...

...or a messer (single-edged)...

...was quite capable of disarming an opponent in a very literal way.

*****

Some swords had minimal points, being intended mostly for cutting. One example of this is the Indian khanda broadsword. The second example is also very clearly single-edged.

Another cut-only sword without a point (but with double edges) is the Richtschwert (justice sword)...

...though this was a single-function (and hopefully single-cut) tool rather than weapon, neither balanced for nor intended for combat.

Hope this has helped answer the questions!

[14dayswithyou]

Good day😗

Is Ren a soft Yandere? He doesn't look like a regular Yandere I know, he just looks like a soft Yandere,

And one more question, how did the name [REDACTED] come about, does it have a hidden meaning? Sorry if I repeat the question

⌞♥⌝ Next time, I'd like to kindly ask that you read the pinned post and include the secret phrase. But because I get this question asked a lot, I'll answer it now.

I personally don't think Ren is a soft yandere by any means (barring when it comes to Angel), but I do think the reason why most people view him as such is because I barely receive any yandere-esque questions on Tumblr anymore, which has lead to this somewhat sanitised outlook on Ren ^^;

I typically receive very standard, mundane, and HR-appropriate asks (/pos, /nm) that don't encroach on that territory, so Ren's overall characterisation tends to end up being watered down into "generic, overly supportive boyfriend who's secretly obsessed with you". And while I genuinely have nothing against these family-friendly asks, they also don't really give me much room to talk about Ren in a more... morbid sense jhgjhsg

It's difficult for me to turn "How would Ren react to Angel owning a pet worm?", "Does Ren know how to make spaghetti?", "Can Ren play the saxophone?", etc, into something darker than it needs to be, but I also don't want to discourage folks from sending in these kinds of questions either. I know they're just curious and want to have their headcanons acknowledged, and again, I have nothing against these types of asks.

They're definitely fun to answer (/gen), but they just... don't give me much opportunity to take it a step further ;v;

Also! I'd like folks to be more aware of the fact that Ren is literally trying to come across like a normal person in the game, so I can't exactly showcase how far he's willing to take things without portraying him incorrectly or spoiling something. I know this is somewhat of a double-edged sword, but I've always been open to answering "what if" scenarios that take place in an AU/non-canon setting (such as how Ren would react if Angel wanted to partake in his Red Room activities).

Anyways!! Enough of that >:3 You also asked about how [REDACTED] came about, and it's literally just the placeholder text Ren uses during the library scene in day 1 to hide his real name from the player!

Folks started speculating that it was Ren's real identity slipping through, so they started referring to him as "[REDACTED]". It's also my way of differentiating between Ren and [REDACTED] without having to reveal his real name.

[niniane17]

I realize that anti Got Season 8 posting in late 2024 is a bit boomerish, but screw that it's my blog and there's no law stating that I can't post about That Series again.

I've stumbled across an old anti-Daenerys post written by a Sansa fan some months after the show ended and...oh my God. I had nearly forgotten just how batshit crazy those takes are.

Dany is a colonialist. Dany is a white supremacist. If you like her you are both. Martin is just pretending to write her as a hero, in the end he will reveal she was evil all along and freeing slaves was a secret code for enslaving people. Valyria is evil and the Targaryens are evil. Westeros is simultaneously the ancient Americas and Medieval Europe. Essos is Europe but also the Oppressed Middle East.

Sansa is the true anti colonialist hero. Sansa is the true opprossed woman. If you don't support her you are an oppressor and possibly a rapist yourself. The North is good and the Starks are good. When Arya sails West of Westeros sporting the North's banner, she is not partaking in colonialism, in fact, she will be the anti Christopher Columbus. How do we know that? Because she's a Stark, the Starks are good...

It's maddening. No wonder Daenerys fans are driven into a frenzy. It's not irrationality, it's just natural frustration at constantly being held to double standards and fighting some crazy takes.

Now, treating a fantasy tv show fandom as anti-colonial activism is bad enough, but it's clear to me that at least some of these takes are motivated by the fact they see Sansa as the underdog, mistreated by both the characters and sometimes even the narrative.

And here's where things get weird.

I've said many times that I didn't become a full Dany fan until she was heavily mistreated by the narrative, and I'm definitely not alone in this. Back in the day, many people who previously didn't care one bit for Daenerys suddenly ended up defending her or even stanning her.

Like, of course if somebody wants to root for the underdog, the first thing to do is rooting for the actual underdog. Season 8's underdog was Daenerys. Everyone and everything was deadly set against her from the moment she arrived in Winterfell. They constantly disrespected her, undercut her efforts, killed off or villainized her allies, snobbed her non-traditional upbringing, conspired behind her back. And all the while they always asked asked asked for more, nothing she was giving was enough.

In contrast, the Starks' and the North's actions were constantly justified or presented as good, even betrayal (which is a very huge deal in Westeros) or, in one instance, outright racism by the Northern people -this time fully intended by the production, rather than an unintentional outcome of some poor behind-the-scene choices.

At the end, Season 8's Starks were absolute gods who could do no wrong and were always in the right no matter what they did -except their bastard son, who was contaminated by the evil people's blood and has to symbolically kill that part of himself forever.

Well, guess what, people didn't like that. But the newfound Dany fans were perfectly consistent: they wanted the underdog to win, to overcome her hurdles, internal or external, and be happy at the end. If the underdog is Dany, well, then it's time for Dany to win.

It's Sansa stans that see everything in terms of How This Affects My Fave and are willing to bend over the narrative to get what they want. They are perfectly happy with a biased narrative and double standards, they just want it to be biased towards Sansa, and everything is fair game to them, including real life politics and vocabulary, with some hilarious results. For example: Sansa as the voice of the Oppressed Minorities is...a take, to say the least. Her world doesn't even have a prejudice against red hair, as it would have in real life.

And guess what else, this kind of Protagonist-Centered Morality is very similar to the one used by real life colonizers, especially in their "explorations". Not that it matters because this isn't a post-colonial story and it never will be. It's a story about a messed up Fantasy Medieval/Early Renassaince World with Dragons, heavily influenced by various periods of European history. The only vaguely post-colonial element are maybe the zombies-as-slaves metaphor, and I think it's more due to the fact that Martin was probably inspired by old horror Movies pre-dating the Romero ones. And who is liberating slaves in his story, again?

Anyway. 2019-2020 was a really weird time to be a Dany fan, and in hindsight it was crazy how much shit there was around a fantasy series with dragons. Surely five years later people are a little more normal, right? Right?

[isagrimorie]

This THR interview with showrunner Jac Schaeffer is really good!

