#the best examples I can think of for this (that apply to me exclusively) are

[alfheimr]

My Favorite Cheap Art Trick: Gradient Maps and Blending Modes

i get questions on occasion regarding my coloring process, so i thought i would do a bit of a write up on my "secret technique." i don't think it really is that much of a secret, but i hope it can be helpful to someone. to that end:

this is one of my favorite tags ive ever gotten on my art. i think of it often. the pieces in question are all monochrome - sort of.

the left version is the final version, the right version is technically the original. in the final version, to me, the blues are pretty stark, while the greens and magentas are less so. there is some color theory thing going on here that i dont have a good cerebral understanding of and i wont pretend otherwise. i think i watched a youtube video on it once but it went in one ear and out the other. i just pick whatever colors look nicest based on whatever vibe im going for.

this one is more subtle, i think. can you tell the difference? there's nothing wrong with 100% greyscale art, but i like the depth that adding just a hint of color can bring.

i'll note that the examples i'll be using in this post all began as purely greyscale, but this is a process i use for just about every piece of art i make, including the full color ones. i'll use the recent mithrun art i made to demonstrate. additionally, i use clip studio paint, but the general concept should be transferable to other art programs.

for fun let's just start with Making The Picture. i've been thinking of making this writeup for a while and had it in mind while drawing this piece. beyond that, i didn't really have much of a plan for this outside of "mithrun looks down and hair goes woosh." i also really like all of the vertical lines in the canary uniform so i wanted to include those too but like. gone a little hog wild. that is the extent of my "concept." i do not remember why i had the thought of integrating a shattered mirror type of theme. i think i wanted to distract a bit from the awkward pose and cover it up some LOL but anyway. this lack of planning or thought will come into play later.

note 1: the textured marker brush i specifically use is the "bordered light marker" from daub. it is one of my favorite brushes in the history of forever and the daub mega brush pack is one of the best purchases ive ever made. highly recommend!!!

note 2: "what do you mean by exclusion and difference?" they are layer blending modes and not important to the overall lesson of this post but for transparency i wanted to say how i got these "effects." anyway!

with the background figured out, this is the point at which i generally merge all of my layers, duplicate said merged layer, and Then i begin experimenting with gradient maps. what are gradient maps?

the basic gist is that gradient maps replace the colors of an image based on their value.

so, with this particular gradient map, black will be replaced with that orangey red tone, white will be replaced with the seafoamy green tone, etc. this particular gradient map i'm using as an example is very bright and saturated, but the colors can be literally anything.

these two sets are the ones i use most. they can be downloaded for free here and here if you have csp. there are many gradient map sets out there. and you can make your own!

you can apply a gradient map directly onto a specific layer in csp by going to edit>tonal correction>gradient map. to apply one indirectly, you can use a correction layer through layer>new correction layer>gradient map. honestly, correction layers are probably the better way to go, because you can adjust your gradient map whenever you want after creating the layer, whereas if you directly apply a gradient map to a layer thats like. it. it's done. if you want to make changes to the applied gradient map, you have to undo it and then reapply it. i don't use correction layers because i am old and stuck in my ways, but it's good to know what your options are.

this is what a correction layer looks like. it sits on top and applies the gradient map to the layers underneath it, so you can also change the layers beneath however and whenever you want. you can adjust the gradient map by double clicking the layer. there are also correction layers for tone curves, brightness/contrast, etc. many such useful things in this program.

let's see how mithrun looks when we apply that first gradient map we looked at.

gadzooks. apologies for eyestrain. we have turned mithrun into a neon hellscape, which might work for some pieces, but not this one. we can fix that by changing the layer blending mode, aka this laundry list of words:

some of them are self explanatory, like darken and lighten, while some of them i genuinely don't understand how they are meant to work and couldn't explain them to you, even if i do use them. i'm sure someone out there has written out an explanation for each and every one of them, but i've learned primarily by clicking on them to see what they do.

for the topic of this post, the blending mode of interest is soft light. so let's take hotline miamithrun and change the layer blending mode to soft light.

here it is at 100% opacity. this is the point at which i'd like to explain why i like using textured brushes so much - it makes it very easy to get subtle color variation when i use this Secret Technique. look at the striation in the upper right background! so tasty. however, to me, these colors are still a bit "much." so let's lower the opacity.

i think thats a lot nicer to look at, personally, but i dont really like these colors together. how about we try some other ones?

i like both of these a lot more. the palettes give the piece different vibes, at which point i have to ask myself: What Are The Vibes, Actually? well, to be honest i didn't really have a great answer because again, i didn't plan this out very much at all. however. i knew in my heart that there was too much color contrast going on and it was detracting from the two other contrasts in here: the light and dark values and the sharp and soft shapes. i wanted mithrun's head to be the main focal point. for a different illustration, colors like this might work great, but this is not that hypothetical illustration, so let's bring the opacity down again.

yippee!! that's getting closer to what my heart wants. for fun, let's see what this looks like if we change the blending mode to color.

i do like how these look but in the end they do not align with my heart. oh well. fun to experiment with though! good to keep in mind for a different piece, maybe! i often change blending modes just to see what happens, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. i very much cannot stress enough that much of my artistic process is clicking buttons i only sort of understand. for fun.

i ended up choosing the gradient map on the right because i liked that it was close to the actual canary uniform colors (sorta). it's at an even lower opacity though because there was Still too much color for my dear heart.

the actual process for this looks like me setting my merged layer to soft light at around 20% opacity and then clicking every single gradient map in my collection and seeing which one Works. sometimes i will do this multiple times and have multiple soft light and/or color layers combined.

typically at this point i merge everything again and do minor contrast adjustments using tone curves, which is another tool i find very fun to play around with. then for this piece in particular i did some finishing touches and decided that the white border was distracting so i cropped it. and then it's done!!! yay!!!!!

this process is a very simple and "fast" way to add more depth and visual interest to a piece without being overbearing. well, it's fast if you aren't indecisive like me, or if you are better at planning.

let's do another comparison. personally i feel that the hint of color on the left version makes mithrun look just a bit more unwell (this is a positive thing) and it makes the contrast on his arm a lot more pleasing to look at. someone who understands color theory better than i do might have more to say on the specifics, but that's honestly all i got.

just dont look at my layers too hard. ok?

[identityua]

Haha... hi... slides in so cooly and normal-y... I hope you're doing well!! :D

I always find it so so interesting seeing people's relationship headcanons?? So if you're down for it, could we potentially see headcanons regarding a relationship with Richard Sterling and a gender neutral reader? If not that is so chill 🫡 I just think he's so neat & even with the little bit we've been given lore-wise, he's genuinely really interesting.

Anyways, thank you if you do, and no hard feelings if ya don't!! 🫶 :3

I don’t know what you guys see in him… but who am I to judge? Let me know If I messed up his character, I went purely off the canon knowledge here. (Also omg I finally finished my midterms, we can start the finals prep now!)

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R. STERLING HCS

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PAIRINGS: Richard Sterling x GN! Reader

WARNINGS: Sensitive content. Richard being Richard, abusive/toxic relationship dynamics, mentions of intentional harm. Read at your own discretion...

Not proofread!

Source: ianrkives

Let’s start with a little analysis!

You can rely on Mariyka to never sugarcoat someone’s personality or flaws. Maybe, some like to portray this “Knight” as a lovesick, obsessive, manipulative romantic. A dark fantasy, so to say. A term that is often applied to this character archetype is “yandere” — an individual willing to do anything for their love.

Here’s the big kicker. Richard cannot love.

One thorough glance at your partner’s mind under a microscope can tell us a lot about his mental health. Let me put my nerd glasses on as I diagnose Mr. Sterling. Psychopathy and narcissism, textbook examples. While of course not everyone with the diagnostic criteria will push their "sister" down a flight of stairs, the shoe fits unfortunately. This one is villainous and the diagnosis does not help.

So, how does he fit the shoe? Richard does not display empathy or remorse towards his actions, he conceals his true intentions, he is a pathological liar and has delusions of grandiose. He wants to pose as the “Knight”, the ultimate savior for his royal highness. In this case, that is you (condolences).

At first, in pursuit of your heart Richard will come off as charming and dreamy. It may seem like a fairytale! You are the delicate rose and he is the nurturing florist, attending to your every beck and call. In fact, he may proclaim undying love for you as soon as there are hints of reciprocation from your side.

He will use the gentlest words of affirmation to coax you out of your shell and learn what makes you tick. People you value, places you like, your deepest fears... All will be used to keep you glued to his side without a chance of leaving. Richard is fully committed to fostering an illusion of a perfect relationship where his beloved can hide behind his back at any sign of danger. But what to do If he is the danger? Who to call for help now?

All escape routes will be gradually cut off, leaving you to solely rely on your partner. Sterling will step-by-step isolate you away from any support net you have had before, entirely submerging your being underwater, trapped in a fishing net of his unyielding devotion. At least he tries to write it off as devotion. The kisses he showers you with are sickly-sweet honey, ignore the bitter aftertaste.

In reality, the intense feelings hammering in the "Knight's" ribcage are a twisted concoction of preoccupation with the ideal love and a sense of entitlement. He deserves to be your only one, he is the only one who can provide his lover with the best conditions. Your opinion on the matter is irrelevant, Richard knows what is best for you.

Granting you with the ability to be beside him should be an honor you flaunt akin to a precious trophy. After all, the public exclusively sees his affectionate glances towards you and self-sacrificial gestures. The local aunties are in awe at this gentlemanly socialite! Play your role, whether you like it or not. If you are a disobedient actor... well, let's just say he might take some heavier measures to keep you in line.

As a mere boy, your partner was capable of manipulating servants to put them in sticky positions that endangered their well-being. Taking ladders down and leaving maids stranded on roofs, tripping up servants carrying heavy pots. Those little pranks were just a child's play (quite literally). Richard's been off his rollers for a while now, his sadistic creativity sky-rocketing with the flow of time. Tread on eggshells around this one. He may be patient, but pushing it is a bad idea.

