#the difference between that and actually having it is when those traits become extreme or integral to internal regulation or problematic

[the-blorb-system]

Omg boo- we have a boo as well. I mean that's just one of her three names but it's the most commonly used one.

I would say more about her but I'm afraid of snitchers who'd tattletale me to a gatekeeper.

Oh yeah the imaginary stories. I as a 4 year old heard a story about the lion who wanted strawberries, and then proceeded to apparently babble for 90 minutes about god know who because no one understood a word I said.

..guess who doesn't like strawberries anymore

- Digi

Oooooof

I usually don't like strawberries. Or most fruit, actually, until I tried organic and realized it's because most produce just tastes like chemicals to me. (Autism moment, L)

I don't remember much of anything from being a kid (but I have a handful of pinpoint memories), so I couldn't say whether those home teachers were getting a real story or not XD

I'm also pretty lucky that most of my headmates seem to have decided that what I share on this blog is okay. It's risky, and we acknowledge it, but we've debated making the blog for months, and doing so was a very distinct decision. Hopefully we get to do more with it!

-Lizzy

[star-anise]

Currently getting my socks clean blown off by Rethinking Narcissism, by Dr. Craig Malkin. Which I found, in a roundabout way, from this video on Midsommar, grief, and narcissism.

Tonight I woke up from a nap and accidentally took my morning meds, so I'm going to be up for a few hours because of the meth. In place of sleep, I'll try to roughly sum up some basic ideas proposed by the research the book is based on:

That traits of "narcissism" like entitlement, grandiosity, and feeling special are not inherently toxic. There are times and places they are appropriate and beneficial. If you show up at a hospital with a gunshot wound to the chest, you should not sit and wait to be seen after people with earaches and coughs. (Actually, medical systems are designed to prioritize people with more urgent needs, and you qualify under that system. You are special and are deserving of different treatment than those others, which is why making your needs known, even insisting on it if you're not listened to appropriately the first time, is an extremely good idea. It keeps you from bleeding to death on the floor, and keeps the hospital from getting its pants sued off by your heirs.)

It is more useful to view "narcissism" not as an inherent immutable personality trait, but as a cluster of coping mechanisms. As previously stated, there are times they are exactly the right coping mechanism for the job. However, people we call "narcissists" tend to cling to these ones even when they become detrimental to themselves and others, often because they lack other ways of regulating their emotions and getting their needs met. And that is something they can change, if a person is willing to put in sincere and difficult work. It is not usually fast change; it's a matter of years, not weeks. But a skillbuilding approach turned Borderline Personality Disorder from an immutable curse to a fully treatable (though not quickly treatable) condition, and there's a lot of hope that it can do the same for Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

Meanwhile, there's an opposite end to the narcissism spectrum, and it is also pathological and destructive to hang out there all the time. It's an aversion, or even a resistance, to expecting yourself or other people to treat your own feelings, thoughts, ideas, needs, or preferences as important. For Greek mythology reasons, its proposed name is Echoism.

Unfortunately, because most of the damage echoism does is, by its very nature, localized to its sufferer and their own personal relationships, its downsides aren't often talked about. In fact, it's often seen as an ideal moral state, a kind of altruism or saintliness everyone should strive for. As a pathological coping mechanism a person is trapped in, though, it's often more a fear-based reflex than a conscious and deliberate attempt to achieve some real and specific good. It's not actually as beneficial as being able to recognize your needs, desires, positive aspects, and areas of competence or excellence, and bring them forward in your relationships with other people and yourself.

To me this has all been a cross between a gut-punch and a cool, sweet drink of water. There have been other ways to describe echoism over the years, but this feels like the most concise and useful one I've seen in ages.

It specifically puts its pin down in the middle of the moral debate a lot of people struggle with—"What right do I have to put myself forward? What hope do I have of being seen and accepted? Isn't it better not to burden anybody else?"—and says that the problem is not feeling in touch with either side of the equation, but specifically, the inability to move from one part of the spectrum to another when it's merited by circumstances.

When I was a child, I thought Echoism was the answer. It was my ideal. I thought it was what would get me the love and acceptance I wanted, and would keep me safe from the pain of rejection or not being understood. I had no idea it would actually, in fact, be the primary cause of alienation and loneliness for the rest of my life.

Now I'm so deeply thankful I couldn't fully achieve it, in practical terms. As hard as I tried to erase myself, there were always things I loved too much to suppress. I still found ways to express and discover myself in the books I read, the stories I wrote, the intellectual work of school and the experience of pursuing hobbies I loved, my ambitions to be helpful even when they demanded I stop being selfless, and the relationships where I felt safe enough to experience love and acceptance even if I didn't think I deserved them.

There's this question I found a while back that echoed in my bones: Who am I allowed to be around you? Because that's what I felt like, as a child. If I wanted to engage with other people and minimize my risk of harm, it was my job to bend into a pretzel and fit the shape they wanted. And thank god, thank god, thank god, I couldn't fully do it. Despite everything, there were parts of me too strong and bright to lop off completely to get my arms and legs inside the carriage. I was able to take care of myself and let them grow in secret until I found social places I could let them out again. Despite myself, I found ways to grow and thrive, well beyond the trauma that said I shouldn't have.

[slime-sandwhich-nom]

Don’t suppose you have any headcanons for Cosmo’s parents are their dynamics? I saw your post earlier and felt kinda bad for Mama Cosma (until she got toxic with Cosmo lol)

Also, I don’t mean to make u uncomfortable but I keep thinking about Cosmo blowing up half of Fairy World when he was born so I imagine how rough the pregnancy was.

ALRIGHT SO!

let's see ...

To be honest, in my head Cosmo parents were like those super sappy couples, kind of like Cosmo and Wanda are right now. Or like parents in a sitcom during the 90s.

Then schnozmo came in, and everything was still super great. No toxicity nor abuse, nothing.

Just a family of three in fairy world ( + personally I don't think any of them had any thoughts on godparenting.)

Then Cosmo came in.

I haven't really thought of it but it's kind of like this

happy family + new member of the family + somehow inherited powerful powers from jorgen side of the family and this is where shit goes downhill.

it's a whole series of events where they wanted to take Cosmo away because he was too dangerous (and strong), then the abolition of new babies, then assuming papa cosmo died (in my head it was because of a failing organ after getting turned into a fly, the same cosmo had a surgery on in the og series or something like that) then schnozmo went off and it was just mama Cosma all alone with this power baby she ended up attached on in a very unhealthy way.

it's like if the entire family slowly, very slowly crumbled and she held onto the first and only thing that was left of it, becoming clingy, toxic and neglective of cosmo actual needs.

also I do imagine her being sort of a boy mom in general.

for the pregnancy part I assume it was easier than Cosmo's only because they at least knew what to do.

Cosmo struggled so much because it's been thousand of years since the last baby, and he didn't even know what to do when he went to labor.

also by the baby flashback he seems pretty big for a normal sized fairy (taking poof as a comparison.) so..that was something !

I guess that was because of the jorgan genes.

(it can always be that poof was just odd shaped, though.)

But back to the dynamics (and headcanons)

- papa cosmo was generally a very calm guy, he's the true malewife staying at home taking care of the kids while mama Cosma goes to work.

- always cold for some reason (thank God mama Cosma is a living furnace, much like Cosmo.)

- he always had health problems, which lead inevitably to his death. (Organ failure.)

- there's a tiny bit of size difference between him and mama Cosma, she's taller and bulkier while he is more shorter and skinny.

(if you have seen the design post, you'll get a better idea of the size difference.)

- he gets extremely flustered and very easily too with mama cosma

- he died kind of..WHILE he was a fly because he was kind of already dealing with his organ failing.