Some quotes from the interview:

"When you're lucky enough to have a project be a hit [WandaVision] and you then have some capital, the question becomes: how are you going to spend your capital? And one of the answers to that question was parlaying it into a return to directing," Schaeffer tells The Hollywood Reporter of directing multiple episodes this season. "There's nothing like it. Writing something and being the one to execute it and then additionally seeing it through post, it's the ultimate."

So the reason we're getting this material on Agatha All Along is because Jac Schaeffer earned the capital, the cachet after making WandaVision into a runaway hit. Even though Disney-Marvel refused to give her the rightful title of 'Showrunner' at that time.

She's using this capital to tell the story she wants to tell.

How did we get as much textually, onscreen Agatha/Rio as we're getting?

Because WandaVision was a runaway hit, the first of its kind on Disney+ streaming and because of that cachet Jac and Mary Livanos (EP) now have the capital to spend it on pushing the story they want to tell and includes Agatha and Rio's very complicated romantic relationship.

On Agatha and Rio

Jac Schaeffer: "I just think it's about the dynamic between Agatha and Rio. At this point in the story, it's impossible for them to find each other, and that's the real question," Schaeffer says. "Obviously, they have so much chemistry and they have so much heat, so what's the problem? That's really what that scene points to."

---

Q: Rio dropped the reveal about Teen in the midst of Agatha trying to kiss her. Why did Rio decide to ruin that tender moment between them and hurt Agatha even more?

Again, it is hard to really talk about this because there's so much yet to unfold, but I appreciate the question very, very much, and I would like to try to answer it as best I can. I would just say that Rio's interest in Agatha has a lot of depth to it. When we first see them together as their true selves in that fight at the end of 101, it's all fun and games. It's hair pulling and scratching and knives and sexiness, but there's real pain and real yearning.

Q: Was Aubrey Plaza doing double duty based on her absence between one and four?

Well, it's rarely just a practical thing. In the writers' room, we knew that Rio would be so special, and we were trying to titrate how combustible we wanted their interactions to be. So we knew we couldn't have them together all the time because it's not a rom-com. It's not about two people with cute conflict who then fall into bed with each other. So we always knew that Rio wouldn't be around all of the time, and I believe the construction of the episodes predated Aubrey's availability. But, yes, we did not have her entirely in the way that would've made things easier. Still, I would say those decisions were more about story.

There's a lot of "justice for Sharon," but there's also a lot of "where's Rio?" And part of our job is holding back. You can't give everybody everything they want all the time. You need a little pain and a little frustration in your watch to keep you going.

(Emphasis mine.)

The ol' slowburn, the ye ol' yearning. You gotta keep them hungry, to keep them on the hook.

That good ol' TV standard.

[danganronpa-obsession-hell]

The double standard of Sayaka Maizono

Hi! It's been a long while since I've posted here, but I spent Christmas writing this 4 page tangent on this whole ass feeling I have about a Danganronpa character.

Please enjoy.

WARNING FOR MAJOR DRV3 SPOILERS NEAR THE END USED AS A COMPARISON, MAJOR SPOILERS FOR PARTS OF THH AND MENTION OF SUICIDE

Why is Sayaka dictated to be a lying, cheating snake to most of the western Danganronpa audience?

You could say that this is because her plan was to frame Makoto for the murder of Leon, in which yes this is true, and yes, she deserves some criticism for that. BUT, there’s a few points here I’d like to argue in defense of Sayaka.

I’d like to state that Sayaka isn’t even one of my favorites. I like her, but she’s not one of my all-time favs. I have little bias for her. So, this isn’t some kind of hate speech about one of my favorites getting mischaracterized, I just think people should remember these things about Sayaka and a few other characters.

First of all, what was Sayaka’s plan?

Well, she traded rooms with Makoto in secret to the other students in order to murder Leon in Makoto’s room, framing him in order to graduate and leave the killing game. Well, this might be slightly untrue.

Indeed, she did make this plan, but we are forgetting the fact that the presence of the class trial is something that was only announced after Sayaka’s murder, which means she could’ve thought of this situation entirely differently. In her mind, most likely she’d murder Leon, everyone would think Makoto did it, and then she’d be free to go back to her idol group. To her, there would be no lying during a trial and having to face those she lied to and betrayed, they’d be a distant thought left behind as she goes back to her normal life.

Of course, things didn’t go this way, but I’d like to give Sayaka the benefit of the doubt as Makoto does for several other characters.

There’s also the debate of what Kyoko said during the final bits of chapter 1, about Sayaka leaving Leon’s name on the wall in order to ensure Makoto would live. There’s the debate of if she left it so Makoto could save himself, or if this was simply to get back at Leon for, yknow, murdering her. And yes, this could go either way, it’s left up to what the player thinks, but what I do know is that Sayaka seems to care for Makoto a great deal. Remembering him from middle school, the interactions they had in the Danganronpa 3 anime Despair Arc, hell, Sayaka’s free time events make it so obvious she cares for him in a lot of ways.

It’s all up to the player to decide if Sayaka is innocent or not, but saying she never cared for Makoto is what is hard to believe to me.

What is the double standard against Sayaka?

I have reason to believe the fandom is unjustly biased against Sayaka for a few others of its characters, specifically Aoi and Kyoko. Let’s go chronologically, and begin with Aoi

Aoi’s betrayal

In chapter 4, Sakura, Aoi’s best friend in the killing game, commits suicide in order to sacrifice herself and make up to the other students for being the traitor. Because of false evidence planted by Monokuma, Aoi believes Sakura killed herself because the others hated her as a consequence for her betrayal.

Because of this, Aoi plans to frame herself as the killer of Sakura to get herself and the rest of the students killed by way of a wrong guess and execution.

You can already see similarities here, but instead Aoi is aiming to kill everyone including herself on purpose as a way to “die for their sins.” And obviously, she has her reasons to believe this. She’s a very “grab a bull by the horns,” kind of person. She was also very emotional as of just losing her best friend right in front of her.

My argument is, why does Sayaka not get this kind of sympathy?

In Sayaka’s free time events, she mentioned she had to do a lot of unpleasant things to get where she is as an idol, and although we do not hear of these things, it’s left to the imagination, especially because an idol career in Japan is notably hard on younger girls in showbiz.

Both cases, emotions were running high. Sayaka losing everything she worked for in an instant if she doesn't kill someone, and Aoi just losing her best friend right in front of her eyes. So why is Aoi forgiven, and Sayaka not?

In fact I never hear anyone bring up Aoi’s attempted betrayal in chapter 4, almost as if it never happened. Yet Sayaka is treated so much differently when these betrayals are incredibly similar. Hell, you could even claim Sayaka didn’t know anyone but Leon would die for her crime. (In danganronpa the stage play Leon was also acting real creepy towards her so, can you blame a girl for going after the easiest dude like Leon or Hifumi) But Aoi was prepared to let everyone die for a lie, albeit she did not know it was a lie, but the problem still is evident. She was forgiven a lot easier than Sayaka when she had the experience of 4 class trials at this point, fully knowing the consequences of her actions.