A misstep previously cost him everything, forcing his hand at erasing the memories in the flames. He cannot mess up again. No matter how much you analyze the little twitches of your partner's face, Richard can never expose his true self. Can’t you see? He is just the perfect man catered to your desires.

Jealousy is not the right term to describe the sheer amount of hatred he has for any advances towards you. Remember, his sense of identity is built around an illusion. If someone tries to interfere with it? Richard takes it as a personal attack and responds accordingly. Quietly, not to seed any doubt that would compromise his image.

Your "lover" does not shy away from rather unconventional and at times disturbing methods of manipulation. Forget raising a hand at you, no, that would bruise his illusion of a perfect bond. Why not slip an herb you are allergic to into your tea instead? Or "coincidentally" leave you locked out of the residence for the night? A perfect opportunity to have you helplessly rely on your knight-in-shining-armor, chipping away at your self-efficacy.

"My dearest angel, I will cure thy illness.", wiping away the sweat from your feverish forehead, Sterling will grasp at your jaw just tightly enough to cause a stinging sensation. His smile is loving, yet his constricted pupils tell a different story. You write off the threat in Richard's tone alongside a chilling promise as side-effects of the brain fog. You must be seeing things. And he will go to great lengths to keep you in this vulnerable position.

Now, for the million dollar question – does Richard ever develop an attachment to you? The answer is surprisingly yes! However, there are some complications.

Within the first stages of your relationship the "Knight" sees no further than your usefulness in his ideal play. A resource to be discarded If it loses value. Gradually, that fixation begins to make a tiny space for you as a person. Richard finds himself genuinely intrigued by your personality traits and interests, which confuses him to no end. How did he come around to purchase your favorite novel, not because it caresses his ego... but because he wants you to enjoy it? Conflicting and unprocessed emotions will simmer in his mind, resulting in irritation. Then, wariness. Finally, acceptance.

Perhaps, for the first time in his emotionally bland life, there is a sense other than morbid curiosity. Should this realization excuse your partner's malicious actions? Absolutely not! The manipulation will not subside at any point, his delusional goals will keep you on your toes no matter what.

Yet, there will be flowers every morning by your bedside, their fragrance thoughtfully matching your preferences. Richard finds it amusing to scratch this unexplored itch of placing importance onto another person. Don't even think about leaving him. It was never an option the moment you've interlocked your hands in a promise of an eternal love. As the "Knight" he is forever loyal to your bond and the same sentiment is expected in return.

[aagneauu]

High value habits to elevate yourself 🥂✨

When the term "high value" is mentioned, we often think of things related exclusively to economic wealth, but being a high-value person is an attitude, an attribute founded on habits and a wealthy mentality. So today I wanted to mention a few habits that I personally perceive as something a person with strong standards apply on their lives. ✨

Sorry if there's any grammar mistakes, English isn't my first language :b

1. Long-term mentality ✦

Enjoying yourself is very important, but when we only think about the things that give us temporary pleasure, is often very likely that we forget to take care about our future stability. For example, if you want to travel, the smart thing to do would be to save the money in order to be able to afford it, but how many times we just feel the urge to waste money on unnecessary stuff just to get that brief satisfaction, that bad habit will take us far from our goals. This rule can be applied on almost every aspect, and if you're able to stick to your goals and take decisions according to them, trust me, you'll get very far.

2. Invest ✦

Stop wasting and start investing; your money, your time and your energy. In terms of money, you obviously can spend some of it on pretty stuff, but instead of wasting your whole salary on things you want, a smarter move would be to use part of that money to invest it on something that potentially can give us another income, maybe there's a valuable peace of jewelry or clothing that not only we could use, but to sell and trade in the future, or even if you have enough money saved, you can invest in a property, to not only live in it, but to rent it. Our time and energy works in the same way, we could be wasting our time and energy with people that don't give us nothing we can learn from, and you're worth way more than that. Find people and habits that not only make you feel good and appreciated, but that will leave you something interesting for your personal growth, and remember, better alone than in a bad company.

3. Details matter ✦

How we talk, how we decide to present ourselves to the world, our values, the effort we put on what we make. Every little detail says something about us. For example, something as simple as spraying perfume before we go out makes a difference, or if you study, the amount of time and effort you decide to put on certain classes. Socially, what you decide to say, and to develop the hability to stay quiet when necessary. Maybe you think that those little things don't make a huge difference at the long-term, but when you see how your life can change drastically with every little step you take, you learn to pay attention to it.

4. Patience ✦

It is a strong word, it is even harder to apply to our lives sometimes. Being patient not only with people, but with our circumstances. Sometimes things that we don't like happens, and we don't even understand why because we thought that we did everything right, but everything happens for a reason, it's like a fruit, you could take it out of the tree earlier because you're hungry, but it isn't that mature and tasty, but if you just wait, resist the hunger, the fruit will be way better. That applies to money, emotional growth and life changes. Learn to understand that sometimes, pain will be the sign to something better than your current situation.

5. Stop following the crowd ✦

Set standards and learn what is good for you, if you just rely on others to decide what is best for you, or even worse; you know something is bad for you and still do it for others, then expect low quality experiences. People time to time will call you boring or even extreme just because you decide to be loyal to your values. If something that everyone is doing seems beneficial, do it, but because it gives you something valuable, not because of the crowd. You can apply this rule to everything; friends, money, and other experiences. The amount ot peace and comfort that you can get with this transformation is a huge life upgrade.

This were some topics that come to mind when the "high value" term is mentioned. And remember, no one is perfect and every little thing makes us unique. Life is a long journey that you can decide to upgrade with every little move.

Hope u enjoyed! ♡

[princesssarisa]

That post about all the different possible interpretations of Frankenstein, and my response post about the different interpretations of Little Women, have made me think of all the different ways that other stories can be interpreted.

For example, the opera The Magic Flute. Some people wonder why I never get tired of that particular opera. Well, one reason is that no two productions feel exactly the same, because it can be looked at in so many different ways.

Here's a list of different interpretations I've read. This is probably just scratching the surface of possible perspectives, though.

Nor are these readings mutually exclusive: several can be and have been combined with each other.

*The Magic Flute is about the Age of Enlightenment. The Queen of the Night represents the Baroque era (hence the pseudo-Baroque style of her music), with its powerful Catholic church and ancien régime: luxuriantly beautiful and captivating, but decadent, manipulative and ruthless. Sarastro and his priests represent the Enlightenment, and in particular the Freemasons, with progressive values of reason, mercy, fraternity, self-control, etc. The Queen's ultimate downfall and Sarastro's rise in her place represents the social, cultural and philosophical changes that swept the Western world in the 18th century, leading to the American and French Revolutions, among other reforms. (As for why the progressive men still oppress women and own slaves... well, just look at real life.) Tamino and Pamina are an idealized young everyman and everywoman, who learn to embrace Enlightenment values and will carry them into the future.

*The Magic Flute is a socio-political and Masonic allegory focused expressly on Austria. All the sentiments above still apply, but the Queen specifically represents the staunchly Catholic Empress Maria Theresa, Tamino her more progressive son Emperor Joseph II, Sarastro the prominent Masonic leader Ignaz von Born, and Pamina the country of Austria itself, whose soul they struggle for.

*The Magic Flute is about Freemasonry as religion, namely as an offshoot of Christianity. Pamina's late father, who bequeathed his power to Sarastro, represents Jesus Christ himself. His widow the Queen of the Night, who sees herself as his rightful heir, expressly represents the dazzling yet corrupt Catholic church, the so-called "Bride of Christ." Sarastro and his priests, again, represent the Freemasons, who are portrayed as the true heirs of Christ, faithful to His teachings of mercy, brotherhood, endurance, and forgiveness. Tamino and Pamina learn which religion is false and which is true, then prove their worthiness to be initiated into the true religion.

*The Magic Flute is about the progress from nature to civilization. The Queen of the Night is a matriarchal nature goddess who reigns in a realm of stars, rocks, birds, and animals, where there is no law, only emotion, intuition, and personal will. Sarastro, by contrast, rules a patriarchal city and religious order, where laws, rituals, collectivism, and codes of virtue reign supreme. The opera celebrates the progress from the former to the latter, which has occurred in every country since recorded history began. Yet because humans need emotion and intuition as well as law and order, Sarastro's world keeps the best aspects of the Queen's world: her daughter Pamina, the Three Boys, and the magic flute and bells.

*The Magic Flute is about man vs. woman. Sarastro and his followers define all their values as "manly," while all things "womanly" are associated with the Queen of the Night. "Manhood" equals strength, reason, self-control, steadfastness, and light, while "womanhood" equals passion, intuition, vulnerability, manipulation, and darkness. The entire struggle between the Queen and Sarastro, which Tamino, Pamina, and Papageno are caught up in, embodies the tension between the sexes and all the principles associated with them. As for the resolution, there are two ways of viewing it:

**(a) The story is entirely pro-man and anti-woman. Masculinity triumphs, femininity is defeated. An individual woman (Pamina) can only redeem herself by renouncing her femininity (her bond with her mother the Queen) and aligning herself with masculine principles (joining Tamino in his trials and being initiated into Sarastro's order).

**(b) While the male characters think the solution will be the triumph of man over woman, they're wrong: the true solution is for man and woman to reconcile. The conflict is resolved not by the Queen's defeat (which is almost an afterthought), but by the union of the sexes through Tamino and Pamina. Both the hysterical Queen and the stern Sarastro are too extreme in their feminine and masculine principles, so they can never reconcile, but Tamino and Pamina succeed by loving each other and by balancing the feminine with the masculine (using the Queen's magic flute to survive Sarastro's trials).

*The Magic Flute is about growing up. It's a fantastical version of a Bildungsroman. The Queen of the Night represents the mother, nurturing and indulgent, but smothering if the child stays in her care too long, as personified by Jung's "devouring mother" archetype. Sarastro represents the disciplinarian father, who teaches the child right from wrong and trains him to be an adult. Tamino and Pamina are symbolic children: they start out in the Queen's thrall, like a baby attached to its mother, but then switch to Sarastro and undergo his trials, like an older child who outgrows his mother's apron strings and switches his focus to earning his father's respect. In the end, they achieve a synthesis of both parents, using the Queen's flute to succeed in Sarastro's trials, and are initiated into adulthood.