To put it short, the organ fairies have that makes them shapeshift (which I don't remember the name for the life of me) was already failing, and when he got turned into a fly he..got stuck like that. leading to him to die because of it.

This means Cosmo failing organ that he replaced with surgery is inherited!

- it's clear Cosmo took the majority of his traits from his father, and this meant mama Cosma was always more attached to Cosmo than to schnozmo (who was also pretty similar but because of his big nose it didn't do the same effect) because she just..saw her husband in Cosmo.

- papa cosmo liked to knit and cook :]

- he probably had those nerd jobs like scientist or something. I remember seeing somewhere someone saying that papa Cosmo's job had to do with researching about humans which would help for the future god parents (assuming they need to learn how a human works, talks and behaves for future disguises and to make sure your god child doesn't die immediately) and its really cool so I took it. So whoever had this idea, credit to them.

- mama Cosma job was probably pretty simple, like a maid.

- in my head, despite mama Cosma putting all of her attention on Cosmo, she was still super clingy to schnozmo too just not as much and this lead to schnozmo desperately looking for a way to get away (since we saw in the show cosmo was like trapped in his own house at that point, assuming schnozmo had the same treatment.) and that's how he ended up in the crime world.

^^^ always assuming that she was starting to get too clingy with her own kids because of papa cosmo dying

- super straight thin hair papa cosmo x super thick curly hair mama Cosma (which lead to wavy hair Cosmo and schnozmo)

- this is a general headcanon for fairies, but I enjoy a lot how in the tinkle bell movie (1953) whenever she gets mad she turns all red, so now all fairies in FOP do.

- also, another headcanon but it's more Cosmo centered.

As much as I enjoy Cosmo, the og show brutally butchered him and since I can't go against canon that he's now an idiot and has a high pitched voice, I present to you these two headcanons.

(more theories than anything but I embrace them as my headcanons.)

vvv for context they're talking about pilot Cosmo and specifically the line "I gotta get this thing (wand) fixed."

And! The scene where Timmy eats part of Cosmo brain, which is also a reason why later on he gets slow and more incompetent.

+ after Timmy they retired and got their very earned vacation, which helped Cosmo a TON as we can see how in a new wish he's back being an actual decent person and competent again, but still has some side effects like the high pitched voice and being rather slow to get things.

Credit to the original commenter of course.

And yes, this doesn't change that he sucked in school. Cosmo was never academic smart, he was always street smart, I can see him sucking ass in school still.

Also with this hc we can have the trope that Cosmo went from awkward shy guy > smug happily married man because I love that trope.

I think that's it, from what I remember at least.

[sporesgalaxy]

I’ve thought about it some more and I want to rephrase: the specific thing about the way Dungeon Meshi handles gender and autism that makes me bonkers is the blunt way the author states the differences between Laios and Falin’s treatment by the world. If Falin had been the one to try and carve out a space for the both of them, she would have been dismissed at best. But Laios was the one to try that, and for the crime of being a big autistic man, he was beaten for it. Many- most, even- aspects of this world and the real world favor men, when a gender or presentation is favored. Misogyny is extremely present in so many of our lives. But it is naive to pretend that there are no downsides to being seen as a man, especially one of color, or one that’s not neurotypical, or any number of things. Falin faces unique struggles as an autistic woman, usually internal, and usually to do with the social pressures placed on her to be seen as nothing but agreeable. But Laios faces unique struggles as an autistic man, like getting the shit kicked out of him or punched in the face or having people plot to kill him.

I’m super not trying to say that either has it better. Facing conflict because you are incapable of not presenting as exactly the kind of person you are isn’t inherently worse or better than being unable to present at all, trapped within yourself. But the way it’s presented in Dungeon Meshi is fascinating to me.

Ok so first of all I want you to know I GET IT. I HAVE SEEN HOW BAD IT CAN SUCK FOR AUTISTIC MEN IN A LOUD AND OPEN AND PHYSICAL WAY and how NO ONE FUCKING DOES ANYTHING ABOUT IT because Guys Are Supposed To Be Tough and You Should Just Stop Acting Weird And Having Feelings and all that bullshit!!!!!!! I watched that happen to someone very close to me over the course of My Whole Childhood. It's fucking dismal and it makes me really happy to see a character like Laios where those struggles are front and center.

BUT! I also want to point out that your wording here, altho it is not your intention to belittle Falin's suffering, makes it seem like her/typical autistic women's suffering is wholly immaterial. Which is NOT true. It's not that Falin's emotional suffering is equal to Laios' physical suffering, it's that their autism/neurodivergence makes them both vulnerable to physical AND emotional abuse, but in different ways because of gendered social dynamics.

•••

(Quick aside: non-autistic men and women both experience physical as well as emotional abuse because of their percieved gender as well, btw. Yes, men get priveleges, but patriarchy harms them, too. You know what, this video discussing the strengths and weaknesses of The Barbie Movie actually explains it really really well. Anyways, back to the main point.)

Due to the different gendered social expectations placed on men and women, yes, men are more likely to escalate social conflict to physically fighting each other. But the same way that doesn't mean that there's NO emotionally abusive aspect to men's social punishment for being too different, the fact that women are expected to use emotionally abusive tactics to address social conflict does NOT mean that there is no physically abusive aspect to the ways that autistic women are mistreated.

The same way Laios' inability to hide his autistic traits puts him at risk for both getting the shit beaten out of him AND being lied to for purely social reasons, Falin's coping strategy of being agreeable puts her at risk for being shunned emotionally AND enduring physical harassment.

If Falin had tried to actively & forcefully carve out a place for herself and Laios in the world, dismissal is NOT the worst that could have happened to her. What Falin's childhood experience being subjected to folk rituals by her mother and rejection from the town REALLY shows us is that, if Falin was TOO unnacceptable to the people around her it would have become someone else's responsibility to "fix" or "cure" her. Her parents', or a doctor's, or a betrothed.

I'll try to find it later, but in one of the bonus comics where we learn more about the Touden sibs' relationships to their parents, one of the things we learn is that their mother tried to "treat" Falin's magical abilities using a variety of ineffective folk cures. Their mother felt pressured to do this by the townspeople's very negative response to Falin's magical abilities, which along with their father seeking advice from a Gnome, proves that the threat against Falin was not completely in Laios' head.

Falin says she saw this as quality time with her mother, but...I mean, girls with unhealthy relationships to their bodies often see childhood dieting and clothes shopping with their mothers as quality time, even if that "quality time" instilled in them a deep-seated belief that they should mistreat their bodies and view themselves as objects to be consumed. Just because Falin thinks of it as quality time now does NOT mean that there was no damage done.

In a world where her social and fiscal autonomy are already highly limited, Falin's physical autonomy is threatened by her neurodivergence, just in a more roundabout way than Laios' is.

[mageknight14]

I loved how NEO pulled the rug out with Rindo’s character. At first, he generally seems much more sociable and outwardly friendly compared to Neku and then the game quickly goes "yeah, nah, he’s a huge fucking mess too." He’s a good kid fundamentally at his core but he can also be whiny, hypocritical, passive-aggressive, and kind of insensitive at times. He has a tendency to be judgemental and harsh to the people around him while not acknowledging his own faults, like when he complains about Beat joining the team even though he saved their lives beforehand because he’s not Neku or when he gives Fret shit for fawning over Eiji Oji and Kanon while falling for Motoi’s BS. He’s so pessimistic about himself and others that not even a death game that heavily emphasizes the value of teamwork can get him to fully come out of his shell, which is where his time-travel powers come in AND EVEN THEN it’s a double-edged sword since on one hand, it forces him to actively step up to the plate and survey the situation to find the best possible solution, which leads to him slowly growing out of his shell, but on the other, it also leads to him becoming overly reliant on his time travel so that he can walk back from potentially life-changing decisions without having to worry about it since he has a magic reset button. Which ends up biting him in the ass. Hard.