All of this could be forgiven, because both are technically Monokuma's fault. And I would forgive it if it was only Sayaka and Aoi. But it’s not.

Kyoko’s betrayal

In chapter 5, Kyoko is framed by the mastermind for a false murder in order to stop her from coming too close to the truth and destroying the killing game. Kyoko claims herself that if she dies, the mystery of the school would never be solved. And yeah, that’s a pretty good reason for not wanting to die. Until Makoto gets framed instead.

The entire ladder half of the trial, Kyoko is actively framing Makoto because there is no other option. Sacrificing him, to keep herself alive. Sound familiar?

You could say a lot more is at stake this time, and also Makoto did end up getting out alive, but Kyoko had absolutely no idea that Alter Ego would save Makoto when he did. Kyoko was fully willing to let Makoto die a bullshit death so she could solve the mystery of Hope’s Peak and the killing game.

Obviously, I do think she feels guilt for this, but again it’s almost as if it never even happened in terms of how often it’s talked about.

There’s also the question of if Makoto did end up dead, where would Kyoko go from there? He was the only one she trusted and told everything she knew to, and if things went wrong that would be it. Byakuya and her butt heads in every trial, Hiro and Toko are both idiots, Hina is entirely too gullible and trusting. There’s no one left to put her trust into as fully as she did to Makoto.

Again, framing someone in order for a selfish goal and not seeing the consequences, these three instances share that one linking factoid.

But while Sayaka is demonized and called a lying snake, Kyoko and Aoi are fan favorites who get a lot of love from fans.

Why are they different?

V3 SPOILERS AHEAD FOR COMPARISON

I think it’s all about screen time. Sayaka was the first murder of the entire series, obviously she’s nowhere near developed as someone like Kyoko, Toko or even Rantaro from V3 as he becomes plot relevant later in the game after his murder. Sayaka does have somewhat the same effect on Makoto that Kaede does on Shuichi, a lingering first death that dwells on the male protagonist as they potentially loved this girl.

There’s also the fact that not everyone in the first Danganronpa game was created equal, as Sayaka and Leon do not have the full 6 part free time events later characters get in subsequent games. (Leon gets 3, Sayaka gets 2, other characters suffer from this such as Mukuro, Taka, and Mondo) This leaves a lot of Sayaka blank, to fill in if you will, and why I think she’s overlooked in general.

There’s one last thing I’d like to say in defense of Sayaka and even Aoi and Kyoko. They’re teenagers.

The class Makoto is in, is first years, they’re basically teenagers still with these incredibly gifted talents being forced to murder each other for their freedom, dumb decisions are evident in this situation. The pressure, the stress, the fear, all of it twisted up can cause anyone to make decisions they normally wouldn’t. And I think that goes a long way for someone like Sayaka. Who worked for her talent endlessly and it obviously means the world to her if she’s willing to murder a stranger/friend to continue it.

In the end, Sayaka made mistakes, she should be held accountable, but she’s not an evil snake who used Makoto as she saw fit. Everyone in Danganronpa should be held accountable accordingly for their crimes, but obviously Sayaka is not as evil as say Celeste, Korekiyo, Mikan, or hell even Junko. Honestly, she was just a teenager in a desperate situation, it’s like cornering a rat, something is bound to happen.

Thank you for coming to my stupidly long ted talk.

[angryteapott]

Li Lun and Zhu Yan and hypocrisy

I've seen a couple of posts about how infuriating it is that Zhu Yan easily forgives many others for killing (humans in general come to mind like Bai Jiu and Zhuo Yichen, but Ran Yi certainly doesn't fit this mold and Zhu Yan doesn't seem to have that much of a problem with him) and also kills people in a manner that seems hypocritical with this anger (guard at demon hunting bureau, BABY PAGODA DEMON) but nonsensically minds when it's Li Lun, but I think it actually does make a lot of sense.

Imo Li Lun gets a double standard because he's Zhu Yan's ex, not in spite of it. The closest people to us can be the hardest to forgive, especially considering the sort of relationship Li Lun and Zhao Yuanzhou shared. To me, it's more a matter of starting point.

Sorta like a person will feel differently after gaining a dollar when they have none and losing a dollar when they have two because despite ending with the same amount, the starting point matters. For Bai Jiu, Zhuo Yichen etc, he was expecting prejudiced humans, which is why he's hurt but unphased by Xiao Jiu and pleasantly shocked when Zhuo Yichen shows any decency towards demons. Wen Xiao is a condescending bigot which makes sense as shes the demon supercop but she has a sense of compassion. For Zhao Yuanzhou, these relationships are a pleasant surprise, so he sees them in a positive light. Essentially the standards are on the floor.

But Li Lun was someone he saw as being in perfect sync with him, the sort of romantic delusion that gives birth to all sorts of unhealthy dynamics, so it is a betrayal from Zhu Yan's perspective when they're not in sync and Li Lun kills random people. I'd also argue that it's also a matter of opposing people vs unrelated; he doesn't seem to have much of a concept of complex morality and seems to see those opposing him as fair game (guard, BABY PAGODA DEMON) vs those not going against him (people at the clinic). I'm being generous to the writers here because he doesn't seem against Ran Yi who commits pretty similar crimes to Li Lun, but again, I'd argue he holds Li Lun to a higher standard BECAUSE they're close.

I'd also say that he talks big like an ex does and defends Li Lun like an ex does. Like he basically tells Li Lun to die and refuses to explain himself because Li Lun should've known he'd never mean it like that and saves Li Lun's life right after he killed Ying Lei (who is only in that fight because Zhu Yan refused to explain himself LIKE HE ALWAYS DOES because he's got the worst kind of self righteous victim complex im killing him with hammers). Peak ex behavior. Toxic as hell. But i don't agree with the read that he cares less about Li Lun than others.

Also Li Lun is a person who is causing death to his own people. He was going to destroy his homeland to what, force people into revolution? Zhu Yan is hypocrite who causes massive issues through his ego and refusal to communicate and takes the side of the oppressor etc etc but he is not committing atrocities. Now as a writing choice it gives producers said we must show fighting discrimination as too radical but in the context of the text Zhu Yan is more pro demons living than Li Lun, and Li Lun is a massive hypocrite for minding demons being harmed but taking actions that would harm more demons. Both make terrible self-centered choices because they can't see past their own pain. Love them ❤️

[evenmyhivemindisempty]

I need your headcanons on how the Boyd Boys would react in the situation that they got a baby in their care.No one knows where it came from,doesn't need to be theirs,but they're stuck with a baby now. Good luck to them 👍 (with love from anon who got hit with sudden baby fever for the first time in his 20s)

Haha good luck with that baby fever, anon!! I’ve heard when it hits it hits *hard*

Steve Murphy: This one is easy, because we know exactly how Steve Murphy responds! He adopts that baby ASAP, and proceeds to be a dutiful (if maybe not exactly excited) dad!