*The Magic Flute, contrary to popular belief, is a post-Enlightenment work of early Romanticism, which revolves around spirituality. Sarastro and his brotherhood are priests, after all, not scientific philosophers or politicians. Tamino and Pamina's journey involves rejecting not only "nature" (i.e. base instinct, which reigns supreme in the Queen of the Night's realm), but cold, worldly reason too. They learn to "renounce the world," transcend earthly fears and temptations, and achieve unity with the divine. Central to this journey is their love for each other, which transcends mere mating instinct in favor of a mutually inspiring spiritual bond, and the spiritual power of music via the magic flute and bells. The Queen of the Night's downfall is that she seeks worldly power. But Sarastro leads Tamino and Pamina down a more godly path instead.

*The Magic Flute is about the search for love. It revolves around three lonely young protagonists, Tamino, Pamina, and Papageno, whose deepest desire is to love and be loved. At first they look to the Queen of the Night to grant them love, and then to Sarastro. But neither the Queen nor Sarastro can do so, because they're both too detached from love – the Queen in her hatred, Sarastro in his noble yet chilly ideals – and use the young people as pawns in their battle against each other. Yet with help from the ethereal Three Boys, the story's purest embodiments of goodness, they find love in the end. Tamino and Pamina unite and save each other, Papageno finds Papagena despite not having "earned" her, and love conquers all.

**For a more sympathetic view of both Sarastro and the Queen, we can argue that they're both seekers of love too. The Queen loves her daughter and is desperate to get her back, but fails because her love is possessive and selfish. Sarastro's love is an idealistic, detached, universal love for all mankind, which is admirable, yet cold in a way. Tamino and Pamina strike a balance between the two by loving each other in a personal yet generous and unselfish partnership.

*The Magic Flute is a symbolic, proto-Jungian or -Freudian journey through the psyche of Tamino, a young everyman. Pamina is his soul, or his self, whom he needs to find and unite with to be complete. The Queen of the Night is his "feminine" unconscious, who embodies all his powerful and dangerous emotions, which he learns to resist... yet not discard completely, as symbolized by the fact that his soul, Pamina, is her daughter. Sarastro embodies his moral conscience and his noblest ideals and aspirations, which he learns to embrace as his ultimate guides. Meanwhile, Papageno represents his base, "animal" side that cares only for bodily safety and pleasure, which needs to be kept in check (hence Papageno can't be initiated), yet still honored (hence he does find joy with Papagena). And Monostatos represents his darkest and most selfish urges, which his nobler self (Sarastro) must suppress. Tamino's journey with all these aspects of himself represents the process of self-actualization that we all go through.

**With a few small tweaks to this outline, it can also be read as a more gender-neutral journey through the human psyche, with Tamino and Pamina as co-protagonists who represent two halves of one person seeking to unite.

*The Magic Flute is specifically a journey through Mozart's psyche. Tamino and Papageno each reflect aspects of Mozart – his "higher" and "lower" selves, respectively – while Pamina and Papagena likewise reflect his beloved wife Constanze. The Queen of the Night can be viewed as a caricature either of his difficult mother-in-law Cäcilia Weber (as Amadeus indicates) or of her daughter Aloysia Weber, Constanze's sister, whom Mozart once loved and who rejected him. (Make what you will of the fact that the soprano who first sang the role was Constanze and Aloysia's other sister and Cäcilia's daughter.) The trials of initiation into Sarastro's brotherhood reflect Mozart's relationship with Freemasonry, and possibly also his efforts to please his difficult father Leopold. While of course Mozart didn't write the libretto, he put his soul into the music, and he may have influenced Schikaneder enough to infiltrate the libretto too.

*The Magic Flute is just a classic fairy tale of good vs. evil, with some Masonic overtones, which Mozart and Schikaneder wrote as a crowd-pleasing, moneymaking spectacle.

Some of these interpretations I like better than others, but none of them are necessarily wrong.

@ariel-seagull-wings, @leporellian, @tuttocenere, @cjbolan

[practicalsolarpunk]

Hello! I live in a very small efficiency apartment where there is not a lot of wi dow space/the window is glued shut and the land is exclusively owned and maintained by the company. What can I do to incorporate more solarpunk practices into my life? Are there any plants that can still grow well indoors? I'm afraid to start up a water station or anything like that outside because I'm afraid maitenance will mess with it/remove it. Would it be better for me to do something like knitting/embroidery that I can more easily do indoors?

Hello! As a fellow apartment-dweller with not a lot of window space currently, I feel your struggle here. If you're concerned that maintenance will mess with anything you put outside, then it probably is best to focus on things you can do indoors. However, there are quite a few things you can do indoors!

Plants: If you're looking for experience growing things, there are a variety of plants that grow well indoors and with low light - here's one list. (I've heard spider plants and snake plants recommended to beginners a lot, but I've never personally grown either.)

Fiber crafts: If you're more interested in crafts like knitting and embroidery, go for it! I also recommend people who are interested in those types of things learn about mending as well - it's a great way to extend the life of your old clothes (and other things made of fabric) and reduce the amount you need to buy.

Cooking: Cooking is a great skill to have, but it can be a challenge in an efficiency apartment. If you have a cooktop or a crock pot, you can look for simple recipes that you can make with the space and tools you have.

Building community: One of the foundations of solarpunk is that it's about community. My favorite way to start, especially in apartments, is by meeting the neighbors. Introducing yourself is a great way to open a relationship. Tying in with the previous idea, if your entire building is full of efficiencies and you can cook a big batch of something in a crock pot, that's a great excuse to have some neighbors over for a home-cooked meal.

Share: Part of building community, it doesn't require any outdoor space. You and your neighbors could put together a shared pantry in your building. You could start a Free Box at your workplace. Talk to the people around you - what do they need?

Get involved: Solarpunk isn't just about growing plants and mending clothes - there's also an activism component that is how we change society as a whole. Volunteer with an organization doing things you care about. Find a local mutual aid group (here's some tips for how to find them) and see what you can do to get involved. Start your own mutual aid project. The size of your apartment is irrelevant if you're out doing things.

Research: Not being able to do things outside right now doesn't mean you can't learn about them. And many of those "big picture" ideas have a lot of concepts that can apply to the efficiency apartment life. Looking into the "7 R's" or permaculture can help you come up with ideas for more things you can do.

Also if you're really set on doing stuff outdoors, don't necessarily discount it, especially if you plan to be in this apartment for a while! You can propose outdoor projects to your apartment complex's manager. They may be more receptive than you think, especially if you can spin it to sound beneficial to them. (If you're proposing a community garden for residents, for example, it could be a draw for new residents, convince current residents to stay, be managed by you the residents so they don't have to do much to maintain it, and they won't have to pay their landscapers to mow/maintain that space anymore.)

Check out more ideas in these tags:

#apartment solarpunk

#dorms and small spaces

#community building

#activism

#fiber crafts

There's also some additional tips in this post and this post, which are earlier responses to similar asks.

I hope this helps! Followers, feel free to chime in with your best tips!

- Mod J

[eww-y-tho]

But the way Cas' relationship with the other angels is so homophobic racist conservative christian family coded.

With how long this fandom has been standing, I know I'm just saying something this fandom been knew. I just needed to get my thoughts out before I exploded. Hopefully, it's a good read anyway, though.

ALLUSIONS AND REFERENCES TO LOBOTOMIZATIONS AND CONVERSION CAMPS W/ NAOMI IS A GOOD START.

"The very touch of you corrupts. When Castiel first laid a hand on you in hell, he was lost!"

Ever since Cas met you, he's gone against us, which is your fault for exposing him to that idea. Putting the blame on the other party for your family member's queerness, talking away their responsibility AND autonomy on those decisions.

(I'm not even gonna talk about the connotations underneath "touch.")

"Too much heart was always Castiel's problem."

Castiel was always off compared to other angels, more empathetic to humans, which only got stronger when meeting Dean because of the applied context of his love confession in 15x18. aka queer af.

(There are so many lines that follow/support the gay/queer interpretation, "spanner in the works," "love of humanity," etc. etc. etc; he's always seen as someone who doesn't fill the mold in a suspiciously rainbow-y way.)

"Who are you gonna believe? Your brother? Or this filthy ape?"

Ishim is probably the best example for the most overt racism, but most of the angels have exhibited some level of disdain, consider humans impure/lesser beings with microaggressions, or even just straight up racist terminology toward humans or other such kinds of discrimination and that's just real now. While this could also be read as homophobic, I think it's more applicable to racist ideation.

(The thing is, I can let Cas of the hook because it's conditioning that he grows out of, but it's clear this is a generally baked-in, cultural aspect to the behavior of angels. This quote also fits in with my next point!)

"It's us, or them," "We gave you our trust. Don't lose it over one man," "You draped yourself in the flag of heaven, but ultimately, it was all about saving one human, right?" etc. etc. etc.

Hammering home the concept that is Cas' driving plot of the series; where do his loyalties lie, and more importantly, that they are mutually exclusive. Because of the inherent nature of their groups, he has to pick one or the other. Angels constantly give him a choice, which is a rather passive aggressive tactic.

If the angels just changed their opinions, the Winchesters would gladly allow more angels in their group, but they chose to have this worldview and then demand that Cas follow it to be accepted in their society. You know what that sounds like?

Talk to me once you get over this gay phase. I'll wait.

"Lost," "pathetically weak," "human weakness," etc. etc. etc.

A general association between Cas' love for Dean as weakness/an obstacle to have to overcome. There are many lines that denote their relation under these terms, which indicates that they believe that Cas' love for Dean is actually damaging, which lines up uncomfortably well with Christian values of how being queer is seen as a sin, weakness if you will, getting lost and helping you find your way

(Which also ties into the conversion camp/lobotomy thing.)

And there is one aspect to this, which I think is the most fascinating, but is definitely not the only one left, I'm just kind of blanking right now.