He’s one of those types of people who is ultimately a thinker and planner instead of a do-er, but his being young and overly impressionable takes this personality quirk to such an extreme that he's foundationally useless to most groups. He’s the type of person who you have in a group project who sits around and does nothing, but then complains with the project does poorly because he couldn't be bothered to speak.

He's so unconfident and directionless that he uses effectively Instagram as a means to listen to someone who sounds like some 2deep4u philosopher post dumb flowery bullshit that effectively has all the meaning of "Drink water when you're thirsty." and he admits to finding such "deep" meaning in these posts that it supposedly helped him through life. Because he's 15 and doesn't know anything.

However, all of this makes him interesting as a character because he’s, again, still a fundamentally good kid at his core. While he’s shown to have a fuse, he is also the kind of person who has the ability to think his emotions through. That's what we ultimately see when he and Fret finally talk and drop their beef. The game depicting Rindo's capacity for self-awareness and emotional reflection is a positive revelation of his character strengths. He proves that he's capable of recognizing when he's in the wrong and knows how to apologize, a trait he shows quite a few times throughout the story, while also doing everything he can to set things right as well as be more understanding toward how his friends feels.

He’s kind of the guy who will drop everything to help a little kid out, even when there’s no tangible benefit to doing so and he and the others are shown to be on limited time, shows empathy to his friends/fallen enemies, and feels massive amounts of guilt for his actions, even if he didn’t know better at the time.

Hell, the entire endgame is fueled by his selfish yet understandable desire to save the people he cares about most from total erasure, to the point that he’s willing to risk thousands of lives to do so. But not only is he shown to be internally grappling with himself regarding his decision but he’s also willing to take responsibility and ensure that EVERYTHING goes right not just for himself and his friends but the people of Shibuya in general, in a parallel to Neku’s own selfish if understandable decision to put the bonds he formed in the original game (particularly with Joshua) over the actual city.

Characters aren't interesting simply by switching between 2 different character traits. They're interesting when all those traits are being expressed at the same time for reasons that are consistent within their internal logic. You gotta be a good writer to pull that off and you gotta know when to show off these dimensions during your story to achieve proper dramatic effect when the time calls for it and NEO I feel does this pretty damn well.

[eatmangoesnekkid]

One unspoken virus that plagues female bodies due to growing up and being conditioned in a western colonial capitalist patriarchy is the lack of reverence, respect, and honoring we have for our teachers and inspirations/muses. Growing up in a world created out of the male mind and male philosophy, we are groomed to be less collaborative and more competitive and "takers," taking resources from the feminine, without acknowledging our sources, whether it's another woman/femme's work or resources of the earth. We have adapted to being sneaky and slick.

Everything is recorded. We do not get away with anything. The desire "to take" from other women is a 'bottom-feeder' scarcity consciousness. When a woman or womb owner holds this type of consciousness in her system, she births babies who become adults who do not feel like they are good enough and they further the unconscious scarcity imprint into future generations. When you take words I have written like "friendships can be deeply romantic" but do not credit me as the source of your newfound wisdom and simply shift words around, it is still recorded and felt by those with intuitive gifts. I am devoted to letting those whom I love know how much I adore them. Within the last 10 years, there has not a single close friend I’ve had who hasn't received a message of me sharing my love of them at some point. This is the lived experience the quote was birthed from. In the last 30 days, I have sent voice notes to a woman I follow on instagram who writes beautiful things about heterosexual relating and bridging the gap between women and men. I'm not a heterosexual woman, but I love reading her work. She expands my own consciousness of love so I reached out to her just to let her know how much her work inspired my own flow of love in a pure way and thanked her. Reverence for another human can be so activating for the psyche and requires extreme vulnerability, which is one reason it is so hard for most people to honor other people without feeling less than. We have forgotten that we are all Gods, that’s why. 🪶🙏🏿🕊️ Years ago, a couple from Atlanta came to visit me and my lover in Europe. When they arrived, I was the only one at home and when my lover came home from work, I met her at the door as usual—which was really no big deal to us. Ha, I will never forget when we turned around and saw the sheer shock on their faces from witnessing how we greeted each other after being a part for "only 7 hours" —one of them said. They were shocked that we had that so much reverence for the presence of the other. But to me, reverence is human. It is love. It is the nectarous flow of one’s inherent wellspring of vulnerability. Recently I spoke to a past mentor of mine from 2008 who is 22 years older than me, a mentor who I have expanded beyond in consciousness and lived experiences. I find traits of a good mentor to be one who can help evolve students beyond their own capacity and limitations, maybe begin to actually to revere the student’s growing beyond the mentor’s capacity overtime. This is what our relationship is like now. She is genuinely happy for everything I am and everything have become. In all these years, I have felt nothing but sheer love and appreciation from her at different stages of my journey. I told her how much I loved her for who she divinely is. I showered her with compliments and sent her a cashapp for no reason at all. I did not reach out to her to talk about myself. I only spoke about her --her beauty, sass, heart, worth, and value. Women who can not acknowledge the gifts and beauty of other women and only want “to take...” will always be poor in a myriad of ways. Heart-centered womanhood. Women can turn this world around when we begin to get deeply honest about what is living in our bodies and truly become women again and understand the level of power within it. Please consider revering/honoring those women who help to move you forward into new ways of being that will expand into limitless possibilities. Not become envious them, not steal their work but truly hold reverence and love and even cheer them on. Doing so helps to create more and more connection and love stories and less separation, fear and violence in our world. Everything is connected to everything, you see. The aim is to get better at loving and sweetness than we were conditioned to be at extracting and taking. When we do, a secret garden of vitality blooms abundantly, like the generous nectar that Spring and Summer summons from human bodies. Because beautiful people impact us in beautiful ways when we allow. Never forget that. --India Ame'ye

[foefire-flame]

Does Leo Enjoy being a dragon dad in aurene's younger years? Also, please, literally anything you want to ramble about, I would love to hear! I love ur fluffy charr boi

Once Leo gets over the initial panic of like, inner turmoil of not knowing how to be gentle in a way thats required of a father, to raise a literal child when charr don't even raise their own children...yes. I always joked that Leo was made to be a father but I truly think its just the type of thing hes not only built for (just the entire thing of patience, love, and iron will thats required TO even be a parent) but to Love someone, to guide them and teach them is just something that really just comes naturally to him despite all his fears about it…

In my canon I really expand upon the Champion's relationship with her. I write it like yknow, Aurene IS an actual child, even if shes also a dragon. She sleeps and she cries and she panics if she doesnt understand something, she gets into things and accidentally hurts herself. All the woes and joys of having a young child are things Leo does experience with her, just slightly different. It's not just about shaping her destiny and teaching her great moral philosophy, it's helping her figure out better control of flight, playing with her, measuring her when she gets scared of something bc shes so new to the world, singing a song so she sleeps. I've talked about Leo having the patience of a saint and its what makes him such a good father to begin with. He adores Aurene, he didn't choose to be her champion, but he chose to be a father to her. Ik the Story agrees with the whole "the mc is aurene's parent essentially" but I never felt satisfied bc I felt the connection between the mc and her is extremely rushed, so I Really want to make it feel like that connection is warranted. Even the bigger she grows he never stops acting as her Father.