Donald Pierce: He’d hold it awkwardly, possibly at an arms length from himself, squinting as it gurgled like it’s an engine making funky noises he’s trying to decipher. As soon as it started crying he’d hand it right over to Gabby. Pierce isn’t crazy about babies! He doesn’t find them interesting! They don’t have anything to say, and they don’t do anything fun! They just cry loudly, eat, and poop! (There is, however, a moment when he’s watching Gabby murmur lullabies and gently rock it to the sleep, that he just feels *so* inexplicably tender.)

Cap Hatfield: He finds babies ADORABLE, if faintly perplexing. He tries his best to make sure it’s comfortable, maybe whittles a little rattler for it, but ultimately he’s passing it off to the first relative he sees that knows more about childrearing than he does. But he’ll absolutely be popping in to help!

Clement Mansell: Ooh I feel like this is SO dependent on his mood at the time. 90% of the time Clement is immediately dropping that kid off at the nearest fire station, but if he’s in kind of a wistful, melancholy state, thinking about his dad or his legacy?? Yeah, he’s keeping that kid. I feel like having a kid *could* actually make Clement a better person too, if it makes him kind of reflect on what he wants for his kid (and the ways that’s different than what he got growing up), but he’s also 100% gonna use his adorable little baby to distract marks while he robs them blind.

The Corinthian: Aw man, the Corinthian is actually *great* with babies. (Baby Daniel!!) I don’t think he’d hang on to it if he didn’t have to though - unless for some reason he got insta-attached - but if it maybe reminded him of Orpheus (who I HC Corinthian sometimes babysat) or something, he’d be such a devoted dad! Based solely on the vibes I got from how he interacted with Jed, I can see the Corinthian having a bit of a double-life: sure, there’s moments where he acts *off*, or says something weird, but overall he’s giving his kid the standard all-American life, complete with a trampoline in the backyard and a golden retriever. He makes his kid and his kid’s friends sandwiches when they hang out at the house after school. Maybe he seduces their hot dads. Maybe he does some serial killing on the side! But he’ll also be there at every soccer game and ballet rehearsal.

Eli Klaber: Klaber finds kids adorable, but doesn’t really know what to do with them. He’d try his best though! He’d read parenting books and attend classes (probably surrounded by brand-new mothers slightly perplexed by his presence). I feel like he’d be the dad that tries to bring his kid *everywhere* (including to work!) and the first day of daycare he absolutely cries a little.

Ty Shaw: Ty immediately integrates the baby into the family! This is a Shaw baby now! He’s good with kids; after basically being a dad for three kids already, he’s old hat at this! He finds it so cute too, and he’s definitely the obnoxious parent that takes a million pictures of their kid and then insists on showing them *all* to everyone he meets.

Quinn McKenna: The thing is, Quinn actually *is* good with kids, and he does like them, but he’s not good at being around them for too long. He can’t really do fatherhood for very long without getting a little distant and needing space. I think if he *has* to take care of this kid, he’ll do it and he’ll do a thorough and competent job, but he’s gonna be burnt out quick, and maybe not always the most emotionally available parent. It’s better for him (and the kid, frankly) if he can find someone else to be the full-time parent, and he can act as an uncle figure.

[celestialastronmy]

Alright, let’s talk about Rachel Amber and how Life is Strange uses her to completely dismantle the “golden child” archetype. It’s such an interesting angle because it exposes how society's obsession with perfection messes people up, especially young women.

Rachel Amber seems like she has it all. Straight-A student, drama club star, beloved by everyone, and the daughter of Arcadia Bay’s District Attorney. She’s the “it” girl. But if Before the Storm teaches us anything, it’s that perfection is often just a mask. Rachel’s life is way more complicated—and tragic—than it looks.

Golden children like Rachel live with crushing expectations. They have to keep up this flawless image, and Rachel is no exception. Being the DA’s daughter comes with its own baggage—she’s not just representing herself but her entire family’s reputation. The game shows us how this pressure creates a double life, where Rachel’s real self is buried beneath layers of perfection.

Things start unraveling when she finds out her dad is cheating. That revelation? Absolutely brutal. And her reaction—setting a literal forest on fire—is both dramatic and symbolic. It’s Rachel saying, “Screw this fake life I’ve been forced to live,” but in the most destructive way possible. Honestly, kind of iconic, but also heartbreaking.

Then there’s Chloe Price, Rachel’s total opposite. Chloe’s already written off as a screw-up, which sucks, but it also gives her a weird kind of freedom. She can be messy, angry, and rebellious because no one expects anything else from her. Rachel? She’s stuck trying to live up to this impossible golden child image, which makes her life feel so much more... trapped.

The way they deal with their pain says a lot. Chloe wears her grief and anger like a badge of honor—it’s messy, but it’s real. Rachel? She hides everything under that perfect exterior. But all that bottled-up trauma eventually leads to risky, self-destructive choices. It’s like the pressure to be perfect is slowly suffocating her.

What really gets me is how Rachel’s story shows the danger of society’s extremes. People either put you on a pedestal or write you off completely, with no room for the messy in-between. Rachel’s expected to be flawless, and Chloe’s expected to fail. Neither of them gets the space to just... exist.

And their relationship? So fascinating. Rachel is drawn to Chloe because Chloe is everything she’s not allowed to be—authentic, raw, unapologetic. But even with Chloe, Rachel struggles to break free from her golden child habits. She keeps secrets, plays different roles, and can’t fully let go of that need to please everyone. It’s sad because you can see how much she wants to be free but doesn’t know how.

One of the most telling things about Rachel is her love for theater. She’s literally most comfortable when she’s playing a role, which says so much about how she’s been conditioned. Her whole life is a performance, and she doesn’t even know who she is outside of it.

Even after she’s gone, Rachel is mythologized. The missing person posters show this smiling, perfect girl, while the truth about her life starts to leak out. It’s like no one really knew her, not even Chloe, because she never got to just be Rachel Amber.

What Life is Strange does so well is show how society creates these impossible standards, especially for young women. Rachel is praised for her perfection while Chloe is dismissed for her rebellion, but both of them are crushed by these expectations in different ways. And let’s not forget the class angle—Rachel’s privilege gives her more protection, but it also puts her in those golden handcuffs. She has everything... except freedom.

The game’s critique feels so real, especially now. With social media, the pressure to present a perfect image is even worse. Rachel’s story hits hard because it’s a reminder that this obsession with perfection is not only harmful—it’s dangerous.