Samandriel spitting just before his other line.

"There are some in heaven who still believe despite his... Mistakes, that Castiel's heart was always in the right place."

Indicating a sympathy we rarely see. As in, family who aren't completely against a queer family member.

That hate the sin, not the sinner,

and don't think it's reflective of his character, and are just "mistakes."

The emotional strain it causes Cas is palpable. You can see how this scrutiny affects him on a deeply personal way that I relate to on a deeper level than any other character as a person living under similar circumstances, and I think a lot of people share this sentiment, which is why it almost feels TOO on the nose sometimes.

Mayhaps...... Intentional.

ANYWAY,

Of course, context is vital for these scenes, and Cas has done some pretty awful things to the angels in the past, but the way these scenes are framed/phrased can be EASILY read this way. It lines up startling well.

Thank you for coming to my tedtalk.

[genericpuff]

saw a post criticizing lore rekindled a while back, and one of the points made was "it's unfair to rachel that someone else can profit off and make money off her work"

do you profit off lore rekindled??? i don't remember if you ever said that you were monetizing lore rekindled, so i'm unsure where this piece of information came from

I literally do NOT profit off Rekindled in any way shape or form, it's a Tumblr comic that's free to read, zero subscriptions, paywalls, or ads.

I did just recently open a Patreon and apply my Twitch channel to become affiliate, but 1. my Patreon doesn't have any paid members yet , 2. my Patreon won't be offering rewards that limit the reading experience of Rekindled (it's gonna be like random doodles n junk), and 3. I haven't even streamed since I applied for Affiliate and people are watching the streams for art and lo-fi, not for any sort of exclusive reading experiences that wouldn't also be accessible on Tumblr (you just get to watch me slowly work on Rekindled while playing FF XIV LMAOO) All of these restrictions I have in place is to prevent exactly what folks assume or accuse me - profiting off Rachel's IP. At the end of the day I just wanna create an AU fanfic project, even if it's created out of disappointment for what could have been.

I *do* spend a few hundred a month though for my assistant. So I'm working on Rekindled completely at a loss, out of my own pocket. So in that regard, even if I were to monetize any part of Rekindled... it wouldn't be for my own profitable gain, I'd maybe be able to cover some of my assistant fees 🤣 (but that's just hypothetical food for thought, because as I said above, I don't want to monetize Rekindled because of the potentially legal and ethical issues in doing so. Making money is also just not why I'm making Rekindled because it's something I wanna just do for fun! Money complicates things, turns shit into a job :'0) And let's be real, in that hypothetical scenario, I don't think any money I could generate on my free to read Tumblr project would come anywhere close to threatening Rachel's bottom line 🤣

And this isn't to throw anyone under the bus but when people get suspicious of Rekindled profiting off LO, I can't help but think of the actual fans of LO selling handmade LO merch on Etsy and LO-style adoptables and other arts and crafts dedicated to their favorite comic. And I'm not gonna judge them for that, more power to 'em if people wanna buy their cool stuff (and some of it is really REALLY cool, like I wanna buy their stuff too LOL), I just think it's ironic that people separate the two because... I'm not a diehard fan? Or because Rekindled has gotten popular here. Beats me. All that "popularity" is still just a niche remake of a niche comic in a niche medium. It's not Spiderman Lotus levels of big 🤣 but I know it probably feels that big to people who are engaged with this fandom and spend a lot of time in it.

There's an opposite side of being a yes man that perpetuates similar behavior on the other side - when you come up with reasons to rag on someone just for the sake of it because you can't rationalize them NOT being the all 100% pulp of evil LMAO (and I see people do this even to Rachel and it's not fair imo, like people who use the Lolita thing as a way to accuse Rachel of being a legitimate pedophile? Like no, I don't think we should be normalizing serious accusations like that. I think she's just misinformed in a lot of ways at worst and suffering from dark romantasy porn brainrot at best LOL).

Like, as an example, I've also seen people claim stuff like I'm in the fan spaces telling people not to read LO and to read LR instead? Which like... why would I do that, LR isn't for the fans anyways and I don't gain anything by being a dick in their space 🤣 If my own readers are doing that, that's out of my hands (but respectfully don't do this please!!! there's a reason I don't use the standard LO hashtags and only stick to the anti ones!!!!) but again (and this is a big assumption so take with grains of salt) I think people just like to claim these things because they feel it's just naturally the right thing to do when someone who has opinions they don't like actually puts them into action. Because now they can't say shit like "well if you think you're so much smarter than Rachel why don't YOU write the story!" and "you don't know what it's like to manage a comic!" so they grapple onto whatever other argument they can even if it's misconstrued or entirely pulled out of thin air and not backed up with any legitimate evidence.

Their perspectives make sense to them. My perspective makes sense to me. I don't blame people for being suspicious when they see someone like me pour this much time and effort and money into a project like Rekindled, they assume it HAS to do with something they can rationalize from their own point of view, like wanting to "steal" Rachel's work or profit off it or take it for myself out of "jealousy".

Sorry to disappoint y'all with a boring answer, but I'm just someone who was once a huge fan of LO and couldn't let it go. I'm just someone who's way too hyperfixated, with a lot of passion for making comics and experience to match. I'd still be making it even if I didn't have an assistant. I'd still be making it even if I was stuck working with nothing but paper and pencil. Because I love making it and I love what it means to me, and I love that it makes other people feel the same way I do about it.

And that's really all I have to say on that.

[dearweirdme]

(sorry for long ask) jkkers have always been obsessed with tkk/tkkers. take them trying to apply the tkk 1:23 theory to jkk for example. it's like they're trying to counteract everything tkk/tkkers do, as if their ship can only be real if they can prove tkk isn't. and if debunking tkk doesn't work they just generalize & bash tkkers (which doesn't prove anything). tkk has always been the overall most popular pairing which explains why they may feel the need to put themselves against tkkers so often. it's like they're trying to enlighten everyone on who they realized the "actual real ship" is and that we were all "wrong" about tkk. (not that popularity means the ship is more real, but it explains some of the attitudes of jkkers). tkkers are usually only defending our views. im not denying there are a few toxic tkkers that go to jkk blogs but most of us don't care. for example, i don't hear as many tkkers talk about jm and da3un but some of those jkkers push taenie like crazy. i rmbr seeing a post that compiled "taenie proof" and it was made by a jkk blog 😭. like what does taenie have to do with their ship? why do they have to try to debunk tkk to make their ship "real"? why tkk out of all conflicting pairings? why even bother to make posts about "get out your imagination" & other "debunks"? it's as if the idea of tkk being "dead" gives them reassurance. yoonmn is popular too but i hardly see them bother yoonmn blogs as often or make debunk posts about yoonmn. it's something about tkk in particular that bothers them. they know something isn't normal about tkk and there are still things they struggle to come to a general consensus on (some say tkk separation is a false theory while others call it "shipper parlance"...). i think most secretly acknowledge there's many unexplainable things about tkk and unfortunately for them those things only make sense when u believe tkk are a couple. so they try their best to find a way to debunk tkk so they can disregard those things entirely. and no matter how much they want to pretend people only ship tkk just bcs they're both popular visuals, it cannot change that reality. also a lot of jkkers are tunnel visioned or lack critical thinking. some don't even realize stuff like jk carrying jm's bags is not even exclusive (do they even fact check? it's not hard to just search up something like "V carrying jm's bags" just to make sure... but i guess not). i doubt most of them ever watch compilations of other pairings or even have a grasp on how close all the members are, and that a lot of those "suspicious" moments are not unique/exclusive. personally ive watched many vids from various ships and can see the difference with tkk

Hi anon!

It’s idiotic right? I still think they focus on the sexual so much because they think that’s what makes a relationship.

So I truly feel that having a ship is a strategy that’s used by companies as a marketing tactic. (I just saw a yt vid from a bl actor talking pretty openly about what it’s like to be part of a ship, and that actually fit so well in what my thoughts already were). So I think when Tae and Jk became involved BH decided they couldn’t use them as their main ship anymore and decided to go with Jm and Jk. Not in the way that they were meant to hide Tae and Jk, but just to have a strong ship in general. But imagine what that was like for starting jkkrs! They had this huge ship to contend with from the start. They had to come in hard and competitive. Tkkrs ofcourse retaliated hard and thus a very toxic environment was born.

I just had this insanity in my comments (they’re blocked now):

That’s basically exemplary of what you’re saying. I’ve mentioned Daeun a couple of times in passing, but around here we certainly don’t use it as a comeback. We don’t even really care I think? I mean, if Jm is with or without her.. he’s not with Jk either way.

Jkkr fandom to me feels very fragile. Their blogs don’t discuss things like we do. There’s very little space for discussion about the harder stuff and you’re basically called a tkkr or an anti as soon as you show signs of doubt. We discuss everything to death around here. I’ve toned down the taennie talk like a lot of others have as well… but boy did we go through it 🙈.

Tae and Jk have been the biggest ship for so long for a reason.

[palindromordnilap]

I desperately want to write a mediocre HFY-adjacent ao3 story (possibly with some discussion of racism and ableism) in the HDG setting but I'm unsure of how to do it without basically going "Your kink is icky and you should stop it" to a bunch of trans women.

I mean ultimately you can pretty much write whatever you want, but here are some pointers if you want to write something in HDG:

First, a disclaimer: contrarily to what people may think, I actually like the setting? There's a lot of work put into it, I find it interesting to work with, and I'm a fan of several well-regarded HDG stories. My problem, if anything, is with the overly curative side of the fandom that aims to discard, and outright demonize, any interpretations of it that interfere with their fluffy escapist fantasies.

So, that's already a good thing to keep in mind if you're writing something that goes beyond that. People commonly refer to these as "spitefics" or "hatefics", and that is a pitfall that you should avoid: writing out of spite is probably gonna lead to a result that's not very enjoyable to read, or even probably to write. Instead, ask yourself: what do you find interesting in writing a HDG story?