I do think, one of Leo's negative traits actually Stems from his deep love of Aurene, because he is so Incredibly Defensive over her. He's one of those parents that just doesnt Take criticism about their kid very well, and it's not like he snaps or gets wildly angry, Its just that he kinda brushes it aside or makes it clear its not up for debate. This partially stems from his own insecurities as a father, again, he is a Charr and never experienced parents so has a whole thing of How Is He Supposed To Raise A Kid. Not only that, this kid is expected to defeat the Most Powerful Elder Dragon, the weight of his performance in terms of guiding and teaching her correctly is Immense. And theres a (in the earlier days) small amount of dread that what Aurene is meant to do won't come easy, she will most likely have to fight. Even if she herself becomes okay with that, as a parent who already has existing problems with his culture deciding he had to be a soldier bc he lives in a militaristic society it just doesn't feel great. BUT TLDR:Yes he loves her so, So much, indescribably. And Thank you ;w;

[kaidacresto]

PONY FACTS!!!

- all ponies will get a cutiemark, but those who train and use their special talent for longer and are more experienced with their abilities will have their mark spread around their flanks/legs. In extreme cases, marks can spread all around the ponies body

- With the prolonged use of magic the body will morph (this goes for all species in Equis, but for now we’re focusing on the Ponies). Wings will narrow, limbs will lengthen, horns will bend, etc. these effects are barely noticeable and are even associated with growing, but with excessive use these affects will become more apparent and more strange (look at the princesses for example). These deformities can be related to the specific magic in use aswell, a Pegasus adapt with controlling lighting for example will develop feathers that stick up nonstop

EARTH PONIES:

- the most “pure” horses of all 3 breeds. It’s believed that the other tribes branched off from them and are considered living fossils, not changing much for millions of years

- fillies must be careful while playing with their other species; because of their larger size, heavier build, and increase strength, its easy for them to accidentally hurt others. This especially goes for pegasus, who are physically the weakest while younger.

- besides their extreme strength and size, earth ponies also have varying levels of plant control. Some even able to grow plants simply by being around them. Other species lack this ability.

UNICORNS:

- related to goats, cows, and deer/reindeer

- slitted goat-like hooves used to climb mountains. Back in the times when thr tribes were separated, thr unicorns lived on the mountains, so these hooves were very useful in climbing. Nowadays though not as much

- with extreme use of magic, horns will misshapen. The most common form of this is bending into a crescent, but its possibly for most any shape to form. Examples of rounding, uncurlings, spikes, extra horns, and more have been documented. These changes will also affect the way magic is manifested and may require the user to morph their way of magic to adapt to the new changes. This is usually easy because of the gradual change

- Ponies used to believe horn misshaping happened due to age, but because of more research and more ponies delving into more powerful magic the myth was busted. It was realized to be just a coincidence because older unicorns tended to have used more magic over the years.

- regardless of gender, unicorns will grow beards and its a beauty standard to keep them

PEGASUS:

- share many traits with birds, but are not related.

- shapes of wings, feathers, and beaks can vary wildly between pegasus.

- coincidentally because of Convergent evolution, hippogriffs and Pegasi resemble eachother closely. Often times hippogriffs will camouflage within Pegasi society (this can go the other way around, but its less common) and live among the ponies. It takes a keen eye to notice the differences

- Pegasi bones are semi-hollow, similar to birds. You may think this makes them weak and easy to break, but its actually the opposite. These hollow bones are in fact stronger than normal mammal bones while being lighter, making them physically stronger than unicorns. These are only a problem when they’re younger, being so small and still forming, foals are more likely to injure themselves than the other tribes

———————

Do not re-upload, sell, or trace my art without my permission. You can use it as reference but you gotta credit me

[sol-consort]

TALI!!!!! Also they should give Krogans cats I feel like Krogans would like their vibes

yeah it's very cute to think about Krogans cuddling with cats and being best friends!

But realistically... look at their treatment of pyjaks and varren. Nom nom nom or fighting rings. Cats often steal food from humans, yet we don't go blasting them off with military grade rockets... At least I hope we haven't, someone check the history records rq.

That side mission segment never sat well with me in ME2. Especially after that ME1 Pyjack mission where you have to search for important datadisk stolen by a pyjack, having to abandon the mako so you don't accidentally hurt them, carefully search one after another, doing whatever you can to avoid harming these cute monkey-like animals.

Sure, some krogans do keep them as decently treated pets, but those are rare and few in-between. It's a nurtured habit rather than something ingrained in their nature, krogans used to be in the stone ages before they were forcibly "uplifted" by the salarians. As their society develops and gets comfortable with safety, animal cruelty will become a thing of the past... hopefully.

Currently, krogans haven't been big on animals. Cats wouldn't like Tuchanka either, too much radiation and sand storms. Krogans might find snapping turtles adorable, however.

Hanar hold very high empathy to animals, animal fighting rings, and anything unsavoury are forbidden from all of their planets. Believing in every creature having a soul, etc. Cats would abhor their slimy squishy texture—like how they have mysterious beef with cucumbers—but hanar might find them extremely adorable.

Elcor and cats share the trait of subtle body language and highly complex communication that has to be "watered down" for the other species to understand. I feel like they'd get along, cats would love napping on them, they're a big soft heater to them.

Lastly, a portion of our love of cats comes from them literally infecting us with a brain parasite, Toxoplasma gondii. It's meant for cat-prey to get infected, but humans' immune system is far too strong for it to do any harm besides slight flu symptoms at the early stages of the infection. After that, it remains dormant in our brain. We are a dead-end host, offer zero benefits to the parasite, we were never meant to be its target.

But it slightly increases our dopamine, which is nice.

it still has negative side effects, that's why pregnant women are told not to handle cat litter boxes; the parasite resides in cats' digestive system.

If you see a rat being playful with a cat or running towards them, chances are the parasite is well developed in the rat's brain. That's literally what it does, makes you seek cats.

it's why infected people start noticing their cats smelling nice like "baby powder" and have this urge to smooch their fur. In rats, it makes cat urine smell unbelievably good, so they go running towards it.

It just happened that this behaviour in humans translates into a feeling of love, euphoria, and elation when petting a cat, wanting to pick them up and smoother them in hugs and kisses.

Approximately 30% of the human population have toxoplasmosis, chances are if you ever owned a cat and cuddled, you have it. So yay I'm infected, you probably are too.

That alone might deter any alien species from ever interacting with cats. The "crazy cat lover" effect might amplify in species with weaker immune systems, aka quarians, or simply different proteins structures, aka turians.

But eh, it's probably nothing, Sid—a turian—is shown to love cats lots. Infected humans can't spread the parasite to others either—the infected host needs to die for it to happen. The immune system can't exactly enter the brain, only monitor it from outside the barrier for any signs of danger. So the parasite is kept imprisoned and gets bonked on the head whenever it tries to leave.

Btw cats aren't actually infected by their own parasite, they have sort of a symbiotic relationship with it. Toxoplasma gondii has two life cycles. One starts as they're born inside a cat's bowels, they are harmless and mostly beneficial to their original host.

The second cycle starts after they're thrown out in the litter box. Now they seek a new "prey" host to infect the brains of. Releasing chemicals and slightly altering your perspection of things. Increasing your risk of schizophrenia. Subtle agitation in the eyes.

You can also get it from uncooked meat or unwashed vegetables, so it's not that scary or dire of a parasite. It's just that cats are its most successful symbotic host to this day.

But if your immune system experiences a major failure and shuts down for a prolonged amount of time, the parasite will break from its cage and start spreading.

Congestive faculties start shutting down, eye blindness in some cases, until it eventually kills you.

That's also true with any sort of bacteria or parasite you catch while your immune system is down, it's easy to set a village ablaze with nothing but a single match once the castle walls crash down.

Toxoplasma gondii isn't special; anything can kill you! Without your immune system, you're just a bag of flesh and blood, susceptible to rot and being cannibalised by the air particles themselves.