In the end, Rachel’s tragedy isn’t just about her fate. It’s about the system that put her on a pedestal in the first place. The game makes a powerful case for letting young people be human—messy, flawed, and authentic. And honestly? We could all learn something from that.

[level2janitor]

The Tactiquest Wizard

while i lean towards preferring nonmagical fighter-type characters, conceptually a D&D wizard is a really compelling fantasy to me. it was actually really easy to design because i knew exactly how i wanted it.

TQ has a pretty wide variety of spellcaster classes, almost all of them highly specialized. the beguiler does illusions and charms, the oracle uncovers secret knowledge, the abjurer casts defensive spells, the sun priest heals and buffs, the warmage does big damage and nothing else, etc etc.

...except for the one caster class whose specialty is just "magic", in general - which can be very difficult to get right! the "do-everything wizard" usually ends up outclassing every other character in games where it exists. you don't want a wizard whose damage spells outclass dedicated martial classes, whose defensive spells cover their weaknesses, and who have endless utility outside combat despite being just as good at combat as fighters and barbarians.

it's that utility that's compelling to me, that makes me interested in playing a wizard. so i wanted to double down on that - you trade raw power for absurd versatility. if you just want power, play a warmage. but if instead you want a spell for every niche, the Arcanist is for you:

spells: the big gimmick for arcanist: you get so many spells. not in that you can cast spells more often, but your number of spells known is way more than any other caster in the game. there's no way i'm fitting the actual spell descriptions in this post, but they cover a wide variety of situations in and out of combat, and the arcanist also has the easiest time learning more of them (with the perk that lets you learn extra spells not having a cap on how many times you can take it, like it would for other casters).

the list above also only includes the spells available at character creation and not ones available on level-up. here's how big the list actually is:

(for context, this is 2-3 times as big as the lists for other casters)

versatility over power: in exchange for this huge variety of spells, arcanist has a few glaring weaknesses. on top of their physical stats (HP, equip slots etc) being bad as is standard for casters, they also have less mana than most other casters and very few non-spell class abilities. ritualist and scroll scribe are still pretty useful, but they're nothing like earth priest turning into a bear, necromancer summoning undead armies, warmage's higher mana limit (casting over your mana limit causes strain which you need to keep low to receive healing), etc etc.

the spells themselves are also designed to give you lots of utility options like illusions, telepathy, travel bonuses, inventory manipulation, buffs and debuffs, summons, moving enemies around. the two big things they can't do are healing and high damage.

while arcanist does get damaging spells, all of them come with some kind of side effect like forced movement, a debuff, etc - still useful, but mostly not for their damage. if you want spells that purely deal high damage, you have to be a Warmage or Runeblade or something.

other cool gimmicks: arcanist perks mostly focus on expanding how you can use your spells, giving you access to more spells, and crafting single-use spell scrolls. i really like scroll crafting as a secondary niche here, it feels really fitting and i like having classes that tie into the crafting systems.

Play tactiquest here!

[balkanradfem]

So I like the Barbie movie enough to do an analysis of their feminist statements and try to get to the root of the problem! They did give us a long list of expectations women worldwide are dealing with, now let's see why they're dealing with it.

1. "We have to always be extraordinary, but somehow, we're always doing it wrong. You have to be thin, but not too thin, and you can never say you want to be thin, you have to say you want to be healthy."

This issue happens because women in practice, culture, and their real-life circumstances are still effectively living as the second class citizens, and they're viewed as servants for males, and male toys. It does not benefit us to be expected to be extraordinary, and it does not benefit us to be thin. So who benefits from it?

It's a feature of a male fantasy. Male wants to posses a woman who is trained to please him in every possible way, but she also needs to be unique and different from all other women, so he feels like he has something special. Every woman already is unique and individual, but he doesn't notice such things as personality, he needs her to be special in a way that he and his male buddies will notice! So she has to be extraordinary in something that males appreciate, but also if she is better than them at it, then they no longer feel the ease of being superior, so she's doing it wrong.

Women's ideal being thin is also a male fantasy, they've managed to pavlov themselves into finding thin women the only kind of woman that is attractive, thus the requirement on women is to be thin, even when it damages our health. Men love causing trauma to women, but to see women actually visibly struggling with it, putting it into words, saying it hurts us, that makes them uncomfortable! So they shame the language, until we phrase it as something that doesn't relate to them, or that makes it seem like it's for our own good. 'Being thin for health' makes it seem like the required starvation is for our own good, and healthy, in fact.

This could not possibly happen if we were not existing in service of the other half of population. If we were respected and valuable human beings, what is bad for us would not be represented to us as an ideal.

2. "You have to have money, but can't ask for money, because that's crass. You have to be boss, but can't be mean. You have to lead, but you can't squash other people's ideas."

These are double standards that men put up for us. Even though women are paid less, own less, are globally more impoverished and have a harder time gaining money, that is no longer enough for us to completely depend on men for money; they hate this. So as a revenge for us managing to earn a bit of our own money, we now can't ask them for any, we are supposed to 'have our own', and still depend for them, but in fear, reluctant to ask or to demand. Notice how it isn't crass for a man to ask for money, it's almost expected, but for a woman, it's shameful.

Women in lead will be criticized, called out, scrutinized and humiliated like no male leader ever would be; this is to make it harder for women to feel in control and comfortable in leading positions. Male leader is supposed to step all over ideas he doesn't find useful, hell he can even squash it and take credit for it later, but if a woman doesn't acknowledge a stupid idea, she is immediately told off for 'not being a good enough leader'. Even when she's doing exactly what she's supposed to do. It's a hypocritical little game to ensure only men can comfortably lead.

3. "You're supposed to love being a mother, but don't talk about your kids all the damn time. You have to be a career woman, but also always be looking out for other people."

This is a feature of "women existing for male convenience" problem. We are supposed to be naturally loving of raising kids, because it's convenient for males to just have their children raised for them without having to do much about it, and if this is not provided to them, then women are evil for not 'loving being a mother' when it's convenient for men that women are super into that and willing to do it for free, forever, without complaining or talking about it, because men don't like to know that it's an actual effort, they feel more comfortable feeling it's a silly little chore that deserves no thought whatsoever.

Women having careers is something men have been making difficult in any way possible, because it means women are not reliant on them for resources within capitalism, but they were not able to completely prevent us having jobs, so now they're just trying to get as much use of it as possible. If women earn money, they will leech off of that money. If women have careers, well then those women should prove that they're just as convenient, nurturing, always available, running at every beck and call, and act as if they still only exist to serve and please men. If women fail to do this, they'll again be accused of being selfish, horrible people, bad mothers, bad community members, and so on and so forth. Men of course, can ignore the entire world and do their job badly, and have a violence problem, and be addicted to p*rn, and it's fine. They're not bad people regardless of how little compassion they have for anyone who isn't them.