You've answered part of it with what you bring up in your ask, there's plenty of discussion of racism and ableism in the setting to be had. You may also want to free yourself from the constraints of the mainsite axioms, which is reasonable (they're self-contradicting and prevent you from writing anything but a by-the-books kinky romance), but I would recommend staying otherwise true to the established setting! You are after all writing HDG, not a generic HFY story.

And there's the other H-word. To me, most HFY is a very myopic way of looking at the world around us, looking up at the stars and picturing ourselves as the best people around. That's something, I think, to be avoided. Instead, maybe treat xenofiction as a mirror held up to humanity, contrasting any flaws and qualities that you may find in it. Especially if you stray away from the imperialist cultural bloc! You could look into decolonial studies and literature, or the history of working-class and marginalized people's struggles, for example. And finally, keep in mind that you don't have to treat humanity as uniquely good! If your work showcases values that you care about, don't make them an exclusive human thing, yknow. Hey, maybe you could have sympathetic Affini who disagree with the imperialist consensus!

And if you want some HDG reading material to get a vibe from the setting, I'd recommend first of all the original story by GlitchyRobo on ROM (the AO3 version contains heavy retcons), and For A Better Universe by SapphicSounds. Both are early works that aren't afraid to go beyond the modern status quo, and you may find some surprising elements in their plot!

Finally, I have a soft spot for Marcescence by fleur_fairyfloss - if you've read early Twitter-era Empty Spaces writing, I think you'll enjoy it. This applies to everyone else reading this, btw, it's a great story.

[alianoralacanta]

hello! i remembered you took a course in library sciences if i recall correctly, and i've always loved reading your essays. i was wondering who to ask for tips on academic research and i felt you were the perfect person to ask!

strangely my instructor is encouraging us to use scholar GPT, saying that if we didn't use AI for searching for literature, writing, etc then we would fall behind. let me just say, i did, convincing myself i'd only use it that one time on a time crunch. i then got lazy, and i felt extremely unproductive.

i would love any advice or anything really that you could give! i'm in STEM, i don't think that is particularly relevant but just in case it is. although it doesn't have to be exclusive to that, only supplementary. thank you

Warning! Long entry alert!

Thank you for the ask! You remember correctly, I studied library sciences, which included some research training. I'm also in the early part of degree #2 (IT with - long story - a history component).

Firstly, I should ask: is this for searching for literature, or a literature search? To a non-student, those will sound identical. However, there's a big difference at university/college level. Searching for literature is simply getting sources to understand a topic. Most university/college coursework requires this to some extent. A literature search seeks to obtain every significiant item of knowledge about a very narrow question. It is typically not needed until the third year of undergraduate level.

Most of my advice is focused on the first question. However,

Some of the departments have given different ideas for how to research (which makes sense - library science is a social science, IT is a pure science and history is an art). However, most of it is applicable across disciplines.

AI is not ready to do literature searching of either type. It has too many hallucinations and mistakes to be useful. However, I can see why an instructor might ask people to use it anyway:

Part 1 – Providing Alternative Viewpoints

University and college are partly there to provide contrary opinions and challenge received wisdom. Academia in general is aware that AI is a hot topic and most universities and colleges have strong anti-AI-in-academia opinions. Thus, any of several pro-AI positions might be posited by other academics to ensure that students think about their use of AI instead of reflexively taking a position and never reconsidering it.

You may be being asked to consider multiple takes on the subject, as this is good training for the official course material in upper levels of degree courses. If you have no insight into your instructor's motives, this is the safest reason to assume, because it doesn't assume anything about their actual opinion (for example, it's possible to be anti-AI, still advocate thinking about AI through multiple lenses and thus be willing to take an opinion one does not actually believe for the benefit of students' developing a thoughtful approach to AI).

The proper answer to this is to make a sensible decision about AI and be prepared to revise it. You've used the tools currently on offer and found them inadequate, so different techniques are appropriate. You have, therefore, done your honest best as a student to thoughtfully consider the matter.

The sensible move in 2025 is to avoid using AI for literature search. However, colleges and universities want students to think about this and not simply assume the position they had entering university is or will continue to be the case. That applies to AI and almost every other topic the university/college teaches.

[genderqueerdykes]

i hope this isn't, like, a rude or bad question to ask, i'm asking out of curiosity, is there a difference between being plural and being a system? or are they just the same thing?

i'm making a discord server that's just a nice place for people to come and hang out, and obviously i want to make it a safe space for plurals and systems as well. would be silly if i didn't considering i'm best friends with a system. but i don't know if i should say "plurals/systems" with stuff that applies to those groups, or if maybe there's one word i should use over the other. or maybe there's an entirely different word i could use to refer to both groups

i hope this makes sense, i just got home from walking a lot so i'm a little tired admittedly lolol

(also if you could give me some tips on how to make my server plural/system friendly that would literally be awesome since i'm a... singlet (i think that's the term) and unfortunately know very little about that sort of stuff)

yes and no!

plural is used to be more inclusive, as every system identifies as plural, but not every plural identifies as a system

there are many individuals who identify as plural that may not identify as a system! for example, there are people with DID who identify as a person with alters, and would rather be identified primarily as a plural person. there are others who prefer other terms like collective, group, bunch, and so on that may just dislike the term system. i'm not the world's biggest fan of it, myself, but i use it because i haven't found another term i like better

they can be used interchangeably, however, depending on the people and the context. ultimately i'd say if you word it as a plural/plurality focused space, you'll get your point across, but you can also clarify that it's open to systems and other terms that are used by plural communities

you can add the bots PluralKit and TupperBox to help out the plurals who do join who use them, so that they can have an easier time letting their headmates talk, and overall just try to let people know that you're a singlet but that you're open minded and wanting to create a space that isn't exclusive to but welcomes plurals. i think if you let people know you're learning it helps, sometimes people like the chance to help teach others how to be chill with something they aren't quite familiar with yet

you can always take a little bit of time to research basic plural terms and whatnot, morethanone.info is handy, and help other singlets understand that plurality is normal and chill, it should be an enjoyable endeavor for you! it helps when there's a singlet to help other singlets understand, sometimes it can be difficult for plurals to get the point across to those who can't quite grasp it

hope that helps! hope everything goes well, take care! let us know if you need anything else

[verdantmeadows]

One thing that bothers me is how people treat Hollow Knight characters somehow separated from in-game context or ideas. I'm going to be using the Pale King as an example, so this post is Pale King-centric. Like, people usually make out the Pale King to be a complete asshole (which I mean, I do not disagree), but portray him as acting asshole-ish, especially in ways that are very much not how he'd do so. Which is alright with comedy, but a lot of people have a very fundamental misunderstanding of a LOT of Hollow Knight characters. I totally think it's okay to make a character OOC and there is a lot to be argued on what counts as OOC. But going back to the Pale King, there's a few things I think people miss about his character pretty often.

He feels incredible shame over his mass infanticide from the moment he had to do it. Does this excuse it? Absolutely not. But people do not ever seem to grasp the context of which he does this, in which case there are more bugs who will die than the amount of children that would die. He created the vessels as an absolute last resort and felt he had no other choice than to do so. Again, this does not excuse the cruelty, but he was in a situation where (even if he can be argued to be at fault for causing it) bugs were going to and currently were dying, and he had to stop it.

The White Palace has a nursery, likely intended to be his and the Pale Lady's child. It uses the theme of the Knight's shade, but much happier sounding. It has a chair where the White Lady likely sat, as well as a crib. Yes, this would be her room, but it isn't incredibly hidden (unlike what the Path of Pain hides), but considering it was not greatly hidden, this means he likely did not feel it needed to be more hid than the rest of the White Palace and possibly that he wished or hoped he could have had normal children.

The Path of Pain exists solely to hide a single shared memory of the Pure Vessel and the Pale King. You can interpret it in many ways, but the two of them clearly are sharing a moment and look at each other. It is very easily inferred that the Pale King is what "tarnished" the Pure Vessel by instilling an idea and causing it to view the Pale King as a father. Considering he hid this memory so deeply within the White Palace, but it is there in the first place, it likely had great significance either as an event or emotionally. The moment is not exclusive to the Pure Vessel. It is the Pale King who looks at the Pure Vessel first. It's very likely he cared for it, even if he did not want to. This makes it even more cruel, because he had to have treated it (to the best of his ability) as hollow and empty, despite the fact that it wasn't, not entirely at least.

There is a LOT to be said about him and the Radiance that I don't think I could easily get into. I do think that he did things that were cruel to her and inevitably had a butterfly effect to causing the Infection. (I am trying to be neutral here, but I am definitely a Radiance sympathizer.) And, again, this doesn't excuse it, but contextually, it is down to his very nature as a Wyrm to draw bugs into his thrall and create societies/kingdoms. This nature of a Wyrm is repeatedly emphasized as if its to them as breathing is to humans. As a Wyrm, he must bring bugs into his thrall.

There are many, many other things I could mention. But as a whole, I think he is a really good example of how many people heavily mischaracterize or misunderstand Hollow Knight characters. I don't think it's inherently wrong to do so, but many people who are doing so are not doing it on purpose. There is a great level of nuance and much context to (many) Hollow Knight characters. The Pale King, like I explained, is incredibly nuanced and, in my opinion, is a very morally grey character. Many of those in Hollow Knight's world operate on moral ideologies or functions that do not fit ours and cannot fit ours, but I think people try to apply to them anyways. Not really sure what the point of this post was other than it bothers me.

[greyplainsttrpg]

5e Villain Arc 7

Okay, so I know that I said I would start doing content about The Darkness, however there is one last thing that I need to talk about (for now).

One of the pieces of feedback (positive) that I received as a GM is "you know, your games are based around collecting weird objects to be applied in weird situations." And, yeah, pretty much. Not exclusively, but I absolutely encourage Players to have their Characters pick things up and then figure out how to use them later on. There are numerous reasons why this is the case, but I believe that a central axiom of why Players in my games tend to value and utilize objects is because spellcasting is always more limited. More often than not, Characters do not have a "solve this problem" button stapled to their character sheet. They do, however, have some amount of garbage that they are carrying around that they can use to solve problems en lieu of spellcasting. However, in Hasbro's: Wizards of the Coast's: Dungeons and Dragons (2014 and 2024), objects are worse for all sorts of reason unique to that game (unbounded from its history as well).