But don't worry! this is normal for your body... sometimes. Only 43% of the human body is actually...uh human. The rest are foreign bacteria, microbes, fungi, some parasites, and other things that we collect throughout our journey of life. We even trade bacteria with other humans we meet all the time without realising it.

The majority of you—the physical you—is in fact, not you. You—cells you create—are a minority in your own body ecosystem.

Why do you think humans are so deadly to turians? We are a walking swamp, A living breathing extremely diverse bio-ecosystem. A dormant parasite or a two is nothing.

[laurancezvahlslefteyebrow]

A couple shadow knight headcanons i forgot in the last post:

They don’t need things like food, water, sleep, or even to breathe or blink. Sometimes when they’re trying to blend in around the living, they forget to do these things. This leads to some very unsettling interactions.

Premature SKs do still need these things but not as much or often as a living person. Sometimes they’ll forget to eat, drink, sleep, or take a breath and almost (or actually) pass out. Sometimes they’ll forget to blink and start crying and be really confused for a good second.

Uncanny Valley.

The calling is different for everyone. Sometimes it latches onto a lord, sometimes it’s a lover, sometimes it’s a close friend or family member. Literally just the person they are closest too. It happens eventually to all PMSKs, usually between 1-2 years after being transformed. It functions differently for everyone: sometimes coming in form of hallucinations and nightmares, sometimes it makes them extremely irritable and aggressive, sometimes anxious and paranoid. It really depends on their existing traits and experiences. The severity also varies. For people like Vylad, who have been able to put their emotions on hold, it doesn’t get to them too bad. But for someone like Laurance? Who’s emotions run his every decision? The calling swallows them whole.

This one is partially inspired by @adepressedgaydragon ‘s doll headcanon:

I like to think that these bouts of being unable to move is almost exclusive to PMSKs. Like it’s the Shadow Lord trying to take control of their body or instill fear. I feel like they’d hallucinate or have visions similar to how Malachi could show people their fears. Maybe they’re specifically visions of themself killing their lord or whoever. I think it can happen to full SKs who are out of line, like Zenix, but it’s usually reserved for the premature.

The callings starts very mild. So much so that most don’t even notice that it’s there for the first few days. Maybe it comes as a whisper in the back of their mind, a dull ache, nightmares they can’t quite remember, goosebumps and a chill on the back of their neck. Then it’s becomes intrusive thoughts, migraines, sharp sudden pains in their death scars, nightmares they can see and remember so vividly that if they were to stare at a blank wall for too long it would promptly return to them. Then it becomes seeing their shadow knight self in every reflection, hearing the voice of the shadow lord screaming at them to kill everyone around them, or maybe it’s their own voice. Or the voice of whom they’re meant to kill. They have nightmares every night of gaining their immortality. They wake up holding their sword. Perhaps encased in their armor like shell. They begin to snap at those they love and trust. They start pushing them away, maybe purposely to keep them safe. They can sense the nearest portal, they can feel it’s presence in this world they way you can feel someone staring at you. It’s all they can think about, and thinking about it is unbearable. Once the calling starts, it never truly ends. Not as long as Shad lives.

Or idk something like that. ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ

[hoverboards-and-dragons]

What song do you think would be the Forbidden Fruits “anthem” so to speak?

Interesting question! I don't think I really have one that plays into all the aspects I like

I can talk about some inspirations if that helps

Edit: holy shit this got long hey Anon uh, hope- hope this is somehow what you were looking for lol

You're in the Band is where a lot of Eve's character came from, mostly the mix of her motherly and rebel traits,

as well as Stick It to the Man and its reprise, with the idea of three Biblical villains coming together after being stuck with the ridiculous and impossible task of fighting God and empowering each other to be more than just a speed bump, to inspire hope of reclaiming justice for themselves when they only existed in stories to be crushed by those unimaginable odds

Only with the power of friendship and teamwork can God be killed is what i think the point of forbidden fruits is actually (not really its more about resistance than overcoming, whittling out your own little corner for those who can't fit the mould and how what seemed like a hopeless stand can suddenly become possible when you arent doing it alone, and how just maybe thats enough, you don't to be able to overcome them completely, surviving when the world wants you dead is revolutionary and disrupting by itself)

Oh, Symphony by Clean Bandit and I Hear a Symphony - Cody Fry, its all of them about each other, their world was perfect and simple and boring until they found each other and now its messy and broken and beautiful; very especially about Lilith and Eve discovering wlw after being made for Adam, parallels and comparisons with the interspecies part of Lucifer's inhumanity falling for and being loved by the first humans (choices being artificially limited for an agenda, lines being crossed and the discovering of countless hidden possibilities, exploration of the self through forbidden paths etc)

This is a weird one but Won't Be Slain Here by Musiclide, hear me out, this is the eternal debate between Heaven and Hell; This is an extremely complicated and nuanced situation, There are only two sides and to pick one is to declare war on the other

Its in the manipulation, the desperation

They are painted as monsters, they have done monstrous things, they were put in awful situations, Heaven is calm and collected and helpful, it can afford to be, it will abandon you when it can't and hell will be all you have anyway

A different ruler of hell takes each chorus before joining the backing vocals of the next, they all have the same story anyway, the same point to make in different fonts, each one is more aggressive than the last, Heaven refusal to change keeps bring it more and more enemies, and their threat is mounting into something substantial and dangerous as they find each other

Heaven has countless justifications, Hell only has one that gets repeated and layered ad nauseam but is not refuted

[hoonphobe]

i have a theory that honestly isn’t very likely to be true but it’s just a thought i had.

so we all know how isayama said that he had a different idea for the ending but because of popular demand he had to alter it a bit. well…

what if his initial idea was to have eren not have an endgame, meaning he’d have no romantic love interests or at least not canonically end up with anyone. and i when i say this i mean he wasn’t supposed to end up with mikasa nor armin.

to ymir mikasa was the “key” to freeing her and she’d been waiting on her for 2000 years. now if mikasa was the purpose this entire time then i’d like to believe that everything that happened was molded to fit her experience. if ymir used mikasa to free her by seeing what option she’d choose between supporting or letting go of her love it’d make sense eren was molded in that way.

eren has essentially been a pawn of ymir since he was born and when he learned this truth he realized that everything that happened and the outcomes were dependent on mikasa’s choice not necessarily his own actions. this makes me wonder if the events that brought eren and mikasa together were also controlled by ymir or at least “fated” by ymir.

ymir needed mikasa to love and become attached to someone just as much as she was to king fritz. maybe mikasa’s parents being murdered and her almost being sold off was to draw eren in to save and protect her. or her parents being killed was something already bound to happen and ymir made sure eren was present and had a drive to protect her. this is what ultimately started their bond and mikasa’s connection to eren.

over time it’s seen that eren hardly ever reciprocates the same way mikasa does romantically and if he does it’s very subtle and typically catered to what mikasa herself wants. like them running off together for 4 years to the cabin in the paths, eren says that that’s something mikasa wanted not necessarily himself. i believe that the romantic acts eren does for mikasa could’ve also been swayed by ymir to have mikasa grow more attached to eren so that in the end her decision to kill him was more impactful.

eren is known for being extremely complicated and i think one of the main reasons for this is because his mind is constantly conflicted between what ymir wants him to do and what he actually wants to do. his motivation for freedom, his dream of the outside world, and his compassion for those close to him are all things that are the real eren while gaining the power of the titans, going thru with the rumbling, and pursuing mikasa are all things he’s been told he wants to do out of his control.

i wholeheartedly believe and know that eren cares deeply about mikasa the same way he cares about armin; however, i don’t believe that he likes her romantically. eren has said that he has a feeling that he wants to protect mikasa and i think that’s the true eren speaking because he’s the same way with armin. but outside of this platonic connection everything else between them feels very forced and i think that’s because it is: it’s forced by ymir.