4. "You have to answer for men's bad behavior, which is insane. But if you point that out, you're accused of complaining. You're supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you're supposed to be a part of the sisterhood."

This is an example of psychological abuse; victims are most often told they're responsible for their abuser's actions, as if they would in any situation be able to control or influence them, which they can't. But, putting that responsibility on women will make women hyperfocus on their own behaviour, on prevention of abuse, prevention of violence, which means they will go a long way trying to please men, tiptoe around them, give them insane amount of attention and care, in hope or preventing the escalation of their behaviour - and this is exactly what men want, this is what the abuse was for. To gain that devotion and attention, with the threat of violence. If women understood perfectly that men are responsible for their own behaviour, their way forward would be to hold men accountable, to lock them up and never look back. It's only in the world where women are victims of severe psychological abuse that we try to please men into not committing acts of violence. And it never works, because men love violence, and will turn to violence at every corner, even more easily and smugly knowing they can simply blame a woman for not working hard enough to prevent it.

Men expecting women to be pretty but then punishing them for being pretty is also an act of abuse; women's exterior is being judged as if our appearance is both a statement and a crime. Men can look whatever they naturally look like, and it's not a provocation, temptation, lack of solidarity or anything worth criticizing; but any way that a woman looks can be scrutinized and a ground for moral callout. The reality is that women also just look like the way they look like, and there's nothing wrong with it. There is zero moral problems with women looking pretty or not pretty. There isn't even a problem with tempting males because males are responsible for their own actions and not toddlers who have no power to resist impulses. This is a tactics for making women responsible for male behaviour - the way she looks is responsible for what I want to do to her. Complete nonsense, they just found a way to blame her for his own behaviour.

Calling women out for not being 'a part of the sisterhood' based on their appearance is very poorly concealed tactic to turn women against each other, to distract them from seeing that men are the root of the problem. Men don't turn on each other based on appearance, and it doesn't make sense for women to be assumed to do it either; in women-only communities, it doesn't matter what women look like. Whatever women look like is never a threat or an attack on other women, men are trying to play on female insecurity and frame other women as a threat to that insecurity - when the only threat all along was men, creating ideals and standards of beauty that don't correspond to reality or nature.

5. "Always be grateful, but never forget that the system is rigged, so find a way to acknowledge that, but also, always be grateful. You have to never get old."

The waves of feminism have forced the public consciousness to acknowledge that the system is rigged, but the pressure to do something about it falls completely on women, even though men created the system, rigged it, are keeping it rigged, are using violence to enforce it, and are benefiting from it. And it's convenient to them if women do nothing else but acknowledge it's rigged and stay grateful they're still allowed to live within, we're supposed to be threatened by the fact that we can easily be killed if we step out of line.

Men are threatened by older women because mature women have experience, they are no longer easily manipulated or cheated out of their gain, they will not bow down and please men like young, inexperienced women can be tricked into doing. So they convince those young women, that being old is shameful and ugly for women. They want women to stay young and susceptible, like children that they can control and not allow any agency or free will. This ensures we stay focused on being scared of time, aging and our own bodies and nature, but not of the predators who are taking our lives as a service for themselves.

6. "Never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear. Never get out of line, it's too hard, it's too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says "thank you". And it turns out, in fact, that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault."

These are lists of standards that are only applied to women, men are allowed to do all of these things and to be catered to while they're doing it. This behaviour is presented as bad only when women are doing it; if men do it, it's considered neutral, normal, intrinsic to human nature. Women being selfish inconveniences men, who are looking to exploit female selflessness. Women showing off and being proud would cut into their time showing off, they want that attention for themselves. Women getting out of line is inconvenient, since men have drawn those lines for women (those lines don't exist for men). Women showing fear makes it difficult for male predators to corner them down and have them act complacent; men don't want to see proof of victimizing women, except in private, except when they can get off on it. Never in public, never when women could potentially escape or reach for help, then it's sexist of women to be afraid.

Women getting medals, acknowledgment or gratitude again, cuts into male parade of getting all the acknowledgment, gratitude and medals, for them it doesn't make sense that they should share attention or credit with what they consider to be the 'servant class'. Men have deluded themselves into thinking they deserve more credit than women do, they don't consider us smart or capable, because they can easily oppress us, so how smart can we be? But also, they expect and demand us to be as smart and capable as necessary to resolve all of their issues, to make their life easy and pleasant and undemanding. We are forced to deal with issues they won't even look at, we often solve problems or create solution they wouldn't be able to produce, and this is when they simply take credit and convince themselves that they knew better all along. It's a 'male-delusion rules reality' kind of world for women.

After doing the biggest bulk of work on earth, creating and raising the entire human race, doing daily unpaid labour, putting up with violence, threats and constant degradation from men, after not having our interests represented by the law, education, government, economy or any other institution with any power, after spending a piece of our life being groomed and then having to spend another undoing the grooming, we are still told that everything is our fault, and that we're doing everything wrong.

This is abuse, and somebody is doing it. We are not put thru all of this for vague reasons, or for arbitrary reasons, someone is benefiting from all of it. While we're raising children, who lazes around and attaches their last names to our kids? When we're doing daily unpaid labour, who doesn't do their part? Who is staring at us while we're walking down the street, who fails to represent or even acknowledge our interests, and even our human rights? Who does the grooming, and who enables them to do it? Where do they get resources from it, who allows it to go on unchecked? How come young girls and women are regarded as such low value that we allow them to live unprotected around predators who will absolutely attempt to violate them in as many ways they can? Who fails to prevent, or arrest, or punish them?

It's not just a system of patriarchy, it'a a system of men, doing this every single day of their life. We can point the finger at the root of the problem. We have a common enemy, and they're working damn hard to keep us from realizing it.