This Post Is About Equipment Being Boring

A long time ago, I heard of a debate from a far-away discord server of a man explaining why the Fighter was, in fact, the best class in the game. As part of their defense, he provided a single-specific use case (reddit build) that had a very specific combination of magic items (that also assumed haste was cast on them). In this case, the Fighter would outperform any other Class in the game. The obvious counter-argument is: "umm, okay, but the Wizard needs to cast haste for this to work, so the Wizard is objectively better than this specific Fighter because the Wizard doesn't need to cast any spell in particular to be good." The other obvious argument is, "well, what if they do not have these exact combination of magic items and are not at the specific level necessary to activate all these abilities and did not pick all these feats?" You don't need me to explain that the average Fighter is worse than the average Wizard, you all know this by now.

However, something fundamental to the situation that I find very interesting is how reliant on magic items martials are in Hasbro's: Wizards of the Coast's: Dungeons and Dragons (2014 and 2024). This is actually not a criticism but an observation. This has been true throughout the history of Dungeons and Dragons and, in fact, the history of fantasy media in general. Martials are better users of items, magical or otherwise. Meditate on this yin-yang that I've constructed to illustrate my point:

The point here is that martials, by their very nature, are arbiters of reality. In a fantasy world, there is inherent narrative conflict between the real and the imaginary. That which is real yields to magic, and that which is magic yields to the real. Think of Beowulf and Grendel (maybe not the best example for inventory, cause you know, but we'll get there). Grendel is monstrous (magical) specifically because he is immune to weapons. Beowulf recognizes this and rips Grendel's arms off with his bare hands (in the nude). Magic defeats the real (the warriors of Heorot's mead-hall), and the real defeats the magic (Beowulf's biceps and grabby-fingies).

Wouldn't it be a shame is "stuff" sucked?

Stuff sucks in two primary ways: 1) on their own merits; 2) in comparison to the magic alternative.

1: Stuff sucks on their own merits:

Carrying Capacity: This is perhaps an ironic point, but one of the reasons that stuff sucks so much is that carrying capacity is too high. As the base rule, 15* strength score is an insane amount to be able to carry off the bat. The result of this is that the party will be able to pick up just about anything and everything. Once these things get picked up, it is very easy to lose it all in the ambiguous-volume "pack" aka your inventory sheet. Because so many things are in your inventory, nobody can remember most of the stuff in their inventory. This partly contributes to why Players very rarely use consumables. It is partly because they are thinking "maybe I can use it later." However, most of the time it is simply because they forget that the item is in the inventory at all. Stuff would be better, in that it would actually get used, if Characters could carry fewer total things. Pathfinder 2e has a better system with "Bulk" as opposed simply to "Weight" as a system for measuring things. 5+Strength Bulk makes a decent amount of sense considering the power-level of that system.

Object/Weight Value Nerfing: A good example of this is lantern oil. Lantern oil, when ignited, deals 5 fire damage. It can also be applied to a 5-foot square. However, it weighs 1 pound. This means that an average strength character can carry 150 vials of lantern oil (and buy that much oil for a measly 15 GP). Think about it for a moment. Hint: a skeleton has 10 strength. That is 750 points of damage per 15gp if you ignite the skeleton at once. Right?

Almost certainly not (and probably for good reason). As far as I can tell, more oil would not really increase the damage. The closest thing I can find that might be comparable is "Wading through a lava stream" on page 249 of the DMG. 10d10 at the very most, but this table would almost certainly resolve in a lot less. This situation would be entirely up to the GM to figure out because the game does not account for more than a single vial of oil igniting at once.

Alternatively, one could look at the table for explosives (even though lantern oil does not really explode). For a keg of gunpowder, it deals 7d6 explosive damage; but wait there's less! You can make a DC 12 Dex Save to take 1/2 this. How much is a keg of gunpowder? Well I did the math, and according to Wikipedia, it is 12.34 liters of black powder. I cannot stress enough how much black powder that is.

To get a reference of how much black powder that really is, I did some digging. Consider a cooking pan FULL of black powder (happy thanksgiving).

That is a total of 438.5 in3 of volume. That equals about 7.2 liters of black powder. So take a full pan and 2/3 a pan of black powder and put it right next to you. It is very hard to determine weight from this, to be honest. However, I have this handy dandy table of seed-weights which give us a reference for the density of similar objects.

At the higher end of weight, and I believe this is more accurate considering the dimensions of gunpowder, we end up with about 4.6 kilograms of gunpowder (converting the weight of a cubic foot of rapeseed into 12.34 liters of gunpowder and then converting to kilograms because the next calculator asks for kg). Using this calculation, we get a blast wave of 850 feet. Now, exactly what that means is a bit unclear to me, but we do know that, because the wave is in 3 dimensions, that the effect of the blast wave is cubically more devastating the closer you are to the explosion. At the maximum distance, you would probably be pretty safe. However, this is an explosion that extends 850 feet. Like, holy shit. That's a lot of explosion. How is anyone making a Dex Check at the epicenter? Where are you going? Can you jump 850 feet away from the explosion at once? No. A more accurate way to portray this would be in ranges from the explosion with flat damage, similar to lantern oil. So at the center it does like, idk, 1,000 damage. The Cube root of 850 is about 9.5 feet, so let's say 10 feet (2 squares) is the blast epicenter. There is an ideal math calculation to resolve how much damage is dealt at each 10-foot distance away from the epicenter (no matter what the epicenter damage is), but I'm not immediately able to figure it out, and it is also not entirely the point. The larger point here is that explosions, a very real thing that kills people pretty well, do not do an amount of damage that makes any sense. Also, explosions do not deal "fire" damage. They would deal Thunder damage similar to Thunderwave. It's all about pressure.

Easy inclusion of fall damage. A reasonably high level Fighter, Barbarian, Ranger, or Paladin can fall from orbit and be totally fine, RaW. This is at theoretical max damage, but a lower roll than average will result in some pretty silly outcomes/survival rate. 20d6 damage, without modifiers, is really not that much damage. That's an average of 70 damage. You have pretty good odds of living maximum fall damage at level 9 for Fighters, Rangers, and Paladins (assuming 14 or more Constitution) and level 8 as a Barbarian (assuming 14 or more Constitution). This matters because it won't be possible to cheese powerful enemies by pushing them off of things, and it won't be as easy for powerful monsters (the DM) to cheese-kill a PC by throwing them off of something. One could argue that this is a good thing because it makes the game more fair and in-line with developer intentions. I argue, instead, that the developers' intentions are dumb and result in Players not taking advantage of terrain and objects in the environment because it is strictly worse than the alternative (using your character's paper buttons).

2: Stuff sucks compared to magic:

Let's look at weapons: Longbows deal 1d8 damage with 150/600 range. Each longbow costs 50gp. They also have ammunition. If you wanted to arm a platoon of guards with longbows in order to shoot down flying creatures, that will cost a small fortune.

Compare that to the spell fire bolt. 1d10 fire damage, 120 range. Does not cost any money to prepare, does not have ammunition. If you want to hire out a bunch of amateur wizards from the wizard's college, it will be much cheaper and more effective than hiring guards. Now, you might say, "hey Jacob, hiring out wizards is harder than hiring out guards. Also, guards can wear armor and wizards can't." Is that true, though? Is that really true, though? Any human can pick two wizard cantrips and a 1st level spell as a bonus feat, RaW. Yes, they could also pick Weapon Master to be proficient in Longbows (and three other weapons, hot dog!). But like, really? Imagine hiring a fleet of of Level 0 humans who all picked magic initiate for their feat. All of them have fire bolt, and they all get to pick an additional cantrip AND a unique first level spell. Compare that to Level 0 guards with a long bow, a shield and medium armor, and a sword or some other weapon. Which is better? Which is cheaper to field? The magic initiates are better, pretty obviously.

Another counterargument might be that not ALL humans can get a bonus feat, just ADVENTURER HUMANS and well shit--we have arrived at magical people being better than normal people. Cool. Your theoretical argument is now my argument. Sucks to be a normal person, I guess.

Compare the keg of dynamite to the spell, fireball. 8d6 damage, save based on DC of caster (almost certainly better than 12). Costs no money, requires no carry, no chance of premature detonation, and the character can likely cast this multiple times.

Compare lightning to call lightning: natural lighting does 2d10 damage? What the hell? Like, huh? Call lightning does 3d10 damage (with a save) and 4d10 if there is a natural storm. How is real lightning less than this? Again, this is an example of reality being fundamentally weaker than magic despite the fact that magic can be used basically any time while natural lightning will only happen in specific cases. Why plan around using natural lightning when you can oonga-boonga call lightning. Also, this keeps happening with concentration turn after turn after turn. You probably have someone that can cast it. Your party has a moon druid in it. Also, because call lightning keeps casting, it is one of the few spells that are actually worth upcasting.

But what about magic items? Yes, in my opinion, magic items have favored martial characters in every edition of D&D over casters. There is a range to this, of course, but giving a character that is intended to function without spell-like effects magical options is generally better than giving casters items with spell-like effects. The magic items are strictly competing with what the caster can normally do instead of enhancing the features of the martial characters.