i think isayama wanted to end the series with eren not loving anyone beyond the platonic bond he shared with mikasa, armin, and his other friends. not to say that eren isn’t capable of love, but i don’t think that was his main priority for eren, eren was meant to be a very morally gray person that is a human doing inhumane acts for the sake of a very humane trait, compassion. i feel like adding in a romance, yes, makes eren come off as more humane, but at the same time the love he was given felt very out of character for him. hence why i believe the ending he wanted was going to showcase that this love actually is out of character for him because it’s not truly his own.

for an in-character eren, i can see him apologizing to mikasa that he could never be enough for her or give her what she deserves. that he wanted her to forget him because all he’s done is mess with her feelings because the person pursuing her wasn’t really him. that he loves her a lot but not in the way she wants him to. that he’s been fighting his own mind and in the end couldn’t win. that he wanted to tell armin that he wishes he could’ve done better for them, that he could’ve saved armin from the tragedy of the outside world and could’ve saved mikasa from loving him.

and mikasa knows that eren never loved her the same but regardless she loved him enough to end both the world’s suffering and his own. she understood that the eren she’s seen the past years wasn’t the eren she grew up with and she’s happy that he was finally able to rest. this closure allows her to live her life as her own, to live the life that she deserves with someone who will openly love her and living her life knowing she’s more than just someone that was devoted to eren and subjected to ymir’s ideals. that eren will always be held close to her heart as someone very close to her.

this is really what saves ymir is this parallel of loving someone that protected you and saved you and was seen in ur eyes as a savior who in the end became inhumane and didn’t love you the way you loved them, and being able to let that person go and not feel the need to be attached to them. obviously the difference is that eren was always more humane than king fritz which is what adds more sentiment to the story but the parallel still applies. this is why ymir fabricated this eren for mikasa.

[picnokinesis]

How do you think Delgado!Master would feel if he could see what he's become? Do you think he would respect Dhawan!Master?

Oh, this is SUCH a fascinating question, and I'm ashamed to say that I'm definitely not the most qualified to answer it because my Delgado!Master knowledge is extremely limited...however! Based on what I do know of him (which might be somewhat incorrect, so please anyone feel free to correct me) I think there are two key difference with Dhawan!Master compared to Delgado that would strike him:

First - if I've read the room right, Delgado!Master's whole thing is basically 'my spouse got exiled to this random boring planet, so I'm going to go there and cause problems to keep him from getting bored'. All those evil schemes are just part of a game for the Doctor and the Master - playing chess across time and space, so to speak (or just kiss chase, as I believe it is put at one point SKKS). But with Dhawan, it's very different. I don't think Thirteen quite gets that, actually, which is part of the problem - but this whole thing is no longer a game to the Master anymore. Because after everything he discovered in the Matrix, he (mistakenly) believes that the history between him and the Doctor will no longer mean anything to her. That they're no longer equals, that he's just another pet to her. In reality, she IS completely done with him - but that's because of her believing that Missy betrayed her, combined with all the awful things he's done this time around. She thinks he's still playing that old game, and she's tired of it, tired of the death and destruction that he causes just to get her attention. But it's not a game anymore. Not to him.

Second - one of the CORE traits that defines the Master both in classic who and in nuwho is their desperate will to survive, right? They'll do anything just to get more regenerations, more life - stealing bodies, getting cults to resurrect them, etc. etc. But Dhawan!Master....he doesn't care anymore. He's done. At times he's apathetic about dying (see: the moment in TTC when he muses about how the Death Particle could have gone off when he used the TCE on Ashad, and how he wouldn't have even minded that) and other times he's actively seeking it out (see: him goading the Doctor into committing murder-suicide at the end of TTC). I'd even go so far as to say his main aim for his whole regeneration is to die with the Doctor - because if they didn't begin together, then at least they can end together. She can kill the two of them with the Death Particle, or he can steal her body and BECOME her - because even the whole forced regeneration thing wasn't ANYTHING to do with the Master trying to get her regenerations, but rather everything to do with the Master not wanting to be the Master anymore. I actually think he almost hoped that someone WOULD kill him when he was the Doctor, or that the process itself would kill him, because then that would have been another way in which they died together, if that makes sense.

So like - I think those things are pretty stark differences, right? And I don't know enough about Delgado to say how he's react to those differences, or whether he'd respect Dhawan!Master or not...but, as a rule, whilst the Doctor seems to hate their other regenerations on sight, the Master appears to be quite friendly (or even VERY friendly) with themself when they interact with previous/future regenerations. So I think that Delgado would have some respect for him - he might even feel the same as him, if he knew everything that Dhawan knew. I don't know though - he might be annoyed at Dhawan!Master's impulsivity and how erratic he can be, compared to how calm and restrained Delgado!Master often appears to be.

However. That said. One thing that always, always defines the Master, and probably always will, is that their connection with the Doctor drives everything that they do. And I reckon that if Delgado met Dhawan!Master...saw Gallifrey destroyed, saw all that stuff buried in the Matrix about the Timeless Child, found out that it was the Doctor...I honestly think he would have just nodded and been like yes. This was the correct reaction. Because the Master says in TTC that he did it because he was angry about what it meant about him, and his identity, rather than anything to do with the Doctor. And, of course, he's a selfish idiot, so that was definitely a part of it. But I also think that a significant motivator was because they built up the Time Lord society on top of ground drenched in the Doctor's blood. And no-one is allowed to hurt the Doctor except the Master. And that, if nothing else, I'm sure Dhawan!Master and Delgado!Master can agree on.

[goddamnwebcomics]

I have an article idea: [Blank] number of times a character's personality, trait, or role changed in a webcomic you've read. You know, like when an author decides to either remove a character trait only to replace it with a different one usually depending on how it will benefit a current or future story down the line? Kind of like Tracy from Peter & Company or every character in Las Lindas. I see it a lot and its egregiousness varies comic to comic.

That sounds like a really good idea. Here are the

Top 8 Worst Sudden Character Changes In Webcomics I've Riffed

8. Miles goes from an abused underdog to a womanizing asshole (Las Lindas)

Some longtime readers of Las Lindas may have completely forgotten that at some point, Miles was actually kind of likable. Mainly because he was often the victim of Mora's abuse, despite being a hard worker. Then he quit, met Taffy, and convinced Mora to hire Taffy for the farm as his only demand for coming back.

Unfortunately, as soon as Sarah and Rachel debuted, we saw Miles change into a terrible person who gropes Taffy and whips his dick out in public place. Eventually it led to a breaking point where Miles and Taffy broke up during the Festival Arc. But did Miles become a better person? Of course not! He would SOMEHOW charm Rachel after his stupid plane building arc started (which is another Sudden Character Change) and he would slowly but surely make Rachel into an asshole as well. I just think it might be Mora's influence getting to people.

7. Cydnee goes from Matt's supportive girlfriend to a Massive Racist (Gene Catlow)

Yeah, be prepared to see this become a theme, where characters start expressing overly specific bigotry out of nowhere.

When we first learn of Cydnee, she is actually against Matt along with the rest of Felin Family, but slowly, she becomes comfortable with Matt, effectively becoming more loyal version of Dawn and Dusk. We also learn her backstory, turns out she was always a matagot, which Jeremy was able to detect. Jeremy forced her to suppress those powers and make her into a hypnotic dancer for the group. However, after Jeremy left, Matt noticed Cydnee's matagot powers and started training her.