[kafus]

my orre colosseum team

i spent the past month or so on-and-off breeding this team for orre colosseum in XD gale of darkness, a postgame challenge i've never played through before. the long time was mostly due to being in bagon hatching purgatory for weeks

i planned out the whole team before breeding it. orre colosseum is basically like gen 3 VGC - bring 6, pick 4 with team preview, no repeating held items, battles are in doubles format. there's not anything else quite like it in gen 3 especially because team preview wasn't the standard yet, so i was kind of in the dark when it came to teambuilding. i knew orre colosseum NPCs had preplanned teams by the devs, not randomized out of a pool of pokemon sets like the tower/frontier , which is more in line with the original stadium games, and it was usually considered a fairly difficult challenge, so i had to give it some thought

this is what i ended up with after skimming some resources for the orre colosseum format played by real players, but not checking orre colosseum teams in advance as i wanted to be surprised. the IVs here are weird since like i said, i spent like a month breeding these pokemon manually (hatched around 2000 eggs overall give or take, i wasn't counting all of them) so their IVs aren't perfect across the board.

the main two things i was keeping in mind while teambuilding were speed, protection from explosion/self-destruct, and spread moves that affect the whole field. tailwind and trick room don't exist yet and speed control options are very limited in gen 3, so base speed and training in speed is really important. additionally spread moves that affect the whole field like earthquake and explosion don't have their damage cut the same way moves that only target both opponents do in this gen, so they're extremely powerful and a team needs to both have access to these options and be able to defend from these options.

i was also hellbent on not using any legendaries (box legendaries and mythicals are banned from orre colosseum AKA restricteds, but legendaries like the kanto bird trio are allowed) and not using metagross or gengar, two of the gen 3 doubles GOATs and... idk i'm just tired of using them frankly, i feel like i have enough skill to beat NPC opponents without them, even if they're tougher. so that's why i don't have pokemon like latios on the team, etc.

i will admit that while teambuilding i completely forgot about rock resistance which is pretty relevant in gen 3 in general... i have THREE pokemon weak to rock and no resisted switch-ins. BUT all rock moves in gen 3 are physical, and i have three intimidate users, so instead of changing up the team i was already attached to after realizing this, i just decided to roll with it.

anyway with all that out of the way and the acknowledgement that this team isn't perfect, i'll explain the pokemon one by one:

first up, tangerine! she was actually the pokemon i teambuilt first and was most excited to use since i got really attached to the persian i used in my recent firered nuzlocke named after my friend zur. in fact, she stems from zur's bloodline so i let zur name her, and they picked tangerine lol. other than just wanting to use one of my current favorites though, persian actually has really nice moveset options for doubles - fake out is not common but is incredibly useful in any doubles format, and icy wind is one of the very few speed control moves in gen 3. double-edge with silk scarf rounds her off with some big damage and shadow ball lets her hit ghost types... though i'll admit protect is definitely more optimal here instead of shadow ball, i just really wanted to use shadow ball because of an ongoing inside joke with zur & co about it (look up the tag #/freakylocke on my blog and you'll find it eventually)

i've played three rounds of orre colosseum so far, so the easier ones, but tangerine has been popping off, she's very useful i'm so proud of her.

tenchi the arcanine is next, also a pokemon i was hellbent on using. during my firered nuzlocke i was really excited to use arcanine since it's a version exclusive and i almost always play leafgreen, but my growlithe died early on from a careless crit, and after that i was determined to use arcanine in the battle tower or something to make up for that disappointment. i ended up routing that desire to orre colosseum instead! the aforementioned dead growlithe was also named after a friend, my friend babs, who picked out the name tenchi.

he's pretty straightforward - overheat does massive damage and ideally he gets to use it twice for free because of the white herb. hidden power grass provides extra coverage and extremespeed lets him pick off weakened opponents. protect lets allies safely use earthquake. also my first intimidate user!

next up, firegreen! bulbasaur was my favorite starter for most of my life until sprigatito came around and venusaur is still one of my most beloved pokemon. his name was recommended to me by my friend note. i was just really captivated by the comedic nature of his name, lol.

he's the team's weather control and has access to sleep powder. synergizes nicely with tenchi who can throw out really powerful overheats in the sun, even with a stat drop. and of course solarbeam is great in the sun.

his EV spread is really specific compared to most of the other pokemon on this team - he has enough speed to outspeed uninvested base 85 speed pokemon, he has enough HP/special defense to live a modest max special attack latios psychic, and the rest i dumped into special attack. this bulk has proven incredibly useful in some battles already so i'm glad i did his EVs the way i did. the slower sleep powders is also convenient for the following guaranteed sleep turn.

now louie the gyarados (named by my friend Serena who was once again a nuzlocke encounter from my firered nuzlocke lol) is kind of a weird one. at this point i knew i was probably going to use salamence, a flying type, and i wanted a second flying type (or levitate haver) for double earthquake immunity. i had also already added arcanine and venusaur to the team, fire and grass types, and fire/water/grass is a known good type combination on a team. so i combined these traits with gyarados - having yet another intimidate user isn't half bad to have either!

i bring him to battles more situationally, ie. in the first round i brought him against lovrina's obvious full stall team because taunt just absolutely decimated hr and prevented her from doing literally anything, even with taunt's crappy 2 turn length in gen 3. he's really meant as a support pokemon - speed control with thunder wave, taunt - and he's meant to stick around as long as possible and be annoying, hence protect and brightpowder (gen 3 doesn't have a lot of hold items so i figured i might as well). but of course i have at least one damaging option and i picked earthquake for that.

i don't remember exactly how i EV'd him but i do know i calculated his HP/defense to live... some rock move... so yeah his EVs improve his match-up into rock type attacks. i dumped the rest into attack, but i may adjust later to give him some speed if necessary, dunno. haven't needed it thus far.

now here's scramble, the only pokemon i actually named myself... her name takes after the sheer amount of eggs i hatched for her, over 800. it was torture. don't ask (lighthearted)

she's the premier damage output of this team and i often lead with tangerine and her so tangerine can use fake out and allow her to get off a substitute, which keeps her safe from most status moves and an attack, and then she can set up dragon dances and absolutely go to town with hidden power flying and earthquake.

i actually ran into a battle with a ditto out of the few battles i've played so far and wound up in a situation where i had to deal with the ditto copying scramble's own singular dragon dance and posing a huge threat to the rest of my team. intimidate really came to the rescue there lol

somehow she ended up being the only non-kanto pokemon on this team. that was not intentional.

and last but not least, scoop! my friend rat recommended the name ice cream scoop, which obviously doesn't fit within the 10 character limit, but i got really attached to the "scoop" part and went with that. he's very straightforward - incredibly fast max speed coverage that hits decently hard and can clean up games from the back. the lum berry is there to prevent him from getting paralyzed or otherwise have his cleanup stopped by status, an d he has protect for ally earthquakes, explosions, etc.

and yeah that's the team. i love them. they took such a ridiculously long time to put together but totally worth it. i'm excited to get back to more orre colosseum when i get the energy

[joesalw]

This conversation about Taylor's downfall in 2016 and what led up to it, plus this lie that most criticism of female celebrities is just misogyny is really interesting to me because it's something I talk to people about in real life. There's this idea that in mainstream media people love to build female celebrities up and then rip them apart when they get successful, which don't get me wrong is absolutely true, but in some cases it's a little more complicated than that. There are times when certain celebrities brand and present themselves as "the ideal dream woman" of whatever period they're in, and then when the societal image of what "the ideal dream woman" shifts but the celebrity's image doesn't, the facade cracks.