HOWEVER

Magic weapons providing baselines + to hit and damage are pretty lame because of bounded accuracy and unbounded HP in Hasbro's: Wizards of the Coast's: Dungeons and Dragons (2014 & 2024). Also, magic weapons are funneled by the character's number of hands, and this is untrue in earlier editions of the game. In AD&D, it is assumed that characters WILL have men at arms to carry all the other magic items that the character cannot use at once. This is enhanced, in my opinion, in 2nd Edition because of weapon proficiencies. A -2 to hit (for warriors) with weapons they are not proficient with is not a major penalty in practice, however it still incentivizes the player to spread out the loot that does not directly work with their character to their henchman, followers, and hirelings. Classes are balanced around getting followers, and Charisma is a good ability score because it determines how efficiently you can use magic items via your access to henchmen. For example: Fighters get men at arms at level 9, but Paladins do not. However, Paladins have to have at least 17 Charisma, meaning that they have a maximum of 10 henchmen at 17 CHA. Fighters get more dudes of lower power level (followers), but the Paladin inherently has access to more powerful allies (henchmen). This provides an interesting balance of managing magic item efficiency when navigating problems. It is not uncommon in AD&D to pick units for a mission solely because of the combination of which magic items the Players have assigned their various followers and henchmen. Notably, Wizards do not get any followers. All this nuance is lost in post TSR D&D, and this means that magic items are nerfed compared to spellcasting because players have less access to using the magic items that they have collected. In other words, getting "another" +1 longsword is awesome in TSR D&D, all the time, because hey that is a guy in your posse that just got substantially better then they were before. A +1 longsword is pretty useless to a WotC D&D character at all but the lowest levels of play.

Additionally, because martials inherently take better advantage of magic items than casters, attunement uniquely effects martials more than casters. In pre-attunement systems, each piece of armor was interchangeable, meaning that a warrior (who can wear armor) can equip a large number magic items (boots, greaves, cuisse, gauntlet, helmet, cuirass, etc.) as well as their weapon and shield. This means at medium and higher levels, martial characters are much more diverse and powerful than they would appear simply by reading the class description. Additionally, each of their followers and henchmen could be decked out like this to varying degrees. This means that martials: a) benefit more from magical equipment than casters per item and b) can equip more magical items than casters (per character and per character-posse). In Hasbro's: Wizards of the Coast's: Dungeons and Dragons (2014 and 2024), martials are throttled to the same level as casters, but casters are not throttled to the same level as martials.

Also, AD&D is more of a Rogue-like game because a huge amount of character advancement is dictated by whatever junk the characters find by getting loot. People like Rogue-likes, right? Oh, you want an optimal build? Well then, you'd better go into that dungeon, idiot, and pray you get what you want. Or, you know. Be more flexible and be happy with what you get.

Back to weapons. Spells, by their nature, have all sorts of effects and interactions that weapons and armor cannot replicate. This is not an inherent problem, however it makes it far more clear how lame weapons are in contrast. What does a longsword do: 1d8/1d10 slashing damage (add strength to damage). Cool.

"BUT WAIT," you might say. "HARK, FOR WotC HATH ADD'TH WEAPON MASTERY!"

Toil, Naive. For 2024 Weapon Mastery is but an asinine attempt to reference the majesty that is AD&D 2nd Attack Options (but poorly).

Okay; Cleave, Graze, and Nick have no direct alternative, but those are just shit compared the standard AD&D 2nd offerings of more attacks and more to-hit. You know what's better than doing damage on a miss? Doing damage on a hit. You know what's better than attacking another creature within 5 feet of you hit (no ability modifier lmao)? Attacking again (no drawback, also you have like 120 yards of movement--base). You know what's better than attacking using a bonus action? Attacking again (no drawback) (and initiative works off of smaller weapons, so that is the reason to use "light weapons.") Also you can kick whenever you want as part of your attack action, and there is nothing stopping you from wearing spiked boots if you want. These are also all debatably covered by Heroic Fray, which gives PCs that are substantially higher levels than their foes a whole bunch more attacks, allowing medium-level martials to carve their way through weak enemies without much issue (speeding up gameplay).

Push: This can be accomplished either through Pull/Trip or overbear. Lots of weapons can attempt a Pull/Trip, and one or several creatures can attempt an overbear. You can also push the enemy like normally, which is surprisingly not defined in AD&D 2nd. As mentioned previously, the opportunity to engage with terrain means that automatically succeeding a push in Hasbro's: Wizards of the Coast's: Dungeons and Dragons (2024) is fundamentally not as good as just pushing a paper button in all but the most specific of cases, in which case you could just, you know, push them.

Sap: In AD&D 2nd, Sap is a bit of a silly rule in execution, but it does allow PCs to just straight up KO enemies in one shot, completely bypassing their HP. All weapons with a pummel can attempt a Sap. It's actually great for Thieves in particular because, as per the math of the Sap, you are much more likely to succeed a sneak-attack Sap than you are to get a kill against most enemies with the game's admittedly shit backstab rules. The best users of Sap, however, are Rangers.

Slow: This can be accomplished with the much more adaptable Called Shot by pinning enemies in place (rather than just slow them down). The Called Shot also allows Characters to convert their to-hit advantage into auto-crits (similar in practice to the Great Weapon Master feat) that can just kill or severely cripple enemies immediately.

Topple: Again, Trip/Overbear (and now Unhorse if the situation calls for it) will also accomplish this without being locked to a particular weapon.

Vex: Called Shot accomplishes this but better (because it works on THAT round instead of next round, and Critical Hits are usually much better in AD&D 2nd), but the idea of outskilling the opponent to get an edge can also be applied to Disarm (both on your turn AND on the enemies turn), Trap, Trap/Break, etc. An example of a Called Shot Vex that is in spirit of the concept and not the limited execution of the game is the Character can use a Called shot to cut off the armor piece of an enemy with the intention of forcing a Morale Check (which they could fail and then flee, thus circumventing all their HP AND not kill them if you want to say, follow them or question them, etc.).

Weapon Mastery, while it seems to be a buff to weapons, is actually a nerf to martials in general because it takes potential actions out of the creative commons of play and isolates them to specific weapons that only certain characters can take advantage of. It is also more complicated, weirdly enough, because now each weapon has unique things to keep track of. These Weapon Mastery features should have just been a part of actions that anyone can do, by and large. I'm not here to balance their game, so I will not give them suggestions of what I would do.

I want to pivot here to money: the stuff that determines stuff. Isn't money kind of ass in Hasbro's: Wizards of the Coast's: Dungeons and Dragons (2014 and 2024)? Like, what are you supposed to do with money? The answer is pretty funny: make magic items. LMAO. So, let me get this right: you want me to use the money I collect and turn it into items that I cannot take full advantage of? Epic. What a great game.

In a real game (AD&D), money is the critical resource that drives the game forward. Each Character basically becomes a feudal lord, except they got to their position by amassing treasure instead of the usual way of conquering land and possessing dominion. This means that an AD&D character has to use gold to do basically everything that a conventional feudal lord does with taxes. Need farmland developed? Gold. Need food for men at arms? Gold. Need a castle built? Gold. Need iron to manufacture weapons, armors, and tools? Gold. Need the forest cleared to get wood to build siege equipment? Gold. How do you get gold? By going into dungeons! Why do you need gold? To go inti bigger and deeper dungeons! Gameplay loop justified, and gold is the central mechanic that drives it. In AD&D, EXP was determined by how much Gold the characters get. Gold is the advancement system and a resource to spend on advancing more. Gary wants you to get gold. Gary want you to go into the dungeon.

In 5e, money is just kind of there. Like carrying capacity, it is a vestigial organ growing out of Hasbro's: Wizards of the Coast's: Dungeons and Dragons (2014 and 2024) that serves little to no purpose in gameplay. What are you going to do with gold? Buy stuff? Why would you have stuff when you can just use magic? The best thing to do with gold is to turn it into scrolls so that Casters can cast even more spells. For some reason (I know why), WotC has instructed DMs to be stingy with their treasure allowance to PCs. So the entire gameplay loop built into dungeons and dragons is severed. What do they replace it with? Apparently with narrative gameplay.

EXP? Get rid of it: level by story beats.

Gold? Ignore it: focus on story beats.

Magic Items? Limit it: the magic items are the story beats we made along the way.

And what does WotC give us in exchange for all these material losses? How do they better accommodate storytelling in their mechanics? No, seriously. How? How is 5e any better than any other edition of D&D (besides 4e in this case) at facilitating narrative gameplay? It's not. I would argue that older games actually had MORE mechanics for this being morale, reaction, etc. Narrative gameplay is not the structural focus of the game.

Casting spells and mashing your character's paper buttons is the focus of the game. That's it. It is an incredibly shallow experience that strips players of meaningful access to creativity and gives them a repetitive, WoW-inspired slog-fest in its place. Playing Hasbro's: Wizards of the Coast's: Dungeons and Dragons (2014 and 2024) at the table feels identical to that World of Warcraft South Park episode.

soulless.

Previous Villain Arc:

Villain Arc 6:

Next Villain Arc:

[crossdressingdeath]

How do you feel about everyone calling Rook, well, "Rook"? I find it kind of jarring considering it's a nickname given by Varric. It's not a proper title, or a meaningful one, in my opinion. Rook has a surname, and I'm surprised no one ever calls them by it? Even people from the same faction just decided the character's name is Rook now. Do you find it strange too or is it just me?

I don't find it strange at all, no. First I think it is important to remember that this is a video game with voice acting; much like in every previous game, Bioware has a strong incentive to give the character one name that will apply to every version of the character so that they only have to record one version of the lines where the character is referred to by name. The HoF is called "Warden", Hawke is obviously "Hawke", Quiz is "Inquisitor", and Rook is "Rook". I actually find this one to be the least strange; why are my best friends in DAI referring to me by the title I have repeatedly said I didn't want and don't like, anyway? (I suspect this is also why in DAI there were so many pet names; it would be super jarring for your lover to call you "Inquisitor", after all.) To some extent giving Rook a nickname that everyone uses will for sure have been to save time and money, because Rook is referred to by name a lot and having to record every line where that happens multiple times (for four separate VAs when Rook says their own name!) so that the different characters can be called different things would add up fast. Also I imagine there's a need in terms of marketing to give the character one single descriptor and they're not really in a position that gives them a convenient title.