Now by no means was Cydnee and Matt's relationship dancing with roses. Cydnee seemed arrogant and Matt even considered pushing Cydnee to the endless void, but eventually, after Matt shared his goal of a cat dominated planet, Cydnee agreed to it wholeheartedly and they were able to find common ground.

And then ANOTHER hitch was thrown in their romantic works when it turned out Cydnee was a MASSIVE racist towards dogs. Starting with him making snide and abusive remarks at Dorzoi, which eventually escalated to her wanting Death to All Dogs. Matt, being the charming gentleman and true hero of this comic, was completely opposed to this, and Cydnee eventually messed up one of their missions because of her dogophobia.

Now, an argument could be made that this was foreshadowed earlier with Cydnee's father telling her cats are ultimate species in the universe in a flashback, but this was just confirming something that was kinda true in this comic's universe. Also apparently Cydnee was just always against dogs according to Burke's flashback??? The problem is that Dorzoi was working for Matt and co even before Cydnee got involved and it wasn't until halfway through their relationship that Cydnee started making jabs at Dorzoi which escalated into the full blown dog racism. It feels like such a forced attempt to force more conflict between Matt and Cydnee, and also bring yet ANOTHER bigot that would probably have been cheaply redeemed into the comic.

6. Tracy goes from Peter's enemy to forgiving him (twice) (Peter and Company/Peter and Whitney)

This one would not have been so bad, if it didn't happen twice in different comics. Yes, in Peter and Company, Tracy is established as Peter's new rival after Chelsea's humanization, an extremely competitive essay writer who forces Peter to do all the work. However, Tracy steals all the credit from Peter but both of them get an F- because of Seth's bullshit. This carries into Peter and Whitney, which is going on at the same as Peter and Company, where we learn Peter and Tracy's beef lasted years and they had several "incidents" between eachother.

Now, let's address the elephant in the room, Tracy is based on Johnny Bonaqua's wife's best friend, but she shares virtually no traits with her aside from the name, rest of her character came from two specific incidents in his past. However, after fans got overly hostile towards Tracy, Johnny decides to retcon Tracy into a nice person in BOTH COMICS AT THE SAME TIME. So, the incidents between her and Peter never happened in Peter and Company timeline then?

This could have been easily avoidable, either don't base Tracy on your wife's best friend, or maybe don't write sequel to your comic at the same time as your other comic. Admittedly, Asshole Tracy is still a more interesting character than Nice Tracy, and her turning good removing the last shreds of intrigue from Peter and Whitney.

5. Victor Reid goes from supportive father to a Massive Racist to Lexx's second dad and back and forth (Alien Dice)

Of all the Sudden Bigotries, this one is probably the most nonsensical. Until this point, we've known Victor as a very protective father who works for FBI and an alien research facility. He had a bad run in with Riley which ended with Victor understandably hating him and forbidding his daughter from getting involved with him. Later, Victor ends up going and meeting Lexx. It is at this moment, Victor's hatred of Lexx comes out of nowhere.

Okay, the reason it's so nonsensical is, Victor works with aliens and his family has been hunting aliens for a millennia. The fact he is suddenly racist against them goes against his entire profession. It's like a racist choosing to become a psychologist. After this, Victor turns into a cartoony alien hunter who doesn't want his daughter to go anywhere near Lexx and he eagerly can't wait to "dissect" Lexx in a laboratory. Even when you consider the fact Victor's organization not only studies aliens but also protects cryptids who already live in Earth, it makes Victor's hatred of Lexx more nonsensical. I feel you could've made Victor into a father who doesn't trust Lexx and doesn't want him to be dating his daughter WITHOUT making him into a racist.

But that's not all, because Victor abandons his alien racism almost immediately after he sees Lexx hurt. Suddenly, he becomes Lexx's second dad who is concerned for him and he frequently critiques his friends for not giving a fuck about him (something he is very right about) but he still acts like a cartoonish alien hunter. I get that it's trying to portray Victor as a nuanced figure but it is so damn inconsistent, and it admittedly leaves a pretty big stain on him as without that, he could have been one of the comic's best characters. Also, funny enough, Victor's alien racism is rendered even more pointless when we learn his wife is the opposite, as soon as she sees Lexx and Chel together she begins to fantasize about human-rishan crossbreeding. Jesus.

4. Mecha Maid in general (Spinnerette)

Marilyn AKA Mecha Maid is one giant bag of self-contradiction. At least Spinny's personality is consistently written as "colossal idiot who fucks up". Mecha Maid's personality has been altered so many times, I don't think Mecha Maid who debuted in the first issue and Mecha Maid from the recent issue are the same person. In the original era of Spinnerette, Mecha Maid has a crush on Heather, but she still calls Heather out on her idiocy. She loves Heather because she wants someone to be affectionate with her before her ALS kills her. She also develops an opposition to murder, as she gets angry at Heather after she helps killing Colonel Glass.

Colonel Glass arc really is the last time she retains her original personality, after that she gets flayed out of shape. She becomes more horny, admitting she fell in love with Heather because of her body rather than her personality. She also stops getting angry at Heather when she fucks up. She often ends up in situations where she can't defend herself and it's up to Spinny to save the day. And less said about how her ALS seems to have magically disappeared, the better. The worst part of this change in personality comes in the moment pictured above, when she confesses Sarah Nicole should have been killed just like Colonel Glass, abandoning her anti-murder stance entirely.

One might wonder how much canonized porn comics have to do with these changes, but honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the ALS was written off completely because of those. This more than anything proves what a colossal hack Kraw is.

3. Stealth goes from Lexx's conscience to petty little shit who hates everyone (Alien Dice)

Yup, Alien Dice again. Stealth started off as someone who would often talk sense to both Lexx and Chel. Her only problem until that point was giving Chel the relay, which she apparently did only to give Lexx companionship. As soon as Lexx learned this he sealed Stealth inside a dice, claiming her to be a "troublemaker". This doesn't really describe Stealth back then, but it definitely describes Stealth that would become. As soon as Stealth transforms into her white puma form and later her disgusting human hair winged lion form, she became ANGRY towards her own status as a dice, and ANGRY towards Sirius for wanting to be obedient towards Lexx, and ANGRY at Zeta and Epsy for wanting children when she went through a miscarriage because of her dice complications, and ANGRY at Chel for calling her by a name Lexx came up with as opposed to Mittens. She just wanted freedom, this could have been established earlier but apparently with her wanting freedom, she ends up doing terrible things like mauling Sirius, destroying all of Claudia's dresses and becoming a sleep paralysis demon.

She does end up having her personality be toned down in later part of the comic, slowly turning back into Lexx's consciousness, but also, she becomes a victim of this comic's desire to give every animal a partner as she hooks up with Dash, he's not your type trust me.

2. Gene Catlow's "Redemption Arcs" (Gene Catlow)

Yes I know, the whole point of redemption arc is that it's supposed to be a meaningful change. But the reason it's called a "redemption arc" is because it doesn't happen in an instant. Well, nobody told that to Albert Temple.

Don't get me wrong, there are actual good or at least predictable redemption arcs in this comic, but these examples are egregious and the worst thing they happen at the beginning, middle and end of the comic so Albert never quite learned to not do this.

Starting with Crendall, Crandall was an abusive furry hating human, who lost his son to a brain cancer-induced suicide. He then tries to do something horrible to Gene and Catwhis, but as soon as he enters the bar. Everyone tells him stupid he is for believing all animals are evil, and then he is like "okay you got me, I am good now". And Crendall then proceeds to become an even worse human being than he already was, because of how he treats Figgs and Chalky, the two human beings he was working with who are also his dead son's friends, and also because he ends up developing a creepy friendship with Diane the little girl later down the line. As terrible as Crandall's redemption was, it could be pinpointed as the moment this comic began the transformation from its old hope punk roots into the World of Friends Power Hour it would become.