I think a good example of this is Jennifer Lawrence. I was a teenager when the hunger games movies were coming out and was obsessed so I used to watch a lot of the interviews with the cast. Jlaw presentes herself very much as a "cool girl", she was the youngest of 2 older brothers so she was a "tomboy" that loves sports and drinking beers and shots. She also made it a big deal about how she doesn't diet and is constantly eating yet still has a slim body and doesn't know about designer clothes and is so above all this fame thing. Whilst all this was happening the Gone Girl monologue was gaining traction particularly the part about cool girls and how women alter their personality for men's consumption. Eventually people caught on about all the fictional women and celebrities that fall into the trope and were over it, yet jlaw kept up with the persona. Couple that with her continually working with David o Russell, the insensitivity to other cultures, the overexposure and people realising her acting ain't really all that, you have the general public getting sick of her and her having to take a break. She's sort of made a comeback now and people are just chalking her downfall to "misogyny".

I wasn't really following what Taylor was up to in the lead up to her crash because I'd gotten sick of her long before that and avoided her stuff like the plague, but I did see someone on Reddit talk about how her winning album of the year over Kendrick Lemar and then using her speech to shit on another prominent black hip hop artist over something that was a lie wasn't a good luck for her. Add in the racist undertones in shake it off and wildest dreams videos for good measure.

This time around I do think her not adapting to the political and societal change is going to be a major factor if (I hope) she has another downfall. Before I get to the next part I do have to say I'm from England (you may have heard of it but it is a very foreign country/s) so if I'm wrong about the American political atmosphere someone feel free to correct me. After the election of trump there was a whole knew political awakening and conversations happening, one of them being about how Hillary lost due to misogyny (not completely true) so there were conversations about patriarchy, sexism, double standards and all that. This was the perfect climate for Taylor to be able to swoop in and use all these buzzwords she's learnt and blame anything bad that happened to her on misogyny and made all of her problems into "women problems". You had her giving quotes like how women are only allowed to react or some shit and released "the man" (side note but does anyone else find the bridge to the song kind of racist? Especially the way she's constantly compared to black artists?). She was of course celebrated for all this and had successfully rebranded to politically conscious Taylor Swift.

I don't think she expected the political climate to shift so quickly once again. In 2020 we had those viral videos of white women calling the cops on black people and the conversations about how white women use their privilege and tears to harm others and get away with it. During BLM there were talks about how certain white women will present themselves as allies and progressive but still have friends and date people who are bigots showing their politics is skin deep *cough cough*. COVID had us talking about the disconnect from celebrities about the real world and how capitalism is just another plague that is killing us normal people. You had certain companies and people becoming billionaires during this time and this truly began the crumbling of the pedestal the rich and famous were on.

Flashforward to now, where there are multiple genocides happening in front of our eyes. A time where you can't open any social media site without seeing innocents being slaughtered in ways that fills you with a rage and sorrow I can't even put into words. A time where our world leaders are doing Jake shit like some Arab leaders or actively funding it like the UK and US. A large number of Americans are saying they won't vote for Biden next year, others are screaming if you do that we'll get a repeat of 2016. But people are rightfully pointing out that Hilary is also a war criminal and the DNC were told people are not going to vote for her so pick a different candidate, they didn't and lo and behold those people stuck to their word. Women being in power does nothing if they uphold the same system which is exactly what women like Taylor do.

So the women Taylor rebranded herself to is the exact kind of woman whos shit people are sick of. Her face literally being used as the face of the western media ignoring the atrocities happening to brown and black people and upholding the status quo is just poetic justice. Add in the absolute shallowness of that interview and the whole capitalism is okay when you're girl bossing and you've got people wondering who the fuck does she thinks she is.

There's obviously a lot more to any potential crash Taylor may have and this is all my observations that may be wrong, but I do find all this shit fascinating and I wish people smarter than me would look into it to see if I've got a point.

You’ve got a great point

[existslikepristin]

Unexpectedly busy week, that was. Except today. Today I got home and ate ice cream

Only two options in the poll this time! Is there a secret reason?! Yes, it's because I didn't have any more ideas The poll is only going to be available for 24 hours, because I should be able to get the next part up tomorrow!

Tags: NSFW, S.M.U.T., genie, microtransactions???

(Story Index)

Anime Girls

"I wish for a harem of anime girls!" you blurt out before you can think.

Joy appears mildly shocked for a moment, but then she gives you a wry smirk. "Look at you, making a wish like that. You perverted weeb."

You frown and put up a finger of protest, but Joy quickly continues, "I know. I know. You're not the first of your kind I've come across, master. Being a weeb is an honored profession nowadays, and you're all special because of your unique waifu and/or husbando selection(s). I know the drill."

The air around you seems to contract and expand simultaneously, and everything in your line of sight briefly tints green. Except, that is, for Joy herself. Even as space bends in front of your very eyes, causing no small amount of queasiness to knot about in the pit of your stomach, Joy remains on the table, sitting up with the same smooth grace she has continuously displayed up to this point and only looking as green as usual, which isn’t all that green, really.

And then it's over. The air feels normal again, and your standard color vision has returned.

"Was that the wish?" you ask.

"Sure was!"

You look around. Nothing has changed. You see no anime girls. Not even your waifu (though, considering Joy told you she can't read your mind, you're not sure how she would have known to pick her). "So, where's the harem?"

"I figured you wouldn't be able to list each and every anime girl you've ever wanted to fuck."

Joy pauses. After a few seconds you say, "That's not a useful explanation."

"Oh. Right. Check your phone."

"My phone?" you inquire, as you reach down to take your phone from the pocket of your discarded shorts.

"Yup! I've noticed that most weebs are very heavily invested in their own tropes, which I appreciate, as you can imagine. And one of the more common tropes in harem anime I've seen is that the protagonist controls some aspect of the world around them with a supernaturally-powered smartphone."

You tap your phone out of sleep mode. "So, I have a phone… harem?"

"No, master. You have a magic app that summons anime girls into your presence, all of which are suspiciously and sexually attracted and devoted to you, of course. This will make your harem as weebly wobbly as you can possibly get!"

You exit your phone's internet browser, where, obviously, you had been reading existslikePristin fanfics, and go to your home screen. A new app does a little inflation animation to let you know of its location. The icon is a silhouette of a lithe woman on a green, circular background, and is not labeled. You tap to open it. There is no waiting on load time. You're immediately taken to a very cluttered generic fantasy town isometric view, with bubbles of text all over the place. You think the text might be Sumerian.

"It's a mobile gacha game!" Joy looks and sounds far too proud of herself. "And with my special djinnfluencer promo code, you get one thousand free shards! And that's not all! You get ten free spins, five billion gold coins, and double daily rewards for the first week!”

Options:

Okay, that was exceptionally dumb. Ask if there’s a way to undo a wish.

Whatever. A harem’s a harem. Figure out this app and summon an anime girl.