And in-universe, I think the thing you may have forgotten is that Rook introduces themselves as Rook to everyone. All the companions other than Harding and all the faction reps other than Rook's faction know them as Rook because that's what they were told their name was. And I can't speak to all of the faction reps, but I know that with Teia and Viago Teia does comment straight away that the two of them had heard de Riva's going by Rook these days, so it is justified as to why they're calling de Riva Rook too. Is it a perfect explanation? No. But it's more of an explanation than the other games offered for why everyone's being weirdly formal with you all the time (seriously, if it wasn't for the voice acting stuff I mentioned I'd be so mad about everyone calling Quiz "Inquisitor" all the time). Basically everyone calls you "Rook" in DAV because... that's what you told them to call you. There really isn't an ideal solution here, honestly; even surnames wouldn't work because a) everyone calling just this one specific person on the team by their surname would also be jarring (I don't much care for it with Hawke either if I'm honest) and b) it doesn't even work with every Rook. For example "Warden Thorne" sounds fine, but Viago runs a whole house full of de Rivas so him calling de Riva by their surname would be bizarre.

Basically it's not strange to me because Bioware kind of had to pick something and at least it's a name that Rook goes by of their own volition this time. Rook telling everyone to use the nickname Varric gave them instead of introducing themselves by name is infinitely less jarring than the Warden and Quiz's supposed closest friends referring to them pretty much exclusively by title was!

[golbrocklovely]

guys i am genuinely angry at snc right now lol

i need to vent about this bc i feel like i'm the only one not on crazy pills while everyone else is enjoying their time sksksk

snc have a constantly moving chat on xplrclub now. it has caused MULTIPLE issues within the couple weeks it has been up. prime example being that snc had to make RULES, one being NOT TO SEXUALIZE THEM. yes. that happened, within the first 72 hours of the chat being a thing. they had to tell ppl "hey, maybe don't talk about our dicks in a public chat we can see."

and many other things have happened too. some of which i can't even mention on here. and ppl on xplrclub have been asking snc to get mods or do something to help fix things.

and boy oh boy did snc make a choice lol

they made a post asking for fans to apply to become VOLUNTEER MODS. they said that those that get chosen will get perks and merch and shit like that for being a mod.

the amount of annoyance i have rn is astronomical. i literally have a headache from being so annoyed sksks

first and foremost THEY NEED TO HIRE PPL. snc make WAY TOO MUCH MONEY to be asking for volunteers. that's just the reality of the situation. they own two mansions, but are asking for volunteers on an app they CHARGE FOR? you have to be kidding me with that one lol

not to mention, you're asking for ppl to volunteer their free time on an app they are paying for to "make sure it's safe for everyone". yall got me ABSOLUTELY FUCKED UP if you think i'm gonna lose money basically burning my free time away just to mod a chat full of ppl i have blocked on twitter. PAY ME BITCH. life is expensive. how about you volunteer eating this ass lmao

secondly, whoever they end up picking is gonna have a complex. that's inevitable. even if they choose exclusively grandmas that aren't in fandom drama AT ALL, those fans would think "obviously snc love me so much and i am one of their favorites", and that's the best case scenario. reality is they are gonna pick ppl that will BRAG on other platforms and then get big headed bc they will have a direct line to snc. and then on top of that, you are gonna cause fans to feel bad for not getting chosen, or think that snc don't love them. that ALONE should be enough for snc to know "hey maybe we shouldn't do this bc it's gonna cause favoritism in this fandom that already has a MIRADE OF ISSUES".

not only is all of this an issue, but then on top of that fans are asking for MULTIPLE CHATS to exist, one being an 18+ chat. and look, i don't like talking to minors either (even tho i know i have probably gotten asks from quite a few on here over the years). that being said, i ALSO know how to keep things age appropriate when talking to someone that's a kid compared to my big ass age. and that's what chat SHOULD be for. an 18+ chat will just become a gross spot for fans to sexualize snc, or say weird shit and think they can get away with it just bc it's 18+. yall should be able to talk to ppl underage without it getting weird. they only thing yall have in common is liking snc. stick to that topic and it shouldn't go south fast. or you know, DON'T ENGAGE WITH MINORS???? it's that simple too lol

yall know i love snc. but this is the dumbest, greediest, laziest "solution" to a problem they have ever created. i am genuinely so upset at them. not only that, but some of the ppl that have said they already applied to be a mod……………… this is gonna go south so fast it's not funny.

i mean literally one person that applied i have blocked on everything bc she's fucking weird and constantly sexualizes colby and basically begs for him to dick her down, and another one that applied is TRANSPHOBIC. make it make sense yall.

[shelaghdette]

theory: trixie franklin is a lesbian

alright, this one may prove slightly controversial, but please bear with me! i've always taken the view that trixie is bi, but thinking about it more, i've come to a different conclusion.

glossary -

wlw - woman loving women, a blanket term for any woman who is attracted to women.

sapphic - another blanket term for femmes who are attracted to femmes, arguably more inclusive than wlw - here used interchangeably with the above.

lesbian - a woman or femme who is exclusively attracted to other women or femmes.

bisexual - a person who is attracted to two or more genders.

a note on compulsory heterosexuality -

before you read this, if you don't already, it's probably best to understand the concept of compulsory heterosexuality, or comphet.

this is when societies (like most in the world, even in the modern day) enforce the normalisation of heterosexual love and relationships, to the point that lgbt people feel pushed towards straight-passing relationships when they may be happier in a queer relationship.

comphet applies to all genders and queer sexualities, but today i'm going to be discussing it specifically in the context that it impacts lesbian women.

relationships with women -

full disclosure - i am a trixadette shipper (i think i might've even invented the ship). i have analysed quite a number of scenes from the first two seasons where trixie and sister bernadette interact, and there doesn't appear to be much in the way of heterosexual explanation for their behaviour towards each other. that in itself deserves its own post, and will get one in due course.

my theory that trixie is attracted to women mostly stems from her interactions with sister bernadette, and later shelagh. there are a few longing looks, some flirtatious body language and just a general air of gals who are a bit more than pals.

however, aside from this, trixie never appears happier than when she interacts with other women. she seems to gain the most fulfilment from her relationships with her female friends, far more than she does with the men in her life. barbara and valerie are prime examples of this.

prior to realisation of being sapphic, it's very common for wlw to experience intense attachment and deep love for female friends. this can truly be just platonic, or it can be a crush that is so repressed that it presents as overwhelming platonic love.

"attraction" to men -

ever since the first season, trixie has been presented as the "boy crazy" girl. she often talks about men, but if you actually watch her behaviour, she rarely pursues any particular man. additionally, closeted queer people may often overcompensate for their insecure identities by putting forward a highly straight image.

it's extremely common for lesbians who are experiencing comphet to fantasise about an abstract concept of a relationship with a man, but not have much idea of WHO that man might be. in the early seasons, when she DOES pursue a man, it is with an ulterior motive (getting that actor to be a judge for the baby show) and it ends disastrously for her.

when she does eventually get into relationships with men, it is because they pursue her. it happened with all three of her relationships we've seen on the show - tom, christopher and matthew. i do not personally think trixie showed any interest in them prior to them showing interest in her, but YMMV.

image consciousness

it's very telling that, during her AA meetings, trixie speaks at length about her ability to put on a show to please others around her. obviously, she talks about this in the context of placating her mentally ill and alcoholic father, but this skill from childhood has been highly transferable to her adult life too.

trixie is extremely good at putting on a front and looking well put together, even during her worst moments. when she was relapsing, she hid it well until her secret was unwittingly revealed to phyllis by a patient. the girl can lie and lie, but it's all a defense mechanism.

trixie clearly struggles with a view that she must be seen as perfect at all times. it's easy to see how, if she was a lesbian, this would not fit into the image she tries to display to others. i believe that part of her striving for perfection includes wanting a relationship with a man. this leads me into my next point.

cultural context

it probably goes without saying, but the 1960s was not an easy time to be a sapphic woman, especially if you weren't attracted to men. we just need to look at the story of patsy and delia to see how the show acknowledges this. comphet is still a problem we face today, in the year of our lord 2024, but it was absolutely rampant in those days. female lgbt behaviour was never criminalised like male homosexual acts, but it was harshly viewed. wlw faced a lot of the same challenges as mlm, as well as their own unique struggles when homophobia is coupled with misogyny.

marriage to a man and child-bearing were still considered the most important things a woman could do in that era. and by the time trixie gets into a relationship with matthew, she is approaching her mid-30s. in that time, trixie would have already been considered "on the shelf." the show really implies this by her becoming a lot more focused on her search for a husband in later series, like when she joins the marriage bureau.

relationships with men

i won't say much about tom, but trixie makes no bones about it when she told him he and barbara are much better suited. there's a real notion that trixie feels out of place in her relationship with tom, and ultimately she breaks it off when she realises she couldn't be happy with him in the long term.

this continues into her relationship with christopher. i really like christopher, and i think trixie does too. by far, he is the person who treats her the nicest out of the three men she has had major relationships with. however, even then, she doesn't seem entirely comfortable, and breaks it off when she fears how intimate the relationship has become. i think the situation with alexandra is mostly an excuse for her fear of commitment to a man.

i also want to talk about sex (minors, cover your ears) when i mention christopher. he's the first man she is ever implied to have slept with, and she agonised over it for a very long time before she makes the decision to do it. some people read this as her being asexual (which she still could be, even as a lesbian!), or just "proper" for the era, but opinions vary. i view it as her having no sexual attraction to MEN.

finally, matthew. oh, matthew. he makes me so very angry.

matthew and trixie essentially traumabonded over the death of his first wife, and she is a good supportive presence to him raising his son in her capacity as a midwife. i think the convenience of him showing interest in her, coupled with her recent anxiety about find a partner, created the situation where they eventually married.

and she still isn't happy. when the new pupil midwives arrive and trixie hears them having fun with nancy, she looks really sad and lost, and my heart just breaks for her. it's a sign that she regrets leaving the lifestyle she loves for a life of domestic "bliss".

when they had their argument about trixie's work, it's very telling that her immediate response was to retreat back to her safe place of nonnatus house for half the week. trixie feels the most secure when she is among women, this is shown time and time again.

this was super long winded and possibly a ramble, but these are my thoughts on her. if you made it to the end, here's my favourite happy video edit of trixie and shelagh. i'll probably make a whole post about why i ship them next.