And to have another example of speedrunning a redemption arc, look no further than Clayton. Clayton being a bunny who helps the Felin Family was treated as a huge shock twist, but literally one page after we see his face, he instantly gets redeemed because he runs into Michelle and the Old Bunnies. We learn the reason he betrayed Canovians is because he lost faith in their leaders ability to make change. So the first thing he does when he comes back is he becomes the "Chosen One" of the Canovians and completely steals the spotlight from Cotton. Admittedly we never see Cotton and Clayton's rivalry come to fruition which would have been a nice form of conflict, but whatever. Also Clayton develops a creepy friendship with Michelle.

And lastly, we have an opposite of our usual changes, a bigot stops being a bigot...and how. Mason was the brutal and violent leader of Furry Unity Group, a furry supremacist group who wants to kill all humans. Mason is shown at first to be one of the few characters in this comic that are actually irredeemable. However that all changes once his puppet duplicate gets his consciousness transferred to the body of a small baby bull. Then he gets kissed and hugged by him and two baby bunnies who replaced Michelle. And as soon as that happens he begins doubting his racism and wondering WHY DID THEY FEEL SORRY FOR HIM???

This is by far the worst of these "redemption arcs". It is never shown that Mason is looking for a smaller clone of himself to kiss him...I mean someone to feel sorry for him. Until this point, he was an irredeemable racist who was not going to change no matter what. It is genuinely most insulting out of all these redemption instants, because of the insulting implications it carries.

And now it's time for Number One, which, if you've read this blog for a while, is completely obvious.

1. Siegfried goes from a honorable knight to a Massive Racist and a Hell Nazi (Dominic Deegan)

Yay! I get to bitch about this moment again!

Siggy until this point was genuinely shown to be a knight who was opposed to the corruption of his fellow knights. However, it all changed for meta reasons. After Mookie learned a lot of people (it was probably just one person) were rooting for Luna to die during War in Hell Arc, Mookie made it that not only would Siggy die, he would also go out while exposing all his crimes. Turns out Siggy's honor was all an attempt to fuck Lady Jayden, and on top of that, he also fucking HATES ORCS. In fact, he is the ULTIMATE ORC HATER. AND HIS ENTIRE FAMILY WERE A GROUP OF BLOODY ORC HUNTERS, AND SIGGY HUNG AN ENTIRE FAMILY OF ORCS WHEN HE WAS 16, FOREVER MAKING HIS DESTINY TO BECOME AN ABSOLUTE PIECE OF SHIT AND EVENTUALLY AFTER HE DIES KARNAK TURNS HIM INTO A HELL NAZI BECAUSE HE IS THAT IRREDEEMABLE.

The existence of Reinhardt later down the lines proves Mookie was willing to have sympathetic knights in the cast. I genuinely feel this wasn't planned until Mookie saw one comment that wanted Luna to die. That whole comment drove Mookie mad so he made Siggy the most irredeemable human being who ever existed.

Look, if this comic had any hints of Siggy having a hidden dark side to him, I would have picked up on them. It's worse than a sudden character change for no reason, it's a sudden character change with a spiteful and petty reason, that could have been avoided if only Mookie was more mature when he was writing this comic. And ultimately, Siggy's transformation served no real purpose to the comic aside from two arcs addressing people's reactions to it, and Karnak hating his job.

[house-bound]

Once I saw someone saying that bigender Sollux was too on the nose and like that stuck out to me because you could say literally everything about Sollux is on the nose.

Sollux’s entire thing is duality, his two colored shades, his interest in coding is because binary, when he becomes half dead half alive, his interest in Aradia and Feferi are both extremes in the hemospectrum and are themed around Death and Life, on one of the flashes he has a brief crush on Gamzee, the pacific guy who just snapped and now switches between lower and upper case, Gamzee who btw is a capricorn, between aquatic and terrestrial life.

He has two dreamselves for fucks sake, that is never explained, his actual sign is derse even though he is in both moons, that is an thing that only happens to him and the one other goldblood, because their entire thing is duality.

My point is why would you argue that headcanoning him as bigender is too on the nose as if that has been a objection for literally anything else for his character? How is him being bigender different from other traits for his character being decided to match his theme?

That is how the trolls work, a lot of things about them like their hobbies and jobs (Terezi collecting Scales and being dragon themed, Kanaya being themed around Mother Mary, named Maryam, being forced into a “mom friend” role) as well as their goals and traits (Again Kanaya’s desire to “mother” the entire troll species by securing the matriorb) follows whatever the trolls theme is.

Using Kanaya as an example again, her constellation is usually presented as a woman, just chilling on the sky, and Kanaya is a woman, so her gender matches her sign, would that be considered too on the nose and forced like how Bigender Sollux apparently is?

Eridan being a man might also be “on the nose” since the Aquarius constellation is a male water carrier, Pisces is Aphrodite turned into a fish, who is a woman, Capricorn is Diyonisus turned into a sea goat, therefore is Feferi being a woman, Eridan and Gamzee being men are all too on the nose aren’t they? Should we start disregarding any headcanon that makes Feferi a woman, Eridan a man and Gamzee a man? Maybe! Since apparently that is on the nose, which very little things in Homestuck are, so we should keep those as far from the nose as possible.

Let’s take all of our gender headcanons and keep them as far from this universal entity known as “THE NOSE” as possible! Since that is a parameter that is worth using at all for things in homestuck, but only things related to gender, let’s just make Gamzee a woman so it’s not a direct reference to the gender of her star sign, because if a character trait of a homestuck troll is related to their respective star sign than it is bad writing! If anything about homestuck is anywhere near the facility of a single organ used for breathing and perceiving smells than it is bad.

So yeah I just wanted to be annoying about this because since when is something being too close the respiratory receptor a reason for us to avoid it. Are things like Karkat having a crab dad also on the olfactory orifices? Should we rewrite the entirety of Homestuck as to avoid things being there? Should we just remake Karkat’s dad into a horse since that is distant enough from his theme that it is no longer predictable or corny or whatever? Or are things too on the nose only when they are trans headcanons? Is that where we cross the line? When trans and nonbinary people dare to exist?

[emmaelt]

Rejection sensitivity dysphoria and associated fun AUDHD experiences

Something that's becoming more and more apparent since going on the medication is that my autism traits are becoming much stronger. Apparently this is pretty common for people with AUDHD, and I was anticipating it - but oof. I'm finding it really debilitating to socialise at the moment, I've always done a bit of pre-rejecting myself before I can feel that way because of others, but it's way worse now.

(RSD is one of the reasons why I thought for a longggg time that I might have BPD - perceived abandonment, anticipating rejection, all that jazz seem to be experienced by so many different neurodivergent humans.)

Right now, my ADHD self seems to be more supressed, there are way less thoughts in my head than normal even before I've taken the meds in the morning. It's much easier for me to focus on one cohesive thought as I'm getting less distracted by the other thoughts. However, when I have 'bad' thoughts now - such as those I associate with RSD - it's much harder to distract myself.

I had an interaction with a neighbour who I've already told I'm autistic. During our conversation I was doing my usual look at their face but not too much, respond but don't not interupt, I was trying to be funny and not awkward. Possibly the interaction was fine. However, my RSD kicked in before the interaction even ended, and I had to leave.

I've alway been either extremely social or anti-social, with absolutely zero in between. I can either handle other humans or I can't. It's never been at this point of rudeness where I've actually cut them off to get myself out of the conversation so I can run away?

Either way, the meds are making it way more apparent. I'm trying really hard to use all of my nice self-talk and ignore the hard ones, but now there's less distractions happening my head it's much harder to get away from the hard ones.